A/N: Another chapter for you guys. I don't know how far the story will go but as long as I keep having ideas i'll keep making them.
Kaze was moving while crouched and using the bushes to hide.
After moving a bit further he saw man standing up. It was a hunter, and Kaze was right behind him
He immediately raised his rifle and fired.
Puff.
The hunter fell forward lifeless.
However Kaze noted that there was somebody laying on the ground besides the hunter. He didn't saw that person before because the hunter blocked his field of view.
He exited the bushes and saw that the person laying on the snowy ground was a girl with red hair.
"No No No it can't be-"
Her throat was cut and there was blood all over.
It was Ellie.
Kaze quickly opened his eyes and grabbed his shotgun.
He looked around while aiming with it.
He was inside a small bedroom; it was the guest room from Ellie's house.
As he lowered his gun Kaze stand up and looked at his watch that was on the table
4:46
"Fucking nightmare" he thought
It was the second nightmare he had, even with the bad things he had done they never came back to haunt him.
But since Ellie appeared in his life he started to experience them again.
He walked out of his room while putting his shotgun at his back.
After a few seconds of walking silently he got near Ellie's room and slightly opened the door.
From there he could see that Ellie was lying on the bed sleeping like an angel.
"I'm glad you are okay" he whispered before gently closing the door.
As he turned around he saw that Joel was staring at him.
"What are doing?" Joel asked
"Just checking if she was okay"
"Let's go to the living room, we have to talk"
Once at the living room they sat in front of each other.
"He's probably gonna interrogate me" Kaze thought
"Do you really care about her, don't you?" Joel asked.
"I... Yes I do"
"Nightmares?"
"She died in my dream"
"I see"
Joel POV
He noted that Ellie and Kaze became more closer since yesterday.
And after seeing Kaze checking on Ellie a few moments ago, Joel didn't knew if what they had was friendship or beyond that.
Kaze even had a nightmare, well he could have been soldier but he was still a boy.
"I'm worried about her" Kaze said interrupting Joel's thoughts
"She is pretty safe here"
"I'm not concerned about her safety, what worries me is her... Psychological condition"
"What do you mean?"
"She show signs of PTSD and Monophobia"
"How do you know?"
"I read books, and Mother teach me about psychology"
"And what are those?" Joel asked confused.
"PTSD is post-traumatic stress disorder, some people have it after a traumatic event. The person has flashbacks or nightmares of the trauma and it affects the personality."
"But it has been 2 years since David"
"PTSD can appear and reappear and, besides, when Ellie escaped to the forest she almost got... Raped, if I hadn't reached her in time ..."
These shocked Joel, he felt ashamed he wasn't there when she needed him.
It also explained why Ellie got closer to him.
"Besides she still haven't forgot about David, I think what happened back in the forest made what was buried deep inside her resurface" Kaze added
"How do you know about him?"
"Ellie told me, after she attacked me"
"She, what?"
"It's because I had the stupid idea of saying: everything happens for a reason. Then bam, she had the flashback and thought that I was David. That's why I got cut and an black eye"
Ellie attacked a friend? But that traumatic event happened 2 years ago.
"What is monophobia?"
"The fear of being alone or living without a certain person. Have you ever noticed that she always want to stay near somebody she likes?"
Joel felt even worse, most of the time he spent working at the town. Ellie stayed hours alone anxiously waiting for him, which probably made her psychological problems worse. Besides she didn't have too much friends.
"Can't we do something to cure her?"
"We can make her happy, but the how much she will recover it will depend on her. People react differently to traumatic situations. And also she won't be completely cured, traumas leave scars behind"
Scars... Yeah Sarah's death made Joel a very different person. But he didn't want Ellie to change drastically.
Joel started to blame himself; he lived with her for 2 years but didn't notice anything. Kaze only spent some days with her and he got some details Joel never noted.
"Just keep her busy Joel, believe me, a traumatized person with nothing to do and feeling useless will end up like me. An ice cube."
"What happened to you?"
"When I was 15, the quarantine zone I was got overrun by infected. The military had abandoned the civilians to their own luck.
I was with my friends but one by one they got bit, and one by one I shot them at the head before they could turn.
My father was with the military, he died at the QZ, and my mother died 1 year before that.
After escaping with the Colonel and his men, Mother saw that I was with PTSD and emotional avoidance. And before you ask, a person with emotional avoidance pushes emotions away."
"That seemed to have changed a bit" Joel said.
Joel noted that while Kaze was near Ellie he seemed to look more like a normal 18 year boy.
"Yeah, it seems that Ellie have the power to change people. Right Ellie?" Kaze said while looking at the corner where Ellie was hearing their conversation.
"Well it looks like I wasn't the only that woke up because of fucking nightmares" she said while appearing out of the corner.
"And before one of you asks I only heard Kaze talking about his life, I woke up some... Seconds ago" she added.
"It doesn't seem that it was a very bad nightmare, what was it about?" Kaze asked.
Kaze was right, if it was a serious nightmare Ellie would have cried and screamed.
"You first" Ellie replied while sitting next to Joel.
"I dreamed that... My rifle disappeared and I couldn't find it" Kaze quickly lied.
"Really?" Ellie commented not entirely believing.
"You may not understand but that rifle saved my ass a lot of times, it doesn't feel like an object it feels like it is a comrade" he added.
"I feel almost the same thing for my revolver" Joel commented while hoping Ellie would believe the lie.
"You guys are weird" she said sarcastically.
"Your turn now Ellie" Said Kaze.
"Well... In my dream, I was swimming at a lake when suddenly a shark comes out of nowhere"
"What is a shark?" Kaze asked confused.
"Hmmm I saw it in a school book, it's kind of a animal that lives at salt water, have a lot of sharp tooth and looks like a big fish"
"And is it dangerous?"
"I heard that could kill a person, anyways I tried to swim away but he was quicker. When it's about to bite me I woke up"
"That's weird, I mean why a shark would be at a lake?" Kaze asked
"Dreams are weird. What about you Joel?"
"Actually I woke up because I heard sounds of footsteps of somebody" Joel said putting emphasis in the last word while looking at Kaze."
"Ellie I think you forgot to tell me Joel had hearing of a clicker"
And they laughed.
The sound of the laugh filled the room, as happiness filled their hearts.
