THE STADIUM

"No-one likes a mad woman; you made her like that."

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CHAPTER NINE

The Stadium

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Ellie looked in front of her, mouth agape as she looked over the stadium. It was huge, and it looked like they were running an entire nation inside of it. Propaganda for the WLF was graffitied and plastered all over the walls and windows, making it obvious that the anti-FEDRA operation had taken their stay inside of it. Willow looked around, making sure they both stayed in the shadows as best as possible. They had to get in somehow, they needed intel to get back to Jackson with.

The older teenager motioned Willow over, and they ran out as soon as none of the guards were looking, ducking behind one of the military-grade trucks. There was a door directly beside them that led into the stadium, a sign plastered on it that read 'Sewer Entry'. Ellie kept her back pressed to the truck as she maneuvered herself over, her feet aching against the road as she reached her hand out towards the doorknob. She grabbed onto it and pushed the door open, letting Willow enter first.

A large staircase led down for what seemed like forever, but you could barely see the break in it that led into the main sewers. Ellie shut the door behind the two girls inconspicuously, beginning the long walk down the concrete stairs with Willow. Their footsteps echoed across the walls and bounced off the ceilings, announcing their presence to anyone that was down in the sewers. Willow and Ellie both silently prayed that they were alone, but the odds were most likely not in their favour.

They made it to the end of the staircase quickly, and they stepped onto a large, wooden flooring that sat above the rushing water. Every step that Willow and Ellie took croaked, the old floor barely standing below them. A large wailing noise came from behind them, and they quickly whipped their heads around, only to face a runner. It took quick notice to the girls, sending panic through Ellie as it ran towards them. She fumbled to grab her gun, but the wooden floor beneath the runner caught her eye.

Each floorboard had cracked, sending itself down deeper into the system. Ellie looked towards Willow, who had a terrified look on her face as the runner inched closer and closer. The infected grasped onto the younger girl's neck, blocking her airway quickly. She struggled against it, her face glowing red as the blood desperately rushed to the top of her body. Her hands jumped up to pry its hands off her neck, but nothing worked. The wooden floor suddenly collapsed under the three's weight, sending them plummeting down into another level of the sewers.

Willow landed down harshly with a grunt, the concrete fall making her back ache in a deep pain. Ellie quickly stood up, her vision clouding as she grabbed out her gun and shot the runner five times. It collapsed on Willow's body, and her eyes widened in shock. Ellie looked over the girl, holding her hand out and helping her up off the ground. They looked around the larger sewer system they were in, spores inching across the walls.

The two looked in their bags, and Willow quickly grabbed out her gas mask. She looked at it in horror, the filtration completely broken from the fall. "Shit! Oh my god!" Willow yelled, her breath quickening as she stumbled on her feet. Ellie looked over, seeing the broken gas mask in her hands. She grabbed her own, looking at its perfect condition before handing it to Willow. The girl looked at Ellie, confusion on her face. "What are you doing?!" She yelled.

Ellie shook her head, shoving the gas mask onto Willow's head and clipping it against her hair. "Don't worry about me, we need to get out of here." The older teenager clicked her flashlight on, looking around the spore-covered walls.

"You're gonna turn!" Willow yelled, her voice muffling against the mesh film of the gas mask. She grabbed onto Ellie's shoulders, turning her to face the girl. "This is my fault, get this fucking mask on, now! I'll go and get some intel before I die-"

"No-"

"-and then I'll tell you through a walkie-talkie or something, then you'll have something to go back to Jackson with-"

"No!" Ellie yelled harshly, looking through the glass and into Willow's eyes. "I- Fuck." She swore, looking down at the ground and shaking her head. What was she doing? Was she really going to tell Willow about her immunity? Did she really have a choice? "I'm immune, okay?" She revealed.

Willow looked at her, panicked and eyes widened. She slipped her hands off of Ellie's shoulders, her breath beginning to pick up again. She held her hand against her neck, trying to ignore the deep bruising from the infected. "You're- You're what?!" Willow yelled. Ellie winced, half-expecting something like that to come out of the girl's mouth. "No- That's fucking impossible-!" She stopped herself, her mouth staying agape as something different clouded her vision. "You were the cure, weren't you?"

Cautiously, Ellie nodded, stepping back a bit and letting her mouth curl downwards. "He was protecting me." She stated softly. The other girl's back hunched, her feet almost digging downwards into the concrete as she attempted to ground herself.

"Let's talk about this later." Willow proposed, her eyes drooping with exhaustion. She didn't want to discuss it yet; she was too tired to really comprehend anything. "We need to find something that'll give us information-" A large yell echoing through the sewers interrupted her. It wasn't an infected- no, it was human. Someone who hadn't turned. Ellie looked at the younger girl and nodded, the two pulling out their guns and beginning their way through the ankle-deep water.

They looked around for a few minutes, their vision slowly blurring due to the mass number of spores, but they finally came across a man. Willow looked over him, he was old, his hair grayed and long. He was coughing non-stop, curled up against one of the large grates in the sewers. His gas mask was splayed down on the ground, split down the middle completely. Ellie looked to the ground, placing her gun back down in her holster and picking up a stray pipe.

"Please- Please..." The man begged. "Just fucking kill me."

Ellie shook her head darkly, her face illuminated by her flashlight. She kneeled, her knees bending underneath her weight. She held onto the pipe and placed it up against the ground, letting her weight shift onto it. "You're gonna tell us-" Ellie began, motioning her head towards Willow. "Everything you know about the WLF." She demanded, menacingly glaring at the man. He shook his head drastically, pushing himself further against the sewer grate.

"What makes you think I'll do that?" He asked.

"Because we can make this really, really painful." Willow interjected, stepping forward a bit. "Or- we can make this easy and swift for you." She smirked, sending a shudder down Ellie's spine, even though she was the ally. "The choice is yours." The man didn't answer, and the older teenager stood up, cracking her knees and grasping tightly onto the pipe. She took a harsh swing at his stomach, sending his back into the sewer grate.

"Fuck!" He swore loudly. Again, not giving any information to the girls. Willow reached towards Ellie, ducking down and grabbing the other girl's tactical knife from her calf holster. The younger teenager flipped it in her hands, kneeling down and stabbing the man's knee with it. Willow twisted it a bit as he began to yell out in pain. "Okay!" He groaned. "Okay, I'll tell you everything." The man broke, letting Willow stand up and straighten up next to Ellie.

"H-Here..." He breathed, shuddering and groaning out in pain as he reached into his pocket. He grabbed out a map, tossing it to the ground. "That's the map of the stadium, and all our patrols. There's a list of all the WLF members on the back." Ellie looked at him skeptically, dropping the pipe to the ground with a loud noise and grabbing the map. As the man had said, everything was marked down in red ink, and the list of people in the WLF was on the back.

Three names were highlighted.

Kam Yulia,

Robin Arn,

And Ollie Peterson.

"What's your name?" Ellie asked.

"Ollie." The old man replied.

Willow nodded; her lips turned downwards. "Anything else we should know, Ollie?" She asked. Ellie quickly placed the map in her backpack, folding it up shakily. What was she doing? She was torturing an innocent man, just for answers. She shook her head lightly to herself as she thought. It was what needed to be done. "Nothing?" Willow's voice made Ellie return to reality again, and she only then realized her own hyperventilation.

The younger girl pulled her gun out, clicking the safety off the trigger and pointing it at the man's- Ollie's- head. One. Two. Three shots in his forehead. Blood drained out of it as he collapsed onto the concrete, and the life slowly sucked itself out of his body. Ellie looked at him, it was no different than what she did to infected, but with someone who had a conscious, she suddenly felt incredibly guilty towards the man.

Ellie gasped for air; her hand pressed against her chest. Willow looked at her, panicked. She looked to the older girl, holding onto her shoulders comfortingly. "C'mon, let's get somewhere safe, okay?" Willow asked, only receiving a weak nod from Ellie in return. The younger teen led her into a door in the sewers, an old storage room with a weak lightbulb hanging on the ceiling. Ellie's eyes screwed shut, she didn't want to remember the pained look on the man's face as he breathed in spores.

She didn't want to remember.

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