𝕺𝖜𝖓 𝖂𝖔𝖗𝖘𝖙 𝕰𝖓𝖊𝖒𝖞

- CHAPTER TWENTY ONE -
FOREST OF SUBURBIA

IT WAS OFFICIAL, Kathy did not like being separated from Joel. Guess she cared for him more than she thought she did. With him gone for the time being, she had to step up and take charge a little more. Henry was good, but she didn't trust him enough to make the calls.

They'd been running away from infected for the past ten minutes, shooting behind at them to keep them away while they ran around the sewer which was laid out like a maze. Ellie had got a few shots off herself at a clicker.

"Joel, that's them!" They heard Sam's voice as they rounded a corner, still being chased.

"Sam!" Henry exclaimed, running towards his brother.

"Oh thank God." Ellie breathed out when Joel met her and Kathy halfway.

"Man, am I glad to see you." Kathy pulled Joel into a quick hug, relief flooding over her. It was less awkward than she thought it'd be. She let go pretty fast when she remembered their situation, the infected were closing in on them, "We gotta keep going."

"Doorway - over there!" Ellie called out, "Run! There's too many of 'em!"

They legged it through the doorway, slamming the doors shut behind them, they knew it wouldn't hold for long.

"Ellie, get away from the door." Joel instructed the teenager.

Henry called him over to the door he was trying to get open, "Maybe if we push it together." They slammed against it in hopes to ram it open, but stopped when Sam crawled through the vent beside it like Ellie had done before.

"Sam!" Ellie protested and then turned to the adults, "He just crawled through!"

"He what?" Henry's eyes widened in surprise and disbelief, "Sam, what the hell are you doin'?"

Sam popped up on the other side of the gate and pulled the pipe that was holding the it shut out, "Getting us outta here!"

"Well hurry up then!" Henry retorted, just as his brother pulled the door open, letting them through.

"Everyone up the stairs!" Kathy shouted, running at the back of the group, "Fucking go!"

They ran up as many flights as they could until it was no longer possible. They ran into a locker room which clearly had a door that led to the outside, but it was stuck. This was the room they'd have to fight the infected.

"Damn thing's stuck!" Henry groaned, still trying to push against the door.

"Here, gimme a boost. I can get through that window." Ellie replied and he boosted her up.

"Open it from the other side."

"Make it fast!" Joel added as she climbed through, he loaded all his guns to prepare for the fight.

Henry moved to boost Sam up as well, "Come on Sam, you're not staying in here."

"What about you?"

"I'll be fine. Come on. Go."

Sam went through the window, leaving the adults to do all the dirty work.

"We always end up in situations like this, huh?" Kathy released a dark, breathy chuckle, "Wonder if we'll make it outta this one too."

Joel didn't like seeing her think the worst, "We will." He promised sternly and he believed that. He really did. He didn't know about him, but Kathy was a badass, there's no way she'd die this way. He wouldn't allow it. "Get ready."

"Fuck, here we go."

The infected came all at once, filtering in through the open doorway, intent on having the three humans in front of them as their meal. Kathy made sure they could only come in one way, blocking the other side of the room off with a molotov.

There were so many, but one by one they fell. Most of them on fire with gaping bullet wounds.

"Joel! Door's open, let's go." Kathy hollered him over while blasting a clicker's head off with her shotgun. He sprinted over and they slid through the partly open door. A runner slammed against the wall behind them, it's hand grabbing onto Kathy's wrist as she was the last to go through.

"Kathy!"

She tried to yank her arm out of it's grasp, but it only tightened as it too tried to squeeze through the gap. Grabbing her pistol from her jeans with her other hand, she aimed it at it's head and pulled the trigger. When it fell to the ground, she backed out of the door and Henry blocked it off with a vending machine.

"Fresh air." Henry gasped, leaning his hands on his knees while he took in deep breathes.

"You alright? Did it bite you?" Joel asked the brunette who was staring down at her reddening wrist.

She shook her head, showing him her arm, "No...No, not even a scratch. But it was one hell of a close call."

"Good." He replied, sighing in relief. "You're sticking to the front from now on. That ain't ever happening again."

"Gladly."

"Look at this." Sam interrupted the moment, pointing at the writing on the wall. A message Ish had left to warn people about the infected inside.

"Oh. Are you fucking kidding me?" Ellie cursed, reading the warning, "Thanks for the warning on the other side, guys."

"So where's this tower?" Joel asked, choosing to ignore that Kathy had almost got bit.

"We're close." Henry assured, taking a look at the area. They were next to a suburban area with lots of houses that would've looked too perfect back in the day with their picket fences and their playswings in the back gardens. "C'mon, let's go."

To please Joel, Kathy stayed up front with Henry while the kids strayed a little farther back with Joel in between, he was keeping his eye out for all of them.

"That was close, huh?" Sam conversed with his brother as they leisurely strolled down the hill.

"Yeah. Not one of our finest moments, but we made it out." Henry said back. From their view at the top of the hill, the could see the radio tower about five miles out. "Hey, look at that. Yep, what'd I tell you, huh?"

"Let's find a way around to it." Joel respond, squinting to see it a little better. Hopefully the supplies Henry had been talking about were still there, and maybe some of his people. He watched Kathy walking in front of him as he spoke to Ellie, "What about you, how you holdin' up?"

"Business as usual, right? When I was with Kathy and Henry, I took out a couple of infected by myself. You'd be proud."

"Yeah."

Ellie followed his gaze until it settled on the back of Kathy's head and she said, "She was really worried about you back there, you know."

He did not believe that. "Doubt it."

"She was! She was all fidgety, kept looking behind us, hoping you'd turn up around one of the corners. I've never seen her like that before, I think she likes you. And I think you like her too."

"Now Ellie..."

"You can't deny it, Joel. You keep grabbing her hand and touching her ever since the bridge. And you keep sending her lovey dovey eyes which is really gross. Even now you can't keep your eyes off her."

"I'm not talking to a kid about this." Joel sighed, running a hand down his face.

"She'd my aunt. If you get with her, that would make you my uncle. Which means I have a right to talk about this with you."

"Not gonna happen." Joel grumbled, walking faster so that he caught up with Kathy and Henry.

"I give you my blessing!" Ellie called after him, grinning from ear to ear as she noticed his embarassed expression when Kathy sent him a questioning look.

"What was that about?" Kathy asked the smuggler, looking back over her shoulder to see Ellie giggling with Sam.

"Nothin'. You sure you're alright?"

"Yeah, I told you. It didn't get me." She smiled at the ground, appreciating his concern for her.

"I was just five when the cordyceps hit. My memory's pretty hazy, but I remember living in a neighbourhood just like this." Henry reminisced as they looted one of the houses.

"What do you remember?" Ellie asked.

"Ahh...barbecues." Henry answered, "My parents, they would throw these crazy barbecues and invite a ton of people. You know, I remember the smell more than anything. Weird."

"I was twenty, fresh out of college. I didn't live in a place like this, but my brother did." Kathy voiced, causing the others to look and listen to her story, "We'd go fishing in the summer, see kids running around in the streets while we loaded up the truck. One time, their ball smashed the driver's side window, but he didn't get mad. Just gave them their ball back and told them to be more careful."

"He sounded like a nice man, you don't get many of them these days." Henry complimented, he had a feeling her brother wasn't around anymore.

"No, you don't." She whispered with a sad smile.

"Aw, Doggies." Ellie cooed, shifting the attention towards the two dogs playing in the street.

"You're gonna want to stay away from those. It's not like it is in the zone. These are wild."

Ellie nodded and then stopped in front of a truck, "What is this?"

"Oh, this is an ice cream truck." Sam acknowledged.

"An ice cream truck?"

"Yeah, Henry told me about these. They'd sell ice cream out of the truck."

"What? No way. Joel? Kathy?"

"It's true. This thing would around and play real loud creepy music and kids would come running out to buy ice cream." Joel explained.

"You're totally fucking with me."

"Mm-mm, he's completely serious." Kathy chuckled.

Ellie hummed, "Man, you lived in a strange time."

"Told you so." Sam commented smugly.

Once again, they searched each house they came across on their way down the hill. Sam and Ellie found a dart board and played a little bit. Even Joel had a go when they were done, but he had missed the board completely. He could shoot a runner dead in the eye, but when it came to darts he was a novice. Kathy found amusement in that discovery.

"Fireflies were here." Henry observed the well known tag painted on one of the walls they passed.

"Yeah, by the looks of it." Joel replied.

"Who know how long ago that was though." Kathy added.

"How're we gonna find them?"

"I know a guy. My brother, actually. He was a Firefly." Joel told Henry, "Last I heard, he was in Wyoming. We get there, we find him. We find the Fireflies. Whaddya say, you in?"

Henry huffed happily, content with the idea, "Sounds like a good plan, man."

Kathy patted his back, "Glad to have you aboard."

"Man, you hit almost as hard as he does." Henry groaned.

"Yeah but this time, I wasn't trying to kill ya."

"You guys are killing me with your downer talk. It's joke book time." Ellie piped in, whipping out her trusty joke book.

"What is that?" Sam asked.

"Just bare with me," She said, slipping through the pages until she found a good one, "You wanna hear a joke about pizza? Nevermind, it was too cheesy."

"I don't get it."

"Yeah. Me neither." She sighed, poor girl didn't even know what pizza was. She was missing out. "What did the green grape say to the purple grape? Breathe, you idiot!"

"That's so stupid." Sam scoffed a laugh, "Alright, I got a joke for you."

"Let's hear it."

"Why can't your nose be twelve inches long?"

"I don't know, why?"

"Because then it would be a foot."

"That's so dumb. I love it."

"Alright kids, that's enough chit-chat. Let's get a move on." Kathy declared, ushering them ahead of her. She'd like to get to the radio tower before nightfall, they were too exposed out in the streets.

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