Chapter 4: A New Companion
Ellie was woken up by the sound of rustling. Opening her eyes, she saw that Joel was moving around their 'camp', making sure everything was packed up.
Ellie sighed, sitting up and yawning.
"Is this going to be a normal thing?" she asked, and at his questioning glance continued, "You waking up before me, very early in the morning…"
Joel gave her a look that she interpreted as 'what do you think?' His amused glance convinced her even more.
"You could just as easily change it if you got up before me," Joel answered as he picked up his backpack.
"Fat chance," Ellie muttered, smiling as she got up and grabbed her backpack, getting ready to continue what was starting to become a daily routine.
Joel set off like usual with Ellie following behind him, and Ellie hoped that today would be less eventful; she had had enough of a busy time two days ago.
Joel looked back at her after a while, and Ellie wondered what he wanted.
"What's wrong?" she asked, frowning slightly as she glanced around for anything that seemed to be amiss. Nothing seemed wrong.
"Something's bothering you," Joel stated, making her smile a bit.
"How do you know that?" she asked jokingly and he glanced back at her.
"You aren't asking as many questions," Joel stated, making her feel a bit annoyed.
"If you want questions, I can come up with a bunch right now," Ellie joked, although it seemed true enough.
Joel sighed, and Ellie could tell that wasn't the response he had been hoping for. She waited a bit before starting her questioning.
"Hey, Joel?" she asked, and when he glanced back at her continued, "Why do people call the Infected 'Runners'?"
Joel was silent for a bit, probably deciding on what to say.
"The Infected have different stages," Joel explained, "The first stage is what you would call a 'Runner'."
"How many stages are there?" Ellie asked, wondering what she had seen two days ago.
"Three so far. Runners, Clickers, and something unknown," Joel stated, "It only takes a few days for someone who is infected to turn into a Runner, and Clickers take a bit longer…"
"What about the last one?" Ellie asked when he stopped.
"No one is really sure about the last one," Joel said, "that's why it's not classified yet."
"So even with your job, you still don't know?" Ellie asked, and heard Joel sigh.
"Yes, my job doesn't let me know everything," Joel stated and Ellie wondered about that. Joel did seem to know a lot, but he had told her earlier that he did because of experience.
So, he probably hasn't seen the unknown stage, Ellie concluded as she stepped over a fallen log.
"Who do you need to meet with?" she asked after a while, not liking the silence around them.
Joel looked back at her, a somewhat guarded expression on his face. She could understand why; even though their awkward "relationship" had improved over the past two days, he still wasn't going to trust her as much since she had rummaged through his things.
"A friend-" Joel started, but Ellie cut him off.
"Another friend," she muttered, and then louder asked, "Do any of your friends have names?"
"Yes," Joel answered, sounding a bit irritated, "but you don't need to know them right now."
So there's Unknown Friend #1 and Unknown Friend #2, she wanted to say out loud, but didn't want another fight between them; that had already caused enough damage.
"Can you tell me a bit more about the Infected?" Ellie asked, changing the subject, "I at least want to know what we are up against."
Joel looked a bit hesitant at first, but then nodded.
"Runners are the earliest stage of the Infected. The fungus has just started to take over them, so they know what they are doing might be wrong. They just don't have any way to fight it," Joel explained, "Clickers have little to no eyesight. They rely on echolocation."
"Like bats?" she wondered, remembering that she had read something like that in a book.
"Sort of. They make those strange clicking sounds, so they are easier to identify when they come near," Joel said as Ellie remembered the strange sounds she had heard in the house, then comparing them back to the ones in Boston.
"So Runners sound different?" she asked, trying to differentiate between the sounds she had heard.
"They sound more similar to humans than clickers do," Joel said after a while. Ellie started to get worried.
"Do they look more like humans?" she asked and when Joel nodded, she continued, "So what attacked us was a Clicker."
Joel didn't say any more, but by his silence she guessed that she was right.
Ellie stayed silent for a while, thinking over what she had been told.
If they look more like humans, wouldn't that make them harder to-? She started to think but her train of thought was interrupted by Joel's voice.
"Here we are," he stated, and Ellie looked in front of them to see a small quarantine zone, some houses and buildings inside of it.
"Kind of looks like Boston," Ellie muttered, but got no reply from Joel.
She looked over at him and saw that his eyes were scanning the fence around the quarantine zone.
"Are we going to sneak in again?" Ellie asked, and at Joel's nod, reached for her switchblade. His hand stopped her.
"We don't want to cause any unnecessary trouble," Joel stated quickly, and Ellie felt somewhat irked.
Confusion replaced her anger when she saw Joel start to sneak towards one of the opposite ends of the fence. She quickly followed, not wanting to ruin their cover by standing in the open.
Ellie caught up to him and stayed silent, even though a million questions were running through her head. Her confusion was increased when Joel put his hand under a section of the fence, lifting it up enough for them to crawl through.
Ellie thought it was a bit strange that there was a secret entrance as she crawled through the section of fence, but then she figured that it would make sense for people of Joel's occupation.
She moved out of the way so Joel could get through and looked around, realizing they were in an abandoned alleyway.
"Joel, are you sure these passageways are safe?" Ellie asked, reaching for her switchblade in her pocket. Joel glanced back at her, quickening his pace a bit.
"We should be there soon," he answered, which didn't help to calm her nerves.
Ellie was about to ask where they were going to be, but heard the sounds of a struggle in the distance. Her eyes widened as she saw Joel start to run towards the sounds.
They rounded the corner just as she saw a man hit the ground. A woman was standing over him, something in her hands that looked similar to a metal pipe.
Ellie gripped her switchblade, wondering if they were going to attack the woman, but her stance relaxed a bit when Joel walked up to the woman, helping her tie the man down.
Ellie stood watching; the man was now yelling curses at them as the woman said something to him. She was too far away to make out what it was, but her grip on her switchblade tightened as she saw the woman take something from the man's pocket.
She saw Joel whisper something to the woman, and then both of them glanced over at her. Her gaze narrowed as Joel walked over with the woman following him.
Joel eyed her switchblade and shook his head.
"Ellie, put it away," he ordered, and she bit her lip as she remembered the last time she disobeyed him. She slipped the switchblade into her pocket as she stared at Joel, feeling inwardly uncomfortable.
"Come on," Joel stated as he turned around, with Ellie feeling confused as she followed him through the alley. She glanced at the tied up man one more time before they rounded the corner, walking into an inn.
Ellie went and sat down in one of the chairs against the wall, figuring Joel would get her attention if he needed her. The one thing that bothered her was the woman, who seemed very similar to Joel.
Who is she? Ellie thought as Joel and the woman started to talk.
Sorry, I know this chapter is shorter than the others, but this is what I would have had added on to the last chapter if I wouldn't have ended it off. Next chapter I am hoping to start in Joel's POV, and I am hoping to do him justice since I have only started writing his POV in some of the samples. Also, I was wondering if you wanted me to start naming the chapters to give you a sort of summary of them; I would go back and name the chapters before this, but I was just wondering what you (as the reader) had as a preference. The next chapter will hopefully be out soon, but until then please tell me your thoughts and ideas in a review!
-AnimeWolfGirl9