𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐦𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐬 (UNDER EDITING)

"up in flames."

wc : 1.2k
note : the way i completely rewrote this oneshot-

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"fuck, that's a lot of infected," you grounded out, reaching for the pistol tucked into the back of your jeans. the amount of living corpses stalking around the aisles of an abandoned grocery store was not a light number.

"we'll need a plan to take out that many," ellie whispered beside you, her face drawn into a scowl as she began reloading her hunting rifle.

"i know," you said, not taking your eyes off a runner who was limping past you and ellie a few meters away.

the both of you grew quiet when ellie pointed at a bloater, its silhouette not moving inside what used to be a baked goods aisle. neither of you were looking forward to dealing with it anytime soon.

"we need to deal with the bloater first, try to lure it and as many other infected as we can into a single area, then use a molotov, or any other explosive, to kill them," ellie said, her line of sight trained on the older infected figure.

you squinted in the low light, eyes caught on a rope that hung from the gaping hole in the ceiling. idea beginning to spark, you tugged on ellie's jacket, motioning to the rope. "why don't we just climb? we could take them out from above."

ellie looked from the rope to you, clearly unconvinced. "there's a higher chance of us dying than living through that."

"but that's why it'll work; we'll have to live through it so we can tell jesse and dina when we get back to the town," you told her, already thinking of the reactions you'd receive for pulling off something so awesome.
ellie looked from you to the rope. you could tell she was weighing the options available. a few seconds ticked by before she finally said, "mm, alright. but remember, don't die. you still have to let me paint you." the seriousness on her face almost made you laugh.

nodding, you said, "i won't, don't worry."

ellie could only give you a pointed look in return before motioning to follow her. she quietly led the two of you past a few clickers, the only sound in the room that of what the infected were making.
fortunately, it didn't take long to reach the rope you had pointed out prior, and when ellie finally grabbed hold of it, she yanked it downwards, hard, trying to figure out if it would hold both your weights.

holding your breath in anticipation, you watched as ellie tugged it for the second time. a scraping noise came from above, making the two of you grip your weapons tightly and look up.

the rope seemed to be attached to a loose chunk of metal, an object you couldn't pinpoint from so far down. ellie looked from the ceiling to you, her expression telling you that the whole thing was too risky.

fuck, you mentally cursed, beginning to look around for another option. in addition to being stuck in an abandoned grocery store, you were also entirely surrounded by infected. how you hadn't been eaten alive yet, you had no idea. and you really didn't feel like testing the amount of luck the universe was giving you today.

once again, ellie motioned for you to follow her, this time away from the rope, and over to an empty aisle. just as you had taken your third step forward, another scraping sound came from up above, making your eyes shoot upwards.

a scraggly-looking man peered down at you from the hole in the ceiling. he looked from you to the rope attached to the hunk of metal, and he slowly started to process what you were both were trying to do. a grin appeared on his face, and your stomach dropped when he looked from you and ellie to the infected just meters away.

you began shaking your head promptly, silently begging him not to make noise and push the piece of metal down into the store. but, of course, the man had other ideas of his own.

he started to push the object closer to the edge, and you felt ellie grab your hand and start to pull. you understood that your chances of getting out of the building alive just shrunk by at least seventy percent.
ellie pulled you out of the streaming sunlight and over to the dark empty aisle you had been heading towards just before the man had made his presence known. she leaned down slightly beside you, pressing her mouth to your right ear. "when he pushes that thing down, wait for the infected to gather in one area. once they do, we can throw a few molotov's at them, alright?"

nodding, you looked back at the man. the metal was scraping loudly against the roof's surface and the infected around you were stirring, heads held high as they started to scatter around in search of the source. their constant chittering started to become loud.

you and ellie shrunk back against the wall as far as you possibly could, trying to make your bodies somehow disappear into nothing. the pistol in your hand was heavy, and you wanted to use it desperately. if not on the infected then on the man deciding to play with your life.

looking up, you cringed when you locked eyes with the man. he smiled at you as he gave the metal box one last push, and you sucked in a breath as the chunk of metal fell from the sky. the sound of a mini explosion echoed through the store, and you watched as the infected, bloater included, screeched obstreperously and half limped-half ran to the area the crash occurred.

index finger ghosting the trigger of your 9mm, you leaned against ellie. no matter how many times you went on patrol, you still hated being around any type of infected.

the clickers and runners shrieked as they ran, and the bloater let out a roar of its own as it stiffly limped with the crowd. laughing on the roof, the man gave you and ellie a mocking salut before he disappeared, leaving you both to deal with the mess and havoc he had created.

ellie swung her bag around, grabbing an already-made molotov and lighter. flicking on the lighter, she looked over at you, holding the small flame near the cloth sticking out of the bottle. "ready?"

you nodded furiously, jutting your chin in the direction of the infected, and ellie then turned away from you, standing just enough to rear her arm back and throw the bottle with all her might.

the molotov shattered against the side of the bloater, and another wave of screams echoed in your ears as fire exploded in front of you. the runners and clickers started to claw at their faces and bodies, skin beginning to go up in flames. the bloater, who had taken most of the hit, was already on his knees, and you thanked the universe, once again, for the extra bit of luck in allowing the bloater to be taken down with a single molotov.

as the screams began dying away, you and ellie finally stood to your full heights, guns still gripped tightly. you were the one to lead the way this time, despite the fact that you were still on edge about what had just happened. ellie followed, and both your guns were pointed downwards, bullets waiting to be fired at any movement that wasn't small twitches.

exhaling, you lowered your gun, finding no moving infected. you turned towards ellie, who looked just as relieved as you did. "let's go home."