SHELTER

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

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CHAPTER SIX

Shelter

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After days of riding on horses and close calls with infected, the big, overgrown skyscrapers soon came into view. Ellie and Willow smiled as the blaring sun soon became covered by the buildings, relieving the girls from the heat. Some of the towers had leant over each other due to the explosions of the Quarantine Zones over the years, it had just shown how much the world had changed. Ellie blamed herself for most of it, but she needed to keep a clear head if they wanted to find somewhere to stay before sundown.

"What time is it?" Willow asked, leaning back on her horse a bit. They were both tired, and the sky was slowly turning orange above them. If they could take some form of shelter, they would be relieved of the heat and their exhaustion.

"I'm gonna guess its around three in the afternoon." Ellie replied. Willow nodded, continuing to lead her horse beside the older teenager. They soon turned onto the road, or what was left of it. Most of it was cracked underneath itself and had caved into the ground.

Soon, the two were surrounded by the tall skyscrapers, the sun only poking through and brushing their skin when there was a break in the blocks. Staying in one of the tall buildings wouldn't be the best move, it could collapse at any minute. Ellie continued looking around as she let her horse follow Willow's, trying to spot anywhere they could stay. Nothing was coming up, and the two girls' eyes were beginning to droop under their lashes.

Ellie's eyes trailed over to an old, run-down hotel. It looked like it could've been fit to house royalty back in the day. "Think we could camp out there?" She asked, turning to Willow. The younger girl turned her head over, pulling against the horse's reins and slowing to a stop.

"Looks pretty in-tact." Willow replied. Her voice was strained from the lack of water she had drunken over the past few days, she prayed that there would be some type of water source in the hotel. "We'd have to clear most of it out, though. Looks like a hotspot for infected." She remarked, rolling her shoulders back and trying to relieve them of the pain from her backpack straps. She had a lot packed in it, her arms felt like they were bruising from the weight.

"We've got a bit of time before sundown, anyway." Ellie spoke hoarsely, shrugging. "It'll be a nice way to kill time, anyway."

"Killing infected, how romantic." Willow stated sarcastically, turning her horse towards the hotel. "Let's hitch them out here, we can bring them in once the area is secured." She proposed smartly. Ellie nodded, both leading their horses towards one of the alleyways. If any stray WLF members saw two saddled horses standing in the street, they'd immediately know that someone was there to scout out the area- or do worse.

The two girls got off their horses, Ellie handed Willow the reins and let her hitch the animals around an old bike rack. It wasn't ideal, but it'd have to work. They looked around the hotel for a minute before finding a back door in, slipping through a few pieces of rubble. The main room looked clear, chandelier crystals and old candles covering the floors. Red carpet was barely its once vibrant color, it had turned an ugly brown, some moss still growing through the cracks of the fabric.

Stairs led up from the front door over to the old, unusable elevators. Ellie guessed there was maybe ten to twenty floors, but they were most likely blocked off by timeless rubble. Willow gazed at an old convenience station, old, molded baked goods and coffee cups littered over the countertops. She walked over, resting her stomach over the cabinets. Ellie watched as her newfound friend looked over all of the utensils scattered around. It was a glimpse into what life was like before- everything.

Willow turned back around, watching the older teen as she gestured her head towards the grand staircase. "We should check the second floor and block all other exits. We can stay in one of the rooms up there." Ellie looked back towards the other girl, cracking her neck and grabbing her gun out of her thigh holster. It was strapped against her jeans, even though they hadn't come across any non-infected enemies yet.

"Sounds good." Willow replied, rummaging through her backpack and grabbing out her own brandished and shiny handgun. Ellie watched as she loaded it with ammo before turning towards the staircase, taking a few steps on the marble steps. Her sneaker-clad feet made a muffled clicking noise against the cold metal, but it wasn't as loud as it would be if she were wearing something like high heels. God, she was revolted by even the thought of wearing those kinds of feet-killers.

The two began their journey through the hotel, walking up the stairs and towards the upper floors. It was practically a maze, with walls blocking their every exit. The hallways were winding and endless, the soft carpet becoming a haven to their sore feet. Crème paint covered the walls, but it had molded and ripped into a darker brown colour over the years. Surprisingly, there were no signs of infected through the corridors of the first floor.

Ellie looked behind her and Willow for a moment before turning back forward, standing still at the end of the first-floor hallway. "The WLF must've already cleared this place out." She stated, looking onto the ceiling with her flashlight. It was completely cracked from water damage, a few drops of the flooding of Seattle pattering on the girl's heads.

"That's good." Willow exclaimed, pushing one of the hotel room doors open slowly. "I don't know about you, but I could sleep right now." She grinned, walking into the room. Ellie followed shortly behind, looking over the suite.

They could tell that it once was a luxurious building. There were golden accents lacing the desks and windows that had been spared by the outbreak, and the beds looked like they were marshmallows. Ellie was thankful they had decided to camp out in the hotel. She hadn't had gotten a proper sleep in a while and being that far away from Jackson and Joel would probably help. Willow jumped onto one of the beds, a waft of dust following her movements and making her cough.

The older teen smiled a bit, taking off her backpack and relieving her shoulders from the harsh weight of her supplies. Ellie quickly dug through her bag, grabbing out her hot plate and a few cans of non-perishable foods. She set them down on the floor, unwrapping the long electrical cord and plugging it into one of the sockets. As suspected, the hot plate didn't even make an effort to turn on. No electricity, as usual.

Ellie stood back up, brushing her pants off and looking over to the bed. Willow had left the bed and migrated out onto the balcony that was separated from the room by large glass sliding doors. The older teenager opened them, standing on the balcony with Willow. They both let their stomachs press against the fencing, relishing in the rare wind whipping against their cheeks. It was raining lightly, relieving the heat that had covered the city earlier in the day.

A few minutes passed, and Ellie looked over to Willow. The younger girl's hair was drenched with rainwater, her face shining with droplets. Her skin was relatively clear, but as Ellie looked at her upturned face, she could almost count all the little freckles that dusted her cheeks and nose. Willow continued to look up at the sky, her eyelids fluttering open and shut as rain fell onto her eyelashes. The clouds in the sky created a perfect shade from the sun, and it was a moment of peace.

Willow turned around, looking back up at the building. The third or fourth floor was completely ripped open and caved in, revealing a few of the rooms from the outside. Ellie looked over the brick, seeing a few places she could climb up. It was risky, due to the age and health of the building, but if they made it to the roof, they would be able to get a vantage point from the WLF. And maybe some electricity if they could find some.

The younger teen turned to Ellie. "Electricity box is probably up there." She stated, almost reading the other girl's mind. Willow pointed up to the roof area, squinting her eyes from the fog that had built up from the rain. "If we can get to it, we'll be eating good for the night."

Ellie chuckled, wiping the rainwater off her hands in an attempt to dry them off. "Well, we should get up there before it gets too dark." She replied, looking behind her to see the sun looming dangerously behind some of the trees. The sky was beginning to turn pink, as well.

Willow took the first stretch and planted her foot onto a loose brick, letting her hand grasp onto another one before pulling herself up. It was slippery, but it would make do. She let her foot plant itself on the brick beside her hand before moving her other arm, trying to hold onto another few pieces of wall. She managed to pull herself up again a few more times, and she pulled herself to the side, looking at the large, gaping hole in the hotel. Willow pushed herself off the bricks and let her hands grip onto the flooring of one of the rooms, her legs dangling onto the large drop below.

She pulled herself into the hole and breathed heavily, a sigh of relief leaving her lips as she placed her hands on her knees. Ellie had pulled herself up a few moments after, her feet landing on the soft moss that had covered the tiling over time. They regrouped and looked around the long, winding corridor to a roof access, if there was one. Ellie walked down one end of the hall, splitting up from Willow for a few minutes.

The sounds of runners whining came echoing through the hotel. Ellie looked behind her and pulled her gun out from her thigh holster. Willow wasn't anywhere near her. She looked through one of the big, golden archways, seeing an old restaurant inside. A few runners had made their nesting inside of it, and they were roaming around the white-cloth tables. Two dead bodies were pushed against one of the walls, but Ellie paid no attention to it as she rolled into the room.

"Shit." She muttered, holding her gun up to the sky as she took cover behind one of the tables. One of the runner's footsteps could be heard dangerously close towards her. Ellie took her chance and wrapped her arm around its neck, pulling it to the ground and choking it without letting it make a sound. She glanced around quickly and snuck down to another table. Her eyes widened as one of the runners came at her, looking straight at her. Ellie sighed, clicking the safety off of her gun and taking a shot at its head.

The runner fell to the ground. The gunshot from her gun only attracted the other infected, though. Ellie whipped her head around to see four charging at her, she managed to shoot down two but the others had made it too close to her. Ellie winced and prepared for the weight of them tackling her to the ground, but it never came. It was replaced with two loud shots. She opened her eyes to see the runners dead on the floor, gunshot wounds dripping with blood on their foreheads.

Ellie looked back to the entrance to see Willow, who was standing in the archway, hair and face completely drenched with sweat. The younger teen held her gun, her hands trembling lightly as she shrugged. "Came across a few clickers, thought you might've needed some help." She smirked lightly, almost teasing the older girl.

"I had it under control." Ellie scoffed, rolling her eyes and putting her gun back in her holster.

"Yeah, okay." Willow replied as she walked into the room. Her eyes became fixated on the two bodies that were slumped against the other wall. "Talk to me when almost being tackled by two runners is 'under control'." She chuckled.

The older teenager only rolled her eyes again as she followed Willow towards the two bodies. They weren't infected. Blood was spilled on the wall behind them. Ellie looked at their uniforms, their clothing was scarce armor-wise, but their armbands spelled out the letters WLF. Two guns were splayed onto the wooden flooring, most likely the weapons that had killed the two soldiers. Ellie grabbed a stray piece of paper up from one of the corpse's laps, her fingers scratching against the wrinkles.

'Ollie. Kam is fucking infected. I know that Robin knows, she's horrible at keeping secrets, but he bit us, US, OLLIE! His fucking friend. Y'know, Robin had it coming, he didn't care for her at all. But really? He just had to take out his anger of not getting out of the relationship on us? Please knock some fucking sense into that bitch, Ol'. I bet she let him come here and turn peacefully instead of pulling the fucking trigger like she should have. Now we have to pay the price. Me and Elliot are just gonna end it. Tell Robin to come back here just to see what she did.'

Ellie shook her head, these guys really had it out for whoever 'Robin' was. She looked behind her at the dead runners, they were freshly infected. She guessed that the 'Kam' character that one of the WLF members had written about were one of the runners she and Willow had killed. For a moment, Ellie felt bad for the woman who had lost him, but she shook her head. It was her choice to let him turn, apparently, she could face the consequences of seeing him dead.

"God, whoever Ollie is must have seen this letter." Willow proposed, looking up from the piece of paper and over to Ellie. The older teen furrowed her brows in confusion, almost insisting that the other girl continued with her theory. Willow pointed over to one of the tables. "There's a backpack. Fresh stuff, it can't be the infected's." She walked over to where she was pointing, rummaging through the open zipper and showing Ellie the loaded guns.

"Jeez. I almost feel bad for the guy." Ellie replied, putting the letter back down on the dead body.

Willow nodded. "Whoever he was." She shrugged, digging through the backpack and pocketing a few packs of ammo. She stood up fully, letting the bag slump down onto the wooden floorboards as she glanced back over to Ellie. "Now, let's go find some electricity, shall we?"

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