𝕺𝖜𝖓 𝖂𝖔𝖗𝖘𝖙 𝕰𝖓𝖊𝖒𝖞

- CHAPTER THIRTY TWO -
KICK THE BUCKET

"LOOK, I KNOW you mean well...but there's no half-way with this. Once we're done, we'll go wherever you want, okay?" Ellie voiced to Joel as they went down the stairwell to the ground floor.

"Well, I ain't leavin' without ya, so let's go wrap this up." He replied. The building opened up into the outside where an early years quarantine zone had been set up around a gas station. "Well, this place takes me back."

"How so?" Ellie asked.

"It was right after everything went down. I ended up in a triage just like this. Man, everywhere you looked, you just...saw families torn apart. The whole damn world seemed to have turned upside down in a blink."

"Was that after you lost Sarah?" Kathy questioned.

"Yes, it was..." He admitted.

"I can't imagine losing someone you love like that. If I ever lost Ellie, I don't think I'd be able to carry on like you did." She voiced, looking down at her boots. "I'm sorry, Joel."

"That's okay, Kathy." He comforted her, kissing the woman on her forehead. It made her smile.

"Hey Joel, I got something for you." Ellie spoke up and stopped mid step, reaching into her backpack for something. She pulled out a picture of a younger Joel and his daughter, "Here, Maria showed this to me and Kathy and I uh...I stole it. I hope you don't mind."

Joel took the picture from her hand, carefully slid it into his back pocket and sighed, "Well, no matter how hard you try, I guess you can't escape your past. Thank you."

"For what it's worth, I think Sarah was a very beautiful girl and I know I didn't know her, but I reckon she'd be very proud of you."

Joel closed his eyes and took in a deep breath, he knew she was right. Sarah would have been proud of him. He reached for the brunette and she moved into his arms, her head resting on his chest. Eyes still closed, he kissed her forehead, enjoying her comforting embrace.

Eventually, they had to let go, but she held his hand as they walked down a road that became a tunnel.

"This time it's gonna be different. I just know it." Ellie stated confidently.

"What do you mean?" Joel asked.

"They're gonna be there - the Fireflies. I'm sure of it."

"Don't get your hopes too high, kiddo. It might not turn out the way we want it to." Kathy told the girl.

They climbed over a truck that was blocking the tunnel and they weren't over the other side for a minute when they heard some roaming infected.

Crouching down, they avoided the runners and clickers that hand't noticed their presence.

"Oh my god, there's so many of them!" Ellie exclaimed quietley.

"I know, let's just keep at it."

They stuck to the edges, only creeping around clickers when absolutely necessary, but they were making progress. However, luck wasn't on their side for long, as two bloaters were stood waiting aimlessly.

Kathy and Joel had their weapons aimed and ready just in case they were spotted, but by some miracle they managed to get past without alerting the infected.

They stopped by another lorry trailer and on top was a crate perched near the edge. If they could get it down, they could climb over easily.

"That crate could get us up there." Joel pointed out to them. He put his back against the trailer and held out his hands for Ellie to boost herself on.

She got up there and pushed it off. "Look out below!"

No infected were on the other side, but the road was extremely flooded. The suck by the wall as they walked as it was the only place not submerged by water and Ellie still couldn't swim.

"We're good. I don't think they can reach us now." Joel breathed. "Watch your step. That water looks pretty deep."

"Hey, that's what we can do once we're done." Ellie replied.

"What's that?"

"You can teach me how to swim."

"Trust me, Ellie, I already had that on my bucket list." Kathy chuckled.

"What's a bucket list?"

"A list of things you want to do before you die. Y'know, before you kick the bucket." Kathy explained, watching amusedly as Joel hopped into the deep water. He dove under the lorry that was in the way and resurfaced on the other end.

"I'm on the other side!" He hollered.

"Cool. Drop that ladder for us!" Ellie shouted back.

"All right, hold on."

Joel dropped the ladder down from above and they climbed up to join him. "All right, just stick to the edge. It's shallow over there."

Ellie gasped as soon as her foot touched the water, "Ugh, freezing."

Joel tried to open a fenced door on the side, but it wouldn't budge. He sighed, "And another jammed door." He spotted a gap at the top of the fence and he braced himself to hoist Ellie again, "Give me your foot."

"Okay." Ellie was just about to jump when Kathy stopped them.

"Wait."

"What is it?"

"Clicker. Right there in the corner." She pointed out.

Joel took out his bow and arrow and killed it through the gap in the fence. Then he got back in position and hoisted Ellie over the fence where she unlocked the door. They ducked under part of the collapsed ceiling and climbed over a cabinet that was partially blocking a door into a large, flooded open space that had stairs running all along the spacious walls. Although, part of the stairs were missing and there was no way that they could jump the gap.

"Hey, look! There is is." Elle pointed at the hole in the ceiling where they could see the hospital.

Joel submerged under the water again and somehow came out above them on one of the balconies.

"You made it! All right, come on, get me across." Ellie exclaimed when she saw him lift a pallet over the railing. It dropped into the water and floated back to the surface.

Joel dove in after it and swam over so that Ellie could jump on it. She climbed up the other side and ran across the balconies until she was standing on the ledge above them by the ladder.

Kathy tried to climb up the ladder, but it creaked and snapped, causing her to fall back to the floor. Luckily, Joel was there to catch her.

"What just happened?" Ellie questioned, peeking over the railing at them.

"The fucking ladder broke off the wall." Kathy cursed.

"Now what?"

"We'll figure somethin' out." Joel sighed, picking up the ladder. He placed it against the door they had came through and they went up, ending up on the balcony Joel had found the pallet on.

Once Kathy was up there with him, he picked up the ladder again and lowered it so that it was now on the platform of stairs on the other side of the water. He hopped down, momentarily helping Kathy down as well and then he dropped the ladder across the wide gap that he couldn't jump before, turning it into a makeshift bridge for him and Kathy.

Ellie was on the other side of the gap waiting for them, "Oh, I see. Good idea."

They went up the steps and stopped above another tunnel. This one had the river running through it with a strong current that even Joel couldn't swim against. They'd have to go above it.

"Oh boy."

"Just let me go ahead and you two follow my lead." Joel advised, looking at the rough water intrepidly.

"Okay, right behind you."

Cautiously, Joel led the way, jumping across several trailers that were peeking out of the water. He then made a lengthier jump onto the vents by the wall.

He looked back to Kathy and Ellie, "Okay. Come on, jump."

"Alright then." Kathy rolled the shoulders and stepped back so that she could have a running start. She then leaped across the gap and into Joel's arms. "You can do it, Ellie."

"You're gonna catch me?"

"I got you." Joel assured the girl. She jumped across, barely needing Joel's help at all. "See? You didn't even need me."

"Let's get the hell of this thing." Ellie replied. She jogged ahead and jumped down onto an overturned bus, Kathy followed, but as soon as Joel jumped down, the bus started to wobble in the water.

"Ellie, Kathy, move!" Joel shouted and they beelined for the other end of the bus. Ellie and Kathy made it onto the platform, but just as Joel tried to get up, it collapsed and he fell into the bus.

"Joel!"

The current sent him to the back of the bus and Kathy jumped onto it to try and pry the doors open above him. Much to her dismay, Ellie jumped back on too.

"Ellie!" She scolded as she pulled the door.

"I made it. I fucking made it!"

Kathy was growing frustrated with the door and decided to use her foot instead, kicking it open. She reached down into the bus, "Joel, grab my hand. Oh fuck-"

The bus turned over, sending Ellie and Kathy into the water. The current pushed them along and with not being able to swim, Ellie was soon unconscious. Kathy held her breath, letting the water push her in the direction of her daughter and she held on tight, looking for a place to surface. She felt a brief moment of relief when Joel swam up to her and together, they hauled Ellie out of the water.

"Ellie..." Kathy gasped, leaning over the girl's face to try and see if she was breathing, but she didn't hear a thing. "Joel, she's not breathing!"

Joel began to panic, giving the teen chest compressions to try and get her heart going again. Kathy held Ellie's face, shaking her head in denial. This couldn't be happening.

"Hands in the air." Two men stood in font of them with his gun raised, but they weren't just any men, they were a Fireflies.

Joel continued CPR, "She's not breathing."

"Hands in the fucking air!"

Kathy reluctantly held up her hands but Joel didn't, he kept going. She shouted in protest when the butt of one of the Fireflies guns knocked him out.

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