Chapter 2: Sunk Low Again
"Man this thing is heavy!" Ellie exclaimed as they pulled the large buck up the hill.
"It just seems heavier without Tommy here" Joel chuckled.
"My muscles burn." Ellie said, usually she wouldn't whine, but she wasn't feeling very amicable today.
"That's you getting stronger" Joel said "That's what my dad used to always say to me when I said my muscles hurt."
Ellie got under the large animal and pushed her shoulder into its chest. Joel put the deer down. "Here, switch." He moved to where Ellie had been lifting and she shifted over to the head of the deer. Ellie grabbed the deer by the antlers and gripped hard. The girl lifted with all of her might as Joel got under the three hundred pound beast. "1…2…3" Joel panted as the pair pulled up.
"We have to carry this?" Ellie said through deep breaths.
"No, not unless you have a truck I don't know about" the forty something year old replied laughing.
"Oh ha ha Joel"
"Though I do admit it" Joel said "That was a pretty good shot."
It was true; Ellie had nailed the horse right in its left eye. The wooden arrow poked out of its head triumphantly. "It's not my fault I'm a better shot than you"
"And you're so modest too Ellie!" Joel laughed. He had become much less morbid and depressed in the last year, Ellie thought this new attitude must be what Joel was like before the infection hit. Still, the slightest mention of Sarah that wasn't his own, and he sunk low again.
They got back to the plant right after lunch. "Two coming in!" yelled the gateman. Ellie and Joel laid the large buck on the dirt of the entrance yard.
"That's one hell of a catch" Maria said as she strode up to them, clad in a thin yellow sweatshirt and cargo pants. "We'll have plenty of meat for tonight. We had James fish at the river, he caught plenty of trout."
"Well, we're gonna eat good tonight" Joel said as he left the deer for the rest of the gang, heading back for his room. Ellie followed him "Um, my pistol needs to be cleaned, you wanna help out?" she lied as they walked down the hall to Joel's room. Her pistol was cleaner than possible; it hadn't been fired in a week.
"I'd love to…" he started
"But?"
"But I have to help Tommy; I wanna make sure the perimeter is safe." And with that Joel went back into his room, put the rifle down on the bed, and grabbed his Smith and Wesson. With the reaffirming snap of the thigh holster, Ellie's foster father bounded down the hall.
"So what am I supposed to do for the rest of the day?" Ellie said as she kicked the tiled floor with her boot. She strutted over to her room, kicking off her hunting boots. The power plant had locker rooms, where there were showers. This was one of the perks of having power, showers. Sure, there was no soap to really get clean with, but having the warm water cascade down her shoulders made Ellie feel as clean as possible in this dirty bloody world. She walked down the hall with a change of clothes in hand, singing The Beatles softly to herself.
"Hey Jude, don't make it bad" She sang as her feet smacked against the tiles of the hall. "Take a sad song and make it better" she pushed open the door to the women's locker room and found only one other lady in there, Andrea Miller, Ellie thought her name was. Though, at a big community like the one at the plant, it was hard to keep track of names for a long time. Ellie was used to people dying before she had the chance to remember their names. "The minute" The teenager continued to sing, waving hello to Andrea "You let her under your skin" Ellie undressed quickly, pulling the sweaty, slick tee over her head and tossing it into the corner of the room. Her pants and undergarments quickly joined her shirt as Ellie walked into one of the shower stalls.
"Then you begin" she turned on the water and let it wash the sweat from her face "To make it better." She turned the temperature down after realizing she wasn't dirty enough to need boiling water. "I should really learn that on the guitar" She thought out loud. Ellie took her hands and shook her hair furiously to wash out the dirt and tree leaves. With a turn of the knob after a solid ten minutes, Ellie reached for her towel and dried off, wiping the tiny droplets of water off of her naked body. She paused over the large bite mark on her right arm. She sighed to herself softly and continued. Most people at the plant knew about her condition. At first, most people were in an uproar, claiming the need to 'find a cure' but Joel told them off, saying that the last Firefly scientists were dead, and they weren't looking for anymore. Ellie accepted this with a grain of salt, knowing if the scientists had lived, so would the rest of humanity. As Ellie was getting dressed, Andrea Miller walked up to her.
"Hey there Ellie" The kind middle age woman greeted her.
"What's up," Ellie asked, toweling her hair.
"Well, while some of the boys were off looking for supplies, they stumbled on a clothing truck and grabbed everything they could carry." Miller explained "I notice you always wearing the same old tee shirts honey; you should look for something in your size."
"Yeah" Ellie said "Sounds good, I'll check it out."
"Better hurry before I take everything" She chuckled.
I doubt you could squeeze into anything my size lady. Ellie laughed to herself as Miller walked away. Andrea was right however, all that Ellie's minimal wardrobe contained was the dirty white shirt she had just taken off before her shower, a blouse, a flannel shirt, a sweatshirt, the long tee red tee-shirt she had met Joel in, and her army green winter jacket. Along with two pairs of tight jeans, some cargo pants, and a pair of never used jean shorts that were forbidden for anything by Joel because Ellie accidently cut them too short. It was true, short pants weren't exactly functional in this world anymore, which was the excuse that Joel made. But Ellie suspected it was because of how much of her upper thigh the jeans revealed.
Ellie could use some new clothes. Clad in her other jeans and the classic red shirt over gray long sleeve combo that she wore so frequently, she set off for the town square, where the clothes were most likely to be unloaded. The teenager lightly jogged down the tiled floors, her semi wet brown hair bounced as she fixed it into a ponytail with the same hair tie she always used. Ellie knew that loose hair was an extravagance that she couldn't afford, Joel having told her so often that a runner or bandit could easily grab it. Ellie wanted at least another solid week with her long hair before Joel had Maria snip it two more inches. Stopping only to smell the venison she had just caught that day cooking in the kitchen, Ellie made her way to the town.
It wasn't a terribly long walk (Or jog) from the plant to the town. Tommy had always joked about how he felt like some lord living in his big castle whilst his 'people' lived in the village below, that Maria was his 'fair lady' and that Ellie was the 'princess' The teenager had never laughed harder than when Joel had been titled 'The Royal Fool' by his younger brother. A comment that started a wrestling match that lasted a good ten minutes, after Joel had emerged victorious, he proclaimed himself 'King of all the Realm' and laughed on. Joel and Tommy had both been fans of fantasy books and movies when they were younger, but still, no matter how hard they tried to explain it, Ellie still could not understand the Lord of the Rings at all. She was sure that if she read the book she would, and the search for the tome continued. Still, Ellie thought it's pretty cool that Tommy and Maria can kinda 'rule' over the people of the town without becoming dictators.
Ellie found Maria with the rest of the townspeople, looking over the pile of clothes. It was a scattered mess, of course. Many articles of clothing, shirts, blouses, jackets, pants, shorts, hats, even suits and dresses. It was a mad scramble for all of the best things. People were knocking each other over to get a snag at the finest things. Maria had already grabbed new things for Joel, Tommy, Ellie, and herself.
"Wow" Ellie exclaimed, "It's crazy over here!"
"Yeah" Maria said "I got some stuff in our private pile if you wanna try them on." She grabbed a armful of different things. "If they don't fit you, we can put them back" She smiled and directed Ellie behind a tall brick wall to change.
The new jeans fit her, something that exited Ellie a great deal. The new sneakers however, did not. Maria said that she could keep them, as there was a possibility she could grow more. The plain black tee shirt was too small, and the long sleeve brown too big. A promising leather jacket was added to her winter wardrobe, and a pink pair of sunglasses weren't her color, but Ellie kept them anyway. It was on the last garment that Ellie did a double take.
It was a blouse, a purple one. Nice silver colored buttons and barely any sleeves. Pockets on both breasts and cut a tiny bit shorter than usual. Ellie let a small tear drop from her eye as she lifted the shirt. It looks just like the one Tess was wearing. Besides the missing bullet holes and blood, it could have been taken from Tess's corpse. Ellie wouldn't be surprised if it was the same brand. She looked at the tag 'New Age Designers' it read. Ellie was debating whether or not to put it back into the pile when Maria came back with two pairs of undergarments. "Ellie?"
"Yeah?" She said as she clutched the blouse.
"I found these too, thought you could use em'" Maria handed Ellie the panties and turned. "Is there something wrong?"
"No it's just, this blouse…" She trailed off.
"Is it torn or something?" Maria grabbed the shirt and looked it over.
"No it's the style actually" Ellie said as she wiped her eyes "A friend died in a shirt just like that one." She confided in Maria.
"Oh" Maria stepped back and pulled a strand of hair out of her eyes. "Do you still want it?"
Ellie thought for a second. Was it worth keeping for nostalgia's sake? Or would it just bring back memories of Tess that she just wanted to forget? Then Ellie changed her mind. If she threw away everything that reminded her of dead people, she'd be all alone.
"I'll keep it," She said, clutching it close and tight.
"Okay" Tommy's wife said "Then help me haul Joel's new stuff to his room."
They brought Joel's things, a new tee shirt, a red plaid, and a pair of grayish jeans, into his room. Joel's room was nowhere as full as Ellie's. A shotgun, his rifle, his own bow, flamethrower (Which he wouldn't let Ellie touch) and axe were leaning against the wall. Other than those, the large rucksack, and the bed, the room was empty. Maria took the khakis and decided to give them to Tommy; Joel never gave any other pants that weren't made of denim a chance. The middle age man liked jeans better than anything else. Tommy had once told Ellie that Joel failed high school gym because he refused to wear sweats or basketball shorts.
"Alright Ellie" Maria said, "I have to go check on dinner, then make sure all of the towns people are good. We should be eating in around forty five minutes. We'll ring the dinner bell."
Ellie nodded "Anything I could do?"
"No" The woman said as she started to walk away. "Sorry, why don't you read or something to pass the time. We'll find you some chores tomorrow." She strutted down the hall and out the doors.
Ellie sighed "I've already read every book I own" she half shouted at Maria, though she doubted she was heard. Ellie headed back to her room and did several menial tasks to pass time. Those of which included: Flipping her switchblade out and sheaving it again, disassembling her pistol and reassembling it trying for her best time, tossing a book up and down in the air while she laid in bed, which was abandoned after the book came flying back at her face, and finally, reading Savage Starlight like she was acting in a movie, then trying to recite parts from The Godfather, which she had seen over a dozen times.
Ellie was in the middle of the part where Michael tells Kay Adams about how his father threatened a big bandleader with Luca Brasi, when the dinner bell sounded. One of the alarms that used to be for the plant workers to tell them when their lunch break was over. Ellie opened the door to her room and was about to walk out when she stopped.
She stared at the purple blouse and thought. After about three minutes of solid thinking she changed into the shirt and traveled to the mess hall, where Joel and Tommy had already arrived, with small plates with even smaller portions of venison on them. Most of the townspeople ate, of course, in the town. But every once in a while, the ordinary citizen would come up to the plant, where they were treated with respect and given a plate and people to eat with. Most still chose to eat with their families.
Ellie walked into the hall, pulling the blouse down and buttoning the third to top button, having forgotten about it before. "Hi everyone." She waved as she grabbed a plate for herself and sat down.
"Hey there Ellie" Tommy nodded as he poured water from the river into Ellie's glass. "Eat up, it was your catch."
Joel, who had been turned around talking to one of the plant workers, twisted his neck to see Ellie "Hope your hung…" He stopped mid sentence. His eyes had trailed to her collar, he grabbed her shoulder. "Where did you…" He tossed his fork down onto the plate, which clattered loudly. Everyone in the hall stopped to watch Joel march out of the room, heading for the roof.
I didn't think I'd upset him like that Ellie thought as she ran after him. Tommy and Maria sat baffled as Ellie pushed the double doors open. Joel was getting older, but by no means slower. Ellie jogged up the iron staircase. Her hand finding the metal banister and her eyes finding the roof door.
Joel was looking off the roof into the forest. He had a hand up to his beard, stroking the graying hair.
"Joel?" Ellie hesitantly approached.
"Ellie," he started. "Do you remember after the Capitol building, two years ago?"
He didn't see her nod, but he kept talking anyway. "What was rule number one?"
She stopped breathing for a second. "Never bring up Tess" she shifted from one foot to another. "Ever" She added.
"Yeah" he said as he walked past her "Ever" he opened the door. "Finish your dinner, and then burn that goddamn thing."
Ellie nodded and followed, like she always did.
