Chapter 12: Welcome to Pittsburgh
"We're going to Pittsburgh in this piece of junk?" Ellie asked, feeling satisfaction when Fatty gave her an angry look.
Joel cut off any fighting that would have occurred.
"Yes, and it will do just fine," he stated, making whatever feud that would have started stop.
"Thanks, Bill," she heard Joel say as he walked over to Fatty, and Ellie tuned out their conversation, thinking back to when she had woken up.
Ellie had slept most of the next day, and she had figured that it had been mainly because of exhaustion and blood loss.
She had been curious about what the car was actually going to look like, and Joel had led her outside to see.
On the way there, Ellie had caught sight of two dead and half-naked men. Her eyes widened and Joel explained what his plan had been.
"I did not need to see that," she had muttered, making Joel laugh a bit, "Couldn't you have at least chosen something that involved not taking their clothes?"
Joel shook his head, making her look away from the dead bodies.
"No, it was all I had at the moment," he said, still making her feel disgusted.
"So that's how you got the uniforms," she muttered, glancing at the gas mask that was now attached to Joel's backpack.
Ellie felt someone shaking her shoulder a bit, and realized that Joel was staring at her.
"What?" she asked, and when he sighed continued, "I was thinking."
"Of course you were," Joel said as he opened one of the doors to the car, throwing his backpack in.
Ellie followed his example, closing the door and then getting in the seat next to the driver's seat.
Ellie wouldn't admit it, but Fatty had done a pretty good job with getting the car fixed up in the span of a few days.
"What did you owe him anyway?" she asked Fatty, who smirked at her question.
"Why should I tell you?" he asked, making her get somewhat angry.
"So you aren't going to tell me?" she asked, feeling annoyed when he started to walk away.
She opened her mouth to say something, but stopped when Joel start to come around the other side of the car.
She saw Joel get in the car and started smiling, rolling down the window on her side of the car.
"Bye, Fatty!" she yelled out the window, and then turned to Joel, "Joel, start the car so I can see him run after us!"
Joel shook his head after giving her a disbelieving glance, starting the truck either way and starting to pull away from the safe house.
Ellie stuck her head out the window and started to smile, but a moment later she got confused. She saw Fatty, who looked extremely angry, but he was not chasing the car.
Maybe I was fantasizing a bit, she thought as a look of confusion appeared on her face.
She brought her head back into the car and sat down; trying to think of what she had done wrong.
"Why isn't Fatty following us?" she asked, and she saw Joel smile a bit.
"Maybe he's not following us because you had the window open when you told me to drive away," Joel suggested, making her eyes widen.
She glanced at the window and realized that he was right.
"Aww, I was looking forward to seeing how long he could chase us," she muttered, making Joel laugh a bit.
"What he's doing right now is exercising his self-control," he said, making her pout a bit.
"It would have been funny though," she argued, and he didn't say anything.
Ellie rolled up the window of the car, wondering what to do now.
"And what did you say about me being 'directionally challenged'?" Joel asked, a look of surprise coming onto her face a moment later.
"Oh, I guess you were there for that, since you were a guard…" she started, trying to come up with what to say. She hadn't been planning on him being in the room when she had said that.
She glanced over and sighed when she saw Joel having an amused looked on his face, still waiting for an answer.
He's never going to let me forget this, she thought, feeling slightly frustrated.
"It was all I had at the moment," she answered, "I was kind of trying to stall time, either for you to escape or come get me."
Joel shook his head, smiling a bit.
"So all you could think of was that I was 'directionally challenged'?" he asked, making her somewhat mad.
"Yes, now can we please drop the subject?" she pleaded, not wanting to be reminded of this for the rest of her life.
Both of them fell silent for a while, and Ellie felt a question pop into her head.
"How long should it take us to get to Pittsburgh?" she asked, wondering if they should have taken at least some Fatty's food in the first place.
"Maybe around seven hours," Joel answered, making her eyes widen in shock, "depends on what we run into on the way."
"Seven hours?" she repeated, slightly shocked at the time, "The trip would have taken us a lot longer on foot."
"Yes, which is why you maybe should have said a 'thank you' to Bill instead of insulting him," Joel prompted, making her gaze wander to the scenery outside in annoyance.
"I don't think that's going to be happening anytime soon," she answered, watching the landscape start to roll by.
"You're right," Joel answered, making her somewhat surprised, "We might not be seeing him for a long time."
"A long time, right?" she repeated, her hand drifting up towards the scar on her right eyebrow.
She could feel Joel's confusion, but he didn't question her about it. Sometimes, she wished he would ask.
Maybe it would be better to talk to someone about it, she thought, but then shook her head, He wouldn't understand; I barely understand it myself.
Ellie knew that seven hours of sitting around was not going to be pleasant; at least when they were traveling longer she could at least concentrate on walking.
So instead, she focused her time on looking out the window, or by switching to the backseat of the car, which involved her having to climb over the middle console to get to.
"Ellie, can you please stop that?" Joel asked when she was half-way to the back seat for the fifth time.
"Stop what?" she asked, stopping where she was as she stared at him. She heard him sigh in frustration.
"Moving around so much," Joel said with a sigh, "It's somewhat distracting."
"How can it be distracting?" she asked, tilting her head a bit as she made it to the backseat.
She knew that the time between how long she would switch seats was shrinking, so Joel might have to put up with it longer than he would like.
"It just is; every time you go to move around, I need to keep an eye on you, which is hard to do when I need to make sure the truck doesn't wreck as well," Joel explained, making her smile a bit.
"Why would you need to keep an eye on me?" she asked, reaching for her backpack, "All I'm doing is switching seats."
"True," he said, and she felt frustrated when he continued, "but you do tend to get into the weirdest situations."
Ellie pouted a bit, frowning at him.
"That's not my fault though," she muttered, searching through her backpack.
She glanced up from her search when she realized that it was raining, and she could see puddles forming on the road.
"We've been driving for around five hours, right?" she asked, and Joel nodded, "So that means that there is about two to go."
Good thing we left the safe house early, she thought, realizing Joel must be tired.
"Do you need to sleep?" she asked, and he gave her a look.
"I'm fine," he stated, making her frown a bit.
"You could sleep while I drive," she suggested, getting another look from Joel; this one slightly amused.
"Do you even know how to drive?" he asked, and she shook her head.
"No, but you could teach me," she prompted, but then pouted when he shook his head.
She wanted to ask for an explanation, but he didn't give one and she figured that she wouldn't get one if she asked anyway.
The truck suddenly swerved to the right, making Ellie hit her head off of the window. She glared up at Joel when the car was steady again.
"What was that for?" she asked angrily, feeling a headache forming.
"Probably should have warned you first," he muttered, giving her a somewhat apologetic look, "Almost hit a deer."
She gave him a disbelieving look.
"You swerved the car because you almost hit a deer?" she questioned, feeling somewhat confused.
"This truck is in worse enough shape already," Joel explained, "I don't want it breaking down because I hit a deer."
Ellie nodded, still feeling slightly confused but not asking more. She went back to rummaging through her backpack, trying to find something to do.
A smile came onto her face as she pulled out a tape, glancing at Joel a moment later.
"Here," she said as she handed him the tape, "This bring back some nostalgia?"
Joel looked at the name of the music tape and gave her a look, which she took as 'You seriously think I'm that old'.
"No, that was actually way before my time," Joel answered, then looking at the title again, "but it is a winner."
Ellie smiled, resisting the urge to laugh as she watched Joel put the tape into the music player installed into the car.
That's one thing I'm thankful this truck has, she thought starting to hum the tune of the song.
"Where did you get that anyway?" Joel asked, motioning towards where the tape was playing.
"Most of it I collected from the different areas in the boarding schools," she answered, and Joel gave her a confused look.
"Wait, you have more of this stuff?" he asked, giving her a somewhat surprised glance.
"Yes, in my backpack," she said, and Joel shook his head.
"That's why it was so heavy," she heard him mutter.
Ellie ignored his comment, closing the pocket on her backpack instead.
She made her way up to the front seat, and glanced over, seeing Joel give her an irritated look.
"Last time, ok?" she stated, making him shake his head. He probably didn't believe her.
"Would hitting the deer really have been that bad?" she wondered, and saw Joel glance over at her.
"Most likely with the condition this truck is in," he answered, making another question pop into her head.
"What if we hit an Infected?" she asked, and Joel looked at her, slightly amused.
"Sometimes I wonder what you think in your head to make these questions up," he stated, continuing when she gave him an irritated glance, "Hitting an Infected would most likely be around a hundred times worse."
"Why?" she asked, not getting what he was meaning.
"Well, for one thing the car would most likely break down," he explained, "and the Infected would probably not be dead."
Ellie glanced at the speedometer, seeing the numbers listed there.
"What if we were going ninety?" she asked, "Would the Infected be alive then?"
Joel gave a small laugh, making her glance over at him.
"No, it would be dead, but so would we at that speed," he answered, making her laugh as well; not at the fact that they would be dead, but how strange her question had seemed.
"What about a person?" she asked, smiling a bit when someone came into her head.
Joel took a moment to think before answering.
"That would depend on several factors, such as the speed of the car, the angle of impact, and so on," Joel explained, then glanced over at her, "Why?"
"Just wondering," She said, but then continued while trying not to laugh, "So if I would hit Fatty with this truck, what do you think would happen?"
Joel seemed surprised as he looked over at her, a somewhat amused expression on his face. He shook his head, and Ellie could tell he was a bit frustrated.
"I'm definitely not teaching you how to drive now," Joel answered, making her frown.
"How come?" she asked, feeling somewhat confused.
"Because if the only reason you want to drive is so you can run Bill over with a car, then that's not worth the effort," he explained, making her pout a bit.
"That's not the main reason," she stated, "but it would be one of the perks."
Ellie started to laugh, and Joel joined in a bit.
"I swear, back when I could learn how to drive, it was definitely not because I wanted to run my friend over," Joel said with a shake of his head, making her laugh a bit more.
For the rest of the time, Ellie dozed in and out of sleep, somewhat feeling bad that Joel couldn't take a break. She felt Joel's hand shake her shoulder a bit, making her open her eyes.
The first thing she noticed was that the rain had stopped. She also saw a city covered in vines in the distance.
"We're here," Joel said, and then continued when she sat up to get a better view, "Welcome to Pittsburgh."
I figured I would end the chapter off there, considering if you have watched the trailers then you know what comes next. The song they were listening to is "Alone and Forsaken" (I forget who it is by, and I wasn't sure if I was allowed to put it in the text since they might delete the fanfiction, but it's also known as the "Truck Ambush Song" in the trailer). Please tell me any comments or ideas in a review!
-AnimeWolfGirl9
