Even When the World Comes Down (Sequel to Always & Forever)

Chapter 32 - Beth

As I was waiting for Ellie to go in, there was some grunting that I heard.

"Oh shit," Ellie said quickly going in.

I was right behind her. She had taken out her knife and was about to attack when the man who currently had his hold on Joel, pushed her away. I pulled out my gun just as Joel rammed the guy to a wall. He had gotten the upper hand and had managed to get him on the floor. Joel proceeded to punch the guy repeatedly. That's when a little boy came into the room and held up a gun. What the fuck was this?

"Joel," Ellie said.

"Joel, stop!" I said.

He stopped punching to look at the both of us.

"Look," Ellie said pointing at the boy.

There was some sort of misunderstanding. We all held up our hands and Joel backed away from the man.

"Leave him alone," the boy said.

"Easy, son. Just take it easy," Joel said as he stood up.

"It's alright. They're not the bad guys. Lower the gun," the man on the floor said.

The boy did as he was told.

"What's going on here?" I asked.

"Man, you hit hard. I can explain everything," the man said sitting up.

Looking closer at him, he seemed to be no older than 25.

"Yeah, well. I was trying to kill you. Start talking," Joel said.

The man stood up and wiped some blood off his lip.

"Yeah, I thought you were one of them too. Then I saw you," the man said pointing to Ellie.

"If you haven't noticed, they don't keep kids around. Survival of the fittest," he said.

"You're bleeding," the little boy said.

"It's nothing," the man said going over to him.

"I'm Henry. This is Sam. I think I caught your name was Joel?" Henry said.

"I'm Ellie and this is Beth," Ellie said.

"How many are you with?" I asked.

"They're all dead," Sam said.

"Hey. We don't know that. There were a bunch of us. Someone had the brilliant idea of entering the city. Look for supplies. Those fuckers – they ambushed us. Scattered us. Now it's all about getting out of this shithole," Henry said.

So we were all in the same boat.

"We can help each other," Ellie said.

"Ellie," Joel warned.

"Safety in numbers and all that," she said.

Joel then looked to me.

"Whatever gets us out of this shithole quicker," I said shrugging my shoulders.

"She's right. We could help each other. We got a hideout not too far from here. It'd be safer if we chat there," Henry said.

Joel looked at me once more. I nodded.

"Alright, take us there," Joel said.

"Follow me," Henry said.

We all exited the room and made our way downstairs.

"Sorry about the whole gun in the face thing," Sam said.

"There's no hard feelings," I said.

"Yeah. I'm sure I would have done the same thing," Ellie commented.