THE UNEXPECTED

31

"Look - up ahead!" The hospital was finally in sight and my shoulders sag in relief, the rest of the journey was doable and not before long we'd be back on our feet to return to Jackson. A couple days at most and we'd be leaving this place and I couldn't be happier.

"Ah shit, it's blocked we're gonna have to cut through this tunnel to reach the hospital." Joel exclaims, he sends me a look which doesn't look good. I'm apprehensive about entering the tunnel and I'm certain that we'll be encountering many of the infected down here.

Ellie takes place between the two of us, Joel up ahead and myself behind her so that she's sandwiched in the middle of us as we descend into the downward slope of the tunnel. It's eerily quiet as we enter but I'm certain that it won't last much longer.

"I gotta bad feeling about this." I say, mumbling to myself as we venture further in. Ellie turns over her shoulder and glances back at me, she gives me this look as if to ask if I'm okay. I nod back at her, forcing a smile onto my face in attempts to not only convince her but myself.

"Keep close, ladies." Joel hollers, and in this moment I want nothing more than to be back at that cabin and wrapped in his strong embrace as we pillow talk throughout the night and into dawn. The simplicity of cuddling and speaking in hushed whispers under the sheets has me reeling to go back in time. I wish.

"Aye aye, captain." I try to keep the tone light between the three of us but I can tell that we're all a little on edge, Ellie especially. She lets out a small snort but it has me beaming, I hope that after all of this she can find some time to relax and truly enjoy living again. She's been so on edge recently and I feel as though she just needs to be reminded that she is in fact still a kid - not some saviour of mankind but a little girl. Well, maybe not so little.

"Agh! This place smells like shit!" Ellie sniffs again, her nose upturning before letting out a gag. Myself and Joel share a look of amusement as though we are thoroughly entertained by the kid,

"Welcome to the city, Ellie." I deadpan, smirking as Ellie side eyes me. Her firecracker attitude seems to be coming back, slowly, but surely.

After walking for some time, the dampness of the tunnel only increases which must mean that there's a water source near by and I pray that it's not deep.

It looks as though my prayers have been ignored. Overlooking an old trailer, deep water submerges our current path and with Ellie's lack of swimming ability it looks as though we'll have to find an alternative route.

"Aw shit." The teen scoffs, talk about luck.

"Follow me." We follow Joel through an adjacent tunnel, similar to our old path only minus the swampy water and only encounter a handful of infected - clickers and runners. Joel managed to take out the majority of the fuckers which left Ellie and I to aid him with the minority stragglers.

"Whew! I am getting old." I pant, swiping the blood from my knife as we venture even further through the tunnel.

"Emily, you're thirty-three." Joel sends me a pointed look which Ellie finds hilarious as she snorts out a laugh.

"Yeah, Emily, get a grip." Ellie retorts, to which Joel raises his eyebrows.

"Oh I get it, it's gang up on Emily day." I say, crossing my arms over my chest in faux annoyance. But soon, all conversation ceases as we realise that we've been met with raging and gushing currents of water below us, even worse than before. Fuck.

"Oh boy," Ellie breathes out nervously.

Joel sighed deeply in annoyance, stepping forward before glancing back at us, "Let me go ahead, you two just follow my lead." Below us is some sort of bus or tram stuck in the flow of water, a seemingly straight forward bridge to the other side.

"Of course," I say to him, and slowly ease myself onto the bus. "Stay close, Ellie." I tell the teen.

"Duh." I don't even have to turn around to know she's got this smirk on her face.

I watch Joel jump from the trailer, bus, tram - whatever - to the ventilation attached to the wall on the other side which left me stood near the edge of it, just staring at the gap. I gulp, feeling nerves creep into my belly. But if Joel could do it, so could we.

Slowly, I take a few small steps back as a run up and before I'm really thinking about it, I'm running and taking the leap to the other side. I complete the jump with ease and immediately exhale as my nerves exit my body.

"You good?" He asks, concern evident in his rugged features.

"Yeah." I nod in assurance before turning back to Ellie, "Okay, come on, El, you can do it, jump."

"You're gonna catch me?"She asks, staring at us wearily.

Joel's strong arms then reach out, awaiting her jump, "I got you."

She swallows, blinking a little before ultimately repeating what I'd just done. She gives herself a little run up before sprinting over the edge and leaping towards us,

"See? You didn't even need me," Joel tells her proudly which earns a wide smile from her.

"Let's get the hell off this thing." She then says, turning all business.

Ellie takes the lead, stepping onto what seems like another bus of sorts but Joel and I are right behind her. It teeters a little, causing a jolt in my chest and I frown in anxiety.

"We're good." Joel says to me, squeezing my hand but as we go to move the entire structure seems to move with us. The raging current of water is pelting against the metal and the bus can't seem to hold itself with the added weight of us. It all happens so fast but one minute I'm upright and the next I'm toppling toward the water with a gasp of shock,

"Emily! Baby, no!" I hear Joel call out to me but it's ultimately muffled by the water as my head is thrown under, I'm thrashing to keep afloat but the current is too strong for my feeble attempt of swimming. My body is thrown in all sorts of directions and I can't seem to keep myself level, and all of a sudden my head is smacked into what seems like metal.

The feeling is like no other, it's splitting and searing and I'm panicking as the pain in my skull worsens. That's all I remember as my eyes lose it's fight to stay open...