𝕺𝖜𝖓 𝖂𝖔𝖗𝖘𝖙 𝕰𝖓𝖊𝖒𝖞

- CHAPTER SIX -
OUT OF LUCK

"OKAY, HOW DO we get out of this place?" Joel asked as he wandered around the garage. Like every other place they's been in, it lacked light so their flashlights were a must.

"Let's find out." Kathy replied, "There's gotta be a door somewhere."

"So Marlene thinks you're immune?" Tess questioned the youngest Williams.

"That's what she believes."

"Well how were you bitten?" Tess pressed on, "I mean you must've been somewhere you shouldn't to find infected in the zone."

"Yeah...I was in this military boarding school." Ellie revealed reluctantly and Kathy nodded for her to continue. "Kathy was one of the teachers, so we had better living conditions than most of the kids there."

"You'd sneak out?"

"You know, explore the city. Kathy would come with me most times, but she was busy so I went without her. I was in the mall when I ran into infected." Ellie explained further, leaving out Riley from the story. They didn't need to know about her.

"That place is completely off-limits. How the hell did you get in there?"

"I...had my ways." The auburn teen said vaguely, "Anyways, one of those - what you guys called runners bit me and that was that."

"I see."

"Were you with Marlene when you were bitten?"

"No. I went home and told Kathy. She took me to Marlene for help afterwards."

"Knowing her, I'm surprised she didn't shoot you." Tess commented in surprise.

"She almost did." Kathy cut in as she checked how many bullets she had in her gun beside them. "Had to tie her up while we explained what happened."

Tess smiled at that. She liked Kathy a lot, she seemed like a great gal and the perfect person to watch someone's back. She was a great leader too, probably something to do with being a teacher in a military school. You'd have to be tough to deal with obnoxious soldiers and kids everyday.

"I hope she's okay." Ellie voiced, thinking of Marlene and her injury.

Tess smiled at the girl, "I told you, she's gonna be fine."

"Tess, this way. There's a door over here." Joel waved them over to a wooden door that was beginning to splinter and decay. It opened up into a room full of old artifacts and paintings. They were in a museum.

Joel and Tess walked up the ramp made out of the caved in ceiling that took them to the second floor. The sound of smashing and Ellie swearing caused them to stop and look back. She'd smashed a vase, probably one that was over 100 years old, something that would have been considered priceless many years ago, but was now worthless junk.

"Tess." Joel grumbled in annoyance.

"Sorry." Ellie apologised again.

"C'mon, stay close to me."

"Don't worry about the vase, kiddo. It's just worthless china, no-one's gonna miss it." Kathy said to her niece with a reassuring grin and she bumped her hip against the girl's before waling a little ahead.

"What is this place?" Ellie asked as she checked out some of the artifacts on the second floor.

"It's an old museum. Some of these things are hundreds of years old." Tess answered.

"They were pretty expensive too. Priceless even. Only millionaires could afford one of these artifacts." Kathy added.

"Really? Wow."

They followed Joel as he came up to a doorway that was blocked off by fallen beams. He managed to lift one up by using a plank of wood as leverage. He lifted it just enough for the girls to get through, "Alright, watch your head. Hurry, go, go, go."

They crawled through the tight gap, but the weight was getting heavier and heavier and Joel couldn't hold it anymore. Just as Kathy was about to go though, Joel grabbed her shoulder and pulled her out of the way as the ceiling came down right where she was before.

"Thanks." She breathed up, clutching her chest where she could feel her heart beating rapidly.

"Don't mention it." He reiterated her words from before when she had saved his life.

"Joel! Kathy!" Tess called out from the other side, she and Ellie were barely visible through the beams.

"We're alive. We'll make our way around to you." Joel responded with a grunt. He'd landed on his ass rather painfully.

The colour drained from Kathy's face when she heard the sound of Runners and Clickers closing in on Ellie and Tess's location. The noise of the falling debris must've alerted them.

"Look - they're here!"

"Tess?"

"Run. Run!"

Once Tess and Ellie were out of sight, Kathy and Joel got back on their feet and stealthily backtracked. They had to be careful as Clickers were now roaming around the museum, which meant crouching everywhere. This was no the time to blast out her molotovs - she'd used them all back in the station anyway - they had to rely on distractions and the occasional shiv until they made it up the stairs.

Joel cautiously opened the door where a runner was ruthlessly banging on a door down the hall. Thy could only guess that was the room Tess and Ellie were in. Joel snuck up to it and put it in a choke hold, squeezing it's neck until it died.

They heard Tess's voice through the door, "Ellie, stay back!"

"Tess!" Joel barged through the door, just in time to see Tess fight off a runner and bash it's brains in with a wooden plank.

"I'm fine." Tess breathed out, staring down at the corpse she'd just killed. There was a bit of blood on her collarbone that led Kathy to believe otherwise, but Ellie called for their help in the other room before she could question her.

"Guys, get in here!"

With her niece in obvious distress, Kathy was the first to run to her aid. Ellie was wrestling off an infected with great effort and before it could chomp down, Kathy kicked it off and shot it in the face. No one hurt her niece.

More runners came barrelling into view and they worked together to kill them. They used their guns, makeshift melee weapons or their barefists to dwindle the number of infected, Joel even whipped out a molotov, and it wasn't long until the museum was encased in silence once more.

"That was too damn close." Joel remarked through the silence.

"Oh shit." Tess cursed as she bent over, leaning her hands on her knees while she breathed in and out deeply.

"You okay, Tess?" Kathy asked her in concern, her eyes flickering back to the speck of blood hidden under the collar of her shirt.

"Just a bit winded." Tess replied, but Kathy didn't believe her. However, Joel did so Kathy decided to ignore her suspicion. Tess nodded towards the open window, "This way. This'll get us to the roof."

Joel turned to Ellie after Tess jumped through the window and onto the fire escape, "How 'bout you, kid? You okay?"

"Define okay."

"Are you still breathing?"

"Do small, panicked breaths count?"

"Yeah, they count."

"Alright, then I'm okay."

"And what about you?" He looked at Kathy, who was about to climb out of the window. She looked back to him in surprise, not expecting him to ask that.

"I'm good." She replied simply before she climbed out the window and up the fire escape to join Tess on the roof.

When Joel arrived shortly after, Tess announced, "We gotta find a way across. There she is. That's our building."

She pointed out the golden roofed building that was much closer than it was before. Joel walked back over with a long wooden plank and placed it across the fire escape railing and thr roof of the other building.

"Alright. Now watch your step as you're going up 'cause it's going to be a little-" Joel began to instruct Ellie and she rolled her eyes.

"Pssh." She stepped onto the plank with ease and walked across to the next roof.

Kathy was up next and she smirked at him, "You'll get used to her. She's a stubborn little devil."

"Well, is that everything you hoped for?" Joel asked the teen when they were all on the other side.

"Jury's still out." Ellie replied, "But man, you can't deny that view."

The view was beautiful. The sunrise had turned the sky many different colours, ranging from pinks, to blues, and the rays were gleaming against he capitol building's golden exterior. Kathy wished phones were still around so that she could take a photograph.

"C'mon, this way." Tess voiced, taking the lead. She looked back at Joel who was still stood there, "Hey! Pick it up."

Kathy and Ellie climbed down the ladder, leaving the two smugglers at the top, but they were still in hearing range.

"Look," Tess sighed, "we're almost donw. Stay focused."

"Yes, ma'am."

➸ ➸ ➸

Hours later, the morning sun was it's peak and the quartet were coming closer to the Capitol building. Kathy didn't know what to expect. There could always be a chance that the Fireflies would just take Ellie when they got there and leave Kathy behind. Marlene had gave her word that that wouldn't happen, but words couldn't always be trusted.

"It's right around this corner. C'mon." Tess told them, quickly jogging down a set of stairs.

"Let's keep moving, kiddo." Kathy smiled at Ellie, urging her to move ahead of her.

Joel went around the side of the stairs where a body lay, "Look at this."

"There's a Firefly logo on his arm." Kathy noticed.

"What if we get there and they're all dead?" Ellie asked, worried.

"They won't be." Tess stated, but it sounded like she was trying to convince herself as well.

"But how do you know?"

"I just know." Tess added firmely before saying in a calmer tone, "Look, it's gonna be fine."

"Okay."

"It has to be."

Joel pulled a trash bin and put it up against the gate they needed to go through, "Up and over. There we go."

They were now in the street, old cars littered everywhere and nature had reclaimed the area over the years. As the road dipped, years of rainfall had resulted in a small lake being created in front of the Capitol building, submerging the cars in the road. Bad news for Ellie, who couldn't swin.

"Um...just so it's out there. I can't swim."

"It looks like it's shallow on the right side. Follow me." Tess commented.

Kathy turned to Ellie with a mischevious grin, "Or better yet..." She motioned for the teen to jump on her back, "Up you get."

"Are you serious? You haven't given me a piggy back since I was like ten!" Ellie asked with wide eyes.

"What are you too old for them now?" Kathy teased, pretending to lower her arms.

Ellie replied by launching herself onto Kathy's back, wrapping around her aunt like a koala with a giggle, "No!"

"And off we go." Kathy grinned, trudging through the murky water and towards their destination.

"I'm glad Marlene hired you guys." Ellie mumbled to Tess and Joel, her chin leaning on Kathy's shoulder.

"What do you mean?" Tess asked.

"I know you guys are getting paid for this, but I'm trying to say thanks."

"Yeah, sure thing."

"Ellie's right. I hate to admit it, but if it was just me and her out here, we'd probably be dead. We're glad you agreed to take us." Kathy disclosed, greatully and she made eye contact with Joel as she said it.

They approached the windows of the Capitol building, rubbing the dirt of the glass to get a better look inside, but they couldn't see a thing. That could be either good or bad. Joel went for the doorknob, slowly opening it to reveal all the dead Fireflies.

"No. No. No." Tess groaned in frustration, rushing to one of the bodies and searching their pockets.

Ellie looked at Kathy in worry, "What happens now?"

"I don't know, sweetheart." Kathy replied softly, staring at the Firefly that Tess was searching.

Joel approached the panicking Tess, "What are you doing, Tess?"

"Maybe the ah, maybe they had a map or something to tell us where they were going." Tess sniffled in a rushed voice.

"How far are we gonna take this?"

"As far as it needs to go." Tess exclaimed and her head shot up in Ellie's direction, "Where was this lab of theirs?"

"Oh, she never said. She only mentioned that it was someplace out west." Ellie replied.

"What are we doing here? This is not us." Joel told the woman.

Tess stood up angrily, "What do you know about us? About me?"

"I know that you are smarter than this."

"Really? Guess what, we're shitty people, Joel. It's been that way for a long time."

"No, we are survivors!"

"This is our chance-"

"It is over, Tess!" Joel exclaimed, loud and final, "Now we tried. Let's just go home."

"I'm not - I'm not going anywhere. This is my last stop."

"What?"

Tess began to pace, "Our luck had to run out sooner or later."

"What are you going on about-" Joel tried to reach out for her, but Tess wouldn't let him.

"No don't - don't touch me."

Kathy thought back to the blood on Tess's shoulder and then the realisation hit her like a truck, "Fuck, she's infected."

Joel stepped away from Tess in disbelief and she stared at him heartbroken, "Joel..."

"Let me see it." He instructed.

"I didn't mean for this-"

"Show it to me."

Tess yanked her collar open, revealing that a good chunk of her shoulder was missing and a very noticable bite mark was ther, "Oops, right? Give me your arm." Tess pushed up Ellie's sleeve, "This was three weeks. I was bitten an hour ago and it's already worse. This is fucking real, Joel. You've got to get these girls to Tommy's. He used to run with this crew, he'll know where to go."

"No, no, no, that was your crusade." Joel denied, "I am not doin' that!"

"Yes, you are!" She argued, "Look, there's enough here that you have to feel some sort of obligation to me. So you get them to Tommy's."

A car could be heard pulling up outside.

"Shit."

Tess pulled out her gun after she looked out of the window, "They're here. I can buy you some time, but you have to run."

Kathy shook her head, she liked Tess, she couldn't just let her get killed. Bit or not bit. "Tess, we can't!"

"You want us to just leave you here?" Ellie protested.

"Yes."

"There is no way that-" Joel began.

Tess cut him off, "I will not turn into one of those things! Come on, make this easy for me."

"I can fight."

She pushed him away, "No, just go! Just fucking go."

"Kathy, Ellie -"

"I'm sorry. I didn't - We didn't mean for this." The teen apologised continuously.

"Get a move on."

Before they ran away, Kathy pulled Tess into a hug and whispered, "I know we didn't know each other long, but I will always remember what you did for us. Thank you, Tess."

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