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Gun stores were typically the worst place to search in order to find ammunition. Every one she had looked over in the past few years had been stripped clean down to nails, wood, and termites. Though she had convinced herself to give this one a try. From what she could read from the sign, the store was simply called 'Gutter's Gun Supplies'. Maybe it was 'Gunther'? The wear done to the sign out front made it impossible to tell. The two doors to access the building from the front were broken, and the shutters seemed to be ripped apart. This was the kind of place where one long wall was completely dedicated to the 'behind the counter' space, where dozens or nearly a hundred guns would've once been on display. In front of the racks that would've held rifles and shotguns was the clear display case. Only, it was clear now due to heavy bricks that lied in piles of shattered glass at the bottom of the case. Like she had told herself: Someone had gotten to this long before her.
The roof further to the back of the gun store had partially fallen through, and she was able to see the path the sun took every day by the amount of sun damage done to the carpet and stands underneath the hole. There were plenty of open cases, discarded cardboard, ripped apart nylon bags, and a number of shell casings.
When she first came into the shop, she had made sure to clear it for any signs of life before she let herself begin to search it, so making some noise now wouldn't be bringing anything out of hiding. She used the bottom of her bow to brush away some of the glass at the bottom of the display case, only to find more and more nothing.
She made her way around the other side of the counter once she reached the back of the store and began to open cabinets and drawers. All of which, she noticed, were already slightly ajar. Once she got closer to the register and near the front window of the store, did she see the glint of a brass casing in a drawer. She slid it open, allowing a bit of hope get to her heart. She'd run out of bullets for her handgun a few days back when a pack of Coyotes had begun to target her, and she could use some small round ammunition.
Though, the drawer only opened to show a metal wire sorter filled with different casings of bullets. Her fingers interrogated each casing, trying to find the odd one out in the hopes of a real bullet being amongst them. She knew she was already spending too long here, but she couldn't help but remember when Joel would spend ten to fifteen minutes searching a suburban home when they were running low on supplies.
He had an uncanny knack for being able to feel around the top of a cabinet and come away with a fallen over bottle of disinfectant. Or the know-how to pry a mirror off of the wall to reveal a medicine cabinet on the other side. Only- she wasn't doing that. Maybe if she better used her damn time she'd be in a suburban home going through it, instead of sifting through useless fucking bullet casings!
Her fingers clench around the front of the drawer and she jerks it roughly in a fit of frustration. The casings clink and the mechanism that kept the drawer on track stumbles out of place and falls to the ground- along with a box that didn't immediately come apart upon hitting the floor. In fact- it made a 'Thud' as it hit the rubber mat behind the counter.
"Bingo." The words that she felt in her throat had trouble escaping, she'd not talked as much in an effort to conserve water and remain quiet. But, those words weren't hers anyways. She heard them in His voice.
Crouching to grab the box of 9 millimeter rounds, she picks it up to count out a handful of bullets in the box that had gotten jammed in the back of the drawer. Ellie could feel a tickle in the back of her throat and had to clear it. It had been a bit since she really talked, huh? Being alone could do that to you. It'd take away your voice and you wouldn't realize until you tried to use it. If only- She stopped herself before finishing the thought- If only she had gone out here with someone. Her voice wouldn't be breaking then.
After fishing out the usable bullets and adding them to her magazine for her gun, she looked back down. There, she saw a few actual bullets, not just some casings. She leaned down and sighed, picking through them. She found a couple .223 rounds and some .45 as well. If only she had a gun that took either. She grabbed it anyways, putting it into her backpack. She couldn't afford not to take everything she could for this. It'd be different if it was a whole box that'd weigh her down, but a few bullets wouldn't hurt.
"Better safe than sorry." She could hear the words as if he spoke them yesterday. As if he had just found some dirty rag under a bed and shoved it into his backpack.
She let herself spend another five minutes in the store, but she didn't get anything else. She made her way out the door and kept her bow handy as she walked down the street towards the town. Apparently, this place was only important enough to receive a small sign on the road when she went into city limits, she hadn't seen any signs pointing her this way on the route down. Though- she wondered briefly if the signs had just faded or were whipped away at one point by wind. The one in front of her read:
'Good, Gateway to Death Valley'
Better,
Beatty!
Her step quickened, her boots carried her faster. She had 300 miles to go until she got to Santa Barbara. She'd just need to pass through the most ominously named national park ever, and then she'd be even closer. When she had checked the map earlier, she saw that this town was barely a mile long. She could make her way through in no time.
So far, walking through Nevada had been a massive pain in the ass. Most of the state seemed bent on being as flat as possible, making it hard to get a vantage point on anything. Even here as she got closer to the town, a large ancient RV park stood in the way of giving her a shot down the street and seeing if there was any movement.
She was forced to take it slower as she hit the town, using her rifle scope to look down a distance. She made sure to move a hand to cover the scope from the glare of the sun to keep it from shining a telltale reflection. So far she hadn't heard anything, not even the wind. This day was content to be still air and allow the sun to shine down and bake her slowly.
As she found more and more that there wasn't anything living here, she continued down. The walk was quick, as much as she would have enjoyed looking through some buildings. Most of the town seemed to have suffered from a number of fires, and a good portion was now burnt wood, bricks, and hollowed out RV's.
As she hit the halfway point in the town, she started to pass by what looked to be some type of bar. One that had a large sign out front, labelling itself as 'THE ROADHOUSE'.
Her steps slowed, her eyes remained glued to it. Road House. It was one of those 80's action films that she got a kick out of.
The memory was so clear. Of when she'd go to Joel's to watch a movie. She and him had planned to watch it, but the day they had set ended up being one where he got back late from patrol. She'd offered to watch it later, but he insisted they still watch it.
The couch that ate you up. The TV with blown out speakers that peaked when it got too loud. The smell of coffee in the air. It had been his last bag at the time- but he said he didn't want to fall asleep during the movie.
If she closed her eyes, she could almost see his silhouette in that chair across from her. She could see his laugh at a dumb joke in the movie, hear his voic- Rasping. Wheezing. Lips that moved but didn't work.
The sudden shift brought a lump of briars into Ellie's chest and made her face twist in anger. Her feet moved again, taking her away from the Roadhouse. Further towards Death Valley. Further towards the end of town.
---
An hour passed. She looked through the nearby houses and RV's as she got to the end of the town. She'd found small evidence that there was once a building sprawl of cordyceps inside of a restaurant cooler- but it was old and had evidence that it had been burnt, along with everything else inside the cooler. She looked for food, but really only found some half-broken scissors and a old towel she'd been able to take a part of.
Now, she stood in front of 'Beatty Museum'. Two large squat buildings, just barely connected with a bell tower between the two of them. Old tractors sat outside the building, rusted beyond belief and long ruined.
The glass doors of the building were broken and shattered, though some shutters could be seen. Ones that looked to be closed and locked. Looking around the building- this place seemed to be as secure a one as she could grab for the night. No wildlife would be able to get in. Any infected wouldn't be able to breach the fencing and shutters, and the building as a whole didn't look broken apart. Yeah, this was the place to stay. Assuming there was nothing inside, of course.
Her eyes trailed to the belltower. The bell hung up just barely two stories- most of the buildings in this town didn't dare go higher than a story and an attic. Near the front of the building was an old decoration of rock and rubble that gave one of the entrances the look and feel of going into a mine shaft.
Walking up, it didn't seem too difficult to grab ahold of the large ledges the decoration gave and boost herself up. Her hands gripped onto the rock and when she jumped to pull herself up, she felt an ache rupture inside her. It was as though her body took the form of the bell tower for a brief moment. A bell rang inside of her sternum- no, lower. It rang and clanged about in her stomach and she felt the needs she'd been ignoring start to call and signal for support.
Pushing through the pain and physical strain, she made her way to the hot black shingles of the roof. She eyed the next jump- this one would be a bit more of an actual jump and not simple rock climb. She found some ground to run, and kicked off fora few steps before jumping towards the ledge of the bell tower. That same ringing- the crying- the demand for sustenance called inside of her. Her elbows dug into the hard dry wood of the top of the bell tower. Her arms pushed into it easily and she could feel the soreness of bruises eager to form.
She pulled herself up, rolling onto her back and sighing. She'd made a bit more noise than she had wanted to- but nothing was clicking, yelling, or crying. Not that it meant this place was safe, but... Maybe she wouldn't have to waste any resources making it so.
This was probably the best view of the town she could get. She was taller than the small struggling trees at this height, and could see over every house. More burnt out buildings could be seen from here. More broken road in the direction of death valley. An old broken and fallen-apart billboard maybe a half mile out in that direction.
She wanted desperately to get some food, but steeled her resolve. She'd grab some when it was safe. When it was time to sleep.
With some amount of caution, she stood up and found the railing that sent her deeper into the museum. She clicked her light on and kept her bow at the ready.
The exit from the belltower went into a small hallway littered with a bit of debris. The door to her right was barred with an old crowbar wedged into the doorhandle, keeping it shut. She grimaced at the idea there *were* some infected hiding in her and was quickly making sure she had a fine escape route. The stairs that went from the 2nd floor of the belltower were sturdy and wouldn't crack out from under her. So, she made her way towards the other side of the hallway. The one that exited out into the second building. When she reached it, she looked through the window to find-
Well. The immediate surroundings were some pews, an Altar on the far side. The flooring looked cracked and discolored. An infection of red and yellow bile spread out from the center of the room, and made the linoleum floor crack and split apart.
In the middle, she saw some piles of ruined clothing and the glint of some glass wine bottles near them. It was easy to tell from here- the yellowed sickly look of a skeleton. Two bodies long dead. She turned back around, away from the building that was apparently a chapel and went to the door with a crowbar. She held up her light to see a museum hallway of sorts. A long stretch with large displays to either the left or right. There was no sign of growing cordyceps inside, and the look of the crowbar told her this had been here for a long time as well. She takes it out of its position and slowly opens the door.
Her flashlight illuminated the area in front of her, displaying the walkway in front of her that was surrounded on both sides of various displays. She could see one old laminated sign that still asked people to not touch anything. The mannequins that were set up in these displays were so simple and basic that she hadn't been spooked by any of them. With no spores, no movement, and no sound coming from the room, she began to walk in slowly, cautious to check every corner and keep her bow at the ready.
She passed by a display that seemed to be set up to mimic what an old home might look like, fit with four people set at the table and looking down at a plastic dinner in front of them. Another scene had a large machine with a giant wheel attached to it. From the looks of some 'XXX' bottles, she had the idea it might have been a distillery display? Yet another had someone dressed in old leathers sitting near a stick-hut in front of a pile of stones and red laminated paper to make it look like a fire.
The walkway turned to her left and she followed it. She made sure her steps didn't echo in the room, each movement had her moving from toe to hell to keep control. Though, the next hallway of displays ended with a door going to the other building. This museum was definitely nowhere near the one she had gone to with...
Her eyes furrowed and she looked across the room, and finally spotted it. What the others must have locked here long ago. At this point, it was a skeleton that lay crumpled on some old barbed wire. The area around it was dark and stained, and the skeleton's skull seemed to be cracked and bashed open. Were it an infected, she'd see something growing out of it or more cordyceps along the walls and floor. But, no.
Ellie turned around, ready to make camp in the other hallway without the old body. But as she turned, she saw metal bars and an old mannequin with a glint of metal in its hand. The paper near it was old enough it was difficult to make out most of the words, but she could see 'JAIL' in large letters.
The glint caught her eye again as her flashlight trailed over it. She stepped closer and was able to cross the small rope that separated the display from the walkway. She reached the mannequin and looked down in surprise. The handgun must have been a recreation. The metal looked too shiny, but its look was unmistakable. The receiver, the long barrel- It was a colt navy. One she'd seen used in one of the old westerns Joel had showed her. The Good, The Bad, The Ugly.
She reached down and took the weapon, more certain than ever of it being a fake as it was too light in her hands. Her calloused cracked thumb ran over the barrel, moving it with a 'scrape' rather than a click. She could only imagine what the real one would feel like. Sturdy, reliable, solid. Her hand started to shake, and she left the revolver on the table. Air felt trapped in her chest as she thought about handling his old revolver. Cleaning it, practicing with it on their trip to-
Before she could think longer, her body gave her a harsh reminder of it's need. Her stomach sent a pang through her body that rippled from it like an earthquake separated earth. She found herself at the table of the old dining room, shoving off the plates of fake food and setting her backpack down. She reached down into it to find some food. As she grabbed an old energy bar, her knuckles pushed the bullets she had picked up earlier further into her pack where they struck a glass bottle.
"Clack-clunk." Teeth shook loose from his mouth and fell onto the floor. Even over her screaming, over Abby's yelling, she could hear it clearly. Onto a spot that wasn't covered in his blood yet. His lips moved, bloodied spittle leaked onto his cheek, but no sound came out. She could see his deformed mouth, the pain he went through in trying to talk to her.
"It's ok, kiddo."
Ellie's breathing hadn't gotten better. She had fallen onto the ground with her back against the old sturdy dining table. Her hands shook as she held onto the energy bar in her hands, unable to open it as she felt his final moments again. As she desperately replayed those last words to her. That must be what he said. He'd said it to her so many times before, she knew it. She just wished she could remember him saying those words to her when he wasn't smeared in his own blood.
She fell asleep hours after her flashback, clutching the fake revolver in her hand. It wasn't ok. And it would never be, due to Abby. She just had to make it even. And she'd make sure that he didn't go unavenged. Just... 300 miles to go. Through Death Valley.
Its good she found a safe place to sleep that night. Her fits and noise from her nightmare surely would have attracted something.