¹epiphany ─ j. miller

How'd I Do?

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
SUMMER
HOW'D I DO?

───★───

"-Asshole should've known better. If you're gonna steal, you better make sure you get away with it." A hunter spoke. Both Joel and Elva eavesdropped as they hid behind a concrete road block.

Another hunter began running towards the group, yelling. "They're all dead! They're all fucking dead!"

"The hell's he yappin' about?" The first hunter exclaimed. "Take a breath. Who's dead?"

"The whole crew. The seventy-six lookout guys." He explained, breathing heavily. "Some fuckin' tourists killed 'em, killed all of 'em!"

"Shit." One spoke. "Have you talked to the boss?"

"Yeah. He wants everyone to hold their ground and watch the gate."

"Alright, you heard him." The hunter began yelling out, notifying the other group of hunters around them. "Search the area, do not let anybody through!"

Joel beckoned Elva over to the side, letting her pull out her bow as two of the other hunters began talking a little ways away from them.

"He's gotta be wrong."

"About the crew being dead?"

"I don't see some tourists taking out the entire crew."

Elva lined her bow up to the hunter's head and fired, sending a clean headshot into his skull. The man slumped to the ground in one hit, his hunter friend not noticing until Elva placed an arrow into his head, as well.

"I see someone!" One of the hunters yelled, causing Ellie to shoot him twice in the chest with her rifle. Joel was quite impressed, although he wouldn't admit it.

The two walked through an old police-station type building, spotting a man on a higher level of a skyscraper and another just below.

Both Joel and Elva hid behind another cement block, hearts racing as one of the hunters edged closer and closer towards them. As the hunter passed their hiding spot, Joel turned around, taking him out from the back as Elva shot the other one above them with her bow.

They walked back out into the open, crouching behind an old plant pot as Ellie managed to kill another hunter. That alerted everyone else, of course, but the two doubted there were many more left in the area.

Elva beckoned Joel over to an old coffee shop, another hunter roaming around the hallways. The mle smuggler choked him from behind, preventing the hunter from making any noise by clamping his hand over the man's mouth.

They walked upstairs and across a few planks to make it to where the hunter Elva had killed was. She quickly grabbed the leftover ammo in his pockets before walking back downstairs alongside Joel.

Another hunter was walking on the ground floor of the building they had entered, so Joel quickly snapped his neck while Elva looked for extra supplies. She managed to find enough blades and rolls of tape to make a couple of shivs, so she handed three to Joel and kept the other two for herself.

Mumbling came from behind the windowed wall they had killed the hunter in, so they backed up, taking cover in a small kitchen-like room.

"What the fuck happened to James?" One asked, making both Joel and Elva aware that there were three hunters who had just stumbled across the other's body.

"Those goddamn hunters." One exclaimed.

Joel threw a nail bomb into the doorway they had found themselves in, creating just enough noise for two of the hunters to approach.

The explosion killed one of the two hunters, and Elva quickly snapped the living one's neck. Joel ran back to the kitchen they were in before, slowly choking the remaining hunter until he fell to the floor.

"I found 'em!" Someone yelled from behind. Ellie quickly managed to snipe the hunter that was outside, but that didn't change the fact that more were definitely coming.

The two didn't know how many were left, but from the windows, they spotted four others walking around where they had once been.

One came from the open door that Elva and Joel had been hiding behind. The woman strangled the hunter, trying not to be seen from the alleyway.

Shots came firing from the road, leaving Joel to pull out his gun. Elva swore under her breath, seeing one hunter fall to the ground from Ellie's shots. She pulled out her gun as well, hiding behind a knocked-over dumpster before poking her head out to shoot at the hunters.

The young girl's bullets were just enough to distract the other hunters, leaving only one remaining for Joel and Elva to take out.

"C'mere, you son of a bitch." Elva whispered, splitting up from Joel and jumping into the coffee shop window. She peered through, placing the butt end of her gun right on the windowsill and firing one final shot at the hunter.

He fell to the ground, lifeless.

"Alright, come on down." Joel yelled to Ellie, wiping the sweat off of his face.

Elva turned to Joel, smiling and nodding at their success as they walked towards the scaffolding where the young teenager was taking cover.

The older woman grabbed a pistol from one of the dead hunter's bodies, handing it to Joel. She almost laughed at his bewildered expression, but her face stayed serious.

"I already have a pistol." Joel spoke.

"Give this to her."

The man scoffed. "You want me-?"

"Yes."

"-To give this-"

"Yes."

"To the fourteen-year-old?"

"Yes." Joel scoffed, rolling his eyes. "She saved our lives back there, not to mention before when she saved yours." Elva exclaimed. "She at least deserves a pistol."

The older man looked towards Ellie, who was carefully walking over to the pair, rifle still in her hands. Joel sighed, taking the pistol from Elva.

"How'd I do?" Ellie asked softly, stopping in front of the two adults.

Joel nodded, taking the rifle and placing it on his backpack strap. Elva already had one, it wouldn't hurt for him to have one too.

"How 'bout something a little more your size?" He asked, handing her the pistol. Joel pulled it away quickly. "It's for emergencies only."

"Okay." Ellie nodded, placing the gun in her pocket.

Joel began walking away, Elva staying behind with Ellie before pulling the young girl into a side-hug. "You did great."

───★───