For a few hours, we were far away from Tommy's dam. We came across what I could assume to be the university. To pass the time, Joel was teaching Ellie and I about a game that he used to play back before the outbreak.
"So let's see if we got this straight. If you mess up your fourth down, then you give the ball to the other team?" Ellie asked. "Right. It's called turn over." Joel tells us. "And if you clear the ten yards then you're back at… first down?" I ask, not sure if that was right. "First down, that's right." Joel praised.
"Man, it's confusing." Ellie said with a moan. "Yeah, I don't get it." I say, looking around the area we were in. "You just gotta play it a couple of times. It'll make sense then." Joel says to us as we walk up to the entrance of the university.
Joel speeds the horse's pace up to a canter as we move through the entrance of the university. We jump over a small barbed wire barricade before turning to a garage. He dismounted the horse so he could look around.
"Stay Callus. What kind of a name is Callus anyway?" Joel asks us.
Not our fault you forgot to ask Tommy his name." Ellie replies, scooting forward onto the saddle. I scoot up with her. "I mean the name could be worse. Like Acorn or Barney or some shit like that." I shrug, getting a laugh out of Ellie.
"Callus." Joel said in a laugh. He goes inside the garage and starts searching the place. "Acorn? Barney? Those are pretty shitty names." Ellie says, looking back at me. "Like I said, the name could be worse." I say, shrugging my shoulders.
After a bit, Joel comes back and remounts the horse, getting Ellie and I to scoot back. We move on and make it into another part of the university. Some of the area was blocked off with the same stuff that Joel's friend made.
"Hey, is that it?" Ellie asked, pointing to a large building. I glance over to it and see what she's talking about it. "Yeah, it does look like a giant mirror." Joel agrees.
He led the horse into a building that had a hole in the wall. "Do you know how many people will be there with the Fireflies?" I ask, ducking my head from the wall. "Reckon it takes quite a crew to run that operation." Joel replies.
"You think there will be people there our age?" Ellie asked as we turned a corner. "I'm not sure." Joel replies, sounding unsure. We come across a closed metal gate.
Joel jumps off the horse and goes to open the gate. Just as he did, the horse started to freak out, making a crying sound. "Whoa, what is it, boy?" Joel said, turning towards the horse. A loud screeching sound comes from the other side of the next room.
"Sounds like runners." Ellie says, keeping her voice low. "They're upstairs I think." I add, listening closely. "You two stay with the horse. I'll go check it out." Joel said, opening the gate and closing it behind him. "Are you sure?" Ellie asked.
"Yes. I don't want him running off. I'll be right back." Joel whispered, making his way upstairs to deal with the runners. Ellie had gotten off of the horse and stayed crouched on the ground while I stayed on the horse, sitting in the saddle. I keep quiet while petting the horse's neck in order to calm him.
Not long after, Joel had returned from dealing with the infected. Ellie then opens up the gate while bringing up something that lightened the mood. "Hey, I was thinking, I wanted to be an astronaut." she said, coming back to mount the horse.
"That a fact?" Joel replies. "Yeah. What about you, Enid? Don't think you've ever told me about what you wanted to be." Ellie says, getting onto the horse. I began to think of what I'd want to be when I grew up. I do know that Ellie had a thing for space.
"To be honest, the same." I say, helping her up. "Really? Didn't think you'd have a fascination for outer space too." Ellie said in surprise. "Yeah, that was one thing I forgot to mention." I say.
"It's okay. I'll forgive you this time." Ellie teased with a laugh. Joel then opens the next gate. Ellie hangs onto me this time as I hold the reins. I get the horse to move outside. For my first time riding a horse like this, it wasn't as hard.
"What about you, Joel? What'd you want to be?" Ellie asked. "Oh, well, when I was a kid I used to want to be… a singer." Joel admits. This gets Ellie and I to laugh.
"Shut up." Ellie laughed. "I'm serious." Joel says, climbing up some steps. "Then sing something for us." I say. "Ah, no." he tells us, mounting the horse so we could get over another barbed wire barricade.
"C'mon, it's not like we're gonna laugh at you." I say with a smile. "I don't think so." Joel refused again. "Joel. Please." Ellie begged. At this point, I could tell that he was too stubborn to comply so we left it alone.
I hung onto Joel's backpack while Ellie had her arms around my waist. "Hey look, monkeys!" Ellie says, pointing to a statue that had a lot of monkeys on it. "Yeah, a whole mess of them." Joel commented.
We ride down the steps, causing the monkeys to flee to another building. "That was awesome." I comment, a bright smile on my face. "First time you two have seen a monkey?" Joel asked. "First time seeing a monkey." Ellie confirmed. "Well, I've seen them in books and stuff." I remark.
We rode on until I caught a glimpse of a faded sign that said, 'Science Lab'. Joel had followed the directions of it. We turn another corner and run into another gate.
Joel had got off Callus and said he was going to scout ahead. "Okay. We'll stay with Callus." Ellie said, also sliding off of him. I also get off of the horse, almost losing my balance. Joel ducks underneath an accessible doorway that was partially blocked off with chairs.
"Watch yourself." Ellie says. "You guys too." Joel replied. I stay beside Callus and stroke the side of his neck. Ellie looks through the closed gate and starts observing the area. "You see anything?" I ask her.
"Yeah, a generator that looked like it could be plugged in." Ellie announced, raising to her feet. "Good find. That could be our ticket out of here." I reply. She walks back over to me and pulls out her joke book.
"Wanna hear a few good jokes to pass the time?" she asked, opening the book. My eyes lit up at that. "You read my mind. Whatcha got?" I ask, cracking a smile. She clears her throat before reading one.
"I lost my job at the bank on my very first day. A woman asked me to check her balance, so I pushed her over." Ellie read. "Dude, not cool." I say with a laugh. She too laughs at that one. "How about this one?" she said, "Did you hear about the guy whose whole left side was cut off? He's all right now."
I scoff at that one. "Lame." I say. "Yeah, that one kinda sucked." she agreed. She flipped through the pages. "Oooh, here's one that surely makes you bust a gut." she says, "How do you throw a space party? You planet."
I put my hands on my hips and cock my head to the side. "Did you pick that one because of it having space in it?" I asked. She put the book up when I said that. "Maybe." she said in a smartass tone. I then felt my cheeks start to become red. Holy shit, what am I gonna do with her?
"That's what I thought." I say with a chuckle, trying to cover up my red cheeks. "Was it funny though?" she asked me. "Yeah. Yeah it was." I nod. The two of us shared an honest and genuine laugh. Just then, I could hear faint sounds coming from the next building, causing me to freeze up.
"What is it?" Ellie asked, keeping her voice low. "Tell me that I'm not the only one who heard that?" I ask, keeping my ears open. Ellie waits a minute and listens carefully. She soon looks at me. "I hear it too." she whispered.
After a bit, we see Joel come through a set of double doors, relieving the both of us. "Joel, are you okay? What happened there?" Ellie asked. "More infected; I'm fine." he says, taking off his gas mask.
"Come open the gate for us." I say, standing back up. I get onto the horse again, sitting on the saddle with the reins in my hands. I watch as Joel grabs that generator and drags it over to where there was a loose power cord.
He plugs it in and then starts it up. "Alright, let's try the gate." Joel says. Ellie pressed a green light and the gate started to rise. "You did it!" Ellie laughed, getting onto the horse with me. She sits behind me with her arms around my waist.
We lead the horse out of the gate. Joel then gets on and we start to ride on. "Those infected, you think that they were part of the Fireflies?" I ask. "No, I don't think so." Joel replies. "Why would they have infected so close to the lab?" Ellie asked. "Well, Bill used them as a form of defense, maybe they were doing the same." Joel responded.
We canter around another corner and come across the science lab. There were abandoned tents in the yard of it. There wasn't a single person here other than us. "No guards. No nothing." Ellie said. I look around with a confused look. "Shouldn't there be someone here?" I ask in confusion. "Yeah, there should be." Joel admitted.
Joel got off of the horse so he could look around. I gaze up at the science building for a moment before asking, "Joel, have you ever been to one of these?" "You mean a university?" Joel asked, walking into a tent.
"Yeah." I say. "No, not as a student at least." Joel replied. "Why not?" Ellie curiously asked him. "Um… I had Sarah when I was pretty young." Joel replied, walking out of the tent.
He walked on foot while Ellie and I followed him on the horse.
"Oh…. were you married?" Ellie asked. "For a while…" Joel replied distantly. "What happened?" I ask curiously. "Okay." Joel said, obviously not ready to discuss that yet. "Too much?" Ellie asked. "Too much." he replied.
Joel got back onto the horse and we jumped over another barbed wire barricade. Joel then gets back off the horse as we come across a set of metal doors. "Hey, what about up there?" Ellie pointed out, getting us to look up.
There was a hole in the upper wall that we could use to get inside. "Yeah, that looks like a way in." Joel replies. We all got off the horse so we could figure out a way in. "How're we gonna get in there?" I ask, looking up at the hole. My question had already been answered.
Joel had gotten one of those old dumpster. He started to wheel it down to the gate but ended up losing his grip on it. It crashed into the gate, smashing it open. "Alright, not what I had in mind but it'll do." Joel says, walking through the gate.
Joel gets the dumpster again and pulls it over to another ledge. He climbed up first before Ellie and I followed him. We climb up on another ledge.
Joel climbed into the building then he turned to help Ellie and I up. "Alright, we're in. C'mon, kiddos, give me your hands." Joel said, leaning down to help us up.
Ellie and I grab his hand and he hoists the both of us up. "Let's look around." Ellie said, taking the lead out of the room. "Yeah, they gotta be here somewhere." I say, following her into a hallway.
We came to a balcony that led to another part of the science lab. "Yoo hoo! Fireflies! Cure for mankind over here! Anyone!" Ellie called out, her voice echoing. "We're over here!" I add, cupping my mouth to make my voice louder.
"Let's keep it down until we figure out what's going on." Joel reminded us. We came across a couple of staircases; one went upstairs and the second went downstairs. Ellie and I searched through a large pile of files in hopes of finding something.
"Nothing useful." Ellie said, standing back up. "Ain't nothing here but a bunch of mumbo-jumbo." Joel sighed, holding a file in his hands. "Can't believe there's nothing here." I sigh in defeat.
"Yeah, I don't get it." Ellie sighed. "Looks like they just packed up and left in a hurry." Joel suggested. Then, a loud yet muffled crash from the next floor proved otherwise. "Maybe not all of 'em." Ellie said enthused. "Let's go check it out." I say, starting to head upstairs.
Ellie follows me while Joel follows behind us. We were a few steps ahead of him. The three of us went around another balcony that had a huge tree growing in the middle of the bottom floor. Orange, brown, and yellow leaves had covered the entire balcony, causing them to crunch under our feet.
Ellie opens the next door and we go inside another section. All it had in this section was random desks that were tipped over, some shelves that could be used for cover, and a large stand up light that illuminated the hallway.
"There are no bodies here." Ellie said, observing the section. "That's good, I hope." I add, walking down the corridor. There were small rooms that had some science equipment in them. "If we find out where they went…" Joel replied to us.
As we walk towards an open doorway that was covered by a thin white sheet, something gets knocked over from behind us. The sudden sound startled all of us, getting us to turn around. Out of instinct, I quickly grab Ellie's hand to which she squeezes back.
When we see that it wasn't anything, we walk down the corridor. I was blinded for a minute by a bright white light from another stand up light. We enter another small lab with papers scattered on the floor.
Ellie and I looked through some of the shelves but didn't find anything. Joel meanwhile, had found an old x-ray of someone's fungal growth. It made me wonder if they were trying to find a cure.
Joel goes to the next door and slowly opens the door. "Jesus!" he gasped as he saw a bunch of monkeys in the next room. The monkeys had taken off when they saw him. Ellie and I walk from behind him.
"Well, at least it ain't clickers." Joel says. Ellie kicked a bin that the monkeys were messing with. "Yeah, still no Fireflies though." I sigh, looking around. "Well, maybe in all that research they turned into fucking monkeys." Ellie said, turning towards Joel. "Just keep searching, we'll find something." Joel said, going over to a table.
He picks up a recorder that was sitting on a table. He pressed play and instantly, I heard the sounds of monkeys in the background.
"That's four palettes of lab equipment all packed up and ready to go. Now- big question is what do we do with you guys. They say the tainted batch needs to be put down. You know what I say? I say screw that. Who made a bigger sacrifice than you, right? If anyone deserves to run free out there it's- Hey, easy! Agh! Shit. Oh no… it bit me. Oh my god…"
Joel stood back up and put his backpack back on. "I'm sure glad we didn't mess with them monkeys." Joel said. "But he didn't say where they went." Ellie replied. "I know. Let's just keep looking." Joel replied, trying to keep the mood lightened.
Seeing there wasn't anything left for us here, we moved on to the room to our left. There was another door that was blocked off with furniture to which Joel moved so we could get through by using his shoulder. When we walk in, the first thing that we see is a skeleton slouched in a chair with a huge hole in the side of his head.
There was another recorder sitting on the lab table beside the skeleton. Ellie had found a book on the table and sat down on a chair so she could look through it. I lean on her with my right arm so I could also look at it.
"If you're looking for the Fireflies, they've all left." a male voice says through the recorder. "Psh, yeah no shit." Ellie said, looking up for a minute. "Yeah, we can see that." I add. "I'm dead. Or I will be soon. Got me some time to reflect." the voice continued on.
Joel fast forwards the tape a little bit. "...been years that felt like we were…" Joel fast forwards it again. "...fucking thing was a giant waste of ti-" he fast forwards it again.
"...not gonna do this anymore…" Ellie and I walk over to where Joel was. "C'mon…" Joel says, forwarding the recorder one last time. "...looking for the others, they've all returned to Saint Mary's Hospital in Salt Lake City. You'll find them there. Still trying to save the world. Good luck with that." the recorder finished.
The mention of where the Fireflies were grabbed Ellie and I's attention. We both look at Joel with raised eyebrows. "Do you know where that is?" Ellie asks. "Yeah, I know the city." Joel tells us. "Is it far from here?" I ask. "It ain't close. On horseback-" Joel starts but his eyes drift to the window.
Ellie and I also look out of the window and we see some flashlights outside. "What?" I ask, looking confused for a minute. "Is it Fireflies?" Ellie asked. Suddenly that flashlight turns towards us and Joel pushes us to the floor as a bullet is shot through the window.