"Singularity" Chapter 11: "Never Surrender" [11/49]
Title: "Singularity" Chapter 11: "Never Surrender" [11/49]
Fandom: The Last of Us (first game only)
Characters: Ellie, Joel, Tommy, Maria, OCs
Pairings: Joel/Ellie
Warnings: Underage
Word Count for this chapter: 9,226
Rating (for fic as a whole): R
Author's Note: Chapter title from the Corey Hart song. And, if you're curious, I am continuing to use real locations, just tweaking where needed!
~
Joel didn't know why the hell Ellie had done precisely what he had not wanted her to do (although the girl did seem to have a knack for it). He had to put it out of his mind for the time being to concentrate on the hand he was dealt. It wasn't a bad hand: from the bell tower, he had drawn the attention of the soldiers with gunfire -- without compromising Ellie's precious jeep -- and although he had hoped all four of the motherfuckers would come after him, three was acceptable. That left only the driver to pursue Ellie, who was on horseback, and not even God could shoot worth a damn at a fast-moving target while driving (outside of action movies, anyway). Hopefully she remembered to direct Fox to move somewhat unpredictably when possible.
He had moved back inside because the archway was too open and the fall risk was too great. There was... literally nothing up here, and it certainly wasn't a place Joel would have selected for a 'stealth battleground', but they hadn't had the time to pick and choose the perfect location. It was essentially one big catwalk (and Joel noted more falling hazards where the railing was compromised) overlooking the nave, with some nooks and crannies to duck into. If the three men split up, he couldn't stay hidden from all angles, either. Damnit... the archways outside are better than this...
He ignored the soldiers' warnings to "surrender or else." Surrender simply wasn't in his blood anymore. He could hear two voices issuing such threats from below... where's the third guy? Joel was half tempted to toss a nail bomb or Molotov cocktail down there and hope he was lucky enough to take care of both of them with it, but he just couldn't. Never again would he use an explosive when he didn't know exactly where Ellie was (no matter how unlikely it was for her to be near him at the moment). He still hadn't confessed that horrible mistake to her... and he likely never would. He'd rather shoulder the guilt than bask in undeserved forgiveness. Guilt, he could live with. Not only live with: it was like a second skin to him. He didn't even feel it.
After a minute or so of not daring to move, he got the sense that the men had dispersed, and risked a peek around the corner of his little alcove. He could see the top of one's head disappearing below, no sign of the other two. Joel always preferred to stealth-kill whenever possible. To conserve ammo, and because it was safer... not because he enjoyed it, which is what Ellie liked to believe. Although he was pretty damn good at it; his attempts only tended to be unsuccessful when another enemy interrupted him. At least, they used to be... surely it hadn't been long enough that he'd lost his touch? Good thing he'd kept himself in decent shape at the resort by utilizing the gym on the premises. Some of the machines had been rigged to work manually, and some hadn't even needed to be rigged... also, Ellie still liked to help him work out at home -- with or without the sexual component.
At any rate, he would prefer to be in a low-key situation to test that assumption. I can't do it up here, unless I catch one coming off the stairs... but that's too far away -- I'm sure at least one of them is about to come through there--
He was reluctant to go back out to the arches... to what appeared to be a bell-less bell tower, away from that stairwell... but it was better than the catwalks. Both posed a fall hazard, but he had more room to maneuver out there. Maybe he could catch one of them off-guard and make quick work of him...
The tower was clear. Joel returned to one of the two archways at the front of the structure and looked down at the ground. Too far to jump. However... maybe I could just... ? ...no, that's kind of crazy...
What the hell.
The building appeared to be in excellent shape for its age, which made Joel wonder if it wasn't actually as old as the Spanish Colonial architecture style would suggest (it could be a newer building designed to look old). Or maybe parts of it had undergone restoration. His recently-acquired knowledge of the Monterey area didn't extend to its history -- and pretty much the only significant California history he had retained from his long-ago school days was the gold rush in the mid-1800s. Anyway, the sandstone façade had enough hand- and footholds to tempt him. It would be better if he wasn't carrying so much gear... but if he could lower himself to the ledge over the front door, he'd only be about ten or fifteen feet up, and then if he could hang off that and drop to the ground... NOT crazy -- I can do it --
He descended the first part of the wall with ease... and he was able to maintain control while lowering himself from the ledge, turning and launching himself smoothly away from the wall into a natural roll. He was sure to have a few bruises from it, but he wasn't hurt, and nothing on his person appeared to have been damaged. Damn, this would actually be the perfect spot for Ellie to practice that move! Without all this gear on, of course... maybe with some blankets to help cushion the landing... in a real-life setting, there would be no such luxuries, of course, but practice didn't need to be painful. Maybe next time we come out this way...
If there was a next time. He couldn't think that far ahead.
As tempted as he was to run off after Ellie, he had only a vague idea of where she'd gone, and it made more sense to dispose of these assholes while he had the upper hand. Joel let himself in the front door very quietly, then into the nave even more quietly... slower than slow... he had the Shorty ready in case one of the men was facing his direction. The only one he could spot was slowly working his way up the aisle to the right of the pews, heading towards the front -- away from Joel. He was able to creep up behind the man easily and sling his arm around his neck, drag him behind the nearest column for cover, and crush his windpipe before the guy could make a sound -- or, rather, before he could make a sound that could effectively alert the others. You've still got it, old man... -No, Ellie, I don't enjoy this. Not unless they deserve it. This one... was more in the 'necessary kill' category. The guy may or may not have taken shots at them, but Joel didn't consider that a character flaw. He didn't hate soldiers as much as Ellie seemed to think he did. He simply understood the threat they posed, trained as they were to value orders above all else. ...And, well, it just so happened that most of the ones he'd encountered were assholes to boot.
While looting the body, he debated checking other areas of the ground floor versus upstairs, and decided the other two were more likely to have gone upstairs. That's where he'd been when they spotted him, after all. He scanned the catwalk above and didn't see them, so he carefully made his way up the stairs... back outside, to the tower... -except he heard them before he could even so much as poke his head out there, so he remained out of sight.
"Shit... if you could do it, he prob'ly could, too. He could be anywhere by now."
"Why was he up there in the first place?" A voice from the ground; the soldier must have gotten down the same way Joel had.
"Fuck if I know."
"I mean it. Why was the girl out there cruising up and down the streets on the horse and this dude just... You see all the heat he was packing? Maybe he was setting a trap for us."
"We would've seen it, man. We looked."
"Not out the back... this building goes all the way--"
"You wanna keep looking? Fuck him -- it's the girl we need."
"This guy's too dangerous to be left alive. You think he won't figure out where we took his daughter?"
Knowing that they didn't intend to kill Ellie on sight was a relief. I can get this one up here... although he couldn't just shoot the bastard. Not if he wanted to get them both. Joel started creeping closer while they debated his fate.
"Yeah? Let him come. Put him in the city... see how many scrubs he can kill before-- ohhh no no no, I got it -- we make it a contest! The fucker who kills him gets the prize."
"Oh sure -- is the prize coming out of your ass, dipshit? 'Cause we already--"
"Dude! The girl. And the winner can share with us. 'Bout time we got some fresh pussy around here, don'tcha think?"
"Tch. Some prize... did you SEE that room?"
"Don't tell me you're fucking scared."
"Uh... more like DISTURBED. But I don't think Sarge would allow it anyway... he was PISSED. I bet he keeps her for himself!"
"Shiiiiiiit. Don't matter... we're out here, and he's not. We get first crack at her. We can always ju-- !!"
Joel pulled the soldier back from the edge as swiftly as he could, choking the life out of him on the way. The asshole's hands flew up to his neck. It would take the other guy a minute to run back around to the stairs and up, unless he...
...scaled the façade. -Which is exactly what he did -- very quickly.
Joel reckoned he probably would have had enough time to finish strangling this douchebag -- and this one DOES deserve it -- but a live human shield was far more effective than a dead one, so he eased up on the deathgrip enough that his victim was able to gasp and claw at his throat. It wouldn't take him long to recover enough to break free, unless Joel reapplied the pressure... but at least the guy's assault rifle was strapped to his back, out of his reach. Time for a different kind of pressure-- Joel pressed the Shorty to the soldier's temple, effectively freezing the other guy -- who had apparently been planning to fire a handgun while hanging there on the edge, as only his head and shoulders were above it.
"Don't move," Joel growled to the shield. "You better hope your buddy over there values your life. And you -- drop that gun an' come on up here the rest of the way. Nice an' slow. Drop it!"
The hanging soldier obeyed, setting the gun in front of him and hoisting himself up over the edge.
It ain't far enough away from him... "Now slide that over here to me -- and don't stand up. Stay right there."
"Okay, man... take it easy! What do you want!" he barked -- loudly.
He's shouting to alert the dead guy downstairs, hoping he'll get his ass up here and take me out, Joel realized with mild amusement. But at least he was doing as Joel said, perhaps content to stall and wait for rescue. "What do you want -- with the girl?" Joel asked. As if he actually needed or cared to know.
"We only wanna talk to her! Honest to God!"
This one I've got is pretty strong... how do I wanna play this... "Uh-huh. Then why were you shootin' earlier?"
"You didn't stop when we asked! We wouldn't have actually hit you!"
"Just tryin' to scare us? Is that it?" Joel actually believed him on that count, though, since it sounded like they'd been ordered not to kill Ellie.
"Trying to make you comply!"
Joel snorted. "I don't comply with assholes who are only gonna end up killin' me after they get what they want. And you can quit your hollerin' -- your friend downstairs is dead."
In that moment of shock -- that extra second it took for them to register the unexpected announcement -- Joel sprang into action: he resumed the strangulation with one arm while pivoting his gun out towards the second man with the other, firing as soon as he aligned it with the guy's face.
Dividing his attention came with a price: the shield managed to elbow him in the ribs. Hard enough that Joel's grip slackened. Screw it-- Now that there was no longer a need for stealth, Joel ditched the chokehold in favor of simply blowing the soldier's brains out.
Two shots... three dead soldiers. Not bad, I guess. If he didn't count the look-at-me shot that had kicked things off. Good riddance. He would never lose any sleep over disposing of potential threats to Ellie, but these two... the one douchebag in particular... Joel was certain they were no great loss to humanity. He didn't care if they'd been all bluster and bravado, spouting 'locker room' bullshit that never amounted to anything in reality... decent human beings didn't talk like that.
With the coast now clear, it was time to go find Ellie. He had thought she might come back around by now, with or without the fourth guy on her tail. Maybe she got a little lost on the way back... the streets ain't laid out nice and easy in a grid pattern... "Ellie!" He started calling for her as he jogged down the street. ...GodDAMNit...
He couldn't stave off the flashbacks. Back to those two days... the longest of his life. And possibly the worst. Definitely the worst in recent memory. This ain't like that. AT ALL. Ellie was riding the goddamn horse, and horses don't just disappear into thin--
They did if they got stolen.
...But the jeep... motherfucker can't drive and ride at the same time... and he would've had to park the thing to deal with Ellie, one way or another...
Maybe the guy had spooked Fox... made the horse run off to God knows where... forced Ellie into the jeep somehow...
He would come back for his buddies, though... wouldn't he?
Unless he was a coward. Or a complete dick, only out for himself. Dude had no way of knowing what had happened in the church. Surely he'd at least do a driveby and scope the place out... he couldn't very well bring Ellie back to their sergeant and leave the other men unaccounted for. ...Unless he decides to go rogue with her...
That niggling little voice in his head needed to shut the hell up. You've got an answer for everything, don'tcha.
"Ellie!" Joel kept hollering. Maybe he could at least catch the last soldier's attention (and thus, divert it from Ellie); he kept listening hard for vehicle or horse sounds.
There was a church last time, too... the last time he'd been searching the streets for Ellie, that is. Joel had spilled blood in that church as well. Taken the life of an innocent man. And Joel had known full well he was innocent... had sensed that he was telling the truth... yet decided to go ahead and kill him anyway. Because someone had to pay for Joel's torment. There was no reason other than that. No threat to Ellie... no threat at all, actually (the guy had been asleep when Joel found him, for Chrissakes)... no gut feeling that the man was bad news. Even so, that death didn't weigh on Joel's conscience... at least not beyond the fact that it's another tally mark on the why-I-don't-deserve-Ellie scoreboard.
...And she still thinks I'm a good person. Although he'd never confessed that incident to her, either. No good would come of that. Either she would feel guilty about it, or she'd come up with some damn excuse. "You were exhausted/not thinking clearly/at the end of your rope" -- all that shit. She only saw what she wanted to see -- and that did not include Joel killing a person simply because he felt like it.
Then he'd had the nerve to pray afterward. God probably got a kick out of that one... Joel hadn't gone the take-me-instead route (option not on the table), nor the I'll-be-good-if-you-spare-her (God don't bargain). What the hell was it I said... something about giving her up, never being with her again as long as she was okay -- even if he never knew that she was okay... It was something that hadn't made a whole lot of damn sense, and pretty much fell in the realm of bargaining. He had then proceeded to forget about the whole giving-her-up thing the moment he found her. It wasn't that he flagrantly discarded it -- he'd simply gotten all engrossed in trying to save her, and just plain forgot.
It wasn't long after the prayer that we found her, though... maybe the man upstairs WAS listening... hell, Ellie had even started pulling away from Joel, shortly after. What would have happened if he had just let her? Fulfilling his end of the deal... Nope -- stand-up guy that I am, I decided we should have sex for the first time instead. Fifteen years old. FIFTEEN.
Joel didn't beat himself up over that so much these days. Returning to Jackson -- to the 'real' world -- would probably stir up all the misgivings inside him again (clearly, it had already started to). But first, they had to get there. Right now, he just had to find her. No distractions allowed, even internal ones.
Operating under the assumption that he would find the horse and/or jeep at some point, Joel was sticking to the streets. No need to search every building inside and out. For this first round, he swept property fronts only. I know she went down this street, to start... but how far would she go before taking a turn? How big a radius do I--
The crack of a gun shot pierced his thoughts. "Ellie!" he yelled again -- even though she'd never be able to hear him as he'd been going somewhat in the wrong direction. He started running like hell in the right one. Running like he had a pack of Clickers on his tail, ignoring the pain in his chest, where he'd been elbowed. Oh God PLEASE let her be all right--
"Joel! I'm over here! ...JOOEEELLLL!!!"
Ah, that voice! Music to his ears! "Ellie!" he managed to shout back. I hear you! he wanted to add, but he couldn't get enough air in his lungs while he was running to croak out a whole sentence. God must be smiling down on me today... despite the fact that I just killed three more men in His house...
Joel didn't slow down until he saw her in the middle of the street, hurrying towards him... jogging more than running. No immediate threat-- He slowed, then stopped altogether so he could catch his breath. No need to make a scene... we were only apart for what, fifteen minutes? ...Less?
Ellie gasped when she got closer to him. "Fuck! Are you okay?!"
"Fine," he panted. He quickly looked her over and was relieved to find that she looked fine as well, thank God (...again).
"Are you sure?" She rushed in and cupped his face in her hands, her eyes still darting about.
"The blood ain't mine." -Just like she'd said last night. No way there's the same amount on me as there'd been on her... But the way she was searching his face... Joel's careless swiping at it earlier must not have made much difference (and he didn't even want to think about what else may have splattered on him).
She didn't wait for him to fully catch his breath before kissing him, unperturbed by the blood and whatnot. "I was so worried about you," she breathed, taking a step back to look him over more thoroughly. "You're really okay, though? I don't see any wounds..."
Joel chuckled. "I tell you I ain't hurt, and you still look." That elbow jab hadn't been hard enough to break any ribs. "What about you? The driver..."
"Was Caleb," she answered the unspoken question. Her gaze dropped to her shoes. "We talked... and then I shot him. I... killed him."
...And she's clearly not happy about that. He pulled her into a hug. A fierce one. "Good. You did the right thing. They were gonna take you back to their base... it wouldn't've ended well."
Ellie snorted. "Yeah -- for them. You would've killed them all. The ones I didn't get to first, anyway."
"Damn straight I would have. ...I would've tried," he amended. Because truly, the odds of him and Ellie taking out an entire armed facility were pretty shitty. Even though we've already taken out about a third of it... there IS still a fair amount of luck involved.
"You killed those other three?" she asked.
"I did." He pulled back to kiss her nose. "Now, you wanna tell me why you deviated from the plan we'd just made all of five seconds before you--"
"I had to, okay? The jeep turned at the intersection -- it wasn't coming straight down the street like you wanted. You prob'ly didn't hear it cuz you went inside -- to go upstairs, right? We might've been waiting forever for them to come by here! I had to make sure to lead them around the--"
"They could've shot you. I'd rather wait a while than risk that." Never mind that they hadn't intended to shoot Ellie -- neither of them had known that at the time.
"But they might never have come this way. Thanks to me, we have a jeep now!" she said with a grin.
She's so cute when she's proud of herself. But he wasn't about to let her off the hook just yet. "Don't you realize how dangerous-- -You weren't s'posed to let 'em see you." In the puppies-and-rainbows outcome, Joel would've dodged all four of them and snuck out to hop into the waiting getaway car. All Ellie would've had to do was secure it. No blood spilled by either of them. Yeah... we haven't seen a rainbow for a long time... "You were s'posed to let me--"
"I know I know -- but I still got him out of the jeep, didn't I? That was the main goal."
"No, the main goal was--"
"Survival -- whatever. I did that, too! And he felt sorry for me. He wasn't going to kill me, you know."
"Maybe not right then, he wasn't. But after he took you in, what did you think was gonna happen? They'd just say 'oh, all right, we understand, you're free to go' ?" Joel reckoned her fate would've been far worse at that base than being shot in the street... and she didn't need to know what he'd overheard to that effect.
"Maybe not exactly... and maybe it's a long shot, but I might have been able to talk my way out of it. If I told them what happened. Caleb did say I'd get a chance to share my side of the story." She wasn't even joking.
All right, so maybe she DOES need to hear it! ...Eventually. She needed to understand that surrender was never a good option with these assholes -- especially when she was guilty as sin (in their eyes, if not his). But for now, he just gave her a Look.
"It doesn't even matter if that's true or not cuz anyone who fucks with us ends up dead," she declared.
She said it with such conviction... and still managed to look so goddamn cute that it made Joel smile.
She cocked an eyebrow at him. "What, that's funny?!"
"Hilarious." He gave her a quick kiss, then took her hand and started walking down the street. "Why don't you show me this jeep of yours now."
"Oh, it's mine?"
"Like you said, we have it 'cause of you." It had been a team effort, of course, but he'd give her this one. It was her idea and all.
"Does that mean I can drive it?" she asked excitedly.
"No." He didn't need another thing to worry about.
"Aww, c'mon, Joel... you said I drove good before..."
"For an emergency situation, you didn't do half bad. Ain't the same thing as--"
"So I'll do even better in a non-emergency one! Especially with the greatest teacher in the world by my side! I already know the basics -- you can tell me what I'm doing wrong... tell me the right way to do everything. Your way. I thought you liked teaching me stuff. ...Pleeease, Joel?"
Joel couldn't help being amused by her argument. "My way is always right? Is that what you're sayin'? 'Cause I know you don't really believe that."
"I would for this! I swear!"
...Oh, why the hell not? It wasn't like they had heavy traffic to contend with. Or any traffic. And it might be good to give her something to focus on... keep her from gravitating to the darker recesses of her mind, ruminating on shit. "Maybe you can drive some of the time," he conceded.
"Yes! We'll be home in no time. Maybe even before my birthday!"
"Sorry, kiddo. Not that fast. We're still takin' the horse, remember? He can't gallop the whole way."
"Oh yeah, huh... well, we can throw all the bags and shit in the jeep so he can go a little faster, right?"
"Definitely. We'll all have a lighter load." Joel was glad Ellie was in pretty good spirits, considering everything that had happened in the last eight hours or so. Their whole world had been turned upside down. Maybe it hasn't all sunk in yet... it hadn't really for him. The morning had a very surreal feel to it (and he couldn't even blame the fog, as there wasn't any to speak of today).
The quaint little hotel Ellie had fled to looked like a sister building of the church: sandy beige stucco, red tile roof, dark wood accents. By the time they got there, her relief at finding him in one piece and her excitement about the jeep had apparently worn off some. She seemed... nervous, or anxious. She kept looking around like she expected another wave of soldiers to appear.
"Did that guy call for reinforcements or somethin'?" Joel asked her.
Her eyes widened in alarm. "Shit -- you think maybe he did?"
"I'm askin' if he did, when he was with you. I take it he didn't."
"No -- fuck, I would've told you that right away!"
"All right. I figured as much. Just... you seem a little... rattled."
"Well -- yeah? Aren't you?" she scoffed. "It's been a while since we've had to fear for our lives. I kinda forgot how much it sucks."
Joel wanted to tell her not to worry... that he wouldn't let anything bad happen... but that would be pretty damn irresponsible of him -- not that she would believe him anyway. "All right," he repeated lamely instead. Once we're back in the saddle for a while, so to speak, we'll both settle into our Outside skins a little more...
Ellie unhitched the horse and began to unload him while Joel searched the jeep to see what the soldiers had unwittingly gifted to them. For such a small vehicle, there was a considerable amount of cargo to look through. She started piling their stuff behind the jeep in preparation for him to tetris it all in once he'd picked through their acquisitions. She still seemed... antsy. On edge. It probably hadn't helped that he'd planted the reinforcements possibility in her head. "Anything good?" she asked as she dropped the last of their load.
"Well, we got our bomb back... I don' know what this thing is... maybe tear gas... a full gas can, that's real nice... extra water... tires are in good shape, full spare... air pump... rope... some tools... a shovel..." --A shovel? For the zero inches of snowfall around these parts? ...Or maybe they'd been planning on digging Joel a nice grave -- whether he surrendered or not, probably. It was funny how thoughts like that still occurred to him, when in reality, no one had to bother with burying the bodies anymore -- concealing their crimes -- because there was no one around. No one to give two shits about yet another body littering an uncivilized area. Even if someone did happen to care, there was nothing to be done about it anyway. And, on the less morbid side-- "This atlas will come in handy, too."
"Atlas? What's that?"
Teenagers from the old world weren't familiar with them, either, Joel thought with amusement. Ellie, however, just wasn't connecting the word to the thing. "Like a book of maps -- I know you've seen 'em at the library. Our map was copied from one, remember?"
"Oh, right. Don't you still have that map? There's no way you tossed it."
He knew Ellie hadn't tossed her copy, either, although hers had been rendered damn near illegible. "Sure, I have it. Except... I don' know about you, but I sure as hell don't ever wanna see Sacramento again."
Ellie shuddered. "Oh hell no. I thought that was the best way to go, though?"
Hence the reason they had come that way. "It ain't the only way. We could detour around it... but there's plenty of freeways in California. I figure we go inland before headin' north an' just bypass the area altogether." He checked the front of the atlas for the publication year. "This thing's fairly new. Should be pretty accurate."
"New? Really?" She gave him a dubious look. "I didn't think they made books and stuff anymore. What year is it?"
"Twenty-ten."
Ellie gawked at him. "Ten? You call that new?! That's nine years before I was even born!"
Joel chuckled. She sure knows how to make me feel old sometimes... "Relatively-speakin', it's new... ish. Equates to three years old." What they really needed was a 2035 edition, with collapsed freeways or otherwise-unpassable roads and highways marked. Joel would mark this one up as they went along; maybe it would prove useful to someone back home. Or even to us, if we want to come back someday...
"You said... inland. Like... not by the ocean," Ellie deduced. "Not at all?"
"Right. You've had enough ocean to last you a good long while now, haven't you?" Joel sure wouldn't miss the goddamn sand. They were probably taking a fair amount with them, since he hadn't had time to meticulously empty every nook and cranny of their stuff, every crease and crevice... and it managed to find its way into all of them.
"I guess," she pouted. "Would've been nice to say goodbye, though."
"What, to the ocean? It don't care that you're leavin', trust me."
She looked so sad that he had to pull her in for a quick squeeze. "Aw. It's all right."
"If I had known when I got out the last time that I wouldn't be going back in again..."
"It would've ruined the whole thing for ya 'cause you'd be sad. Sometimes it's better to just... go and don't look back, yeah?" He started planting little kisses on her face in an attempt to make her smile, mindful not to aggravate that nasty bruise.
His efforts did produce a teeny little smile... but she still looked sad.
"There's plenty to look forward to back home," he added.
"I guess you're right." She brightened a little. "I'm a dork, I know. And I'd feel like absolute shit if we wasted time playing in the ocean and more soldiers came along and found us."
"Yes. Now let's get the hell out of here." Joel had already dumped a good portion of his gear in the back; he started re-arranging it to make more room. There was practically zero cargo space left in the rear, but the back seat would hold plenty. And unlike the front (which had no doors), it was enclosed. "Let's see how much of this we can fit in here. I'm gonna put the top up, too... the less sun you get, the better."
They did manage to pack it all in, with Ellie's backpack at her feet in the front. The jeep was small, but they were traveling fairly light, considering they'd only had the one horse to load up. He had to remove the huge machine gun mounted on the frame in order to roll the canvas top all the way over... but it wasn't even loaded, so that was no loss -- other than the space it took up. Maybe he'd dump it somewhere once they were well on their way. So they just used it to scare people? ...Or maybe it was a Monterey thing, neglecting to reload shit (like, say, gas tanks in boats).
The jeep certainly looked like army issue: it was that drab olive or 'army green' color... with a star, the words "U.S. ARMY," and a serial number all painted on the hood in white. It didn't appear to be bullet-proof, though. Damn... couldn't they have chased us in the Humvee instead? And there had been four men crammed in there... either they had given no thought to where Ellie would sit when they hauled her back to the base for 'questioning,' or... or maybe they would've just...
STOP. He could drive himself nuts, thinking about all the ways those bastards would have tormented Ellie. They're DEAD. She's safe now.
Joel wanted to try driving while guiding the horse on his lead rope. Might make turning left a little tricky... but it wouldn't be that hard to jump from car to horse if needed, and vice versa. Especially with no doors in the way -- hell, he could probably do it without even stopping the car, they'd be going so slow. He didn't like the thought of Ellie driving without him being right there beside her in the passenger seat in case things got dicey, though. He also didn't like the idea of Ellie riding the horse while he drove the jeep. Realistically, both of those things were bound to happen, at least for short stretches... oh, I don't know... why can't we lead the horse the whole way? No need to ride. We are NOT going to get separated this time. NO MATTER WHAT.
Never mind that they had already been separated...
That don't count. We weren't supposed to be, other than her waiting down the street at first for all or most of the soldiers to come after me. But since she had decided to do her own thing... maybe the next time we need a PLAN, I'll think of us as one person. Not capable of splitting up. Same as it would be if I were on my own... Except it wouldn't be. It would be better, because she could watch his back... and worse, because he'd have her safety to worry about.
They agreed it would be better not to hitch the horse to the jeep; it was easier, sure, but it could be risky, not being able to release him immediately if needed. It probably would have been fine... but Joel hadn't survived all these years by making a habit of trusting such 'probably's -- not when there was a safer alternative. Maybe they could find a better lead rope somewhere along the way... one with a safety release or breakaway feature. Even with that, though, the idea just didn't sit right with Joel. It felt like they would be tempting fate somehow, and Fox would end up tripping and breaking his leg, or he'd get caught under a tire... some freak thing like that. Leading him loosely from the vehicle felt safer. Hell, Joel had known people in Texas who did that on a regular basis, back in the day.
Joel surveyed their transportation ensemble with satisfaction. "All right, guess we're set. You got the keys, kiddo?"
She blanched. "Keys?"
"Yeah, you know... keys. Key, actually -- singular. The little doohickey you stick in the ignition to make cars go?"
"Smartass," she grumbled. "Um... do we really need that? Don't you know how to start it without a key?"
"This one don't have a push-button start. If you're talkin' about hot-wirin' it? That's a movie thing. And professional car thieves, I s'pose... an' video games about car thieves." It was cute how Ellie thought he could do pretty much anything. The things she assumed he knew that he actually didn't -- or that she thought he could do that he couldn't -- would fill volumes.
"Okay, well, I assumed they were in there, but if they're not... " She looked all over the front seat, floors, glovebox... as if Joel hadn't just searched all those places himself. "Caleb must've brought them inside with him. I'll go get them."
"I'm comin' with you."
"No! You stay here and guard our stuff!" she cried -- with surprising intensity.
"You think someone's gonna come along out of the blue an' steal from us in the short time we're gone? They can't even start the--"
"I'll only be a minute! I know exactly where he is... and you don't, so... I'll be right back! Stay there!" She turned and... bolted up the drive.
Joel gave her an odd look, even though it was too late for her to see it. Why would I need to know where the body is, if I'm with her? ...and why is she pulling a gun now? ...I don't like this... She was already inside when he jogged up to the door and pulled the handle--
It wouldn't open. He had just watched Ellie walk through it! What the hell...? He tugged some more. "Ellie! The door's stuck! Come back an' open it!" He pounded on the door, frustrated. It was solid wood, so he couldn't see inside.
"I'll be right out, Joel, jeez! Just wait a second!"
He waited three whole seconds. "Ellie... you're actin' kinda weird. If you don't come outta there in the next thirty seconds--" ...But he just let the empty threat hang in the air. I could go bust through that big window over there, I suppose...
Then he heard her on the other side of the door... fiddling with some sort of bolt lock? The door opened. "Got 'em!" she said cheerfully, thrusting a couple sets of keys at Joel and pushing him backward as she pulled the door shut behind her.
So the door wasn't even stuck? "Why did you lock it? And why did you pull your gun?"
She grabbed his free hand and yanked him back down the drive quickly. "Duh -- I was being safe, Joel! Just like you taught me!"
Joel stumbled along after her. He wasn't going to chastise her about the gun; if that had become standard practice for her Outside, he was happy. But... "You didn't feel safe havin' the door unlocked... with me right here watchin', just waitin' for you to come out? Damn, I really am losin' my--"
"It's not that! I dunno... I guess I wasn't really thinking, I just did it? ...You mentioned reinforcements, right? So I thought it would be safer."
...What? "So, which is it: you weren't thinkin', or you were?"
"That's-- ...I mean I... just--" she sputtered. "What's the big deal? After everything... after last night... I can't believe you're yelling at me for trying to protect myself."
"I ain't yellin'." Look at her, turning this back around on me--
"Especially when I don't feel good."
Shit... her stomach again? Or is she just trying to--
"I guess from now on I won't take any precautions at all," she huffed before Joel could ask. "After all, most of the time there's no one there. Like, ninety-nine times out of a hundred -- who cares about the one time? Yeah, that's what you're always telling me. Fuck it, right? Things will probably be okay--"
"Knock it off. You're bein' ridiculous."
"I'm ridiculous? You can't make up your mind on whether I should look out for trouble or not. Fuck."
"Puttin' a locked door between you'n'me ain't the best way to deal with--"
"I told you, I wasn't thinking about it like that! It was just a... like an instinct or something. But obviously I'm wrong. Like always."
He could just quit responding to her melodramatics, but the best way to end this was to just give Ellie what she wanted. It wasn't like it cost him anything. "Hey." He pulled her close to him and spun her around before she could climb into the jeep. "You're right. I'm sorry." Sealed with a kiss.
The kiss lasted just a few seconds, but it effectively mellowed her out. She wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned her forehead against his, smiling. "It's okay. I might forgive you."
"Might?"
"Mmhmm. It depends," she said coyly.
She can play this game all day... Joel didn't care. He'd play along for as long as she wanted if kept that sweet smile on her pretty face. "On what?"
"I'll tell you when we're on our way. We're being very unsafe right now."
Joel was smiling now, too. "I've got eyes an' ears on this whole damn street. But I appreciate you lookin' out for our safety." Even if she'd only said it to torture him with suspense. But... now she was pouting, for some reason he couldn't fathom.
"You used to get too distracted by me to feel safe Outside!" she complained.
Oh -- is that all? "I still do." He kissed her pouty lip and let go of her. "Once again, you are right. You are always right."
She let out a little giggle. "Joel... you're the best boyfriend ever. You know that, right?"
"And I'm a gentleman. Allow me to get the door for you." He mimed opening the passenger door.
"Ha! Remember that other hotel we were at, when I pretended to talk to the staff... and you called me a weird kid! Now you're the weird one!" She kissed his cheek, then stepped into the jeep.
He even shut the non-existent door for her. "So now you can tell me I'm a weird... old man."
"Except you're not old!" she lied. "I keep you young, remember? You're practically a teenager again."
"You keep me young in some ways, yes," he acknowledged as he got settled in the driver seat, "but that's really pushin' it. Besides... with all the gray hairs you've added to my head, it kind of evens out."
"What?! How is it my fault you have gray hairs?"
"Put your seatbelt on."
"I didn't add any fucking hairs to your head!"
"Ellie, put your--"
"You didn't make me wear one last time. At least not 'til we were about to wreck..."
That wasn't actually the last time they'd been in a moving vehicle together, but since she had been unconscious in the back seat for most of the last time, he supposed he'd let that slide (and, actually, he hadn't buckled her up the last time, either). "That truck had doors," he reminded her.
"You're not wearing yours," she argued.
"That's 'cause I'm mindin' the horse, see."
"What, you can't possibly do that while sitting in the seat in the proper position to wear the fucking seat belt? ...You're sitting normal."
"I might need to hop out quick or somethin'. Plus we're gonna be goin' real slow."
"Exactly -- if we're going super slow anyway, why do I have to wear mine?" she reasoned. "And if you hop out, I need to slide over and drive, don't I? If you can't take a second to unbuckle yours, then I--"
"Fine -- don't wear it. If you fall out, I ain't stoppin'," he said crossly.
She smirked at him. "Yeah, right. Fuck... that almost makes me wanna do it on purpose just to prove that's a lie!"
He just gave her another Look and tossed the atlas in her lap. "Here, you can help navigate. In a bit -- right now I just wanna get us out of this area... find a road or freeway that connects to 68 East."
The second Joel started up the engine, Fox bolted.
"I'll get him!" Ellie cried, scrambling out before Joel had even finished uttering a curse under his breath.
Fortunately, the horse didn't go very far, and Ellie calmed him quickly. It wasn't even far enough that she needed to ride him back, but she did -- and then she didn't dismount. Just pulled up alongside the jeep.
"What are you doin'?" he had to ask.
"I think I should ride him for a little while," she replied. "While you drive. That way he can get used to the jeep -- the noise and everything, right? He's prob'ly never seen one before, and we were running away from this one like it's bad. I'll stay sort of far away at first and make sure he's okay, and then just move in closer and closer... you'll be going really slow... and maybe you can talk to him and stuff so he knows it's friendly?"
Joel chuckled. "Your voice is friendlier than mine. But... sure. Only for a little while. It makes sense, to get him acclimated first." He should have thought of it himself.
"Right! And then... when we're both in the jeep, I should be the one to lead him because I don't think he's used to both sides."
It was traditional to do everything on a horse's left side, but not unheard of to lead from the right. He glanced up at her. "I don' know, Ellie... maybe we should just do that when you're the driver. So you can concentrate better."
"Control freak much?" she snickered.
"It ain't about--"
"Yes it is! Like -- okay, I'd be fine with that. I'm sure I do need to concentrate more than you cuz you're the expert. But there's no reason the passenger can't always be the one who leads the horse. Let the driver drive and the passenger lead. Teamwork and all. And I'm pretty sure Fox would be more comfortable that way. I know him better than you do."
Truth be told, they pretty much knew him equally -- to the extent of not very well at all. But Joel could give her this one. The jeep would actually be doing all the leading anyway... and Ellie did know the correct way to hold the rope so that her hand wouldn't get crushed in the event that Fox bolted again. "All right, we'll do it your way. But just 'cause I... wanna do all this stuff myself, it don't make me a control freak."
"You're so cute, Joel," she laughed. "That's exactly what it makes you!"
Whatever-- "It'll prob'ly help if you relax some. Horses can pick up on... moods. On fear. Quit lookin' around like--"
"This again? I'm being careful."
It wasn't that Joel didn't want her to be careful. ...It's like she don't even realize there's anything different about the way she's acting... but I guess I shouldn't harp on it... she's been through a lot, last night and this morning... And, quite frankly, could he really blame her for not trusting him as much as she used to? "That's good. Stay alert. Just... we're safe for now. There's no one here. I'd feel it if there was." ...I think? Maybe he shouldn't be too hasty to trust that sixth sense. But even when he concentrated, he wasn't picking up any unusual sights or sounds...
Ellie looked at him a long moment. Deciphering the doubt she'd detected in that declaration, probably (she knew him too damn well). "I just wanna get going. This place fucking creeps me out. Can we go already?!"
"Yes, ma'am. You still hungry? Or is your stomach--"
"Oh I forgot! Yes I'm starving!"
Joel reckoned she was a far cry from starving if she'd forgotten, so they could probably get a little ways out of town before stopping. They could even eat on the go now... but he didn't relish the idea of sitting there in that bucket seat for hours on end, so it would be better to take their customary breaks. "We'll eat soon. I'd just like a little distance between us an' the bodies first. Call me paranoid."
"No, I get it. Me, too. Let's go. Like, now."
You know she's more high strung than usual right now, and you have to go and make a stupid remark like that? he chastised himself. "Although it ain't like they're gonna get up an' come after us, or go rat us out." A neutralizing observation... hopefully.
"Duh! I know -- just -- can we go? Fuck, we keep saying it and then not--"
"First, we gotta detour back to the church."
"Um, why?"
"Talkin' about the bodies reminded me. I didn't take the time to loot the last two... or to move 'em."
"Oh -- right. Cuz you took off to find me. Right? So... you wanna move them? To where?"
"Just inside. So they ain't visible from the street."
"...So they can't rat us out. That's what reminded you!"
"Exactly. Two of the three are outside the church. Get ready, now... maybe take him over there a little ways... just in case..."
It was funny how manual transmissions were relatively scarce back in his day, and now, two of the last three vehicles he'd driven had been stick. Ellie, too... she had demonstrated that she already knew the basics, back in Lincoln, but if she was going to drive for any length of time on this trip, he needed to assess her skill level... make sure she didn't develop any bad habits. That could wait until she... calms down a bit? How long will that be? Hopefully they had some quiet, boring days of travel ahead. They had those more often than not... but those not days could sure take a toll. And this time, we're actually running AWAY from something...
He just needed to exude the confidence and self-assurance that he had in the past. That would surely put her more at ease. She knew him better now, yes, but that didn't mean he couldn't still conceal the bad stuff. Keep his game face on... keep her from sensing his fears and doubts.
Everything appeared to be in good working order with the jeep. Joel drove down the street at a snail's pace while Ellie worked on easing Fox closer and closer to the jeep... easing his natural apprehension of it. By the time they reached the church, the horse appeared to be fairly comfortable with the loud monstrosity. Ellie rewarded him with praise, neck pats, and an orange.
"Go easy on the treats," Joel warned her. "We ain't got an unlimited supply."
"Oh, we'll get more on the way," she said airily.
"Don't count on it. Now if you wanna stay here an' keep a look out while I--"
"I'll come help you," she offered. "I don't want you hurting your back or something."
"...Ouch."
"What?"
"I ain't that old. I got this."
"Bodies are heavy! Totally dead weight. ...Literally."
It was on the tip of his tongue, to ask her when was the last time she'd had to deal with one. Thankfully, he didn't always say stupid shit. ...although it ain't like she had to MOVE the motherfucker last night -- not AFTER he died... what happened today? But he could ask her more about today's incident later. "I got this," he repeated.
"Don't you wanna keep a close eye on me? Can't do that if I'm way out here in the street."
He got the feeling Ellie just didn't want to let him out of her sight. Which was fine, since the feeling was mutual. "All right. You can help me."
"We don't even have to leave Fox out here, actually -- he would totally fit through those doors. We could even load up this guy here on him and just lead him inside, right? ...You said there were two. Where's the other one?"
"Upstairs... but outside, in that tower there. Not close enough to the edge that we can see him, but if they bring a tank or somethin' in here..." ...or the fabled helicopter...
"I just thought of something else," she declared.
"What's that?"
"What you have to do to earn my forgiveness." She sidled up to him, a wicked grin giving him a hint as to the nature of the task.
So she WASN'T trying to heighten the drama by making me wait for it -- she just hadn't dreamed it up yet. He wrapped his arms around her waist. "Don't keep me in suspense. What do I have to do?"
"The only thing you have to do..." She tugged him closer so she could whisper in his ear (like someone might overhear?). "...is make love to me in the back seat of that thing!" Meaning the jeep, of course.
He smirked. "Is that even on the list?"
"If it's not, I'm adding it right now!"
"We've gotta get out of this area," he reminded her.
"No shit -- I don't mean right this second. I mean... some time before we get home."
Joel glanced at the jeep. "I don' know about makin' love. It would prob'ly be more like fuckin' -- you see how cramped it is back there?"
"Well, we'd move all the stuff out, of course." As if that would make it not cramped. "And don't use that word. It's never fucking, when it's you and me."
Ha! The role reversal was just too cute -- he had to kiss her. Quickly and chastely, though. "Yes ma'am."
"So you'll do it?"
Of course he'd do it, if that's what she wanted. Considering what had just happened to her, though... Joel couldn't imagine she would be ready to just pick up where they'd left off in the sex department. Yet she'd already suggested it twice this morning. Might be one of those things where the reality is different from the fantasy... and she did seem to be somewhat concerned that she'd hurt his feelings with the whole... ~faking it~ thing. Maybe it had something to do with that. "I'll... think about it," he hedged. Because she wasn't the only one who could torment with suspense!
"Good. You do that. Think about how hot it will be."
That wasn't what he needed to be thinking about at the moment. The levity was welcome, though, after the intensity of the past few hours... and whatever else was about to come their way next. But... the back seat? Really? "Christ," he muttered. "Maybe you're right: you are makin' me a goddamn teenager."
~Continue to Chapter 12~
Fandom: The Last of Us (first game only)
Characters: Ellie, Joel, Tommy, Maria, OCs
Pairings: Joel/Ellie
Warnings: Underage
Word Count for this chapter: 9,226
Rating (for fic as a whole): R
Author's Note: Chapter title from the Corey Hart song. And, if you're curious, I am continuing to use real locations, just tweaking where needed!
~
Joel didn't know why the hell Ellie had done precisely what he had not wanted her to do (although the girl did seem to have a knack for it). He had to put it out of his mind for the time being to concentrate on the hand he was dealt. It wasn't a bad hand: from the bell tower, he had drawn the attention of the soldiers with gunfire -- without compromising Ellie's precious jeep -- and although he had hoped all four of the motherfuckers would come after him, three was acceptable. That left only the driver to pursue Ellie, who was on horseback, and not even God could shoot worth a damn at a fast-moving target while driving (outside of action movies, anyway). Hopefully she remembered to direct Fox to move somewhat unpredictably when possible.
He had moved back inside because the archway was too open and the fall risk was too great. There was... literally nothing up here, and it certainly wasn't a place Joel would have selected for a 'stealth battleground', but they hadn't had the time to pick and choose the perfect location. It was essentially one big catwalk (and Joel noted more falling hazards where the railing was compromised) overlooking the nave, with some nooks and crannies to duck into. If the three men split up, he couldn't stay hidden from all angles, either. Damnit... the archways outside are better than this...
He ignored the soldiers' warnings to "surrender or else." Surrender simply wasn't in his blood anymore. He could hear two voices issuing such threats from below... where's the third guy? Joel was half tempted to toss a nail bomb or Molotov cocktail down there and hope he was lucky enough to take care of both of them with it, but he just couldn't. Never again would he use an explosive when he didn't know exactly where Ellie was (no matter how unlikely it was for her to be near him at the moment). He still hadn't confessed that horrible mistake to her... and he likely never would. He'd rather shoulder the guilt than bask in undeserved forgiveness. Guilt, he could live with. Not only live with: it was like a second skin to him. He didn't even feel it.
After a minute or so of not daring to move, he got the sense that the men had dispersed, and risked a peek around the corner of his little alcove. He could see the top of one's head disappearing below, no sign of the other two. Joel always preferred to stealth-kill whenever possible. To conserve ammo, and because it was safer... not because he enjoyed it, which is what Ellie liked to believe. Although he was pretty damn good at it; his attempts only tended to be unsuccessful when another enemy interrupted him. At least, they used to be... surely it hadn't been long enough that he'd lost his touch? Good thing he'd kept himself in decent shape at the resort by utilizing the gym on the premises. Some of the machines had been rigged to work manually, and some hadn't even needed to be rigged... also, Ellie still liked to help him work out at home -- with or without the sexual component.
At any rate, he would prefer to be in a low-key situation to test that assumption. I can't do it up here, unless I catch one coming off the stairs... but that's too far away -- I'm sure at least one of them is about to come through there--
He was reluctant to go back out to the arches... to what appeared to be a bell-less bell tower, away from that stairwell... but it was better than the catwalks. Both posed a fall hazard, but he had more room to maneuver out there. Maybe he could catch one of them off-guard and make quick work of him...
The tower was clear. Joel returned to one of the two archways at the front of the structure and looked down at the ground. Too far to jump. However... maybe I could just... ? ...no, that's kind of crazy...
What the hell.
The building appeared to be in excellent shape for its age, which made Joel wonder if it wasn't actually as old as the Spanish Colonial architecture style would suggest (it could be a newer building designed to look old). Or maybe parts of it had undergone restoration. His recently-acquired knowledge of the Monterey area didn't extend to its history -- and pretty much the only significant California history he had retained from his long-ago school days was the gold rush in the mid-1800s. Anyway, the sandstone façade had enough hand- and footholds to tempt him. It would be better if he wasn't carrying so much gear... but if he could lower himself to the ledge over the front door, he'd only be about ten or fifteen feet up, and then if he could hang off that and drop to the ground... NOT crazy -- I can do it --
He descended the first part of the wall with ease... and he was able to maintain control while lowering himself from the ledge, turning and launching himself smoothly away from the wall into a natural roll. He was sure to have a few bruises from it, but he wasn't hurt, and nothing on his person appeared to have been damaged. Damn, this would actually be the perfect spot for Ellie to practice that move! Without all this gear on, of course... maybe with some blankets to help cushion the landing... in a real-life setting, there would be no such luxuries, of course, but practice didn't need to be painful. Maybe next time we come out this way...
If there was a next time. He couldn't think that far ahead.
As tempted as he was to run off after Ellie, he had only a vague idea of where she'd gone, and it made more sense to dispose of these assholes while he had the upper hand. Joel let himself in the front door very quietly, then into the nave even more quietly... slower than slow... he had the Shorty ready in case one of the men was facing his direction. The only one he could spot was slowly working his way up the aisle to the right of the pews, heading towards the front -- away from Joel. He was able to creep up behind the man easily and sling his arm around his neck, drag him behind the nearest column for cover, and crush his windpipe before the guy could make a sound -- or, rather, before he could make a sound that could effectively alert the others. You've still got it, old man... -No, Ellie, I don't enjoy this. Not unless they deserve it. This one... was more in the 'necessary kill' category. The guy may or may not have taken shots at them, but Joel didn't consider that a character flaw. He didn't hate soldiers as much as Ellie seemed to think he did. He simply understood the threat they posed, trained as they were to value orders above all else. ...And, well, it just so happened that most of the ones he'd encountered were assholes to boot.
While looting the body, he debated checking other areas of the ground floor versus upstairs, and decided the other two were more likely to have gone upstairs. That's where he'd been when they spotted him, after all. He scanned the catwalk above and didn't see them, so he carefully made his way up the stairs... back outside, to the tower... -except he heard them before he could even so much as poke his head out there, so he remained out of sight.
"Shit... if you could do it, he prob'ly could, too. He could be anywhere by now."
"Why was he up there in the first place?" A voice from the ground; the soldier must have gotten down the same way Joel had.
"Fuck if I know."
"I mean it. Why was the girl out there cruising up and down the streets on the horse and this dude just... You see all the heat he was packing? Maybe he was setting a trap for us."
"We would've seen it, man. We looked."
"Not out the back... this building goes all the way--"
"You wanna keep looking? Fuck him -- it's the girl we need."
"This guy's too dangerous to be left alive. You think he won't figure out where we took his daughter?"
Knowing that they didn't intend to kill Ellie on sight was a relief. I can get this one up here... although he couldn't just shoot the bastard. Not if he wanted to get them both. Joel started creeping closer while they debated his fate.
"Yeah? Let him come. Put him in the city... see how many scrubs he can kill before-- ohhh no no no, I got it -- we make it a contest! The fucker who kills him gets the prize."
"Oh sure -- is the prize coming out of your ass, dipshit? 'Cause we already--"
"Dude! The girl. And the winner can share with us. 'Bout time we got some fresh pussy around here, don'tcha think?"
"Tch. Some prize... did you SEE that room?"
"Don't tell me you're fucking scared."
"Uh... more like DISTURBED. But I don't think Sarge would allow it anyway... he was PISSED. I bet he keeps her for himself!"
"Shiiiiiiit. Don't matter... we're out here, and he's not. We get first crack at her. We can always ju-- !!"
Joel pulled the soldier back from the edge as swiftly as he could, choking the life out of him on the way. The asshole's hands flew up to his neck. It would take the other guy a minute to run back around to the stairs and up, unless he...
...scaled the façade. -Which is exactly what he did -- very quickly.
Joel reckoned he probably would have had enough time to finish strangling this douchebag -- and this one DOES deserve it -- but a live human shield was far more effective than a dead one, so he eased up on the deathgrip enough that his victim was able to gasp and claw at his throat. It wouldn't take him long to recover enough to break free, unless Joel reapplied the pressure... but at least the guy's assault rifle was strapped to his back, out of his reach. Time for a different kind of pressure-- Joel pressed the Shorty to the soldier's temple, effectively freezing the other guy -- who had apparently been planning to fire a handgun while hanging there on the edge, as only his head and shoulders were above it.
"Don't move," Joel growled to the shield. "You better hope your buddy over there values your life. And you -- drop that gun an' come on up here the rest of the way. Nice an' slow. Drop it!"
The hanging soldier obeyed, setting the gun in front of him and hoisting himself up over the edge.
It ain't far enough away from him... "Now slide that over here to me -- and don't stand up. Stay right there."
"Okay, man... take it easy! What do you want!" he barked -- loudly.
He's shouting to alert the dead guy downstairs, hoping he'll get his ass up here and take me out, Joel realized with mild amusement. But at least he was doing as Joel said, perhaps content to stall and wait for rescue. "What do you want -- with the girl?" Joel asked. As if he actually needed or cared to know.
"We only wanna talk to her! Honest to God!"
This one I've got is pretty strong... how do I wanna play this... "Uh-huh. Then why were you shootin' earlier?"
"You didn't stop when we asked! We wouldn't have actually hit you!"
"Just tryin' to scare us? Is that it?" Joel actually believed him on that count, though, since it sounded like they'd been ordered not to kill Ellie.
"Trying to make you comply!"
Joel snorted. "I don't comply with assholes who are only gonna end up killin' me after they get what they want. And you can quit your hollerin' -- your friend downstairs is dead."
In that moment of shock -- that extra second it took for them to register the unexpected announcement -- Joel sprang into action: he resumed the strangulation with one arm while pivoting his gun out towards the second man with the other, firing as soon as he aligned it with the guy's face.
Dividing his attention came with a price: the shield managed to elbow him in the ribs. Hard enough that Joel's grip slackened. Screw it-- Now that there was no longer a need for stealth, Joel ditched the chokehold in favor of simply blowing the soldier's brains out.
Two shots... three dead soldiers. Not bad, I guess. If he didn't count the look-at-me shot that had kicked things off. Good riddance. He would never lose any sleep over disposing of potential threats to Ellie, but these two... the one douchebag in particular... Joel was certain they were no great loss to humanity. He didn't care if they'd been all bluster and bravado, spouting 'locker room' bullshit that never amounted to anything in reality... decent human beings didn't talk like that.
With the coast now clear, it was time to go find Ellie. He had thought she might come back around by now, with or without the fourth guy on her tail. Maybe she got a little lost on the way back... the streets ain't laid out nice and easy in a grid pattern... "Ellie!" He started calling for her as he jogged down the street. ...GodDAMNit...
He couldn't stave off the flashbacks. Back to those two days... the longest of his life. And possibly the worst. Definitely the worst in recent memory. This ain't like that. AT ALL. Ellie was riding the goddamn horse, and horses don't just disappear into thin--
They did if they got stolen.
...But the jeep... motherfucker can't drive and ride at the same time... and he would've had to park the thing to deal with Ellie, one way or another...
Maybe the guy had spooked Fox... made the horse run off to God knows where... forced Ellie into the jeep somehow...
He would come back for his buddies, though... wouldn't he?
Unless he was a coward. Or a complete dick, only out for himself. Dude had no way of knowing what had happened in the church. Surely he'd at least do a driveby and scope the place out... he couldn't very well bring Ellie back to their sergeant and leave the other men unaccounted for. ...Unless he decides to go rogue with her...
That niggling little voice in his head needed to shut the hell up. You've got an answer for everything, don'tcha.
"Ellie!" Joel kept hollering. Maybe he could at least catch the last soldier's attention (and thus, divert it from Ellie); he kept listening hard for vehicle or horse sounds.
There was a church last time, too... the last time he'd been searching the streets for Ellie, that is. Joel had spilled blood in that church as well. Taken the life of an innocent man. And Joel had known full well he was innocent... had sensed that he was telling the truth... yet decided to go ahead and kill him anyway. Because someone had to pay for Joel's torment. There was no reason other than that. No threat to Ellie... no threat at all, actually (the guy had been asleep when Joel found him, for Chrissakes)... no gut feeling that the man was bad news. Even so, that death didn't weigh on Joel's conscience... at least not beyond the fact that it's another tally mark on the why-I-don't-deserve-Ellie scoreboard.
...And she still thinks I'm a good person. Although he'd never confessed that incident to her, either. No good would come of that. Either she would feel guilty about it, or she'd come up with some damn excuse. "You were exhausted/not thinking clearly/at the end of your rope" -- all that shit. She only saw what she wanted to see -- and that did not include Joel killing a person simply because he felt like it.
Then he'd had the nerve to pray afterward. God probably got a kick out of that one... Joel hadn't gone the take-me-instead route (option not on the table), nor the I'll-be-good-if-you-spare-her (God don't bargain). What the hell was it I said... something about giving her up, never being with her again as long as she was okay -- even if he never knew that she was okay... It was something that hadn't made a whole lot of damn sense, and pretty much fell in the realm of bargaining. He had then proceeded to forget about the whole giving-her-up thing the moment he found her. It wasn't that he flagrantly discarded it -- he'd simply gotten all engrossed in trying to save her, and just plain forgot.
It wasn't long after the prayer that we found her, though... maybe the man upstairs WAS listening... hell, Ellie had even started pulling away from Joel, shortly after. What would have happened if he had just let her? Fulfilling his end of the deal... Nope -- stand-up guy that I am, I decided we should have sex for the first time instead. Fifteen years old. FIFTEEN.
Joel didn't beat himself up over that so much these days. Returning to Jackson -- to the 'real' world -- would probably stir up all the misgivings inside him again (clearly, it had already started to). But first, they had to get there. Right now, he just had to find her. No distractions allowed, even internal ones.
Operating under the assumption that he would find the horse and/or jeep at some point, Joel was sticking to the streets. No need to search every building inside and out. For this first round, he swept property fronts only. I know she went down this street, to start... but how far would she go before taking a turn? How big a radius do I--
The crack of a gun shot pierced his thoughts. "Ellie!" he yelled again -- even though she'd never be able to hear him as he'd been going somewhat in the wrong direction. He started running like hell in the right one. Running like he had a pack of Clickers on his tail, ignoring the pain in his chest, where he'd been elbowed. Oh God PLEASE let her be all right--
"Joel! I'm over here! ...JOOEEELLLL!!!"
Ah, that voice! Music to his ears! "Ellie!" he managed to shout back. I hear you! he wanted to add, but he couldn't get enough air in his lungs while he was running to croak out a whole sentence. God must be smiling down on me today... despite the fact that I just killed three more men in His house...
Joel didn't slow down until he saw her in the middle of the street, hurrying towards him... jogging more than running. No immediate threat-- He slowed, then stopped altogether so he could catch his breath. No need to make a scene... we were only apart for what, fifteen minutes? ...Less?
Ellie gasped when she got closer to him. "Fuck! Are you okay?!"
"Fine," he panted. He quickly looked her over and was relieved to find that she looked fine as well, thank God (...again).
"Are you sure?" She rushed in and cupped his face in her hands, her eyes still darting about.
"The blood ain't mine." -Just like she'd said last night. No way there's the same amount on me as there'd been on her... But the way she was searching his face... Joel's careless swiping at it earlier must not have made much difference (and he didn't even want to think about what else may have splattered on him).
She didn't wait for him to fully catch his breath before kissing him, unperturbed by the blood and whatnot. "I was so worried about you," she breathed, taking a step back to look him over more thoroughly. "You're really okay, though? I don't see any wounds..."
Joel chuckled. "I tell you I ain't hurt, and you still look." That elbow jab hadn't been hard enough to break any ribs. "What about you? The driver..."
"Was Caleb," she answered the unspoken question. Her gaze dropped to her shoes. "We talked... and then I shot him. I... killed him."
...And she's clearly not happy about that. He pulled her into a hug. A fierce one. "Good. You did the right thing. They were gonna take you back to their base... it wouldn't've ended well."
Ellie snorted. "Yeah -- for them. You would've killed them all. The ones I didn't get to first, anyway."
"Damn straight I would have. ...I would've tried," he amended. Because truly, the odds of him and Ellie taking out an entire armed facility were pretty shitty. Even though we've already taken out about a third of it... there IS still a fair amount of luck involved.
"You killed those other three?" she asked.
"I did." He pulled back to kiss her nose. "Now, you wanna tell me why you deviated from the plan we'd just made all of five seconds before you--"
"I had to, okay? The jeep turned at the intersection -- it wasn't coming straight down the street like you wanted. You prob'ly didn't hear it cuz you went inside -- to go upstairs, right? We might've been waiting forever for them to come by here! I had to make sure to lead them around the--"
"They could've shot you. I'd rather wait a while than risk that." Never mind that they hadn't intended to shoot Ellie -- neither of them had known that at the time.
"But they might never have come this way. Thanks to me, we have a jeep now!" she said with a grin.
She's so cute when she's proud of herself. But he wasn't about to let her off the hook just yet. "Don't you realize how dangerous-- -You weren't s'posed to let 'em see you." In the puppies-and-rainbows outcome, Joel would've dodged all four of them and snuck out to hop into the waiting getaway car. All Ellie would've had to do was secure it. No blood spilled by either of them. Yeah... we haven't seen a rainbow for a long time... "You were s'posed to let me--"
"I know I know -- but I still got him out of the jeep, didn't I? That was the main goal."
"No, the main goal was--"
"Survival -- whatever. I did that, too! And he felt sorry for me. He wasn't going to kill me, you know."
"Maybe not right then, he wasn't. But after he took you in, what did you think was gonna happen? They'd just say 'oh, all right, we understand, you're free to go' ?" Joel reckoned her fate would've been far worse at that base than being shot in the street... and she didn't need to know what he'd overheard to that effect.
"Maybe not exactly... and maybe it's a long shot, but I might have been able to talk my way out of it. If I told them what happened. Caleb did say I'd get a chance to share my side of the story." She wasn't even joking.
All right, so maybe she DOES need to hear it! ...Eventually. She needed to understand that surrender was never a good option with these assholes -- especially when she was guilty as sin (in their eyes, if not his). But for now, he just gave her a Look.
"It doesn't even matter if that's true or not cuz anyone who fucks with us ends up dead," she declared.
She said it with such conviction... and still managed to look so goddamn cute that it made Joel smile.
She cocked an eyebrow at him. "What, that's funny?!"
"Hilarious." He gave her a quick kiss, then took her hand and started walking down the street. "Why don't you show me this jeep of yours now."
"Oh, it's mine?"
"Like you said, we have it 'cause of you." It had been a team effort, of course, but he'd give her this one. It was her idea and all.
"Does that mean I can drive it?" she asked excitedly.
"No." He didn't need another thing to worry about.
"Aww, c'mon, Joel... you said I drove good before..."
"For an emergency situation, you didn't do half bad. Ain't the same thing as--"
"So I'll do even better in a non-emergency one! Especially with the greatest teacher in the world by my side! I already know the basics -- you can tell me what I'm doing wrong... tell me the right way to do everything. Your way. I thought you liked teaching me stuff. ...Pleeease, Joel?"
Joel couldn't help being amused by her argument. "My way is always right? Is that what you're sayin'? 'Cause I know you don't really believe that."
"I would for this! I swear!"
...Oh, why the hell not? It wasn't like they had heavy traffic to contend with. Or any traffic. And it might be good to give her something to focus on... keep her from gravitating to the darker recesses of her mind, ruminating on shit. "Maybe you can drive some of the time," he conceded.
"Yes! We'll be home in no time. Maybe even before my birthday!"
"Sorry, kiddo. Not that fast. We're still takin' the horse, remember? He can't gallop the whole way."
"Oh yeah, huh... well, we can throw all the bags and shit in the jeep so he can go a little faster, right?"
"Definitely. We'll all have a lighter load." Joel was glad Ellie was in pretty good spirits, considering everything that had happened in the last eight hours or so. Their whole world had been turned upside down. Maybe it hasn't all sunk in yet... it hadn't really for him. The morning had a very surreal feel to it (and he couldn't even blame the fog, as there wasn't any to speak of today).
The quaint little hotel Ellie had fled to looked like a sister building of the church: sandy beige stucco, red tile roof, dark wood accents. By the time they got there, her relief at finding him in one piece and her excitement about the jeep had apparently worn off some. She seemed... nervous, or anxious. She kept looking around like she expected another wave of soldiers to appear.
"Did that guy call for reinforcements or somethin'?" Joel asked her.
Her eyes widened in alarm. "Shit -- you think maybe he did?"
"I'm askin' if he did, when he was with you. I take it he didn't."
"No -- fuck, I would've told you that right away!"
"All right. I figured as much. Just... you seem a little... rattled."
"Well -- yeah? Aren't you?" she scoffed. "It's been a while since we've had to fear for our lives. I kinda forgot how much it sucks."
Joel wanted to tell her not to worry... that he wouldn't let anything bad happen... but that would be pretty damn irresponsible of him -- not that she would believe him anyway. "All right," he repeated lamely instead. Once we're back in the saddle for a while, so to speak, we'll both settle into our Outside skins a little more...
Ellie unhitched the horse and began to unload him while Joel searched the jeep to see what the soldiers had unwittingly gifted to them. For such a small vehicle, there was a considerable amount of cargo to look through. She started piling their stuff behind the jeep in preparation for him to tetris it all in once he'd picked through their acquisitions. She still seemed... antsy. On edge. It probably hadn't helped that he'd planted the reinforcements possibility in her head. "Anything good?" she asked as she dropped the last of their load.
"Well, we got our bomb back... I don' know what this thing is... maybe tear gas... a full gas can, that's real nice... extra water... tires are in good shape, full spare... air pump... rope... some tools... a shovel..." --A shovel? For the zero inches of snowfall around these parts? ...Or maybe they'd been planning on digging Joel a nice grave -- whether he surrendered or not, probably. It was funny how thoughts like that still occurred to him, when in reality, no one had to bother with burying the bodies anymore -- concealing their crimes -- because there was no one around. No one to give two shits about yet another body littering an uncivilized area. Even if someone did happen to care, there was nothing to be done about it anyway. And, on the less morbid side-- "This atlas will come in handy, too."
"Atlas? What's that?"
Teenagers from the old world weren't familiar with them, either, Joel thought with amusement. Ellie, however, just wasn't connecting the word to the thing. "Like a book of maps -- I know you've seen 'em at the library. Our map was copied from one, remember?"
"Oh, right. Don't you still have that map? There's no way you tossed it."
He knew Ellie hadn't tossed her copy, either, although hers had been rendered damn near illegible. "Sure, I have it. Except... I don' know about you, but I sure as hell don't ever wanna see Sacramento again."
Ellie shuddered. "Oh hell no. I thought that was the best way to go, though?"
Hence the reason they had come that way. "It ain't the only way. We could detour around it... but there's plenty of freeways in California. I figure we go inland before headin' north an' just bypass the area altogether." He checked the front of the atlas for the publication year. "This thing's fairly new. Should be pretty accurate."
"New? Really?" She gave him a dubious look. "I didn't think they made books and stuff anymore. What year is it?"
"Twenty-ten."
Ellie gawked at him. "Ten? You call that new?! That's nine years before I was even born!"
Joel chuckled. She sure knows how to make me feel old sometimes... "Relatively-speakin', it's new... ish. Equates to three years old." What they really needed was a 2035 edition, with collapsed freeways or otherwise-unpassable roads and highways marked. Joel would mark this one up as they went along; maybe it would prove useful to someone back home. Or even to us, if we want to come back someday...
"You said... inland. Like... not by the ocean," Ellie deduced. "Not at all?"
"Right. You've had enough ocean to last you a good long while now, haven't you?" Joel sure wouldn't miss the goddamn sand. They were probably taking a fair amount with them, since he hadn't had time to meticulously empty every nook and cranny of their stuff, every crease and crevice... and it managed to find its way into all of them.
"I guess," she pouted. "Would've been nice to say goodbye, though."
"What, to the ocean? It don't care that you're leavin', trust me."
She looked so sad that he had to pull her in for a quick squeeze. "Aw. It's all right."
"If I had known when I got out the last time that I wouldn't be going back in again..."
"It would've ruined the whole thing for ya 'cause you'd be sad. Sometimes it's better to just... go and don't look back, yeah?" He started planting little kisses on her face in an attempt to make her smile, mindful not to aggravate that nasty bruise.
His efforts did produce a teeny little smile... but she still looked sad.
"There's plenty to look forward to back home," he added.
"I guess you're right." She brightened a little. "I'm a dork, I know. And I'd feel like absolute shit if we wasted time playing in the ocean and more soldiers came along and found us."
"Yes. Now let's get the hell out of here." Joel had already dumped a good portion of his gear in the back; he started re-arranging it to make more room. There was practically zero cargo space left in the rear, but the back seat would hold plenty. And unlike the front (which had no doors), it was enclosed. "Let's see how much of this we can fit in here. I'm gonna put the top up, too... the less sun you get, the better."
They did manage to pack it all in, with Ellie's backpack at her feet in the front. The jeep was small, but they were traveling fairly light, considering they'd only had the one horse to load up. He had to remove the huge machine gun mounted on the frame in order to roll the canvas top all the way over... but it wasn't even loaded, so that was no loss -- other than the space it took up. Maybe he'd dump it somewhere once they were well on their way. So they just used it to scare people? ...Or maybe it was a Monterey thing, neglecting to reload shit (like, say, gas tanks in boats).
The jeep certainly looked like army issue: it was that drab olive or 'army green' color... with a star, the words "U.S. ARMY," and a serial number all painted on the hood in white. It didn't appear to be bullet-proof, though. Damn... couldn't they have chased us in the Humvee instead? And there had been four men crammed in there... either they had given no thought to where Ellie would sit when they hauled her back to the base for 'questioning,' or... or maybe they would've just...
STOP. He could drive himself nuts, thinking about all the ways those bastards would have tormented Ellie. They're DEAD. She's safe now.
Joel wanted to try driving while guiding the horse on his lead rope. Might make turning left a little tricky... but it wouldn't be that hard to jump from car to horse if needed, and vice versa. Especially with no doors in the way -- hell, he could probably do it without even stopping the car, they'd be going so slow. He didn't like the thought of Ellie driving without him being right there beside her in the passenger seat in case things got dicey, though. He also didn't like the idea of Ellie riding the horse while he drove the jeep. Realistically, both of those things were bound to happen, at least for short stretches... oh, I don't know... why can't we lead the horse the whole way? No need to ride. We are NOT going to get separated this time. NO MATTER WHAT.
Never mind that they had already been separated...
That don't count. We weren't supposed to be, other than her waiting down the street at first for all or most of the soldiers to come after me. But since she had decided to do her own thing... maybe the next time we need a PLAN, I'll think of us as one person. Not capable of splitting up. Same as it would be if I were on my own... Except it wouldn't be. It would be better, because she could watch his back... and worse, because he'd have her safety to worry about.
They agreed it would be better not to hitch the horse to the jeep; it was easier, sure, but it could be risky, not being able to release him immediately if needed. It probably would have been fine... but Joel hadn't survived all these years by making a habit of trusting such 'probably's -- not when there was a safer alternative. Maybe they could find a better lead rope somewhere along the way... one with a safety release or breakaway feature. Even with that, though, the idea just didn't sit right with Joel. It felt like they would be tempting fate somehow, and Fox would end up tripping and breaking his leg, or he'd get caught under a tire... some freak thing like that. Leading him loosely from the vehicle felt safer. Hell, Joel had known people in Texas who did that on a regular basis, back in the day.
Joel surveyed their transportation ensemble with satisfaction. "All right, guess we're set. You got the keys, kiddo?"
She blanched. "Keys?"
"Yeah, you know... keys. Key, actually -- singular. The little doohickey you stick in the ignition to make cars go?"
"Smartass," she grumbled. "Um... do we really need that? Don't you know how to start it without a key?"
"This one don't have a push-button start. If you're talkin' about hot-wirin' it? That's a movie thing. And professional car thieves, I s'pose... an' video games about car thieves." It was cute how Ellie thought he could do pretty much anything. The things she assumed he knew that he actually didn't -- or that she thought he could do that he couldn't -- would fill volumes.
"Okay, well, I assumed they were in there, but if they're not... " She looked all over the front seat, floors, glovebox... as if Joel hadn't just searched all those places himself. "Caleb must've brought them inside with him. I'll go get them."
"I'm comin' with you."
"No! You stay here and guard our stuff!" she cried -- with surprising intensity.
"You think someone's gonna come along out of the blue an' steal from us in the short time we're gone? They can't even start the--"
"I'll only be a minute! I know exactly where he is... and you don't, so... I'll be right back! Stay there!" She turned and... bolted up the drive.
Joel gave her an odd look, even though it was too late for her to see it. Why would I need to know where the body is, if I'm with her? ...and why is she pulling a gun now? ...I don't like this... She was already inside when he jogged up to the door and pulled the handle--
It wouldn't open. He had just watched Ellie walk through it! What the hell...? He tugged some more. "Ellie! The door's stuck! Come back an' open it!" He pounded on the door, frustrated. It was solid wood, so he couldn't see inside.
"I'll be right out, Joel, jeez! Just wait a second!"
He waited three whole seconds. "Ellie... you're actin' kinda weird. If you don't come outta there in the next thirty seconds--" ...But he just let the empty threat hang in the air. I could go bust through that big window over there, I suppose...
Then he heard her on the other side of the door... fiddling with some sort of bolt lock? The door opened. "Got 'em!" she said cheerfully, thrusting a couple sets of keys at Joel and pushing him backward as she pulled the door shut behind her.
So the door wasn't even stuck? "Why did you lock it? And why did you pull your gun?"
She grabbed his free hand and yanked him back down the drive quickly. "Duh -- I was being safe, Joel! Just like you taught me!"
Joel stumbled along after her. He wasn't going to chastise her about the gun; if that had become standard practice for her Outside, he was happy. But... "You didn't feel safe havin' the door unlocked... with me right here watchin', just waitin' for you to come out? Damn, I really am losin' my--"
"It's not that! I dunno... I guess I wasn't really thinking, I just did it? ...You mentioned reinforcements, right? So I thought it would be safer."
...What? "So, which is it: you weren't thinkin', or you were?"
"That's-- ...I mean I... just--" she sputtered. "What's the big deal? After everything... after last night... I can't believe you're yelling at me for trying to protect myself."
"I ain't yellin'." Look at her, turning this back around on me--
"Especially when I don't feel good."
Shit... her stomach again? Or is she just trying to--
"I guess from now on I won't take any precautions at all," she huffed before Joel could ask. "After all, most of the time there's no one there. Like, ninety-nine times out of a hundred -- who cares about the one time? Yeah, that's what you're always telling me. Fuck it, right? Things will probably be okay--"
"Knock it off. You're bein' ridiculous."
"I'm ridiculous? You can't make up your mind on whether I should look out for trouble or not. Fuck."
"Puttin' a locked door between you'n'me ain't the best way to deal with--"
"I told you, I wasn't thinking about it like that! It was just a... like an instinct or something. But obviously I'm wrong. Like always."
He could just quit responding to her melodramatics, but the best way to end this was to just give Ellie what she wanted. It wasn't like it cost him anything. "Hey." He pulled her close to him and spun her around before she could climb into the jeep. "You're right. I'm sorry." Sealed with a kiss.
The kiss lasted just a few seconds, but it effectively mellowed her out. She wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned her forehead against his, smiling. "It's okay. I might forgive you."
"Might?"
"Mmhmm. It depends," she said coyly.
She can play this game all day... Joel didn't care. He'd play along for as long as she wanted if kept that sweet smile on her pretty face. "On what?"
"I'll tell you when we're on our way. We're being very unsafe right now."
Joel was smiling now, too. "I've got eyes an' ears on this whole damn street. But I appreciate you lookin' out for our safety." Even if she'd only said it to torture him with suspense. But... now she was pouting, for some reason he couldn't fathom.
"You used to get too distracted by me to feel safe Outside!" she complained.
Oh -- is that all? "I still do." He kissed her pouty lip and let go of her. "Once again, you are right. You are always right."
She let out a little giggle. "Joel... you're the best boyfriend ever. You know that, right?"
"And I'm a gentleman. Allow me to get the door for you." He mimed opening the passenger door.
"Ha! Remember that other hotel we were at, when I pretended to talk to the staff... and you called me a weird kid! Now you're the weird one!" She kissed his cheek, then stepped into the jeep.
He even shut the non-existent door for her. "So now you can tell me I'm a weird... old man."
"Except you're not old!" she lied. "I keep you young, remember? You're practically a teenager again."
"You keep me young in some ways, yes," he acknowledged as he got settled in the driver seat, "but that's really pushin' it. Besides... with all the gray hairs you've added to my head, it kind of evens out."
"What?! How is it my fault you have gray hairs?"
"Put your seatbelt on."
"I didn't add any fucking hairs to your head!"
"Ellie, put your--"
"You didn't make me wear one last time. At least not 'til we were about to wreck..."
That wasn't actually the last time they'd been in a moving vehicle together, but since she had been unconscious in the back seat for most of the last time, he supposed he'd let that slide (and, actually, he hadn't buckled her up the last time, either). "That truck had doors," he reminded her.
"You're not wearing yours," she argued.
"That's 'cause I'm mindin' the horse, see."
"What, you can't possibly do that while sitting in the seat in the proper position to wear the fucking seat belt? ...You're sitting normal."
"I might need to hop out quick or somethin'. Plus we're gonna be goin' real slow."
"Exactly -- if we're going super slow anyway, why do I have to wear mine?" she reasoned. "And if you hop out, I need to slide over and drive, don't I? If you can't take a second to unbuckle yours, then I--"
"Fine -- don't wear it. If you fall out, I ain't stoppin'," he said crossly.
She smirked at him. "Yeah, right. Fuck... that almost makes me wanna do it on purpose just to prove that's a lie!"
He just gave her another Look and tossed the atlas in her lap. "Here, you can help navigate. In a bit -- right now I just wanna get us out of this area... find a road or freeway that connects to 68 East."
The second Joel started up the engine, Fox bolted.
"I'll get him!" Ellie cried, scrambling out before Joel had even finished uttering a curse under his breath.
Fortunately, the horse didn't go very far, and Ellie calmed him quickly. It wasn't even far enough that she needed to ride him back, but she did -- and then she didn't dismount. Just pulled up alongside the jeep.
"What are you doin'?" he had to ask.
"I think I should ride him for a little while," she replied. "While you drive. That way he can get used to the jeep -- the noise and everything, right? He's prob'ly never seen one before, and we were running away from this one like it's bad. I'll stay sort of far away at first and make sure he's okay, and then just move in closer and closer... you'll be going really slow... and maybe you can talk to him and stuff so he knows it's friendly?"
Joel chuckled. "Your voice is friendlier than mine. But... sure. Only for a little while. It makes sense, to get him acclimated first." He should have thought of it himself.
"Right! And then... when we're both in the jeep, I should be the one to lead him because I don't think he's used to both sides."
It was traditional to do everything on a horse's left side, but not unheard of to lead from the right. He glanced up at her. "I don' know, Ellie... maybe we should just do that when you're the driver. So you can concentrate better."
"Control freak much?" she snickered.
"It ain't about--"
"Yes it is! Like -- okay, I'd be fine with that. I'm sure I do need to concentrate more than you cuz you're the expert. But there's no reason the passenger can't always be the one who leads the horse. Let the driver drive and the passenger lead. Teamwork and all. And I'm pretty sure Fox would be more comfortable that way. I know him better than you do."
Truth be told, they pretty much knew him equally -- to the extent of not very well at all. But Joel could give her this one. The jeep would actually be doing all the leading anyway... and Ellie did know the correct way to hold the rope so that her hand wouldn't get crushed in the event that Fox bolted again. "All right, we'll do it your way. But just 'cause I... wanna do all this stuff myself, it don't make me a control freak."
"You're so cute, Joel," she laughed. "That's exactly what it makes you!"
Whatever-- "It'll prob'ly help if you relax some. Horses can pick up on... moods. On fear. Quit lookin' around like--"
"This again? I'm being careful."
It wasn't that Joel didn't want her to be careful. ...It's like she don't even realize there's anything different about the way she's acting... but I guess I shouldn't harp on it... she's been through a lot, last night and this morning... And, quite frankly, could he really blame her for not trusting him as much as she used to? "That's good. Stay alert. Just... we're safe for now. There's no one here. I'd feel it if there was." ...I think? Maybe he shouldn't be too hasty to trust that sixth sense. But even when he concentrated, he wasn't picking up any unusual sights or sounds...
Ellie looked at him a long moment. Deciphering the doubt she'd detected in that declaration, probably (she knew him too damn well). "I just wanna get going. This place fucking creeps me out. Can we go already?!"
"Yes, ma'am. You still hungry? Or is your stomach--"
"Oh I forgot! Yes I'm starving!"
Joel reckoned she was a far cry from starving if she'd forgotten, so they could probably get a little ways out of town before stopping. They could even eat on the go now... but he didn't relish the idea of sitting there in that bucket seat for hours on end, so it would be better to take their customary breaks. "We'll eat soon. I'd just like a little distance between us an' the bodies first. Call me paranoid."
"No, I get it. Me, too. Let's go. Like, now."
You know she's more high strung than usual right now, and you have to go and make a stupid remark like that? he chastised himself. "Although it ain't like they're gonna get up an' come after us, or go rat us out." A neutralizing observation... hopefully.
"Duh! I know -- just -- can we go? Fuck, we keep saying it and then not--"
"First, we gotta detour back to the church."
"Um, why?"
"Talkin' about the bodies reminded me. I didn't take the time to loot the last two... or to move 'em."
"Oh -- right. Cuz you took off to find me. Right? So... you wanna move them? To where?"
"Just inside. So they ain't visible from the street."
"...So they can't rat us out. That's what reminded you!"
"Exactly. Two of the three are outside the church. Get ready, now... maybe take him over there a little ways... just in case..."
It was funny how manual transmissions were relatively scarce back in his day, and now, two of the last three vehicles he'd driven had been stick. Ellie, too... she had demonstrated that she already knew the basics, back in Lincoln, but if she was going to drive for any length of time on this trip, he needed to assess her skill level... make sure she didn't develop any bad habits. That could wait until she... calms down a bit? How long will that be? Hopefully they had some quiet, boring days of travel ahead. They had those more often than not... but those not days could sure take a toll. And this time, we're actually running AWAY from something...
He just needed to exude the confidence and self-assurance that he had in the past. That would surely put her more at ease. She knew him better now, yes, but that didn't mean he couldn't still conceal the bad stuff. Keep his game face on... keep her from sensing his fears and doubts.
Everything appeared to be in good working order with the jeep. Joel drove down the street at a snail's pace while Ellie worked on easing Fox closer and closer to the jeep... easing his natural apprehension of it. By the time they reached the church, the horse appeared to be fairly comfortable with the loud monstrosity. Ellie rewarded him with praise, neck pats, and an orange.
"Go easy on the treats," Joel warned her. "We ain't got an unlimited supply."
"Oh, we'll get more on the way," she said airily.
"Don't count on it. Now if you wanna stay here an' keep a look out while I--"
"I'll come help you," she offered. "I don't want you hurting your back or something."
"...Ouch."
"What?"
"I ain't that old. I got this."
"Bodies are heavy! Totally dead weight. ...Literally."
It was on the tip of his tongue, to ask her when was the last time she'd had to deal with one. Thankfully, he didn't always say stupid shit. ...although it ain't like she had to MOVE the motherfucker last night -- not AFTER he died... what happened today? But he could ask her more about today's incident later. "I got this," he repeated.
"Don't you wanna keep a close eye on me? Can't do that if I'm way out here in the street."
He got the feeling Ellie just didn't want to let him out of her sight. Which was fine, since the feeling was mutual. "All right. You can help me."
"We don't even have to leave Fox out here, actually -- he would totally fit through those doors. We could even load up this guy here on him and just lead him inside, right? ...You said there were two. Where's the other one?"
"Upstairs... but outside, in that tower there. Not close enough to the edge that we can see him, but if they bring a tank or somethin' in here..." ...or the fabled helicopter...
"I just thought of something else," she declared.
"What's that?"
"What you have to do to earn my forgiveness." She sidled up to him, a wicked grin giving him a hint as to the nature of the task.
So she WASN'T trying to heighten the drama by making me wait for it -- she just hadn't dreamed it up yet. He wrapped his arms around her waist. "Don't keep me in suspense. What do I have to do?"
"The only thing you have to do..." She tugged him closer so she could whisper in his ear (like someone might overhear?). "...is make love to me in the back seat of that thing!" Meaning the jeep, of course.
He smirked. "Is that even on the list?"
"If it's not, I'm adding it right now!"
"We've gotta get out of this area," he reminded her.
"No shit -- I don't mean right this second. I mean... some time before we get home."
Joel glanced at the jeep. "I don' know about makin' love. It would prob'ly be more like fuckin' -- you see how cramped it is back there?"
"Well, we'd move all the stuff out, of course." As if that would make it not cramped. "And don't use that word. It's never fucking, when it's you and me."
Ha! The role reversal was just too cute -- he had to kiss her. Quickly and chastely, though. "Yes ma'am."
"So you'll do it?"
Of course he'd do it, if that's what she wanted. Considering what had just happened to her, though... Joel couldn't imagine she would be ready to just pick up where they'd left off in the sex department. Yet she'd already suggested it twice this morning. Might be one of those things where the reality is different from the fantasy... and she did seem to be somewhat concerned that she'd hurt his feelings with the whole... ~faking it~ thing. Maybe it had something to do with that. "I'll... think about it," he hedged. Because she wasn't the only one who could torment with suspense!
"Good. You do that. Think about how hot it will be."
That wasn't what he needed to be thinking about at the moment. The levity was welcome, though, after the intensity of the past few hours... and whatever else was about to come their way next. But... the back seat? Really? "Christ," he muttered. "Maybe you're right: you are makin' me a goddamn teenager."
~Continue to Chapter 12~