Hey guys, this is my first story on here, so please, feel free to review it or PM me. I would love to hear from you guys! Enjoy :)

The Introduction

Joel and Ellie had been walking for about a day and a half when they saw what would have been a beautiful ranch on the horizon. Unfortunately, there were no animals, nor were there any people in sight. The only good thing they saw was actually what they didn't see; infected. Not a single infected could be spotted for miles. Joel shot Ellie a glance, raised his eyebrow, and Ellie gave a quick reassuring nod. They made way to the ranch.

As they neared, they saw what damage had been done. A silo lay on the barn adjacent to it, and had crushed the back left corner, exposing a wall. The barn doors were closed, which seemed pretty useless, seeing as anyone could get through the busted wall with ease.

The house was in surprisingly good condition in comparison to the barn, with white paint and a faded dark blue roof. The door was shut, which seemed normal, but the weird part was that one of the windows on the second floor was open. Neither Ellie nor Joel paid much attention to it, but Joel didn't like the feeling in the air.

They were at the doors of the barn, and Ellie tried shoving them open. They didn't budge. Whatever was blocking the other side was heavy.

"Let's go around." Joel's voice was like a knife cutting through the silence. It made Ellie jump.

"Jesus! Wanna be any louder?" Ellie asked, sarcastically.

"Come on," Joel grunted.

Ellie sighed as they walked around to the back of the barn. Right as she turned the corner, She heard a gunshot, followed by Joel clutching his arm and yelling a stream of obscenities.

"Move any closer and it wont just be your arm," a young, unfamiliar voice yelled.

"H-hey man, we're cool, no problems here," Ellie said, obviously shaken from the gunshot.

"Drop your bags and weapons and step away slowly," the voice commanded.

Where is it coming from? Ellie wondered.

Joel was still clutching his bicep, where the bullet must have grazed. There wasn't much blood, and he was probably going to be okay, as long as this guy didn't get trigger happy.

The two did as they were asked, and dropped their things and stepped away. The voice was much calmer now.

"I'm coming out now, don't try anything."

From behind a pile of rubble, a boy, probably 16 or 17, came into view. He had a low caliber rifle pressed to his shoulder. He had short, bright blond hair, was probably 5'10" and built. He had on an orange tank top and tan cargo shorts. He wore tan leather boots and a gray beanie. It was quite an outfit, especially for survival, but Ellie was... interested.

Once he saw that neither of them had their weapons, he lowered the gun. He gave a faint smile and said proudly,

"Hey, I'm David! Sorry I had to do that," he said, nervously to Joel, "You guys were just getting a little too close."

"And a fucking warning shot wouldn't have done the trick?" Joel bellowed, obviously still in pain.

Ellie chimed in, "Um... David, is it? He's still bleeding. Can I go to my bag and get some bandages for that?"

"Um... sure I guess... But no funny business! Stand up, nice and slow."

She stands up, goes to her bag, grabs some gauze, medical tape, and antibiotics. She slowly returns to Joel and patches him up.

"There. Good as new!" She chirps.

David backs up a bit, peeks around the corner of the barn, and yells, "NAOMI!" He pauses, "NAOOOOMMMIII!"

A small voice yells back, "WHAT COULD YOU POSSIBLY NEED?"

"GET OUT HERE! NOW!" He yells. There are a few loud footsteps, and a door slams.

Naomi asks David impatiently, "What is it?"

As she rounds the corner, she stops in her tracks. Her mouth opens wide, and her gaze fixes on Ellie. Ellie tries to crack a smile, but it ends up looking awkward and worried. Naomi squeals and runs over to Ellie, arms open, going in for a hug. Ellie uncomfortably goes along with it while Naomi freaks out and yells about how long its been since she's seen a girl her age. The whole situation has been awkward.

Once David pries Naomi off of Ellie, they all introduce themselves formally. David ends up apologizing profusely for shooting Joel in the arm, after seeing his full stature up close. Joel is only slightly irritated at this point. He is just happy to find people that aren't going to cut Ellie's head open and leave him all alone. Naomi invites them all inside for food, which she says they have plenty of.