CHAPTER ELEVEN:

BACK TOGETHER

THE GIRLS KEPT trying to find different ways of escaping. Ellie gave Y/n a boost so she could try and look through the window and possibly climb out. Unfortunately, the window was closed and she had nothing to break the glass with.

Right after, Ellie was fidgeting with the lock and the bolts on the fence, trying to break it or get it loose so they could get out before David came back. Y/n was glancing around behind her, searching for anything she could grab.

Crouched down, Ellie was trying to loosen a bolt when she let her eyes look straight ahead of her and through the fence. The fourteen year old felt her entire body stop. She felt her heart skip a beat. She immediately stumbled back.

Y/n turns to her, confused and concern. "Ellie?" The brunette doesn't look at her. "Ellie, what's wrong? What is it?" When Ellie still didn't look at her, Y/n slowly followed her gaze.

The girl's breath caught in her throat at the sight before them. It was small, but they couldn't unsee it now as it hid underneath the large wooden table that was right across from the cage they were still trapped in.

An ear.

It was an ear.

So many thoughts coursed through Y/n's mind. She gagged, hand moving to cover her mouth as she spun around and fell onto her knees. Ellie couldn't look away from it as Y/n puked out everything in her already empty stomach. Water hit the floor.

It was about a minute after when the door creaked open and David was walking back in, holding a tray with two mugs and two bowls of food that had meat inside. The man stared at the girls. Ellie was shaking, staring at the ear. Y/n was shaking on her knees, face above her vomit.

Brows raised in curiosity, the blonde man glances over his shoulder to see what Ellie had been staring at. He stops when he sees the ear. His lips purse as he looks back at them, finally realizing why they were like that.

"For what it's worth, this is just deer meat. I swear." He motions down to the bowls of food he just slide underneath the cage.

Ellie narrows her eyes on him. "You're gonna chop us up into little pieces."

"I'd rather not." He tells them. "Please, just tell me your names." They don't say a thing. "If you wanna judge me--"

"Judge you? You're eating people, you sick fuck!" Ellie shouts, storming to the fence and kicking the tray of food away. Y/n stumbles up to her feet, wiping her mouth.

David stands up, nodding. "Yes. There are only a few of us that know. But I would've told you girls. Sooner or later. I guess sooner."

"You're an animal." Y/n sneers.

"Well, yes, we all are. That's sorta the point." He comments. "It was a last resort. You think it doesn't shame me? But what was I supposed to do? Let them starve? These people who put their lives in my hands, who expect me to keep them safe, who love me?"

Ellie nods. "Yeah, maybe."

"You don't believe that. Neither of you do. I don't think your friend would either. Didn't he take another man's life to save yours?" David reminds in question.

"He was defending himself." Y/n argues.

"He was defending you two." David insists. "But you both knew that. You girls see a lot. So do I. And you know what I see when I look at you girls? Me. You girls remind me of me. You're natural leaders, you're smart... loyal. Violent."

"You don't know anything about us." Y/n says.

"But I do. If I let you both out of that cage right now, put those knives of yours in your hands, you'd both stick me in a second. You girls have violent hearts. And I should know." He moves closer to the cage. "I've always had a violent heart. And I struggled with it for a long time. But then the world ended and I was shown the truth."

"Right... by God." Ellie recalls.

David shakes his head. "No. By Cordyceps. What does Cordyceps do? Is it evil? No. It's fruitful. It multiplies. It feeds and protects it's children, and it secures it's future with violence, if it must. It loves."

Y/n gulps nervously. "Why are you telling us all of this?"

"Because you girls can handle it. The way the others can't. They need God. They need heaven. They need... they need a father. You two don't. You're both beyond that. I'm a shepherd surrounded by sheep, and all I want... is an equal. A friend." David explains.

"What about our friend?" Y/n questions.

The man just nods. "Like I said, loyal." He steps closer. Ellie follows. "I can tell the others to stop looking for him. They'll spare him."

Ellie's eyes widen. "Really? They'll just let him go?"

"Yes. If he leaves us in peace, they will just let him go. They do what I tell them to do. They follow me. And they would follow us. Lord knows I could use the help." David looks down at the human ear. "Look what's happened." He rests his hand on the bar of the cage. "Think of what we could do together, as strong as we are. We'd make this place perfect. We'd grow, spread out. And we'd do whatever we needed for our people."

As he was talking, Ellie, who was closest to him, glances over her shoulder to make eye contact with Y/n, who was just a couple feet behind the girl. A silent understanding passes through their shared glance before Ellie looks back at David, resting her hand on the bar, finger brushing his.

"Imagine the life we could give them." He continues, slowly moving to rest his hand on hers. "Imagine the life we could build."

"Oh." The Williams girl whispers.

Without saying a word, she rests her other hand on top of his, only making him smile. However, that smiled faded when she broke his finger, gripping his hand tightly. Y/n rushed forward, arm poking through the cage as she reached for his keys.

The keys fell from his belt and onto the floor, which she bent down more to grab. Unfortunately, gripping Ellie's sweater with one hand, David ignored the pain in his finger as he grabs Y/n's sweater, roughly hitting them against the cage before they fell down.

"You little cunts." David snarls, watching as blood dripped from their noses and grabbing his keys. "Let's see what I go tell the others now."

"Ellie." She speaks up.

David stops and spins around. "What?"

"Tell them that Ellie is the little girl who broke your fucking finger!" Ellie screams.

"How did you put it?" He asks with raised brows, humming. "'Tiny little pieces'?"

He didn't say anything else as he pulls the door open and storms out of the room. The girls stay frozen in their spots. "Ellie..." Y/n shakily whispers. "...what the fuck did you just do?"

Slowly, body shaking, the Williams girl turns to face her friend, eyes widen. They just stare at each other, blood dripping down their noses and over their lips. Their bodies shook in fear, anticipating what was gonna happen next.

They still hadn't moved from their spots when David was storming back in the room with James right behind him. Both men were glaring right at the girls. They finally moved when David unlocked the cage, rushing to the other side.

As David rushed for Ellie, Y/n fought in James' arms. She raised her legs, kicking the air as James practically carried her out of the cage. David was gripping the collar of Ellie's sweater when she leaned down and bit his hand, causing him to cry out.

He was quick to hit her in the face, sending her down to the floor before moving out of the cage, locking it behind him and locking Ellie back inside. Grabbing one of Y/n's arms, both men threw her onto the table, pinning her down as David grabs a large meat clever.

"Please, don't do it!" Y/n screams.

"Please, don't!" Ellie adds just as desperately.

David shakes his head. "You girls had your chance."

Just as he raised the meat clever, Ellie shouts, "I'm infected!" All of them freeze, snapping their gazes to the girl in the cage. "I'm infected."

"Ellie, no." Y/n chokes out.

"And now so are you." Ellie continues, staring right at David. The man looks at his hand that was bleeding as she rolls up her sleeve. "Look. Look at it!"

Y/n flinches when David slams the meat clever down right beside her head, a gasp escaping her. With James keeping Y/n pinned down, David roughly grabs Ellie's arm through the bars to get a better look. His body tenses, wide eyes snapping to James.

"What did you say? Everything happens for a reason, right?" Ellie reminds him, tone taunting.

"David." James whispers.

"No." The blonde immediately denies. "No, she would've turned by now. This isn't real."

James scoffs. "It looks pretty fucking real to me." Feeling his grip loosen on her arms as he stares at Ellie's arm in shock, Y/n was quick to grab the meat clever and stab it right into James' neck.

As James collapsed, his life gone in seconds, David grabbed his gun and shot at Y/n's running figure, but she was already out of the room before the bullets could hit her. The man looks back at Ellie before chasing after Y/n, grabbing the meat clever from a now dead James, not noticing his keys fell.

Y/n shoves through the doors, running through the kitchen of a restaurant before entering the main area. She was quick to sprint to the front doors, seeing all the snow outside. However, it was locked. So, she ran back into the kitchen, grabbing a piece of wood from the fire before hiding.

It was a couple seconds until she heard the doors open, followed by David's slow and heavy footsteps. Once he sounded close, she shoots up and throws the plank of woods before sprinting off. David ducks, the curtain against the window.

A fire instantly started.

"There's no way out." David calls out, slowly moving around as the fire continues to spread. "The doors are locked. And I have the keys." Little did he know...

The man continues to call out, tauntingly calling her "girl" as he moves around the restaurant. Y/n sneakily continues to hide behind booths and large boxes. She failed to notice someone coming up behind her until they grabbed her shoulders.

A gasp was about to escape before a hand was placed over her lips. Ellie quickly held a finger up to her lips before removing her hand. Both girls grabbed each other's hands. David spun around when he saw the doors open. He knew they were both here now.

"Ellie!" He yells. "I know you're not infected. No one infected fights this hard to stay alive." The girls peek out from behind a booth, rushing across when he turned around. "So, how did you do it? What's the secret? Or are you just that fucking special?"

Y/n peeks out from behind a large crate they were hiding behind, eyes staring at the man who was starting to get angry. Ellie tugged on her hand, pulling her into the kitchen where they grab their own knives and hide behind the counter.

"No one likes being humiliated, Ellie. You girls don't know how good I am!" David exclaims. "You girls don't know what I could've given you! If you had just let me!" Y/n flinches. "Well, I have news for you. Neither one of us is dying today. You see, I've changed my mind. I've decided you girls do need a father. So I'm gonna keep you both, and I'm gonna teach you both."

Ellie was the one to peek out from behind the bar counter, seeing the man standing right in front of them, his back facing them. Letting out a cry, she lunges at him, knife held up. David spins around just as the blade of Ellie's knife stabs into his side.

He was quick to grab her arms, shoving her down to the floor, the meat clever falling from his grip. The man stumbles, clutching his side. Noticing the meat clever under a table, Ellie begins to crawl but David kicks her in the stomach, stopping her.

Before he could do anything, Y/n comes up behind him and jumps on his back, stabbing him many times in the shoulder. David grabs the back of her head, gripping her hair and throwing her over his shoulder until her body slammed onto the floor.

The Burrell girl screams when he moves down, swinging his leg over her smaller figure. She tries to fight, but he roughly pinned her hands onto the floor. Ellie struggles, trying to get up but she felt like she couldn't breathe.

David only smirks when Y/n spits in his face. "I thought you already knew. The fighting is the part I like the most." His words have Y/n letting out a scream of fear. "Don't be afraid. There's no fear in love."

He forced both her hands under one of his hand, using his now free one to reach down towards his jeans. Y/n let out another scream, thrashing around at the sound of his zipper. As he did that, he was too focused on the girl to notice Ellie.

The Williams girl lunged at him, stabbing the meat clever right into his neck. David collapses beside Y/n's trembling body as Ellie climbs on top of him, letting out many screams as she stabs him many times in the face, not caring about the blood splattering on her face.

Eventually, she stopped. Her wide eyes immediately turn to the sobbing and trembling girl on the floor. Ellie crawls towards her, wrapping her arms around Y/n instantly. Y/n could only sob as she hugged her friend back tightly.

It took them a couple seconds before they stood up, Y/n's legs shaking. The Burrell girl briefly glances at David's face, the meat clever lodged right in his face. Leaving out from the back, smoke escaped through the doors as Ellie shoved it open.

Together, arms wrapped around each other, they moved further away from the building. When someone grabbed them from behind, they scream.

"No! Get off of me!"

"Get off!"

"It's me." A familiar voice speaks.

As they were spun around in the person's arms, Ellie moved her hands in a stabbing motion, but stopped when her eyes met a familiar pair. Joel gently held both of their faces as he stared at them with relief in his gaze, examining the state they were in.

Hair messy, clothes wrinkled, blood on their faces.

"It's me. Hey... look. It's me." His voice was the softest they ever heard it. "It's okay."

"He... He tried to--" Y/n couldn't finish.

Without hesitation, Joel pulled his girls into his arms, holding them tight against his body. They didn't hesitate to hug back. The three don't move as Joel rocks them back and forth, hands moving to hold the back of their heads.

"It's okay, baby girls." He whispers to them. "I got you guys."

Eventually, they pulled away. Joel grabs both his jackets, placing each over their shoulders before he wraps both his arms around them, continuing to hold them as they walk away.

They were back together again.