"Hey, Joel!", with a harsh gesture, you pulled him back into the shadows. "Don't be a fool!"

He gifted you a warning gaze, his eyes filled with anger and hatred.

At that moment, he looked so vicious that a cold shiver crawled down your spine. Deterred, you withdrew your hand.

"We still have to be careful.", you said with a quick glance at the door that led to the main room of the mansion.

On the other side you could hear muffled mumbling, a group of people talking. They seemed to be arguing, sometimes getting louder. It sounded like they were fighting each other.

But maybe it was Ellie, Tommy and Dina who were beaten up by them.

"I have no time.", he tried to push you away, but you refused.

"Joel, calm the fuck down! We need to put some sort of plan together."

"Do you have one?"

"I'm trying to think, but you're not a big help."

A deep sigh left his lips. With a grim expression on his face, he forced himself to calm down and listen.

"So, what options we have?", he asked.

You shrugged.

"It would be madness, but maybe you're willing to try it.", you suggested and pulled out your rifle. "You got one too, don't ya?"

He nodded and let it slide from his shoulder.

"I'd try everything if it helps."

"Hm, not sure if that's something good. But either way, doing nothing won't help either. So listen closely, we don't have a lot of options. Best I can think of is to take them by surprise. We have the advantage that they don't know we are here. And they sound distracted."

Pressing his lips into a thin line, he listened.

"Five people?", he looked at you for confirmation.

You checked.

"Five. But I'm not sure."

"Doesn't matter. We take them all out."

Your lips twitched. The thought made you shiver. This wasn't your business, neither of the hostages were connected to you. You just wanted to get your hands on Abby.

And she was right there. In this fucking room, a stones throw away from you.

"We take them by surprise.", you said and checked the ammunition. "But your friends might get caught in the crossfire. We either have to take that risk or be careful. But that would mean we give them more time to react."

"And then we could get hurt.", he added.

You shrugged.

"Probably."

"Fine.", he looked at you. "Let's give it a try. But don't shoot into their direction."

You nodded in agreement. You had no problem being lenient. Besides, Joel offered a unique opportunity. If it came to it that more people showed up, then you would not be helplessly at their mercy.

"Then let's go.", you pulled a smoke grenade from your backpack. "This is the only one I have. It might give us another advantage. The hostages are probably sitting on the floor. We just need to shoot higher."

He hummed.

"Worth a try."

Together you lined up on each side of the door.

The voices were still busy arguing with each other. They were careless.

Quickly, you looked at Joel one last time.

In his hand he held the grenade. He was ready.

Slowly, unobtrusively, you pushed the door open.

It opened a crack, not wide, but big enough to let the grenade roll through.

Joel let go of it.

With a soft click, the shell touched the floor, rolled into the room, and hit the foot of a careless man. Surprised, the group stopped. Frozen in shock, they stared at the little thing lying there on the floor in front of them.

Tensely they held their breath.

Any small movement would set off the grenade.

Behind the door, you cursed. So this thing was already too old to be useful.

"Joel...", you whispered so softly that he almost missed it. "Can you hit it?"

He glanced through the crack, raised his gun, and fired a single, well-aimed shot. The bullet hit the grenade perfectly.

With a loud bang, the shell exploded, a black cloud spread through the room and drowned everything in darkness.

All at once, people began to scream. Someone shouted something, weapons were drawn.

You pushed open the door and fired a shot into the darkness where something was moving.

A pained scream sounded. The smell of something burnt filled the air.

Behind you, Joel jumped into the room. He fired three shots. Two hit, the third bullet shattered something made of glass.

You couldn't make out what it was in the fog, but a cold breeze suddenly chased through the room.

You ducked down. A shot hit the wall next to you. The sound caused a shrill ringing in your ear. The feeling of warm liquid running from your ear dripped over your skin.

You fired three more shots, but then it became impossible to aim.

The fog thinned. Outlines awoke.

Lying on the ground, face down, two men appeared, not a step away from you. One of them was missing his eye. A puddle of blood had gathered around his head. The light reflected on the red surface.

The other man was still breathing.

You didn't even look at him as you shot him in the chest.

Suddenly everything fell quiet. As if no one was left.

"Joel...", you mumbled. "Joel, where are you?!"

Suddenly something moved next to you.

Startled, you tore your head in that direction. Your finger twitched on the trigger. But just at the moment you recognized Dina's face, you froze.

She was covered in blood. Someone had given her a black eye, a laceration adorned her forehead. Breathing frightened, she looked at you.

Next to her, Tommy groaned. He was hurt, too. His leg was badly damaged. The bone was partially visible and he had lost a lot of blood.

As you knelt next to him to cut the ties, you noticed how pale he was.

"Where is Ellie?", you asked with bated breath.

Only at that moment did you notice that there was no one else in the room.

All the enemies were dead. Silence was in the air like a heavy cloth. Abby was not among the fallen. And Joel was nowhere to be seen either.

"Dina.", you grabbed her by the shoulders to make her stop crying. "Where's Ellie?"

Sweat was shining on your forehead. You were nervous.

Why were you nervous?

She shook her head.

"Somebody grabbed her...", she sobbed. "They went that way..."