This is Not the Last of Us

Chapter 10

Joel awoke with a start. He was laying on his back, not far from Ace who was staring at the door. He could see that Ace's fingers were dancing over his pant leg, he looked quite antsy.

Seth was sitting up and staring at one of the windows. Joel wondered what exactly he was seeing, considering there was a curtain blocking the view. The sound of winter winds slamming into the window was the only sound in the room for a few minutes.

Joel grunted and sat up slowly, looking up at the two men in confusion. They turned towards him and their eyes widened.

"Holy shit, you're awake." Ace blurted out and laughed, "I guess the penicillin really did the job for you."

"Can't say I'm surprised," Seth smiled comfortingly, "penicillin always gets the job done."

Joel looked around and his eyebrows furrowed, "Where are the girls?"

There was a long silence before Ace spoke, "Remember those bandits at the University? Apparently, they were hunting us. The girls decided it would be best to send themselves out as a distraction."

Joel stared at the two in absolute disbelief, "And you let them?"

Ace nodded, "I did. I felt it was the best idea at the time. We didn't have many options, considering you were comatose and Seth can barely move."

"How long have they been gone?"

"Almost a day." Ace said softly and rubbed his temples. "I was planning on heading out soon."

"I'm coming with you." Joel growled out.

"You'll slow me down, Joel."

"I can move."

"Joel."

"If Joel's going, I'm going." Seth said and already started to reach for his bag.

"God, not you too, Seth."

Joel stood to his full height, wobbled a little in pain, and then straightened himself out. He was visibly hurting, but seeing him stand got Seth to his feet as well.

"There's one horse left," Ace said after a reluctant sigh, "We can use it to distract the few stragglers around here. We need to grab at least one of them for intel. I don't know where the girls are, but they'd be back by now if they weren't in danger."

Joel nodded, "Sounds like a better plan than nothing."

They could hear men shouting orders to one another outside, trying to relay orders in the growing wind. It was honestly a matter of time before they checked this house anyway. It had been slow going for the men outside from the sound of it. They were checking house to house and were sparing no expense to make sure the house was completely empty.

For the first time in a while, Ace took the lead. He moved into the garage and raised the garage door with a soft huff. The three of them took the remaining supplies off of the horse and Seth gently patted its back.

"You served us well, Elliot. Thanks for all your hard work." Seth praised the horse as it ran off.

The bandits shouted in alarm as the horse raced past them, because of the snow and wind they couldn't tell that no one was riding it at first. Some of the men immediately started after the horse, while the others seemed to get more antsy.

The ones that remained moved to finish checking the houses and yards. There weren't enough to really cause a problem for the group of men, but they knew better than to underestimate a cornered opponent.

"Leave two of them." Joel said gruffly. "We can get information that way."

Seth seemed confused, but Ace immediately understood and grinned playfully. "I like the way you think, old fart."