Author's Note: As it says on the label. First ever fanfic, so go easy please. Thanks for reading!
Disclaimer: All characters are Naughty Dog's property.
"Alright, let's get outta here."
Joel and Ellie climbed up the stairs leading out of the subway station. The old man was a million miles from where he wanted to be. His partner was dead, his client had gone, and now he was saddled alone with the cargo with no clue where to go. Tess' words rang in his ears like a bad joke.
Just cargo…with no delivery address, he thought. This was her crusade from the get go. Where do I go with this now? He climbed out of the subway exit and sat down on a stack of tyres to catch his breath, removing his mask along the way. He couldn't breathe a minute longer in that thing even if he was back in that tunnel - where he saw that girl breathe in enough spores to take a grown man down, and nothing. I guess she really wasn't lying.
"Hey, look…"
Ellie began as she followed Joel out of the subway exit, looking down with her hands on her hips, "um…about Tess, I don't even know what to -"
Oh, we are so not doing this right now, thought Joel
"Here's how this thing's gonna play out," he interrupted forcefully. "You don't bring up Tess - ever."Continuing after a brief pause in which Ellie's look changed quickly from sympathetic to what's-your-problem-asshole, "Matter of fact, we can just keep our histories to ourselves".
Ellie paced back and forth. The situation was rather resembling her (many) visits to Corporal Dickhead's office back in the day. Back last month actually, she recalled, just before that day. She rubbed her nose almost by reflex.
"…do what I say when I say it. We clear?" Joel's barrage was ceasing, and Ellie rolled her eyes with relief.
"Sure", she replied looking down.
"Repeat it", Joel said sternly.
It was an old trick of his to make sure people were listening; learned from back in the QZ with Tess, back in the years after the outbreak with Tommy, back before the outbreak with-
"What you say, goes", Ellie sighed. She wasn't about to give him the satisfaction.
Well that's the basic concept, Joel thought, slightly irritated at her concise summary. "Good," He was tired and decided to let it slide, but he let his irritation show before he stood up.
"Now there's a town a few miles north of here," he pointed in the direction, "There's a fella there that owes me some favours. Good chance he could get us a car."
He was stretching the truth a little, but it was all he could think of at the moment. After all, Bill was a mechanic before the outbreak and all he knew was that the Fireflies were out west somewhere, and Tommy's town was way out west in Wyoming. Getting a car made sense. No, the main flaw was that he was going to have to rely on the generosity of Bill...but he'd cross that bridge when he got there. He looked back at Ellie, who was looking down at her hands silently.
"Okay," she said, looking up and nodding slightly.
"Let's get a move on."
The two were mostly silent as they began the walk to Bill's town, passing by the remnants of Boston's outskirts. Ellie was soaking in the sights – the Massachusetts scenery could've been on a different planet from the big city QZ she was used to, especially in the day.
"Man…"
"What?" asked Joel.
Ellie turned to him and shrugged, "It's so different out here. No walls, no fences, no checkpoints. Wonder if Boston was like this before it all."
"Hmph," Joel couldn't disagree though. All things considered the area was pretty untouched, with most of the population being evacuated to the QZs before the infection – and the panic and looting that came with it - could hit. It wasn't spared from the infected as continually attested to by Bill, and Joel was thankful that they hadn't run into any thus far as they reached a diner at a crossroads.
Right now though he was wishing Bill had told him more about his town, and specifically how to get there. He knew the name, Lincoln, and vaguely recalled Bill mentioning living near a water tower, but that was it.
A rather loud growl came from Ellie's direction. Joel glanced sideways and saw the girl turning quite red, with her hand on her belly.
"Let's see if we can scrounge up some food over there," he said with a hint of a smile, motioning to the diner. They had been up all night and day and could use the meal break.
"Right", said Ellie with some relief. While Joel was "killing time" back in the north tunnel, she hadn't exactly figured out what to do except stare out the window and listen to Joel mumble in his sleep. Adrenaline kept her up till now but she was really starting to feel sleep-deprived, and her hunger wasn't helping.
A diner meant good things and bad things in Joel's book. Good in that there were likely to be some supplies in there…and bad in that there were equally likely to be some infected to go along. "Hold up while I check inside," he instructed.
"Roger dodger…"
Like the rest of the area the diner was relatively unscathed. Moving into the kitchen, he found a few cans of beans in a cabinet. Not much supplies, but no infected either so it'll do, he thought, before heading back out.
"Alright, it's clear. Come on in."
"Look what I found over there", Ellie said, looking quite pleased with herself. She pointed to a newsstand further down the road and handed over a road map.
"Whatever happened to holding up?" Joel asked with a hint of annoyance.
"Just thought it'd be useful," said Ellie with a smirk as she stepped into the diner. She'd noticed Joel's navigational troubles earlier.
Smart girl, he thought, his annoyance unabated as they moved to sit at a booth.
Ellie had nodded off midway through her meal and Joel decided to let her sleep for a while as thanks for the map. And she doesn't need to see me actually use this, he thought as he laid it out on the table.
As it were, Lincoln wasn't much further from the crossroads, and Joel noted a shortcut they could take through the woods to the water tower, which meant they could reach there before nightfall. If one thing was certain, it was that he did not want to be knocking on Bill's door at night.
His mind went back to the first time he met Bill, shortly after he became partners with Tess. She'd wisely told him to leave the talking to her, but Joel wished she'd done so before he was staring down the barrel of Bill's shotgun. He'd made the small mistake of thinking Bill's prices were negotiable and the decidedly bigger one of trying to hardball him…gotta remember to tell the kid to keep her mouth shut when we get to Bill's, he thought.
"You've got to get this girl to Tommy's. He used to run with this crew, he'll know where to go." Joel rubbed his eyes tiredly as he remembered the events at the Capitol.
He noted that she didn't tell him to return her to Marlene. That's just Tess though, he thought, it'd be suicide to try to sneak back through Boston just to get the girl back to Marlene…if she's even still alive.
Joel lingered a little on that last bit. Tess must've seen what was left of the Fireflies in Boston when she went to check on the weapons, meaning she was sure that they'd at least last till she and Joel could collect the weapons after dropping Ellie off at the Capitol –
"Oh…"
His thoughts were interrupted as Ellie blinked awake sleepily, stretching her arms over her head. "You're welcome," she yawned as she saw the map laid out on the table.
"Just finish up that food so we can get moving." Joel wasn't about to give her the satisfaction.
Ellie followed a step behind Joel as they left the crossroads. She was careful not to ask Joel anything, but her mind was on Tess as they walked.
Tess had been kind enough to her in their short time together - she was why Joel didn't just abandon Ellie after their run-in with the military just outside the wall, and was far more willing than Joel to trust her story.
She's also why he's not just abandoned me now either, she thought, thinking of Tess' last words at the Capitol.
She looked at Joel, who was now walking like a person who was sure of where to go, having gotten a map to refer to, and yet not said a word of thanks. Otherwise known as a dick, she thought.
That aside, she wondered why he was doing this much now just based on Tess' say so, especially given his reluctance to even get her to the Capitol to begin with. How much was there between those two? Her thoughts drifted back to that day.
"This is something you've wanted for…y'know, forever. So, who am I to stop you?" Ellie asked, despite wanting to do exactly that.
"The one person that can."
"What?"
Joel's gruff voice snapped Ellie out of her reverie. She was staring at him the whole while, and he'd noticed.
"Nothing," she said, a little smile forming. "Just thought of an old friend."
A sign saying "Entering Lincoln" came into view and just past it, the Lincoln water tower.
"Now there we go," Joel pointed, "Yeah, it'll be faster to go through here".