The Last Ones Left

Chapter 10: Protective

"Ellie!" I hear someone yell my name "Joel?" I croak, my throat's sore from all of the sea water. "Ellie, it's Sam" I slowly open my eyes, it's dark outside, how long have I been out? "Oh, thank god you're alive" he says and then hugs me tightly, I cough as I hug him back. Wait, Joel's missing, "Where's Joel?" I ask. He points over to my left, I look over and see Joel just lying there, hopefully not dead. I stand up quickly with the help of Sam, I run over to him while losing my balance a few times, Sam's  behind me to make sure I don't fall on my butt I guess. I kneel down beside Joel as he opens his eyes slowly and looks around until his eyes land on me "Henry, he's awake!" Sam yells and runs over to Henry who's behind us. Joel eyes light up so I grab his hand and intertwine our fingers "Hey you, we're alive" I say with a smile on my face "Are you okay?" He asks me, I help him up "I'm fine, you're the one that took all of the damage" I laugh softly. He kisses the top of my head "I was scared that you were dead, I heard a crack and-" Henry interrupts my sentence "See? What'd I tell you, huh?" he yells to us, I see Joel's eyes turn cold "Y'know, Sam's the one that spotted you" Joel starts to walk over to Henry with his fists clenched at his side.

"You guys had taken quite a bit of water, when-" Joel shoves him to the ground and takes Henry's gun. He aims it right at Henry's head as I stand back shocked, "Henry!" Sam yells "Get back, son!" Joel yells and points the gun at Sam briefly "It's fine- Hey, hey, hey, hey" Henry says and holds his hand up "He's pissed but he's not gonna do anything" Henry says, does he really have that much trust in Joel? "You sure about that?" Joel threatens "Stop!" Sam yells. "Joel" I say in the calmest voice I can manage, I put my hand on Joel's shoulder and he immediately relaxes but still holds the gun strong "He left us to die out there" Joel says through clenched teeth "No. You had a good chance of making it, and you did" Henry says in a calm voice "But coming back for you meant putting him at risk" Henry says talking about Sam. "Stay back" Henry warns Sam, I step away from Joel and I see him physically tense up, do I really have that effect on him? "If it was the other way around, would you have come back for us?" Henry asks Joel. "I saved you" Henry says sternly, Joel contemplates this, "He saved me too" I add softly then look up at Joel, he looks directly at me, his eyes soften "we woulda drowned" I say, he licks his lips then sighs. He throws the gun next to Henry then looks back at me, Sam helps Henry up and he sighs "Y'know, for what it's worth. I'm really glad we spotted you" Henry says as he nods.

We all stare at each other, Henry starts to walk forward leaving Joel and I behind "Now, that radio tower is on the other side of this cliff" Henry says and glances back at us. "Place'll be full of supplies" I want to laugh at him believing in that "you're gonna be really happy you didn't kill me" I seriously doubt that. "Hey, we're gonna search this area. See what we can come up with" Henry yells, Joel and I walk around the other side of the boulder, he suddenly stops and hugs me. I freeze but then hug him back quickly, this feeling is amazing. "He didn't hurt you did he? Is anything hurt?" He asks me concerned "I'm fine Joel" I laugh. He pulls away and holds me at arm's length "I just had to make sure" he says, I nod and smile up at him. "Alright, let's go" he says reluctantly, we walk over to a boat that's stuck on land, we both climb up on it "Woah" I say and walk over to the edge "What?" Joel asks, "First time on a boat" I say and look at the horizon, it's beautiful. Joel chuckles "Well, it's a little different in the water" I smile and glance at him "One step at a time" I say and look back at the water. We jump off the boat and walk back over to Henry and Sam, "Hey, I bet this goes all the way through" Henry yells to us. "Gimme a hand with this" he says to Joel, Joel walks over and helps lift the gate to the sewer. "Alright, c'mon" Joel grunts, Sam and I crawl under the sewer door. 

Joel crawls under after us and holds open the door for Henry, when he climbs in Joel closes the sewer gate behind him. "Flashlights out" Henry instructs, Joel climbs into a small opening and I walk to the entrance of it "See anything?" I ask him "Uh-uh. Gotta find a different way" he replies. He crawls back out and jumps down next to me, "Joel, we should see what's over here" I say and walk to the right "Alright we'll check this side out" Henry says and takes Sam with him to the left side. "I'm not a fan of this place" I admit, "Me neither, but we ain't got much of a choice" Joel rubs my arm soothingly. We walk over to a gate door and see a file cabinet blocking the gate on the other side, I look over at a small vent type of thing "If you can get it open. I can crawl through and clear that door" I say. Joel pulls off the small door to the vent and a rat scurries out of it "Oh yeesh, that is a big rat" I say disgusted. Joel gives me a look "Are you really scared of rats?" he asks "Hey don't judge me, they're disgusting" Joel scoffs and shakes his head "Right" I say and crawl through the vent, "Stop looking at my ass" I joke. "I-I wasn't" Joel stutters, I guess he really was, I was only joking. I crawl out of the vent and look at him through the gate "Your red face says otherwise" I laugh, he straightens up "Just open the damn door", I giggle at his mad face and pull the file cabinet away from the door. "And..." I say as I open the door "volia" he scoffs then walks through. He walks around looking for supplies "Do you think they'll join us all the way to Tommy's?" I ask Joel.