I wrote this all in about the space of an hour. The idea just came to me all of a sudden, so I decided to get it all down. This is my very first fanfic, ever, but I tried to do my best. Please leave me a review if you liked it, or even if you didn't like it! I hope to keep this going, so let me know what you think! :)

Joel ran down the trail leading from the dam, and Ellie was having a hard time keeping up. It was turning to fall once again, and the air felt like cold knives going down her throat.

They were scavenging for some food for the group, and Ellie wanted to have a race. Joel knew full well that he could outrun her, old age or not, but he was going to let her win in the end. They passed the same old landmarks they had grown to recognize, but Joel still kept an eye out for infected or a stray hunter.

Joel slowed down, letting Ellie pass him. He faked jagged breaths, and suddenly stopped. Ellie, unfazed, turned to look back at him. "You win," Joel sputtered, bending over to rest his hands on his knees. She laughed, feeling as though she did beat him.

He pulled out his shotgun. They needed to be careful, there were bears in the woods. Ellie wandered off to his right, but close enough so that he could hear her footsteps. Joel spotted a car that was heavily rusted out, but he noticed that the door was open, and just last week it was firmly shut. He approached it, slowly, and looked inside. The seats had been dusted off, and a small can of smoked salmon lay on the backseat. He held it to his nose; it was fresh. He looked around the car, for any signs of humanity, but saw none.

"Ellie," he started, but turned around to hear her scream. She was pointing at a dead bear cub. Its head was separated from the body, cut apart with the rim of a tire. "Wait here," and ushered her behind some bushes. He followed the path Ellie had started, and Joel could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He saw nothing, and hit a dead end when he reached a sheer boulder. He walked back to where Ellie was, and she was nowhere to be seen.

"Ellie!" He yelled, frantically looking. She was always running off, and Joel was scared that one of these days she wasn't going to find a way out. He went back to the path where the car was, and continued forward, still calling out for Ellie.

He rounded the corner, and he saw a woman with her back to him. She was in front of Ellie, and had a knife in her hand. Joel grabbed her from behind, and held her in a chokehold. She flailed around, dropping her knife in the process.

"Stop it, dumbass, stop!" Ellie shouted, trying to pry his arms from her. He let her go, and the woman backed up to face him.

It was unmistakeable. It was the first thing he noticed. The woman was heavily pregnant. "Please don't hurt me," she said. "I'll give you whatever I have. Just let me go." She was significantly different than most travelers they'd seen. She looked extremely clean, from her hair to her face, all the way down to her shoes. Everything was a bit worn, but clean. She also had long, blonde hair. Nobody had long hair anymore. Wasn't worth the trouble. Her nails were even well kept, and Joel wondered what she was doing out here.

"Are you alone?" He asked. She nodded.

"Why the hell are you by yourself? Ain't you with some kinda group?"

"No, the group I was with left me when they found out I was pregnant. I'm just wandering around, looking for somewhere to go." She looked sincere, but Joel knew not to trust anybody nowadays.

"Well we've got-" Ellie stopped, seeing Joel's disapproving glare.

"Just let me go. I'll stay away from here. I don't mean any trouble, I've just been looking for a safe place, to have my baby. I didn't know anyone was living around here. Sorry." She bent down to pick up her knife, but couldn't because her belly was in the way. Joel picked it up for her.

"Look, miss. I'll go see with our group if its okay if you hang around for a little while. Just until you get back on your feet. You really ain't fit for wanderin' this area." Joel didn't know why he was offering her anything, let alone to stay with Tommy's group. But, there was something about her, he trusted her, and felt like he needed to help her.

The three walked back to town, Ellie helping the woman out with her stuff. She had a large backpack with her, stuffed full. Joel wondered where and how she managed to carry all of it around for so long. She moved with ease around the rocks and fallen branches, but she slowed him down quite a bit. When they reached the gate, Ellie and the woman stayed behind. He handed her the knife back.

...

"She's your problem, your responsibility. Don't come to me cause you ain't ready to handle this shit." Tommy wasn't understanding, but saw the woman as another person who could help around town. And another mouth to feed. But Joel had something in his eyes. He couldn't say no to his brother. Joel never asked for much, and when he did, it was important.

When Joel brought Ellie and the woman to town, Tommy was the first to see her. She was everything Joel had said. She wasn't much taller than Ellie. Wasn't all that much older, either. She was twenty-two at the most. Pregnancy was so infrequent now, and most of the women who were pregnant were well over thirty. The responsibility of having a child was way too much for someone young to handle. Why was she foolin' around like that? Didn't she have sense enough to know what kind of hell she was putting herself through?

"Hey, I'm Jemma." She held out her hand to shake, but Tommy just stared. He was somewhat disgusted at the whole scenario. He really didn't want to have to deal with her. The youngest child in town was five, and that was hard enough to deal with. The thought of having a baby screaming into the night made his head swim. "Okay," she muttered, and continued on with Joel and Ellie.

It didn't matter if he told Joel that Jemma was his responsibility. Tommy knew in one way or another he'd be dealing with that brat first hand.

...

Jemma wasn't expecting much of the house, but when she walked inside, she was disappointed. The walls and furniture were dirty, and it looked cramped and unorganized. She felt a lump in her throat as she walked further and further through the house.

"We don't hang around here much," Joel explained, trying to straighten things as they went along. He brought her to the spare room, which, at the moment, had been occupied by spare clothing and books, thrown into senseless piles.

"This is great," she said, and walked into the room. "Sure beats sleeping in cars." She turned to Ellie. "Want to help me unpack?"

Joel walked out of the room to meet up with Tommy and talk about plans for the upcoming week.

Jemma pushed the clothes onto one side of the room. There wasn't a bed or dresser in the room, but she'd figure that out later. A window faced south, and the view wasn't blocked by houses or trees, and she could see right to the river and hills. She was happy to have some stability here, but she didn't want to rely on them for help.

Ellie unzipped the bag she had been carrying. It looked like it was stuffed with clothes. She pulled most of it out at once, and noticed that the jackets and pants had smaller items in their pockets. Things like paperback books and pencils were in them, and Ellie was surprised at how much she had managed to cram inside of them. In the bottom of the bag were three measly food cans.

"If you guys hadn't shown up, I'd probably have starved." Jemma laughed. "I would have eaten that bear...maybe." She took of the backpack she was carrying on her shoulders, and pulled out a few smaller bags. "Hey, do you know what this is, Ellie?" She held up a small metal looking thing, with a circle on the front. "It plays music. Apparently it was some big thing back in the day. My dad gave it to me a few years ago. It has a ton of music on it. Want to listen?"

"Whoa, let me see." Ellie took it from her and started pressing on the circle. Its screen lit up with an apple. "How does this even work?"

"You have to have speakers or headphones to listen." She dug around in her bag and pulled out a white cable and square box looking thing. "This is a solar charging panel. I'm surprised I haven't broken it yet, but I think it needs to be charged. We can listen to it later."

Jemma had all kinds of stuff in her bag. She had so many books and other things from before the outbreak. Ellie thought she was so cool, and wanted to hear about everything she had.

"This is called lipstick. You know what that is? Of course you do. I found it at a mall, underneath a cabinet. I actually have a few of these, but this one is my favorite." Jemma twisted it up to reveal what looked like pink wax. Ellie couldn't imagine how that was supposed to make women look good, but, whatever, it was still cool to see it. Jemma had a lot of makeup, even though she wasn't wearing it, but she still kept it for the hell of it. Ellie wished she had her own collection of stuff like that, but Joel would never let her carry that around.

"Do you want to read these?" Jemma pushed the books to Ellie. "I've read them a few times each. I need a change." She laughed. "And I already know what's going to happen, which kind of ruins the book."

"Hell yes!" Ellie grabbed the books and set them by the door. Jemma was sitting on the floor, cross legged. Ellie wondered why Joel would offer her a place to stay at town. He wasn't like that, and he certainly didn't trust anyone he didn't know for a long time.

"Is the father dead?" Ellie pointed to her stomach. It was huge in comparison to the rest of her body. Jemma wasn't that thin, but she was pretty short and it seemed so out of place.

"Um, I think so."

"You don't know?"

"No, but even if he is alive, I wouldn't want to see him."

Ellie was somewhat taken back. "Why?"

"You know, we can talk about this another day. Lets go find me something to sleep on."

They settled on taking the couch cushions and making a half assed bed. Ellie offered Jemma her bed, but she quickly refused, saying that she had been sleeping on worse.

...

"Tonight we're all eating together. Every week, the town gets together and eats dinner and that kind of stuff," Ellie explained. "Like, a meeting, but it's so boring so I never pay attention to that." They were walking down the street to meet up with Joel.

Jemma could feel the townspeople watching her. In a way, this was a walk of shame. She could feel the judgement rolling in. She tried her best, though. When Ellie was in the bathroom, she put on her favorite maternity dress, an off white one with lace around the collar and sleeves. She'd been waiting to wear it for ages, because it wasn't practical when she was walking through towns and over rocks. She put on her 'Sunday shoes,' just some flats that were a nude color and decorated with one small bow in the corner. Jemma brushed her hair and teeth, and even applied a very small amount of lipstick.

"Holy shit, you look like you're from thirty years ago," Ellie said when she saw Jemma. They came to a large building, a common area of sorts. Several men were in the front room, Tommy and Joel among them.

When they finally got to Joel, he didn't even bother to look at them. He was going over a map with Tommy, talking about wind patterns and currents. Tommy saw Jemma, and he couldn't stop looking. She was like an image of the past. There was something about her face and maybe the way she dressed, that, just seemed, different. Like she wasn't caught up in the world and the horrible things that were going on. She looked carefree, even happy.

"Well, uh, we'll leave you guys to your business," Ellie said, and backed out of the room.

They walked over to the kitchen. Some of the women of the town were starting to prepare for the dinner tonight. They brought out flour and spices, and there were a few cuts of meat on a table.

"What's for dinner?" Jemma asked.

"Beef and potatoes," a tall woman responded. She had stringy red hair, and it was cut around her jawline. Her skin was mottled, and she seemed unhappy. Her bones jutted out at all the wrong places.

"That's all?"

"Yes, beef and boiled potatoes. Is that enough for you, princess?" The more Jemma looked, the more unattractive the woman looked. She had a pig nose and cloudy eyes. Jemma noticed a wedding ring on her finger. Poor guy, she thought.

Ellie walked out of the kitchen, leaving Jemma behind. She crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against the wall. "Do you mind if I help out?"

The redhead pointed over to a pile of potatoes. "The peeler is in the third drawer down to the left of the stove."

Jemma was happy to have her hands busy. She worked fast, and it left her time to think. She finished the pile in fifteen minutes. There was a giant stock pot on the stove, bigger than she'd ever seen. She put the potatoes in, and filled it with water, and waited for the boil.

The women who worked in the kitchen were all pretty haggard. Very skinny and angry looking. Jemma thought they had to cook really well or else no man would want to be with them. She snorted, trying to suppress her laughter.

Her potatoes finished some time later, but she couldn't get the pot off the stove. The redhead pushed her aside and picked it up with one swift movement. She poured the water out into the sink, and put the pot on the ground. "Now it's on your level," she sneered.

Jemma looked in the fridge for something. She found some milk and butter, and decided to make mashed potatoes. All the other women had left the room, the meat slowly warming in the oven. She mixed and mixed until she had a creamy consistency, and, by then, the rest of the dinner was finished.

A gray haired woman helped Jemma spoon the potatoes into several bowls. "These smell divine," she whispered, and Jemma saw she had a nice depth to her eyes. So deep, and when she looked, she felt that the woman was looking back at her. The kind of eyes wise people have.

"Thanks," she said.