This is Not the Last of Us

Chapter 30

It was much darker than they had initially thought it was. The storm clouds probably had something to do with it, but there was no certainty.

"We should look for a place to rest," Ellie announced, "We've got some good clues. Let's rest on it and get back to it tomorrow."

"Okay. We should look for something that's safe and close to the gate in case we have to get out fast. We need to eat before we go to bed, too."

Ellie had taken two more steps on Shimmer before they were blown off of him. The explosion injured Shimmer; much too badly to save. Ellie landed on her stomach, momentarily winded from the impact. Her girlfriend landed on her side and started to roll off of an incline. She tried to claw at the cement, but her grip was poor and she rolled off of the concrete and down below. By the time Ellie had caught her breath, her girlfriend was already gone.

"No!" Ellie cried out and tried to pull herself back up. She crawled towards the edge while trying to hoist herself up.

She couldn't properly hear exactly what everyone around her was saying, but she was certain it wasn't good. She managed to pull herself up to her feet, but she was immediately pistol whipped and fell unconscious.

When Ellie came to, she was tied to a pole. A man slapped the side of her face surprisingly gently to bring her fully awake. Ellie looked up at him with a pissed face she had practiced and perfected over the course of years. She had no idea who this guy was, but if he was with the WLF, then he was part of the problem.

"How'd you find this place?" He asked slowly and scowled.

The young man that had brought her back to attention wore a baseball cap to hide his dark hair. He had fair skin and a nice complexion, save for the nasty scar on his face. His hoodie had a few splatters of blood but was otherwise left quite pristine, not even a tear on it.

"I asked around about a dude with a bitch scar across his face." Ellie said and spat at him.

"Haha, that's funny." He exhaled and pulled out a knife, he didn't give Ellie a second chance.

His knife rammed into her pant leg with enough force to make Ellie cry out. She grimaced and shook her head in an attempt to release some of the pain.

"So, let me ask a different question then. How many of you are here? Huh? Was it just you two?"

"Fuck. You." Ellie said coldly and scowled.

He pulled the knife out, earning an agonized cry from Ellie. A man quickly stepped into the room with an annoyed look on his face.

"Jordan! You're supposed to be out there looking for the other one! What the fuck are you doing?"

"You remember that smuggler we killed in Jackson? The other girl was one of the people he was with. That means–," he gestured to Ellie with his knife, "– these two are dangerous. They're coming after us. It would explain why Nick was fucked up like that, it was out of nowhere. I say we bring her ass to Isaac and tell him what's going on. Abby be damned."

"Yeah, well, fuck Isaac too." The other man spat and pointed his gun at Ellie. "There's at least twenty of our men killed because of these fucks. I say we kill her now and avoid the risk."

"And what if there's more of them?" Jordan shouted and extended a hand to block the shot. "We don't know what we're up against. Let's at least interrogate her fir–."

The gunshot that rang through was harsh and lacked any hesitation. At first, Ellie thought that she had been shot. When she looked up, she saw Jordan fall over with a new wound in his chest, right where a heart would normally be. That type of precision could only be from one person Ellie knew.