Ch 9 The Lone Ranger
A/N: I got one strange comment on the story being a romance. Yes, I ship it. I know they have a age gap, but whatever floats your boat (No pun intended). I did have some other issues which I addressed in the end post. You guys are my community and this is the only place I get to talk about the game and the little world I made up in my head. I do love to address comments. Thanks to some of my favorites Galeonmoon, Serei, fakeasmile90, talath Rana and Jadzia Cee (To get on the shout out it is usually comments that made me think). To MoonGolem I responded at the bottom. Anyway, thanks for the reviews!
Here is the daily update! Ellie
Ellie sighed. The excitement of riding a horse gave way to boredom. It was no different than walking to Colorado, but her ass hurt more than her feet. She and Joel had been traveling for over three weeks, cutting straight across the land. Ugh, she mentally groaned. So far, there were hardly any people (or anything, for that matter). They had made decent time and found safe places to sleep, even though sleeping in fields left them exposed. Slowly but surely, the wide open fields with clumps of trees dotting the scenery gave way to forests. Mountains much taller than the ones they climbed back east were on the horizon.
She yawned. "Are we there yet?"
"Don't start that again."
She smiled as she pressed her cheek against his shirt. Joel radiated heat, which was a good thing. The weather grew colder. The night before, Ellie practically slept underneath him to keep warm. Not in that kind of way. He made for a great blanket.
They were riding on a broken highway that ran alongside a river. Ellie woke up more as Joel pulled on the reins. The horse shook his head, but stopped. Joel climbed down first.
"Come on down, Ellie. We've got to give the poor horse a break." He offered his hand to help her down.
"I can get down," she said as she took his hand. It wasn't bad having a little help. Her legs felt like jelly. "Oh, my ass." She leaned forward, stretching. "Why does it hurt so much?"
"I think this is why people invented cars." Joel grimaced, stretching out as well.
The horse began to drink from the river. "You know, we never gave the horse a name."
Joel's forehead wrinkled. "It's got a name. 'Horse' is its name."
"That's not cool. His name could be 'Lightning' or," she pursed her lips, "or 'Buttercup.'" Ellie thought that "Buttercup" sounded cute and delicious.
"I don't think you need to get attached to the thing," he answered gruffly.
Ellie frowned. He had a point, even if it was a stupid point. "I won't get attached like that. It's a horse."
"This trip was supposed to end at the capitol building."
"Joel!" She stomped her foot to make a point. "You– eh!" Her mind raced for something to say, but he just shook his head and went to check on the horse. You won that round. "Fine. Is 'Horse' okay?"
"Yeah. Just tired." Joel pet the animal's brown mane. "We'll gave him a break and walk."
"Fine. My ass can't take much more of the saddle, anyway."
"Mine either." Ellie stopped to look at the aforementioned ass. She had been doing a lot more of that recently. Joel's back left pocket was slowly falling off. He let the horse finish, then tugged on its reins. Horse took the hint and nodded his head as they made the way to the road.
The pair walked in silence. The only sound was the scuffling of feet on gravel and the flies buzzing. So many stupid bugs. They were finally getting close to their destination. Trees were popping up in larger and larger clumps.
-...-...-
It was lunchtime when they passed another abandoned house on the road, then another, and another. They were getting close to some town. She could feel it. Oh boy. Joel pushed on, his shoulders hunched as he watched for signs of survivors. He stopped suddenly. Shit. Ellie stepped up, slipping her gun out of the back of her jeans.
"Put the gun back," he growled. He never liked to see her with the gun, but sometimes it was necessary. She lowered it a few inches, but didn't holster it.
Joel started walking again, creeping past another house as they reached the end of the suburb. He motioned to Ellie to keep going.
The hair on the back of her neck rose and she tried to shake off an uneasy feeling. Horse felt the same way. He tugged on the reins, trying to get Joel to get his ass in gear.
"Joel, we really need to go," Ellie nudged him.
"Get on the horse."
Yep. You have the feeling, too. Shit's gonna hit. She grabbed the saddle and lifted herself up. "Get on," she told him. He was still scanning the houses, looking for something. "Come on!" Desperation was sinking in, knotting her stomach.
He pulled himself up and put her in front. It was a rush of his presence. His thighs were outside of hers and his arms locked around her waist. Shit, this shouldn't be that hot. Joel gave Horse a kick and sent them trotting down the road. This is a really bad time for this. His shoulders covered hers and she could feel him breathing.
Then, she followed Joel's gaze to something moving. It slunk by a tree. Stalker! "Joel! Stalker, on the left."
"I see it!" He tugged the reins slightly to the right and corrected their course.
She went for her gun again. If there was one, there would be more – many more. She lined up a shot at a runner.
"Put the gun down," Joel repeated. "We are not going to waste bullets on that." He pulled Horse to the left to avoid the threat.
She brought the gun down, but left the safety off. Things always went from bad to worse when infected were involved, and this time was no different.
They were rushed by four stalkers and two runners. "Oh, shit!" she yelled as the charge began. Joel was cursing behind her. Pop, pop, had his gun out, too, picking them off as he tried to keep the horse moving.
"Fuck!" It touched me! One brushed her leg. One. Brushed. Her. LEG! Ellie shot her gun. Thump. The runner dropped.
Horse was making circles and whining as the world spun. Ellie was getting sick.
"Ellie, hold on!"
Why? What is he going to – shit! The horse reared up, kicking at the runners. Okay, Winston never said anything about this! They slammed down and back up again. Joel's thighs clamped onto hers as he began to slide back. Ellie grabbed his wrist, his arms, whatever she could. "Joel!" They clashed down on the road again with a cry of the horse. Joel slid closer to her, bracing for the next go. Horse thrashed his head, snapping his teeth at the infected. Hands were everywhere, grabbing at their legs and at poor Horse.
"Joel!" Oh shit, not again. Ellie began to panic. Joel didn't give Horse another chance to throw them back because he yanked the reins hard to the left, straight into-agroupofmotherfuckinginfectedWHATTHEHELL!
Joel managed to kick a clicker in the head in the process of kicking Horse into gear. They were launched forward and he took the break to his advantage. The horde followed as Joel and Ellie raced down the road. Only after they couldn't see them did they slow down to a trot.
Joel steered Horse past another group of infected coming from a backyard. The horse's cries and the sound of gunshots were drawing attention. "Go there!" Ellie pointed to an opening by some abandoned cars, and Joel gave another kick, sending them racing through the gap. They just had to get to the end of main street. Then, they would be in the woods.
Being in the forest didn't help. They couldn't see very far through the thick trees and dense plants. It was an easy place for a stalker to hide. They charged through, leaving the bastards in the dust. Only when things were quiet did they slow to a walk.
"Are you okay?" Joel asked.
"Yeah." Ellie took a mental inventory of body limbs. At least she had immunity. "Are you okay? Did they bite you?" Her mind flashed back to the one that touched her leg.
"I'm fine. One bit my shoe." He leaned over to look to look at his boot. It was steel-toed, but the thing left its mark in the leather. "It's okay."
Her heart started beating again. "Good. Not about the shoe, but, you know," she rambled.
"I know." He pat her thigh.
"Is Horse okay?"
"I think so. We'll check tonight."
"Can they infect him?"
"I told you not to get attached. I don't think so, but maybe." Her heart sank. When Joel didn't know, it wasn't a good thing. There was some silence for a second.
He cleared his throat. "Do you want to stay up front, or would you like to switch?"
"I'm fine," she shrugged. It felt safe up front, and it was nice.
"Alright." He shifted so they both had a little bit more space. She didn't even realize they were that close.
Horse slowed down. He was as tired as they were, and Joel didn't even rush the pace. He just lulled over Ellie. "Hey," she started.
"Hm?"
"Are we there yet?"
He laughed. "No, and I'm not looking forward to Denver."
She smiled. "Do you think someone will be there this time?"
"Someone is always there. I just hope they don't want to kill us."
"They always want to kill us." She was rewarded with a chuckle, but then they fell into a comfortable, exhausted silence.
-...-...-
Only when they went miles away from that town did they finally give Horse a break. They dropped down to the ground as Joel scanned the area for a place to rest. Then, Joel inspected the horse's legs and sides. "A couple scratches," he said as he looked over its hind legs, touching a red spot. "Might be a bite." He leaned back up. "We'll just have to see how it does."
"I'm sure it will be okay." Ellie pet the horse. It turned to nuzzle against her. It's gonna be okay, she soothed herself.
"We'll watch it," he repeated. His voice didn't give hope.
"Such an optimist. Since you're in such a good mood, I think we have time for a pun," she threatened.
"Oh, God. Not that book," Joel groaned as he pet the horse's nose.
"Fine, I'll spare you. I'm not sure I told you yet, but you are pretty good with a horse, Tex." She gave Horse a pat.
He smiled. "Never really messed with them until the last couple years."
"Well, you were pretty heroic back there." She danced a little closer. He gave her a small smile.
"I was just hanging on." He knew he was pretty badass sometimes.
"Well," she danced right to his side. If I time this right… She popped up on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek, then dropped down. "Well, thank-ya, Sheriff, for saving little old me." She used her best southern accent and batted her eyelashes. "How will I repay you?" She swayed like the girls did in her mom's book with the cowboys on the cover. Man, mom liked only one kind of book.
"You're one weird kid." She stuck out her lip, giving him a pout. He pulled her underneath his arm. "How about you stay alive? That's good enough for me."
She nodded. "I think I got a name for Horse. Well call him Callus."
He shook his head. "Fine. Whatever, Ellie. You win this round."
A/N: I wanted a little more action and Denver should be tomorrow.
I just wanted to justify myself for the heck of it and my class is argumentative writing in terms of the AP test.
She is a smart kid, but she is a mixture of smart and innocent (Or at thats how I saw her while playing the game and writing her). Point 2, I work with teenagers and what they do know and don't know is amazing. Also, how teens relate subjects and ideas is what I love to see. 3. The bahamas was a gag in a way until I thought about it. I don't see Joel having that much money... and the islands are close (Mexico seemed out of the question). Also, the more I thought about places like are just an...ideal stereotype. Its like fiji (It takes awhile to find on a map), New York, and Europe. We have cultural ideas of places and talk about them like everyone know it, but it is just the stereotype. Sorry! When I am writing I try to make it make sense. Trust me, I googled the maps and to get to Denver walking and on horse. I do love to address comments.
