Till The End of The Line

~Six~

After finding a couple useful things, we made our way out of the shamble of the building. The smell of burning flesh made my stomach churn once again.

"I don't think these guys were infected.." Ellie said, trailing off at the end of the sentence.

"It doesn't matter, let's get moving on." I mumbled, keeping my shirt over my nose and going up the stairs, seeing the golden bridge in the distance.

"Alright, that's the bridge. That's our way out of here." Joel didn't even get to finish his sentence before Ellie jumped over the railing and onto the ground. "Ellie! Slow down and wait for me."

Instead of waiting for him, I jumped over, following behind Ellie. "Seriously, Erin? What did I just say?"

"What? Can't keep up, old man?" I smirked, following down the path.

"How about you let me go first, kid." I could see a smirk playing on his lips, but he tried his hardest to keep his face straight.

Dropping down to the highway, a whistling sounds close to us, making me jump slightly.

"I'm whistling! Erin! Joel! Look!" Ellie continued to whistle, swinging her arms around.

"Great, another thing she can drive me crazy with." Joel grumbled, reloading his gun. I chuckled softly as we made our way up past a vine covered bus. A hunter base was growing closer, when a larger shot rang out.

"What the hell was that?" I asked, looking around as I frantically ducked down.

"I don't know...Erin, Ellie, get down now!" He whispered in a harsh tone as 3 hunters climbed down from a bus that led to their base. Ellie and I kept close to Joel as they made their way by us, bitching about some of their other men not coming back. I went to get one of them from behind, but Joel gripped the back of my shirt and pulled me back to hold on to my waist. "Wait. Don't get yourself killed, kid."

Goosebumps rose on my skin at the warmth of his touch. We kept quiet until we no longer heard their voices.

"Guys, it looks like a way over by that bus!"Ellie whispered to us in an excited tone. Joel withdrew his touch and the area his arm touched grew cold. We jogged our way over to the bus, hopping on top of a car to make our way over.

Ellie jumped up first, keeping low to look at everything. "It's clear, come on up." Joel squared down, starting to boost me up.

"Up you go, kid." He steadied me up by putting a hand on my back, then boosting me up. Once Joel was up there, we could see the bridge peeking through some buildings.

"The bridge looks so far." Ellie groaned, jumping down.

"We'll get there, El." I chuckled, nudging her arm. The check point was completely abandoned, sending a shiver down my spine.

Once making it through the rotating gate, hunters' voices sounded throughout the checkpoint curtains.

"I hear hunters." I whispered, grabbing Ellie's shirt to keep her closer.

"I do too, stay down and quiet." Joel said, having us hide behind a weapon crate. "Stay close b-"

I was already heading inside the hunters hideout while Joel worked on the three out by the weapons. "Erin! Damnit!" Joel whispered harshly. Making my way around bookcases and crates I took out the hunters one by one. Once I reached the stairs I felt a pair of rough hands pull me back, just in time for a hunter to inspect the area just a few feet in front of us.

"Do you have a damn death wish, kid?" Joel mumbled into my ear. I turned my head to look at him, his breath fanning over my face. His grip loosened and he stepped in front of me. "Now you stay close to me, you got that?"

I nodded softly, my skin still tingling from his touch. We each made our way through the top level, only hitting a couple snags with the hunters, but with each one, the hits got easier.

"Look! There's the exit, come on!" Ellie yells, running towards the doorway. With Joel and I right on her footsteps, leading us to an alleyway behind all the moss covered buildings. There was an alleyway that led us to an old street, littered with cars and broken tree trunks. In the distance we could see where the road dipped and broke off into a makeshift pond.

"Down! Down, down, down!" Joel whispered to us in a hushed tone, pulling Ellie and I behind a car. We watched as a group of smugglers crossed the top of a bus that led into the old plaza. Once the last of them made it into the building, out of sight, Joel peeked over the car and then gave us the okay to head on. "Alright, I don't think they saw. Let's get a move on before any of those assholes decide to show up."

"There's our bridge! We're a little bit closer...I think." I squinted my eyes a bit at the golden bridge, huffing out as we followed behind Joel into the murky water.

"Let's keep it movin, c'mon." Joel pressed for us to move on up. Ellie stopped on the higher ground right where the water dropped off.

"We're gonna look for a way up, give us a second, El." I shot her a quick smile and made my way into the water behind Joel. Once I was chest deep into the water, I kicked my legs to keep up with him. A pallet of wood floated in the distance. "Hey, I'm gonna grab that for El, you go check that other building."

"Alright, darling. Please don't get yourself killed." His fingers grazed my side and then his touch was gone. Shaking off the feeling, I made my way to the pallet and brought it back to Ellie.

"Hop on, kid." She smiled at me before jumping on, causing me to fall back a bit and getting a mouthful of water. After spitting the water out and getting my grasp back on the wood, I was able to pull El to the old van, letting her climb on top and get something to get us over. Once she had made it to where we could successfully get over, I made it to the abandoned building Joel had wandered off to. "Find anything useful, old man?" I climbed up from the water to see the remains of what used to be a coffee shop.

"Found out how much I really miss coffee." He sighs out as he looks at the worn out menu. I came up behind him, the air making me shiver slightly from the wet clothes clinging to my skin. Joel turned to me as I tried to mask how cold I truly was. "Alright darling, let's get you over the van and inside." He rubbed my arms in a soothing manner before putting his hand on the small of my back as he helped me onto the vehicle to pass over to the van that led to the plaza opening.

Once we got to the opening of the plaza Joel motioned for us to stay behind him as he jumped down into the opening. After a moment of silence, anxiety bubbled in the pit of my stomach before Joel yelled to us, "All clear girls, come on down."

I jumped down first, Joel helped me straighten back up, watching Ellie jump down and then look around in amazement. "Woah...fancy. Do you guys ever stay at a place like this?" She walked around taking in the golden, accented walls. "Before it all went to shit I mean."

"No, no...A place like this is too rich for my blood." Joel chuckled as he shook his head. Ellie took a glance at me, raising her eyebrows, waiting for my answer.

"Oh no, I was more of a Holiday Inn kind of gal." I started before walking to the shambles of the remaining staircase. To the left there was an opening to lead us up. "Joel, help me find something to get us up there." Looking through the dirty water, we found a ladder a couple feet away.

Joel and I propped the ladder up against the wall that was headed to the second floor. Joel led the way, with Ellie and I right behind him. "Come on, let's see where this leads." I motioned my head to the next set of stairs that led to another floor. "Who knew I'd be getting this much exercise." I breathed out, getting up the stairs. Once we made it to the second floor, we got to a broken down elevator. My gut filled with hopes that it gets us closer to the bridge.

Hopping down to the top of the elevator, everything shook around us, causing me to grip onto Joel's shirt. After the tremors settled, I was still holding on when Joel placed a hand on mine. "You're good kid, not gonna let anything happen to ya." My grip loosened and I let my hand drop to my side. I avoided his gaze as Ellie jumped down behind us. 

We found an opening and I helped boost Ellie up to grab something for us to climb up on. "Here, why don't you go help her." Joel held his hands down for me to step on, but before I could hoist myself up, something snapped. Sending the elevator flying straight to what lied underneath, taking Joel and I with it.