Thanks for sticking with me so far! After this last week of classes, I'll have more time to write more chapters for all the ideas I'm getting!
This is a slower chapter that explores Ellie's feelings and addresses the lie that Joel told her. Hope you enjoy!
As always, reviews/follows/favs are welcome! :)
"You think you know me? Huh? Well, let me tell you somethin'. You have no idea what I'm capable of."
Ellie grabbed the machete and hefted it with all her might against the man on top of her.
He rolled off in pain. It was hot. She sat astride him, both hands wielding the weapon of death.
Blood. On her face; in her hair; making her grip on the machete slippery.
Sickening crunch of bone and flesh giving way beneath sharp metal, again and again and again.
"Ellie!" Stop.
"Ellie…"
"Don't you touch me!" I screamed, sending a fist flying into Joel's face. He jerked back enough so I didn't hit him square on the jaw, but I clipped his nose pretty good.
"Awww Ellie," he said in a frustrated tone. "It's just me." He gingerly brought a hand up to feel his nose, wincing a bit as he prodded it.
I looked around me sheepishly. I wasn't in an abandoned restaurant that was half in flames. Nobody was trying to hurt me. I didn't need to kill anyone. "Sorry Joel," I muttered sheepishly.
"I'm fine," the big man said, standing up. "I'm gonna have to teach you to hit one of these days."
He started toward the small, smokeless fire blazing in the middle of our sheltered encampment. A rabbit was already skinned and sizzling over the small flames.
"What does that mean? I coulda clocked you pretty good, if I was awake," I called after him.
Joel shook his head. "You mighta been able to bruise me some, but you're not gonna do much damage flailing around like that."
"Well excuse me if I'm too busy trying to save my own skin to think about the proper… proper boxing form."
Shrugging, Joel muttered under his breath, "Just sayin'."
I sat and watched him for awhile. His light brown hair was at least twice as gray as when I had first met him a year ago. His beard was almost all silver by now, too. With creased, weathered hands he reached out to turn the rabbit on its spit. I thought about how tired I felt; tired of running, tired of fighting, tired of killing. And I was only 14. Still, with what had happened the past year and a half, I was surprised my own hair wasn't changing color. Another thought made its way to the front of my mind and I pushed it back, but not before it had made its voice clear. How long can Joel keep protecting me?
If what Maria had said was true, the entire world soon would be after me, for one reason or another. People were growing ever more desperate as year after year stretched out since the first breakout. If there was hope of a cure… there's no knowing what they might do.
Joel started humming to himself in his low, rumbling voice as he hunkered down to tend the meat. I looked him over again. Then there was the issue of Joel lying to me. He had said there were dozens like me… Dozens. I wanted to believe him; it would have been so much easier to just believe him. But if there had been dozens, we would've heard about it. I wondered, not for the first time, what had happened back at the hospital while I was drugged. How many people had died? Who? Had they believed in me? In the cure?
Joel turned and caught me staring darkly at him. Shifting uncomfortably, he cleared his throat. "Ellie, before you say anything…"
"You lied to me." It wasn't a question. The accusation and bitterness in my voice cracked Joel's mask a tiny bit and he dropped his gaze. He didn't deny it.
"I couldn't let them take you."
"They were trying to help!" I shouted.
"They didn't even know if the procedure would work!"
"I said it was alright, Joel. I had made the decision!"
"Decision?" the man shouted, standing up. "You're not even fifteen! You can't make those kinds of decisions."
"I can when it has to do with my life!" I took a step forward, glaring at him. "My life, Joel, not yours!"
"I couldn't let them… it wasn't worth the risk."
"They were going to save us!" Tears started forming in my eyes and I turned away from him, unable to look at him. "They were going to save us…" I repeated, more of a sob than a sentence.
There was a moment of silence, then Joel put his hand hesitantly on my shoulder. "Nobody can save us, Ellie. We gotta take care of ourselves. They…" He took a breath. "They were gonna kill you, Ellie. They knew that, and they were still gonna do the surgery."
I wiped away a few tears and shrugged out from under his hand to turn and look at him again. "What if I was okay with that? What if I'm tired of running?" There were almost tears in his own eyes as he looked down at me. I knew why he hadn't been able to let them take me. It was the same reason why I panicked every time he was out of my sight. He needed me, as I needed him. "What if, if this is the only kind of life I can have, I don't want it anymore?"
"Ellie…"
"I'm serious, Joel. I don't want to be on the run for the rest of my life, a refugee, hunted."
We stared at each other for a few beats, then a sizzling pop from behind him reminded Joel of the food. He turned and took it off the flames, then prepared a knife to carve it open. My stomach clenched at the smell of food, but I didn't want to eat. I didn't want to do anything. But when he handed me a chunk of meat, I took it and started chewing.
We ate in silence. After putting out the fire and getting rid of the bones and waste of the animal, Joel spoke. "Then we'll just have to find a way to put an end to it."
I knew he meant it. With one look at his strong face, I didn't doubt that he'd go to any measure to keep me safe; he already had. I stood up and tossed a playful punch into his shoulder and he lifted his eyebrow, confused. I attempted a grin. "I guess that means you're gonna have to teach me to fight."
