The Bullet / Tess Servopoulos

A twisted turn of events

27th September 2023

The intense tension, the crippling fear and the anticipation for what would happen next drowned Tess as she stared into his already broken soul.

Her nostrils flared and her breathing hardened as she ate back each emotion that attempted to overpower her.

This was supposed to be their break. They were supposed to deliver this kid here and be on their way. This was supposed to be the start of their new lives, away from the shit tip that was Bostons QZ. They were supposed to find Tommy and then settle down... somewhere. Somewhere safe where Joel could let down the guarded walls of his heart just enough to let her in properly. To let her love him like she had wanted too for so many years. She knew he wanted that too, even if he couldn't say it or show it. She knew she was more to him than just a business partner or a warm body for when he occasionally needed a quick fuck. They had far too much history for it to just be those things. But alas, none of it was meant to be. They weren't to have a future together... shit, she wasn't to have a future at all.

She swallowed thickly as his heavily conflicted dark eyes bored into her hazel ones. This was it for her. This was the end of her journey but it wasn't the end of his.

"Joel... save who you can save."

Tess took in a sharp breath and slowly began to back away from him. He had to leave. She kept her eyes intently on him as she watched his internal battle before he grabbed ahold of Ellie's arm and dragged her away.

She could hear Ellie's protesting screams gradually fade away. The hall in which she stood in the centre fell almost silent. The only noises being the revving engines of the FEDRA vehicles that quickly approached.

She swallowed another lump in her throat, her shaky hand moved up to cover the infected bite mark on her clavicle. It was almost as if she could feel the cordyceps tendrils stretching through her veins.

At least fate had given her the easy way out. At least she wouldn't have to sit here alone for hours and hours on end, slowly losing her mind and being to succumb to what ever the fuck the infected were. One bullet to the head and it'll all be over for her. Just a few more minutes and it'll all be over. No more pain... no more guilt for all the shit she had done... no more heartache after seventeen years of longing for a man who was unable to show emotion... just peace and darkness.

A rush of heavy foot steps could be heard rushing towards the entrance of the capitol building. Tess hoped that Joel had got himself and the kid far enough away, hoped that they were somewhat safe.

She mentally prepared herself as she turned towards the large double doors and braced herself for the impact of a wall of bullets that would soon come soaring her way.

The foot steps came to a halt and there was a moment of deafening silence. The persistent lump that had formed in her throat was now blocking her air ways. She gasped for air as a single tear escaped from behind her eye, spilling over her lash line and trickling steadily down her cheek. The warm salted trail it left tingled the exposed skin beneath.

The moment of silence was just that. One. Single. Moment.

Those large double door soon came tumbling open as an army of officers forced their way through.

She had the briefest second to study the features of each and every man in-front of her before they opened fire. Green, grey, brown eyes boring into her as if she was no longer human.

She took one last shaky breath before closing her eyes for what she assumed would be forever.

The sound of artillery fire filled the room. Their copper jacketed bullets flew through the thickening air but mostly missed their sole target. Incompetent fucks. There were only two shots that had managed to hit her somewhat successfully. One that lodged itself just beneath the already agitated laceration to her clavicle... the one she had managed to withstand... and then the other that directed itself into far left of her last rib, ultimately knocking her off her feet.

She thudded face down onto the cold tiled floor with a grunt. Her eyes dazed over from a mixture of the infection spreading within her, the searing pain from the the bullets lodged within her body and the sheer amount of emotional and physical distress.

She couldn't move as her body entered a state of Vasovagal syncope. Her body lay paralysed, her vision turned to static and her ears rang loudly. She just about make out the words breathed by one of her supposed killers.

"Target neutralised"

Neutralised?! She was still fucking breathing. They were meant to kill her instantly not leave two poorly aim shots in non fatal parts of her body. Her death was supposed to be quick.

The voices that surrounded her soon left, leaving her stone cold, alone and bleeding out on the solid ground. She could feel it, her own warm, thick blood. It slowly bubbling around the lead that had been left embedded in her flesh and dripping out like a leaky faucet.

Was this fates cruel way of punishing her for two decades of sin. Was this payback for the many lives taken in cold blood at the hands of Joel on her orders.

It was the calm after the storm. Everybody had left, leaving her seemingly lifeless body behind. Joel had gone... Ellie along with him and so had the soldiers. She was alone in every sense of the word.

Twenty years of bottled up emotions emitted from her soul as the shock wore off and her body became lucid once more. All of the pain both physically and mentally became an overbearing heavy weight. She wailed loudly. Her frantic cries echoed in the vast space around her as her body drained itself from all emotion.

Then she just laid there. Hours upon hours of just staring soullessly into the abyss waiting for the inevitable to happen. For her to become the monster she truly was... it was a fitting end... She had acted a blood thirsty bitch for so long and now she would take her final form and forever join her kind.

Each hour went by and into the night and then out the other side as mornings first light glared though the murky cracked windows of the capitol building she still resided in.

She groaned as she heaved herself up into a seated position. She winced at the stabbing pain that shot through both her rib and clavicle as the muscles surrounding clenched around the bullets lodged within. She ran a sticky palm over her paled face. Why the fuck was she still here? Why the fuck hadn't she turned.

Her fingers then ran over the lacerated lesion beneath her shoulder. The infection...the once spreading tendrils that ventured towards her brain... they'd stopped. Her bite hadn't progressed any further from how it was the previous day....

What the fuck was happening?

She dragged her weakened body back up against the wall as she came to terms with what was happening. She knew she wasn't immune... she watched and felt how the infection had initially started growing within her body... so what had stopped it? This could be the key!

Was this a second chance? Was this her opportunity to make up for all the wrongs she had committed? Was this her chance to fix this fucked up world?

She needed to get these bullets out of her body and somehow suture herself up... and then she just needed to catch up with Joel... and the fireflies... they might have the complex equipment to run tests on her and- and make a cure!

Her eyes widened as her gaze fell onto the entry hole just millimetres beneath her bite... a sudden realisation hit her... the infection stopped when the the bullet imbedded itself into her infected flesh...the bullet.

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A/N: This may or may not be running alongside my other story 'Don't let go' ...🤐
Updates to this will not be massively regular until I complete Don't Let Go as I need to do a lot of research in order to make this work in a believable way. As you've already guessed, I've based this off the scene in the game rather than the one used for the HBO show.