( gif by ; -tzarrion )

━ CHAPTER FIVE ...

' infected , part. 2 '

The sound of footsteps approached a hallway, as the paint on the walls were creasing and falling off. Joel's head pokes around the corner, checking if it was safe and moves around it, as the three behind him follow.

Tess comes out from around the corner, panting and out of breath from the amount of stairs they had just climbed.

"Come on. It wasn't that bad." Ellie comments from beside her sister, as (Y/N) and Tess gave her an incredulous look.

"You try climbing ten fuckin' floors with our knees." Tess answers back with her back leaning against the wall, as she motions to Joel, "See how ya feel." She walks forward to the where the male was, and the sisters follow.

"Well, when the fuck did that happen?" Tess speaks her thoughts out loud, the four of them seeing the end of the hallway blocked by fallen rocks, as a small opening was seen also.

Tess tries to open the door beside them, but it wouldn't budge nor break free, as Joel tries to do that same to the one beside him, having no luck as well.

"All right, well, I mean, I could climb up there, work my way around, and open it from the inside?" Tess said, telling them her plan as she scans the small gap between the rocks leading outside.

"Uh, well, I could do it-" (Y/N) offered with a small hand raise, making Ellie protest about that idea, and Tess turn to look at the young adult.

"Mm-hm, but you die and we get nothing." Tess reminds the girl behind her, giving her a strong look, "You stay here with your sister."

(Y/N) backs off with her hands raised a bit, as Joel goes to give Tess a hand with getting up into the small gap. He pushes her up with her foot in his hand, as she grunts and pulls herself up into the rocks, carefully making her way through the hole.

As she disappeared from view, (Y/N) sighs tiredly as goes to slid down against the wall, sitting on the ground with her knees up to her stomach, and Ellie joined right beside her.

Joel watched this happen, as it was just the three of them now and he places his rifle down beside him, sitting down on the small chair placed there.

It was quiet for a few minutes, until Ellie reaches into her sisters jacket pocket and pulls out her switch knife, flipping it open and played around with it.

"Nice knife." Joel comments, finally speaking up with his thick accent, as (Y/N) looks at him but Ellie doesn't, "Where'd you learn to do that?"

"The circus." Ellie sarcastically replied to the male, still flipping her knife up and down as (Y/N) nudges her leg with her boot, giving her a look.

Joel looks away at her words, and sighs heavily as the silence was back and it was worse than last times one.

(Y/N) leans her head against the wall, her high ponytail bumping against it as she directs her attention to Joel, "Where are you from?"

Joel's eyes snap back to hers, scanning her calm features than glanced down at the floor, "Texas."

Ellie, who had now flipped her knife away became interested in the conversation, "What about Tess?"

"Detroit. It's in Michigan."

Ellie rolls her eyes and fiddles with the bracelet on her wrist, scowling at Joel, "I got to school. I know where Detroit is."

(Y/N) pulls her bottom lip in between her teeth, leaning forward a bit nervously, as she goes to ask something that has been lingering on her mind ever since meeting the attractive male, "So, uh, are you two like-"

"No, but pass." Joel answer sharply to her, taking notice of how she was anxious to ask that, and how her tense shoulders relaxed at his response. It made him curious.

She nodded her head a little, picking at the loose thread on her jacket sleeve as Ellie leans her head against (Y/N)'s shoulder, "How long do infected live?"

"Well," Joel starts off, redjusting his position in the chair as his legs spread a little, "some last about a month or two. But there's other been walkin' around 'bout 20 years."

"Ever killed one?" Ellie's small voice speaks up from (Y/N)'s shoulder, looking at the male in front of them.

"Yeah," He nods, "lots of 'em."

(Y/N) rubs her hand up and down Ellie's arm, as she was against her side and the older William swallows hard, eyes flickering back to Joel's neutral face, "Was it hard? Like, knowing they were people once?"

Joel purses his lips, not responding right away as he leans his elbow on his knee, "Sometimes." He tells her honestly.

She licks her bottom lip, humming in thought as she goes to ask some more, but the sound of muffled thumping was heard down the hallway beside them.

(Y/N) was up straight away with Ellie slightly behind her, as Joel stood up to get in front of the oldest, but Tess's voice boomed through the wall.

"You can put that gun down, Joel." Tess appeared from behind the door, as she opens it and managed to move at the stuff blocking it.

"What now?" Joel asked the woman who was standing in the doorway, as she tilts her head towards where she stood, gesturing for them to follow.

...

Outside was now starting to rain a little bit, as the drops were hitting some objects inside of the hotel, where the group had arrived at the very top, as Tess leads them outside to the veranda.

(Y/N) helps her sister over the rock in the path, as she hopes over next and they walk out to where the adults were, as Joel goes to push aside the plastic flap blocking the view of outside.

The (H/C) haired girl sends him a small thank you smile, but he ignored her and looked away from her, causing the younger woman to scoff under her breath and follow Ellie, who was standing near the railing.

They all look at the outside environment, spotting more messy and ruined buildings, as a bunch of infected people were all gathered on the ground, causing the sisters eyes to go wide a little.

"There's so many." Ellie comments in a small voice, holding onto the ledge as (Y/N) keeps a hand on her shoulder.

"The last time we were here, they were still deep inside the buildings." Tess explains to them, eyes flickering around the area, "Then I guess enough people came through looking for the QZ, they went inside seeking shelter..." She trails off for a moment, "and that's how they get more and more of the city bit by bit, year after year."

(Y/N) took her in her words, brows furrowed as she glances down at her arm, right where her scare of her infected bite would be. At the same time, snarling was heard from down stairs, watching as the infected wiggled around on the ground.

"They're connected." Ellie observers with a head tilt, causing (Y/N) to look back up from her arm and glance down at the infected, seeing how indeed they were by vines and tendrils.

Tess nods her head at them both, turning her attention to the siblings, "More than you know. The fungus also grows underground. Longs fibers like wires, some of them stretching over a mile." She elborates, gaining their attention now, "Now, you step on a patch of cordyceps in one place, and you can wake a dozen of infected from somewhere else. Now they know where you are, now they come."

She moves her hard gaze to (Y/N), and softens her voice as she speaks her next words clearly, "You're not immune from being ripped apart. You understand?"

(Y/N) turns her head to Tess, not saying anything but gives a tiny head nod, and an understanding look.

"It's important. I'm tryin' to keep you and your sister alive." Tess reminds her with her tone still soft, as the wind blows their hair around.

"Sooo, we're not going' that way." Ellie pointed out a she hopes down from the edge, breaking the silence between the other two, "What do we do then? Short way?"

Tess shares a knowing look with Joel, who's eyes had been on (Y/N) the entire time as they move away from her figure and looks back at Tess, "Museum."

...

Now the group had ventured away from the hotel, as Tess lead them through the city and eventually made it to the entrance of the Museum, which had shrubby growing off it everywhere.

(Y/N)'s eyes went wide as she spots the growing fungus all over the front of the Museum, seeing it travelling inside the door and growing on it also, "You've gotta be kidding me."

"Well, there's a way across from the top floor." Tess tells her as she comes up to stand beside her and Ellie, while Joel goes to walk forward towards the growing fungus.

He places his gun on the ground beside him, as he kneels next to the fungus on the same ground, and uses his hands to touch it. He then grabs his gun, using the handle to poke and break the fungus, seeing how it broke easily.

"It's bone dry." He told them, standing up from the ground and walked back beside (Y/N), "It could mean they're all finally dead in there."

Joel then squats down again, grabbing his backpack as Tess does the same, causing the sisters to cringe knowing where they had to go, "Oh, man."

Joel pulls out his torch, waving it around a little as he hears the comment, "Marlene pack you two one of these? or just sandwiches?"

(Y/N) snorts unamused at his words, shaking her head as she holds her bow with one hand, and takes her backpack off, opening it and pulls out two torches for her and Ellie, giving him a smart look which has him scoffing.

"Okay, so..." Tess starts off, gaining the sister's attention as she moves in front of them, "More ground rules. We're gonna go slowly. If we come up against anything, you two get behind us, and ya stay there, okay?"

"Yes." They both acknowledged in sync, well more so (Y/N) grumbling about it as she pulls her bow and arrows tighter around her shoulders, while Ellie grabs her sisters arm sleeve.

Tess, who understood they got the order gives a head head to Joel, as she crosses her hands over each other, which held a gun and a flashlight.

Once they were all ready, Joel goes to walk towards the entrance and sticks his head inside, checking for the clear and he turns back around, motioning for them to follow.

(Y/N) glances down at her sister, who gave her arm a squeeze, reassuring her the she was ready, and they go to follow where Joel went, flashlights on with Tess close behind.

As soon as they walked inside the building, (Y/N)'s entire body become tensed and alert as this situation reminded her of how she got bit. Her eyes glance around the room, as everyone was quiet and kept their footsteps low, following after Joel who led the group now.

Joel shines his light at a stand that was placed near a smaller room, seeing inside that it had more fungus deformed together and a dead infected person inside of it, "Yeah...cooked."

"Oh," Tess sighs as she comes up beside Joel, seeing the mess inside the room, "finally, some fuckin' luck."

"I guess we should've gone this way in the first place." Joel announces, keeping his flashlight and gun aimed up in front.

Ellie, who was staying close to her sister, ends up shining her light on a person, who had blood covered over them and was dead, "Oh shit!"

(Y/N) pulls her sister against her side spotting the dead person, as Joel was straight away next to them and aimed his gun, but stopped seeing the person was not alive.

"What the hell did that?" The (H/C) haired girl exclaims to the two behind her, who shared a alarmed look and ignored her panicked question.

"Maybe..." Tess starts off softly, trying to keep her voice low as she had a feeling they weren't along in here, "maybe he was attacked outside, and crawled through the doors. The door was open. Could've been him. I don't hear anything."

"Who would you hear?" Ellie goes to question a bit too loudly, causing her sister to place a hand over her mouth and the other adults to make hushing motions.

"Are you saying an infected did that?" (Y/N) whispered with a incredulous look, her never seeing a scratched up body like the person behind her before, "because I've been attacked by one and it wasn't like that." She furiously points at the dead male, removing her hand off her sisters mouth.

"Okay, from this point forward, we are silent." Joel now whispered, his accent dropping as he looks between the two sisters, "Not quiet. Silent."

"Wha-" (Y/N) tries to whisper back to him, but just got interrupted by Joel.

"No. No questions. Just do it." He orders lowly, shaking his head at her with a finger slightly raised against his gun.

She does say anything after this, only rubbing her nose a little bit and grabs Ellie's shoulder as Joel goes to lead the way once more, and they start to walk up the stairs.

The old stairs start to creak under their weight, as they try to be as silent and quiet as they could be. And the more they got up the stairs, the more the fungus appeared on the walls and pretty much everywhere.

(Y/N) cringes with a silent wince as the floorboards creaked as she took a step, making sure Ellie was right in front of her as she was safer under her gaze.

A sudden loud rumble, and big crash was heard, causing the four to duck a little bit as debris were falling from the roof and onto the first floor.

Joel does a quick scan over the group, landing on (Y/N) last who had her eyes at Ellie, checking if she was alright as the male goes to move up the stairs again, causing it to creak.

He comes to a pause as he shines his light, seeing all the connected fungus on the ground, which covered the once clean floor of the stairs. Joel breaths steadily, as he goes to slowly make his way over some of it, landing in the barley free spots and the others follow close behind.

However, before (Y/N) could prevent it from happening, Ellie had ended up stepping on a bone dried hand, making a loud crunching noise that echoed all around the building.

(Y/N)'s heart rate picked up at this, as she touches her sister shoulder who had a quiet wincing face on, and Joel turns around at the sudden noise, a hand out to motion calm down.

He turns back around, gun up higher and tighter in his grasp now as the loud rumbling was back, and heard some indistinct noise from somewhere up stairs.

The group continued to move carefully up the stairs, avoiding any more accidents to make noise as they had arrived on the floor they wanted.

Joel opens the entrance door, as it creaks from the sudden movement and he peeks his head inside, seeing many old and dusty cabinets as he shines his light inside. Once he knew it was clear, he motions for the other three to follow him inside.

(Y/N) was the next one inside the room, as she had Ellie clinging to her side and they both shine their flashlights over the place, glancing up at the roof as some more creaking noises were heard.

Though, the sound of the creaking and rumbling got louder behind them as Tess was walking through the entrance, and she realised what was about to happen, as she pushed the sisters to safety and her just making it inside the room before the roof under the entrance in caved on itself.

(Y/N) groans quietly to herself at the sudden push, and lifts her head up from the ground as she sees Ellie getting helped up by Joel, and the male came to do the same to her.

She tensed as his hands touched her back, helping her stand up as her hip bumped against his, and (Y/N) was about to motion her thanks, but a loud inhuman screech came from somewhere in the room.

Joel placed his figure in front of (Y/N)'s, as her arms went around Ellie's shoulders and the two older adults aimed their guns in the direction the screech came from.

More sounds of the infected clicking came, as Tess silently urged the sisters to move backwards slowly and they did so, with the adults moving last just as an infected came out from the hallway, its snarling and clicking getting louder.

(Y/N)'s breathing was getting a bit heavy, as once again situations like these did not cope well with her. Her death grip around Ellie's shoulders becomes stronger, as another sound of snarling was heard from directly in front of them, spotting another infected appearing.

The group had their sides against the tall, and long cupboard, as they all remained quiet and hidden from the monsters.

Joel, who was directly in front of (Y/N) noticed her panicked state, making his hand brush against her wrist and she looked up at him, as he goes to mouth something, "They can't see, but they can hear."

As he mouthed that to her, the growling and screeching got louder and more aggressive, as (Y/N)'s heart almost leapt out of her stomach seeing the clicker right behind the glass of the cupboard.

She releases a quiet exhale, trying to control her nervousness as she pushes Ellie's face into her side, feeling her sisters trembling state and (Y/N)'s eyes flickered up to Joel's dark ones, seeing him placing a finger up to his mouth, making  a 'sh' signal.

The clicker continues to make noises, as it passes by their group who were all tense, and it made (Y/N) bite down on her tongue when the clicker jumped out in front of them, snarling as Ellie takes a peek, and makes a small scared noise.

All of a sudden, the clicker had heard that and screeched loudly in their faces as Joel was quick to act and fire his gun at the monster, "Run!" He shouts at the girls, fighting against the clicker who was snarling at him.

At the commotion, more of the clickers hiding away had came out and made themselves visibly, as Tess gets in front of the girls and shoots her gun at it, missing and it caused her to grab the sisters arm, pulling them along with her as they run from the area.

(Y/N)'s stomach drops a little seeing the clicker getting the better hand on Joel, but couldn't stop running as Ellie had a tight grip on her arm, and neither of them watched where they were going, causing the trio to trip over with yelps and land on the ground.

The same clicker that Tess had tried to shoot, had came around the corner where they were and screeched loudly, charging at them as (Y/N) scrambles to gather her sister in her arms, hearing Tess yell, "Run!"  to them.

"Come on, Ellie!" (Y/N) exclaims panicked at her sister, getting down low and pulled Ellie along who followed her, and heard the clicker pass them as it went after Tess.

The two of them had moved towards the table in the center of the room, hearing more noises behind them as they squat together and stay quiet.

(Y/N) keeps Ellie under the table more than her, as the girl took a deep shaky breath, carefully pulling her bow from around her shoulder, as her wide eyes met Joel's from across the room.

The male moved towards where she was, squatting down beside her as their bodies were hiding away Ellie, and both held their weapons in hand hearing the clicker getting closer.

Joel motions with his head for them to follow, as (Y/N)'s head dips a little bit with anxiety for her sisters safety, but grabbed her attention as Ellie looks at her, and (Y/N) gestures for her to follow Joel.

The clickers guttural clicking was just next to them, as the three start to move around the table silently, hoping to avoid it as it continues to snarl. But, unfortunately, Joel had ended up stepping on some glass which made a cracking noise.

And then, all of a sudden, the clicker came charging at the three of them with a violent screech and it knocked them down on their backs with yells, and grunts.

Some of (Y/N)'s back had landed against Joel's side, as she was yelling out a little bit and held a hand up against the clicker trying to bite them. At the same time, she was keeping Ellie under her free arm, as the clickers attention wasn't on her yet.

The two older adults held back the snapping infected with their hands on its chest, as it roared and screeched in their faces, causing (Y/N) to scrunch her eyes up and try to reach for her bow behind her. But couldn't, as the clicker was stopping her from doing so, and she knew if she let go, Ellie and Joel would get bit.

(Y/N) grits her teeth at the clicker, as some of the blood on it drips down onto her cheek and she tries to kick the thing somewhere, but Joel had somehow gotten his gun and shot the clicker in its arm, as the duo both kick it away at the same time.

The three scramble back away from the snarling monster, as Ellie grabs onto (Y/N)'s back, while the older William's grabs Joel's shoulder who was in front of them both, and they all quickly stood up.

(Y/N) shielded Ellie behind her again, keeping an arm out around her as Joel had his gun raised at the clicker, taking a protective stance.

The clicker starts to charge again, but Joel fires his gun at it and it caused it to go down on the ground, and he continues to shoot his gun until he was satisfied it was dead.

More screeching was heard from beside them, making their heads quickly snap forward and spotted another clicker aiming straight for them.

(Y/N) released a panicked noise at this, reaching for her bow as Joel stops her and wraps an around around her lower back, pushing her behind him with Ellie as he was about to take the hit.

However, the familiar yell of Tess appeared from the side as she swings down an axe to its head, causing its arm to flail around and its screeching become more guttural.

From within Joel's sideways hold, (Y/N) spots Tess up against the corner and the clicker going straight for her. She glances down at the bow in her hands, seeing how it had an arrow ready to be shot. She knew what she had to do, and she did not just learn how to use her weapon for show.

Ignoring Joel's face, and eyes screaming protests, and Ellie trying to grab her shirts sleeve, she stepped out of the male's side and held up her bow high, placing it comfortable in her grasp and pulled the metal string back as the clicker was about to attack them again, letting it loose and shot it directly in the middle of its fungus head.

The now dead infected dropped to the ground, as (Y/N) released a shakily exhale and let her arrow drop from her cheek, as she watched the blood spill out if its head.

Her legs start to wobble a little bit, as she stammers backwards, but Joel's hands touching her upper arms steadied her, as his eyes quickly move around her figure, checking for harm, "You alrigh'?"

(Y/N) was stunned at his show of concern, and the fact he was touching her, but nodded her head a little bit with a hum, "Yeah, I think so." She breathes out, eyes moving away to Ellie, who had a hand over her heart, trying to steady her fright she felt seeing her sister putting herself in danger.

The (H/C) haired girl smiles gently at this, moving out of Joel's hold as he went to help Tess up with her twisted ankle, and the two sisters hugged each other tightly once they met in the middle.

Once they pulled apart from the hug, (Y/N) felt something off with her arm as she hisses under her breath at the sudden pain, and carefully pulls up her sleeve, and spots another fresh infected bite.

"Guess that's what I get when being so reckless." She mutters to herself, knowing the older adults were looking at the fresh wound, and she looks up with a sigh, meeting Joel's eyes who's expression was back to neutral, "I mean, if its was gonna happen to one of us."

Tess once again noticed Joel's intense, but somewhat intrigued stare on (Y/N), and it made her curious at to what he was thinking, but pushed that aside knowing they needed to get out, "Let's get the fuck outta here."

( gif by ;
sporadicstarsx )