Chapter 21: Simply Don't Care

It had been nine days since their run in with the Infected at the barn, and that was nine more days of walking.

Ellie really didn't mind that much anymore; walking allowed her to sort out her thoughts, and then find things to ask Joel about.

She also figured that they were both relieved that their awkwardness had faded for now and that they were somewhat safer, at least until next month.

The amount of Infected they came across had dwindled in the past few days, and so far she hadn't seen any since the day had started.

Thoughts had been flitting about in her mind, and she had kept glancing over at Joel every once in a while.

He apparently got tired of it fast; his sigh was the signal.

"What?" he asked, and she could tell he was fed up a bit. Apparently she was being more annoying than she had first thought.

"Just thinking," she answered absentmindedly, her eyes scanning the trees as she walked.

Personally, this time she was hoping to get Joel to start talking this time, considering she felt like it was always her that started and carried their conversations.

Unless I get upset, then he usually starts talking, but that doesn't count much, she thought, her gaze drifting back towards the little rest stop they had just finished at.

The smoke from the small fire Joel had built was rising into the air, slowly disappearing into the atmosphere.

Ellie realized that the fire had been their second one made; the first being the one at the little clearing near the barn. Joel didn't appear too excited and even almost hesitant at times to start a fire, but she had finally been able to convince him.

"Why don't you like using the fire?" she asked suddenly, trying to focus her thought process away from what had drawn her attention the night before.

Joel took a deep breath, apparently thinking over his answer.

"It does more harm than good."

His statement confused her; her head tilting to the side a moment later as she stared at him.

"How so?"

"It can attract unwanted company, and even burn down a temporary living arrangement, among other things."

She nodded, somewhat satisfied with his answer. One glance at Joel made her pause for a moment.

Joel stopped and looked back at her, seeing her frown slightly.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she answered, staring directly at him, "but did something like that happen to you once?"

Joel didn't answer right away; instead a thoughtful expression came onto his face, and she could tell that he was trying to be careful with what he told her.

"Why?"

His question made her somewhat irritated that he hadn't told her anything.

"The way you said it made me think that it's a possibility, that's all," she shrugged, continuing to walk.

"Let's just say it's from experience, ok?"

She nodded, not saying any more on the subject; she figured Joel wouldn't like it if she prodded too much.

He'd probably say it's one of my annoying questions.

The day continued to drag on, and her mind kept wandering back to the same subject that was bothering her. She glanced over at Joel, and then at the ground.

I don't need to ask him. I can figure it out on my own, she brought up the virtual map in her head, expanding it a bit to look similar to one of the larger maps she had seen a few years back.

Her confusion grew as she stared at it, drawing imaginary paths between where they were and the rest of the world.

She knew that the map could have been outdated, considering all that had happened in the past twenty years and since the start of the pandemic, but that still didn't answer her question.

There's all that water though, she thought, feeling a bit of a headache.

She groaned in frustration when she couldn't find the answer. Joel glanced back at her, but he didn't say anything.

"Hey Joel?" she started after a while, not finding any way to answer her question and figuring that expert advice would help.

"Yeah?"

"There are other countries in the world, right?" Her question made him pause; a somewhat curious expression was directed towards her.

"Yes, why?"

"Do they still exist?"

He gave her a look that she interpreted as 'Isn't it obvious?" making her bring up what she had been pondering all this time.

"How come they haven't helped us yet?"

The question made Joel stop, and he turned around to stare at her. She could tell this was a question he hadn't been prepared for.

"That's… somewhat complicated," he answered, and she could tell that he was struggling with how to explain it to her.

Ellie just stared at him, waiting for a more direct answer. Joel saw this and sighed.

"Do you know anything about the history of us and the other countries?"

She answered his question with a nod, remembering a book she had read a while back at one of the boarding houses.

"Yeah, things were peaceful for a bit, and then someone would start arguing about something. Everyone retaliated by blowing each other up, and then more peace. It was sort of like a boring, unending cycle."

She heard Joel laugh a bit at her answer.

"Yeah, something similar to that," she could tell that he found the way she interpreted history amusing.

"Anyway, we don't have a very good relationship with the rest of the world, so your answer could be a number of things."

Joel's statement didn't give her much to go off of, making her somewhat disappointed.

"Like?" She prodded, hoping he would continue or at least give her a hint.

Joel shook his head, and she briefly wondered if he was stumped on what to say.

"They could have figured out about the fungal outbreak and have a fear of coming here in case they would get it."

"But why would they want to come here anyway?"

"Most likely to take land and resources. Countries used to fight over it a lot before then pandemic, among other things as well."

"So they essentially want to loot us, like we do with the hunters?"

Her statement made Joel think for a moment, taking in what she had said.

"Yeah, I guess so."

Ellie nodded, still feeling slightly confused.

"You said there were other reasons," she prodded, jumping over a smaller log.

"They could just be waiting for the fungus to die off, or even they could be infected by now, but most likely, they simply don't care."

She felt some sadness at the last part of his sentence, making her frown slightly.

"So what you're saying is that they don't want to help?" she questioned, not able to keep the sadness out of her voice.

Joel seemed to see this and sighed, knowing he had said the wrong thing.

"Like I said, it's only a possibility," his gaze softened a bit when he said this, making her shake her head.

"But it's the most likely one," she stated, knowing it was the truth.

Joel didn't answer her, and Ellie felt for once that she was just starting to uncover a greater depth of cruelness in the world.

First I would like to say a few things. I do not mean anything bad about other countries by this chapter (I do live in the US), but I just found the subject something that I was interested in and figured it would be a good topic to bring up. So I don't want to offend anyone by this chapter, and I am really sorry if it did seem slightly offensive. Also, next chapter will hold a bit of a time skip, and the start of many others, considering I am running out of time for this and have a lot more to go. I promise that the last chapter will come on June 14th (or possibly the 13th if you want it that badly), but we have a lot more to go before the end of this fanfiction. Please tell me anything you would like to see in this fanfiction, as well as any ideas or comments in a review!

-AnimeWolfGirl9