𝕺𝖜𝖓 𝖂𝖔𝖗𝖘𝖙 𝕰𝖓𝖊𝖒𝖞

- CHAPTER ELEVEN -
REPLACEMENT

"A'IGHT. WHATEVER SUPPLIES you may want or need, I suggest you grab them." Bill told them, almost on the other side of the diner. The windows were boarded up and there were a few useful bits and bobs scattered around that the could take. This place must have been a short term base for Bill at one point.

"Was going to anyway, but thanks. Ellie, take a look around and see if you can find anything useful." Kathy rolled her eyes, walking behind the counter and picking up some tape and a manual to improve shivs.

The older Williams then moved into the room in the back, Ellie was already there waiting, "Man, he's got a fuckin' stick up his ass."

"Couldn't agree more, kiddo." Kathy chuckled, her eyes surveying the small room they were in. It most likely used to be a back office or staff room for the owners of the diner.

"Just-" Joel sighed as he joined them, "Just stay outta his way."

Once everything useful had been taken and all the notes Bill had left lying around had been read, they were ready to go. But Joel stopped by one of the tables with a chess board on it and made a noise of recognition.

Ellie went to see what was up, "Hey, you know how to play this?"

"Yeah." Joel hummed, "Pretty badly - yeah."

"I always wanted to learn." Ellie went to reach for one of the chess pieces but Bill's voice from the exit of the Diner stopped her.

"Hey, Bobby Fischer! Don't touch anything on that board!"

"Bobby what?!" Ellie retorted, having no clue who that was.

"Just let it go." Joel said and then walked to Bill.

"Seriously though, who?" Ellie whispered to Kathy.

"He was a famous chess player back in the seventies. Your grandad was a big fan of him." Kathy told the teen, patting her shoulder.

"So Bill's fat and old." Ellie mused.

"Found everything you need?" Bill asked them, directing his question mostly at Joel. He'd be damned if he ever really had to acknowledge the kid who almost broke his arm.

"We're good."

Bill unlocked the bolted door, walking through and up a set of stairs that led to an apartment above the diner. Joel beckoned the girls through the door so that he could shut it behind them, making it dramatic after Bill berated him for not shutting it.

"We have to cross to the other building. Up the stairs. Let's move it." Bill instructed from the top of the staircase.

Ellie scoffed at the man, not at all impressed with how he just assumed command of their little group. Though, she supposed, he knew the town best.

Bill then began to talk to himself up ahead, "Can't believe you agreed to this bullshit, Bill. What you shoulda done was just left them back there."

"You weren't kidding about him." Ellie scoffed once again.

"Yeah, he's one of a kind." Joel replied as they walked through the apartement after Bill.

"One of a kind? More like crazy." Kathy quipped, "When was the last time he had a social interaction?"

"So what kind of trouble are you in? Where the hell's Tess?" Bill asked when they caught up with him.

"It's just a job. A simple drop off." Joel replied vaguely, Bill didn't need to know about Ellie's predicament.

"What are you delivering? That little brat and her hotheaded mother?"

Ellie rolled her eyes, "Haha. Fuck you too. And she's my aunt."

"Not that it's any of your business." Kathy scowled.

Bill let out an obnoxious laugh as they walked over a balcony to the next building, "Y'know, I hope you know what you're doin'."

"Are you kidding me with this guy?"

"If he keep making remarks like this, I'll end up knocking his teeth in." The brunette said to Joel in a low voice so that Bill didn't hear.

Joel ignored her and climbed through a broken window, but he was amused by her remark. "So, where we goin', Bill?"

"My other safe house. It's more of an armoury."

"Wait." Ellie cut in confused, "I thought we were gonna fix up a car?"

"We? You know how to fix up a-"

"Bill, just..." Joel warned.

Bill then continued from earlier, "It's like I said, what I need is on the other side of town. Now, that side of town I don't ever go to 'cause it's filled with infected. So, we're gonna need more guns."

Kathy's ears perked up when she heard a clanging coming from down the stairs, "What was that?"

"Shhh. There's one inside." Joel shushed her, hearing it too.

Bill walked a little faster, closer to the noise when he remembered what it was, "Oh...I've been meaning to take care of that. Relax, it's nothin'. So, you didn't answer my question about Tess. I mean, I thought the two of you were inseparable. Unless uh, you replaced her with her." He nodded his head towards Kathy as he unsheathed his machete and cut the head off the Runner that was stuck in the wall.

Joel ignored the last comment, "She's busy."

Bill tutted, not believing it, "Yeah, sure...Busy. Sounds to me like there might be trouble in paradise. Caused by a certain someone perhaps?"

"Yeah, somethin' like that."

Kathy didn't really know what to think about Bill's insinuation, because in a way, her and Ellie's arrival had inadvertently caused Tess' demise. She may not have caused 'trouble in paradise', but in a way Bill was right. Kathy had unintentionally replaced Tess.

Bill opened the door of the bakery to the outside, "Alright, here we go."

Dark clouds were dotted across the sky and rusted cars littered the street, there was even an ambulance at the end of the road. If it weren't for the sun, the whole place would look like a ghost town.

"So...why don't you fix one of these cars?" Ellie asked, surely one could work.

"Oh my god, you're a genius! I mean, the whole time, why on earth hadn't I thought about fixin' one of these cars?" Bill gasped sarcastically.

"Hey, watch your tone, you dick. She was asking a valid question." Kathy commented, flicking him on the forehead. He stepped back, not expecting it.

"Their tires are rotted and their batteries are dead."

"Are you done?"

"Can't even begin t think what the inside of the engine blocks look like. Only ones making new car batteries are the military."

"Shit, infected!" Ellie called out, spotting them from behind the ambulance. They came running out in a herd, made up of runners and clickers. Nothing some molotovs couldn't handle. They were dead in no time.

"Alright..." Bill sighed and then began talking to himself again, "You gotta check the barricades again. You neglect the simple shit and now you're paying for it. You know what that means...taking all the supplies from the warehouse and lugging to the east fence..."

"Okay, well now he's talking to himself." Ellie said, watching the man with a raised brow.

Kathy looked at Joel with concern, "I told you he was crazy, Joel."

"Bill?"

"Joel?" Bill asked back in the same tone as he opened the gate to the chapel with his keys. "This way. And up we go."

"You picked a hell of a place to hold up, didn't ya?" Joel commented.

"You know, as bad as those things are, at least they're predictable. It's the normal people that scare me. You of all people should understand that." Bill replied, locking the gate behind them once everyone was in.

"What does that mean?" Ellie questioned.

"Nothin'."

"No, no. As much as I hate to say it, crazy dude has a point." Kathy added in, choosing to forget the remark about Joel. It seemed a little personal for him and he obviously didn't wanna talk about it.

"You sure that gate's gonna hold 'em?" Joel asked Bill.

"Well, I locked it. They don't have a key." He retorted.

"So, where are we going?" Kathy inquired after walking up the stone steps leading to the chapel.

"We're here. It's in the cellar." Bill revealed.

"And here I thought you couldn't get anymore shady." She mumbled as Joel pulled open the cellar doors.

"Well, here we are." Bill went down first and turned back to Ellie, "You, don't touch anything." He then looked at Kathy, "And you close the door." She did as told, encasing them in darkness until Bill lit a lantern, "Let's gear up."

Ellie made a beeline for a weapon, but Joel stopped her, "Uh-uh."

"What? I need a gun."

"Does your aunt want you to have a gun? I didn't think so."

"Joel, I can handle myself. Kathy will understand."

"No." He then got Kathy's attention, "Kathy, is Ellie allowed a gun?"

"Nope!" She replied by the table where Bill was putting together some sort of bomb.

He gave Ellie a look that seemed a little smug, "Just stay here."

"Fine. I'll just wait around for you three to get me killed." Ellie ridiculed and it made Kathy feel like shit.

Giving Ellie a gun would probably be a good idea, but it would also mean that Ellie would be put in danger more, she'd feel like she had more responsibility. Ellie was a kid, a gun would just force her to grow up faster and Kathy wanted Ellie to hold onto childhood for as long as she could.

"This goes on record as the worst fucking ob you've ever taken." Bill told Joel, watching Ellie stomp off to where he stored his books and magazines.

Joel nodded in agreement, "It's up there." He then caught eyes with Kathy from across the room, she was cleaning her pistol, "But it has it's moments."

"How in the hell is Tess okay with this suicide mission?"

"It was actually her idea."

"Really? Well, then the broad's not as smart as I thought she was. But...fuck her. Seriously, you gotta take that kid back to where ya found her. And her aunt too, can't imagine Tess would be too happy with the googly eyes you keep sending that woman."

"Bill, I can't just take them back."

"Then send them packing, let them find their own way." Bill replied, "Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time I had somebody that I cared about. It was a partner. Somebody I had to look after. And in this world that sort of shit is good for one thing. Gettin' ya killed. So, you know what I did? I wisened the fuck up and I realised it's gotta be just me."

"Bill, it...it ain't like that. It's..." Joel tried to excuse.

"Bullshit. It is just like that." Bill retorted and then noticed Ellie looking through his comics, "Hey! What did I say to you when we walked down the steps? What did I say?"

"I'm just fixing your stupid pile." Ellie told him in annoyance, dramatically dropping one of the books back down.

"Don't touch."

Ellie said nothing, instead she flipped him off. Kathy put her gun back in the holster on her hips and walked over to Ellie, "Stop antagonising him, Ellie. If you piss him off, he won't help us."

"I know, but he's so easy to mess with." Ellie groaned.

"You keep babysitting long enough and eventually it's gonna blow up in your face." Bill said to Joel, glancing at Kathy who had forced Ellie away from the temptation to mess with Bill's stuff.

"Bill, can we please just get on with it?" Joel sighed.

Bill threw him a freshly loaded shotgun, "Here, let's get on with it." He then picked up his own shotgun.

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