CHAPTER THIRTEEN:

SAM AND HENRY

THE ROOM WAS tense as the group of people were inside the darkness. Noises came from outside, yet neither of them focused on that. Instead, they were focused on each other. The group of three were focused on not getting shot by the two males that came across them in their sleep.

With his gun trained on Ellie, Alec and Y/n, Henry Burrell shifted on his feet as he glanced between the three. He had never really done this before, and he could tell that Joel looked like a strong guy who could take care of his own. That scared him.

"Eyes on me." He yells out when Joel snaps his gaze to his little brother. Sam Burrell continued to hold his finger to his lips, even when Joel looked at Henry. "You don't have to worry about what to say. We don't wanna hurt you. We wanna help you."

"Okay." Joel grumbles.

"Okay, um..." Henry shifts nervously. "I don't know what the next step is with something like this, but if I lower my gun, we didn't hurt you, so you don't hurt us, right?"

Joel doesn't show any emotion. "That's right."

"That's a weird fucking tone, man." A nervous chuckle escapes the young man.

"That's just the way he sounds. He has an asshole voice." Ellie quickly reassures him, turning to the older man. "Joel, tell him he's okay."

"Everything is great." Joel does as she asks, yet he doesn't change the tone in his voice, only making Henry more nervous than before.

Y/n sighs, closing her eyes in frustration. "Come on."

"Fuck!" Henry curses loudly. He didn't want to continue holding them hostage. "Okay... listen... I'm gonna trust you." He turns to his little brother, signing, "I'm going to trust him."

"Are you sure?" Sam questions, keeping his gun trained on Joel.

"Yes." The older brother whispers, grip tightening on the gun as he turns back to the other three. "But if either of you guys try anything..." He gestures to his gun. "Yeah?"

Without any hesitation, Y/n and Ellie were nodding in agreement, mumbling a small 'yeah' to relax the young man more. However, Alec didn't move as his eyes met Joel's, a quiet understanding passing between them.

Looking to his little brother, Henry motions for Sam to take a step back at where he was on the mattress Joel was laying on. The eight year old does so, stepping onto the floor, yet he keeps his gun trained on the man in his fifties.

"Can I sit up?" Joel asks. Henry nods, warning him to get up slow, which the man does so, his arms raised in surrender. "Who are you?"

"My name's Henry. That's my brother, Sam. I'm the most wanted man in Kansas City. Although right now..." Henry lowers his gun, staring right at Joel and Alec, the ones who fought the resistance. "...my guess is you two are running a close second."

In minutes, there was a light in the room from a lantern as the now group of six sat around it. Wind blew through the cracked window as the group ate the food Joel and the other three had, deciding to share it with the Burrell brothers.

"Where'd you get these?" Henry questions.

"From Bill." Ellie was the one to reply. "He's dead."

An awkward silence follows right after. Crumpling up the rest of his food, Joel leans over the lantern that was in between them, holding it out for Sam to take. The young boy takes it, tapping his brother on the arm as he signs something.

"He says thank you. I'm guessing you don't have much, so this means a lot." Henry tells them.

"How old is he?" Y/n asks.

Henry turns to Sam, translating it in sign language. When he replies, Henry repeats it, "He's eight."

"Cool." Ellie smiles. "I'm Ellie." She motions to the older boy beside her, saying, "This is my brother, Alec, and this is Y/n."

They watch as Henry turns to his little brother, signing their names to him, making the eight year old smile. Y/n felt her lips twitch at the little boy, something Alec took notice of. Noticing he wasn't speaking, Ellie hits Joel in the leg, silently encouraging him to speak.

"I'm Joel. Look, you ate, we didn't kill each other, let's call this a win-win and move on." Joel all but rushes out of his mouth.

Henry nods in thought, dusting his hands from crumbs. "Well, I'm betting..." He clears his mouth of food. "...that y'all came up here to get a view of the city and plan a way out. And when the sun's up, I'll show you one."

The four had completely stopped what they were doing at his words, only staring at him as he stared back. The other three move their gazes to stare at the side of Joel's face, wondering what his response would be.

* * *

THE SUN WAS up now in Kansas City. The resistance group continued to move around, searching for the Burrell man as they went under their leader's rules. However, they still had yet to find him and his brother anywhere. And their leader was getting angry.

The city was much more bright and clear now. Early in the morning, the group of six had moved out of the room the four had decided to stay in for the night. Now, they were in a conference room as Joel and Henry stood at the window that overlooked the city.

"Welcome to Killa City." Henry announces as they look around the empty and abandoned city.

"No Fedra." Joel points out, brows furrowed.

Henry shakes his head. "Not as of ten days ago, no."

"We always heard KC Fedra was--" Joel begins, arms crossed.

"Monsters? Savages?" Henry interrupts with a knowing nod, looking at him. "Yeah, you heard right. Raped and tortured and murdered people for twenty years. And you know what happens when you do that to people? The moment they get a chance, they do it right back to you."

"But you're not Fedra." Joel reminds.

"No... worse." Henry pauses. "I'm a collaborator."

At this sudden news, Joel's face hardens as he steps back, shaking his head. "I don't work with rats."

"Yeah, you fucking do." Henry insists with a scoff. "Today you do..." He points out the window at the city. "...cause I live here and you don't. That's how I followed you here. I know this city, and that's how I'm gonna help you get out."

"Why help us?" The older man questions.

"I saw what you did, the way you killed those men. Now, I know where to go but I don't know how to make it through alive, not if it's just me and Sam." Henry informs.

"You seem capable enough. You're armed." Joel comments.

"You're wrong, and wrong. Never killed anyone. And pointing an unloaded gun at you was the closest I've ever come to being violent." The young man admits. "So that's the deal. I show the way, you clear the way."

Their attention is turned away from each other and to the sound of the laughter behind them. Henry feels himself smile as he watches his brother laugh along with Ellie, the girl holding the pun book. Beside them, Y/n and Alec watched with smiles as they looked at one another.

"Haven't heard that in a long time." Henry murmurs.

As he watched them, Joel stared down at his feet, shaking his head. He wanted to fight against it, but he knew he needed the help. So, he turns to the young man with a sigh. "So how are we getting out?"

In minutes, Henry grabbed some paper and a pencil from Sam, who sat at the table as he drew while his brother, Alec, Y/n, Ellie and Joel stood at the end of the table, watching Henry draw a makeshift map.

"Highways. Downtown." Henry points at different spots, pointing at one spot and saying, "Us. This whole area belongs to Kathleen."

"She's in charge?" Y/n asks.

Henry nods. "Leader of the resistance." He points at all sides of the map with the pencil. "You can see the way we're bounded by highways. They got people posted all around the inside perimeter. If we get close, we get caught. No question. So how do we get across?"

The others don't say anything as he slams his fist onto the table. Feeling the vibrations, Sam looks up as Henry asks the same question in sign language. Resetting his magic slate, Sam writes something down before showing them.

Tunnels.

Henry snaps his fingers. "Boom."

Joel raises a brow. "Kansas City has a subway?"

"No, but they do have maintenance tunnels. There's a bunch of buildings all put up by the same developers. And they share these tunnels, including a bank building here." Henry moves to write on the paper again. "So we enter the tunnels here, travel underground, and pop up here. Westside North. Residential. There's an embankment on the other side of the houses. We head down, pedestrian bridge over the river..." He claps his hands. "...free as a bird."

"You're right. It's a great plan." There was sarcasm in Joel's voice. "So what do you need me for?"

"You noticed anything strange about this city? I mean, other than the strange shit you've already seen?" Henry questions.

"No infected?" Alec guesses.

Henry's brows raise. "Oh, there's infected. Just not on the surface. Fedra drove them underground fifteen years ago, and never let them come back up. It's the only good thing those fascist motherfuckers ever did."

"So you want us going into a tunnel?" Joel asks in disbelief.

"Everyone thinks that it's full of infected, including Kathleen, which means that we're not gonna be running into any of her people. But you see, what I know is..." The young man points at himself with a little smug smirk. "...it's empty."

Joel raises a brow. "You've been down there?"

Henry hesitates before answering, "No," Joel immediately looks away, which Henry quickly continues at the sight, "but the Fedra guy that I worked with told me that it's clean, completely clean. They cleared it out. All of it."

"When?" Y/n questions.

"Like... three years ago." Henry's response makes Joel scoff. "Okay, maybe, there's one or two, but you handle it."

Alec lifts his head to look at him. "What if there's more?"

"Or one of those blind ones that sees like a bat?" Ellie adds in question.

"Wait, you... you ran into a clicker?" Henry asks, voice full of shock and disbelief.

Ellie nods. "Two of them."

"And you're still alive." Henry concludes, giving them a look. "You see? You're the right people. If it gets bad down there, we turn around, and run right back out the same way we came." Henry informs.

"Oh, that's your great plan?" Joel snaps as he rests his hands on his hips.

"No, that's my dicey-as-fuck plan." Henry argues back. "But as far as I can tell, it's our only shot."

Sam, who had been watching the whole thing, bangs his hand on the table to get the group to look at him. "What are they saying?" He questions.

"They're saying they're going to help us escape." Henry signs and talks at the same time. Sam smiles and turns back down to his magic slate. He looks back at them, jaw clenched. "Right?"

Nothing was said as the young man stares at them, more specifically at Joel, who looks conflicted on what to do. Though by the expression on his face, they knew that he was going to agree.