THE UNEXPECTED

09

Henry had soon called us over to investigate this sewer entrance, I suspected that it lifted open from our side yet I was worried about the infected inside. So far my luck hasn't been all too bad considering I've made it this far and I've stocked up on ammo as well as finding various small knives which would come in handy.

Henry motions for Joel.

"Gimme a hand with this."

The two men give the grate a tug, grunting at the weight of it before finally lifting it up.

"Alright, c'mon, kids." Joel gestures for the two teens, then they slip through. He then motions for me to do the same, eyeing me carefully as I pull myself up and in.

"Hey, flashlights out." Henry orders and I flicked on the light attached to my rucksack strap. The others do the same and suddenly the sewer tunnel illuminates in our wake. The smell was absolutely foul, my nose scrunched in disgust.

"Let's split up?" I say, noticing two different pathways. Staying close to Joel's side, the two men nod and soon we depart - the brothers going one way and us the other, "We'll shout you if we find anything!" I call, not waiting for Henry's response as we ventured further into the sewer.

It seemed as though our side came to a dead end, I only hoped the brothers were more successful in our search. There was a room and it looked like it had some sorts of supplies but the gate was locked on the other side unfortunately.

"If you can get that open, I can crawl through and unlock it." Ellie points to a vent and Joel pried off the cover. "Yeesh, that is a big rat." She waits a moment before getting on her belly and crawling inside. I'm glad that it wasn't me doing the dirty work, I couldn't think of anything worse.

She crawls out at the other end, and wipes her hands off on her trousers before unhooking the latch. "And...voila."

"Very impressive," I comment, sarcasm evident in my voice and I notice Joel's lips upturn as if he was fighting back a laugh.

"Tch, I'd like to see you try and crawl through that," she retorts, causing me to chuckle and agree. It really was gross.

As we enter the room, Joel and I search for supplies and luckily there was some ammo. It was sparse but something at least.

"I think we found something!" We hear Henry call, and immediately I sigh in relief. I wanted to get out of this hell hole quickly. The brothers stand before a set of double doors, my guess was that a group of people used to live here which made me question what led them out.

"Are we really going through there?" I question, feeling unease at the pit of my stomach. Surely we've got to run into infected at some point? I sigh as Joel steps forward, ready to push the doors open.

"Oh shit!" He jumps back in surprise, we all do, but quickly realise it's not a threat as bottles are sprawled out across the floor. "It's a sound trap," Joel concludes, before giving us the all clear to come through.

"A what?" Ellie questioned, her eyebrows furrowing.

"It's like an alarm." I explained, looking around the grotty room.

Her brows drew together once more, a confused expression on her face, "I don't hear anything."

"You heard the glass, no?"

"Yeah." She deadpanned, to which I sent her a pointed look, and she made an 'o' shape with her lips once she understood. I sometimes forget these kids grew up during the pandemic.

"Someone used to live here. Doesn't look like that's the case anymore." Joel commented, looking around as miscellaneous items were strung around the room. It looked as though they just packed up and left in a hurry, making me all the more nervous.

"Who would want to stay here?" Sam asked, I had to agree. It wasn't exactly the nicest of areas.

"Well, someone who thought they could keep it safe." Henry told him. That was true, you had to take anything you could get in these times, and besides, it was better than being out in the open.

"I don't like this, Joel, we gotta get out of here." I said, mumbling, as I stepped closer to his side. He eyed me, noticing my unease and nodded. At that, I could tell he wasn't exactly sure of our current situation either.

"I'll get us out of here, don't stress yourself." He assured me, rubbing my shoulder with his calloused hand momentarily before moving back over to the other side of the room in search of an exit.

"Oh, shit! Get back!" My head snaps over to Joel's direction, nearly gasping at the metal door now separating us. Both Joel and Sam were now trapped. Fuck.

"Sam!" Henry shouted, beginning to get panicked.

"Yeah, I'm cool!" He replied, though I could tell there was a slight shake to his voice.

There was a small window, so I came forward and looked through it.

"That was me. I must've triggered some sort of safety gate or somethin'." Joel explained, frustration evident in his tone. We then locked eyes, "You, okay?"

"Yeah...yeah I'm okay, are you?" I ask as I nodded my head.

"Peachy," He said, giving me the smallest of smiles, "Henry, let's see if we can lift this." He then glanced behind me at the younger man.

Unfortunately but unsurprisingly, the metal door didn't budge. It was definitely heavier than we expected and no matter how strong Joel or Henry was, there was no way they were able to lift it. I cursed, looking around the area for anything that could help but there was nothing.

But, in the distance, I heard the all too familiar clicking noises and I prayed to God that it was just a figment of my imagination due to my stress levels steadily increasing. But the look on Ellie's face told me she heard it too, we share a look which was a mix between panic and defeat.

"Shit! We gotta move guys." I could see Joel's eyes snap toward my figure, and I could tell that he was frustrated that he couldn't help us, help me.

"Clickers!" I hear Ellie hiss but I was too focused on Joel's pained expression. Nearing the barred window, I sighed.

"I'll keep her alive, don't worry, cowboy." I muster a smile, "See you on the other side."

"Wait!" I hear him utter out just as I went to run, time was slim, "Be safe." He mumbles, but I caught it. An even bigger smile creeps onto my face and I mock salute him before finally running off and joining Ellie and Henry.