CHAPTER FOURTY THREE

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mentions of s/a
(david being a creep)

          WATER DRIPPED DOWN THE WALLS, THE DIRTY WET TILES COVERED IN BLOOD AND GRIME FROM YEARS OF ABANDONMENT AND MURDER. The scent of blood clung heavily in the air and Lucia couldn't avoid taking it in with every slow breath she managed. The woman was freezing, she had woken up without her coat.       

Lucia sat in the middle of a small cell, the rusty bars firmly attached to the ceiling and floor. The woman was glad to still be wearing her boots, or her toes might have fallen off from frostbite. Her eyes roamed around the room she found herself in, there was a high table to her right, covered in red liquid which could also only be blood.

The wall was littered with all sorts of knives in all different shapes and sizes and het gut sank.

Her screams had fallen on deaf ears about an hour ago. Lucia had no idea where Ellie was and if she was okay and she hadn't seen anyone since she had woken up. Her head hurt and the first time she tried to stand up, she almost lost consciousness again. She was sure she had a concussion and she had emptied the contents of her stomach the moment she had woken up.

Lucia took in a sharp breath, throat dry from the screaming and tried to calm herself down. She was trapped, nowhere to go. No clue what was happening or if the Williams girl was alive and if they had found Joel in that town or how he was doing.

"Oh good," announced David as he entered the room with a tray of food in his hands. He placed it on the table and continued, "you're awake. I was almost worried that you wouldn't."

The brunette lifted her head and met his gaze, face void of emotion as she looked at him. David let out a low whistle and grabbed a chair, screeching it along the tiles and taking a seat in front of the cell.

"Where is the girl?" she demanded, not moving from her spot on the ground as he took in her wrecked appearance. "And let me the fuck out."

"Well, that's certainly the goal." he nodded, leaning back into his chair while he looked at his hand, and she followed her gaze to see one of his fingers wrapped in a thick bandage. "And to answer your first question, Ellie, is perfectly safe in her own room. Are you hungry?"

"Why am I in a cage?"

"Because i'm afraid of you." he chuckled, tilting his head to the side. "You're a dangerous person. You've certainly proven that. The others, they want me to kill you for all that's happened." Lucia ignored him and looked away. "Did you hear me say the others wanna kill you?"

"Yeah, I did." she snarled, pushing herself to her feet with the bit of strength she had. "Fuck you."

"Why don't we just start with your name, huh?" he leaned forward, clasping his hands together but Lucia didn't miss the winch he gave when his fingers touched. "Then we can talk about fucking."

"Eat shit." she grimaced, holding onto her head as she stumbled toward the bars of the cell. Her panic began to rise at his words and she wanted to get the fuck out of there.

David narrowed his eyes at her and got up as well, standing before her with only metal between them. He towered over her and he found her glare amusing and this only infuriated her more. When he got close enough, she spit in his face and he closed his eyes with a raise of his eyebrow. He brought his hand to his face and wiped her spit away.

"You're only going to make this harder on yourself, sweetheart."

"I bet Ellie is the one who broke your finger." she croaked, a slow and wicked smile forming on her face as she swallowed her fear. "I bet she made you scream like a little girl."

David reached through the bars before she could react and pulled her toward him, her nose colliding with the metal harshly. Lucia cried out and fought back against him but he was stronger and she was still injured. Panic began to set in and override her mind.

"Quite the opposite, actually." he breathed, a foul stench hit her in the face as his mouth hovered over her own. "The other way around. I can't wait to hear her scream, and there's nothing you can do to stop it."

"Touch a hair on her head and you're fucking dead, asshole!" she screeched, still trying to pull away from his firm grip.

David let go of his hold on her and Lucia fell backward onto the tiles, grunting in pain as she scooted away from him. He was livid, turning around and grabbing the tray of food and pushed it toward her roughly, and the soup spilled everywhere. Lucia got sight of the contents and her eyes widened, her breath quickening in panic.

"Hmm," he hummed nonchalantly as he followed her gaze. "wanted to give you deer but i'm afraid Ellie ate it all."

The man slammed the door shut on his way out as Lucia began to cry, her sobs echoing through the small room as she looked at the eyes in her bowl and she kicked it away with a wail.

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HIS STOMACH HURT AND HE HUNCHED OVER FOR A MOMENT, TRYING TO CATCH HIS BREATH. Joel had woken up fully when the shooting had started and it took him a great deal of strength to get to his feet when he heard heavy footsteps upstairs.

He had killed the man who had come into the basement, but he needed a moment after that. He was tired, he was in pain and most of all he was in absolute panic at the thought of Lucia and Ellie outside as they tried to escape the raiders.

Now, hours later he was enraged as his fist connected with the raiders face. The man groaned, in absolute agony as he tried to scoot away from him, but he was tied up and could barely move as he sat in the chair. His fists were stinging, his stitches were screaming at him to stop.

"Stop, stop, please." he pleaded, but Joel was having none of it as he delivered another blow to his face.

"Leave him alone." begged the other raider, who was sat on the other side of the room, also tied up with lots of tape. 

"You're next." The smuggler looked up at him pointedly as he caught his breath, wiping blood from his face. Joel slid a knife from his pocket and smirked over the raiders shoulder toward the one against the wall. "Now tell me where the fuck they are."

"I don't know any girls." he moaned, eyes closed and head hung back from the blows he had received. 

Joel didn't hesitate as he stabbed the blade into his kneecap, a sickening crunch echoing throughout the room. He cried out in pain, biting on his lower lip so harshly that it began bleeding. His buddy screeched at him to stop but Joel didn't care. All he cared about was finding them.

"Jesus!" he screamed. "Marco?"

"No, no, no, no." echoed Joel, crouching down in front of the chair and grabbing a hold of his hair as he smacked his cheek to keep him awake. "He can't help you. Focus, right here. Right here. Or i'll pop your goddamn other kneecap off."

Joel tugged on his hair and the man blubbered something out, and Joel tugged harder to get him to repeat it. "They're alive."

"Where?" demanded Joel, and when he didn't respond he twisted the knife still lodged into his knee and he screamed in agony. He tried to speak but no words came out as he was overcome with pain until Joel twisted the knife harder.

"Fuck! Fuck! The town!"

Joel squeezed his fingers together and gave a harsh tug on his hair as he bellowed. "What town?!"

"Silver Lake." he panted with a flinch. The smuggler let go of his head with a glare and slid out the map from his back pocket, opening it up to the area they were currently in. "It's ... it's not a real town name. It's a resort."

"A resort?" remarked Joel before taking the knife out of his knee harshly and grabbing his head again. He screamed out and tried to get away from him. Joel shoved the end of the knife into his mouth forcefully and said, "You're gonna point to where we are..." he held the map up in front of him. "and where your 'resort' is. And it better be the exact same spot your buddy points to."

He trembled in pain and slowly leaned forward to point to a place on the map with the bloody knife. He spat out the knife to the side and groaned. "That's where we are. I swear. Go ask him. He'll tell you i'm not lying."

Joel got the knife back from the ground and without any hesitation he plunged the knife into his stomach, tearing through his organs. Marco was screaming for him to stop, but he was already dead.

"Shit!" he yelled in fear. "Jesus! No! Why the fuck did you do that? He told you what you wanted!"

Joel stumbled his way toward the couch on his right and leaned down to grab a pole. He ambled his way toward the last raider with a slight grin, ignoring the pain in his stomach. 

"You motherfucker! Fuck you!" One of his eyes was swollen shut from the assault Joel had delivered on his face. "I ain't telling you shit!"

"It's okay," shrugged Joel. "I believe him."

The smuggler brought the pole up above his head as Marco began to plead for his life, but Joel wasn't having it as he brought the pole down, over and over again till there was nothing left of his head.

joel's back baby and he's gonna go beserk in the town