𝕺𝖜𝖓 𝖂𝖔𝖗𝖘𝖙 𝕰𝖓𝖊𝖒𝖞

- CHAPTER THIRTY -
COLD BLOOD

ELLIE SHUT THE garage door behind her and Callus after narrowly escaping a hoard of infected when she had gone out to hunt for food. She'd come across a sketchy man named David, who revealed he was the leader of the hunters that she, Joel and Kathy had been killing for weeks. After the deer she had killed had been traded for medicine, she got the hell outta there.

Joel had moved Kathy's mattress down into the basement where it was a little warmer. With the colder weather and her slightly infected wound, Kathy had been shivering a whole lot, going in and out of consciousness every few hours or so.

When Ellie had made it down to the basement, she almost cooed at the sight before her. Joel was wrapped around Kathy's form, the big spoon if you will, both of them sound asleep. He seemed relaxed for once, but wasn't everyone when they were sleeping next to the person they were in love with?

Joel's eyes opened slowly, hearing her return. He'd always been a light sleeper.

Ellie dropped her backpack on the floor and crouched next to them, "I only managed to get a little bit of food. But...I did get this." She pulled out the bottle of penicillin and a needle.

"Ellie, where'd you get that?" He asked, carefully unwrapping his arms from the brunette and taking the medicine from her.

"It doesn't matter where I got it, all that matters is that it'll make her feel better." Ellie argued, pulling the blanket down so that they could get to the wound. It was inflamed and red, but the bleeding had stopped.

Joel nodded, accepting that she wouldn't give him a real answer and injected Kathy with the medicine. Kathy's face scrunched up and her breathing was heavy. He placed a hand on her forehead to check her temperature and was relieved to see that it had gone down a little. He then laid back down under the blanket and pulled her into his embrace once more. Ellie joined beside them on the floor, her hand interlocked with her mother's under the cover and they slowly fell asleep, one by one.

➸ ➸ ➸

Kathy woke up alone, she didn't know how long it had been since she fell off that balcony. Joel and Ellie were not in the basement with her and the whole house was way too quiet. She clutched her side as she struggled to stand up. Joel came rushing down the stairs as soon as he heard movement.

"Kathy! You're up!" He exclaimed, holding his arm out for her to clutch onto for balance as she breathed heavily.

"Where's Ellie?" She asked and his face fell.

"Some hunters tracked her back to the town, she went out to try and lose them. But that was hours ago. I was just about to go find her." He replied, helping her up the stairs - he picked up their backpacks on the way.

"Why didn't you go after her?" She asked with narrowed eyes.

"You asked me to stay."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Well, we need to go find her. She could be in trouble."

"No, no, no. you're still hurt. I'm not letting you go out there in your condition."

"She's my daughter, Joel. I can't let her be out there by herself."

He sighed, "Just let me know if your struggling."

"Don't worry, I'm perfectly okay. Your mediocre stitches are holding up." She teased, taking her bag from him and slinging it over her shoulders. Joel's bow was missing from his - Ellie had taken it when she had gone hunting, but Kathy still had all of her weapons.

Joel led her through the house and to the garage - Callus wasn't there anymore either - and he pulled up the door for her. Cold wind and snow instantly blew into her face and she was thankful that Joel or Ellie had managed to put her into a thick jacket while she was out.

Kathy called out Ellie's name in the streets, but she never got an answer. Her daughter wasn't close by. What had happened?

"They're over there!" A hunter's voice exclaimed over the road and she and Joel quickly ducked for cover.

"Shit." Joel grumbled, getting out one of his pistols. He knew he shouldn't have let Ellie go off alone.

"Move it! Don't let 'em getcha!"

"Run!"

"Oh, I'm not letting these fuckers get away." Kathy growled, jumping out of their cover with her gun aimed at the men she was now chasing down - her injury momentarily forgotten about as the adrenalin pumped through her veins.

"Kathy, wait!" Joel shouted, running after her.

"Where the fuck is my daughter, you bastards! Because one way or the other, you're gonna tell me." She vowed, killing one of the men who had stopped running away. She and Joel cut through one of the houses when they were grabbed.

"Gotcha, asshole." One of them grunted as he tried to keep a hold of Joel from behind. "Finish him off!"

The one holding Kathy pushed her to the ground, thinking that she wasn't much of a threat and approached Joel with a knife. Joel quickly kicked his shin and escaped the grasp of the first man, who he slammed into the wall of the house. Kathy got back up and kicked the second guy in the face until he was knocked out.

Together, she and Joel dragged the men into the house and tied them up separately. One was tied to the radiator and the other was tied into a chair facing the other way.

Kathy watched Joel hit the man tied to the radiator repeatedly with her arms crossed, feeling some sort of satisfaction when she saw the blood trickling down the hunter's face. She wasn't going to stop him. She knew these men were part of the group that took Ellie and she would stop at nothing - she'd kill whoever she needed to kill - until she got her back.

"What do you want? What the fuck!" The man cried in between the punches that were being dealt to his face. He slumped when the smuggler stopped and walked to the other in the chair.

"You wait here." Joel said, his face set with anger. Kathy was the same, although hers was with a twinge of pain as the adrenaline had worn off. He dragged a chair over and sat in front of the dude, twirling a knife. "Now, the girl...is she alive?"

"What girl? I don't know no girl." The hunter denied, acting all tough.

Kathy took the knife from Joel and shoved it in the man's kneecap, "My daughter. Little redheaded girl that was taken by your guys. Where is she?! Tell us, or I'll pop your fucking knee off."

The man cried out in pain, "Fuck! She's alive! She's David's newest pet."

Joel placed his hand over Kathy's on the knife and twisted it a little, "Where?"

He cried out again, "In the town. In the town."

Joel yanked the knife out and placed the handle in the guy's mouth. He then held up a map in front of him, "Now you're gonna mark it on the map. And it better be the same exact spot your buddy points too. Mark it."

The guy left a bloodied mark on the map, "It's right there. You can verify it. Go ask him. Go on. He'll tell ya. I ain't lyin'. I ain't lyin'."

Kathy wrapped her arm around the guy's throat and broke his neck while Joel went for the other guy tied to the radiator.

"Fuck you man. He told you what you wanted. I ain't telling you shit." The hunter grunted.

Joel picked up a pipe from the floor and stood over him, "That's alright. We believe him."

"No wait!"

Joel swung the pipe down and cracked the man's skull open. Now they were closer to finding their little girl.

"I'm sorry you had to see that, Kathy." Joel apologised as he wiped his hands on his jacket.

"It's nothing I'm not used to." She shrugged, not really bothered by the fact that they had killed two men in cold blood. "At least we know where to look for her. This David guy - when I get my hands on him, I'm gonna literally cut his dick off."

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