"Stay away from me, Joel!" Ellie shouted. She stood just outside the sliding gate leading into Jackson.
Joel stood on the other side. His arm was reaching out for her. "You can't run from your new life, Ellie."
Ellie took a step back. "It's your life, not mine!" she said. "You can't stop me! I'm leaving!"
Joel stood still. He grabbed the door. "If you leave, you will be alone. I won't come after you."
"I don't want you to come after me!" Ellie replied angrily. She looked behind her at the large, fungal infested forest.
Joel spoke again. "I lied. And you have to accept it. Accept the life I chose for you or be alone."
Ellie shook her head and turned, running as fast as she could.
Dark shadows spread from Joel's hand, grasping at Ellie's heels. More shadows crept from over the Wall surrounding Jackson.
As Ellie ran through the fungal forest, Infected victims began to materialize from the trees and rocks. It was clear who they were. Riley. Sam. Henry. Tess. Marlene.
Ellie turned and saw that the shadows were still pursuing her. She ran faster as she turned forward, barreling straight into a large giraffe. The moment she touched it, it began to grow fungus all along its body.
Ellie fell backwards to the ground.
The giraffe let out a cry of pain as the Cordyceps Infection took over. Moments later, the giraffe toppled forward and laid dead at Ellie's feet, revealing David. He showed no signs of infection.
Ellie rose and reached for her knife to find the weapon gone. She had nothing left.
David backhanded her to the ground. Ellie turned and attempted to crawl away on all fours. David ran around her and kicked her hard in the side. He growled and picked her up, throwing her against a fungal covered tree.
Ellie spat blood out of her mouth and looked around. Riley and Sam walked toward her from both sides. Ellie looked around the trees behind them. The shadow of lies from Joel and Jackson swept through the trees and closed in as David loomed over her.
Ellie curled into a ball. "Please, stop!"
David reached down and gently grasped her shoulder. The Infected wraiths disappeared and the shadows receded back into Joel and over the Wall surrounding Jackson.
Ellie awoke to see Matthew standing over her. The sun was just beginning to rise. His hand lightly grasped her shoulder.
Ellie let out a breath and laid back.
Matthew let his hand drop. "I thought my nightmares were bad," he commented quietly.
Ellie sat up. Her heart felt like it was going to explode from her chest. She opened her empty hand. "I… I usually have my knife in my hand."
Matthew reached into his backpack and threw her an apple. It landed at her feet next to the knife.
Matthew grabbed his own apple. "You were reaching for it. I… I didn't want you to hurt yourself."
Ellie just stared at the apple and knife at her feet.
Matthew took a bite. "You got hurt at some point," he observed.
Ellie looked up in surprise as she grabbed her knife, holding it tightly. "What?"
Matthew set down his apple and began to put his hair up into a ponytail. "You were mumbling. I didn't understand much. But whatever happened, you got hurt."
Ellie took a small bite of her apple. "Thanks for waking me up," she said, hoping to avoid an uncomfortable conversation. "It was a… it was a bad one."
"Believe me," Matthew said sympathetically. "I get it."
Ellie took another bite of the apple and grabbed her backpack.
Matthew offered his hand. "Ready to get moving?"
"Yeah," Ellie said. She took the hand.
…
Joel slowly moved through the forest. Goddamn Clickers.
Joel had heard the sound of Clickers in the distance late the night before. He was forced to slow down. It angered Joel to be delayed, but he knew the loss of ground was safer than lack of caution.
Joel kept his hand on his knife. I should be glad I haven't found any bodies. But I'm losing time. I just hope she's being careful.
…
"Don't step there! To late…" Matthew covered his face with a palm.
Ellie shook her leg. "Shit!"
Matthew slowly stepped around another pile. "Technically, that's deer shit."
Ellie began to examine the ground closely as she moved behind him. "Yeah, thanks for the clarification. Next time a see that deer, I'm totally shooting it in the face."
"Well it's going to be dark in a few hours," Matthew said as he looked at the sky. "We'd better get moving if we want to catch up to it."
Ellie looked at him. "Seriously?"
"Why not?" Matthew asked with a shrug. "I'm running out of apples and I don't like the taste of squirrels."
"Well then let's go," Ellie said. She grabbed out her bow from around her shoulder and bumped Matthew's crossbow as she moved past him. "I'm hungry!"
It took less than an hour to locate the deer. Matthew knelt beside Ellie and latched an arrow into his crossbow. Turns out, the girl's not a bad tracker.
The deer was only twenty feet away, drinking out of a small stream of water. It was oblivious to the two hunters.
Ellie grabbed her bow and strung her last arrow. She aimed it at the deer's neck. At the last moment, she lowered her bow.
Matthew gave her a confused look. "Something wrong?" he asked quietly.
"You should shoot first," Ellie whispered.
Matthew just stared at her.
Ellie rolled her eyes. "You said it yourself. The crossbow is faster. Take a shot. Kill it or slow it down. Then I'll use my bow to finish it."
Matthew leveled his crossbow. "I think I can get used to having you around as a hunting partner, Ellie." He glanced over and saw a hint of a smile on Ellie's face. A moment later, it was gone.
"This would be a lot easier if I had a fucking gun," Ellie commented.
"People and their damn guns," Matthew grumbled. "I hate guns."
Matthew took his shot.
Seconds later, Ellie took her shot.
…
Joel crouched. These Clickers are definitely dead.
Joel slowly turned one of the bodies to examine its neck. That looks like Ellie's knife. He moved on to the next body. This isn't her arrow. Homemade. Whoever she's with has been out here a long time.
Joel examined the ground and looked at the setting sun. South again. One of them is going somewhere specific. I need to find Ellie before they get there.
Joel moved on.
…
Matthew took his backpack off. "Hold this," he muttered to Ellie.
"Hold your own shit."
"Fine," Matthew replied, placing the backpack around his shoulder again. "Grab the deer. We should move away from the area. Something might have heard us. We only have about twenty minutes of light left."
Ellie glanced at the large deer. "On second thought," she said thoughtfully. "I think I'll hold your backpack for you."
Half an hour later, Matthew tossed the deer to the ground. They decided to camp further along the stream.
"I'll be back," Matthew said, grabbing his crossbow. "I'm going to make sure there's nothing around."
"Your knife is better than mine," Ellie said, kneeling next to the deer. "Do you mind?"
Matthew reached into his belt and handed Ellie the knife hilt-first. "Keep an ear out," he said.
When Matthew returned, Ellie was finished with the deer. Ellie stood and moved away from what was left of the now gutted animal.
Matthew started to build a fire. "You've done this before," he said, admiring her handiwork.
"I was stuck in the wilderness during the winter," Ellie said as she handed him his knife. She looked at the deer and her voice grew darker. "I learned how to survive quickly."
Matthew lit the fire and blew on it to spread the flame. "I had to learn quickly too," he replied, choosing not to pursue details about her past.
Ellie adopted a lighter tone. "First time that I've gutted a deer, though."
Matthew shoved two large branches with splits on top into the ground.
Ellie took out her knife and fidgeted with it for a moment before placing it back into her pocket.
"I don't know what's worse about being alone in winter," Matthew said as he grabbed a long, thick branch and sharpened the edges with his knife. "The fact that it was so quiet, or the fact any sound meant either living through another day or dying a gruesome and painful death."
Matthew and Ellie worked together to shove the large, sharpened branch through the deer and placed its carcass over the fire. Matthew sat down next to Ellie and they watched in silence as the deer cooked.