⁺◟ PANDORAS BOX ! ⋆·˚ ❪ ✦♥ ❫
❛ chapter two ❜

⊹₊ ⋆ "LADIES FIRST," SAID JOEL AS HE PLACED down the ladder against the wall. His words made Tess scoff. "Ladies, you must be thinking of someone else."

Joel chuckled, waiting for Finley to reach the top before following after them. "This way," said Tess, guiding them through the abandoned building. Joel wandered into one of the bedrooms, looking around for any resources they might need when something in the corner caught his eye.

"Finn," Joel yelled for his daugher, he waited a moment until she walked into the room, her eyes widening in excitement at what her father held. "Oh my God! You found another one!"

"They're harder to come by that you'd think," Joel replied, passing Finely the cassete tape. "We won't know who it is until you listen to it though, the name's been scratched off."

Finely's smile grew as she wrapped her arms around her dad before rushing to her mother to show her the new tape she had. Tess smiled, shaking her head at her antics. "Come on you two, down through here." Finley and Joel both followed Tess down a set of stairs which only led them into even more filth. "You think Roberts still got our guns?"

"For his sake, he better," replied Joel.

"Look, once we get our merchandise back, it should be easy to unload," added Tess.

"Speaking of," said Finely. "When's the next shipment due?" Joel looked at her strangely, not sure why she was asking such a question. "Mom said I could come along next time, she agrees that I should get more first hand experience if I want to come on jobs with you permanently."

The Texan turned to face the older women, disbelief covering hia face. "Seriously? She's not even fourteen yet," he spoke in a low tone so Finely didn't hear.

"Exactly our point, you can't keep her protected in a little bubble forever, Joel. We unfortunately won't be around forever, she needs to be able to protect herself properly, the best way to learn is first hand experience," whispered back Tess, glancing back and Finely who was slightly ahead. "Look, she blames herself for what happened to Caitlyn, she couldn't protect her so she thinks it's her fault. And really. Is it that bad for her to learn how to hold her own?"

Just as Joel was about to reply, Finely looked over her shoulder. "Hey! Come on slow pokes."

"Hold up," Tess spoke up, speeding up a little. "Spores."

Finely reached her arm back a little, grabbing her mask from her bag strap and placing it on her face, making sure it was tight enough so if she had to run or fight, it wouldn't fall off. She remembered speaking to an older women back at the QZ who was a marine before the outbreak happened, she told her stories about boot camp, the things she had to do as training.

She remembered her once saying they took her and the other women in a building that they filled up with gas, to ensure they knew how to work the gas mask. Finely looked down at the ground, shaking her head slightly so the mask shook back and forth.

Once she was sure it was secure enough, she followed after Joel into the fogged room. "Where the hell are these comin' from? Place was clear last time," said Joel.

"They're coming outta somethin'," replied tess. "Stay alert."

Joel, Finely and Tess crouched down, crawing through a gap in the wall (which secretly gave Finely the heebie jeebies considering she had a deep fear of spiders). "There's our culprit," said Joel as reached the end of the tunnel.

Finely followed, looking down to the right to see a dead body stuck against fungus that was growing out the wall. "It looks fresh," said Finely. "The blood's still wet."

"She's right," said Tess. "Better keep your eyes and ears open."

Joel, being as protective as he is liked to go first in possible dangerous situation, he walked infront of both Tess and Finely until he reached an ending, a gap in the wall that was covered by a pillar that had fallen down. "We shouod be able to fit through here," Joel spoke before wrapping his hands around the wood and pulling. The wood seemed to be loosed than he thought, as he pulled back the pillar went flying backwards, crashing into the floor and breaking apart.

"You okay?" Finely asked worridly as she left Tess's side and walked closer to her dad. "Yeah," Joel nodded. "Damn ceiling's falling apart. Be careful," he told them both.

Finely squeezed through the gap, in the middle of both her parents. She held her breathe as she continued to shuffle but gasped as her father jumped backwards once he made it out. "Jesus," Joel huffed, rushing to push Finely and Tess behind him. "Easy, Easy."

"Help me," a voice caught Finelys attention, she looked down at what her dad was staring at, only to see a man. Stuck under a metal cabinet, his gas mask cracked and his hand reaching out for help. "Help me, please. My mask broke," the man explained, his voice cracking after every word as he held on to his last breathe. "Don't- don't leave me to turn. Please," the man chocked out.

Finely looked to her dad who held his revolver by his side. "What should we do? We can't just leave him here?" she questioned, turning to her mom. "Can we?"

"We don't have ammo to waste," Joel said, putting his revolver back in his waste band. Finely looked at him in disbelief, though he could only see her eyes. She walked around the dying man, grabbing a box of ammo that she seen, it must have been the mans. "Here."

Joel took the ammo from his daughter but still shook his head. "Not worth it."

With that he continued his walk through to broken building, reloading his gun in the process. "Come on," Tess said, placing his her on Finely's shoulder.

The thirteen year old shook her head, moving away from her mom and towards the man. She crouched down beside him, making sure to stay at the side so he was unable to grab her. She pulled her pocket knife out from her boot, flicking it open. "I'm sorry," she whispered quietly to the man before plunging the knife through a broken part of his mask and directly through his neck.

The man finally stopped struggling, the hand that was desperate to grab onto something, anything, fell to the ground. Finely pulled the knife back out with a deep breathe, the man's blood splatting on her flannel before the rest spilled onto the ground beside him.

"You did good, kid," Tess's voice brought her back to reality. The teen nodded, wiping her knife against her jeans before putting it back in her boot, standing back up and following after Joel without another word.

"Up ahead. You hear that?" questioned Tess, Joel shushed her, leaving a silence between them that let them head the grunts and screams from the other room. Finely peeked around the corner to see a solo runner standing in the middle of the room, hunched over and crying to itself, while Tess looked around the other corner where she saw another two runners ripping apart someones flesh.

"Three," the elder women whispered.

"One each then," Finely shrugged. "How should we do this?" Tess questioned her, which caused Finely to raise an eyebrow in slight confusion. "Part of learning his first hand experience," Tess reminded.

Finely nodded, peaking back around at the solo infected. "One of us can easily take that one out silently," she spoke, earning a nod of agreement from both Joel and Tess. "But the other two isn't possible. If we try sneak behind one the other will see."

"So what do you suggest we do about that?" questioned Joel.

"Mom, you take out the single one. I'll sneak around the back corner and once the single one is dead, Dad you go around that way. The one closest to me I'll shoot which will catch the attention of the other, while it's distracted, Dad can take it out," Finely spoke, looking at her parents for reassurance.

Finely couldn't see it, but Joel smiled proudly behind his gas mask. "Good job, kiddo," he said.

The teen beemed at the agreement and grabbed her bow from her back. She quickly but quietly sneaked around the corner, checking around the corner to see that the infected were still feasting. A slight grunt could he heard which confirmed that Tess had taken out the singie runner. She then grabbed an arrow from her quiver, clipping it onto the bowsting of her weapon. She drew her arm back until she reached the anchor point and then she let go of the arrow, watching as it flew through the air and the tip of the arrow pierced through the runners head.

The now dead runner fell forward, landing on the dead body it was once eating from. The other runner looked up and around the room, letting out a loud screetch that hurt Finelys ears when it noticed her, she quickly drew another arrow but before she needed to release it Joel grabbed it from behind, wrapping his forarm around his neck until it's neck cracked and it fell limp.

"That's all of them," said Tess. "Good aim," she rubbed Finelys shoulder.

"Thank you," Finely smiled, walking over to the infected she shot, pulling her arrow back out from it's skull, her smile widened as she seen the head was still in contact.

"Let's head back into the city before anymore show up," said Tess. "This way," she nodded towards a staircase.

Joel once again took lead and was the first to jog up the stairs. Finely sighed in relief as she noticed sublight beaming from the top floor. She let her parents walk ahead as she checked the extra room for supplied, only being able to scavenge a few bandages and a pair of scissors, which wasn't much but atleast she'd be able to make a few more arrows if needed.

Not wanting to spend anymore inside the broken and infected building that she needed, she rushed to follow Tess and Joel outside. As soon as her boots touched the wet grass she ripped the gas mask from her face.

"Ahh... some fresh air," sighed Tess. "That's the one thing I love about the outside. Fuckin' hate the smell of the city."

"Why don't you ask Bill to get you some of them air fresheners?" Joel joked earning a chuckle from his daughter.

"Oh, ha ha. You're so funny," Tess rolled her eyes, turning to her daughter in false disbelief as Joel moved a wooden pallet out of the way which revealed another passage. "And you! You're supposed to he on my side."

"Whoops," Finely smirked, Tess rushed towards her which made Finely screech and hide behind Joel. "No! No tickling! I'm sorry!" Finely laughed, circling around her dad. Tess ran to the left, Finely ran to the right, neither of them stopping until Joel put both his hands out. "Such a party pooper," Finely rolled her eyes teasingly.

The two parents and their daughter continued their journey on the outside, until eventually they reached another building though this one seemed much more well kept. They walked through it, only stopping when Tess came to a halt and knocked on what seemed to be the door to the outside.

A moment passed when the metal door opened with a squeak. "Hey, little man," Tess said softely at the little boy who opened the door. "Make sure the coast is clear," she instructed, passing the boy a ration card. "No soldiers. None of Robert's men. Yeah?"

The little boy nodded quickly before closing the door and rushing off.

"You know he's expecting us?" questioned Joel.

"Well, that'll make it more interesting," Tess smirked, another silence overcame them until a knock came from the other end of the door this time. "Good to go. C'mon."

LANA SPEAKS !
- i really hope the infected part was easy to follow, it was honestly quite difficult to right. also for the next few weeks i have 6 different exams to take so i need to make sure i actually take the time to study so if my updates are a little slow that's why! <3