𝕺𝖜𝖓 𝖂𝖔𝖗𝖘𝖙 𝕰𝖓𝖊𝖒𝖞

- CHAPTER TWELVE -
THE TRUCK

AFTER BILL HAD so generously gifted Kathy and Joel some nail bombs of his design and a couple of fully loaded shotguns, they were ready to venture out.

"So we got shotguns and bombs, what the hell we doin'?"

"Well every few weeks a military van rides through town. I assume they're looking for supplies. You'd be amazed at the shit they overlook." Bill explained, "Anyway, few months back they were rolling through and they get overrun by this horde of infected. They were all over the truck. It plows right into the side of the highschool. Still sitting there with the battery in it."

Kathy caught on to what he was suggesting, "So we take that battery and put it in another car."

"Bingo. I wanted to get it, but it seemed too dangerous with all the infected on that part of town. But fuck it...Joel needs a car."

"What if it's damaged?" Joel asked.

"Nah." Bill denied, "Those trucks are like tanks. It's just sittin' there."

"Enough idle chit chat." Kathy told them, "We ready to go or what?"

"The sooner we leave, the sooner you fuckers can leave my town." Bill agreed, making a move for the stairs. "Kid, I swear to god...if you took anything-"

"Hey, man. I don't need any of your shit. Trust me." Ellie retorted, and Kathy smiled. Just because she said she didn't need anything, didn't mean she didn't want anything. Kathy was certain Ellie had taken something just to spite the man.

"Joel, you are keeping an eye on her, right?"

"Like a hawk."

Up the stairs was the main chapel, benches were pushed against the walls, making it much more spacious. The afternoon sun filtered in through the stained glass windows, casting different colours against the tattered walls and worn wooden flooring.

"Nice place." Kathy whistled, spinning around on her feet to look around.

"Well if you got anything to confess, this'd be the place to do it." Bill said from the end of the alter. Joel walked into a room of the side, "That's not the confessional booth, that's my room."

"Alright, I'm not touching anything. Just..." Joel called back and proceeded to take things from beside Bill's mattress - a note and some alcohol. Kathy let out a small chuckle when he gave her what she recognised as a mischievous smirk. They went back to Bill, pretending that they hadn't just stolen from him.

"Time to sack up." Bill voiced, opening the window behind him and jumping out of it.

"Ellie, out you come." Kathy helped her niece out onto the roof, where they could see the sun setting over the highschool across town.

"Look. There's the school." Bill pointed out their destination.

"Alright."

"Ready?"

"Guess we'll find out."

➸ ➸ ➸

Bill was right. That part of town was absolutely infested with infected. It hadn't even taken five minutes to run into trouble, but luckily they were able to sneak past almost all the runners and clickers they came across on their way to the highschool.

They climbed on top of an Rv and across a plank into the garden of one of the houses.

"Who the hell left this here? You got friends in town?" Ellie asked, noticing the placement of the plank that Bill had not left.

"No. Although I got some idea who mighta come through here." Bill replied, "School's on the other side of this house. Let's get inside."

Bill, Joel, Kathy and Ellie entered the house through the sliding back door. Though it didn't do much sliding, it was smashed. Joel went upstairs and Ellie found him reading a diary in a child's room. A teenage boy's by the looks of it.

"Hey, you got a second?" She asked, approaching quietly with Kathy not far behind her.

"Yeah?"

"I...I just wanted to say, I'm sorry. We're sorry. About Tess. That's it. We won't bring it up again." She said, fidgeting with her sleeve.

"Ellie, you don't need to worry about me. Either of you." He told them, making sure to hold eye contact with Kathy who was staying silent. He could tell she felt responsible for what happened to Tess and he wished that he could blame her and Ellie, but he couldn't. Tess had said their luck would run out and it did. If it hadn't happened then, it would've later down the line. "We should go check on Bill."

Bill hollered for them from the garage, he motioned for Joel to help him with the garage door, "Gimme a hand with this." Together, he and Joel it up and they ducked behind a car to view the high school a few metres away. "What'd I tell ya. There's that truck, sticking outta the school right there. C'mon. There's a bunch of 'em up there. So try not to make a sound."

Past all the buses and the barbed wire barriers was the truck, poking out the side of the school. All that was in their way was the horde of infected stumbling around the buses.

Joel took the lead, strangling and shiving the infected with stealth like a ninja, it was Kathy's turn to be impressed with his skill. He even used his bow and the new nail bombs, that came in very handy when stealth stopped working. The bombs set off in all directions, warning them of the danger on all sides.

"They're coming from everywhere!" Ellie warned, running to Kathy for protection as Joel unloaded his gun on the incoming enemies.

Kathy threw a brick at the runner that was trying to get to Bill's jugular and it backed away far enough for Bill to shoot it with his shotgun, its head exploded like a firework.

He nodded at her stiffly when everything died down, "Well that was easier than I thought it'd be. They must be holed up somewhere else."

"Let's not test our luck." Joel replied, taking some shotgun ammo from one of the bodies, "How do we get inside?"

They searched around for a little bit until Ellie found something, "Someone left a ladder on the bus. Her, get me up there and I'll drop it to you."

Joel braced against the bus wordlessly, preparing to hoist the teen up. She stepped onto his interlocked hands and jumped up onto the roof with his help.

"Ellie be careful!" Kathy voiced.

"Don't get killed up there." Bill added, though his words lacked the worry that Kathy's had.

"Thanks Bill." Ellie quipped dropping the ladder down. They climbed up and joined the teen on the top of the bus.

"We're okay. We just need to get to the hood of the truck." Bill told them, jumping off the front of the bus to where the truck was on the other side of the fence. His head shot up when he heard a sound, "Shit. You hear that? They're coming. Move it, kid! Alright, we're gonna get in quick. We're gonna get the battery. We're gonna get the hell outta here."

"Oh fuck, they're piling up against the fence! They're gonna get in!" Kathy swore, firing off a few round at the infected that almost climbed over the fence.

Bill tried the doors, "The door's locked! We have to get inside to get the battery!"

"Come on Bill!" Joel exclaimed as the infected broke through the fence, running straight towards them. He shot a few of them to keep a safe distance while Bill yanked the window.

"I got it!" Bill climbed through the now open window, "Window's open! Hurry!"

"Joel, come on!" Kathy called out to Joel after climbing in with Ellie He was still shooting the infected.

Hearing her voice, he climbed through, struggling against a clicker that had grabbed his legs. With the help of Kathy and Ellie, Bill pulled him in and shot the Clicker in the face with his shotgun.

Ellie slammed the window shut before any could get through, "Shit. That's not gonna hold."

"Bill, hurry the fuck up." Kathy urged, the man who had went straight for the truck. The infected began banging against the double doors, so Kathy and Joel pushed some shelves in the way and leant against them.

"Please tell me you're done!" Joel groaned against the force.

Bill popped open the hood and looked at it in disbelief, "It's empty."

Joel gave up leaning against the barricade and ran to Bill to see for himself, "What?"

"It's fucking empty!"

"Guys!"

"Bill, where to?"

"Uh..."

"Bill, where?!!"

"Anywhere but here."

Kathy grabbed Ellie and pulled her away from the barricade, "Get ready to run for your life, kiddo."

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