Hey Hey Hey! Finally found WiFi from where I'm living! hahaha
This chapter is pretty long and hopefully you guys like it and haven't forgotten about me yet!
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Jelloe
Chapter 7 – Joel – Done This Like a Million Times
"She's really upset you know." Sarah said in a worried expression. Like hell she knows about Ellie.
"You know Sarah, I haven't caught that yet. Thanks for telling me. I'll keep that in mind." I said sarcastically. I got up and was about to leave when she said, "She's pretty stressed you know."
"Excuse me?" I asked. I'm not believing that we're having this conversation. I turned my back to her and said, "She's a teenager. They're bodies are changing, don't pull that shi-"
"Her heart could be failing. She might not live as long as you expect if this continues. I need you to take care of this. She could die. It's still too early to determine what her condition is. I need you to tell me what is wrong. This problem only just occurred. We can still help her." Worry began to grow in her face. My chest felt heavy and I began to grow dizzy. I was stunned. I can't lose her. Not like this. I turned around trying to keep a calm composure of myself. "What did you say?"
"Her heart? It's beating very, very slowly. You're the only close person that she has. Since I am a woman… and a doctor, I can probably relate and help her out as well. Do you care to explain what happened?" Sarah continued to look concerned.
I took a deep breath and explained everything. Explaining everything about Marlene and her being Ellie's surrogate mother, allowing the surgery that could lead to Ellie's death. I also told her about how the vaccine could have failed. Sarah looked at me analyzing my face as I was talking. "You happy now?" I said after explaining.
"So you lied to keep her safe. Understandable. Killing her surrogate mother? Not cool. Marlene takes the risk of making the vaccine by killing one of her best friend's daughter? That's just pure evil. Yeah. Ellie's in denial. She knows what you did is justified but can also be unjustified. What I would recommend for you? Give her time. Show her the bright things in life and slowly grow that relationship back. You know why? Look at us Joel. Look at her. She probably never knew what a good life was. Show her things that you did back before all this commotion. She'll understand how important her life is. When was the last time she felt relaxed other than sleeping?"
"We were always on the run. We couldn't afford being-"
"Exactly. She's always been on the run. Look at this place. This is like home now. Teach her fun things – hobbies like sports, activities, games. Et cetera. The things you do daily affects the personality of the individual."
"Is this conversation over yet?
"This is for the good of both of you guys."
"Whatever." I got up and was about to leave when she started to talk again. "Oh and Joel?"
"What the hell do you want now?" I moved my head backward.
"Be more positive in front of her. She looks up to you. She learns from you. I've noticed that."
"Being positive isn't something you can afford nowadays."
"Just try."
"Yeah sure." I replied.
I closed the room and took a deep breath. That was too much to take in. I guess I should just give it a try. The sun was still out, glaring down at our fortress. The spring sun shined bright on my face. I took a deep breath and began to look for Ellie. Kids were around playing tag and hide and seek. Ellie was too young for them. As I looked around, I saw Tommy teaching Nate about how to shoot a gun. Maria was in the prep room analyzing the map and ordering some free guards around. "Hey," I said walking up to Maria, "You've seen Ellie around?"
"Hell, how would I know? She's been everywhere ever since she came here. Why?" Maria said.
"When you find her can you come find me? I need to talk to her."
"Ok first of all, what's the matter with both of you?" Maria glared at me and pursed her lips.
"Go ask Tommy." I left and walked away continuing to look for Ellie.
"She's not that mad at you, you know. She just doesn't know if she should trust you or not. Killing a woman that she cared about is pretty serious."
"Oh so you do know?" I turned around and glared at her.
"So what if I do?" Maria stood her ground and glared back.
"I don't have time for this." I turned back around and left.
"When you find her, you better fucking thank me." Maria yelled back at me. What the hell was she talking about?
After another half-hour of searching, I finally found Ellie sitting against the outside wall of our bedroom writing in her diary. "There you are." I said.
"What?" She asked quickly putting her diary away.
Thinking about what Sarah said, I decided to listen to her. I closed my eyes and tried to smile. "You want to go take a hike?" I continued to keep the forced smile on and looked at her.
"Fine," She got up, "Let's go." As soon as she walked by me I put down the smile. I never liked to smile.
I turned around and followed Ellie. She was waiting outside our little room. "C'mon let's go" Ellie said. I grabbed my backpack supplied with the same items throughout our journey and left our room.
We left the fortress and went towards the woods. I avoided the west part knowing that the rebels had their camp setup there.
I decided to let her decide where to go. "Where you wanna go?" I asked.
I noticed Ellie's face a little bit surprised. "Uh, let's see," She looked around and then said, "Let's go hiking there." Ellie pointed at a forest. "Second time going hiking through the forest with you." Ellie said.
"Alright. You can lead the way this time." Christ. This is hard.
"Wait what? Seriously?" Ellie asked.
I nodded, "Yeah. Seriously. Still gotta be careful though. Don't know what would be roaming around in that fore-"
"Got it! Let's go!" Ellie smiled and led the way. It's been awhile since I've seen her smile like that. A full smile. Not just a smirk.
As we neared the forest, Ellie began to look around. The trees were budding from spring, the grass was just starting to grow green. Flowers were opening up to the warm spring air. Ellie saw a bush of blueberries and asked, "Wait, this is where blueberries come from?"
"Yeah," I said, "You can pick some and eat 'em if you'd like. They won't harm ya."
Ellie plucked a blueberry from the bush and ate it. Her face contorted and spat it out. "Shit, that's sour."
"They're probably not ripe yet," Joel replied, "You like blueberries?"
"Yeah. They're super sweet." Ellie began to walk again and smelled a blue and white flower. She got back up and took a deep breath. "C'mon, I wanna see more!"
Ellie jogged through the forest and asked repeatedly what things were. I answered my best knowing that I'm not the best at wildlife. "Now don't be touching that Ellie." I pointed at a 3 leaved plant lying on the ground.
"What's that? Just looks like a regular plant to me."
"It's poison ivy."
"Poison? Would I like… Die or something if I touched it?" She asked.
"Not exactly. It'll make your skin itch like hell."
"I thought forests were always safe."
"They sure can be peaceful. Yeah." I said looking up at the tree covered sun, glinting down at my face. The blue sky and clouds really made the forest unique and peaceful. Been awhile since I took an actual hike.
"Woah! What animal is that?" Ellie pointed at a squirrel.
"You seriously don't know what a squirrel is?"
"Squirrel… Nope! Never seen 'em before."
"Oh come on. They're everywhere." I said to her. The squirrel curiously looked at her and began to move towards her. "Ellie, those things can be dangerous if it bites you. Don't let it bite you now." Sarah had rabies once.
"I won't." Ellie replied while opening up her hand. The squirrel moved towards her and paused along the way towards her hand. I picked an acorn and gave it to her. "Palm out. Don't let it bite you."
"Yeah got it." She put the acorn on her hand and beckoned the squirrel towards it. The squirrel leaped onto Ellie's hand, took the acorn, and ran away. "That's so fuckin' cool," She said to herself, "Well not as cool as those long-necked things." She said to me.
"Giraffes" I said to her.
After another hour of hiking, we decided to head back to Tommy and Maria's camp. We trudged along the path we walked through and looked around the forest. "Hey Joel?" Ellie said looking up.
"What?" I asked her
She stopped and turned around, "Look, I know that… I've been acting kind of like a bitch lately to you… and I know that you're worried about me. Marl-" Ellie paused, "She was like a mother to me you know? And I've grown to trust her-"
"Yeah I got it." I said to her. "We need to move, it's getting late."
"Look, me and you have been through a lot more things than me and her. I trust you more than her, but just promise me. That all you said about killing her, and all you said about her killing me for a cure… Promise that all that's true. I know that you lied. To keep me safe. Let's get all this over with," Ellie looked at me desperately, "You're the person that I trust the most."
"I promise." I said sincerely, "If you still don't believe me, the firefl-"
Ellie hugged me before I finished, "Yeah. We'll see. I trust you. Thanks for sticking with me."
"So why'd you stop pouting on me?" I asked
"Maria."
"Typical." I chuckled as I hugged her back, "We gotta move. C'mon, lead the way."
Ellie stopped hugging me and we headed back to the fortress. As we walked closer to the fortress, we began to hear screaming and yelling. I turned to Ellie and we stared at each other. "You lead the way." Ellie said.
"Stick close to me." I replied while taking out my pistol from my backpack. Ellie did the same thing as well. We went to the entrance but no one opened the wall. "What the fuck is happening?" Ellie said.
"C'mon. The hole." I ran along the wall and moved to the western side of the fortress. The wall didn't look fixed but had a wooden slab that fell off. We began to hear infected and crouched down. "Fucking rebels. We can't live here anymore."
"Close to me." I said.
We crouched down and went through the hole. Surprisingly enough, the infected weren't inside. I threw a bottle just to make sure but no infected were in the abandoned factory. We stood up and saw infected and humans sprawled dead on the floor. "What the fuck happened." I said to myself.
We opened the factory door and ran outside. Infected were running everywhere; in the homes biting the last of the civilians who were yelling. Kids were sprawled dead on the floor as well. Blood were in puddles from the dead civilians, pieces of skin were seen in some of the puddles.
"Oh my god" Ellie said, "That was Max…" A young adult was staring off to oblivion, lifeless, and pale. "Look. They're all over there."
I caught a glimpse of the people in a room. Tommy crouched outside and beckoned us towards the survivors. I looked for a route but there wasn't any way for us to get through because of the infected everywhere. The only choice is to kill. I looked at the supplies in my backpack and took out two shivs. Ellie took out her knife and followed me from behind. A runner was standing in front of me covering his face and grunting. I grabbed his neck and strangled him until he stopped thrashing. We hid next to a turned over table and I looked over to scan the area. Two clickers were in the way of our path. I looked to Ellie who looked back in her calm composure. I crouched down and took out the clicker with my shiv. I ran to the next cover and hid from the infected. As soon as I was about to leave from cover, Ellie patted me on the shoulder and pointed off to my left. It was Nate. He stared at me with fear and pointed at his leg. It was bleeding. I looked back at Ellie and whispered, "He got bit. We can't do anything." Ellie's face saddened, looked at the floor, and took a deep breath. I turned my head back to Nate and shook my head sideways sadly. Nate stared at me and he began to cry. He took something out of his pocket. It was a gun. He turned the safety off and stood up. Nate shot the clicker in front of us and also shot other infected behind us as well. "GO!" Nate screamed.
"Shit." I said to myself. We ran to the room where everyone was sheltered hoping not to see Nate getting torn to bits. We go to the room and the door slammed behind us. "Where the fuck were you?" Tommy screamed.
"Enjoying our old life," I said to him, "We went hiking."
"Who the fuck has time for that? Especially you. Hell, you don't even bother doing that shit anymore. Why in God's name would you do that during these times?"
"Reckon we might as well since I thought this was some type of fucking safe place." I glared at Tommy.
"You've changed Joel." Tommy said silently
"Yeah? Well people change for the good of others." I glanced at Sarah who looked back at me with a hint of happiness in her face. I stood up and asked, "How many?"
"No idea."
I leaned against the wall next to a window and looked out. Nate was still standing up firing as more infected came. He began to fumble for ammo and he put the gun against his head and shot himself in the head. Ellie was on the other side of the wall and saw everything. She's seen worse things. As for the parents and children who caught a glance, some grimaced and others began to cry. Ellie stared at where Nate was, then looked at the floor, and kicked a small rock. "Poor soul, he was a natural." Tommy said. Kids were in the back trying not to cry and I pursed my lips looking at the backs of the infected tearing at Nate's dead skin.
"How many guards dead?" I asked.
"Two," Tommy replied, "Including Nate. I only taught him once. He probably just killed five infected. Would have been a great guard. Five survivors dead or hiding; two children – Sam and Kate, three adults – Emma, Julia, and Max." Tommy looked down. Survivors were crying, trying not to create attention.
Little kids were holding onto their parents, face dug into their pant leg or belly, whimpering and sniffling. The room felt somber, candles were lit, the walls were dirty covered with dirt and who knows what, the floor was wooden and dirty with patches of blood and black colored stains. I walked upstairs with Ellie following me, guards were sitting there staring at the dirty floor – some with guns. The floors creaked and whined each time I took a step, telling me that there was already enough people up on the roof. I turned around and told Ellie to go back downstairs. I looked out the window – the infected were still outside walking around and grunting. There was a good ten or fifteen of them only out in the this small street. I walked toward Tommy and sat down. "So. What's the plan now?" I asked
"Hell, how would I know? Firing's too risky. What's your plan?" replied Tommy
"Do we even have a god damn choice?" I replied, "Where the hell's Maria?"
"Locked herself in the armory. We tried to get as many guns, but this was all we got from her. Some guards upstairs have guns as well."
I saw a small pile of pistols, a shotgun, and two rifles. "How much ammo we got?" I asked.
"Hell, barely any."
"Well you and your guards better make those shots count."
I turned around to Ellie and I nodded. She nodded back.
She knew the drill.
I knew the drill.
"You keep us covered," I said, "We're going outside."
"Just you two?
"Just us two." I answered, "If the area's clear, have the guards come out. Silently."
Tommy nodded, "You be careful out there big brother."
I nodded and we opened the door to the cool afternoon air.
"We'll be fine. Done this like a million times right?" Ellie took a deep breath and crouched down with me.
We don't know what else is out there in this safe haven, but luck doesn't seem to run out on us.
Let's just keep it that way.
