𝕺𝖜𝖓 𝖂𝖔𝖗𝖘𝖙 𝕰𝖓𝖊𝖒𝖞

- CHAPTER NINE -
BARS AND RECORDS

AFTER SNEAKING BY a group of Clickers, and Ellie's failed attempt at whistling, the trio had vaulted over another locked gate and into the heart of the quiet and seemingly abandoned town.

"So," Ellie began, "let's say we get a car from this buddy of yours. Then what?"

"Well, then we go find Tommy." Joel replied.

"He's your brother?" Kathy asked, casting an uneasy look at the gnome she had just walked by.

"And more importantly he was a Firefly. He'd know where to take you." He added.

"Okay."

"He lives far from here, which is why we need a car."

"Hey look! Gnomes." Ellie chuckled.

"Yeah, those are gnomes." Joel mused, noticing the look Kathy was sending the drasted things.

"Creepy little things." Kathy groaned to him, she'd never like them.

"Man, I had an art book filled with these." Ellie reminisced happily, "I always thought they were super cute. Not fairies though. They creep me out."

The trio walked down the quiet street and into an old bar. Pictures were still hung on the walls, boxes still left out, and there was even and old arcade game over in the corner.

Ellie walked over to it, "Oh. look at that."

"What, you played this before?" Joel asked her curiosly. He hadn't expected her to know what it was, it was way before her time.

"Nah. But I had a friend that knew everything about this game." She answered, wiggling about the analog stick on the machine and pressing random buttons. "Apparently, there's this character called Angel Knives who'd...What was it? She'd punch a hole through your stomach before kicking your head off."

"Well, I was never a big fan of these things." Joel admitted.

"Neither was I." Kathy chuckled. "More of a musical buff than anything. Didn't have time for things like this."

"What'd you play?" He questioned, intrigued. He preferred music as well.

"A little bit of everything, really. Bit of piano, guitar, but I uh...I liked to sing a lot too. Used to have gigs at the local bar on the weekends. It didn't pay much, but I liked it." Kathy revealed, surprising herself with how open she was becoming around him. He'd said before that he didn't wanna know their histories and here he was asking her about her life, about what she liked.

"I wish I could play it." Ellie said, reffering to the game and snapping them out of their gaze on one another.

They left the bar and into a records store. Kathy remembered listening to records as a kid, her mother used to have this big old record player that she wasn't ever allowed to touch, it was her mother's pride and joy. The brunette began to wonder if any famous celebrities survived and were just living in the quarantine zones like everyone else. She'd love to randomly come across Keanu Reeves. What age would he be about now? Sixty-two?

"Whoa, look at this place!" Ellie breathed out, she'd never seen anything like it. She ran over to the drum set and turned to Kathy, "Could you play something on this?"

"Probably not, kiddo. That set is pretty destroyed." Kathy said, running her fingers through the collection of records in front of her. She caught on to one of her favourites, John Denver. "This is so sad."

"What is?" Joel walked over, watching as she placed the record back down.

"All this music and no one to listen to it."

"Could always make your own."

She smirked knowingly, "You just wanna hear me play somethin'."

"Maybe."

"Well tough." She laughed, "I ain't playing for you until you play somethin' for me. I know you can play something, you've got a musician's hands."

Joel though about it for a moment before replying, "I can't promise nothin'."

Finding nothing of use in the store, they left and took in the sight of the large wall that blocked off the road. Joel hummed, "Yeah, that's Bill's handy work."

"Anybody else live in this town?" Ellie questioned as he picked up a note from the floor.

"Far as I know, it's just him." Joel hummed as he read it. It was a note to someone named Bob with a safe combination on it. He'd found the safe hidden behind a truck and took the rifle ammo that was inside it.

Ellie read the sighn that was in the middle of the road, "Mandatory Evacuation. Evacuate to where?"

"The quarantine zones." Kathy replied, "Some places got a head's up before the infection showed up. Most didn't. The people in this town were more fortunate than others."

"Man, must be hard. Just...leaving all your stuff behind like that."

"That ain't the hard part." Joel stated, he knew that from experience.

A Clicker came running around the corner of the alleyway they were walking down, only fro it's head to be blown off by a tripwired bomb. The trio staggerd back and cursed at the sudden explosion.

"Jesus!"

"Holy fuck!"

Ellie's curse was much more PG than her aunt's, "Whoa, Nelly! Wha- What the hell was that?"

"That...would be one of Bill's traps." Joel replied, now much more observant of his surroundings. He didn't wanna get his head blown off like that Clicker.

"Paranoid, much?" Kathy scoffed, stepping over the headless body.

"Now that's putting it lightly."

"What's the deal with this guy?" Ellie asked.

"Well, he helped us smuggle stuff into the city. He's..." Joel trailed off, trying to find the right words, "He knows how to find things."

"In a very aggressive way, it seems." Kathy said lightly, "Let's hope we don't blow up in one of his traps before we find him."

"Just watch your step, you'll be fine."

A body was splayed out before them, arrows sticking out of it's chest. Hard to tell whether it was an infected or some random looter. Joel yanked the arrows out and put them in his backpack.

"Jeez, Bill good with a bow?" Ellie commented.

"I reckon he is." Joel replied, picking up the ladder on the floor and putting it against the back of a van. The rest of the alley was blocked off, so it was their only way unless they wanted to turn back.

On the roof of the van was a lone red chair, a few empty beer bottles and a bow. Probably left there for when Bill wanted some target practice.

Joel picked up the new weapon, Bill wouldn't miss it, "Hey, look at that."

"Let me use that. I'm a pretty good shot with that thing." Ellie suggested and she was a good shot. Kathy had taught her herself.

"How 'bout we just leave this kind of stuff to me and your aunt." Joel shot her down straight away as he walked across a plank that led to a roof.

"Well, we could all be armed. Cover each other." Ellie tried to persuade, she could see that her aunt and Joel weren't gonna agree. Kathy was convinced Ellie was too young to handle a big weapon, it's why Ellie had her knife. Although, ever since the teen had been bitten, Kathy had been more lenient and taught Ellie how to use a bow.

"Maybe we should let her have the bow, Joel." Kathy agreed with her niece.

"I don't think so." Joel denied. He picked up the plank they had just went across and put it against the wall, "Here, we can actually use this." He climbed up the ladder and onto the second story roof, pulling the plank up after him, "It's all clear, come on up."

"Alright."

Joel grunted as he set the plank down between the rood they were on and the next, crossing it without a problem. There was a Clicker by itself on the next building, easily taken care of with Joel's new bow.

They climbed down from the second building, crossing paths with another of Bill's tripwires. Joel crouched down and instructed the two Williams, "See that wire? Stay underneath it okay? Just keep your head low and you'll be fine."

The girls avoided the trap with ease and Kathy had to restrain herself from making a sarcastic remark. A door being pounded against aggresively drew their attention to the left of them.

"You hear that?"

"Yeah." Joel said, approaching the door which had stopped pounding. He swung it open, but nothing was there.

"Oh, shit, you're gonna go in there?" Ellie asked in disbelief.

"I wanna see what we can find." He replied, going inside.

"You're gonna find our bodies when we die from a heart attack." Ellie retorted, following him in with her aunt beside her.

They went up the stairs, following the creaking noise coming from the kitchen. Kathy had a piece of wood in her hands, preparing for whatever it was to come running at them. And it did.

The runner came round the corner and into the living room, running straight toward Joel who was picking up some supplies. She stepped in front of him and whacked the runner in the face with the piece of wood and it fell to the ground. She then stood over it and stomped it's head in, killing it.

"Jeez. That thing scared the hell outta me." Ellie panted, leaning over slightly to try and calm down from her minor heart attack.

"Well, while we're here let's search the place."

Kathy found a note fro a girl named Rachel, it talked about some guys named Ezra waiting for her in the Quarantine zone. However, Kathy highly doubted they ever reunited.

"You think they ever found each other." Ellie asked, leaning over Kathy's shoulder to read the note.

"It's unlikely, but possible." Kathy said.

"I'd like to think they did." Ellie smiled optimistically.

"C'mon, let's get the hell outta here." Joel called out to them by the stairs, having already searched the place while they read the note.

Once back outside, they realised the gate they needed to go through had tripwires across it. Joel solved that rather quickly by throwing a brick and triggering them. Kathy covered Ellie's ears when it exploded.

"Oh, shit. Those things are kinda awesome." Ellie grinned.

"That's one way yot do it." Kathy praised, patting him on the shoulder. "Though I doubt Bill will be too happy with us setting off all his traps."

There was a room around the corner with the door open, it looked like they could cut through there. Kathy searched through the drawers for anything useful and then Joel reached to open the closed door that would lead further into the building.

"Girls, come, just..." Joel didn't finish his sentence as he was pulled through the door by a rope that had wrapped around his leg.

"Joel!"

❝IT'S NO SURPRISE TO ME, I AM MY OWN WORST ENEMY❞