Till The End of The Line

~Nine~

I felt Ellie pat my shoulder softly, bringing me out of my sleep. My body jolted at the touch, causing my eyes to shoot open as well. Joel turned his head at the sound of me, looking between Ellie and I.

"He said it's time to go." Ellie motioned, jerking her thumb towards Henry.

"So no matter what, you stick to me like glue." Henry states to Sam, almost like it's a regular between them.

"Like glue." Sam repeats, nodding back and forth to each other.

"Alright, ya'll ready?" Henry asks us, heading towards the door as we give a silent nod. "Good, stay close."

"Have you tried this before?" I ask, jogging behind him in the empty hallway.

"Uh..yeah." Henry's voice sounded as if he wasn't even sure of his own plan.

"That's comforting." Joel scoffed, keeping up with us in the front.

"Relax, old man.

"Just hope you know what you're doing."

We made our way down a couple flights of stairs, making sure the kids stay close and as quiet as possible to us. Once we made it to the bottom floor, there was an amber glow coming from a fire that continued to burn in a waste can.

"Let's take them out quietly." Henry nodded to Joel, motioning for us to stay back as they began with their plan.

The two slowly and quietly made their way behind the two men standing by the fire. No sounds were made until I heard the muffling of the men groaning and then finally, a snap coming from their necks.

I peeked my head over the crate, watching as Joel and Henry motioned for us to follow in pursuit. We exit out the doors hiding behind broken medians as a LED spotlight searches the grounds around us. A loud screech sounds off behind us, emerging from a broken window. A loud shot rings through before the clickers body flails to the grass.

"Ya'll stay close to me and out of that light." Joel whispers, right before shuffling his way behind cop cars and other broken pieces of cement to take out the smugglers.

We finally got down to the last two, Joel went to head for the one closest and before he could object, I ran around him and jumped on the back of the other. He bucked his body like an angry bull, clawing at my arms as I wrapped them around his neck. He went to grab me to throw me over, but was too late when I used my knife to stab into the side of his neck. He let out a gurgle before dropping to his knees.

The last man fell to the ground before Joel cut his eyes at me. "What the fuck were you thinking?" He growled, rushing up to me.

"Being a helping hand? It was the last two, I can't stand here and watch you risk everything when I can do something to help." I stated, wiping the blood onto my jeans.

"What you did was endanger yourself."

"Look around! We're always in danger! The least I can do is try to help along the way."

"Can you two stop for a minute for Joel to help me with this door?!" Henry groans, trying with his might to push open the metal doors.

Joel huffed before jogging over there and using all his strength combined with Henry's to get the door open for us. Once the door was open just enough, the sound of heavy tires came in from the right, bright lights accompanying it.

"Shit! Hurry! C'mon girls!" Joel yelled, ushering us and Sam through before he and Henry shut the door, slamming the medal lock into place. Waiting just a second, we run to a semi that has a broken ladder, hanging off the side. "Come on, let's check it out."