Chapter 25: Hero

"Follow me," Henry said, beginning to lead us out of the room we were in and into the hallway of an apartment. The dynamic with him and Sam was pretty much the way it'd been with everyone else we'd come across. Joel and Henry walked ahead, while Sam hung back with Ellie and me. Although I knew we were on the same side, part of me was still a bit apprehensive. I didn't know why; it was just a feeling.

"Sorry about the whole gun thing," Sam said as we walked, making our way down the building.

"Don't worry about it," I said. "As you know, I would've done the same thing."

"Where're you from?" Ellie asked him. I loved the fact that she was so social with people; I still had to learn how to do that.

"All the way from Hartford," Sam answered.

"Really? I heard some bad stuff is going on down there."

"What've you two heard?"

"She's heard," I piped in. "I haven't. The two of us come from different stock, and I never really knew what was going on in other places."

"Not much to tell, really," he said for my benefit. "It's bad, but it's bad everywhere."

On the first floor of the building, there was a little shop. The walls were mostly faded, but I could tell that they were vibrant and colorful. There were all kinds of toys lying around on the shelves. Board games, dolls, even a tricycle. It all seemed relatively untouched, unlike most other places that were all ransacked. I'd never seen anything like it before, and it was like we walked back in time. It felt almost intrusive.

"Wait, everyone be quiet," Henry said, standing by one of the windows that looked out onto the street. "Get away from the windows."

I quickly grabbed Ellie by the hand, and crouched behind a shelf of stuffed animals. Joel and Henry just crouched below the windows themselves, but I couldn't see where Sam was. As we hid, the armored truck that seemed to have been following us all over this fucking city drove by. It didn't stop, thank god. When it was gone, we all felt safe enough to stand again.

"Man I'm sick of that fucking truck," Ellie said.

"You and me both," I answered.

"Man…," Henry said. "That thing has been hounding us ever since we got in this damn–" Something caught his eye by one of the shelves.

"Sam what're you doing?" He asked.

Sam, who was holding an action figure, replied, "Nothing."

"Get rid of it."

"My backpack is practically empty."

"What's the rule about takin' stuff?" Henry thundered over to him, shaking his finger. His voice had grown deep with anger.

"It weighs like nothing," Sam countered.

"The rule! What is it?"

Sam sighed, dropping the action figure on the ground, "we only take what we have to."

"That's right," Henry said. "Now come on."

I couldn't help by notice the sad look on Sam's face after that. It seemed so trivial. Why not let the kid have one tiny bit of happiness in this shithole of a world?

"That was kinda shitty," I said to Ellie as the others filed out into another room in the back of the store.

"Yeah," she said, walking over to the action figure on the floor, and picking it up.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Everyone deserves to be happy, Kara," she said. "I can't deny him that." She then put the action figure in her backpack.

"You're a good woman," I said, proud.

She chuckled, "I don't think I've ever been called a woman before."

"Well, get used to it," I smiled, walking over to her and kissing her.

"Uhh, guys," Sam had reappeared in the doorway where he and the men had walked through a few seconds ago. "We gotta go." He sounded a little embarrassed, and it made Ellie and I just grin at each other and giggle.

"Yeah, c'mon," she said, taking hold of my hand and following Sam through the doorway to where Henry and Joel were waiting.

"How far is this place?" Joel asked once we started moving again.

"We're close," Henry answered. "Real close."

The room led to some kind of loading dock outside, and just beyond that was a group of hunters talking.

"Shit," Joel said, crouching down to become sneakier. "Ellie, watch your back." That was a little interesting to me that he said that, since before he'd just told her to stick close to me. He probably figured that she could handle herself now that she had a gun.

"Of course," she said, and although she wasn't sticking to my hip anymore, she was still relatively close by at all times.

"Sam, you stay with them," Henry instructed.

"Okay," he answered, staying behind Ellie and I like we were his shield, and in many ways, I felt like I was protecting Ellie all over again, but of course, Sam wasn't Ellie, therefore romantic feelings weren't thrown into the mix. Still, there was a desire to protect him, and I saw it in her eyes too.

We crept around outside, trying to avoid confrontation, but Henry was proving to be pretty trigger happy, so we eventually had to give up on stealth. As a shield, Ellie and I made a pretty good pair. Since I was left-handed, she stayed on the right side of me, and as it turned out, we were able to bet better coverage that way. She was didn't look like she was getting sick like she had when she used a gun to save Joel. She was also proving to be a pretty good shot, just like the hunting rifle. Her aim was a bit shaky though, but I wasn't worried. I knew she'd improve with time.

Once all the hunters were dead, and all the bullets picked out of their pockets, Henry lead us up to the roof of a building via a series of car roofs. Then, we walked across a wooden plank with led to the fire escape of another building, this one looking a bit like the apartment buildings that we lived in back in Boston. It kind of made me nostalgic when we went inside, but upon further inspection, it was an office building.

"Through this door," Henry said, walking to one of the

"You sure it's safe, being so close to them?" Joel asked.

"I'm the only one with a key, man."

"And where'd you get that?"

"I killed one of 'em," Henry said, opening the door. "He won't miss it now."

"So how old are you guys?" Sam asked Ellie and me.

"I'm fifteen," I answered.

"Fourteen," she said. "How old are you?"

"Uh, the same," Sam said, trying to be smooth.

"Oh, you're fourteen, huh?" Henry said, busting him.

After slight hesitation, he said, "I'm close."

Henry chucked, "alright."

"I am."

We all walked in passed Henry, and looked around at the abandoned desks and computer monitors that sat in carefully places rows. It all seemed pretty linear, but there was a kitchen area, which I didn't understand the point of.

"Here we are," Henry said, walking back to another door that was marked with CEO on the door, and opening it for us.

"Welcome to my office," he said.

This room seemed a little cozier. There was a desk, with paintings on the wall, and a sofa.

"How long have you guys been holed up in here?" Ellie asked.

"A few days," Sam answered. "We found a bit of food, though." He walked over to the sofa, and took out a large bag of blueberries. Ellie and I stayed with him, while Joel and Henry went over the window to just talk to each other.

Sam gave Ellie and I each a handful of the berries, and the three of us sat on the sofa. Well, it started out that way, but when I sat down, Ellie wormed her way onto my lap.

I giggled, my mouth full of blueberries, "comfy?"

"Very," she replied, grabbing hold of the hand that wasn't holding berries, and draped it around her waist.

Sam just stared for a second, then decided to open his mouth for the first time, "so are you two…a thing?"

"A thing?" I asked. "What does that mean?" I'd never heard that term before.

"You know, uh…" he rubbed the back of his neck, showing how uncomfortable he was. I didn't really understand why.

Ellie was more in tune than I was, "you mean are we a together? Romantically?"

"Yeah," he said, a blush darkening his face. I busted up laughing, almost spitting out some berries in the process. He was the first person I'd ever seen blush at something like that.

"Why are you laughing?" he asked.

"Because you're blushing," I answered.

"I am not," he looked away, which caused Ellie to laugh right along with me. "I just don't want to be disrespectful."

"Don't be embarrassed, it's okay," I said. "Ask whatever, I don't mind."

"I don't either," Ellie said.

"Okay," he said, taking a deep breath. He seemed to feel better after that.

"It's good that you have someone with you that you care about," he added.

"Yeah," I said. "There was someone else, but…" My mind immediately went to Tess. God, I missed her. I wondered how she would've reacted to Ellie and me as a couple. She probably would've just smiled and said something like, "As long as you're happy, I don't give a fuck who you're with." I could hear her saying it clear as day in my mind. I could never forget the sound of her voice.

"She was Kara's aunt," Ellie said, bringing me back to the present.

"What happened to her?" Sam asked.

There was a pause between the three of us, and then Ellie asked me, "do you want me to tell him?" She didn't want to put me in a position where I didn't feel comfortable. I loved how I just knew automatically that's what she was doing. There didn't have to be an exchange of words between us. She was amazing in that way.

"No, it's okay," I answered, squeezing her waist with both of my now free hands, then turning my attention to Sam.

"She was killed," I began. "It was so weird. It was like we could've saved her, but at the same time we couldn't."

"What do you mean?" Sam asked.

"She was infected before she was killed. She was already gone. If she wasn't infected, she would've survived…with us." I expected tears to fill my eyes, but none came. However, there was a distinctive sinking feeling in my stomach as I was talking about it.

"I'm sorry," he said immediately, touching my arm. I smiled at him as thanks.

"If it wasn't for her," I continued. "I would never have known Ellie like I do now. Even though she was infected, she kept going. She sacrificed herself for us in the end. And for that, she's my hero." Saying that she was my hero was what finally made the tears fall. It wasn't very many, but just a few stray ones here and there.

Ellie, hearing my sniffle, hopped off my lap, and sat on the other side of me as Sam, wrapping one of her arms around my shoulders in a kind of side-hug and holding me to her. All the while, I was trying to stop myself from sniffling since the tears weren't bad, but as it always does, the second she hugged me, a fresh batch of tears fell down my face. Even Sam scooted closer to me, and started rubbing my arm.

"Guys, I'm fine," I said, my voice cracking, but a smile crossing my face.

"I told you before, K," Ellie said, making my heart swell. "It's okay to cry. I think the actual allotted amount is around a month."

"What are you talking about?" I asked, laughter replacing tears.

"You know, those unspoken society rules about how long you can do things for. Like, how long you wait to go out on a date after a break-up, how long you wait to call someone back, and all that good shit." She was trying to make me laugh now.

"Ellie," I began, laughing. "None of that stuff is even remotely relevant to anyone on this god forsaken planet. Where in the hell did you even come up with that crap?" Even Sam was laughing now.

"I read it in a magazine I found once."

"What was the magazine called?

"Cosmopolitan."

"Jesus Christ, that magazine also tells you how to have an orgasm in 50 different positions!" I cried.

"Uh, everything okay?" Joel's voice called out from the window. I'd obviously said that last comment a little too loudly. The three of us looked up suddenly as if we'd been caught doing something we shouldn't be, but then we just laughed at their puzzled faces.

"Everything's fine," Ellie said to them, a fake grin planted on her face that made us laugh even more. The two men just shook their heads and continued to talk amongst themselves.