MOJAVE RAIN | Joel Miller

{9}

"Why'd she have to leave without me?" I silently cursed to myself as I followed the trail of dead bodies leading me on a path through the hospital. Like - I understand. She's fully capable of protecting herself and killing anyone that dares to cross her path, but it doesn't mean she has to go out of her way to avoid my help.

She'd set off an hour ago to hunt down Nora alone and I could only pray I'd find the two of them still alive. If Ellie was the one to pull the trigger, the blood would stain her hands forever. Killing to be safe was survival, but the moment we set out with a hit list it became a personal affair laced with the bittersweet taste of revenge.

The trail of bodies through the hospital halls soon went dry but the sound of gunfire provided a lead. Three men were firing over the edge of a balcony at something I couldn't see. I tightened an arm around the neck of the furthest one left, twisting his body to face the other two who were in the process of shifting their line of fire. Seeing their friend held hostage caused them to hesitate, giving me enough time to shoot the two of them down and finally blast a bullet through the head of the one I held.

"God damn it!" I heard from the floor below and caught a glimpse of Ellie running through the adjacent corridor.

I'd found her and now just needed to keep up.

Scrambling down the nearest set of stairs, I kept a constant pace chasing after her. The stream of grunts and curses was all I had to follow through the maze of dirty blue walls. But as I rounded a corner I saw Ellie and Nora wrestling for survival on the floor. My gaze locked onto the two as I charged forward to tackle the older woman who'd gained dominance in the situation, not realising my stupid mistake until it happened.

The floor disappeared beneath my feet as I ran straight into an empty elevator shaft. My hands desperately clawed onto the ledge as I screamed at the returning shooting pain through my ribs. The pain soon grew to be too much and my grip faltered.

"Shit, Connie!" Ellie shouted as her head appeared over the ledge. She must've broken free from the fight and become distracted by the disturbing shouts.

I didn't get to look at her face for very long as I fell further into the darkness of the lower floors and collided with the empty elevator carriage that was lodged in between floors. If my ribs were only bruised or cracked before, this time they were definitely broken.

All the air crushed out of my lungs as I rolled off the metal surface and onto the actual floor. The red flashing lights brought me out of my daze and willed me to take in my surroundings. My cheek pressed into the cold tiles of the floor as I noted the small number of spores dispersed in the air. My arms lazily grasped around for my bag and successfully found the gas mask clipped onto its side. Ribs could always heal- an infection couldn't. I'd robbed myself of that cure when me and Joel spared Ellie's life.

With shaking limbs and laboured breaths, I raised to my feet. I shuffled across the floor following the signs for the 'exit' but paused when I saw the girl I was looking for through the glass panel of a door. I pushed it open with an unsettling creak, causing her to throw her gaze over her shoulder. She didn't relax her form even when she recognised who I was.

A metal bar was gripped in her palm as she stepped to the side, revealing Nora coughing in the dense and humid air. Stumbling forward, I rested next to Ellie with a coldness in my harsh stare.

"It's you." Nora choked out when she cast her eyes up to look at my face through the mask, "You're lucky to still be alive."

"Falling three floors is nothing. I've survived a hell of a lot more." I snarled. The woman took a few more deep, heavy breaths before shaking her head.

"No. That's not what I'm on about. You're lucky we had to leave before we could find you and give you the same treatment as him." My jaw tensed at her words. If I was in the physical condition to be handing out backhanders she would've been knocked flat on her ass.

Reaching out an arm in front, Ellie moved me behind her to protect me from the verbal abuse coming from a woman already as good as dead.

"Where's Abby?"

"I'm fucking dead anyway. Why would I tell you anything?" Ellie lowered herself to become eye level, the sound of the metal pole scraping across the ground striking fear into ex-firefly.

"Because I can make it quick...or I can make it so much worse."

Tears started to fall down Nora's cheeks as her imminent death loomed over her. She could try and act as fearless and badass as she wanted up until the very last moment but her body language exposed the fact she was terrified.

"Think about what he did and how many people are dead because of her-"

"-This is your last chance." Ellie interrupted. In the two years she'd refused to talk to Me and Joel, she'd had enough time to analyse the consequences of our actions. She abruptly stood up and pointed the pole towards Nora's head.

"I'm not giving up my friend"

A moment of silence followed before the sickening crack of the pole breaking her skull was heard. I couldn't see what expression had etched its way onto Ellie's face but I had a pretty good idea of the rage coursing through her. Hit after hit threw blood over the walls and our skin. She'd beaten the girl to pulp and from where I was standing I could no longer distinguish where the nose, mouth or eyes were even meant to be anymore.

"Hey, kid..." I called out in an attempt to get her to stop.

"Kid?" I called again when she continued with a relentless force.

She ignored my second attempt at pulling her out of the dark place in her head. I hissed as I stepped forward, on hand resting on my front and the other calmly reaching out to grab her raised arm.

"Ellie-" I snapped, causing her action to halt and her body to freeze. She looked me in the eye before turning her gaze back to her victim. The energy instantly drained from her body, her grip relaxing, causing the pole to fall to the floor with a clang.

No words needed to be said as she quickly turned and wrapped her arms around me. I hissed slightly but readjusted my arms to wrap around her back, one of my hands coming up to rest on the back of her head as she tucked her face into my neck. It was only on the rarest, most desperate occasions she turned to me for comfort and it hurt that it took a situation like this for her to hug me.

The gas mask made things awkward and the sticky warm feel of fresh blood between us made my skin crawl. Despite my discomfort I continued to hold Ellie without dispute. She needed me.

"Are you ready to go back?" I asked after waiting for a few moments. She simply nodded, pulled away and headed to the exit.