Chapter 3

The Shadow in the Subway

Ellie was exited as the night finally came for their daring escape from the County and into a new adventure. Ellie knew she was still somewhat scared of what could be out there but she had an unsatisfying itch to get out into the world again. She needed to get out of the confines of the walls that kept her safe and feel the heart stopping adrenalin coursing through her body again. Perhaps she was going crazy or has become addicted to the thrill of the destroyed world, but either way she knew that her reality existed outside of the walls.

That's not to say she doesn't want to stay at the County, in fact the very idea of having a home to return to after a long week of time in the wilds obsessed her to the point of daydreaming and fantasies. Balancing the thrill of survival with the safety and loving support of a family and home was something her matured mind needed, much like an old crack junky. Though admittedly Ellie had no idea what crack was outside of the obvious cracks in the ground, though she was not stupid enough to think that was what it was.

"Ok, Matt did you get the food?" Katie asked the skinny youth.

"Yea, it's enough to last us a few days in case the worst happens." He once again had to adjust his eyeglasses because of the crouched position they were all in.

"Josh, you got the weapons... right?" Katie asked her boyfriend. Said boyfriend nodded his head and opened a duffle-bag full of various weapons.

The weapons were simple, mostly melee weapons such as bats or pipes but they looked much cleaner and stronger than the rotted pieces of shit Joel and her often found. It was somewhat refreshing to see a weapon that looked like it could handle a bit of abuse before breaking, also count into the fact that they were all still young and so it will be harder for their young muscles to get rough strength in a swing to cause severe damage to the weapon.

There were also 3 guns, a .357 revolver with 3 rounds, a simple bolt action Rifle with a scope and 5 rounds, and finally a strange Rifle that Ellie never saw before. It had a simple design with a wooden stock and a large magazine, clip thing (Like she knew the difference) that reminded her of a banana. It looked like those black guns the Fireflies and Military used, the M16s but it looked a lot more simple and more rugged than the plastic and aluminum weapons. It had only 1 magazine with 10 rounds. Not only that Ellie brought the Bow and 5 arrows that Joel got from the Dick's town.

Josh managed to sneak them out of the armory and they were only a last resort kind of thing. They did not want to explain to anyone why there was ammunition missing. These days ammo is always taken into stock and everyone is required to report how many rounds they use to the best of their knowledge. If they didn't get the guns back by tomorrow night they would know there was some missing, never mind if they lost them.

"And Jenn, you got the extra clothes and supplies." Katie finished off, knowing her friend already had the necessary equipment.

All in all, if they needed to ration everything they could last for a week, longer if they decided to hunt and scavenge for food. Ellie was impressed with how well thought out this was. Survival was more important than trouble in their minds and they would rather explain missing equipment than have their dead corpses do the talking for them.

"The city is not too far from here. We'll go in through the Sewers that runs under the town which will lead us to the Subway tunnels." Katie explained.

"Are you sure it's safe?" Jenn asked with a hint of fear in her voice.

"Yea." She replied. "We have Josh here, remember?" She motioned to her boyfriend.

"No offense Katie..." Matt began as he wiped some more dust off of his glasses. "But Josh won't do much if we get caught up by a group of Clickers." He voiced his reason.

"Don't worry Matt." Josh assured him. "I use brains, not muscle. We'll just leave the smallest and weakest boy as bait." He joked casually.

"Why boy?" Matt asked in mock offense.

"We can't lose the girls." Steven said and flashed a flirting grin at Jenn and Ellie. Jenn rolled her eyes and Ellie playfully flipped him off. "Could you imagine a settlement with less girls?" He said playfully.

"You're not serious about Josh..." Ellie wondered. "Right?" Katie covered her mouth as she giggled.

"Occasionally patrols go down there to secure the area. They just did a sweep so as long as we stay on the patrol path we'll be fine." She assured her new friend. "Josh was on the most recent patrol so he knows the way that's safe." Once again Ellie was surprised how well they planned this out.

"So what about any future patrols?" Ellie asked.

"They only patrol it once every 3 days so as long as we're back here by then they won't know we were there." Josh said. "Because of the smell it's mainly a punishment job than an actual one." Josh laughed.

"What did you do?" Ellie asked.

"My dad caught us in bed together." Katie laughed and Ellie did as well. "My dad is good friends with the head of the security so... Josh didn't get off easy." She said.

"Oh I'm sure he 'got off'." Steven joked. Ellie didn't quite understand what he meant. She reasoned they probably had sex but because of her limited interactions with kids her age she didn't understand some of the things they said. What does 'get off' even mean?

"We honestly didn't do anything." Katie defended. "We were just cuddling because it got cold at night." She said truthfully. "My parents did teach me to have some self respect you know." She blushed a bit from embarrassment.

"Well, no time to waste."Ellie said cheerfully. "Time for a bit of exploring." They all nodded and began their trek down the manhole.

Ellie felt amazing the past few days. She had completely forgotten about everything, the trauma she suffered on their journey west, while not gone, felt very numbing. It wasn't the bad kind of numbing either; it was the kind of numbing where all she felt were positive feeling and emotions. She had no doubts or fears outside of the obvious caution of leaving the County.

You may also be wondering, why after so many bad experiences is she so excited about leaving and going back out into the dangerous world?

In her own words... 'you can't deny that view'. Sure, it was tough but the good moments made it all worth it. The thrill of discovery, the high of exploring places like a tomb raiding heroine in one of her comics, it simply overpowered any fear or trauma that held her back.

Though she felt as if she would spend the rest of her life in Jackson County, she couldn't stay cooped up forever. She needed the fresh air of the wilds and the thrills of the adventure. As dangerous and life threatening as it was, she had the heart and soul of an explorer.

"Damn, I forgot how much this place smells." Ellie mumbled.

Ellie took the lead in the tunnel because she had her Bow and Arrow which was great for stealth, plus she was the most experienced with the dangers of the outside. Right behind her was Josh who being the largest and strongest of the group would defend the front in case they were attacked. He had the Assault Rifle which he called his 'Russian Pop Gun' and he could also physically take anything that was thrown that them.

Josh, who worked with the security had the most training and knowledge about survival compared to all of them. Ellie did have experience but she never had traditional combat training from the few men in the County who were former Military guys. The old Military, not the power junkies in the quarantine zones. Josh even had some combat experience, he dealt with hunters on two occasions and fought Clickers a few times as well.

Behind him was Katie, who had the .357 since she was also trained in its use though she never actually used it in a fight before, for obvious reasons. Jenn and Elisa were behind her as well. Since the girls were the physically weakest they were protected well. Even though, aside from Elisa, Ellie was the weakest out of all of them. Her young body may have had a harsh journey but it was still to young to gain any kind of strength. Not to mention since she was also a girl she could never hope to physically match the strength of the boys since most of them had conditioning routines.

Everyone was supposed to be conditioned and received physical training. Even the people who were disabled for one reason or another had to train in some way. This way they would have the ability to fight off or run away from any threat.

The ones who took up the rear were Matt and Steve, Steve who had the Rifle because he was the best shot aside from Josh. The rest had melee weapons since their skills were average and in Matts case, had bad eye sight.

Ellie's flashlight lit the way with a wide enough view to see the whole tunnel. The water had long since drained away without the constant renewal of waste and was pretty dry aside from some wet spots. The smell, while bad was not too overpowering.

They continued for the next few hours, Ellie listened intently to Josh's directions. There was very little noise since the darkness and closed spaces made everything seem rather terrifying. The girls huddled together for safety, with Katie putting up a brave face since she was the unofficial matriarch of the group. The boys in the back, while showing signs of fear, tried to hide it as best as possible because they wanted to prove their masculinity and impress the girls. Boys will be boys after all.

Ellie took a few glances of Josh however. He was calm and collected, his face showing signs of fear but was well hidden under a guise of concentration. Ellie knew that look, he almost looked like what Joel would be as a young man. Despite herself Ellie couldn't help but blush occasionally. She knew he was off limits but still, a girl could have a small crush.

"Shit!" Josh cursed. "Spores, get your gas masks!" He shouted quietly, if that was possible. Ellie didn't really realize the spores since it didn't bother her too much,being immune and all.

Of course, only the heads of the County actually knew, no one else did. She didn't bother to bring a gas mask because she never considered it as being important for herself. At the same time though she didn't want her friends to know she was technically infected.

"Ellie, where is your mask?" Katie's voice was muffled from the black mask.

"I forgot it." Ellie quickly said. She needed to make sure they didn't find out she was infected because she didn't want to lose their friendships.

"Seriously?" Josh asked behind his own mask. "You're lucky we brought spares." He went through his bag and threw Ellie a gas mask. "How you lasted this long is beyond me." He said rudely, though Ellie knew it wasn't intentional. She probably scared her friends with this.

She had some trouble putting it on since she never used one before. Katie helped her out and they began walking again.

"I though you said this was clear?" Ellie asked, surprised at how her voice was muffled and echoed in her own head.

"It was when we checked." Josh said. "The spores are pretty thin for the amount of room, the Clicker probably just released them this morning." He brought the Russian gun up and kept it aiming in case they ran into a walking Clicker.

"Keep an eye out." Steve said from the back though his voice cracked slightly.

With blind bravery the group continued on, passing by the mutated body that released the spores. Leaving it be they continued on until they managed to reach the subway entrance.

The entrance was a pipe that lead directly into the subway tunnel, they had to crouch in order to get through it but they managed this easily.

"Wow, it's hot down here." Ellie said, tempted to roll her sleeves up but resisted that urge so she didn't expose her bite scar.

"Yea, that normally happens when I'm around." Josh said so seriously that Ellie almost took him seriously. Of course once that second of confusion dissipated everyone stared blankly at him.

"Let's just go..." Katie pushed him from behind with an exasperated sigh and the group continued walking.

As soon as they were sure the spores were gone they took off their masks and put them away, Ellie was told by the group to keep it until they got back. They had 2 extras besides that one so it would be ok for her to use for now.

The subway was kind of underwhelming, like many of the subways Ellie had to crawl through. It was humid and stuffy to the point where she actually wanted to go back into the sewers.

"So Ellie." Katie began.

"What's up?" Ellie asked, not turning around because she needed to focus in front of her.

"Why did you decide to come?" She asked. "Wouldn't you have been scared coming out here after spending a year traveling?" Ellie turned to look at her for a brief moment.

"Being out here..." Ellie struggled to find the words. "It has its ups and downs. It's scary sure but there are some moments that makes it all worth it." She answered honestly. "Why did you guys decide to leave anyway?" Ellie directed the question back to them.

"When there is a whole world out there that has been changing for 2 decades now, it's hard not to want to see it." Katie said. "My father is a Catholic Minister and my mother is an archeologist. Well, was since that job isn't on the market anymore. They met in Israel for different reasons. Him to visit the sight of Jesus's crucifixion and her to see some old artifacts in a museum. I suppose I wanted to follow in their footsteps as both a student of God and an explorer of the old ruins." She said.

"Someday there will be entire lessons and museums dedicated to the ruins of our world." Josh said. "We want to be the first to really begin studying and preserving the knowledge of the old world."

Ellie was shocked at their goals. It made her feel a bit ashamed because their goal seemed so noble.

"Wait..." Matt said as he put his hand around his ear. "Clickers." He said with a cracking voice.

"I don't hear anything." Jenn said in denial, hoping he was pulling a cruel prank.

"I have better hearing then you guys." He motioned to his glasses.

Soon the tunnels began to sing with the terrifying noise of Clickers. A few moans here and there also showed there were runners as well.

Everyone crouched low as they began to see Clickers walking around a corner and into the center of the tunnel. They couldn't move since the echolocation of the Clicker would spot their movement. As long as they stayed still the Clicker wouldn't be able to tell the difference between them and furniture.

Everyone aimed their guns or put their melee weapons in front of them. Ellie kept the bow in front of her but did not draw it just yet since she didn't want to tire herself out by holding the string back.

CRUNCH!

Everyone held their breath as they turned around and saw that Elisa had stepped onto an old plastic bag filled with chips. Their heart stopped as they heard the scream come from the Clicker.

"RUN!" Ellie screamed as she took aim with her bow and shot an arrow right into its chest. The scream from the Clicker drew more of them to it and soon the tunnel in front of them had no less than 10 Clickers running at them.

Josh shouldered his Rifle and shot a Clicker in the skull which managed to take it out. Its head exploded in a fountain of gore which made it drop instantly. Hoping to conserve ammo he turned and tran with the rest of the group.

"DOOR!" Jenn yelled as they turned left into an old maintenance room. When everyone got inside they shut the door and used one of the rusted metal chairs to try and hold the Clickers back. The monsters started pounding at the door, nearly taking the chair off the wedge.

They all went to the back wall and had their weapons ready in case the monsters managed to make it inside. Luckily though the chair managed to hold them off but they all knew it wouldn't last long. Not only were Clickers strong but patient as well. Their bodies would break long before the door would but they would still get in.

The room was small and only had one exit. It had some supplies for cleaning and maintenance that have long since withered down.

"Where's Ellie?" Mat asked. Everyone looked around and saw no sign of the red haired girl.

Ellie unfortunately made a mistake since she ran the wrong way into a second door. She quickly shut and locked the door before retreating through the small hallway and away from the danger.

Ellie knew she lost everyone in the confusion but she could do very little now. All she had was a bow, a pocket knife, and a backpack filed with food and medical supplies. Clickers are already stronger than the average man and there was no way Ellie could match their ferocity, especially in numbers.

Ellie slowed down to a stop in order to try and catch her breath. She knew that they were most likely screwed but she refused to give up. She was not going to let what happened to Riley and Sam happen to them.

Ellie turned around, her flashlight illuminating the pitch black hallway... what the hell was that?

Ellie knew she wasn't imagining it. There was a shadow on a man on the wall. Ellie looked at the feet of the shadow but it didn't connect to anything. It was just a slightly blurry shadow that didn't connect to anyone.

As if sensing her presence, the shadow turned and faced her. Well, she guessed it did since she couldn't tell if she saw the front or back of the shadow.

The thing was very bulky, clearly a man but it looked like he was either wearing thick clothing or some kind of armor. His head looked too big for his body so she guessed he had some kind of helmet. He also was holding something that vaguely resembled a Rifle.

What the hell was she saying? She has clearly gone crazy and now she is hallucinating by seeing a disembodied shadow.

"bol'shoy, drugoy prizrak." Yea, she was crazy. Now it talked... though it sounded like he made that up.

He sounded bored and sighed as those made up words escaped his mouth. His voice also had an unnatural echo, probably because he wasn't real and Ellie was just seeing thing. Maybe she got caught and was being eaten right now, and the hallucination was simply her way of coping with the severe trauma right before dying.

Ellie slowly walked towards the shadow and discovered something interesting. It was reacting to her. The thing took a step back, which made little sense since it was just a 2D shadow on the wall, and aimed its weapon at her.

Ellie in turn aimed her bow, which seemed to catch the shadow off guard because it grunted in confusion.

"Oni nikogda ne reagiroval , kak eto ran'she." The thing said again, this time his voice filled with confusion.

"What the hell are you saying?" Ellie asked, despite how ridiculous this whole situation was.

"Razve eto prosto pogovorit' so mnoy ? Oni nikogda ne reagiruyut na drugiye." It was now talking to himself.

"What, can you not speak English?" She asked but the thing did not respond. Ellie could only see its dark outline but by his subtle movements she could tell he was pondering about something.

Before it could say anything, she heard Clickers to her left, right where she was running from. They managed to find her and all the noise they were making was not helping.

A Clicker ran at the sound the shadow was making but it did not move. The shadow just kept its gun aimed at the Clicker. Had her life not been in danger, Ellie would have rolled on the floor with laughter as the Clickers head caved in from slamming into the wall. The Shadow flinched but Ellie knew it was confusion, not fear.

"Razve chto veshch' bezhat' vo chto-to?" It mumbled.

However, Ellie did not laugh or acknowledge the funny moment or the shadows apparent confusion. She was to busy with the Clickers.

As she aimed her bow she was suddenly blinded by a bright white light. Her ears began to ring and she missed the shot completely. Her eyes burned from the intense brightness and despite her valiant effort to look at the incoming Clickers she could not.

The damn thing slammed into her but did not bite her, apparently it was just as blinded as she was. However, instead of the light it was the intense ringing sensation in her ears that blinded the Clicker.

Ellie fell back and slammed her head onto the concrete floor. She felt as if her tie that held her ponytail just forced its way through her skull. Nausea and dizziness consumed her senses and the urge to throw up was looking to win out over her other senses. Her eyes ached from the intense light and her ears were still ringing from whatever that was. She made a silent pray for help, this being a moment when her faith went back to believing in some kind of being. She hoped he was real and that he would save her but most of the time she cast aside such thoughts.

Ellie made a silent cry as she felt a Clicker fall to her chest, prepared for the worst and feeling extra sensitive around her neck. She knew this was the end because once a Clicker got you like this it was game over.

However, Ellie felt nothing. Just dull thuds in her chest and ears as if there was a gun going off. The deafness from the light still made hearing difficult but she was sure she heard the shots from Josh's gun. Additionally, the Clicker that fell on her did not move.

After some time her sight and hearing slowly came back to her and the nausea from the head injury began to fade. She still had a dull ache in her head but she could tell it wasn't so bad. It wasn't as bad a hit as when David threw her to the floor and they were knocked out.

As if by some kind of magical force the Clicker was removed from her chest, allowing her to breathe without the crushing weight. She was greatly relieved and in her dizzy state she thanked whatever saved her. Moments like this is why she always went back and forth between her faith instead of just ignoring it.

She then felt rough hands on her body. Had she been of sound mind she would have protested but in the daze and confusion she did not reject the feeling. It felt good, as if someone was giving her a spa treatment.

The hands gently took hold of her wrist and poked her neck. She also felt a head move very close to her mouth, to the point where she felt the tickle of someones ear on her lips, which kind of grossed her out.

She then felt the front of her shirt open after the buttons were undone. At this moment she was aware of what was going on because of the intrusion of privacy.

Had Ellie been sobered from the nausea she would have realized that this person was helping her and giving her first aid. Especially since her ribs under her breasts were bruised from Clicker hitting her and had a few minor cuts from the jagged fungus.

However, as a young girl when she woke up to having her shirt ripped open and a rough looking boy kneeling down on her while she was unconscious, especially since she was still dazed, she reacted as any girl would.

"FUCKING PERV!" Every Clicker in the subway was probably alerted to the yell. It took the boy off guard and he flinched as he looked at her. In his hesitation and confusion he did not register the fist that slammed right on his nose.

Chapter 3 done. I'm really starting to enjoy this story.

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