She was sitting on her bed, unable to move, her mind trying to process it all. Ellie's mind filled with dreadful, conflicting thoughts. Hate, love, and loyalty speeding through her brain. She didn't know who to blame, what to do, or who to curse at. Whether she liked it or not, Joel saved her life but at what cost? The cost of millions of people? Families? Children? Though, if Joel were in the same position, wouldn't she do the same for him? Perhaps the reason why she was so upset is because she would. She would do the exact same thing for Joel. If she were put in the same situation, Ellie wouldn't think twice. It's just instinctual. You protect your family, blood or no.

She stood up and looked out her window. Ellie understood. She thought about her protector and how hard the last twenty years of his life has been. No one can ever fully come back from losing a loved one, especially a daughter. She started to think. Maybe she shouldn't be so judgmental toward him, maybe she should talk to him a bit more. She sighed; her thoughts didn't do much good. She lay on her bed and closed her eyes, wanting to escape it all.

He burst out the front the door and walked swiftly away from the house, cursing underneath his breath. He moved toward the fence line not far from his house. Joel put his hand upon it to lean forward and he looked out onto the dark distance. Near the foliage and trees, a coyote was chasing a rabbit. The moonlight in the distance illuminating the rabbits white fur. The rabbit picked up speed, fleeing for its life. Joel stared intently at this surreal event. The weak ones get taken, that's what Joel always believed, that the predators inhabit the earth. You can't just sit and hope that a solution will fall through. If you can't protect yours, who will? The rabbit hid into a deep trench. The coyote tried to dig the rabbit out with no avail. The coyote gave up and walked back into the woods, consumed by the darkness.

Joel stopped leaning on the fence and began to look around. He was surprised for a brief moment to see that no one was around. Shouldn't someone be guarding these things? Then Joel quickly remembered. It was his shift now. It must have started maybe half an hour ago. He hoped Maria wouldn't find out. Joel had enough to deal with; he didn't need Maria being pissed at him. He took out his gun and removed the clip. Empty. He fished out the contents of his pocket, only one bullet. The damn kid cleaned him out. He sighed and scratched the back of his head. He was sore and his head felt heavy. He was thinking of ways to apologize to Ellie but what could he do? What could Joel possibly say? He was never the talking type. He began walking back to the house to grab bullets.

For a split moment, he thought he was hallucinating. He swiftly turned around. He was certain he heard it. There was a distinct sound of crushing leaves. Joel took out his gun and took a few steps backwards. He took his one bullet and reloaded his weapon. He pointed the barrel towards the origin of the sound. He stopped and stood there, his gun pointed at the near pitch-black dark. The only source of light was the moon and a nearby streetlamp that was dying. Joel was there, standing deathly still. No sounds but the whistle of the wind and the heaviness of his breath.

There it was again. The sound came back louder. Joel closed his eyes, anticipating the inevitable. There must have been a hole in the fence somewhere. Joel shook his head softly. He should have been out here. The sound was getting closer and closer. Then it ran. It emerged from the dark. The dark figure clicked and lunged toward Joel. It was a stalker. Joel struggled to aim for its head not wanting to waste his only shot. The infected staggered left and right, hindering Joels aim. The distance between the infected and Joel was quickly diminishing. As the gap closed, he lowered his gun not wanting to miss. He lunged toward the monster and smashed the bottom of his gun into the stalkers deformed face. It stumbled violently backward into the ground, making dust fly up from the impact. Joel came in close, wanting to finish it off with one final, merciless, blow. The stalker jumped up and tackled Joel to the ground. His pistol fell to the dirt next to him. The monster was on top of him; Joel extended his arms to push the stalker away from him. The infected croaked loudly and struggled like a fish out of water. Joel put all his strength into his arms in order to create some distance between them. The stalker swung its arms around trying to hit whatever of Joel it could. He looked to his right and saw his gun and went for it. Joel took his left arm and held it underneath the monsters neck, using his right to reach for his gun. Joel was losing his strength and the stalker was getting closer to him. His right arms index and middle finger touched the cold metal of the gun. He inched it closer to him, grabbed it with his hand once it was close enough, pushed the stalker with both his arms, aimed up. Bang.

...

Beyond the fence and in the distance; as the rabbit emerged from safety, the cunning coyote came back from patient determination and murdered it. As the moon sat in the dark blue sky, the coyote dragged the corpse, disappearing into the darkness, never to be seen again.