Ellie jumped when she heard the front door opening.

"He's here" she thought

She quickly grabbed a pencil and wrote on Joel's note.

"Ellie?" She heard him calling

Before heading to her bedroom Ellie grabbed Joel's black rifle and the only 2 magazines for it, then she ran quietly to her bedroom, putted the rifle and magazines inside her backpack, place it at her back. She put her pistol at her right pocket and her switchblade at her left pocket.

As the sound of steps kept getting closer, Ellie felt anger and sadness fill her heart.

"I swear"

"Liar" she thought

She didn't wanted to hear him he would just tell her more lies, as she was opening the window to escape she heard Joel scream:

"Ellie!"

And she ran as she kept hearing Joel desperately call her

All her life Ellie was afraid to be alone, but now she wanted to be alone and she knew a place. However she would need a horse.

As she went to the stable an old man greeted her:

"Hi Ellie, what are doing out here in the cold? You are gonna get sick"

She recognized him, he was Marcus Johnson, a kind man but always treated her as a child.

"Tommy asked me to check the horses" she lied quickly, while she smiled making her innocent girl face trying to hide all her sadness.

"I see, well it was good to see you. Have a nice day darling"

"You too"

As he turned away she quickly ran to the stable, the last thing she wanted was Joel finding her.

The front gate was still opened

"This shit is stuck man! It won't close" one of the guards shouted

As she silently entered the backdoor she noted that Mr Robert, the responsible of taking care of the horses, was sleeping.

Luckily one of the horses was already gear up for a ride.

"Perfect" she thought

She opened the doors of the stable ran to a horse, mounted it and made it run at full speed.

After 2 seconds she could hear Robert scream

"Not again! Get back here!"

She didn't had any trouble crossing the gate since it was still stuck.

Many guards tried to stop or convince her to stop, all in vain.

As she advanced through the old road she had to stop since it was blocked by rocks.

"Great I forgot about it"

But she suddenly remembered about the hidden path, so she turned the horse around and eventually found it.

Ellie wanted to go to the hospital but she wanted to stop at the old farm house so she could plan a path.

It wasn't the best place to hide from Joel but she didn't have a lot of options.

The cold was really intense but she was determinated to go on.

After some minutes she could see the farmhouse, suddenly her horse stopped.

"What's wr-?"

Somehow a runner appeared out of nowhere, making the horse panic.

She felt on her back and the palm of her left hand end up landing on a sharp twig.

It didn't passes through her hand but the pain was intense.

Ellie fought against the pain trying to remain conscious.

"Fuck!" Screaming made easier to handle the pain, but also got the attention of the runners in the area.

8 runners run at her direction, she tried to reach her pistol but there was no time... They were already close...

Ellie closed her eyes and prepared to die.

One of them yell and then...

Bang

Gunshots?

Was it Joel?

She opened her eyes and saw all the runners were dead, and in front of her stood a group of 4 men.

"Well well well... Look who we found, looks like your crazy daddy isn't here to save your ass Ellie" the tallest man spoke

"Who the fuck are you? How do you know my name?"

"Oh comon you little brat, did you already forgot about David and all those YOU killed!?" the other man talked

They didn't were pointing their guns at her

"Look she impaled her hand and didn't shot those infected, she's probably all of ammo. Hehehe. I think we should have some fun with this bi-"

Without thinking Ellie draw her pistol and shot 4 times,

Hitting 2 of the Hunters in the head, the other in the heart, but entirely missing the fourth shot since the last man ducked.

Click

Click

The slide of her pistol was lock open, indicating that the gun was empty.

"I know that sound, now I'll have some fun then kill you... slowly" said in a maniac way

He quickly went on top of her overpowering her, as he throw her pistol away.

"Get off me you motherfucker!"

She grabbed her switchblade out of her pocket, and stabbed him at the torso. But nothing happened.

The man quickly disarmed her

"help!"

"Surprised? I'm using a bulletproof vest, you-"

"Fuck you!" Ellie shouted as she struggled to get him off.

"You are so annoying! Go to sleep!"

His hands were around her neck

She couldn't ... Breathe

Her vision were darkening

"Joel...

Where

Are

You?"