The Last Of Us: Past And Present

Chapter 20

Chapter 20:

Ellie shot up from her sleep, breathing heavily. She looked around her, she was in the same room, in the warehouse, where the Wolf had brought her. She took several ragged, deep breaths. She closed her eyes. In her mind, she could still see the machete burying itself into Houser's skull, heard the cracking and ripping of bone, muscle and skin. Felt the drops of blood as they splashed onto her. She couldn't suppress the shiver that ripped through her.

The door to her room was shoved open and Ellie looked over to see the Wolf walking in, a plastic tray in his hands. He set it down in front of her and Ellie heard her stomach growl. On the plate was what looked like a roasted rabbit. But she didn't reach out to eat it. "You're hungry, don't even try to fucking lie. You haven't eaten since you got here." Ellie looked down at the rabbit for just a second and tried to hold back, but she couldn't resist. She was too hungry.

The whole scenario was beginning to remind her of what had happened to her during the winter last year. She shivered, but slowly began to eat the meat all the same. As she ate, the Wolf watched, a large smile on his face. "That's fucking awesome man. Glad to see you're finally fucking starting to come around." He didn't speak again until Ellie had finished eating.

When she did, he took her plate and stood. "I'll be back later." He opened the door and looked back at her once more. "You're a pretty fucking cool kid man. You were able to take down at least four of my fucking guys back when we caught you. Not too many people have been able to do that. I really do fucking hope that you'll stay." Then he was gone. Ellie took a deep breath, and stood. There was a window, and she looked out of it. They were at least three stories up, and there were Hunters moving around all over the place. There was no way she'd be able to sneak out that way. She tried the doorknob, and wasn't surprised to see that it was locked.

Ellie moved back to where she had been sitting and put her face in her hands. She prayed to God that Joel was on his way. If he was, she'd be out of here by dinnertime. If he wasn't...she doubted she'd see the sun rise again.

As quick as they could go without making noise; Joel, Devin, Tommy and Rebecca moved. Joel swallowed thickly several times. It was possible that Ellie was already dead. Possible that he would be dead soon too. But he wasn't just going to drop Ellie like a bad habit. No way. As they walked, Joel wondered if the info the Hunter had given Devin was true. It was possible that what the Hunter had said was a lie. But Devin had assured Joel of the authentication of the information.

Joel looked at Devin, and couldn't help but feel some sympathy for him. The kid had his head and eye socket wrapped up in a thick layer of gauze. Joel had tried to find something else for the kid to wrap his eyes up with, but he had not been able to find anything yet.

They reached the edge of a clearing, and Joel quickly crouched, hiding from view. He looked over to Devin, who nodded his head. Joel looked out at the warehouse. It was probably one of the largest ones he'd ever seen. And what was worse: the place was swarming with Hunters. Tommy and Rebecca crouched on Joel's right, and Devin stopped on his left.

"How we gonna' do this?" Tommy asked. Joel put his hand on his beard and thought. There weren't exactly a whole lot of things that could be done. His eyes drifted over the entire area of the warehouse, and the perimeter around it. Joel pulled his backpack from his shoulders, pulled it open and began pilfering through it. Inside, there were two Molotov Cocktails, several beat-up shivs, extra rounds for Joel's 9mm, and his revolver.

Joel reached inside, produced the Molotov's and passed them to Tommy and Rebecca. He gave the revolver to Rebecca, who quirked an eyebrow. "You're gonna' need it." He said to her before looking to Tommy. "You think you two could circle around and cause a distraction? Give us enough time to get in there and get Ellie?" Tommy nodded his head.