Sara dragged Ellie into a room with multiple paintings on it. They were beautiful, but Sara moved past them to something else. She stopped at a worn down desk, with something on it. She picked up the object, Ellie noticed it as a notebook. "I found this just before I was attacked, I went looking for you to show you." She said flipping through the drawn on pages. "Here." She handed Ellie the book for her to see.
"Oh woah." Ellie murmured as the looked at all the pages of the nicely drawn people. From the looks of it, this person liked to draw people most. Though these people weren't realistic, they were still very good. "These are pretty good." Ellie said still looking through the pages.
"I know right," she muttered as she noticed each and every picture in this room. Then Joel burst in, extremely annoyed.
"Hey! What happened to staying together?" He demanded more then asked.
"I wanted to show Ellie something." Sara shrugged as she looked over to him. Before Joel could say anything Sara beckoned him over, "here, look." He sighed and walked over, still pretty mad at the two ditching him.
"What?" He growled. Sara didn't say anything and motioned to the notebook in Ellie's hand. Ellie didn't want to give it up, she wasn't done with it. Luckily Joel didn't take it out of her hands, but just looked at it over her shoulder, which was somewhat annoying. Ellie tried to ignore it but couldn't, she sighed and just gave him the book. Joel took it and flipped through the pages, quicker then Ellie did. She took this time to look at the paintings. Before Ellie knew it Joel was shoving the book back into her hands. "I'm not an art person, come on let's go." He called over to Sara. She looked disappointed, but walked off anyway. As the group walked out of the room, Ellie took one last look before stepping out.
Even though Joel complained, they explored every room. Though Joel claimed to be "searching for supplies" but Ellie saw him pick up some things she knew weren't "supplies". When they had inspected every room in the mansion, they decided to stay in a room Ellie knew as a living room. It's furniture would have been beautiful if it wasn't covered in dust and blood.
"Ugh it smells." Sara complained, waving her hand around.
"When does it not?" Ellie said as she sat down with her backpack in front of her. Sara did the same.
"Oh! I don't think you got to see the songs on this thing!" Sara exclaimed, pulling out the iPod.
"That thing plays songs?" Ellie asked disbelievingly.
"Yeah, it's got tons too." Sara said showing Ellie the iPod. Ellie hadn't heard a song in a long time, too long, she thought. But just as Sara was scrolling through the songs, the iPod died. "No!" Sara whined, stabbing the iPod with her finger. She was obviously disappointed, Ellie was too, but she hid it.
"It's okay, you can show me next time." Ellie reassured.
"Okay," Sara sighed, "but I fall asleep or something before I can show you, find "Fix You" by Coldplay." She said.
"I will." Ellie said, making a small note in her head. She then remembered something, "Oh hey Joel!" Joel turned his head from where he sat, "how long until we get to Tommy's?" She asked.
"Should be the day after tomorrow," Joel responded, the grew grim "the hunters are getting more common." He muttered. Ellie probably wasn't supposed to hear that, but she did. It was true, they ran into less infected and more hunters. Nothing they couldn't handle.
"Good, getting tired of walking all the time." Ellie complained, making sure Joel heard. She didn't see his face, but she knew he rolled his eyes.
"Now, who's Tommy again?" Sara asked, somewhat confused.
"Joel's brother." Ellie replied flatly. She heard Sara 'oh' but didn't look up. Ellie was hopeful, just two more days. They might even become one messed up family together, protected at the dam. Ellie was glad Sara was with them, before she came Ellie and Joel were being pried apart by the Fireflies. Sara was like some superglue, holding them together. And they would be together, at the dam. Together...
Ellie was the first asleep, again. Joel knew she got tired easily, which she, of course, denied. At least he didn't have to deal with her smart-ass self when she was asleep. Joel was glad to be so close to the dam, they were almost there. Sara would probably come with them. Joel knew Ellie wouldn't let him leave her. And he wouldn't, not again.
"Does she always sleep early?" Joel was snapped out of darkening thought by an all too familiar voice. He looked up to see Sara looking at Ellie's sleeping body.
"Yeah, usually." He said, remembering a time when she couldn't sleep. A flurry of snow fogs his mind but he pushes it away. He saw Sara staring at as if trying to understand something. It was extremely uncomfortable. "Can I help you?" He said giving her a weird look.
"Sorry, you just look like someone I know..." She pondered, looking away from him. He could believe his ears, so did she.
"Who?" He cautiously asked. She muttered her answer, Joel couldn't hear. "What?" He asked. She hesitated, but then looked at him with a depressed seriousness.
"My father," she said quietly. Joel strained to hear her, but when he did, the word rang in his ears over and over.
"What?" He asked disbelievingly, he must be giving her a look that made her feel bad because she turned away.
"Nothing, just for a moment there..." She trailed off, looking at her wringing hands. When Joel met Sara, he didn't care what her father looked like or who he was. He honestly didn't even look at the body of her father, he was just aware that it was there. Did he really look like him? Joel's face softened when he saw the regret in Sara's eyes.
"No, it's okay." He reassured, Sara looked up at him, unconvinced. "I understand." Joel soothed. And Joel wasn't lying, he was telling the truth so much, it hurt. Sara seemed less apologetic, but still saddened. Joel was about to ask what was wrong but he already knew. He had been down the "painful memories of dead loved ones" road far too many times. What hurt him was that he couldn't do anything for her. He couldn't bring her father back, something told him he wouldn't even if he could.
"Hey," Joel's voice was soft as Sara's eyes began to get teary, "I know how you feel." He sympathized. Her watery eyes looked up at him, something in Joel hurt. "Don't cry, it'll be okay." He said, almost sounding desperate. Sara sniffed.
"Sorry." She murmured.
"Don't apologize," Joel's voice hardened, but was still gentle. He then got an idea. "C'mere," he beckoned her over. Sara hesitated, but silently crawled over next to him. "Have I ever told you about soccer?" He asked. Sara shook her head, her tears fading away from interest. Joel talked of goals and game rules as Sara leaned against him, watching his hand motions. Something about Sara's questions or wonder-filled eyes, made him feel as of a hole in him was filled. Joel felt whole again.
When Ellie woke up, Joel was already up. He seemed brighter, especially that he was smiling when Ellie was a smart-ass. Something happened when she was asleep, but she wasn't worried. This was obviously for the better, Joel was happy. Sara made him happy...
But if he was happy she was happy, right?
One more day, one more day till Tommy's. They just had to hold out a little longer. Though holding out became harder as they ran into multiple bandit groups. They kept pushing through, still. Somehow, their small group made it so far. With each area they passed Ellie became more buoyant, and she became less tense with every sound. Which wasn't actually good, but Ellie didn't really care.
After pushing through a bit of hunters, there was some clear area. Sara seemed to take this time for conversation. "Lots of people here, huh?"
"Yeah." Ellie scoffed. Joel gave a "mhm" in agreement.
"Is this normal?" Sara asked, knowing the two had been here before.
"Tommy did say he had bandit problems." Joel said grimly.
"I guess we took the bandit road, then." Ellie joked. Sara gave a laugh, Joel did not. In fact, he didn't move. On instinct, he grabbed Ellie's arm and forced her down. Sara was still standing when the sniper had his spot on her. Sara had gotten the memo seconds too late, as the sniper pulled the bullet. It pierced her leg.