OOC; This is a one shot. If I get enough encouragement, I'll probably develop this story more. For right now, I just had this urge. Enjoy!
Guard duty sucks.
Ever since Joel and Ellie rejoined Tommy's small civilization, they've been working their asses off to earn their stay. Who knew there'd be uproar to Tommy's older brother getting a place to stay in their village? No matter what Tommy had to say about the matter, the others suspected him of preference. Out of the late nights of hunting for food, latrine cleaning, and kitchen duty; guard duty was his most loathed task. At least he had his little side-kick to keep him company through all of this.
"You still have that joke book of yours, kiddo?"
Ellie sat beside him, her rifle lying across her lap as her emerald eyes scanned the horizon.
Joel nudged her and chuckled, "Hey, Earth to Ellie. Lay them jokes on me."
The fifteen year-old blink twice before she tore her eyes away from the setting sun and smiled at Joel.
"I thought you hated that book."
"Naw. Only because you'd pull that damn thing out at the most awkward-a-times. Otherwise, didn't do no harm," Joel goated through a smile.
Ellie grinned as she placed the rifle between her legs and grabbed for the book from her sweatshirt pocket.
"Ahem. Why does a chicken coop have only two doors?"
"Uh, ya got me."
"If it had four, it would be a chicken sedan."
She chortled promptly after, which she always did. Joel never laughed at them, but they put a smile on his face.
It didn't last long, unfortunately. There was a rustle before a starved and tattered body stumbled from the thicket and approached the door. Ellie jumped to a start and went for her rifle, but Joel halted her fire and burned his eyes into the figure.
Without any prior exposure to infected, one would assume that that was exactly what stood before Ellie and Joel. However, upon closer inspection, Joel could tell by the mannerisms and lack of fungi upon her being that she was clean for the most part. Suddenly, she stopped shuffling toward the gate and raised her weary head partially to meet Joel's steel eyes.
She then opened her mouth to whisper…
"Please! Please, don't shoot! You can have her, just don't kill us! She's all you—"
A sentence cut short with one shot of my magnum. I was blinded; all I could see was red. The surgeon gripped at the bullet wound in his chest before slumping against the wall behind him. The other two wailed at the loss and in fear of their own fate.
Joel flew out of his trance and focused in on what the newcomer was trying to whisper.
"Please… let me in. Please…" Anything afterward was intangible or more 'pleases'.
Ellie looked to Joel for an idea of what to do. The man was caught up in the woman's face though. So recognizable, but as he grasped for an identity, his memory failed him. Impatient, Ellie shook Joel and hissed, "Joel! What should we do?"
"Huh? G-get Tommy. Hurry!
I peered down at my baby girl's small, motionless frame. Fragile looking as ever, akin to porcelain.
They were going to kill her!
My anger came to a flare once again as I swung the barrel of my weapon at another surgeon. Before he could scream, a quick headshot dispatched him from the Earth. The final surgeon gripped her head between her hands and gave a timid squeak. The crimson tint fading from my vision, I holstered my gun and barked, "What's your name!?"
She only trembled fiercely under my cold gaze.
"I said: what. Is. Your. Name." The final word oozed out of my mouth like venom, attempting to strike fear into the young woman's heart. I wanted to make her pay for what she he had been preparing to do.
Before she could I answer, I hollered, "You probably don't even know her name! You don't know how hard… what she went through… just for YOU! For humanity, and you try and tell me that the only way she can be of use is if she's dead?! A world that doesn't know her name, and will never pay enough respect to even learn it! I'm sorry, but that's a crock-a-shit! Now tell me your name." Fury and spittle flew from my mouth. I was out of control.
My prey peeked from beneath her arms and tried to gather herself. She took a shot at speaking but failed miserably, her voice too shaken by her own quivering.
"So, where are you from?"
Tommy placed a plate of greens in front of the starved woman and took a seat across from her. The round table held four guests: Joel, Ellie, Tommy, and Maynard. Maynard was the head of security and defense, and Ellie and Joel were the two to first encounter the stranger.
The woman hesitated before she gripped the fork and dug into her food. Her wariness was not misplaced. Tommy and his clan went to extremes when it came to checking for possible infection. Outlandish extremes.
"Salt Lake City," she finally breathed between bites. Anything this woman said was too quiet for the human ear and scratchy. "I was taking refuge with the Fireflies."
Joel and Ellie flinched. They could only associate grief and pain when it comes to Salt Lake City. It wasn't easy getting there, or leaving for that matter. However, only Joel truly remembered the extent of hardships in leaving that place.
"Taking refuge. So you weren't a part of them? Why?" Maynard inquired.
"I was a medical aid for the U.S. Army. The only reason they kept me around was because…"
She stopped eating. Ellie furrowed her brow and tried to read her expression. The woman's doe eyes kept darting from Joel to Ellie, either from confusion or fear. Or both.
"Because what? Why did they keep you around?" Ellie's voice was laced with irritation.
All three of the men realized that Ellie had suddenly become the lead investigator in this interrogation and they were forced to the sidelines.
The starved girl began to tremble and pushed away her food only to wrap arms around her knees and shake her head.
"Hey, I asked you a question, lady," Ellie persisted.
Before Joel could interject, the woman said, "Because they had a special purpose for me. I was supposed to help pioneer this generation into the 'healing' era. There were two others. It was left to us to extract a vaccine from the only known immune human."
A cold silence fell upon the room. There was only one person in the world that fit that description, and she was seated right with them. The memories rushed back into Joel's forethoughts and screamed for his attention. He knew who this woman was. His heart began to beat faster.
For the first time since they met, the woman looked Joel square in the face. Her hollow cheeks dramatized by the terrible lighting and sunken eyes crudely hidden by her thin hair.
"You, Ellie. You were the cure to this all, but you were taken from us."
Joel shot up from his seat, the legs scraping against the flooring like nails on a chalkboard. "That's not possible. There's no way you could have made it this far alone. Who are you?"
"My name is Sable, but you already know that." The woman suddenly found her voice as she locked her jaw.
"No way. There are so many others like me out there. You're lying. Joel…" Ellie turned on Joel, her eyes piercing.
"Wait, hold on. Joel… you told me that… You lied. You swore and you lied! When all I asked for was the truth!"
"Ellie—" Joel attempted to grab hold of the chaotic situation and reached for Ellie's shoulder, but she jerked from his grasp and ran out the door, leaving a disaster in her wake.