Firefly

Thirty-Six

A/N: Okay, so I was going to have this be a really long chapter, but I changed my mind. In the next chapter, I will be finishing up them being in Pittsburgh and moving on. They won't meet Sam and Henry until Kansas City because I've decided to combine the show and game.

Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out. Thank you for being patient with me and understanding. Love you all ❤️

YN

Ellie looked between Joel and I. She watched as Joel said nothing and walked away. She turned to me with concern in her eyes. "He's not really going to let us just go off on our own is he? Are we going to go off on our own?" She asked. "Let's go." I said and walked off the way Joel had gone and Ellie threw her hands in the air. "Great talk!" She followed after me and up the stairs to the third floor.

The stairs to the fourth were blocked as were the doors to the hall. "Look, the elevator is open," she said. Joel walked over and set his bag down then fit his hands into the small gap between the doors. He grunted as he struggled to get it open, pushing the doors with all this strength until they finally gave way and opened enough for us to slip through.

Joel held the door while Ellie and I slipped through. There was a ladder inside that we climbed to get up to the elevator beside us. "Exactly how are we going to get up there?" Ellie asked, looking at the open door of the elevator. It was open to the fourth floor. "We are going to climb the wall," I said. She looked at me like I was fucking crazy and maybe I am. "Just follow exactly what I do."

I climb up onto the small metal bar on the wall and start to climb up and across. I go slowly and carefully, making sure to watch where I put my feet and hands. When I'm high enough and close enough to the door I reach a hand out and grab the side, making sure I have a good grip before stretching my leg out, planting my foot on the edge, and healing myself through the door. Once I'm through I take my pack off before standing to watch Ellie.

"Okay, Ellie, do what I did. Take it nice and slow and watch where you're putting your feet." Joel helped her up and she followed the path I took with Joel close behind her. I reached out and helped her over and we moved out of the way for Joel to come through. Just as he came through, a loud snap vibrated and echoed from inside the elevator shaft. We looked down and watched as the elevator crashed to the bottom. "Jesus Christ!" Ellie yelled.

"Holy hell, I'm glad we scaled the wall inside of jumping down onto that thing," I said, picking my pack up, and swinging it onto my back. We made our way through the halls and down a few flights of stairs until we came out where the other entrance was. The doors were of course blocked off my furniture so we walked down the hall where the banquet hall was. We walked through the double wooden doors, tables were set up, a backdrop stood tattered in the back of the room.

"Looks like there might have been a wedding reception either going on or was being set up for when shit went down." On the small stage at the front was a grand piano. The other doors were blocked, no surprise there. "Come on, help me push this against that wall. We can climb up there and get put that way," Joel said. Ellie looked at me and I sighed. I walked over and possibly myself on the other side of the piano. It took a lot of muscle and strength to get it against the wall but we did it. "Fuck, that's heavier than I thought it would be."

We all climbed up onto the piano and then up onto the balcony above the dining room. "Let's get the hell outta here," Joel grumbled. There was a broken window that led out onto scaffolding against the hotel. When we climbed out we quickly ducked down and looked over the side. There was a group of men standing around looking up at a corpse in the tree outside the bank. From the looks of it the body has been there for a few days. "Are we ever going to catch a break?" I whispered.

"They're dead! They're all dead!" Well, this is going to be fun. Joel and I looked at each other. We would need to take these assholes out before we could even think about continuing. "You know if you would give me a gun I could help. Have your back while you two are down there," Ellie whispered. I looked over to the right of us where a skeleton of a person sat in a chair. There was a lever action hunting rifle leaning against the chair beside it.

Staying crouched I went over and grabbed it. I pulled the lever down and an empty round popped out. When I pulled it back up a new round was pushed into the chamber. "Okay, listen to me very fucking closely. You stay up here and only shoot when you see one of us getting into a bind. You pulled down to release the empty round and back up to put a new round in. You need to be quick with it if you miss. Other than that you stay out of sight."

Ellie nodded and I handed her the gun. "I've shot something like that before," she said. I raised my eyebrow at her. "A BB gun," she said. "Pretty much the same concept." I took my pistol out and checked the magazine. "Okay, remember out of sight." I looked at Joel who shook his head. "Jesus, what?" I asked. "You're just going to hand a kid a gun and trust she doesn't shoot you instead?"

I rolled my eyes, "Ellie what have you practiced on?" I asked. She looked at me confused for a second until she understood what I meant. "Oh! Rats," she said. Joel and I looked at her and she shrugged. "Did you hit them?" I asked and she nodded. "If she can hit a rat, which is a lot fucking smaller than a human, I think I'll be fine. So either you can stay here or you can shut the fuck up and help me."

I walked to the edge of the scaffolding and climbed down as quietly as I could. There were concrete road blocks in front of it so I ducked behind one. I flicked the safety off on my gun just as Joel was coming up beside me. "Let's get this over with as quickly as possible." He looked like he wanted to argue, but I stood up and started shooting, hitting three of the five that stood under the hanging corpse.

I ducked back down one another shot at me and Joel popped up taking the other two out. Yelling from more of the group came over by the other stores to the right of us. I ran across the bank, jumping through the broken out windows. I heard Joel hiss my name when I ran over here then I heard his gun going off. Just as I was turning around I had to throw myself to the ground and crawl behind the front desk.

I could hear Ellie taking a couple shots while Joel ran to the coffee shop across from the bank. I looked around the corner and took a shot, hitting the guy that was behind me in the leg. I shot him again, killing him before making a run for the other side of the room. I saw another hiding behind a wall that was made of plywood. I snuck around, putting my gun in its holster and pulling my knife out. I silently got up behind him, putting my hand over his mouth with one hand, and slitting his throat with the other.

There was one last gunshot and then Joel was calling Ellie down. "Alright, come on down!" Ellie's head popped up and looked down at us before making her way down to us. Joel took the rifle from her and checked to make sure there was no more ammo in it. Then he surprised me by taking a pistol he took off one of the men. "Here, this is more your size. Always keep the safety in and keep it in your backpack. You only use it when it's absolutely necessary. Do you understand me?"

She looked over at me and I nodded. She smiled and took the gun from Joel, swinging her backpack off. "I understand," she said, putting it away in her bag. "Alright, let's go. We're not too far from the bridge yet." We walked over to what looked like their camp and went to a loading dock door. Just like last time I helped Joel lift it up and Ellie crawled under it. "Shit. Hold on, let me find something to put under it. The chain is jammed!"

"You ain't going off on your own." I looked over at Joel, raising an eyebrow. "Ellie, hurry up!" I yelled. "Okay! I'm coming!" I looked back at Joel, "Excuse me?" I asked. "I ain't letting you go off on your own. It's too dangerous out there. And besides, Tommy would know exactly where they are." Ellie came back, and we pushed the door up higher so she could push a cart under it. Joel and I climbed underneath and he held the door up so the cart could be pulled back inside.

"I know exactly where they are going to be," I told him. "And how do you know that?" He asked. He pushed something in front of the broken out window that led into the next building so we could climb up. "Because I listen and I'm observant, Joel. You think I don't pay attention, but I do."