For many nights I've cried, hoping Joel would get better and we could get to the hospital. I managed to stitch him up with a kit I found when I searched a nearby house. It was hard to deal with all of it, the death, the pain, and the the constant ghosts, but it's worth it to save him.
I went hunting in the woods and got a hare, but the real prize was the deer, oh boy it was big. It took two shots but it somehow disappeared. I tracked it to some abandoned camp just lying there in the snow, it was weird. Then two men came from beyond a tree, they looked sketchy so I threatened to shoot them with my bow. They introduced themselves as David and James and told me they came from a camp of women and children who were hungry, I did the same to throw them off. I then asked if they had any antibiotics, David said they did. So I told them that James would get the medicine while I waited with David when he recalled my previous threat. I asked for his rifle and he obliged surprisingly easy.
We migrated inside when he suggested to go in. He asked me questions and I tried to deflect them because I still didn't trust him. Then came the infected... we fought a short battle with them and moved deeper into the unknown building which housed even more infected. A longer battle ensued and we went back to the place of the last fight, still waiting for the antibiotics. He told me he sent men out and they had been slaughtered by a crazy man and a little girl, I then realized shortly who he was referring to and defensively aimed his gun at him. He told me it wasn't my fault and that I'm "just a kid". He told his buddy to put his gun down and let me go. Being done with this bullshit I glady went out of there quickly and rode Callus back to the house where I kept Joel safe. I told him everything was gonna be okay and lifted up his shirt to reveal his stitches, it makes me sad to think this could have been avoided if I was there to look after him. I gave him the penicillin and rested beside him for the remainder of the night.
I woke up in the morning to the voices of men. Fucking. David. Realizing I was followed I did the only thing I could to keep them away from Joel. I directed them away from the house on Callus. One of the men jumped on Callus startling him and gaining the attention of the others. He quickly met his demise when I stabbed him in the neck with my switchblade. I tried to escape but that resulted in Callus's death and me falling down a hill. Killing each of the men off at the cabins, I was rendered unconscious by David in the end. Waking up in a cell I was greeted with the sight of James cutting a human arm clean off. Great, they're cannibals. I thought, hoping I wouldn't suffer the same fate. David came in with a plate of meat and beans, I doubted the meat was animal, but human. David promised me it was deer and I quickly ate the food and drank the water and pushed the tray at him while calling him a "fucking animal". He brought up that me and Joel killed plenty of his men which I told him they didn't give us a choice in the matter. He then tells me that I "have heart", I'm "loyal", and "special" what a fucking creep. I break his finger and attempt to steal the cell keys but fail when he slams me into the bars, making me fall to the ground and causing my nose bleed.
They came to get me from the cell, we struggled and I ended up biting David and infuriating him. I get hit in the gut and dragged onto a table where David almost cleaves me out of rage but I quickly reveal I'm infected and that he is too. I yell at them to roll up my sleeve to check it, they obey. James who's outraged and concerned about the bite argues with David over if the bite is real or not, I take the opportunity to take him out with the cleaver David left sitting on the table. I quickly jump off the table where David misses me with his gun. I grab a blade and retreat outside.
"This is my town..." those words haunted me and followed me. I wished Joel was here to make everything better, I can't even tell what's right anymore. David's men weren't that hard to take down, without my backpack it just made things more difficult.
I made it inside a restaurant, little did I know this would be my last stand against David here. I scavenged what I could and made my way to the door. David stopped me and pushed me against a table, then to the floor. I ran behind a booth out of his sight like I would the rest of our encounter. I stabbed him once and got him riled up enough to use his machete against me instead. I stabbed him again. "Run little rabit... run." The last stab is what got him crashing to the ground along with me as well.
Next thing I knew I woke up on the ground. I saw his machete underneath a nearby booth and went towards it, I was in pretty bad condition since I had to crawl. The asshole kicked me when I was weak and I crawled a bit further before he did it again. "You can try beggin'." He then began choking me since he had no interest in keeping me alive anymore. I had to act fast or I was dead so I quickly reached and grabbed the machete to slash his arm. His screams of agony were not pitiful and neither was he, all I cared about was making him pay. I actually... enjoyed killing him. Am I crazy? "Ellie!" I didn't realize who it was until seconds later. Joel? He's okay? "He tried to..." I remember the sorrow in my voice. "Oh baby girl..." That was the first time he called me something like that before. Joel told me everything was gonna be alright and that we needed to get out of there. I nodded and he helped me up. I hope I can forget all of this someday, because it would make things a hell lot easier to live with.