The Story Untold

Part 4 - The escape

Joel holds Sarah in his arms for a little bit, crying and asking her to come back. Tommy tries his best to hold off the infected, but eventually there are too many. One tackles Tommy and he drops the gun, but he still fights back against it. Suddenly, Joel shoves the infected person over and stomps on it's head, his foot going all the way through and popping the head open. Joel has decided to blame the infected for Sarah's death, and it is not a pretty sight. 

Joel calmly says to Tommy "Will you carry her this time?"

Tommy nods nervously and walks over to pick up Sarah. "There's no ammo left."

Joel looks at the gun and back at the group of infected running towards them. He runs to the dead soldier and picks up the rifle, aiming it at the group. Tommy starts running, and Joel changes the firing mode on the rifle to single. With expert precision, he drops 30 infected before having to reload. After another 25 shots, there is no more ammo. Joel picks up a knife off the soldiers body, and runs after Tommy. They run along the interstate, Tommy carrying Sarah and Joel killing any infected that get too close. 

They get a couple miles out of the city and stop at a small town that hasn't been hit so hard by the infection. When they enter the town, they are stopped at gunpoint and a doctor checks them over in case of infection. After the doctor deems them "clean", Joel asks for a shovel. The doctor leads them to the graveyard where a man is burying people, and offers for the man to bury Sarah too. Joel says that he'd rather do it himself, and the doctor leaves him a spare shovel. Tommy lays Sarah down gently on the ground in an open space, and leaves to get information about the infection. 

Joel digs a small grave, lays Sarah in, and covers it back up. When he is done laying the dirt back over her, Joel closes his eyes and prays for Sarah. After he's finished his prayer, he finds a large rock and carves Sarah's name into it. He places it just above the grave, takes one last look at it, and walks over to Tommy to see what's going on. As Joel is walking over, the conversation between Tommy and the doctor gets clearer. 

"From what we know, this epidemic has at least covered the country. The government has sent out requests for help from other nations, but no one has responded, so we think that the infection is covering the world. People around here have started calling them 'runners', since all they do is run at sounds and movement. You're both welcome to spend as much time as you need here." the doctor explains to Tommy. 

"Thanks. I'll talk to my brother about it." Tommy turns around and sees Joel walking towards them. "Speak of the devil. Joel, this is Shaun. He's in charge of this town and he's told me what they know about the runners."

Joel looks confused and says "Runners?"

"It's what the people in this town call the infected. We think it's made it's way around the world, not just the city."

"Shit. What're we gonna do?"

"Shaun's offered for us to stay here as long as we need. We can rest up and make a game plan."

"Alright. That sounds good. Is there an effective way to kill the runners?"

Shaun steps towards Joel and begins an explanation of observations he's made. "It seems that a good hit on the head will kill them. They're still human bodies, so they have limits. Those limits have just been pushed a bit. They are faster than normal people, and it takes a couple extra shots to drop one."

Joel remembers back to when he and Tommy were running through the city, and explains it to Shaun. "They still need to breathe too. I stabbed a couple in the neck and it killed them."

"Interesting. The bodies are dead, but it seems their respiratory system is still necessary for survival. Or maybe it's just the brain that's dead, and there's something that's controlling the live body. I'll be back soon. I need to do some experiments." Shaun walks away from them and towards a house with an open garage, where a body is laid out on a table with medical tools around it. 

Tommy turns towards Joel and shrugs. "I guess we'll just ask around what houses are open."

They ask a few people about housing, and one person points them towards an empty house. Once they are inside, they tidy up the house and make it comfortable to sleep in. They find a couple mattresses and lay them on the floor, then cover them in sheets and blankets. Tommy starts a fire in the fireplace, and cooks hot dogs and beans over the fire. After they finished eating, Joel gets ready to sleep. He lays on his back looking at the ceiling, and quietly says to himself "One hell of a birthday."