CHAPTER SIXTEEN

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          THE BRUNETTE WAS MOMENTARILY DEAFENED FROM THE BULLET THAT HAD WHIZZED PAST HER FACE BEFORE SHE WAS BEING PUSHED DOWN ROUGHLY. The man beside her had shielded her from the rain of fire, throwing himself over her frame with a shout.

"Are you okay?" he demanded, grabbing at her face with urgency, pupils blown wide.

Droplets of blood slid down her temple, she hadn't even felt the metal nick her skin but it was no real injury. Lucia nodded her head quickly, blinking away the shock and turned to look for Ellie. The girl was laying flat on the backseat, breathing heavily as she watched the two of them with fright.

Joel had unfastened Lucia's seatbelt before doing his own. Stray bullets hit the back of the truck and Ellie held her head between her arms, trying to keep herself out of harms way.

"You're not hurt or anythin'?" he urged, eyes raking over the teen's frame for any sign of injuries. When there weren't any, at least ones he could see, his grip on the armrest of the seat lessened a smidge.

"I don't think so." she shook her head before another bullet whizzed past them into the dashboard.

"Get out! Go!" demanded Joel, and Lucia pushed her door open before dropping to her knees on the concrete below.

Ellie did the same, slamming the door shot behind her as she pushed herself against the vehicle. Joel was the last one out and without really realising what he was doing, he pressed both woman behind him. In their fearful haze, Lucia didn't mind it one bit. Even if she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself, she let him.

'Let's see you motherfuckers!'

'Give us your shit, you make it through this.'

They were definitely raiders and their shouts sounded menacing and Lucia's felt her heart thundering within her chest. The smuggler had managed to grab his shotgun from the backseat, and reloaded it. The brunette peered around the laundromat, trying to find a way out and her eyes fell on the hole in the wall on the other side of the room.

"Joel," she nudged him with her knee and he followed her gaze with a slow nod. "Ellie, you see that hole? Can you squeeze through?"

The teen nodded her head quickly and Joel added, "When I say go, you crawl to that wall, and you squeeze through and you don't come out until one of us says, okay?" More glass shattered around them from above and Ellie ducked her head, eyes wide. "They're not gonna hit you. Look at me!" She did and he repeated firmly. "They're not gonna hit you. You stay down, you stay low, you stay quiet."

Lucia had already reloaded her own gun, giving the man beside her an incline of her head.

"We got you." she reassured Ellie, whom was slightly shaking from adrenaline.

"Okay," Joel muttered to himself, tightening his grip on his shotgun and slowly getting to his feet. "Go!"

Ellie was already on her hands and knees, pulling her body along the glass covered tile floor as she made her way toward the wall. Joel was firing at the raiders, his first bullet hitting home in one of their stomachs. Lucia scrambled away to the other side of the truck, watching them from behind the counter and aiming at a younger boy who was about to shoot at him.

'You motherfuckers!'

He fell limply to the floor, gun clattering beside him. From her position she couldn't see if Ellie had made it, but Joel and Lucia were quick to take out the other two who were hiding behind a ruined building.

There had barely been shots from the both of them, but the four raiders were no more. There had to be more of them, and if they didn't get out soon they'd catch up. The gunfire would have alerted anyone within the area if not all the infected.

It was eerily quiet and the brunette didn't feel confident enough to stand back to her full height, instead she crouched along the counter. Joel had gotten to the other side of the building, in the back and their eyes met for a moment before the sounds of crunching glass reached their ears.

Lucia caught sight of him first and saw he was heading toward the back. The woman slid her stiletto knife from her boot and went after him. He hadn't had time to react as she slid the knife into his jugular. The man gurgled, blood spurting from his mouth and fell forward, unmoving.

"Watch out!" roared Joel, gun aimed at her.

The brunette felt it before she heard the deafening shot, intense pain shooting up her arm as she lost her footing. The next bullet lodged itself into the raiders head as she clutched her arm tightly. It hadn't been the first time, but Lucia would never get used to the excruciating pain of getting shot.

"Fuck, fuck," Joel cursed, reaching her within seconds and taking her bleeding limb between his hands. She waved him off with her right hand, shaking her head. "Jesus Christ."

"I'm good," she breathed, closing her eyes tightly. "it went clean through. I'll be fine."

Joel ignored her, tearing off the sleeve from his flannel in one tear and forcefully wrapping it around her upper arm. Lucia cried out, nausea overtaking her senses when she tried to pull out of his grip. He wouldn't take no for an answer as he stopped the bleeding with a tight knot. They'd have to get a proper look at it later, right now, they had to get the hell out of Kansas City.

The smuggler got to his feet and held out his hand for her to take, but Lucia never got the chance. Joel was knocked off his feet as another delinquent slammed through the backdoor. He swiped his knife at Joel but he blocked it as the boy straddled him on the floor.

"Now you're gonna fucking pay! For what you fucking did! You fucking killed yourselves, motherfuckers!"

The woman scrambled to her feet when his hands went around his neck, choking the smuggler. Joel wasn't able to reach his weapon and a shot ran out before Lucia was able to lift her gun.

Ellie stood with her arm raised, eyes wide as she watched the blood pool around the boy's head. The girl was seeming frozen as she watched the scene unfold.

"Man ..." she breathed. "I shot the hell outta that guy, huh?"

"Yeah," uttered Joel, sitting up with a push of his arm. "you sure did."

Ellie dropped the gun to the floor and leaned against the wall. Lucia, who tried to ignore the pain in her arm stepped toward her but quickly stopped when she said, "I feel sick."

"Why didn't you just hang back like I told you to?" demanded Joel, taking the weapon from the ground.

"You're glad I didn't, right?"

"I'm glad I didn't get my head blown off by a goddamn kid."

"You know, what?" Ellie peered up at him, glare on her face. "No! How about, 'Hey, Ellie, I know it wasn't easy, but it was either him or me. Thanks for saving my ass.' You got anything like that for me, Joel?"

"We gotta get going." he said gruffly, not sparing either a second glance as he peered through the hole. "Ellie, get in there. See if there's some stuff against the door you can move."

The teen didn't want to, she was angry at the smuggler but she understood the urgency in his voice and clambered through the wall. There was shuffling coming from where she had disappeared to as she made room for the door to be opened.

"You're too tough on her." Lucia muttered, ambling to his side. "She thought she did what was right and she was right. He would have strangled you, Joel."

Joel clenched his jaw, muscle evident underneath his cheek. His eyes slid to her bleeding arm and then slowly turned to the young boy laying in a pool of his own blood.

"Later," he said, leaving no room for argument.

Ellie had managed to clear the door and once Lucia and Joel were inside, he and the teen pushed a desk against it for security.

"I got some food, still." Ellie uttered, going through her backpack. "And your flashlight." The rest of their stuff was lost and they'd had to scavenge for survival all over again. "What do we do now?"

"We go up."

"To get a better look?"

"Hopefully, we spot a clear route out."

Lucia had trouble moving her left arm around and panic spiked her senses, grip on the gun in her right hand tightened painfully. The brunette and Ellie followed after Joel silently and into an alley, clouds covering the afternoon sky.

"Are you okay?" Ellie whispered, tugging on the woman's shirt once she noticed the blood dripping down her skin. "Are you shot?"

"I'm fine." she reassured her. "Nothing to worry about."

Ellie wasn't convinced but kept her words to herself with a slow nod. They hurried through the alley until they came to the street, crouching behind one of the cars. They stilled when two trucks passed by them on the other side, armed man atop the vehicles.

'Bryan? Bryan! Body! Body! They got fucking Bryan!'

Joel made his way toward the other side of the road toward a backdoor of a building and opened it, peering inside. He glanced back and nodded at the girls and they manoeuvred their way toward him. Once inside, they were cascaded into darkness and Joel flicked on his light.

As the adrenaline wore off, the pain within her arm became unbearable and her eyes welled up with tears. God, the things she'd do for some strong painkillers right now. They had some paracetamol, but that was left in the truck and out of their reach. Lucia would have to endure it, but she wasn't sure how long she would last.

"Lucia?" muttered Ellie, eyes on her face once she saw the colour drain from her skin. "Maybe you should sit down."

"No," she breathed. "we have to get out of here first."

The fabric of Joel's flannel was no longer green and instead was soaked with her blood, sticking against her skin uncomfortably. Joel let out a noise of anger and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her toward him and leading them down the hall through the building. The shouts of the raiders could still be heard in the distance.

"I can walk by myself." Lucia uttered, but made no move to step away from him as he tightened his grip against her ribs.

"Just accept the help, stubborn woman." he glowered.

trying to slowly establish a relationship between my two faves!