Author's Notes (PLEASE READ): There was a little bit of a situation with the chapters of the story. This was not supposed to be the 12th chapter, I had planned to have a different one. I ended up scrapping that one because frankly it was garbage. I put no thought into it, no effort, it was uninspired, and just wasn't up to the standards of the rest of the story. Instead of re-working it, I just skipped ahead to what would have been the chapter after that one because I couldn't find any way to recycle that theme. So what the ending note in chapter 11 said about "reviving an American tradition", forget that. That never happened.
So about this chapter: It can't be a true TLOU winter without something going horribly wrong. It will get really interesting towards the end, aka a mean cliffhanger. Just giving you a heads up beforehand. This chapter is also shorter than the others, but the next one will probably be longer.
Disclaimer: I do not own The Last Of Us or the characters, except the ones I introduce. All credit goes to Naughty Dog.
Brand New Start
CH. 12: Freeze
Winter had taken the place of fall in the valley, and with it came the bitter chill of the Wyoming December. Thankfully for Ellie, the memories from the winter before had subsided, at least for the time being. She could actually enjoy the snow like a normal teenage girl was supposed to. She and Hannah had even gone sledding down the street just outside the gate a couple times under the supervision of the guards. She was glad that she told Joel about last winter, because, like he said, she would feel better.
Joel, Ellie, Hannah, and Jeffrey all sat down at the booth with Tommy and Maria. Their plates were already waiting for them, so they could chow down as soon as they got there. "It's getting really cold out there," Ellie observed. Back in Boston, the winters never got that cold. Even the winter from the year before didn't seem as cold, except when she got caught in the blizzard.
"And it's only gonna get worse," Tommy said. "I assume y'all have heard Lyle's prediction by now."
Joel paused. He had heard that name around town, but couldn't put a face to it. He certainly hadn't heard anything about his prediction. "Lyle…" he ran through every face he had seen at Jackson, trying to remember who he was. "Is he the guy that's descended from the Native Americans that used to be in this area?"
"Yeah, that's him. He's the last survivin' member of his tribe. Anyway, he said that this winter's gonna be the worst this area's seen in over a hundred years. He knows his shit when it comes to weather, so I don't question him at all."
The news got Ellie down really quickly. "The worst in a hundred years?"
"Yeah. We'll have to really keep an eye on the plant because that river could freeze over completely. Not just a little ice on the surface; completely frozen."
"Well shit," Ellie said. "I think we're gonna need to get warmer clothes, Joel."
"So do we, dad," Hannah said to Jeffrey.
"We'll all head over to Paul's later to trade for some warmer clothing," Jeffrey said to the whole group. "They might be in kinda short supply though, so we might not be able to get a whole lot."
"Some is better than none at all," Ellie said. "Right now, let's eat."
Ellie and Joel were on their way over to Paul's with supplies to trade for winter clothing. Hannah and Jeffrey were going to see him later; since they had volunteered to help clean up around the diner. Joel and Ellie saw a large crowd gathered around Paul's house, and they all seemed to be furious at him.
"Were you even thinking, old man?! I think you're starting to go fucking senile!" one of the voices screamed.
"I'm sorry about this, but it was a fair deal," Paul defended himself.
"Fair to Lyle maybe, but what about us?!"
"He paid rightfully. What was I supposed to do, turn him away?"
"You certainly didn't have to give all the clothes away!"
Joel felt the need to step in. "What the hell's goin' on here?"
One of the people turned to Joel to explain what all the fuss was about. "Paul here, knowing that this winter's going to be brutal per Lyle's prediction, gave away all the winter clothes to him. He left the rest of us out in the cold, literally."
Paul interjected. "How many times do I have to tell you I didn't give them away?! I work in barter, it was a barter deal. He gave me supplies, I gave him what I saw as having equal value."
"You didn't have to give him all the clothes though!"
"I gave him what he asked for!"
The man doing the screaming at Paul turned back to Joel. "Joel, chime in for us here." Joel looked back and forth between the crowd and Paul. He could understand why they were all upset, but Paul had technically done no wrong. He and Lyle had made a simple barter, and Lyle was looking to stock up on winter clothes. "Anything to say, Joel?"
Joel didn't want to take sides, because he observed that there was no winning side to this argument. "If Lyle paid for his clothes... Paul ain't at fault-"
The entire crowd started screaming at Joel. He and Ellie quickly turned around and went back to the house. As they walked away, they heard one voice screaming at them amongst the chatter of the crowd. "Yeah, walk away! You'll freeze just like we all will!"
On the way back, they passed Jeffrey and Hannah each carrying a bag on their shoulders. They noticed that neither Joel nor Ellie were carrying any winter clothes. "Did you get any clothes?" Jeffrey asked.
"Paul's out," Joel told them.
"How can he be out?"
"We just waited too long to get them. It's first come, first serve, and we were too late."
"Well, now what?" Hannah asked her dad.
"I guess we'll just have to find other ways to keep warm. At least the house has good heat."
"Yeah, but you heard Tommy," Joel chimed in. "It's gonna be so cold, the river could freeze over and the whole plant could go down."
Jeffrey sighed as he recalled what Tommy said. "Well I guess we'll just have to pray it doesn't."
It was early morning of the next day. Everyone in the house was still asleep, and was not aware that it was abnormally cold in the house. Suddenly, Ellie awoke and immediately reacted to the bitter cold in the room. "Oh, fuck!" She sat up quickly in bed and hugged herself tightly, trying to warm herself up.
Her scream woke Joel up as well. "Ellie, what the - Goddamn!"
"Why the fuck is it so cold in here?" she asked as she got out of bed.
"I guess the plant went out after all. I wasn't expectin' it to do it this early into winter though."
"Did the plant go out or just our heat?" Ellie flicked up the light switch, and the lamps in the room both lit up. "Still got power, so it's not the plant. Our heat must've just gone out. Holy shit it's cold in here!"
There was a knock on their bedroom door, and they both called out for whoever it was to come in. Hannah opened the door and stepped in, shivering heavily. "Hey, why is it so cold in here?"
"Our heat went out," Joel told her. "No goddamn idea why though. We've still got power," he turned on the lamp to show her, "we just don't got heat."
Hannah stood in silence for a moment. "Well... I guess we better bundle up."
Ellie and Hannah sat on the couch downstairs, tightly bundled up in as much clothing as they could wear comfortably. Despite their multiple layers of clothing, they were still shivering. "Damn, I'm freezing my tits off," Ellie said.
"Stick the ends of your scarf down your shirt; it'll keep them warm," Hannah told her.
Ellie turned to Hannah. "I don't stuff, Hannah. I'd like to think I have a little more dignity than that."
"Yeah, that's always been pretty clear," she joked. Hannah frequently teased Ellie about that, but in reality she was no bigger.
"Shut up. Yours are even smaller so you have absolutely no room to talk."
"I'm shorter and thinner than you, so that's expected. Now seriously, would you rather be cold?"
Ellie decided that the need to keep warm outweighed her dignity. "You better not go spreading shit about me stuffing," she told Hannah as she tucked her scarf down her shirt.
"No guarantees," she said.
"Hannah, I swear to God..."
Hannah just laughed. She wasn't actually going to spread anything, but she didn't want Ellie to know that. The girls teased each other often, but they both felt that they were above spreading rumors about each other.
The girls heard Joel coming down the stairs. He had been checking the thermostat upstairs to see if it was malfunctioning, and he came down to share his findings. "Absolutely no problem with the thermostat. The heat is switched on, there's no loose connections, nothin'."
Just then, Jeffrey came inside. He had gone out around town asking people if they were experiencing the same problem. "I talked to everyone on our street. All of them still have their heat. It's just us."
"This doesn't make any damn sense," Joel said, frustrated.
Ellie weighed in. "You know, I had a thought-"
"You did? Congratulations!" Hannah butted in. Ellie turned to glare at Hannah and stared at her for a few seconds.
"Shut up."
"Make me." Ellie elbowed Hannah in the ribs, indicating that she had had enough with the joking around. "Ow. Okay, sorry."
"Seriously though, and this may sound like a stupid thought, but what if this is sabotage?"
Jeffrey thought the idea was ludicrous. "Now come on, Ellie. Who would try to sabotage-"
"Jeffrey, at least let her explain," Joel interrupted. Jeffrey got quiet immediately. "What do you mean, Ellie?"
"Well, those guys weren't exactly thrilled when you took Paul's side in the Lyle ordeal. That one guy did say we would freeze, and maybe since we're the only ones having this problem, and we're the only ones who backed up Paul, it's not a coincidence."
"What the hell's she talking about, Joel? What's this about taking Paul's side and threats to you?"
"Paul traded the last of the winter clothes to Lyle and-"
"He what? Why would he do that?"
"Because Lyle paid for the clothes rightfully, that's how barter works. Now I've already been involved in a big debate with this topic so can we just forget about it?"
Jeffrey backed off a bit at Joel's raised voice. "Okay, sorry."
Joel then turned back to Ellie. "I highly doubt that someone intentionally knocked our heat out just because they were mad at us for taking Paul's side."
"Well..." she said. "You never know. Could you at least go check?"
"Would it really make you feel better?" Ellie nodded. "Fine. I'll go into the crawlspace and look." He grabbed a flashlight and walked outside to go to the crawlspace.
"I got an idea that will help warm it up in here," Ellie announced as she stood up off the couch.
"Shoot," Hannah said.
Ellie walked over to the stove and turned all the burners on full power. "Since we still have power, we can turn the burners on and it'll help warm the place up. At least it will in the kitchen." She held her hands over the burners being careful not to touch them. "Come on over here, it's already getting warm."
"That's a really good idea, Ellie," she said as she went over to the stove next to Ellie.
"Hannah, that coat is made of fur. Be careful around that stove because it'll go up like nothing."
"Yeah yeah," she moaned. She and Ellie enjoyed the heat that came off of the stove. "It really is warming up fast."
"I can feel it from over here," Jeffrey added. He was about ten feet away from the stove, but the heat coming off of it was strong enough that he could feel it as well.
After a few minutes, Joel came back inside with what he found out. "Well, I got bad news, good news, and bad news again."
"Oh, great," Ellie sighed. "Tell us the first bad news."
"I checked the furnace in the crawlspace, and all the lines have been disconnected. Some asshole must've done it last night."
"I fucking knew it," Ellie said under her breath. "What about the good news?"
"The good news is that it shouldn't be too hard to reconnect the lines."
"And the other bad news?" Jeffrey asked.
"We don't have the tools needed to do that." He walked around the room and noticed that it was warmer than before. "Why's it warmer all of a sudden? I ain't complainin' but I'm just curious."
"Ellie had the idea to turn the burners on the stove on. Worked a lot better than I thought it would," Jeffrey told him.
"Uh-huh..." Joel said as he walked over to the girls by the stove. "Alright, shoo. Share the heat." The girls moaned in unison as Joel made them surrender the joyous warmth of the stove. "We'll take turns, don't worry. Just go sit on the couch for now."
"What a dick," Ellie whispered to Hannah as they walked away.
"Don't think I didn't hear that," Joel said.
The girls sat on the couch, but after a few minutes Ellie began to feel off. She felt a tingling throughout her body, and she even thought she was sweating. "Joel, I feel weird."
Joel turned away from the stove and walked towards Ellie. "Weird how?"
"Well..." she hesitated. "Even though I'm freezing to the bone right now, I'm sweating bullets."
"Sweatin'-" Joel said silently, and went into a panic. Cold sweats usually meant fevers. He quickly put his hand up against Ellie's forehead, and indeed she had an extremely high fever. "Shit you're burnin' up. Jeffrey!" Jeffrey quickly ran over to Joel. "Go get Brenda over here immediately. Ellie's runnin' a fever and she's pale as a ghost."
"On it!" He sprinted out of the house and slammed the door behind him.
"Joel, I'm dizzy," Ellie said as her head started swaying back and forth.
Joel put his hands on Ellie's cheeks to keep her head still, and looked into her eyes. "Focus, Ellie. Focus on me. Now tell me, what exactly do you feel?"
"I'm sweating, I feel a tingling all over, I'm lightheaded..." she stopped talking and slowly started to slump forwards.
"Ellie, stay with me!" He let go of her and let her fall back against the couch. "Hannah, take off your jacket and give it to Ellie," Joel demanded.
Hannah was concerned about Ellie, but also reluctant to give up her jacket. "Joel, it's freezing-"
"Hannah, Ellie might be dyin' over here!" he shouted. "I think she needs your jacket more than you do!"
When Joel mentioned that Ellie might be dying, she took her jacket off without second thought.
Ellie was barely conscious, but Joel helped her slip into Hannah's jacket. "Joel... I'm really faint" Ellie barely managed to say.
"Let's get her over to by the stove," Hannah said.
"No, she needs to lie down." He picked Ellie up in his arms and walked quickly up the stairs while whispering to her. "Stay with me, baby girl. Stay with me Ellie. You're gonna be okay, girl." He set her in the bed and covered her in the sheets. She was shaking terribly, and it was not just from the cold. "Ellie!" Joel raised his voice to try and get Ellie to hear him.
"Joel, what's happening to her?!" Hannah asked frantically.
"I don't know!" Joel screamed as he turned to her. Before he turned back, he felt Ellie stop shaking. He looked back at her and saw that her eyes were closed. "Ellie?" He tried to get a response from her, but she remained motionless. "Ellie, don't do this to me," his voice began to break, "Don't you dare... do this to me" He lifted up her eyelids to look, and saw that her eyes had rolled back into her head. "Sweet Jesus," he said weakly. He felt a pit in his stomach and a lump in his throat.
"Joel," Hannah said, "is she... dead?"
To Be Continued...
That concludes chapter 12 of Brand New Start. In the next chapter: In a race against time to save Ellie, Brenda finds herself out of her element.
Remember: Your feedback is what keeps me going. If you want to find out Ellie's fate, leave a review.
