Thought I'd try something a little longer. I have trouble coming to terms with Tess's death. Okay, I have a lot of trouble coming to terms with her death. So, I wanted to try my hand at a way that maybe she could have lived. It's a stretch, I know, but you do what ya gotta do.

I do not own these characters! I swear! If I did naughty things would be happening...all the time!

Prologue

"Ellie…wait here." Joel instructs her after clearing out the last of the soldiers patrolling the Capital Building. It's safe, no one's going to come abduct her. He knows this.

"All right." She makes no move to stop him, just leans up against the door and sharpens her hunting knife.

Something in him knows that going back is a bad idea but there's no stopping it. It only takes him minutes to make it back to the same perch where he saw her lifeless body what seems to be an eternity ago. Her thin frame is still lying there, though the blood around her has set darker and deeper into the floor. Wide hazel irises stare at him, sad and lost. It's horrifying.

Hadn't they been shut when he and Ellie ran by her body the first time?

A coughing sound comes from her body, startling him. Adrenaline pulsates through every fiber in her body. She's alive?

"J-Joel…" Her voice is so weak and small that he can barely hear it, but he does. Without a second thought he rushes down the stairs and to her side to pull her up against him. How could this even be happening? He keeps questioning it, it seems so wrong, but…how can he deny her?

The woman is covered nearly head to toe in blood having lost so much of it. Christ, the pain she must be going through…it kills him when she whimpers against him.

"Shh, shh, Tess…it's a'right now. I've gotcha."

Her eyes turn to his then, but they're not the ones he remembers. No. These are red, bloodshot, glassy things. Not Tess's.

"Why…" She coughs again. More blood spills. Joel's heart hammers something fierce when she grabs his shirt with a strength she never had. "Why did you come back? I told you to run."

Then he sees it, the red raw bite on her neck spreading over her skin at record speed. Fungus bursts through her once smooth skin, bleeding and oozing all over, but even so he can't make himself drop her. She gives him one last pained, human look before the infection turns her face into a lumpy, distorted mass. Rotten fingers still grasp his shirt with inhumanly strong grip.

There's no time to react – she bites him.

"Holy shit!" Joel wakes to Ellie shaking him. Sweat's covered his body, and she looks pretty damn worried. "Joel! You were screaming like you were being murdered."

A moment ticks by before he can calm his racing heart enough to answer. "It's ok, baby girl, I'm fine." When she gives him that 'pfft, right,' look he adds, "Just some bad dreams. S'all."

Ellie gives a little sigh. There's no use shaking him down for any more information. Instead she murmurs something sympathetic and busies herself with getting him some breakfast.

Joel's not alone in having trouble sleeping. It seems that the closer and closer they get to the fireflies, the more nightmares they've both been having. Thank god that they have each other. Waking up to another person who wants to hear about your hellish night's rest is definitely a blessing.

Having anyone to wake up to, period, is a blessing.

Joel is unconsciously fingering the collar of his shirt when Ellie returns with two cans of SPAM. The stuff's horrible, but they're close to their destination. Hopefully the Fireflies will have something better to offer them besides dried fruit and canned garbage.

Breakfast goes down in a hurry and before they know it, they're on their feet again. With any luck, the Fireflies will be well on their way to discovering their cure by sundown.