JANE'S EYES peeled open as they adjusted to the darkness of the room they were in. She looked around weakly, noticing Ellie and Joel staring at her in relief. The girl groaned, grabbing the side of her stomach before Joel stopped her.

"Don't touch." Joel insisted, though Jane could see he was happy that she was okay, "It's still healing."

"Thank fuck, you're alive." Ellie let out a breath she didn't know she was holding, "I would've had to stay with this lazy ass. You know, we had to stay on floor 33 because of him?"

"Lazy ass." Joel scoffed, "I'm 56 years old, you little shit."

Jane questioned weakly, "Where are we?"

"Well, after I fucking shot a guy, Joel insisted on rewarding me a gun." Ellie bragged smugly, "Now, we're in a old hotel building."

"Joel... gave you a gun?" Jane questioned sarcastically, as she looked at the man, "Does that mean I get one?"

"No." Joel rolled his eyes, letting out a breath of exhaustion, "You have a bat or you'll shoot your damn ass off."

Jane smiled slightly, before squinting at Ellie's face, "Are you crying?"

"What- no." Ellie defended, as she wiped her cheeks quickly. Jane and Joel made eye contact, before chuckling.

Jane winced as she laughed, "Fuck, who sew me up?"

"Me." Ellie announced proudly, "It's fucking awesome, right? The scars gonna be cool as shit."

Jane tried to hide her smirk, "If you say so."

The night grew darker as Jane slept through it deeply. She hadn't slept properly in a long time, due to her raging anxiety that something bad was going to happen. However, she felt safe in a secured room with Joel and Ellie.

"Jane!" Ellie shouted to the girl, who had placed her hearing aid on the floor beside her, "Fuck. Jane! Joel!"

Joel's eyes snapped open as he noticed a figure standing over him. A child, much younger than his daughter, aiming a gun at his face. He looked at Ellie quickly, to see a young man holding a gun to the back of her head as she raised her hands in the air.

"Eyes on me." The young man spoke in panic, "You don't have to worry about what to say. We don't wanna hurt you. We wanna help you." The man paused, motioning to Jane, "Now, wake her up. Don't move!"

"She can't hear." Ellie raised her voice protectively, "She's fucking deaf."

The young man nodded, as Ellie quickly crawled over to Jane, shaking her awake. Ellie grabbed her hearing aid beside her, placing it on the side on her head. Jane shot up in panic, her hearing adjusting to the world around her as she looked at Joel on the floor beside her. The young man aimed his gun at the two girls, as they both didn't move.

The young man spoke, "If I lower my gun... we didn't hurt you, so you don't hurt us. Right?"

"That's right." Joel replied.

The young man chuckled nervously, "That's a weird fucking tone, man."

"That's just the way he sounds, he has an asshole voice." Ellie interrupted quickly, "Joel tell him he's okay."

Joel deadpanned, "Everything is great."

"Fuck!" The young man panicked, "Okay, look, I'm going to trust you." He turned to the little boy, who was aiming a gun at Joel. He signed, "I'm going to trust him."

The little boy signed back, "Are you sure?"

Joel sat up slowly, raising his hands in the air in surrender, "Who are you?"

"My name's Henry. That's my brother, Sam." The young man introduced, "I'm the most wanted man in Kansas City. Although right now, my guess is you're running a close second."

Sam and Henry lowered their guns, as they gathered in a circle with a lamp in the centre of them. Jane retrieved a sandwich from her backpack, before giving half to the boy in front of her.

Jane signed, "It's chicken and cucumber."

"Thank you." Sam signed, as he took a bite into the sandwich.

Henry nodded, "I guess you don't have much, so this means a lot to us. Where'd you get these?"

"From Uncle Bill." Jane replied.

"He's dead now." Ellie added, "How old is he?"

Henry replied, "He's eight."

"Cool." Jane nodded, before signing, "I'm Jane. That's Ellie." The girl looked at Joel, who was capable of signing himself but was too busy staring doubtfully at the two newcomers. Jane tapped his knee, "Say hello."

"I'm Joel." He spoke with sarcasm laced through his voice, "Look, you ate, we didn't kill each other, let's call this a win-win and move on."

Jane rolled her eyes.

Henry explained, "Well, I'm betting that you guys came up here to get a view of the city and plan a way out. And when the sun's up, I'll show you one."

***

The next morning came around slowly for Jane as she didn't fall back asleep that night, neither did Joel or Henry. The sun came up, shining it's amber light on the city below as the two men looked at the city below.

Henry spoke, "Welcome to Killa City."

"No FEDRA." Joel stated, "I always heard Kansas City FEDRA was-"

"Monsters? Savages? You heard right. Raped and tortured and murdered people for 20 years." Henry interrupted, "They haven't been here since 10 days ago."

Joel questioned, "But you're not FEDRA?"

"No... worse." Henry replied, "I'm a collaborator."

Joel scoffed, "Yeah, no. I don't work with rats."

Henry shot back, "Yeah, you fucking do. Today you do 'cause I live here and you don't. That's how I followed you here and I'm gonna help you get out."

"Why help us?" Joel questioned curiously.

"Because I saw what you did to those men back there." Henry replied, "Now, I know where to go, but I don't know how to make it through alive, not if it's just me and Sam."

"You seem capable enough." Joel replied, "You're armed."

"You're wrong, and wrong." Henry retorted, "I've never killed anyone. And pointing the unloaded gun at you was the closest I've ever come to being violent. So, that's the deal. I show the way, you clear the way-"

Henry was interrupted by the laughs coming from Sam, Ellie, and Jane, who were flicking through a joke book from Ellie's bag. The two men argued for a while about Henry's plan, though the group had decided to all work together and take the tunnels- which FEDRA had cleared from infected about three years ago.

They entered a bank, leading towards the tunnel entrance. Joel insisted, "Get your gun out."

Ellie took the gun of her pocket smugly, as Jane gripped onto her bat tightly. Jane retorted, "I don't have a gun."

Joel shot back, walking into the tunnels first, "Damn right, you don't."

Henry looked around at the empty gloom, "See, it's empty. The plan is good."

"Shh." Joel whispered frustratedly, "The plan is good? We've been down here two seconds. We don't know anything."

Henry signed to Jane, "You're dad's kind of a pessimist."

Jane smiled, holding in her laugh as much as she could. Joel sighed, "Just point your flashlight forward."