Ellie headed downhill toward Santa Barbara. After quietly knife-killing several infected, I fell into a brutal trap, getting impaled on a tree. When Rattlers arrived, Ellie turned the tables, extracted Abby's location at the resort camp, killed the captor, and tended to her severe wound.
It was one hell of a fight with the Shamblers, and I felt proud of the strategy that worked so well. Emerging from the villa, I looked down to see that Santa Barbara stretched out below.
Ellie remained focused on the radio constants, though I knew Abby was no longer there, as both she and Lev had been captured by the Rattlers.
Like Ellie noted, Abby had to be down there somewhere, so I began making my way down the hillside. Before descending, I checked the immediate area for lingering threats and saw nothing unusual.
I carefully searched for a safe path down to avoid falling to my death. Moving down the incline, I spotted several infected blocking the route.
I drew my silenced pistol and dropped the first one quietly. I then hid in the bushes to observe the second infected's patrol path, waiting for him to turn around so I could execute a stealth takedown without wasting precious arrows or ammo.
The infected almost spotted me as I closed the distance, but I grabbed him from behind and cut his throat with the knife.
Further down, I encountered another infected wandering the path. I studied her movement route, snuck up behind her, and eliminated her cleanly with the knife.
After squeezing through a tight gap between the rocks, Ellie fell directly into a snare trap. She hung upside down alongside several trapped clickers, sustaining a severe injury in the process.
While trying to cut the rope to free herself, she dropped her knife and fell, getting impaled on a sharp tree branch that opened up her belly.
A long time passed as Ellie hung there bleeding. She eventually saw people approaching, hoping it was Abby, but it turned out to be the Rattlers who had captured her.
They released the rope to drop Ellie to the ground before turning their attention to resetting the traps. During the process, a clicker managed to scratch one of the men. Ellie laughed aloud, taunting him by saying she thought he had shit his pants.
The man grabbed Ellie and tried to force her face into the clicker's mouth.
Ellie pulled the man toward the clicker instead, letting the infected bite him violently.
She quickly grabbed a gun, shot the second Rattler, and turned the weapon on the bitten man. Realizing he was doomed, the wounded Rattler noted that he had heard her mention Abby's name earlier.
He confirmed they had captured Abby months ago, accurately describing both her appearance and Lev. He offered to reveal her exact location if Ellie spared his life, stating that Abby was being kept in a holding cell at their resort camp further down the path.
Once the man confirmed the location, Ellie shot him dead. With the Rattlers eliminated, Ellie collapsed to the ground, severely injured and bleeding profusely from her stomach wound, needing to patch herself up before pushing on to the resort.
We'll check what happens next in another post.
Image Source: In game screenshots.
End of the post.
Peace.
