Hey folks; the real story starts here. This is where my exploration of Joel and Ellie's thoughts and feelings at the end of the game began to move towards a narrative storyline, so although there will still be lots of characterisation and inner monologues, I also wanted to tailor a narrative out of it as well, to lend the story a sense of progression and activity, rather than just ramblings. For now, however, in this chapter, Joel and Ellie begin the slow process of attempting to let go and adjust to civilised life, as well as learn a little more about where they've chosen to hang their rucksacks, as it were.
As I said, this is the first time I've ever tried something like this before, so any critique, positive or constructive, is more than welcome!
Ellie returned Joel's gaze for a second before smiling emptily and turning away. Joel nodded and looked at Tommy. "Never thought I'd see you again". Those words rung truer for the both of them than anyone else would ever know; both of them had come within a hair's breadth of losing the other, more than once.
Ellie was deep in thought when she suddenly heard her name called. She blinked off her glazed over eyes and ran through the giant steel gates to catch up with Joel, Tommy and Maria. The view was nothing short of astounding. Ellie had never seen so many people all in one place before, and certainly never so active. There were people everywhere she looked; all hard at work. As they travelled together down what could probably, with some effort, be called the main road through the town, Ellie tried to look every way she could to take in everything at once. It was overwhelming.
The road ran from the gate they'd come through and wound lazily through the contours of the landscape, passing the neat rows of dilapidated two story houses that the town originally consisted of before the outbreak, as well as muddled clumps of shacks and temporary housing. Ellie noticed that most of the houses had some form of garden, some quite large, that had been given over to agriculture of some kind, and even more people were busy working in the fields sowing seeds, ploughing dirt and tending crops.
"You were lucky you caught us down here really" , Maria was explaining. "we've just got back from checking the turbines up at the dam. We've got more of them up and running than ever now; it's more than coping with the demand of the town, big as it is."
"Yeah, good thing you were here, thanks to a certain someone", Ellie muttered jabbing her thumb behind her towards the disappearing gate.
"Yeah, sorry about the welcome", replied Tommy, without emotion. "Poor kid's only just got here from some QZ that fell recently. He's been a little…over sensitive, but we need the men. Still, you won't how much progress we've made in the past few months Joel; we're seeing new people arrive every few months. Jackson's up to almost 300 people, now."
Ellie noted how Tommy had changed topics so quickly, and thought back to the shell casings she'd seen on the ground outside the gate. Maybe the problem was worse than they thought. As if reading her mind, Joel replied;
"Sounds like your town's really makin' a name for itself, little brother. You get much attention?"
Tommy laughed, as he shared a look with Maria. "Always the keen observer ain't you, brother. Yeah, guess you picked up on that." Tommy sighed, "sure, we've had our fair share of problems, same as any place. Nothing worse than when you last visited, though. Don't you worry, you're both safe here. We can handle ourselves."
Ellie smiled at that; "when you last visited". As if they were nothing more than neighbours, instead of a long lost brother and his tagalong kid who'd spent the last year busy slaughtering infected and hunters, when they weren't desperately evading death themselves.
It was strange to see how at ease Tommy and Maria walked, almost without a care in the world. Almost.
The four of them continued their walk through the vegetable fields and towards the town centre, Maria and Tommy walking ahead and leading the way, both calling out greetings to the townsfolk they passed, Joel and Ellie following behind as they both observed the thriving town. Joel passed one house that had a rickety wooden enclosure attached to the side, which held a flock of chickens and three fat, pot bellied pigs with a man busy dishing out swill and batting away the chickens who got under his feet.
Fairly quickly, however, the houses gave way to more mercantile endeavours as they reached the centre of the town. They walked past a house that had been converted into what looked to be a general goods store or ration house of some kind. Down side alleys Ellie spied a whole world of secret industry, a brick warehouse that had been converted to what was advertised as an ironmongery, a carpenter's workshop that had covered half of the alley in sawdust and wood shaving, and even a stout two story building that looked suspiciously like the bar her and Sam had played darts in back in Pittsburgh.
As they passed through a small open area that must've been the town square, Ellie overheard Tommy pointing various landmarks out to Joel as they walked along; including the mess hall and the makeshift town hall where he spent, in his opinion, far too much time sorting out everyone else's problems. Ellie realised the more time she spent here that the casual attitude she'd sensed in Tommy and Maria's walk was everywhere; it was in the town itself. She could hear a myriad of different noises she'd never heard before; people shouting and laughing as they chatted the day away, tools busy at work, animals crying, children running, the sounds were as numerous as they were unnerving to her. Even in Boston QZ, where she thought life was as normal as it got, people had never been relaxed like this. It was a concept she couldn't quite get her head around, the idea of security on such a large scale.
She realised now there had always been a hushed atmosphere of tension back in Boston, people scurrying from door to door, never hanging around outside for too long, many even too scared to talk openly in the privacy of their own homes. Here, things were completely different. There were perhaps three or four dozen people milling about the town, but instead of the expected cowed mood, the sound of life was deafening to her. It was exhilarating. Is this what life was like, real life?
"You tryin' to catch flies there, girl?" remarked Joel, eyebrows raised as he gave her one of his rare full on grins. Ellie was suddenly jerked back to reality and realised her mouth was hanging open in astonishment. Suddenly losing her excitement again, she quickly checked herself and flashed a brief smile back. She still had a lot to think about regarding the way Joel had treated her, and she still didn't know what to make of it. He certainly seemed a lot calmer than she did now they were home, but then again the feeling for him must be completely different. After all, he'd seen all this before; had a life before the outbreak. Had Sarah. Ellie felt a sudden sadness for the dark haired giant walking next to her, and despite herself in that moment, couldn't help but reach out and touch his arm.
To Joel, the feeling of this town was indeed very different. Unlike Ellie, he wasn't puzzled by the sounds of the citizens milling about, the second he heard those sounds on the wind he knew he recognised them straight away, as the sounds of civilisation. True civilisation not the stifling, repressive martial regime of the QZs.
Joel was suddenly put in a strangely familiar situation, one he wasn't sure he was comfortable with. The striking similarity between the atmosphere in Tommy's camp and life pre-outbreak reminded him too much of the past, and filled him with an intense longing for days gone by. "You always find something to fight for". That's what he'd said to Ellie not an hour ago, and right now those words rang truer than he cared to believe. For months after that…that night where the world ended, he'd struggled with himself; only living thanks to his own cowardice at being unable to take his own life. Even now, 20 years later those memories burned inside him like a demon, making him recoil. For years he'd sat alone, utterly alone, incapable of thought or emotion or action. He'd become embittered with the world through his grief; in a desperate act to avoid feeling the heartache of his loss, he'd shut out all feeling instead, and in doing so had become nothing more than a killer and a smuggler, the last shreds of his humanity buried deep, deep inside, repressed by his refusal to deal with his daughter's death.
But suddenly, instead of Ellie finding something to fight for, he was the one who'd found something worth fighting for. Something worth dying for, in fact, and he still wasn't sure what he was supposed to think about that. He'd damned mankind for her, and would do so again in a heartbeat, but he couldn't get over the fact that by denying the world a chance at redemption, he himself had been redeemed from his suffering. Sara's memory would always be with him, of course. He would always bear the burden of his past. But it was manageable now; he could live with it, and in doing so, he'd regained his humanity. He just wished with all his heart that Ellie could, in time, do the same. The irony of him rediscovering his life while Ellie became ever more reserved did not elude him.
They finally turned from the main road and headed up what must've once been a small residential cul-de-sac, lined with more pre-outbreak houses. As they walked along the cracked tarmac, Joel noticed the grass that would normally be sprouting all over the place had been trimmed back neatly off the road.
"I've got to admit, Joel", said Tommy, leading the way, "We're both glad you're back for more than one reason."
"Oh yeah? What's that?" queried Joel.
" You might've noticed but we're desperately short on accommodation", began Maria. "This was only a small town to begin with, but now we've got too many bodies and too few houses. Most families are sharing rooms right now, we're trying to build more houses but progress has been slow."
"That's why you'll be staying with us for a few days; it's the downside to having such a big population", bragged Tommy. "We're fillin' up so quickly we just ain't got the room."
"But with your help…" Maria began, sheepishly.
Joel laughed at the suggestion; "You're tryin' to put me to good use already, I can see that much."
"What?" said Ellie, sensing this somehow involved her.
"Well", said Joel, "I don't know if I ever told you, but before everything, me and Tommy used to work in construction. I was, you might say, a bit of a handyman. I did a lot of contracting work"
"And a damn good one, too", piped in Tommy.
"Contractors were people who'd hire others that were skilled in a certain job to help them with building projects, and pay them for their services. So, I'd be hired to help build things for people; houses, apartment blocks in the city, anything like that. Looks like our dearest little brother plans to make use of my skills."
"Huh," replied Ellie, doubtfully, "Weird. And…a contractor could get a person to do anything?"
Tommy and Maria looked at each other; not used to the naivety of a child born after the outbreak.
"Well, of a sort. There were specialists in all sorts of things; plumbing, gas technicians, electricians, decorating, all sorts. As I said, I did a little bit of everything. See, people had other commitments back then. Life was a lot faster paced so they didn't have time to learn to do everything themselves, thanks to work deadlines…" Joel trailed off as his thoughts suddenly whirled back to all those times he himself had to put work before his family.
"Here", Tommy called, stepping in and leading the group away again. "we're nearly there; this way". Joel looked at Ellie and clapped her on the shoulder. Before long the group had arrived at the last house on the cul-de-sac; positioned at the end of the road with the front door pointing down the street. Wood-panelled, with considerably peeling eggshell blue paint, it was slightly larger than the others on the road. It had a large garden that stretched around both sides of the house, given over to what looked like vegetable plantations, and fenced with chickenwire. A front porch complete with white painted fence enclosed the front door, with wooden steps leading up to the porch itself.
The home had clearly been taken care of as best as possible, as evidenced by the refurbishment and patchwork that, although expertly done (likely by Tommy), still stood out like a sore thumb compared to the rest of the house's slowly decaying state. Nonetheless it looked a great deal cosier than most places they'd slept during their travels, and Joel was suddenly impressed with Tommy's initiative and leadership.
"This here's mine and Maria's place;" he gestured behind him. "As I said, you can stay with us until we find you a place of your own."
Ellie's eyes widened. It wasn't luxurious, but the plain fact that someone was willing to have her in their home, a real home, as a guest was probably as alien to her as all the happy, relaxed faces around town. Joel was similarly overwhelmed; the idea that he would be staying in his little brother's marital home was one he never thought would come true. Nonetheless, he shook his head;
"No, we can't stay with you two. We couldn't put you out like that"
"Put us out?" laughed Tommy, at the antiquated phrase. "now there's an idea I've not heard for a long time. No, you're staying with us and that's final. Now get yourselves inside, both of you, go on."
Joel himself didn't know why he'd suddenly spurted such an old, clichéd pleasantry; probably due to being suddenly surrounded by civilisation again, he reasoned. He gazed down at Ellie and felt another pang of guilt; he expected her to be excited at the prospect of staying here rather than sleeping rough yet again, but when he said she could head in to check it out, she gave an incoherent mumble as a reply, and slowly strolled inside.
"Don't worry", Maria said, misconstruing Ellie's demeanour. We'll get you a place of your own soon enough; give you and Ellie some privacy."
That can't come soon enough, Joel thought. Him and Ellie had been over a year on the road, the overwhelming majority of time spent alone. They'd gotten used to each other's company in the wild, and learning how to relax and feel secure around other people was going to prove deceptively difficult for him, he knew.
As he pondered, he heard a sudden shout of delight echo from the house "Oh my god, Joel you have to see this!" Joel looked through the bottom floor window and spotted Ellie, suddenly excited despite herself, playing with the remote control for a TV. As he observed, Tommy strolled over and clapped him on the shoulder.
"I'm glad you're here, brother. Real glad. We needed this, I think. We all did."
Joel frowned at that. "What do you mean?"
"This is amazing!" echoed Ellie's voice again. "Does it actually work? Joel! Get in here!"
Tommy laughed; "forget it, you're being summoned. Good luck with that!"
"Yeah, laugh it up." Replied Joel with a sparkle in his eyes. "We're in your house little brother; now she's your problem too."
Smiling fondly at he didn't quite know what, Joel picked up his backpack and strolled towards home.
