¹epiphany ─ j. miller

I Believe Him

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
WINTER
I BELIEVE HIM

───★───

Joel gripped onto his stomach as he reloaded his guns, noticing that Elva's bow and arrows were nowhere to be seen. Ellie's backpack was also completely gone, sending more and more panic signals through the man's head.

"Where the hell are they?" He asked himself, groaning as he opened the garage door to the outside of the house. He stabilized himself on a wall, his vision still blurry.

The man realized that it was snowing softly, the ground coated in a thick layer of the white powder. How long had he been out for?

He continued walking down the road, still holding on tightly to his stitches. "Elva? Ellie?"

Getting no response, Joel sighed, his boots leaving thick footprints in the snow. A large creaking sound came from a few houses down, catching his attention. He ducked down as a bunch of strange men ran out from the road.

"Shit." Joel swore, pulling out his scoped rifle.

He hid behind one of the deserted cars, waiting until the gunfire ceased on the other side before leaning out to the side, killing the man on one of the front porches.

"Does David know he's here?!" Joel overheard one of the men asking.

"No, call it in!" Another yelled. "He'll prolly wanna keep him alive, he was with the other two chicks."

Whoever 'David' was, Joel was certain that he had Elva and Ellie.

He quickly took a hold of his handgun, ducking behind another one of the broken fences and shooting down a hunter. Another one poked his head out from a hole in the fence, letting Joel pull out his scoped rifle and take a headshot.

Hearing the gunshots, the hunters pushed towards the hurt man, running through the dead bodies of their accomplices. Joel gripped onto his stomach every moment that he could, attempting not to rip his stitches as he took down another hunter with his handgun.

Joel jumped out the other side of a fence, only to be grasped onto by an enemy. "Got you, asshole." He growled, holding the injured man in a chokehold.

Another hunter walked over, a knife in his hand. "Hold him still!" He yelled.

The smuggler quickly kicked the man holding the knife in the crotch, turning around and headbutting the man holding him. Joel smashed his head into the wall, blood splattering everywhere as he walked over to the fallen man.

Joel grabbed a hold of the two unconscious men, dragging them into another one of the lodge's houses. He pulled them through the kitchen, and into the basement. Quickly, he tied them up, one to a chair, the other against a wall.

The cannibal in the chair had a table sitting across from him, a small sized-knife on it. A loose pipe was also on the floor. He was facing away from his companion, who was being dealt blows to the face by Joel.

"What do you want?" The hunter asked, a pained tone in his voice as Joel repeatedly struck him. "What the fuck-?" His face bled as Joel stopped, holding onto his stomach.

"You wait here." He grunted, walking over to the man tied to the chair. He grabbed the knife off of the table and sat down on a chair across from the cannibal. "Now, the girls, are they alive?" He asked.

"What girls?" The hunter asked, a nervous look on his face. "I don't know no girls."

He let out a large shriek of pain as Joel stabbed the knife into his knee, still gripping onto the handle.