Jblover19 (Guest): Thank you and I believe the other Last of Us fanfiction you were meaning was "Survivors". That was the first one that I made on this forum. And it is possible for your request. I have been thinking through a few ideas, but have not been able to come up with something solid yet. I have so many ideas that need to be released yet that it is possible.
Wait. .YOU: Good guess :) You will just have to wait until next chapter to find out though!
Charizardflyer: Go for it! I'll gladly read it if you do make one :)
rangers123: These questions will definitely be answered by the end of the fanfiction; although the answers to them might be interpreted differently for each person.
Madalyn1000: Thanks!
Barrissandahsokafriendz: Haha, yeah Kevin is definitely becoming suspicious (as revealed in this chapter).
revencita: Yep :)
HeatherNightRiver: Glad you enjoy it :)
Chapter 8: The Three of Us
Kevin didn't know what to do when he saw Ellie's eyes close as she passed out. His eyes widened in shock as he tried to keep her unconscious form from falling off the edge of the walkway.
The tank controlled by the hunters was just below them, meaning that if Ellie fell, then they would all die. He definitely did want that.
Joel finally saw the problem he was having and used his arm to keep Ellie pressed up against the building.
"She seriously needs to stop doing this," Kevin muttered, feeling somewhat worried.
Ellie had almost passed out like this back at Bill's, but this time seemed somewhat different. She had looked like she wanted to say something, so maybe it was that she was warning them of something? Or maybe she wasn't feeling well? Maybe she wasn't immune at all, but was just trying to stop the guilt he felt? He had no idea.
"Kevin, you're going to need to keep her from falling until she wakes up or we can get her through the window," Joel started instructing him in a whisper, "I'm going to have to make sure everything is safe, so if she doesn't wake up by then we'll need to get her through the window."
Kevin nodded, taking a deep breath before Joel let his arm fall and snuck through the window. He had a hard time keeping Ellie against the building, but that wasn't the end of their problems.
He heard the sounds of a struggle coming from inside the window, and he instantly knew that Joel was in trouble. His conscience was divided; he had to make sure Ellie didn't fall, but he didn't want Joel to get killed either.
I should just try pushing her through the window, he thought, starting to inch along the walkway again while being able to somewhat keep Ellie from falling.
As soon as he got both him and Ellie in front of the window, he felt his balance starting to tip backwards. He quickly pushed Ellie through the window, expecting himself to fall backwards onto the pavement below or be spotted by the tank.
Instead, Ellie's shoe caught his leg when she fell forward, pulling him through the window as well. He landed on the ground hard, wondering how Ellie hadn't woken up from the impact.
"She must be having a deep sleep," he muttered, sitting up slightly. The scene in front of him was something he hadn't expected.
Joel was above another man, looking as if he were ready to attack him. Both had frozen their actions, staring at a kid who looked similar to the man. The kid had been pointing a gun at Joel, but had directed it in Kevin's direction when he and Ellie fell through the window.
Kevin quickly got up and stood in front of Ellie, who was still lying face down on the floor.
"Put the gun away Sam," the man who Joel had been attacking said to the kid after glancing at Kevin.
Joel walked over to where Kevin was, still wary of the two in the room. He let out a frustrated sigh when he saw what Kevin had gotten Ellie into.
"I said to get her through the window, not make her do a face plant," Joel muttered at him, making him frown.
"There didn't seem to be any other way to get her through it when she was passed out," he argued, watching as Joel picked Ellie up and leaned her against the wall.
Kevin stood behind Joel and stared at the two other occupants of the room, not sure of what to do. The kid also seemed to be wary of them, but the man was a bit more relaxed.
"Sorry about that; I thought you were one of those hunters," the man apologized to Joel.
"Yeah, me too," Joel replied, sounding somewhat cold. He was wary of them as well.
"When I saw those two fall through the window however," the man motioned towards Ellie and Kevin, "I knew that couldn't be the case. They don't keep children around, if you have noticed. Survival of the fittest and all."
"No kidding," Kevin muttered, glancing out the window to see that the tank had moved on.
One less thing to worry about, he thought, wondering if the man was hostile. He certainly wasn't acting like it now though.
"My name's Henry; this is Sam," the man motioned to the kid, whose gaze was directed at the ground slightly. Kevin realized he must be nervous.
"I'm Kevin," Kevin said and then motioned to Joel, "and this is Joel."
Joel gave him a stern look, making him frown.
"They introduced themselves, so at least they aren't trying to kill us," he argued, but then remember Ellie was against the wall behind them, "and this is Ellie. She would have already beaten me with the introductions, but she's kind of out right now."
The kid, Sam, gave a small laugh at his attempt to lighten the mood.
"Yeah, I kind of noticed," Sam said, making Kevin seem a bit more comfortable. Yeah, they weren't going to be killing each other anytime soon.
"How many are with you?" Joel asked, making the mood seem to darken again. Sam looked towards the ground again with some bitterness.
"They're all dead," he muttered, shocking Kevin a bit. Henry, however, lightly tapped the kid's shoulder.
"Hey, we don't know that," he said, and Kevin could tell the two were really close. They looked similar, so he was guessing they were family.
"There were a bunch of us," Henry continued, "Someone had the brilliant idea of going into the city to look for supplies. The hunters ambushed us, and now we're scattered. We're just trying to get out of here and to someplace safe."
"We could help each other," the comment flew out of Kevin's mouth before he could even stop it, making him receive another stern look from Joel.
"Kevin, don't," Joel stated sternly, making him frown.
"What about 'safety in numbers'?" he asked, motioning towards Ellie's still unconscious form behind them. What he really was trying to say was "we need as much help as we can get, especially with Ellie being unconscious", but he knew that he couldn't say that in front of the other two.
"He is right," Henry broke into their silent argument, "We could help each other."
Thank you that someone is open for the idea, Kevin thought, giving Joel somewhat of a glare.
"We have a hideout not far from here," Henry continued, somewhat shocking everyone, "It would be safer if we chatted there."
Joel waited for a moment, mulling things over. Kevin knew that he was being overly cautious; why else would Henry and Sam tell them their names and lead them to their hideout other than to help them?
"Alright, take us there," Joel said at last, picking Ellie up from where she was slumped against the wall.
Kevin wished that she would wake up soon; not that she wasn't pleasant when she was sleeping, but they had a major problem to attend to. He stared at her as Joel walked past him with her in his arms. She was peaceful when she was sleeping; it was better than having the threat of her punching him in the face or something when she was awake.
"Come on Kevin," Joel said, motioning with his head to follow Sam and Henry out the door, "Let's hope she wakes up soon."
Kevin trailed behind a bit, feeling somewhat tired. He knew he couldn't rest until they got somewhere safe, but it wasn't going to be easy to keep going like this. Sam stayed a bit further behind as well, but kept Henry in view.
Kevin thought about talking to him, but knew that they would have time while the "adults" talked over their plan. At least he hoped so.
They walked down a few flights of stairs and into a toy store. The tank started to move across the window, giving it a clear view of the inside. Kevin ducked down to hide. He glanced over to see that Joel had laid Ellie on the ground.
"How much further do we need to go?" Kevin asked after the tank was out of their view. His feet had started to ache again, and he was starting to worry that Ellie might not wake up after all.
"Not that far," Henry answered, standing up to glance out the window again. They were safe for now.
He heard a mumble come from over where Ellie was on the floor. He glanced over, seeing her mumble something, but he couldn't make out what it was.
"Can we wait to continue until she wakes up?" Kevin asked, glancing over at the other companions as he crawled over to sit beside Ellie. Joel had a doubtful look on his face, prompting him to continue, "She's going to wake up soon."
Kevin didn't really know if what he said was the truth; he just had a feeling that she would. Joel looked over at Henry and Sam for confirmation, considering that it was their hideout they were heading to.
"I don't see why not," Henry answered, standing nearby, "So long as the hunters don't find us, we should be able to stay for a while."
Kevin nodded his thanks, his gaze wandering back to Ellie. She seemed so similar to him, and he felt comfortable around her.
It's almost as if I've known her before, he shook his head, knowing the thought couldn't be possible. He would have remembered her if so.
Even though her demeanor was a bit more assertive than his, he still found similarities. They both seemed to be comfortable using some form of knives (shown by her switchblade), although he guessed that wasn't really uncommon.
"I just have to ask, but are you two siblings?" Henry asked, staring over at him and Ellie. Kevin knew that he was trying to make everyone more at ease.
"No," he answered, shaking his head. The question was strange, since Ellie even did look similar to him.
Maybe she is my lost sister or something, he thought, remembering how families had been torn apart by the military boarding schools.
He frowned, wondering why Ellie had exactly agreed to come with them, as well as her strange sense of knowledge about what would happen.
Ellie opened her eyes slowly, feeling somewhat groggy. Kevin was sitting beside her, and the room they were in seemed familiar.
"Have a nice nap?" Kevin asked jokingly, and she could tell that he had been worried.
"Yeah, I guess," she mumbled, glancing around. It seemed like she had missed something.
Her eyes widened when she saw Henry standing nearby, as well as Joel.
If Henry's here then that means…
"Sam," she whispered, seeing her other friend sitting near Kevin. Kevin seemed to grow nervous as a somewhat surprised and suspicious look appeared on both Henry and his younger brother's faces.
"Uh, yeah. She has this really strange thing about being right," Kevin explained with a nervous laugh, and the other two occupants of the room seemed to relax.
"What happened? Where are we going?" she asked, using the counters in the room to stand up. She still felt a bit weak, but at least the dizziness had gone away.
"You passed out. Henry and Sam are allowing us to stay at their hideout," Kevin explained, helping to steady her when she got up.
Their hideout, she thought, trying to remember what it looked like. She got a fuzzy image; colors blending together in a disorganized fashion. She shook her head, realizing that she couldn't remember.
"You alright to get going?" Joel asked, and she nodded, starting to follow him towards the door.
Henry looked back at Sam with a somewhat stern expression a moment later.
"What are you doing?" he asked his little brother, and she turned around to see her friend with a toy robot.
"I thought we could bring this with us," Sam explained, but when he saw the look Henry was giving him, he started to argue, "I have plenty of room-"
"What's the rule?" Henry interrupted his little brother, and Ellie was suddenly starting to feel awkward.
"'Only take what we need,'" Sam said with a sigh, letting the toy fall to the ground as he followed Henry and Joel out of the toy store.
Ellie glanced back and grabbed the toy robot, slipping it into her backpack as she remembered the record she had gotten for Kevin. She turned to walk out the door, seeing Kevin staring at her. He didn't say anything about what she did, and followed her out the door a moment later.
It wasn't long until they got to the hideout, and Ellie went with her two friends to sit on the couch while Joel and Henry went to talk about their "plan".
Sam seemed somewhat awkward around the two of them, and Ellie wasn't really sure how to fix it.
"Do you… like to read?" she knew she had to try, and she opened her backpack, careful to not let anyone see the toy robot inside. She saw Sam shrug, but she knew that he had mentioned that he at least enjoyed it.
Kevin seemed to catch on to what she was searching for; a smile appeared on his face as he watched her.
"You're going to like this," Kevin told Sam as she pulled out the Savage Starlight comic that she had showed Kevin in the car. She handed it to Sam, who gave a somewhat cautious look towards Henry. He started to read a moment later.
Both Kevin and her waited in silence as he read, and she guessed that both of them were just as excited to see their new friend's reaction.
"Where did you get this?" Sam asked after finishing, a happy expression on his face.
"One of Joel's friends gave it to me," Ellie said, and Kevin playfully punched her arm.
"Well, technically she took it," he said with a smile, and she knew she had to defend herself.
"It was just lying there!" she argued, and then started to laugh. Kevin and Sam joined in a moment later.
They talked for a while, and the conversation took many turns. Sam mentioned something about trying to find their group, and also that they were heading to the Fireflies.
"We're headed there too," Kevin said, and she could tell he was excited. An idea came into her mind, making her smile.
"Maybe we can stick together and find them?" she suggested, and they all nodded.
"Yeah, it'll be the three of us. We can be the three teenagers with strange pasts traveling in a messed up world!" Kevin said with enthusiasm, making her laugh.
"And we will survive!" she shouted, drawing a curious glance from Joel. He didn't ask though.
They all stared at each other and then started to laugh at their imaginations. The idea was good, but Kevin made it sound like a book summary.
"We should all get some sleep," Henry said as he walked over towards them, "We have a busy time tonight."
Ellie nodded, yawning a moment later. She saw Joel and Henry go to sit in a few chairs a few feet away. Kevin sat in a chair near the couch, where Sam was going to sleep. She walked over to another chair, sitting down and falling asleep quickly.
I was going to make this chapter longer, but I wanted to get it out. I thought this was a cute chapter, and I certainly had a fun time writing it. The next chapter will hopefully cover the second half of Pittsburgh and the Suburbs, as well as the plot twist at the end of the chapter! Today was also my birthday (and happy birthday to AnimeWolfGirl16 as well since it is her birthday too), so it would be awesome if I got some birthday reviews, although I would just like to hear what you thought either way! See you next chapter!
-AnimeWolfGirl9
