The Last Of Us (Fan-Fic)

Summer- Chapter Two- Part 24 Gun Shy

As I enter the room I see a clicker, before I can kill it myself two hunters burst in the room and I duck down. The first hunter shoots the clicker, "It's down. Finish it" He shouts as the clicker fall to the floor. "I got it" The other shouts back, knowing that it was already dead. "Nicely done. You bit?". "Not today, you?", "Not today". The hunters will have said the same thing each day, to them it is an inside joke. "Alright. Spread out and make sure we didn't miss any more of these fuckers" One advises. They do what he says and spread out, one searching the back of the area and the other coming closer and closer to me. 

As one of them turned the corner I snuck up behind him and strangled him, it was hard to make him go silently as he tried to hit my face before his eyes rolled and he was dead. I looked very carefully and saw his friend still still pacing around not know I was here or that the other man was dead. I picked up a brick and threw it, it broke when it make contact with the ground, but it still made a sound making the hunter come other, he didn't though, he was smart and now he knew I was here. I kept a close eye on him and when he was close enough I strangled him as well. 

As I carried on I was glad I stayed crouched as there were two more men in the next room. I hid behind a buffet table and reloaded my shotgun, just in case. I took them both down quite easily using my stealth tactics, and it was only a minute until they were both completely dead without wasting any ammo or arrows. I presumed that was everyone so I stood up and looked around, it seemed the only way out was a balcony, of course I would need a ladder to get to it so I started to look for one. Luckily there was one very close by, I picked it up and placed it where the balcony was.

I climbed the ladder at a good speed, but when I reached the top a man kicked me in the face, making my land in the large puddle back on the ground. I quickly came up, but the man was quick as well and he pushed my head under the water by my neck. As I struggled for air I managed to puch him and come up for some air, but he pushed me down again. I could see a gun only a few feet away and I tried to grab it. He was smart and held my arm back so that I coudn't reach it.

Before anything a hand grabbed down into the water and grabbed the gun, there was a loud gun shot which rattled my ears as I came out of the water and breathed in the air. I looked over and saw Ellie with the gun in both hands, smoke coming out as she had just shot him. She stood there for a second before putting the gun down to her side, "Man... I shot the hell outta that guy, huh?".

"Yeah, you sure did" I replied, getting myself out of the water, my clothes now damp again. Ellie sat down, her head hung low, "I feel sick". "Why didn't you just hang back like I told you to?" I asked, taking the gun off of her. Ellie raised her head, "Well you're glad I didn't, right?" She asked. I laughed slightly. "I'm glad I didn't get my head blown off blown off by a goddamn kid". "You know what? No" She says, standing on her feet, "How about, hey Ellie, I know it wasn't easy, but it was either him or me, thanks for saving my ass. You got anything like that for me Joel?" She argues, staring me in the eye. "We gotta get going" I say, ignoring her question. "Lead the way".

I walk off and Ellie follows me. I go back up the ladder and this time there is no hunters, The next room looks like a meeting room, there were bar charts on flip papers and notes scribbled across the white board. "We need to get back out. Find that bridge" I say, jumping down from the broken stairs down. "Just tell me where to go". I realized that I had created quite a awkward atmosphere, but that couldn't be helped. I checked a bathroom and found a shiv lying among some rubble. I looked in the other toilets as well, but there was nothing else there.

Ellie lent on the wall as she waited for me, looking bored, but mostly pissed. I ignored her, I maybe felt some guilt about what I said, but what I said was true. I looked in a desk drawer and found some scissors, but that was it. There was some ammo, but it was for a gun I didn't even have. The doors at the other end of the area were blocked off with piles of red chairs, it suggested that some people were trying to block infected out. I jumped over a desk and we came out into what looked like some sort of reception room, where someone would've eaten after their wedding.

The tables were pink with white, stained cloths. There was even a screen drop of a beach. "Wow, look at that" She said, looking at it. I picked up a few screws and carried on. It was then I saw the balcony, "That door looks like a way out" I say, looking at the door open. "Hey, you see a way to get up there?" I ask Ellie, "Nope" She replies. I head onto a floor which is higher up, perhaps used as a small stage. I see a large black piano and get an idea, "Might be able to get through with this".

Out of curiosity I put my fingers on the keys and play a out of tune melody before giving up and swiping my hand on all the keys, I couldn't remember the last time that I had seen one. I go back to the piano and start to slowly push it, "Goddamn, this is heavier than I thought". "Hey, how 'bout a hand?" I ask Ellie as she stands pointlessly staring into space. "You sure you can trust me with that?" Ellie questions as she walks over. "Ellie..." I say, annoyed by her attitude. She puts her shoulder on the piano and sighs, "Now push" I say and we push the piano. "Push" I repeat, "I am" She complains, "Push harder!". 

We push the piano and it lands in the correct place. "There. How's that?" She asks as I jump up onto it and then onto the balcony. "Let's go" I reply to her, wanting to just get out. I go all the way around the balcony, passed the open doors just to see of there was any supplies, and there was, a few. I head back through the open doors, there was nothing in the rook where it leads to just more tables and chairs so we go outside to a balcony and then to a little hut a hunter must had made, it was a bit like a tree house. 

I take a rifle off a dead corpse sitting in a chair and suddenly more hunters come out. "Oh shit" I say ducking down. As Ellie come through I quickly tell her: "Come here. Keep your head down". She does what I say and sits on her knees. "Alright now... I'm gonna jump down there, and i'm gonna clear us a path" I tell her. "What about me?" She asks, looking at me. "You stay here" I reply, keeping eye contact. "This is so stupid. We'd have more of a fucking chance if you'd let me help".

"I am" I tell her. "Now you seem to know you're way around a gun" I say, picking up the rifle. "You reckon you can handle that?" I ask. "Well , uh, I sorta shot a rifle before" She tells me, taking the gun. "But it was at rats" Ellie adds. "Rats?". "With BB's". "Well, it's the same basic concept" I reply. "Lif it up" I say, she lifts it and holds it in the correct way. "Alright now, you're gonna wanna lean right into that stock. 'Cause it is gonna kick a hell lot more than any BB rifle" I say, placing my hand on her back. 

"Okay" She says, leaning in more. "Go ahead and pull the bolt back" I say to her, pointing at it. "Grab it right there", she grabs and pulls it up, "Just tug it". Ellie tugs it and a shell comes out. "Now as soon as you fire you're gonna want to get another round in there quick. Listen to me- If I get into any trouble out there, you make every shot count. Yeah?".

"I got this" Ellie reassures me. I nod, "Alright". I get up and head to the ladder out, before I do I look back at Ellie and say, "And just so we're clear about back there... It was either him or me". I jump down to the ladder and hear her mumble, "You're welcome".