The Last Of Us
Episode 18
"Magic In the Water"
Ellie didn't talk much as their journey continued along the abandoned highway after leaving Rafter J Ranch. Ellie took the liberty of naming the horses Callus and Silver. Joel liked the name Silver it went well with the white stallion because of popular 1940's TV show he used to watch with Sarah, The Lone Ranger. Naming his horse, Callus however rubbed him the wrong way for some reason Ellie and Rylan didn't know why. Ellie's sweet dream turned nightmare the night before weighed heavily on her mind, at first she was wondering why she was starting to have sex dreams about Rylan but she almost did have sex with him back in Jackson County. She blushed just thinking about it, but at the same time, kept shaking her head out of the thought because of Riley. She was in love with her and had erotic dreams about her ever since she learned about sex, but she asked herself "Was she in love with Rylan just as much as she was with Riley?" After dreaming about him before it turned into a nightmare, she couldn't help but fear she was.
Ellie couldn't blame herself for feeling the way she felt she was only fourteen years old. Every time she was close to Rylan, she felt safe and when she kissed him she felt the same spark that one time she kissed Riley before she got bitten. Now with heart set on her growing affection and attraction to her damaged protector, not caring he was a boy or not she clung onto him tighter during the rest of the ride to Colorado. But that was far as was willing to go until they get the cure. She knew now why Joel said what he said, and the nightmare was just a vision of what could come of it.
While still debating with Joel on the name Callus, and Ellie zoning out to her thoughts of her complicated attraction to Rylan, hours passed by until the trio came upon the town of Pinedale already passed mid-day.
"Can we stop now?" Ellie asked, desperately wanting to stretch out her legs. Joel looked back at the two teens sitting on Silver's saddle,
"Yeah, Let's search nearby for supplies," Joel spoke, "Give you two a chance to stretch your legs." Ellie didn't even think twice as she hopped down from Silver and began stretching. Rylan was overlooking her frame as she was working out the cramped legs and back.
Ellie sighed in complete relief standing on her own two feet. She then let her arms shrug off the straps of her backpack and unzipped it to pull out some homemade Jerky,
"Maria gave it to me, you want some?" She asked Rylan.
"Yeah, sure." He replied, taking the dried meat and tore a large piece of it into his mouth, savoring the juices. Ellie offered a piece to Joel, and the three walked their horses further into the town along the main street, occasionally stopping to search the stores for supplies. The Huskies ran off in search of food for their pack, Maddy, and her cub, Skylar stood behind with the trio.
*Distant Screeching and Screams*
Ellie drew her Walther, Rylan and Joel stopped in their tracks looking around the abandoned town,
"We're not alone out here..." Rylan spoke softly.
"Let's hitch up somewhere safe, get what we need, and get the hell outta dodge," Joel said.
"How much did we find?" Ellie asked. Joel went over what he managed to find so far; Medkits, bottles of alcohol for molotov's and energy bars. "Still not enough, huh?"
Joel shook his head, "You two check the gas station and stay there, I'll get what I can from the market next door," Joel pulled his revolver from his waistband and did an ammo check, "Be careful you two."
"We'll be fine, Joel," Rylan assured. Joel nodded with hopes that the boy won't screw up then he lightly jogged to the market next to the gas station.
Ellie grabbed her bow from the saddle, Rylan was running low on ammo for his side arm and decided to go along with his trusty knife. The two teens came to the door to the station Ellie quickly drew her bow giving Rylan a nod. Rylan pulled open the door slowly when suddenly a bell jingled.
"Oh, Shit!" Rylan gasped seeing a runner sprinting to them,
*Whoosh*
An arrow suddenly pierced through the runner's eye socket then he fell to the ground. Rylan looked to the archer and smirked, "Nice shot," Ellie's cheeks turned a shade of pink as she smiled back "C'mon lets search the place and we'll wait on Joel," Rylan said.
"Rylan," Ellie spoke catching his attention, a look of concern crept up his face as he saw Ellie with a stern face. "About us..." She began, clutching the bow tighter in her hands.
Rylan rubbed the back of his neck, "Do we have to talk about this now?"
"Yes," Ellie replied with iron in her voice. "What do you call us? A couple?" Rylan pinched the bridge of his nose, "It's a simple question, Rylan... Look at what we have been doing, and what we almost did."
Rylan looked up at her, into her emerald eyes, "It's not a simple answer."
Ellie scoffed, slowly shaking her head in disbelief, "So what then, Huh? You'd just fuck me and it wouldn't mean anything?"
Rylan shot her a glare, "Hey! Where the hell is this coming from?" Rylan yelled, "What's the problem?"
"I'm the fucking problem!" Ellie shot back, turning to the register area away from Rylan's gaze. Rylan stood there confused,
"Is this bout your nightmare? Where you... Killed me?" He asked, crossing his arms.
Ellie fought back the tears wiping her dirty face, she nodded slowly, "At first we were going to," She paused, "You know..." Rylan shook away a smile on his lips, "Then you..." Her voice broke, "You turned."
Rylan huffed, "Jesus..., We talked about this."
Ellie huffed, "What if it could happen?" Rylan nodded taking a deep sigh through his nose.
"I don't know..." Rylan muttered. Ellie sighed, frustrated.
Rylan watched Ellie as she crouched down behind the counter, picking through the shelves under the register. Neither of them spoke; for the moment they stayed quiet. Rylan gave his head a small shake and looked around the gas station they were in. Most of the shelves had been wiped clean a long time ago and a fine layer of dust covered just about everything. The stuff even seemed to coat the air they were breathing. But even under all of that, Rylan could smell the coppery scent of blood and not just the blood from the runner Ellie had put down. Rylan glanced back at Ellie, sighed and slowly made his way towards the back of the store, following the scent of blood.
There was a hallway at the back of the store. As Rylan neared it, the smell of blood grew increasingly stronger, and he was able to detect the pungent odor of decaying flesh as well. Rylan felt his grip on the knife tighten. He stepped into the small hallway and stepped up to the only door on the left. He gripped the handle in his hand and stopped for a moment. He took a deep breath, listening carefully for any tell-tale signs of movement. When he heard nothing, he slowly twisted the knob, took a deep breath and shoved the door open.
The thick stench of a dead body filled Rylan's nose and he let out a sound of disgust, turned and stepped back out of the room. Not only had the smell been bad; the sight had been pretty gruesome. A dead body that was more bone and dead leftover flesh than anything sat slumped in a chair. Half of its head had been blown away by a mouthful of buckshot. The corpse must have been lying in there for the better part of a year.
With one last deep breath of decent-smelling air, Rylan stepped back into the office and quickly searched the corpse. In the pockets were several empty shells that could've supplied Rylan's sidearm. Other than that, the body was empty. Rylan picked up the shotgun that had been used to scatter the corpse's brains and cursed under his breath when he found it empty.
"Goddamnit," he shook his head and stood, backing out of the office and going back to the front of the gas station.
"Find anything?" Ellie asked. Rylan shook his head. "No, this place is picked clean." He glanced quickly at them once more. "Come on, let's go find Joel." Rylan watched Ellie as she adjusted her backpack and stepped around from behind the register.
"What about you? Any luck?" Ellie tossed something in Rylan's direction. He caught it; a long-expired energy bar. Rylan gave his head a small shake of disgust.
"Let's hope Joel had some better luck," he said, pocketing the energy bar. Food was food.
The runner thrashed around in Joel's grasp, and he tightened his arm around its throat. He felt his muscles tighten and a cramp began to form near his shoulder. The runner's hand slapped at his face and Joel felt its sharp and jagged nails break the skin on his cheek. He let out a quiet grunt, tightened his hold on the infected, and let out a sigh of relief as its body went limp and it died. Joel dropped it to the ground and straightened, flexing his arm and prodding gingerly at the shallow cuts on his cheek.
"Fuckin' thing," he muttered, dropping down to inspect it. Upon finding nothing of interest, he stood, flicked on the light hanging from the strap of his pack and moved deeper into the market. He scoured the shelves and picked through the debris on the floor. He picked up various items; bits of rags, nails, a small package of sugar. All of these things he shoved into his pack.
With all the bits of supplies he found, Joel supposed he could craft some of this stuff into other materials for them. He remembered a while ago when he found that recipe on how to make smoke bombs, either as a distraction or for cover smoke bombs was never not useful. "Just need some sugar..." He grumbled as he went down the next aisle of the market.
It was incredibly dark and dingy in here, Joel could smell the already rotting corpse of the runner he just killed and the fact that he could use a shower himself, that didn't help the situation. Maybe they could find a river later and all three of them could wash up? But then his thoughts were interrupted when he found a small white bag on the bottom shelf the caught his eye. "Bingo."
Joel bent down and grabbed the sugar, quickly putting it in his backpack ready to craft whenever he'd need it. Satisfied with his search, he turned around and saw two shadows casually enter the store. The old man assumed it was Rylan and Ellie, so he strolled up to them, intent on meeting them halfway.
"Don't move."
Joel heard the click of a gun aimed right at him as his flashlight shined on two people, and they weren't Rylan and Ellie. One was a blonde woman who looked malnourished and had rags for clothes. The man with brunette hair and burly beard, who was holding Joel at gunpoint looked the same as his companion. They looked very hungry and very desperate. "Drop the backpack and hands on your head!" His voice was shaky, but it was also stern.
Joel tentatively raised his hands in the hair, but he was not going to give them the backpack. "It's alright, I ain't gonna hurt you."
"Just-" The man paused while he shook his head. "Buddy, we just went through hell, I don't wanna do this, but I got no choice." Joel sparred a glance over at the woman who seemed to be on the verge of tears.
"Easy, easy there," Joel stated in a soothing tone. "If you don't want to do this, let's about it." He chose to take a step closer to them while keeping his hands in the air. "We don't need that gun pointing at anyone. It's alright."
The couples' breaths hitched as they saw the bearded man take that step forward to which they responded with a step back. "I said don't move! I'm serious man! Give us what you got!"
And suddenly the blonde woman began to break down, hugging herself tightly with arms and sobbing. "Oh god! He's like the rest of them!"
Automatically, Joel had to response. "No I ain't like them-!"
"Shut up! Just shut up!" The man then put both of his hands on the gun, and the look on his face said it all. His eyes were watering, and Joel could see the internal war that was going on in this man's mind. He knew he didn't want this... but yeah. Joel knew he was going to pull the trigger, but before he saw the finger squeeze, he muttered. "I'm sorr-!"
*BANG!"
The bullet entered one temple and out the next as the wall beside the man got splattered by the blood. Joel watched as the body fell to a thump and he looked up again to see the woman crying, hysterical at this point. But those cries were cut short as an arrow was fired and the woman fell dead as well on the tip and shaft of the projectile embedded itself in her chest. It took a second to realized that Rylan and Ellie were at the end of the aisle, their weapons drawn.
They approached him with a slight spring in their step. Rylan sighed as he looked at the scene before them. "Got'em." Was all he could say.
"Yeah..." The bearded man nodded with a slight tone of sorrow. "Yeah, you did."
"Ellie, see if you can get your arrow back without breaking it. I'll search them." Rylan ordered as they both began their tasks. Joel noticed the gun that was wielded against him on the floor. He instinctively picked up the weapon and checked the clip and his eyebrows arched when he discovered there was on one bullet left in it.
One bullet... and they were going use it on him. Those two survivors must have been at the absolute end of their ropes to decide to do this. Then again, they probably did mistake him for a bandit or other kind of monster they encountered. He was sorry this was how it had to end any way you cut it. Joel sighed and rubbed his eyes as Ellie uttered a curse.
"Fuck!" Rylan looked up to see Ellie with a broken arrow in her hands. "It fucking broke!"
"We'll find more, and you still got some, right?" Joel assured the redhead, he had to get himself back to the matter at hand. Find a place to set up for the night, maybe a place where they could wash up too. "We should keep moving."
"These guys got nothing," Rylan grumbled as he finished searching both bodies. "You find anything Joel."
"I got some, don't worry about it." The old man patted the teen on his shoulder. "Thanks, by the way." They did probably save his life he supposed.
"Anytime." Ellie simply said as he offered a high five to Joel. He stared at her white hand for a moment and then lightly slapped hers with his own. "We'll work on that."
"What do you mean? You want to make a secret handshake or something?" The boy quirked an eyebrow at her while folding his arms.
Ellie turned to him with a shrug of her shoulders. "I don't know." Her cheeks went pink when Rylan wouldn't stop staring at her. Their hearts were supposed to be slowing down after this kind of thing, not speeding back up.
"Hey kids." Joel motioned for the two of them to look at the nearby window. "Look there." He pointed.
From where they could see, they were out looking over a hill where they spotted the pack of dogs going down it. Rylan deduced to them. "They're looking for water." And he was right indeed when they watched the canines heading towards a slow-moving river, and right next to the river there was a small cottage where they could stay for the night, as it was approaching soon for the evening. With autumn being what it was, they were getting less and less daylight with the coming season. Being out in the open at night was never safe.
Ellie was the next one to break the silence. "Let's go boys, follow the pack."
The trio then began following the pack towards the river where they began refilling their canteens with the fresh liquid. Rylan and Ellie almost refilled their canteens almost three times as they were so thirsty. Joel returned with the horses and after enjoying some of Joel famous can of beans, again... Joel rose from his side of the small fire,
"We should wash up, the water's warm enough." Joel shrugged off his jacket walking to the river, "You two be careful alright?" He called,
Ellie rose from the ground, "But I can't swim!"
Joel huffed, "Just stay on the shore and you'll be alright..."
"But..!" Ellie called, but Joel was already out of site, "Yeah... sure you go on ahead and stand here the only one who can't swim..." Ellie turned to tell Rylan something, but he was nowhere in sight.
Ellie scanned around for him, but he was nowhere to be found. She walked closer to the river bank, around the corner of a rather large oak tree. She found Rylan in the river, the water came to his waist and he was running one hand through wet locks of his long dark blonde hair that hung past his ears. Ellie couldn't help but admire his scared, scrawny yet built torso gleaming in the sunset.
"Rylan?" She called. Rylan looked over his shoulder at her, "I don't actually have a swim suit to get in..."
Rylan chuckled, "You don't need one..."
Ellie felt her cheeks getting hot and tried to hide the redness of them, "R..Rylan..." She trembled. 'He's not seriously asking me to be naked with HIM. What if this leads to 'IT'... I can't do that with him, I don't want him to die...' "Rylan... I can't. You know why..."
"We're just bathing Ellie... I'm not asking for... that."
Ellie let out a frustrated sigh, "But I can't swim..."
"Ellie... You don't need to keep making excuses. I've already seen you naked remember."
Ellie rolled her eyes, "Not completely!" Her face was red once again.
"And I still won't need to... You'll be in the water."
"Pffft... Fine. But don't look!" Ellie warned.
Rylan nodded looking straight ahead towards the rest of the river with his back still turned. Ellie slipped out of her shoes and socks, "I'm so dumb..." She muttered to herself. She shyly shed her jacket and pulled her shirt over her head, she set her clothes down next to Rylan's.
Rylan decided to peek over his shoulder seeing Ellie with her back turned and in her underwear. He continued watching her as she reached for her bra clasp and undid it shedding out of the useless garment and set it down with her clothes. Before the red auburn haired girl proceeded with her panties she made sure Rylan wasn't looking. Rylan quickly broke his gaze before she noticed.
When he wasn't looking she slowly and nervously shed her panties tossing it with her clothes. She was now totally nude walking into the river feeling the slight warmth and coolness of the water on her feet. She walked in deeper into the water nervously towards Rylan who still had his back turned.
The water came up her thighs and she shuddered with a small gasp when the coolness of the water reached her exposed sex. "You alright?" Rylan asked.
"Y...Yeah just don't look!" She pleaded.
The water was passed her waist creeping up to her chest as she got closer still feeling the the sandy ground with her toes. She made one more step towards Rylan's form when suddenly she reached the deep end falling in completley.
She thrashed a bit when she felt strong arms around her waist puling her up to the surface. Emerald eyes met the Icy Blues and Ellie coughed from the panick of almost drowning herself.
"You okay?" Rylan chuckled.
Ellie nodded while bright red as she realize that the two of them were pressed together, completley naked.
"Maybe we have time to teach you how to swim... Need to be good at it."
"Can't afford not to be..." She added staring into his eyes.
Rylan cupped her cheek caressing it gentley, "Excactly..."
Ellie knew where this was leading to, "Rylan..."
"You won't hurt me." Rylan assured pressing his lips against hers.
Ellie tried to break away but she fell under his spell unable to, her eyes closed and her arms imediatley wrapped around his neck pulling him in closer.
"Oh, Rylan..." She gasped.
Rylan then floated the two of them deeper in the river wrapped in eachother's arms.
"I want this Ellie, I want this... We don't have to go all the way. I just want to be with you..."
Ellie felt a few tears fall down her cheeks and she kissed him again, and the two refused to break away as the sun set and Ellie for the first time had enjoyed swimming.
A/N: There you have it ladies and gentlemen! Rylan had officially declared his feelings for Ellie, what will it lead to next? Will they be able to go all the way? Will they declare the L word to each other? Find out next time! and don't forget to review, follow, and Favorite!- Drexbann15, Exangellion, Revenite201
P.S: I have written a brand new Marvel movies multi-verse story, (It has it all, Avengers, X-men, all of them) for those who are fans of that sort of thing go ahead and Check it out and be sure to read, review, follow, and favorite!- Revanite201