𝕺𝖜𝖓 𝖂𝖔𝖗𝖘𝖙 𝕰𝖓𝖊𝖒𝖞

- CHAPTER TWENTY THREE -
ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST

KATHY WOKE UP to the smell of beans and peaches, Henry's specialty. Joel was stood by the window, looking out into the fields. She yawned as she sat up, choosing to act like kissing Joel the night before was completely normal. She also chose to forget about her little freak out.

"Mornin' boys." She groaned, stretching her back. Sleeping on the floor had been a little rough.

Joel glanced at her through the corner of his eye, he didn't know how to act around her now. "Mornin'."

"What's cookin', good lookin'?" Kathy teased Henry as she shifted closer to the steaming pot.

"Peaches and beans. Same as last night." Henry smiled as he stirred the pot. He'd noticed Joel's little glare of jealousy when she joked around.

"Yummy." Kathy retorted, standing up and walking over to Joel, "See anythin' out there? Any infected come to ruin this lovely day for us?"

"No. Nothin'." Joel replied. How could she act so natural? Maybe she didn't regret kissing him. So, why had she pulled away last night?

Kathy patted his shoulder affectionately, "That's good. I think today's gonna be a pretty great day for us." She leaned in a little closer to his ear so that Henry couldn't hear her, "Especially if I get another kiss as good as the one we had last night."

Joel's eyes widened in surprise.

"Now, don't get all nervous on me, macho man. I like it. And I certainly know you liked it. I could tell by the way your hand-"

"Alright -" He cut her off, slightly embarrassed, "Alright. I get it. You wanna tell me what you were gonna say last night?"

"Soon. I promise." Kathy smiled, she seemed to be in a much better mood. Somewhat chipper.

"Damn, that smells good." Ellie groaned as she woke up, getting up with little effort.

"Good morning." Joel greeted. Now that he knew Kathy in some way liked him back, he was happier.

"Where's Sam?" The teen asked.

"I let him sleep in for once." Henry replied.

"Oh."

"Well if you want him to join us, you can go wake his ass up." He nodded her off, motioning to the room Sam had been sleeping in.

"Okay." Ellie wiped her hand under her nose, turning on her heel and going through the door. Not even a few seconds later they heard her panicked cries, "Sam? Sam!"

"What the hell?" Joel exclaimed, looking towards the door.

Ellie fell through, Sam straddling on top of her as he tried to claw at her face. He had blisters and spores all over him - he was infected.

"Shit. He's turnin'!" Joel ran for his gun. Henry was stood there in shock. Kathy rushed to pull Sam off of her niece. Sam quickly changed target, gnashing his teeth at Kathy who kept him at arm's length by his throat.

Seeing Joel go for his gun, Henry shot at his feet and Joel dropped the gun, "That's my fucking brother!"

Ellie was panting on the floor, watching helplessly as Joel was held at gunpoint and Kathy was being attacked by what used to be her friend. One gunshot settled a small silence after Sam dropped to the ground, a bullet in his head. Henry had shot his brother.

Kathy turned away as Joel went to Ellie's aid, string down at her hand. Her heart racing a million miles an hour as she stared down at the bite mark settled between her index finger and her thumb. This could not be happening. Not now. How could she have been so careless.

Tears began to trails down her cheeks, her whole body shaking with fear. What would happen now? A bite like this could not be hidden easily.

"Sam?" Henry's voiced was trembling as he stepped closer to the body of his brother, still holding his smoking gun. He was breaking. "Sam..."

"Henry." Joel cautioned, recognising the destructive and desperate look in the man's eyes. He stepped closer.

Kathy wasn't really paying attention, all her focus was on the death sentence that was the infected bite on her hand. No one had noticed yet.

"Henry, what have you done?" Henry cried to himself, the gun shaking in his hand as Joel inched closer with his hands up in surrender.

"I'm gonna get that gun from you, okay?" Joel eased, backing up a little when Henry pointed the gun at him. "Whoa. Okay, okay, easy..."

"It's your fault." Henry stated.

"This is nobody's fault, Henry."

"It's all your fault!"

"Henry. Henry, no!"

Henry quickly put the gun against his head and shot himself, dropping to the floor with a thump. Joining his brother in the afterlife.

They stare in disbelief at Henry's cold corpse. How did things get so bad in such a short amount of time? And it was only going to get worse.

"Joel..." Kathy's shaking voice caused Ellie's and Joel's heads to slowly turn around.

Ellie was the first to see what was wrong, "Oh, no, no, no. Not you. Please not you!" She ran over to her aunt, pulling her hand closer to get a better look at the bite.

"What is it? What's wrong, Kathy?" Joel asked quickly, disregarding their fallen friends for the moment to see what had made the rough, tough, Kathy Williams cry with such severity.

She looked into his eyes, his confusion visibly turning into rage when she lifted her hand into his eyeline to show the bite, "Sam...he bit me."

"This can't be happening! No!" He shouted, throwing his gun at the window in anger and self loathing, smashing it. How could he let this happen? It was Kathy, she wasn't supposed to get infected, he promised himself he'd protect her. He just got her and now he was losing her. How could this world be so- so cruel? Could he never have anything good in his life?

First Sarah, then Tess and now this? He was a magnet for bad luck. He had the same amount of bad luck as Sam Winchester did with girlfriends from that show Supernatural.

"What do we um...what do we do? Do- Do we shoot me?" Kathy asked, stuttering and completely a wreck for the first time in her life.

"No! Never." Joel growled. "We are not shooting you. I won't allow it."

"We wait it out." Ellie cut in, clinging to Kathy tight, she was afraid that if she let go, Kathy would disappear. The teen was crying so much, her cheeks drenched in tears. She'd lost her mom, her dad, she couldn't lose her aunt too. "Like we did with me."

"I'm scared. I'm so unbelievably terrified. I never thought-." Kathy admitted. "Joel, please, tell me what we should do."

"Like Ellie said, we wait it out." He mumbled, his anger had simmered down. Now, he just looked defeated. "Maybe- Maybe you're immune like her. You're family - there could be something in you DNA that makes you immune."

"Joel, we gotta think of the darker option here. I really don't think-"

He cut her off, moving so that he was now clutching her face in his hands, "We're waiting. End of story."

"Okay, but if I do...turn...I want you to shoot me. I can't make Ellie do it, it would kill her." She whispered, although it was still audible to the other two. "And I want you to know, that I'd go to Hell and back for you, Joel Miller. Don't you ever forget that. You look after her when I'm gone, mister, or I'll haunt you for the rest of your life."

(A/N Don't hate me. I've had this planned for ages.)

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