NineJulySkies: Thanks for the information! It was very helpful!
Chapter 8: Back Together
Joel muttered something quickly when he saw Ellie pass out.
Great, just what we need, he thought angrily as he tried to get her loose from underneath the horse.
They were running out of time. Joel heard voices just beyond the cover of the trees. He glanced down at Ellie for a moment and then at the angle of where the voices were coming from.
They shouldn't be able to see her, he thought as he ran a few feet away, grabbing his pistol, not unless she makes noise.
He heard the shouts getting louder, and then saw a group of ravaged men walked from the trees; some of them dressed in robes with a hood covering their faces.
Hunters, Joel realized as he peeked out from behind a grove of trees, definitely not good.
He glanced at Ellie, feeling fear and worry shoot through him. It would be bad if the hunters found her, and he knew the horrors of what they could do.
Never again, Joel thought as he loaded his pistol, taking aim at one of the men.
His finger never made it to the trigger. He was suddenly pulled backwards by a thick arm around his neck, blocking off most of his airway.
His assailant pulled him away from the trees.
"We've got a straggler!" the man shouted to the rest of the group, and they came over to investigate.
The group was smaller than he thought and consisted of four men; one of them held a bow and Joel knew he was skilled at using it.
If I try and run, they'll shoot me down before I get anywhere, he thought and then stole a glance near the clearing, and I can't just leave Ellie.
The men started to say mocking things- he could tell by their tone of voice- but Joel couldn't understand them with the darkness that was coming from lack of air.
"Joel!" Ellie's voice cut through his consciousness, making him angry when the group looked towards the clearing.
"Joel!" he heard her yell again, and realized how much her voice was filled with fear.
The hunters looked with interest at where her voice was coming from.
"Ellie, why can't you just stay quiet for once," he muttered, realizing his mistake a moment later.
"He must have a friend," another man said, and Joel saw the archer look towards the clearing.
The man started to walk towards Ellie's voice, shouting "Over here!"
Joel could tell that the archer was trying to take advantage of Ellie's confusion; make her come towards them.
She's trapped either way, Joel thought, and they're stupid if they think she'll fall for that.
"Ellie, run!" he tried to shout, but the grip around his neck tightened, making the darkness around the edges of his vision increase.
"Keep him here," the leader of the group ordered, "We'll find the girl."
Three of the men walked towards Ellie's location, making Joel start to struggle in the man's grip.
"Leave her alone," he hissed, feeling some anger and fear course through him.
The man looked like he was about to say something, but was stopped when Joel's fist connected with his temple, knocking him out.
Joel quickly ran behind some trees for cover, aiming with his pistol and taking two of the men down. The only one left was the archer.
The archer aimed an arrow at him, but it never left the bow. The man fell down towards the ground with a bullet in his head.
Joel stood still, panting a bit as adrenaline rushed through him, making him look for any more hunters. When he didn't see any, his stance relaxed and he quickly ran over to where Ellie was.
He was surprised when he saw that Ellie was no longer stuck under the horse; a huge and messy gash in its side and a blood trail leading into the forest.
"At least she managed to get out," Joel muttered, "Now the hard part is following her."
He knew that the blood trail would lead him towards Ellie, but worry nagged at him when he wasn't sure if the blood was the horse's or Ellie's.
She'll be fine, he thought as he continued to follow the trail, she's already proven that she can take care of herself for a while.
Joel swore quietly when he felt that it was starting to rain.
"Great, just perfect," he muttered, finding the blood trail harder to keep track of with the rain washing it away and the sky darkening.
He came to a condensed area of fallen trees and roots, finding that the blood trail stopped near some leaves.
Joel bent down to try and find anything else that would lead him towards Ellie, but found that the leaves had been washed clean of any other trail by the rain.
He sighed, feeling somewhat helpless.
You have twenty years of experience, you should have something to go off of, Joel thought but then shook his head, taking cover in a thick area of trees a few meters away.
It'll be easier to find her in the morning, he thought, trying to not worry so much. Even so, he knew he wouldn't be getting much sleep that night.
Ellie groaned as she woke up to an intense pain in her leg. She opened her eyes and found herself lying sideways against the inside of the hollow tree.
Her leg started to pull instantly towards her body to get up, but she winced when the pain got worse.
She curled herself into a ball and glanced down at her leg, seeing dry blood and red skin.
"Not good," she muttered, but stopped when she heard rustling in the leaves outside.
They're back, Ellie thought with fear as she took out her switchblade.
She held her breath, hearing the rustling leaves stop as if the group was searching for her.
You won't find me, Ellie thought, but a pained noise left her mouth as fire spread through her leg.
"No," Ellie whispered as she heard the rustling get louder, but she was then surprised to see Joel's face pop into the opening of the log.
"Ellie, when did you get in here?" Joel asked, and she saw relief and confusion on his face.
"Where were you?" she demanded angrily, feeling tears start to blur her vision, "You scared me half to death!"
"Got a little preoccupied with the group," Joel stated, and she nodded as she relaxed a bit.
At least I know he didn't leave, Ellie thought with relief, putting her switchblade back into her pants pocket.
"Can you get out here?" Joel asked, and Ellie wondered if he had seen the condition of her leg yet, or if he was thinking she was stuck.
"I can try," she replied as she bent back to grab her backpack behind her, "Here!"
Ellie passed her backpack forward, and the only reply she got was a confused expression. She was glad he didn't ask.
She started to turn herself around, another noise leaving her mouth when her injury scraped against the hard bark of the tree.
Joel stared at her with a worried expression, making her feel bad that she couldn't hide her pain easier.
"Sorry," she muttered as she started to climb out of the tree, biting her lip as pain kept assaulting her.
When she was completely out of the hollow tree, she fell at the slight incline up to it. Her hands scraped against the ground, making her winced.
She positioned herself up against a tree, and heard Joel swear when he saw her leg.
"When did you get this?" he asked, grabbing gauze out of his backpack. She shook her head, slightly embarrassed by what she was going to say next.
"Wasn't watching where I was cutting," she muttered, wincing as Joel wrapped the gauze around her leg.
"We'll clean it when we get to a river," Joel stated, and she just nodded, making a worried expression come onto his face, "You ok?"
"As well as to be expected in this situation," Ellie forced out as Joel helped her up, letting her lean against him for support.
Her leg still felt like it was on fire, but it felt better since Joel had somewhat stemmed the bleeding.
"Who were they?" she asked, and then thought that she should probably have specified what she was meaning.
"Hunters," Joel said with a shake of his head when she was going to continue, "they prey on anyone traveling outside of the quarantine zones."
Ellie nodded, seeing the truth behind his words.
"Well, the longest I have ever ridden a horse is an hour," she said, as both of them laughed.
"We did lose our supplies though," she said a moment later, and Joel shook his head.
"We will hopefully find more," he stated, and Ellie could tell that behind his words that he was worried.
"At least we didn't lose these though," she said, motioning to their backpacks.
Joel nodded, but didn't say anything more, instead helping her try and walk.
This is my fault. If I would have just shut up like Joel wanted me to, we wouldn't be in this mess, Ellie thought as she glanced over at him and sighed.
"Everything ok?" Joel asked when he heard her sigh. She shrugged.
"Not really," she muttered.
"How come?" Joel questioned, and she wanted to smack him for not realizing the obvious.
"We just lost nearly all of our supplies, and are back to walking on foot across the country," Ellie stated, staring at him.
"Yes, but in situations like these, we need to take what he have and find the best possible outcome," Joel explained, making Ellie glance down at her wrapped leg.
"Adapt," she muttered, "Sure, but all you've been doing is bandaging me up. Seems like I'm more trouble than I'm worth."
Ellie knew she was always getting into trouble, even back at the boarding schools. Although, no one really had paid attention to them back there, so they could intentionally get away with it until they were caught. Out here, she knew her mistakes could get them killed.
She heard Joel sigh, knowing he either didn't know how to respond, or he could possibly be agreeing with her.
"Everyone makes mistakes, Ellie," he said after a while.
"You don't," she said, glancing up at him. She heard him sigh again, and an expression she couldn't identify came onto his face.
"Even I make mistakes," Joel answered, and then continued, "Let's say that I've just been making them longer than you have."
Ellie felt curiosity enter her, but she tried to stem it; finding it somewhat rude if she would ask about his personal life again.
"What kind of mistakes?" she asked, trying not to offend him too much. She knew he didn't like talking about his past; she understood that much from personal experience.
"Not all mistakes are obvious," he explained, "some are only seen as mistakes through one pair of eyes, some are viewed as mistakes by dozens. I guess it just depends who was witness and what they thought."
Ellie nodded, a question forming in her mind. She bit her lip, trying to decide whether to ask it or not.
"Do you think us traveling together is a mistake?" she asked after a moment. A thoughtful expression appeared on Joel's face.
"Well, the answer could be different for both of us or the same," he explained, "Sometimes you have to wait till the end to decide that."
They walked for a while, and Ellie passed the time by looking at the forest around them. Most of it seemed the same, but she knew that if she looked close enough, she could find differences in each of the areas they passed.
Ellie's attention was drawn towards the sounds of another river. She glanced at Joel and knew he had already noticed it.
When they got close enough to the river, Joel helped her lean against the trunk of a tree, and she realized just then how much her leg hurt.
While Joel went to the river with a piece of gauze, Ellie rolled up her pants at the bottom of her leg. She quickly sucked in her breath in shock when she saw the condition of her leg; red flesh that was probably infected, and dried blood.
Ellie resisted the urge to throw up, knowing if she did that it would just cause another mess.
Joel came back with the gauze, now wet with water, and started to clean her leg. Ellie bit her lip, not sure if cleaning the cuts on her hand had been more or less painful.
When he was done washing her leg, Joel rewrapped it with gauze. Ellie had started to get up, but Joel stopped her.
"What?" she asked, "Shouldn't we keep going?"
"We can rest for a bit," Joel answered with a shake of his head. Ellie bit her lip, feeling like a burden.
"I can keep going," Ellie insisted, trying to ignore the flaming feeling in her leg. Joel gave her skeptical look.
"Not with your leg," he stated, and continued when she was going to protest, "It's better to rest periodically than to let it get worse later."
Ellie knew there was no use fighting with him; he was right after all. She leaned back against the tree, closing her eyes for a moment. A strange question came into her mind.
"Do you have a last name?" she asked, and the way Joel was looking at her made her want to laugh.
"Why?" he asked, and she knew he was somewhat guarded, maybe a bit shocked at her random question.
"Just wondering. I remember hearing that people used to have last names to identify what family they belonged to a long time ago," Ellie said, hoping to get an answer.
Joel didn't answer for a moment, and she started to feel impatient.
"Do you?" she asked again, provoking a sigh from Joel.
"Do you have a last name?" Joel repeated her question, this time aimed at her.
Ellie thought for a moment; she didn't remember ever having a last name, being born after the pandemic started after all.
"No, I don't think so," she answered, "I've only just ever been Ellie."
"There you have it then," Joel said as he motioned with his hand, making her somewhat disappointed.
"So you don't have a last name?" she questioned, frowning a bit.
Joel gave her a thoughtful look.
"I had one a while ago, but it's been a long time since it's been used," Joel answered, "It's not like anyone uses formalities anymore."
Ellie nodded, seeing the truth in what he was saying. She bit her lip, knowing he probably wouldn't like what she asked next.
"Can you tell me your last name?" she asked, and Joel gave her a look.
"Let me explain this to you," Joel said after a moment, "there are two types of questions that you ask: informational questions and annoying questions."
"Annoying," she repeated, feeling somewhat angry at him, "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Information questions are mostly self-explanatory by the name," Joel continued, "Annoying questions have different categories."
Ellie thought this was one of the dumbest things she had ever heard.
"Categories like?" she questioned, hoping he would explain and that where he was going was actually worth listening to.
"Questions about personal life, among other things," he stated, and Ellie sat there, thinking that Joel was making no sense.
"So, the only thing I learned from that is that you are self-conscious," Ellie stated, and then started to laugh at the look on Joel's face.
Joel sighed, but she could see him slightly smiling.
"Maybe I need to find a better way to explain that," Joel muttered, and Ellie nodded, still laughing.
Ellie had dozed a bit after that, and was woken up a while later by Joel gently shaking her shoulder. She realized it was getting dark.
"You all right to keep moving?" he asked as she started to stand up, grabbing her backpack.
She gently tested her weight on her leg, and even though it still hurt a bit, it wasn't as bad. She nodded.
"Where are we going this time?" Ellie asked, wondering if they were just going to walk the whole way across the country.
"I know someone who might be able to help us," Joel answered and at her amused look continued, "and his name is Bill."
Ellie tilted her head for a moment, thinking.
So Unknown Friend #1 is still unknown, Unknown Friend #2 is Tess, and Unknown Friend #3 is Bill, she thought, wondering who the person was who had asked Joel to bring her to the Fireflies was.
"So Unknown Friend #3's name is Bill," Ellie muttered, then her eyes widened when she realized Joel had heard her.
"Unknown Friend #3?" Joel questioned, shaking his head with an amused expression on his face.
"I had to have something to call them!" Ellie stated, trying to defend herself while trying not to laugh, "You wouldn't tell me their names at first!"
This got both of them laughing, and Ellie realized she was putting them in danger with all of the noise.
She bit her lip, trying to be quieter.
"We can walk longer since we took that break," Ellie said, trying to change the subject.
"I'm hoping to walk through most of the night and then take another break near dawn," Joel explained, making her nod.
It would be a strain on her leg, but it would be somewhat safer than staying in one place.
"Do you need to sleep?" she asked, knowing Joel was probably more tired than she was.
"I rested a bit while you did," he answered, and she wondered if he was a light sleeper.
It sure seems like it, she thought as she stared at him, he doesn't seem to need much sleep, and he can wake up easily. Maybe that's just normal for him.
Ellie opened her mouth to ask, but then remembered Joel's speech about 'annoying questions'. She guessed what she had to ask fell into the 'among other things' category.
She glanced over at Joel and saw him smile a bit; making her frustrated when she realized that had been his plan in the first place. She shook her head.
"How do you know Bill?" she asked, wondering what kind of person they were meeting.
Joel gave her a wary glance before answering.
"I've known him for a while now. Met him shortly after the infection started," Joel explained, making her nod.
"Did you know each other before the infection?" she asked, knowing that Joel probably wasn't very keen into revealing a lot of information. He seemed to hesitate a bit before continuing.
"I saw him around town every once in a while," he explained, but didn't say any more.
"Where exactly is Bill?" she wondered, knowing that people could move around freely outside of the quarantine zones.
"We should be meeting up with him soon, maybe in a few days," Joel said, making her somewhat relieved, "I know he has a safe house, but that depends if he is still there. A lot of things can change in the course of a few months."
Ellie tilted her head in confusion, but didn't ask. She didn't want him clamming up again.
"Is Bill like you and Tess?" she asked hesitantly, looking away from him.
Ellie knew that she had grown to trust Joel, despite what he did for a living, and that he wasn't that bad of a person once you got to know him, but she wasn't very excited about meeting Tess.
Let's hope Bill isn't the same way, she thought with some worry.
Tess had been somewhat nice near the end, but Ellie hadn't really trusted her.
"Yes and no," Joel said, answering her question, "Bill is similar to us, but he operates on his own, outside of the quarantine zones."
"So he doesn't work in the black market?" Ellie questioned, and Joel nodded.
"Not now anyway," he added, making her curious.
"Does he know Tess?" she asked, and he nodded. She could tell he was starting to not like the direction her questions were going in.
"So, were those annoying questions?" she questioned, changing the subject to something she hoped was more comfortable.
She heard Joel laugh slightly.
"Partially annoying questions," he answered, making her smile a bit.
Ellie didn't say anything after that, afraid that the Infected or more hunters would find them.
Joel hadn't objected to her silence, and she guessed that it was more welcoming to him. She would glance at him from time to time, trying to figure out where they were going or what was on his mind.
Let's hope Bill's at his 'safe house', Ellie thought as the pain in her leg grew worse.
"We can stop here for now," Joel said after a while, probably realizing she had started to limp.
Ellie sat down on a log, seeing the sky lighten a bit. It was still dark out, but at least she could see Joel without having to squint.
"How long have we been walking?" she asked, hoping it had been longer than she thought.
"Most of the night, so we should be fine," Joel answered, making her curious.
"Do the Infected having sleeping times?" she asked, and Joel gave her a thoughtful look.
"No, I don't believe so, but they do prefer darker places and nighttime over the daytime," Joel answer, "we have a less likely chance of running into them in the daytime though."
"That's why we stop closer to the daytime then?" she questioned, and Joel nodded.
"You should get some sleep," Joel stated, and she nodded, lying down with her back against the log.
She closed her eyes, dozing a bit. When she opened them again, Joel was still keeping watch, and she could tell she hadn't been asleep for long.
Ellie stood up, going to sit beside him. He sighed when he saw her.
"You're going to regret this when we start moving again," he stated. Ellie knew he was telling the truth.
"I know, but I can't sleep," she said, and then figured what she was about to do next to him was his worst nightmare.
"What do you plan to do when we get to Bill?" she asked, and thought she could hear Joel's frustration at her questioning him at this hour, "I mean, what can he help us with?"
"Transportation," Joel stated, sensing that he really didn't want to talk.
"Is there by any chance he has spare horses too?" she questioned, becoming confused when Joel shook his head.
"No, but hopefully he can help us with a car," he stated, making her even more confused.
"He's going to have a spare car lying around," Ellie said as she glanced at him.
"That's what I'm hoping," Joel answered, making her even more confused.
"But how is that even possible?" she asked, feeling none of the answers coming into place.
"Where Bill lives is like a junkyard," Joel explained, "Lots of spare parts. Most stuff would be useless, but some of it can be of some use."
"So, how are you going to convince him to give you a car?" Ellie asked, understanding a bit more, "It's not like he'll hand something that valuable over."
"You're right," Joel said with a slight smile, "but he owes me."
The simple statement was enough to make her laugh.
I know, the separation was short, but it was supposed to show how much Ellie realizes she needs Joel in the world outside of the quarantine zones. So now you know they are headed towards Bill's safe house. I have theorized from what I researched so far that there are two times they could head to Bill's safe house in the game: one, they could head to the safe house and get the car before Pittsburgh (which is what I am using for this fanfiction), or two, they could wreck the car during the car ambush, and then make their way towards Bill's safe house for a new one (which is what I am guessing they will use for the game). Sorry that was a bit random, but I just thought it was interesting that there can be so many different ideas. Either way, please tell me any ideas or comments in a review!
-AnimeWolfGirl9
