Chapter 1:

The summer sun beat down on Joel and Ellie as they sat near the remains of one of Jackson's walls. Neither spoke; instead, they listened to the birds as they chirped in the surrounding trees, the branches creaking as they swayed in the warm summer breeze, the bushes rustling and small animals scurrying through the grass and foliage. They watched the small wisps of clouds as they floated by overhead. Joel looked over to the right, and he could faintly see the hill Ellie and he had stood. The words from their conversation still rang loudly in his ears.

Swear to me that everything you said about the fireflies is true. Joel didn't know why her request had shocked him so bad. He had told her the biggest bullshit lie, hadn't completely thought what he was going to say through before he had opened his big mouth.

Ellie's Words, her voice pleading for him to swear to her he hadn't lied, had almost shocked the truth out of him. He had almost opened up and told her of the atrocities he had committed in Saint Mary's Hospital. But then he had relized what he'd been about to say and stopped himself.

I swear. he'd said it in a firm, solid voice. One that did not show any hint of a lie. But he had taken too long to answe; he'd hesitated, and when he looked into her eyes, he knew that she saw right through all of the crap he had fed her. She knew that he had been untruthful, and Joel had felt a kind of barrier crop up between them. He'd felt it when she spoke.

Okay. What had she meant by that though? Was she willing to play along with his lies and stay with him, or was she saying something else? Joel didn't know; her answer had been so vague.

Joel was yanked from his thoughts by the sound of approaching feet. He swiveled his head and saw Tommy, followed closely by Maria, making his way over. Both had packs slung over their shoulders; a similar look of defeat in their eyes.

"We can't stay here. The place is going to be swarming with infected soon." Maria said. Joel and Ellie nodded their heads and stood. Joel adjusted the strap on his pack and looked to Ellie.

"You okay?" She gave him a small nod. Joel turned his attention back to Tommy and Maria.

"Let's get movin'."

"You gonna' tell us exactly what happened?" Joel's voice held no small amount of annoyance, and the look of aggravation was easily seen in the light cast by the fire.

They had walked for the entire day, attempting to put as much ground between the shattered remains of Jackson, and themselves. The four of them had covered a good amount of ground, Joel assumed they'd walked close to eight miles, and not a word of what had happened to Jackson had been uttered. Even when Joel and Ellie had found Tommy and Maria that morning outside of the city's walls, Joel had been unable to get Tommy to speak of what had happened.

But now that they were a good distance from Jackson, in a small, secluded clearing with a fire providing them light, Joel felt it was time for Tommy to talk.

For several moments, Tommy was silent. He stared into the fire and seemed to think for quite awhile. He drummed his fingers on his knee and thought. Tommy was quiet for quite awhile, and Joel had opened his mouth to repeat his question by the time he spoke.

"Bandits," Tommy swallowed and shook his head. "They came outta' nowhere. One minute I was sittin' with Maria, eatin' breakfast, and the next I was outside shooting at bandits and tryin' to avoid getting my head blown off." He sighed.

"I still ain't sure how they got through the wall like that. Guess they had explosives on 'em but, the military's the only ones who still have that kind of firepower as far as I know." Joel nodded in silent agreement. For awhile no more words were exchanged. Not until a thought surfaced in Joel's head.

"How many people do ya' think got out?" Tommy glanced at Maria and shrugged his shoulders; Maria spoke for him.

"We don't have a clue. Everybody scattered, and by the time we'd finally chased the bandits off, the place had been deserted." Joel slowly digested this. It had to have been a pretty big attack to get an entire community on the run like that.

Trying to take his thoughts off of that, Joel glanced at Ellie, sitting next to him. Her knees pulled up to her chest with her chin resting on them. She was staring into their small fire as if it were the most interesting thing she had ever seen. Joel let out a small sigh, and stood, stretching.

"You should get some sleep, he said, moving off from the fire. "I'll take first watch." The tone in his voice left no room for arguments, and the others complied. Joel walked to the edge of the clearing and sat with his back against a tree. He pulled his pistol from the back waistband of his jeans and held it loosely in his fist. He looked up at the starry sky, trying to outline constellations with his eyes.

When he was unable to find more than the big and Little Dipper, Joel brought his attention back to their clearing. His eyes wandered to Tommy, then Maria, and finally Ellie. Joel felt a small pang of guilt; the girl hadn't been the same since Salt Lake; Joel knew it was because of him. If he hadn't lied, to her, maybe she wouldn't be this way. Or maybe she would; he knew how much saving the world had meant to her, if he told her that he had singlehandedly taken the chance to possibly help make a cure away from her, Joel knew that she might never forgive him.

He shook his head and brought his focus to the area around them. He listened to the woods, watching that might pose a threat to him or his babygirl.

AN: Well, that's the first chapter, I guess. More will (hopefully) be on the way soon. If you're looking for more good fanfics, you should go check out my husband's (Exangellion's) trilogy. I think I've rambled enough. Buh-bye!