¹epiphany ─ j. miller

I'm Henry, This is Sam

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
SUMMER
I'M HENRY, THIS IS SAM

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The group walked around the terrace for a bit, Ellie still softly smiling at the fact that they let her have a gun of her own.

The terrace-type area was full of dead bodies and notes strewn all over the place. It was gruesome, to say the last, but the two adults were used to it by then.

"Woah, nelly. Harsh punishment." Ellie exclaimed, coaxing Joel and Elva to look up. A body hung from a tree, the word thief drawn on a sign that was tied around the corpse's neck.

"It ain't that much different from what the military does back in Boston." Joel revealed, remembering how almost every day he'd see someone thrown to the ground and killed on the sidewalk. FEDRA was horrible, but it didn't mean that the rebellion was any better.

After a few more moments passed, Elva pushed Ellie away. "C'mon, we don't need to see this for any longer." She spoke, continuing to walk along the brick tiles for any sight of an exit.

Bingo. "Joel, get over here." She yelled to her friend, standing right in front of a large garage door. There was no chain on one side, so she'd have to lift it up with Joel and let Ellie grab it from the other side.

The two slowly lifted it up, trying to evenly distribute the weight. Ellie ran under the gap they made, tugging and pulling at the chain on the other side, but nothing worked.

"The stupid chain is stuck." She exclaimed. "Hold on."

Ellie grabbed a hold of an old cart, pushing it under the door. It wasn't much, but it gave Joel and Elva just enough time to run into the garage.

Joel grabbed a hold of the cart, pushing it out from underneath the garage door and slamming it against the concrete wall. "Ellie, jump up." He spoke, looking at a large break in the wall they could get through.

She did as she was told, jumping up onto the platforms. Elva followed, turning around on the platform and grabbing onto Joel's hand. She pulled him up just enough for him to grab onto one of the blockades and climb up.

They walked over to an open window, only to be met with gunshots on the other side.

"Get down, get down!" Elva whispered, ducking down. The group watched as a few tourists ran from a stray military vehicle. Two shots rang through, and they both fell to the floor in heaps of blood.

"What do we do?" Ellie asked.

Joel sighed. "Nothing."

The dying woman on the street pleaded for her life, only for the hunters in the truck to jump out of the back and shoot her in the head. It was better than suffering.

"Busy couple 'a days, huh?" One of the hunters asked, rummaging through the dead woman's jacket and pockets for anything of use.

"Whatever, man. No food, an old pair of shoes, they got nothin'." The other replied, jumping in the vehicle again. "Let's go." He stated, the other hunter joining him as the truck drove off and away from Elva, Joel and Ellie.

"Oh, man..." Ellie sighed, standing up.

"There ain't nothin' we coulda done." Joel stated.

"I know- it's just- oh, man..." She repeated.

Elva stood up, a soft look in her eyes as she gazed towards the teenager. "Let's just get to the bridge, El'." She spoke, trying not to let her voice waver.

They walked out of the room they were in and down another set of hallways, running up a blocked metal staircase. Luckily, there was a door on the other side, but the voices of hunters began echoing through the rooms.