𝕺𝖜𝖓 𝖂𝖔𝖗𝖘𝖙 𝕰𝖓𝖊𝖒𝖞

- CHAPTER SEVENTEEN -
ELLIE'S GOT A GUN

JOEL WAS TAKING a really long time to get back up to them and Ellie was not one to be patient. She stood there tapping her foot as Kathy paced back and forth along the hallway. They stopped in their places immediately when they heard a clanging coming from the floor below. It meant either two things, Joel was in trouble or they were.

They ran towards the noise, turning the corner to see a man drowning Joel in a deep puddle - it was about the size of a kiddie pool. Joel was struggling, reaching for his pistol below the water, but he couldn't reach it. Ellie moved first, grabbing the pistol and shooting the man in the head before he even knew she was there.

Joel sat up, having a coughing fit staring up at Ellie who was holding the smoking gun. He wasn't going to lie, he thought it had been Kathy. She always seemed to be saving his ass.

Not this time though.

Ellie lowered the gun, she couldn't look away from the man she had just killed. Killing infected was one thing, but a person? There was no going back from that. "Man, I shot the hell outta that guy, huh?"

"Yeah you sure did." Joel replied as he stood up. Kathy had offered a helping hand, but he's shaken her off.

Ellie sat down, trying not to vomit, "I feel sick."

Joel snatched the gun from the teen's hand, "Why didn't you just hang back like I told you to?"

"We were worried about you." Kathy glared, not liking his new tone towards Ellie. "You should be glad that we didn't."

Joel scoffed, "I'm glad I didn't get my head blown off by a goddamn kid."

Ellie stood up angrily, she didn't like his mood either, "You know what? No. How about, hey Ellie. I know it wasn't easy, but it was either him or me, thanks for saving my ass. You got anything like that for me, Joel?"

"We gotta get going." Joel ignored the girl's rant and walked away, which pissed off Kathy even more.

"Lead the way."

"If he carries on like this, I'm gonna hit him over the head with a pipe." Kathy grumbled, still glaring at his back. She couldn't believe how ungrateful he was being towards Ellie. When Kathy had saved his life, she at least got a thanks. Why couldn't he do the same with her niece?

Several minutes later, they were making progress on cutting through the hotel. Joel was still up front, their conversations a lot less fun than they had been that morning.

"We need to get back out. Find that bridge." Joel told them.

"Just tell us where to go, oh mighty leader." Kathy sighed dramatically, dragging her feet slighty.

They ventured into some sort of main entertainment roo of the hotel. Fancy tables layed out, a photography backdrop was in the corner and a grand piano was set up on the stage. If Kathy wasn't in such a bad mood, she would have tried to play something on it.

"Wow, look at that." Ellie approached the backdrop. It was a beach scene with cardboard cutouts of palm trees in front of it and a tear almost cutting it in half.

"That's a backdrop. People would take their pictures in front of it." Joel explained.

"Yeah, I know what it is." Ellie snipped, crossing her arms.

"Okay then, something on your mind, Ellie?"

Ellie released a heavy sigh as she scratched her head, "I wasn't trying to disobey you back there. You were taking a really long time and I thought...Maybe he's gotten into trouble. Kathy thought the same thing."

"It don't matter what you thought. I need you to listen to me."

"I do! It's just that..." She trailed off, "Whatever, Joel."

"Hey!" Kathy hollered the two over to where she was, stood by the piano on the stage, "Maybe we can use this?"

Joel nodded in agreement and walked over, running his fingers across some of the keys, "Didn't you say that you could play one of these?" He asked her, "Wanna give it a go?"

Kathy shook her head, "I'm not really in the mood."

"Well alright then." Joel replied, bracing against the piano to push it, "Goddamn, this is heavier than I thought." Kathy joined in helping him push, but they could've used Ellie's help, "Hey, how 'bout a hand?"

Ellie trudged over and retorted, "You sure you can trust me with that?"

"Ellie...Push."

"I am!"

"Push harder!"

With a strong push, the piano wheeled across the stage until it hit the wall, giving them the opportunity to climb it to get to the floor above.

"There, how's that?"

Joel rolled his eyes and climbed up, "Let's go."

The walked along the balcony and into a room with a bar and a buffet table. Obviously, the buffet was completely empty and useless, otherwise Kathy would've been seen stuffing her face with rich food. That room led out onto an outside balcony with scaffolding and tarps built against it.

Joel hopped over the railing and onto the scaffolding, taking a rifle from the corpse that was lounging there. He was quick to duck though when he heard some hunters down in the street. "Come here. Keep your heads down."

Kathy and Ellie came up beside him, peeking over the railing to get a look. He continued, "Alright now, I'm gonna jump down there and I'm gonna clear us a path."

"What about me and Ellie?" Kathy questioned, offended that he didn't want her help down there. Why did he want to go down there alone? She was perfectly useful, why did he bench her when she had saved his life countless times?

"You two stay here."

"This is so stupid." Ellie protested, "We'd have more of a fucking chance if you'd let us help."

"I am!" He grabbed the rifle and gave it to her, "Now you seem to know your way around a gun. You reckon you could handle that?"

"Well, I sorta shot a rifle before." Ellie took the gun, "But it was at rats."

"Rats?"

"With BB's."

"Well, it's the same basic concept. Lift it up."

Ellie held up the rifle and aimed it, Kathy watched fondly as Joel taught her how to use it. It was probably time Ellie learned this sort of stuff, she couldn't be a kid forever. Kathy realised that now - she needed to stop babying her so much. Ellie had grown so much in the past few weeks.

"Listen to me," Joel's stern voice drew Kathy back out of her thoughts, "if I get into trouble down there ou make every shot count. Yeah?"

"I got this."

"Alright." Joel nodded and moved away so that he could drop down, "And just so we're clear about back there...It was either him or me."

"You're welcome." Ellie smiled after he dropped down. She then looked at Kathy, "You going after him?"

Kathy cocked her pistol and grinned, "Of course. There's no way I'm letting that man bench me when I can be of more use down there with him."

She kissed Ellie's forehead, whispering a 'good luck' before jumping off the scaffolding, completely ready to kill some dudes.

➸ ➸ ➸

Joel was not happy when he heard Kathy jump down and join him. He didn't want her in any more danger than she already was. He liked her, he wouldn't deny it. He would never have told her about Sarah if he didn't like her.

And if anything were to happen to Kathy...if the hunters hurt her because she tried to help him - he...he didn't know what he would do.

"The hell are you doin' down here?" He scolded quietly as to not alert the hunters, "I told you to stay up there."

Kathy tutted, "Like i'd let you take out all these guys on your own."

"I thought you'd be mad at me for giving Ellie a gun." He said to her, his eyes still looking around to make sure they weren't spotted.

"It was about time she had one. I've been too soft on her, I need to toughen her up." She admitted.

"She's tough," he assured, "Just like you."

"Thanks?"

"You ready for this?" He asked her, motioning to a hunter that was strolling closer to them.

"I'm always ready for a fight."

They picked off the hunters one by one until the situation got a little hairy. At one point, Kathy had been held at gun point, but Ellie had intervened with her rifle from her perch. She was a great shot.

It felt like hours until the gunshots stopped, Kathy Joel and Ellie were the only ones left alive - all the hunters were dead.

"Ellie, you can come on down now!" Kathy called out towards the scaffolding. It wasn't long until the teen walked over, still clutching the rifle.

Kathy grabbed a pistol from one of the dead men lying on the floor. She grabbed the rifle from her niece and handed it to Joel.

"How'd I do?" Ellie asked.

Joel shared a look with Kathy and nodded at her, he knew what she was thinking of doing. "How 'bout something a little more your size."

Kathy held out the pistol to Ellie and smiled, "You did good, Ellie. I'm proud of you."

"It's for emergencies only." Joel added firmly.

Ellie glanced between the two and gently took the gun, "Okay."

"Now, the safety's on. Do you know how to switch it off?"

"I do."

"Okay, you just...you gotta respect it. This is not -"

"Relax, Joel." Kathy cut him off, "She's got it."

"Okay."

They searched the area for a while, looking for anything that could come in handy. And although rags and alcohol were useful, Kathy really wished they'd come across something better. She'd need a workbench or something to upgrade her guns, a few extra bullets in her pistol's ammo capacity would make the world of difference.

Luck struck a minute later when Joel discovered a shutter door. He lifted it up just enough for Ellie to crawl under and find something to prop it open, "Alright, do your thing, Ellie."

"On it!" She tried the chain first, but it wouldn't budge, "The stupid chain is stuck. Hold on." She came back with a cart and shoved it under the door, allowing Kathy and Joel to crouch under.

"That's good thinkin'" Joel praised.

The room had no other way out than the way they just came or the gap in the upper part of the wall in the corner - the door had been blocked off. If they took the cart and moved it over there, they could climb through.

Joel was thinking the same thing and grabbed the cart, "Help me open this."

Kathy and Ellie went to the door and held it up so that Joel could pull the cart back out and wheel it over to the gap. They climbed through and just sitting there was a workbench just the thing Kathy had been searching for. She went straight for it and upgraded as much of her weapons as she could with the scraps they had collected on their journey. She was very happy when she finished.

Joel hopped over a desk that blocked the hallway after upgrading his own things, only to quickly crouch down when he heard shouting coming from just outside the window. "Oh shit. Get down. Get down."

Two people, a man and a woman, were panicking and running across the road away from a group of hunters that were driving around in an armoured truck. They were shot down a few metres away from the trio. The woman was still alive, groaning in pain as the hunters pulled up next to her.

"What do we do?" Ellie whispered.

"Nothing." Joel told her.

Kathy added solemnly, "It's too late for them, Ellie."

Two hunters got out of the truck, one of them shot the woman in the head and the other checked her for supplies.

"Busy couple of days, huh?" The one with the gun asked.

"Whatever, man. Damn, no food, old pair of shoes, they got nothing." The other replied and then stood up, "Let's go."

"Alright." they hopped back in the truck and drove off, leaving the bodies in the street, completely unaware that they were being watched.

When they were gone, Ellie let out a huge breath, "Oh man..."

"There ain't nothin' we coulda done." Joel assured.

"I know. It's just...Oh man."

"Let's just get to that bridge." Kathy voiced, standing back up and brushing off her jeans, "Before that becomes us."

"Okay."

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