CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

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          LUCIA COULDN'T TEAR HER EYES AWAY FROM ELLIE AND SAM AS THEY PLAYED SOCCER AT THE OTHER END OF THE ROOM. The woman would leave them here if she could, letting them play out the rest of their childhood fantasies for as long as they had wanted. But nothing about that was realistic. They would have to leave sooner rather than later and they would be swept back into a world of death and decay.

"Yes! Come on! Yeah!" cheered Ellie when Sam didn't manage to block her goal. The ball skidded to a halt beside the boy and he picked it up with a bright smile. "Come on, pass it back."

In the four hours they had been cooped up in the small bunker, Lucia had finally placed herself at the table to rest her upper body along the surface. Beside her, Joel had his arms crossed as he watched them play too, face stoic.

After another moment, Joel turned his head toward Henry and began, "If you were ... collaboratin' to take care of him, I shouldn't have said what I said. I don't know your situation. And i'm not sayin' they should let it go, but, all things considered it seems kind of cruel - to send a whole army after you for that."

"You know, I wasn't, uh ..." muttered the younger man, cascading his eyes downward. "exactly telling you the truth before about me not killing someone."

Lucia, who sat in the middle of the men turned her head and pushed herself off the table to lean back in her chair. Henry blinked at her as she did, feeling quite uncomfortable. 

"There was a man," he continued. "a great man. You know, he was never afraid, never selfish, and he was always forgiving. Have you ever met someone like that? Kinda man you'd follow everywhere. I mean, I wanted to. Well, I would've. Yeah, but ... Sam, he got sick. Leukaemia. Anyway, there was one drug that worked, and, woah, big shock, there wasn't much left of it and it belonged to FEDRA. And if I wanted some, it was gonna take something big. So I gave them something big. That one great man."

The brunette frowned at him, strings tugging at her chest as she watched him hold back his emotions. Her eyes moved to Sam momentarily and she wondered how sick he must be feeling right now, his bright smile not giving anything away.

"He was the leader of the resistance movement in Kansas City. And Kathleen's brother." Henry continued, meeting their solemn gazes. "Yeah, still think they should take it easy on me. Or am I the bad guy?"

Neither Lucia or Joel responded, both looking at Henry, which made him somewhat anxious. It wasn't that Henry had done the wrong thing, not at all. Lucia would have done the same thing if it meant saving someone she loved, but Kathleen had every right to want revenge for her brother, too.

"I don't know what you're waiting for, man." he breathed, rubbing his face harshly. "The answer is easy. I am the bad guy because I did a bad guy thing."

The smuggler moved his dark brown eyes toward the woman beside him, taking in her injury before he went back to observe the kids.

Henry followed his gaze both times and nodded his head. "You get it, though. You might not be her father but you were someone's." Joel pursed his lips at this, clenching his jaw in confirmation. "See, I could tell from the moment I met you."

Of course she had know. It was the way he treated Ellie, the way he looked after her even if he didn't want to do it. He never told her and she never asked. Losing a child was a pain that the brunette couldn't even fathom to understand.

Joel was pulled from his thoughts when Ellie let out a shriek to amuse the deaf boy, he felt the vibrations when Ellie swung him around the room in laughter. The man got up, jaw set and said, "We've waited long enough."

Henry let out a long breath, wiping his clammy hands on his pants and raised his brows when Lucia shot him a soft smile.

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THE REST OF THE TUNNELS HAD BEEN EMPTY LIKE HE HAD PROMISED AND THEY FOUND COMMON GROUND AFTER ANOTHER HALF HOUR. The tunnel led them to an underground parking garage and they cautiously shone their flashlights around.

"Do you know where we are?" asked Lucia, as she glanced at Henry over her shoulder through the dark.

"Yep," he nodded. "on the other side."

He shone his flashlight toward the wall which read 'Bank of America' in bold letters. The bank wasn't that big, but the tunnels below were like a maze to get through. Mould grew on the once white painted walls and ferns grew through the cracks in the concrete, snaking around the pillars like vines.

"How far till we reach the bridge?" wondered Ellie, sticking to her companions side this time.

"Maybe another fifteen minutes." informed Henry as they began to make their way out of the garage and out into the open, fresh night air filling their senses. "It's just past these houses and we're out."

Joel was the first to step foot out on the streets, alert as he scanned the area for any danger that might be coming their way. It was silent, not a sound to be heard as they walked down the middle of the streets in between rows and rows of corroded cars.

"Turn off your lights." commanded Joel, flicking his own off as the rest followed. "We'll be catching too much attention otherwise. Keep quiet and stay together."

Lucia had always been very observant from her years alone in the wilderness, and her time spent in Boston. The woman had been by herself for so long that it came like second nature to her. It wasn't very often that something went unnoticed by her.

'Why can't we use our lights?' Sam signed, nudging his brother as he didn't understand what the smuggler was saying.

'He says it's so we don't draw attention.' Henry signed.

They walked in silence for a few minutes and the moon and constellations above their heads were the only source of light. Joel peered down at the woman beside him, shotgun firm between his fingers as they walked side by side. "What do you think?"

"Seems clear." uttered Lucia, eyes straining to see the buildings surrounding them. "But I don't think we're out of the woods just yet."

"Hmm," he hummed in agreement. "keep your eyes peeled."

"It's almost too good to be true." she added, quietly enough so Ellie who was ambling behind them wouldn't hear. "We haven't run into any of those men again, no infected and a quick escape out of the city? I don't trust any of it."

"You think he's settin' us up?"

"No," she said with a shake of her head and kicked at a rock she had stepped on. "there's no violent bone in his body. He seems sincere. He wouldn't bring his brother into danger. I just don't understand how we haven't seen a single infected for days. Where the hell are they?"

Usually the big cities would be crawling with them. The story about driving them underground was possible but they hadn't run in any while in the tunnels. No bodies, no scent of rotting flesh, simply nothing. It wasn't possible and she felt they would pop out any moment.

"No, no one is here." declared Henry, happily as he signed the same words to his younger brother. "And no one's gonna be here because my plan worked."

Joel scoffed at this and grumbled. "So much goddamn talkin'."

"I'm just sayin', I delivered." he grinned, and pointed past them. "Make this right, go down the street, embankment behind the last house and we're out."

Again, too good to be true. They turned the corner on the last street and dread filled Lucia to the bone. Her eyes pierced the windows of the homes, but she couldn't find anything out of the ordinary. No shadows that ducked out of her sight, no click of a gun and no footsteps. 

"So, we cross the river and then what?" wondered Ellie, smiling at the siblings. "Where ya gonna go?"

"Don't know yet." shrugged Henry, pulling his brother into his side. "Somewhere far away from this city, that's for sure."

"Well, we're going to Wyoming." informed the teen to which both Joel and Lucia shot her a glare over their shoulders, causing her to hold up her arms in defence. "What? It's a huge state. It can fit two more people."

"That kid is way too trusting." muttered the smuggler under his breath.

Henry grimaced at the look on their faces and decided, "Yeah, maybe we just call this one a success and say our fond farewells?"

"No, they'll change their minds. Trust me." Ellie mused, grin overtaking her features. "Lucia is easier to convince so this is how it will go with Joel. He's like, 'No Ellie. Never, ever, ever happening.' And then i'm like, 'I'm gonna ask you a million more times.' And he's like -"

The woman was slammed against the concrete, a body covering her as a bullet hit home a few feet away from them. Her ears were ringing and eyes were wide, desperately searching for the source of danger. Ellie had thrown herself behind one of the cars, Sam and Henry beside her as Joel shielded Lucia from the sniper.

"Go, go, go!" he urged, pulling on her wrist and hauling her toward the car where the other three were hiding. Another shot rang through the air, barely missing the smuggler's foot as he pushed forward.

"The fuck is that comin' from?" demanded Henry.

"Shut up." barked Joel, getting to his knees to peer over the hood of the car and ducking down a second later when another bullet whizzed past. 

It was the house at the end of the street, the last one they had to pass until they were free from Kansas City. There was a sniper in the far left window on the top floor, hailing them with bullets. Kathleen wasn't dumb, she had her people stationed everywhere. 

Lucia didn't feel the burn on the palms of her hands when she had fallen to the ground nor did she feel the abrasions on her knees as her jeans stained red. Adrenaline was coursing through her veins as she checked over Ellie, who was unharmed.

"Shit, alright." Henry cussed, shielding his eight year old brother with his arms. "Fuck! Let's move. Let's go."

He hauled his brother to his feet and yanked on his arm, about to run into the opposite direction but Lucia grabbed the back of his jacket and pulled him back down with force. "What the fuck are you doing?"

"Getting the fuck out of here." he panicked, eyes wide.

"You'll die, just let us think this through."

"What do we do?" he demanded.

"All right," Joel pocketed his gun as he turned to look at the four of them. "Stay here. If you don't move, he's not going to hit you. I'm gonna go around, try to get in the house through the back, and then i'll take him out. Lucia can take care of you."

"But if you go out there he's gonna kill you." Ellie warned, panic settling in as she repeatedly shook her head at him. "Lucia, tell him he can't do this. It's too dangerous."

"It is dark and he's got shit aim," declared Joel, trying to reassure her and he met the brunette's eyes. "No one's gonna kill me."

"Then he'll kill us." Ellie tried.

The smuggler swallowed, brows pulled together as he asked, "Do you trust me?"

Ellie gave him a single nod and Joel inclined his head in confirmation. He met the woman's eyes and she didn't have to use her words to let him know that she could protect them. He peered at her a moment longer and pushed away from the car, into the darkness.

I am so so thrilled for next chapter aka kathleen's chapter and the infected. I wanted to use more from the game but the infected and bloater scene was way too good not to use. More game stuff after this chapter! <3