Hey, guys!

I'm going back and editing all of the mistakes and rewriting things that sound choppy!

Thank you all for sticking with me!

Enjoy!

Ellie's POV

I woke up and all I could breathe in was smoke. Next to me lie a monster. I thought I'd killed it, but that's when i saw it move. I knew this had to end now or it would all be over for me. I rolled over and noticed a shiny blade under the table booth not too far away from me. I began crawling towards it. My body ached uncontrollably. I could barely move. So close. It was right there. Just a little bit further.

I was stopped when I felt a boot drive into to my stomach. I felt nothing but fear and pain. I lied there like a hopeless mouse standing before a hungry cat.

"I knew you had heart. Y'know it's okay to give up. Ain't no shame in it," the monster said.

I had to keep going. C'mon Ellie, you can do this.

I crawled inch by inch desperately towards the machete. Just a tiny bit further.

"I guess not. Just not your style is it?"

I felt another boot drive into my stomach. So much pain.

Suddenly I felt the monster on top of me, pinning me to the ground with its claws.

"You can try beggin'."

I managed to squeeze out a couple words under its weight. "Fuck you."

The monster turned me onto my back a grabbed my throat.

It craved having power over me.

"You think you know me? Huh? Well, let me tell you somethin'. You have no idea what I'm capable of."

I reached for the machete just like I did the first time this happened. It wasn't there. Shit. Shit! SHIT! Where's the fucking machete?!

And that's when I saw the monster draw the blade and raise it above its head.

I screamed, "No! No! Please don't!"

I saw the blade come at my head, and then it all went black.

"Get away! Get away from me! No! Help me!"

I heard the door to my room break open and I felt someone shake me.

"Ellie? Ellie wake up! C'mon wake up!"

I woke up wildly, searching for an escape from the nightmare.

I felt someone grab my shoulders. I couldn't break free.

"Don't fucking touch me!"

"Sshh. Sshh."

"No-"

"It's okay. It's me. It's me. It's me. Look. Look. It's me."

I cried, "He tried to-"

"Oh, baby girl..." He held me close. "It's okay. It's okay."

I sobbed uncontrollably. "Joel..."

"It's okay now. You're safe."

I tried to settle down. "I'm sorry. I keep having the same nightmare."

"It's alright. I'm never going to let anything happen to you, Ellie. I promise."

I smiled at his words. Joel had always been there for me, no matter what.

His calm voice had always made me feel better. He hugged me once more. "Get dressed. Let's get going."

I nodded. When he left the room I got up slowly, still a little shaken from the nightmare. I went over to my dresser and pulled out my only pair of jeans. For my top, I decided to wear my warmest hoodie over my usual red shirt. Today was Joel and I's day to go hunting for the dam's food supply. It was a fairly breezy day.

When I had had finished putting my outfit on, I slipped on my old shoes and looked in the mirror.

"Y'know, for a 16-year old girl living in this shitty world, I don't look too bad."

Satisfied with myself, I headed towards Joel and I's usual rendezvous, just outside the dam's perimeters. When I got there, Joel welcomed me with a subtle smile. "You ready to go?"

"As ready as I'll ever be."

"Alright c'mon kiddo." We began hiking along the river. I loved the sound of the water. It always made me feel really calm. And living in times like this, it's those kinds of feelings that you treasure the most.

When we got to the woods, I stopped to admire the view. The smell of pine and birch trees filled the air. The birds sang happy songs and the squirrels continued with their daily nut collecting. It's as if they didn't notice that the world had changed at all. To them, life is as simple as this: if everyone does their part, then we all get along just fine. However, to us, life is always jeopardized. One minute, you could be walking along the road doing nothing wrong. The next minute, you could be running for your life from a pack of clickers. Those who can't accept this life are the ones who either die or turn. Only the people who understand how the real world works will survive.

Joel once said to me, "No matter what, you keep finding something to fight for." I didn't understand it at first, but now I realize that it was the best advice he'd ever given me. If you can't motivate yourself to do anything, what's the point of living?

After hiking for an hour we finally spotted a buck. Joel pulled out his bow, but I stopped him and whispered, "Wait, Joel. Let me get this one."

He debated it. "It's a pretty far shot. You sure you got it?"

I nodded slightly. He moved aside and I readied my bow. I took one deep breathe. Slowly and steadily, I pulled back the string and aimed at the buck's heart. I took one more breathe and then...

Bullseye. A perfect shot, thank you very much. I smiled, feeling proud of my bow skills.

Joel stared in disbelief. "Wow, you're a better shot with that thing than I'll ever be." I smiled. "Y'know, Ellie, you never cease to amaze me."

"Well I learned from the best," I teased. Joel chuckled.

I headed over to the buck to retrieve my arrow. Joel followed closely behind. Lucky for me, the arrow hadn't broken. I carefully removed it from the carcass and put it back in my bag. I stared down at my prize, still very satisfied with it. Then a thought crossed my mind.

"Uhh, Joel?"

"Yeah?"

"How are we supposed to carry all of our supply?"

He looked confused at first. Then it hit him. "Ah shit, we forgot to grab a horse."

"What should we do?"

He thought about it for a moment. "Well, I could carry the buck on my shoulders. We'll head back to the dam and grab a horse. Then we'll come back out here and load our kills on it. Sound good?"

"Well, how much time do we have before the sun sets?"

"I'd say about five or six hours."

"Is that enough time?"

"Should be."

"Alright lets go." We started to head back with Joel carrying the buck on his shoulders and I carrying both of our backpacks.

We walked for awhile without any issues. Both of us were silent, just enjoying the peace that surrounded us. It was kind of nice out here. It definitely beats living in a quarantine zone.

Looking around for a bit, I started to think about life before the infection. I always loved when Joel told me stories. Stories about the world before it took a turn for the worst. My favorite story that he's ever told me is the celebration of this thing called Christmas. According to Joel, it was based around spending time with loved ones and exchanging gifts. He also told me there was this guy named Santa Claus who would ride in a magical sleigh, pulled by flying reindeer, and deliver presents to every house in the whole world. When I first heard it, I thought is was complete bullshit. And boy was I relieved when I found out that it was. I mean, think about it. A big fat guy coming into your house in the middle of the night without you knowing? It seemed kind of creepy to me. Joel said the kids especially loved the idea of Santa Claus. I guess I wasn't one of those kids.

"Joel, can you tell me another story? Y'know, about when you were young?"

He chuckled. "I've told you almost all of them though. I don't know if I have any more."

"Aw come on. There's gotta be one more. Please, Joel? Tell me a funny one."

He was silent for a moment, trying to think of one he hadn't told. "Did I tell you the one about how I got Tommy's arm broken?"

"What?! No way! Tell me!"

"Well, when we were kids, we used to go out in the woods and climb trees. It was kind of our escape from the world. It was the one thing we would look forward to during the week." He laughed softly. "We could hardly pay attention in school because it was all we could think about."

"You got that excited to climb trees?" I couldn't help but laugh a little.

"Yeah." Joel seemed embarrassed.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to laugh." A few seconds passed. "So what happened? How'd his arm get broken?"

"Well, one day when we went out to the woods, we went a little further than usual. We found this really old tree that I knew wasn't safe to climb. But Tommy was a pretty reckless kid. So, I thought it'd be funny to dare him to climb as high as he could."

A smile crossed my face. "Oh man, I totally know where this is going."

He grinned a little. "When I told him to do it, he didn't think twice about it. He started climbing and I was surprised to see that he'd gotten up about three or four branches. But, a little farther up I heard a snap and down came Tommy. He looked like a rag doll, hitting every branch he'd climbed up before he fell."

I couldn't help but laugh. "Oh my gosh that was the best story I've ever heard! How badly did he get hurt?"

Joel started laughing too. "Well I got him back to the house and we immediately rushed him to the hospital. They said he'd broken his arm and gotten a minor concussion. He was out of school for a week."

"You were such a mean brother!"

"Well you gotta mess with the little brother once in awhile, right?"

"Did you guys argue a lot?"

"Once in awhile there would be some tension. But I mean, we got along just fine most of the time. There was really only one time we got into a big fight when we were young."

"What about?"

"It was just a stupid fight. It was about-" He stopped, as if he was ordered to.

"What? What is it?"

"Well, I mean, I don't know. It was stupid."

"What was it? I won't laugh I promise!"

He sighed. "Well, we both liked the same girl in school. We actually got into a fist fight about it."

I tried so hard not to laugh, but I couldn't help it. I started laughing uncontrollably. "Are you serious?! Oh my gosh! That's hilarious! You actually got into a fist fight about a girl?!"

Now Joel was extremely embarrassed. He chuckled a little. "I thought you said you wouldn't laugh?"

I pulled myself together. "You're right, I'm sorry."

"Y'know one day you might feel that way about someone, just like I did."

"Oh yeah right, I'll believe that when I see it."

"Whatever you say kiddo." We walked on a little more. We both had smiles on our faces from the stories that had just been told.

After walking for about an hour, we reached the dam that we called home.

Joel banged on the door and a soldier appeared on the wall with a rifle in his hand. The soldier immediately recognized us. He welcomed us with a slight smile on his face.

"Hey, guys. Back so soon?"

Joel responded to the soldier. "Hey, Tommy, we need a horse to help out with the baggage."

"Yeah sure thing. Here I'll let you guys in real quick."

"Thanks, Tommy." The door opened with a screech. We waited for Tommy to come down from the wall to get us a horse. Tommy had always been really nice to me, and I respected him because of that. One time he gave me this thing that could extract water from trees, and it worked like a charm. I kept it in my bag all the time because I knew it would come in handy someday.

When Tommy got down from the wall, we followed him to the horses. Joel set the buck down on a nearby table, and Tommy came over to examine it.

"I see you guys got a good sized buck." He looked over it very carefully and when he came across the fatal wound, he stared at it in amazement. "Geez Joel, that's a clean shot you made, straight through the heart."

Joel nudged me a little. "Ellie actually shot this one. It was from a pretty good distance too."

Tommy looked over at me, "You shot this buck Ellie?"

I was embarrassed at suddenly being put on the spot. "Yeah, I did."

"You're a pretty handy with a bow."

I blushed a little. "I think I just got lucky."

He chuckled a little. "Well however you did it, thanks for getting this buck. It's gonna help out our food supply quite a bit."

"Yeah sure thing."

While we were talking, one of the workers had brought out a horse for Joel and I. The horse was beautiful and I couldn't wait to ride it.

"How's this one," the worker said.

Joel replied with a slight smile, "That'll do just fine. Thanks a lot."

"Yeah sure thing." As the worker walked off, Tommy walked up to us.

"You guys all set?"

"I think so." Thank goodness Joel replied, I was too busy admiring the horse. I'd only ridden a horse a couple times, so it was pretty special when I got the chance to.

"Alright. I'll see you guys later. Take care Joel. See ya Ellie."

Joel patted his brother on the shoulder, "Thanks Tommy."

I mounted the horse first, very eager to get back out there. Joel climbed on after me. We took one last look at the dam as we went out the doors, and then we were off.

The rabbit lied there with an arrow through its body.

Joel gave me nudge on the shoulder. "Nice shot."

I smiled in return. "Thanks, Joel. So should we head back? Its gonna get dark soon."

"How much have we got?"

I went over to the horse. "Well, we have three bucks and five rabbits total."

"That should last awhile. Grab that rabbit you just killed and lets head back."

"Okay." I quickly ran over to the dead rabbit with the horse and I carefully removed the arrow from its limp body. Joel came over as I was tying the rabbit to the saddle. "Today has been a good day."

"Yeah it has." He didn't sound as proud as I was, but I knew inside he was satisfied with our work. After spending the past three years with Joel I could read him easier than I could read a book.

We headed back to the dam knowing Tommy would be relieved to see the amount of food we had acquired. I enjoyed hunting with Joel in the woods, but I also looked forward to sleeping in the next day. Our life was relatively easy. On a normal day we would both sleep in, grab some breakfast, do some work around the dam, and then we'd go to bed. Once in a while we'd have to take out a group of bandits attacking the dam, but it has never been anything we couldn't handle.

The infected have been pretty scarce too. The only time we would ever really see them is when we were out hunting. Other than that, they'd never come within ten miles of the dam. It's almost as if they knew it was too dangerous to attack. There's only been one incident involving a runner that got into the dam. One of Tommy's good friends, Earl, had gone out for his hunting shift. Apparently he got chased down by a few runners. He was able to take them out and return back home. But sadly, he took a bite on his arm with him. Two days after he returned, he went on a rampage through the dam. It was a disaster. Tommy almost got bit too. Being the man he is, he tried to talk some sense into Earl. But that man...that thing...wasn't Earl anymore. Tommy, nearly taking a bite himself, shot Earl with his revolver that he always kept in his pocket. It was a sad day for everyone. But, as Joel once said, "Things happen, and we move one." Y'know, Joel is a really tough guy, but he really does give a lot of good advice.

We were two minutes from reaching the door to the dam. I could see the gate's outline in the distance. Then I noticed a huge cloud of smoke rising above the perimeter walls.

"Hey, Joel, is Tommy having a bonfire or something?"

He gave me a bewildered look. Joel clearly had no idea what I was talking about.

I pointed to the dam only a short distance ahead of us. "Look."

Joel glanced over to where I was pointing. A look of horror crossed his face.

He put his arm in front of me, stopping me and the horse. "That's not a bonfire."

"What is it?"

"Oh shit! Ellie get down!" He barely had time to pull me to the ground, shielding me with his body until...

BOOM!

My ears rang from the explosion. "Fuck!" I looked up and saw enormous flames consuming the dam.

Joel immediately sprang up from the ground. "Oh shit! Ellie, move your ass we gotta help Tommy and the others!"

"Right behind you!" And with that, we sprinted as fast as we could towards the inferno.