Chapter 2
Welcome to the New Dark Ages
"I'm like you?" Delsin rubbed the back of his head. "You mean you're like me."
"Hah-hah." She rolled her eyes at him, apparently done with the emotional part of her day.
"How old are you?"
"Fourteen." She answered. "Why, got a problem?"
"Nope, but you did just prove my point. I'm fifteen. Since I was born first, then technically you're like me." He grinned.
"And who still has the gun?" She waved it at him. "Oh, that's right. Me."
"Now, Ellie, don't be mean," Joel gently reminded her. "Give the boy back his things."
"Aww, come on Joel!"
"No, you have to give it back."
She stuck out her tongue at Joel, and thrust the bag at Delsin. "Here. You didn't have anything good anyways."
He accepted the bag and strapped his weapons back on. He looked at Ellie, and held out his hand. "My jacket."
"No way, I'm keeping this. Joel, tell him."
Joel just stared at Ellie.
"Fine, take your damn jacket." She tossed it at him, and he caught it with one hand. She flipped him the bird, and looked ready to storm off. Delsin thought about it. Comfy jacket or possible friendship? "Here, you can have it." He held it out, the soft leather bunched up in his hand.
Her eyes grew. "Really?"
"Now hold on a minute. Son, are you sure you want to do this?" Joel had glimmer of amusement in his eye. "You won't get it back." And you can't buy Ellie with gifts, he added in his head.
Delsin shrugged. "It's fine, take it."
"Awesome!" Ellie snatched it, and pulled off her old pink hoodie, tossing it. "Sweet, it even has a hood!" she flipped the grey cloth hood over her head, and examined her new appearance in a window. "Hey, I look badass! It fits like a glove, too! Thanks, uh…"
Delsin realized there hadn't been time for introductions. "I'm Delsin," he said quickly, extending a fist.
She pounded it. "Thanks, Delsin."
he nodded, and pulled a different leather jacket from his bag. This one was black, and he slipped it on quickly, pulling a beanie onto his head to replace the hood.
"You had another jacket?" Joel asked, trying not to laugh.
Delsin shrugged. "This one was my dad's. Now it's mine." He offered no further comment, and Joel didn't press him. But something jogged his memory. "What was your dad's name, Delsin?"
"Jace Rowe."
Joel recognized him instantly. "You're Jace's kid? I can't believe I didn't recognize you earlier. I went to high school with your dad."
Delsin gave him a closer look. "Joel… Fix-it Joel?"
Joel chuckled. "It's been a long while since I heard that."
"No way. My dad used to tell stories about you all the time!"
"Well, no need to repeat them now." Joel said, a bit hurriedly. Some of the things he'd gotten into… Ellie didn't need to hear.
"So... you two know each other?" Ellie pointed at both of them, and looked back and forth.
"Not directly… But by proxy, yeah," Joel admitted.
"Wait…" Delsin shook his finger, trying to grasp something. "Old man...Girl…" His face lit up. "You're the two who were wrecking the Bandit's whole game! Killing their men, everything!" He shook Joel's hand. "Wow, you guys are famous!"
Joel seemed a little overwhelmed by his sudden revelation of fame. "Famous?"
Ellie, on the other hand, ate it up. "Oh yeah, we should be!"
"Yeah! You guys are the "Avenging tourists", the "Deadly double", the "phantom duo", the "Grey ghost" and the "Demon in pink"!"
"Grey ghost?" Joel asked, a little embarrassed. "My hair is not that grey."
"Come on, Joel, You've got a mop of gray hair, admit it." Ellie reached up and tousled his hair. "And I'm definitely a demon." She made faces in the window. "I like it."
"Yeah, you guys are living legend. Say, you wouldn't have a place to stay, would you?" Delsin rubbed his neck. "I'm sorta homeless at the moment."
"Dude, you can totally come back with us!"
"Ellie…" But Joel knew the issue was pretty much decided. And besides, he wasn't going to leave the kid to fend for himself. Fix-It Joel… heh.
When Delsin saw their car, his eyes almost bugged out of his head. "No way." It was just a simple four-door sedan, but he couldn't believe his eyes. "You have a car?!" He made sure not to shout too loud, just in case there were still infected lurking.
Ellie grinned, "I know, sweet, right?!" She tugged on the door handle impatiently. "Come on Joel, do the thing!"
Joel sighed, and pressed the button on the remote. All the locks clunked open right as Ellie yanked on the handle, and she went flying backwards, landing on top of Delsin, who was eagerly looking in the window to see the locks open. The two rolled along the cement, coming to an abrupt stop.
"Hey!" Delsin sat up, and rubbed his nose. "Jeez, I'm bleeding."
"Oh shit, I'm so sorry!" Ellie sat up, and pulled out a rag, and pressed it to his nose before Delsin could react.
He sat there, embarrassed, not quite willing to say anything. Hey, she's practically sitting on your lap, went a little voice in the back of his head. Enjoy it.
Joel allowed himself a little smile. "Ellie, don't you think he can take care of his own nosebleed?"
"Oh, uh, right. Here, hold the rag," She said, standing up and offering Delsin a hand.
He took it, gratefully. "Thag you bery much." He pressed the rag to his nose, and dropping his bag in the trunk, slid into the backseat. "Do you have an iPod port?"
"Yeah, why?" Ellie asked, a little curt. She really did feel bad about his nose, even if it was just a nosebleed.
Delsin reached in his pocket, and pulled out a silver iPod classic. "Because I have this." He held it up so it caught the light.
Joel turned around, and faced Delsin. "Now where on earth did you find that?"
Delsin shrugged. "I can't divulge all my secrets."
"Fair enough. But would you do me a favor, and plug it in?" Joel rolled up the windows.
Delsin attached a cable, connecting the iPod and the car's stereo systems. "Okay… I think that's it." Suddenly, the sound of Three Days Grace blared from the speakers, making everyone jump. Joel, who had actually grown up with radio, relaxed into the car seat, and slapped the steering wheel to the beat. The good life, huh? Isn't that what we all want?
"Okay, that's awesome. You're officially my second favorite person." Ellie told Delsin.
"Who's first?"
Ellie looked out the window, trying not to get emotional. "Eh, doesn't matter. What does matter is you beat out Joel for second place."
"Hey! I was only number two?" Joel assumed an offended air. "And who got you out of the city?"
"You."
"Who has saved your life more times than he can count?"
Ellie shrunk into the seat a little. "You."
"And who gave you the opportunity to pet the giraffe?"
Ellie's face brightened. "Oh yeah, now that was awesome. Still, you didn't give me a leather jacket or bring a magical music player," she teased.
"It's not magic. It's a system of wires, programming and binary code being translated-"
He had lost Ellie at programming, and Delsin at binary. "Oh, never mind. It's just not magic." The song ended, and Mississippi Queen started. Joel smiled, and began to hum the melody. "Now this is my kind of music."
Ellie made a face, and leaned back to Delsin, whispering; "Change it quick, before he starts talking about the old days."
"You know, back in the old days,"
Ellie groaned. "Not again."
"Hey, you could do well if you showed respect to your elders." Joel lectured. "Now, where was I? Oh, yeah." He began telling them about planes, which were "Giant metal birds, except they didn't flap their wings. The had engines on the side, and…" Joel droned on until the song ended, and Ellie gave a sigh of relief when he ended, blowing the the few strands of hair hanging in her face away.
The song switched again, and this time a song like nothing Ellie or Delsin had ever heard. An announcer promised "one hour" of the "best Hardwell mixes of 2013", and he wished everyone a "merry Christmas, and a very lucky 2014" before starting the mix.
"Oh, it's that thing you kids call dubstep." Joel said. "Never really liked it."
"That's just because you're old." Ellie's head bobbed up and down to the beat.
"Hey Joel, didn't the outbreak start in 2014?" Delsin asked him, curious.
"Um, let me see... why yes, yes it did."
Delsin snorted. "So much for lucky."
Joel flashed back. Running, with his daughter in his arms… Tommy, shooting the infected...The soldier, the gunshot…. He snapped to attention. He was driving, after all. "Well, no one knew it would happen." His voice didn't waver, but it held a hint of sadness. "No one knew."
