Salve-SiS: I am definitely going to keep that in mind! Thanks for the suggestion! :)

Madalyn1000: Yes, that is going to be very interesting. You will just have to wait till the end to find out how :)

rangers123: By "true intentions", do you mean about the ending (as in the one from the game and what happens)? If so, than that is not necessarily true. Ellie was passed out since nearly drowning, so she doesn't know what happened. And even thought she "knows" that Joel was lying, she is forgetting what happened on her (first) journey.

AnimeWolfGirl16: That's alright, and thanks!

Guest: Thanks! :)

Chapter 14: This Feeling

Kevin glanced over at Ellie for what seemed to be the hundredth time that day. He didn't know why he kept doing it, but it was starting to freak him out.

He didn't know what he thought about her; his opinion changed every few days or so. She had stopped avoiding him, which made him feel better since he hadn't known why she had been in the first place.

He knew that she was definitely his friend, but sometimes he wanted a better word to describe her; he just didn't know what that word was yet.

A frown appeared on his face as he thought. Sometimes, a feeling would just appear out of nowhere, making him somewhat frightened and confused when he thought about it. He had a hard time speaking to Ellie, which was mostly because she could punch him if he said something wrong, but there seemed to be another reason.

He sometimes wouldn't know what to say around her; his mind would suddenly go blank, making both of them frustrated that he couldn't remember what he was going to say or ask her.

It seemed almost amazing that she was immune to the fungus as well. Now if only Joel was immune, then their 'family' wouldn't be able to be harmed by the Infected.

Yes, that's what he had dubbed their small group: a family. He thought it fit, but knew that Joel and maybe even Ellie would disagree with him if he said it out loud. So he kept his thoughts to himself most of the time, being careful with what he said.

He trusted Joel now more than in the beginning, but he was still somewhat guarded. He was almost sure that Ellie was the reason their family relationship was getting better, but he couldn't be quite sure.

A small intake of breath from Ellie made him look over at her. She was staring up at the trees, a look of amazement on her face as she stared at them.

He was confused by the sudden act at first; she had seen more than her fair share of trees on their journey, but then he realized what she was looking at.

"Why are they doing that?" he asked, pointing at the leaves, which were starting to change from their original shade of green to shades of orange and red.

"I don't know," Ellie answered, a frown on her face, "Nothing like this ever happened in the quarantine zones."

He nodded, knowing exactly what she meant. The majority of the trees in the Boston quarantine zone had been dead; no leaves or fruit grew on them, so the trees just stayed dead year round.

Kevin hadn't ever walked in a forest until they had gotten just beyond the capitol building, right when they had met Ellie…

It had seemed somewhat of a coincidence that they had met her in the forest. If they would have gone any further and hadn't bumped into her, she might have been killed by something.

Looking back at their journey so far, he was glad they had asked her to come with them. Well, "asked" was a bit of a strong word; it was more Ellie had forced them to let her come with them, but he had tried to help.

If he had to be honest with himself, Kevin had to admit that he was a bit skeptical at first of her traveling with them. Even though he had been the one to suggest it, a feeling of wariness had stuck around until after they left Bill's Town.

Thankfully it had disappeared on the ride to Pittsburgh, but the one thing that had convinced him to try and let Ellie come with them was his own fears. Like Ellie, he was afraid of being alone, and somehow unconsciously knew that she had feared it as well.

"We could ask Joel about the leaves," Ellie suggested, pulling him out of his thoughts. He nodded, and they increased their walking pace to catch up to their guardian.

"Hey Joel? Why are the leaves changing color?" Kevin asked, motioning to the trees with confusion.

Joel at first seemed to think they were kidding, but after a moment he came to the truth that they weren't. He sighed, thinking for a moment.

"The trees go through a life cycle. Near fall, the leaves die and the trees enter a hibernation of sorts. The leaves then grow back in the spring," Joel explained, and Kevin looked at the trees with new respect.

Sure, humans and animals survived the winter, but that was normally with the aid of something. Plants needed warmth and sunlight, which was most likely robbed from them during winter. It was amazing how they still survived.

"That makes sense," he heard Ellie mumble with a nod. They fell silent again, slipping into their routine of listening for danger and walking.

He heard Ellie start to hum. It seemed to be something she did often, almost as if it were a habit, but it wasn't like he was complaining. He actually enjoyed it, even though she most likely did not know he heard her. He thought that if she had learned to sing, it would sound very pretty.

He stopped his thoughts, staring at the ground and seeing that some of the leaves had already fallen to the ground.

Fall is definitely getting closer, he thought, wondering how the world would look once winter came.

Kevin knew what winter looked like; it wasn't like it was non-existent in the quarantine zone, he just figured it would look better without all the dirtiness and guards polluting the place.

"Did you do a lot of walking before the outbreak?" he asked the question before it even had time to register in his mind, making him somewhat worried that Joel would be angry.

"Yeah, I used to do a bit of hiking," Joel answered shortly, and Kevin knew that his question almost put a bad tone to their traveling.

I have to be more careful with what I say, he thought, worrying a bit.

So that's what Kevin did, staying silent throughout the rest of the day as Ellie chatted on to both of them about jokes or the comic series and any other random thing that came to mind. He almost envied her in that: her ability to almost have no care in the world.

Even though he appeared that way on the outside, his thoughts were much different. He knew that he had to be the uplifting one most of the time, even if no one else would.

They walked until they came to a small cave, big enough to fit the three of them comfortably but no room for another person. It made him feel slightly better that there would be no Infected in the cave. Even though he was immune, it seemed to be another thing he was afraid about, ever since back in Pittsburgh.

His thoughts soon cut off and he found himself drifting off to sleep.

Kevin awoke what he thought was several hours later feeling panicked. His breathing was shaky and he felt somewhat warm. He felt like someone was missing, and the panicked feeling sunk in again.

He quickly got up and left the cave as quietly as he could, looking around at the dark forest. Some sort of reason was trying to make him stay in the shelter of the cave, but the panicked feeling was too much for him to handle.

I have my rifle, so I'll be safe. Now, where did she go? He gave one last look back at Joel and Ellie sleeping before walking into the forest to search for his objective.

Ellie woke up with a headache while it was still dark. Something had disturbed her, but she didn't know what. The answer was revealed when she felt an empty spot beside her.

Where is Kevin? She wondered, her eyes now adjusted to the dark as she stared over at Joel, who was sleeping on the other side of the cave. Kevin had been between them, dozing off before anyone else had, but now he was gone.

"Kevin?" she whispered, getting up and walking out to the entrance of the cave. She looked back at Joel, making sure she wasn't waking him up as she grabbed her backpack and drew her pistol.

Her friend wasn't at the entrance of the small cave either, making her worried.

Does he sleep walk? She thought back to the nights they all had spent together near a campfire or inside of a small shed, knowing that if Kevin had a habit of sleep walking, then he hadn't done it before.

"Kevin?" she called again, this time more loudly to see if maybe he was just going to the bathroom or something. Once again, she didn't get an answer, prompting her to walk a bit further into the forest.

She shivered as the darkness seemed to swallow her, trapping her in on all sides. She knew she shouldn't be afraid, but the Infected could be more active at night, and she didn't like being alone.

Kevin's afraid of being alone too, so why did he wander off? The question stuck in her mind as she continued her search.

"Where are you?" Kevin's voice suddenly asked, echoing off of the trees up ahead. She stopped for a moment, taking in the position of where his voice came from, and wandered towards it.

"Kevin?" she asked, walking into a small clearing where the trees weren't as tightly wound together as before, "What are you doing out here?"

Kevin turned around, somewhat startled at her voice, but seemed to relax a bit when he recognized her. He still seemed on-edge though.

"Ellie, do you know where she went?" Kevin asked, making her confused. He seemed somewhat scared and worried, but his behavior seemed off as well.

"Where who went?"

"The girl; the one with short blonde hair," he replied, making her even more confused.

"I didn't see anyone," she shook her head, knowing he wasn't making sense. They were alone out here. There weren't any girls with blonde hair as far as she knew of.

"She ran into the woods. The Infected were chasing after her. I heard them," Kevin explained, sounding even more frantic as each second flew by.

"Kevin, I don't think there are any Infected around here. Joel would have woken up and I haven't heard anything," she was starting to get worried. Was Kevin seeing things?

Kevin seemed confused at this as well, but some sad understanding came into his eyes a moment later.

"Oh. It must have been a dream," his voice was now a soft whisper as he stared at the ground, "but it seemed so real…"

"They all do," she replied, feeling a bit better now that she knew he had just had a nightmare.

Silence enveloped them for a few minutes as they stood in silence, staring at each other as the moon shone through the trees a bit.

"I think we should be getting back," she suggested at last, feeling cold and somewhat wanting to get back to the cave. They had another long day of walking tomorrow, and it wouldn't be good if they didn't get any sleep.

"Yeah," Kevin nodded, following after her for a moment before stopping, "Hey Ellie?"

She stopped, turning around to see him looking a bit nervous at what he was about to say.

"Thanks for, uh, coming with us and all. Things keep getting weird, but it helps to know that you're still there when I wake up," Kevin started, seemingly wanting to say more, "I, uh…"

He trailed off, and she wasn't sure if she saw a blush appear on his face or not. The darkness of night was making it hard to tell, even with the moon being almost full.

"Yeah, we should get back," Kevin nodded, whispering a bit to himself as he followed her, repeating her idea that she had suggested a moment before.

They arrived back at the cave quickly and got settled again. Kevin drifted off to sleep easily, but Ellie was left with her thoughts.

Who was the girl that Kevin had been talking about? And had it really only been just a dream?

Another glimpse into Kevin's mind! Don't worry; Joel's POV will appear in this sooner or later (possibly before we get to Tommy's but definitely at Tommy's there will be at least one part). Either way, this chapter idea was brought on by a reviewer's suggestion (Thanks Salve-SiS!). Things keep getting stranger, what with Kevin suddenly disappearing in the middle of the night thinking he saw a girl. What could have brought on this strange change of behavior? And I know I have been pulling a "Survivors" on you guys (updating nearly a chapter every day for the past few chapters like I did with my first Last of Us fanfiction), which does make writing this fanfiction a bit easier. Please tell me what you thought in a review!

-AnimeWolfGirl9