Disclaimer : I do not own any character of (The Last of Us) TLOU is owned by Naughty Dog, but all the Oc character are from my invention.
Chapter 7 : The way through the Mountain
*Three weeks later*
It's the first week of December now, so the cold is starting to get worse. Crossing the mountain looked like a good idea three weeks ago, but now, not so much. Even though the winter hasn't started yet, they can see some snow starting to fall, and even though they are not yet in the middle of the state, most of the trees are white now. They can see some of the distant mountain already covered with snow. They hunt, and find something to eat during the last two weeks, but after they enter the state of Oregon, the cold makes it more difficult to do that. Passing through the mountain has been more difficult than Joel thought. Not only in finding a decent place to stay and rest, but also some of the bridges and roads that cross the state are too damaged or broken to walk on them, or to pass a cliff where the bridge is gone, and this delays them. So sometimes they have to take some other route to pass through, and after a few days, that starts to be a problem.
Joel and Ellie are on the back of their horses, looking now at another broken bridge.
"Fuck!... If we continue like this, we're never going to pass this mountain," says Joel, looking at the cliff that once had a bridge to cross, and now is all broken up.
"Well, you were the one who decided to take this route, remember. Oh, by the way… I'm fucking freezing!"
"Yeah, yeah… always blame the man for taking the wrong direction," Joel says in a lower voice while he takes the map out of his bag. "Okay, let's see what other road we can take to pass this cliff." He looks at the map while Ellie gets impatient.
"Yeah, Joel, take your time... it's not like we're going to freeze to death here... right, boy?" says Ellie, patting her horse on the side of the head.
Jesus…what is with her? She never acted like this before... well, she'd get annoyed sometimes, but not like this. "Okay, I think that I found a route that we can use to take us out of here. We just need to go back 20 kilometers, where we saw the bridge sign. There's an old trail there that can take us down and through the valley down there, so we can cross to the other side," says Joel, rolling the map and putting it back in his bag.
"Great, another trail... that's going to delay us more. C'mon, boy, let's move before we end up like a frozen statue here," says Ellie, turning her horse around and moving away from the cliff without looking at Joel.
He looks at Ellie, trying to figure out why she seems so pissed. He thought that she was joking on the first comment, and maybe she was. But now, what she said and the way she said it, feels like she is mad or something. "Okay, what's bothering you, kiddo? I know that this looks a little hard, but the roads and all those bridges we found broken or in bad shape aren't my fault. Also, I need to know why you've been acting weird for the last few days, so tell me what's wrong?" asks Joel, moving his horse close to hers so he can get a better look at her. Then he moves one hand and grabs Ellie`s, trying to make her look at him, while they continue on the road.
Ellie feels his hand on top of hers and sees his concern; she always loves that about him. That is one of the reasons she loves him so much - he always cares about her, and gets worried when he thinks that something is bothering her. Ellie tries not to look at him, knowing that he can see through to her soul and know if she is lying or hiding something. She needs to find something to say, so he doesn't feel so worried, but something has been worrying her for the last few days. And she doesn't know how to address the issue, as she's not sure what Joel's reaction is going to be. So for now, it's better to try not to worry Joel for something she is not sure of yet. After a few moments, she moves her head to the side to look at Joel and smile.
"Oh, sorry if I sound so bitchy... I didn't know what I was saying. I know that it's not your fault, Joel, I shouldn't say things that way. I was just trying to be funny, but it didn't sound that way… Sorry." Then she puts her other hand on top of his and holds it tight. "Can you forgive me?"
Joel releases Ellie's hand and stops the horse; she stops hers, too. He looks her in the eye and knows that something is wrong with her. Ellie seems like she doesn't want to talk about it, but he's not going to leave things like that. "Ellie!" he says with a calm voice. "I know that something is wrong with you. You're never this pissed, and you were smiling and talking until last week. But the last few days, you've been quiet, and now grumpy... also, not eating well, and sometimes in the morning, you go away for a while."
"Joel, I'm fine, I don't mean to worry you, I'm just tired and cold. And for the past few weeks, we haven't been able to find any decent place to sleep. And the morning thing… well, I have to go more to- you know... pee, because it's too cold now," says Ellie, trying to convince Joel that she is fine.
"And you want me to believe all that? That there's nothing wrong with you?" says Joel, not sure if he can believe all the things that she just said. But he doesn't want to get into a discussion while they need to move on and continue before the night comes.
Ellie sees Joel's confused look, so she decides to do something quick. She moves herself to the side and grabs Joel by the shirt, pulling him close to her so she can kiss him. Joel melts into the kiss, and she deepens it when she sees that Joel isn't trying to push her away or protest. Her tongue enters his mouth... until they need to separate to get air. After that, she moves away and smiles at him again. "Ohhh, that make me feel better, Joel, thanks. Soooo… are we going to find that trail you mentioned before, or not?"
Joel looks at her and notices that she's trying to distract him so that she doesn't need to talk about her problem. "That was a cheap move?" says Joel, but he lets her see a grin on his lips.
"Ha,ha,ha, maybe, but I think that you liked it. Joel, I'm fine - like I told you before, I'm just tired, okay? Let's move before night catches up to us here," says Ellie while she gives her horse a push, and starts to move again.
Joel moves his horse to follow her, and as soon as he gets to her side, he looks at her. "You know that you can talk to me if something is wrong, right? I'll help you with whatever you need, if I can."
"Yes, Joel, I know you will, and that's one of the reasons that I love being your wife," she says, looking at him.
"Okay… But you understand that we're not officially married, right?" says Joel, looking at her while they ride on the road.
"Yeah, I know that, but to me, we are. You already gave me the ring and asked me to marry you, and I said yes. So I don't really care about any paper or something like that, and who cares about that these days, anyway?" says Ellie, moving one hand and punching him softly in his right arm, smiling at him.
Joel moves one hand to pass it over the spot Ellie just hit. "Well, you are starting to act like one. Do you know that domestic violence was considerate a crime back in those days?" he says, laughing a little while still looking at her and continuing on the road.
"Well, then it's a good thing that we're not in your time, because we'd be in jail by now for killing people, even if it's in self-defense," says Ellie, smiling at him.
The road that takes them to the broken bridge has a little mountain wall on both sides; they need to get to the end of that part to get to the trail detour. After one hour of riding, they finally arrive at the sign that announced the bridge ahead. Joel starts to check the tree line that is close to the road, and finds the path. He indicates for Ellie to move her horse and follow him through the trees, and start the way down. The trail they take isn't an easy way down; it's all rocky, and that's no good for the horses. In some parts, they have to get down off the horses and walk them through trees to be able to pass. After a few hours, they make it to the bottom and into the valley. They talk a little more during the way down, but Joel doesn't ask any more about what was bothering Ellie earlier. When they get to the part where the bridge crosses the cliff, they see the big parts of the fallen bridge there, blocking the path now.
So they have to dismount the horses and try to find a way through the debris. It takes them a few hours to pass all the debris there and get to the other side of the cliff bottom, and into the other side of the valley. By then, it's started to get dark, so Joel decides to find a good spot to make camp. There's nothing there but trees and rocks, no houses or any buildings. He tells Ellie that the night is going to be cold and windy, so they need to find a good place that can give them good protection from that. After a while of looking, Joel spots a little cave on the rocky side of a mountain, so they stop and go to check it out. The cave is not too big, but deep enough to protect them from the cold and winds; they can also take the horses inside, so that's good. There's not many animals there to hunt, so for now they need to survive on the provisions they still have left. Lucky for them, Joel hunted a fox a few days ago, and they still have some of that meat left.
After Joel checks the little cave, he indicates for Ellie to move the horses inside while he goes to collect some wood to make the fire for the night. When Joel gets back, Ellie has everything set: the sleeping bags in the middle and the horses in one corner of the cave. She also takes their bags off their horses and puts them on the floor, close to the pit she made for the fire. Joel quickly puts the wood in the pit and starts the fire while Ellie takes out the meat from the bag they've been using to save the meat for later. Thanks to the cold climate now, the meat has been keeping cold in the bag, so the meat can last longer. After Joel puts the meat on to cook, they sit close to the fire to warm up and to wait for the food to get done. Even with the warm fire, they keep all their clothes on, and Ellie just takes off her gloves so she can warm her hands there. She is wearing a winter hat that Joel finds cute sometimes; they found them in a house two weeks ago.
After a few minutes of looking at the fire, Ellie speaks. "Do you know that in a few weeks it's going to be Christmas day?" asks Ellie while she rubs her hands together, close to the fire.
"Yeah, I know. And it's going to be the first Christmas that we've spent out of Jackson since we've lived there." When Joel sees her sad face, he moves and sits beside her, and puts one arm around her shoulder. "I know that we're not going to have a Christmas tree, or presents, and all that. And we're going to be here, just the two of us, but maybe we can find a good place to pass that night and have a good dinner just for us, before we get to California."
Ellie smiles and lays her head on Joel's shoulder. "It's okay, Joel, because the only thing that really matters to me is that we're going to spend that day together. Besides, you already gave me the best Christmas gift ever," says Ellie, smiling while she watches the fire.
Joel moves his other arm and hugs her tight, and kisses her on the head. "Thanks, kiddo, but the ring and asking you to marry me don't count as a gift. But don't worry, we're going to have our Christmas day, one way or another." He kisses her again.
Ellie smiles at the fire while Joel continues hugging her. Oh, that is not the gift I was talking about, she says to herself. "So what does California look like? Have you been there before? I mean before the virus."
"Oh, well, I went once with my parents and brother, when we were kids. But never went there after Sarah was born... too busy, I guess," says Joel, looking at the fire.
Ellie moves one hand and caresses his face. "Oh, I'm sorry, Joel, I don't want to bring up sad memories."
"It's okay, kiddo, we have good memories, too. I still miss her every day, but sometimes it makes me happy, that she don't have to live through all this."
"But maybe if she did, you would be a different man, and your way of life would be better, don't you think?" says Ellie, looking in his eyes.
"Maybe, but I don't think that that life would've lasted long for her and me if she was alive. She was so gentle and innocent... she wasn't made for this type of life, and I think that it was better for her not to watch what the world became."
"Well, it would be nice to meet her, but if things were different, maybe you and I never would've met. I know that that sounds a little selfish, but it would be sad if we never met."
"Yeah, I think that things could've been a lot different if she survived, but I'm glad that we found each other and ended up together. I know that it's weird for an old man like me to fall in love with a young girl. But I want to let you know that you make me so happy, no matter what."
"You make me happy too, Joel, and I'd never change all this… not for anything in this world." Ellie grabs Joel's face with her two hands, pulls him close, and kisses him. Joel starts to kiss her back passionately, until they need air. After they move their lips away, they stay in each other's arms until the dinner is done. After they eat, they move into the sleeping bag and fall asleep in one another's arms. While they are sleeping, snow starts to fall on the valley. Lucky for them, the little cave gives them all the protection they need.
