I swim underwater until I get into a new area where I know Ellie isn't. When I swim up to get some air, I end up behind an unsuspecting WLF soldier. The WLF's back is turned to me so I jump up and pull her into the water. I take my knife and plunge it into her neck and hold her until she stops moving. When I get back up I scout the area and see another soldier on the other side, so I dive back into the water and make my way over. I repeat my previous actions taking out about three WLF. My attention is diverted to a WLF shout, "It's Charlotte! The girl got her!" This is followed by gunshots and more commotion going from the top section of the building. I whip out my pistol and move to help Ellie out. I shoot a WLF and it lands in his soldier so I shoot again and he goes down. I see a soldier gain up on Ellie so I grab my knife and throw it at the soldier.
"What are you doing here?" Ellie asks.
"I told you Ellie, I'm with you."
Ellie looks at me for a second before she smiles, "Thanks." We're interrupted when another gunshot goes off and just barely misses my head, "Fuck!" Ellie exclaims and she shoots the guy. I grab the rifle off of Ellie and aim it at the guys on the other side of the building. Before they can spot me aiming I snipe three more of the WLF. We wait for any more noise and we don't hear anything.
"You think we're clear?" I ask.
"Yeah, think so." Ellie replies and we make our way to the boat. Ellie starts the engine and we start moving along the water. The water is extremely rocky so I have to hold onto the side while Ellie steers the boat. I know our world sucks, but I can't help but admire how pretty it is. Ellie puts up her hood and I follow even though by now my hair makes me look like a drowned rat. We get through the rapids okay and the boats engine isn't shitting out from them. The water is more steady now so we don't have to hold on so tight. We pass old rusted vehicles from the old world. Our surroundings are all overgrown grass and sunken objects and buildings. We drive through buildings and we have to go over a fence. More rapids approach us as we quickly jump out to find any supplies. I find a card in a desk drawer and pass it to Ellie.
"Hm cool." Ellie says after reading it and we hop back into the boat, "Now what?" Ellie mutters when we reach a dead end.
"Here I can hold the gate open for you to get through. Can you find a way to keep it open?" I ask Ellie.
"Sure." She says and I go over to the gate and pull it open. Ellie steers the boat through the gate. She gets out and hold the gate open, "Come through quick." I crawl under quickly and Ellie drops the gate. I nod at her and we get back into the boat. More rapids are ahead of us and when we go through I worry about the boat. My worries come true when the boats engine stops, "Are you kidding me?" Ellie asks and she goes to give the engine more power. We have to go over another fence and smash through a window to keep moving. We pass by the Carthy Hotel and look up at the tall building. We go inside quickly to look for supplies and we find a note about shamblers.
"Let's hope we don't run into any of these." I say and Ellie nods.
"Yeah, let's go." Ellie mumbles and we get into the boat. When we're riding further in the water we start to see light ahead in one of the grass covered old building and Ellie slows down when we hear whistles. We park the boat and try to scout the area. Ellie uses the scope and when she's done I grab it and look too. The groups pretty big so we might have to split up.
"We can try sniping them?" I suggest.
"Yeah. Go from a distance. One of us should stay close to take them out quietly." I nod at her.
"Yeah. You're a better shot so I can go close."
Ellie nods, "Be careful."
"You too." I crawl through the water and grass so they won't be able to spot me easily. I start to hear shots coming from Ellie.
"There's more! Take cover!" One of the Scars shout. I see a few take cover by me, so I grab my knives and start to take them out quietly. One of them is left alone, so I crawl over and sneak up behind the female scar before I grab her and stab her in the neck. I hear the gargling of her blood and I push her to the side so I can get back into cover. More shots can be heard and I see a body fall from the top floor next to me. Ellie keeps shooting until there is only one left who takes cover. I make my way to the top so I can get the remaining Scars. I'm able to get behind him so I grab the Scar from behind and stab him. I listen for any more and decide that we're good so I make my way back down. When I get there Ellie is already parked and waiting for me. I jump in the boat and we continue our journey. Ellie ends up going over a fence and we break through another window into a building that says Arcade and has a few tables and booths. It looks like we have to find a way to get the gate open.
"Of course," Ellie says, "Would've been too easy." She stops the boat and we get out to look for a way to open the door.
"What's an arcade?" I ask Ellie as we look around.
"Uh it's like this place that people used to go to to play video games and arcade games."
"What?"
"Uh here look." Ellie leads me over to one of the games called The Turning, "Put your hands here." She leads my hands to the colourful sticks and coloured buttons, "So uh close your eyes and imagine like a battlefield." I close my eyes and let Ellie control my movements, "so when I move your left hand imagine I'm moving you and when I get you to press this button imagine I'm making you shoot." I nod at Ellie and keep my eyes closed. She moves my hand and I try to imagine myself moving, "Okay duck. Turn to the left, shoot. Keep going forward and shoot." I smile a bit and I feel Ellie's breath on my neck, "Run, duck, shoot, hide, shoot to your left, shoot to your right and one last guy. Shoot and there." I open my eyes and turn over to Ellie with a smile on my face.
"Well, I'm sure this would have been fun with an actual screen. Not that your commentary wasn't great."
"Yeah. I did the same thing with my one friend Riley." I remember Ellie telling me about her, it was her friend that got infected, "It was the night we got bit. There were a ton of infected, but we got to try one of these out before."
"So... she changed and you didn't?" I ask.
"Yeah.."
"I'm sorry El."
"It's okay Li. Let's uh, let's go we already wasted enough time." I nod at Ellie and we keep moving. Before I follow Ellie I take one last look at the machine and I think of Ellie's breath on my neck. I know it's not the time to stop for things like that, but it was nice to see Ellie without the revenge stuck in her eyes. Even if it was just for two minutes.