TWD - Zomboid - Chapter 298: Bargaining (Patreon)

Luke watched the reunion for a while before quietly clearing his throat.

Joel’s expression immediately tightened, and he instinctively pulled Ellie behind him.

“She’s still coming back to the Commonwealth with me,” Luke said bluntly.

“No.”

Joel’s voice was firm. “Ellie stays here. She’s not going anywhere.”

“Oh, really? Do I need to put a piece of metal in your skull before you understand that you don’t get to call the shots here?” Luke raised an eyebrow.

“If you two weren’t Joel and Ellie, do you think I’d have given you this much special treatment?”

Luke continued, “At least in the Commonwealth, she can go to school, and the community will regularly check in on her. She’ll be far safer there than she would be following you around. Are you planning to keep making this girl risk her life every day?”

“Besides, our lab may be able to uncover the secret to saving humanity through Ellie.”

“Are you really going to destroy that possibility with your own hands?”

Joel’s expression changed.

“That doctor at Firefly Hospital was fairly capable. Too bad you killed him. Do you understand what the consequences of that might be?”

Joel shook his head hard.

He absolutely refused to let Ellie go back into a laboratory.

To put it bluntly, if the Commonwealth had no lab, or if they had no intention of studying Ellie, Joel would have done everything in his power to get her inside the Commonwealth, even if he himself had to stay outside.

As long as she could live a safe, peaceful life, that was enough.

But not now.

He could never allow Ellie to go through the same thing again.

Last time, he had managed to save her.

This time, he probably wouldn’t be able to.

The Commonwealth was simply too powerful.

Unfortunately, the outpost was currently under the shadow of an approaching walker horde. It looked like the place might not last even a minute once the horde reached it.

And at a time like this, there was nowhere to run.

Luke stood there, looking at the stubborn man before him, then slowly shook his head.

“Joel, Joel. It’s not up to you anymore. How about we let the girl make her own decision?” Luke grinned.

Joel froze.

He turned toward Ellie, only to see her meet his gaze and shake her head.

Joel’s heart sank.

His precious daughter had been stolen away after all.

“Joel.”

Ellie spoke softly. “They’re not bad people. You should see that lab for yourself. They really might be humanity’s last hope. We can’t keep running forever. If we keep doing this, where else can we even go?”

“This is a world for the dead. I want you to live safely behind the walls!”

Joel’s pupils contracted.

He grabbed Ellie by the shoulders, his voice trembling.

“No!”

“Ellie, do you even know what the price could be?”

“I do!”

Ellie looked at him with an unusual calmness.

“Even if the price is my life, I’m willing to pay it.”

“Maybe this is what I’m meant to do.”

“Besides, they already told me they won’t kill me.”

“I don’t believe them!” Joel practically roared. “I refuse to believe them! They’ve fooled you. You’re still a kid. You can’t just believe everything they tell you. I’ve already lost enough!”

Ellie quietly watched Joel lose control.

She took a deep breath, then finally asked the question that had been weighing on her for so long.

“Joel... what happened at Firefly Hospital. It was all true, wasn’t it?”

Joel said nothing.

“Joel!” Ellie’s eyes turned red. “Please stop lying to me, okay?”

Joel closed his eyes.

“...It’s true. Making that vaccine would have killed you.”

“At the Firefly hospital, they were going to dissect your brain.”

“So I stopped them.”

Disbelief filled Ellie’s face.

She had suspected it for a long time, but hearing Joel admit it himself still hit her harder than she could bear.

So it really was true.

The Fireflies had planned to trade her life for a vaccine.

And to save her, Joel had slaughtered everyone in the hospital.

“I won’t let anything happen to you!” Joel suddenly pulled Ellie into his arms, his voice choking up. “I already lost one daughter. I can’t lose you too.”

“I won’t!”

But Ellie abruptly shoved him away.

She stared at the man whose hands were stained with blood, pain and confusion filling her eyes.

Anyone else had the right to condemn Joel.

She was the one person who couldn’t.

Ellie didn’t know how she was supposed to deal with it.

Dozens, perhaps even a hundred people had died.

She needed time to process everything.

“I’m sorry...” Ellie’s voice trembled. “I... I need to be alone for a while.”

With that, she abruptly turned and walked away without looking back.

“Ellie!”

Joel immediately moved to follow her.

But a hand firmly blocked his path.

It was Luke.

Joel glared at him.

“You... you’re the leader of the Ark, aren’t you? I recognize your voice. What’s your connection to the Fireflies? What did they give you to make you take Ellie away from me?”

“The Fireflies aren’t worth shit!”

Luke spat on the ground.

“I’m making an investment. Every person you saw, including the people under my command, is someone I invested in little by little. Soon enough, I’ll get my return. Ellie is no different.”

“She isn’t just immune. She’s also a good fighter. I need her working for me. That’s it.”

“No deal. No conspiracy. Do you understand?”

“Why should I trust you?”

Joel’s voice was furious.

“The Firefly doctor told me himself that making a vaccine from Ellie’s immunity would require her to die!”

“So why the hell should I hand Ellie over to you?”

“Did I ask for your opinion?” Luke remained completely unfazed.

“I gave that girl a chance to survive, and I gave you one too!”

He looked down at Joel.

“You traveled thousands of miles with nothing but hope and came all the way to the Ark. Yet one after another, you people start bargaining with me, causing trouble, and picking fights!”

“The fact that I haven’t stuck your head on a wooden stake already is more than enough mercy.”

Luke’s tone suddenly turned cold.

“Joel, you have no choice but to trust me.”

He raised a hand and pointed toward the battlefield beneath the watchtower, where the dark mass of the walker horde was drawing closer.

“Pick up your weapon and get your ass to the very front. Once you learn to accept reality and stop fighting it, then maybe you’ll get a chance to repair your relationship with that girl.”

“If you can’t...”

Luke gave him a cold smile.

“Then the two of you can forget about ever seeing each other again.”

“You!”

Joel completely lost his temper.

He swung at Luke without thinking.

“Smack!”

Luke didn’t even move.

He merely raised one hand at an almost leisurely pace, opened his fingers, and caught Joel’s fist in his palm.

It didn’t budge an inch.

Joel’s pupils contracted.

He had put everything he had into that punch, yet it felt as though he had struck a pile of cotton.

Before Joel could react, Luke lifted his leg and kicked him squarely in the chest.

A tremendous force slammed into Joel.

His entire body was sent flying backward like a kite with its string cut before crashing heavily onto the ground.

The older man clutched his chest and remained there for a long time, unable to get back to his feet.