Chapter 8

It was quite silent after that. Joel's gaze had frozen and his eyes turned to glass. Ellie didn't let her eyes wander off from Andy, who felt like he had said all the curse words in the world and spat on a baby after that. After thinking for a while, Ellie got the feeling that she trusted him too soon. Her jaw was hanging low and closing it took extra effort.
"What did you say?" Joel asked quietly, not lowering the gun one bit. He wasn't out of his mind anymore, but he felt more sure than ever that he should put a bullet between his eyes.
"I'm his son, okay? But it's not like I got to choose my dad!" Andy tried to save the situation. His old personality was back with the hesitating, and he wasn't there with the jokes anymore. Ellie found a part she could relate to. She had not been given a choice who she would travel through the country with, and the options on all the other stuff were pretty lousy too.
"I hope you're fucking kidding, ´cause the thing I need now is just one more goddamn reason to shoot your brains out" Joel seemed to spit out his last words, and Ellie noticed his motions early enough to stop his actions.

"STOP!" she shouted, lifting her hands towards both of the men. Even though Joel didn't want to let Andy slip out of his eyes, he had to take a serious look at Ellie at that point.
"The hell are you protecting this guy for?"
"He's not David! And he's right, we do have pretty fucked up options nowadays" Ellie answered with a hint of frustration in her voice. Another memory of David went through her mind and she wanted to shake it off.
"You sure?" Joel asked, as he started to get a feeling that it was Ellie's job to choose Andy's destiny. He felt a bit bad for what she just said about her bad options in life, and he obviously should let her choose about whether to continue with this son of the devil. Andy swallowed a huge lump from his throat while listening to them, and could not move one bit. Ellie closed her eyes for a moment, and luckily no-one spoke after him. Andy had moved his eyes to Ellie, who he obviously trusted. She squeezed her eyes shut to make a final decision.
"It's okay"

Andy sighed out, and turned his gaze back to Joel. He didn't lower his gun, but he did turn his head back at the boy. Ellie had opened her eyes again, staring at Andy for a while. Joel didn't seem to be giving up just yet, but he didn't speak or move when Andy started talking.
"I-I'm so sorry for the whole thing. I know nothing can make up for what you've been through, Ellie-" he started while turning his head to see her "- but I want to protect you from now on" he explained, slowly getting up from the ground. He took a step towards Ellie, who - surprisingly enough - dodged his hand that reached for her elbow. Andy swallowed, pulling his arm back. Joel had lowered his hand, still holding the gun while staring at him.
"Alright" he said with his lowest, most serious voice. Even though the words were dedicated to Ellie, he stared at Andy. He turned to see Joel, even though he didn't want to.
"But if he ever touches you, speaks rudely to you or even breaths the way you don't like, I'll be happy to make it his last act" Joel explained to Ellie, who put her head down. She nodded a few times, lifting her gaze back to Joel.
"It's alright... I trust him"

They travelled on for a couple of days, making their way towards Salt Lake City. Only a few lonely infected had came by their way, but they hadn't spotted any real threat that could endanger their journey. Unlike usual, Joel didn't walk first. As Andy had promised to protect Ellie, he was put to lead the group. Joel followed right after Ellie, who walked in between them. They both started to feel like their bones were reattaching and the pain was more bearable. Despite the good sides, their trip was long and once again they should find shelter and food.
"There's a nice camping area only five minutes from here, I think we could find a safe place from there" Andy proposed, turning his head back to see the two of them. During the time they had travelled in the woods, they had only slept in shifts. Because the lack of trust between Andy and Joel, the only one who had slept well was Ellie. Joel didn't trust Andy's abilities to guard them, and Andy wasn't entirely sure that Joel wouldn't shoot him while he slept.

Joel took a good while before figuring out how he would answer, but he decided to be nice. Instead of putting his idea down, he actually nodded. Andy lifted his eyebrows for the slightest bit, turning his head back onwards. Even Ellie got surprised.
"Sounds good" she answered, and got the feeling that Joel was possibly gaining more trust on David's son. Once a while even Ellie took a long look at Andy, trying to figure out whether he truly was the kind of person she thought he was, but he didn't act otherwise. He gave absolutely no reason to doubt his actions, since he acted all sincerely the whole time they travelled together.

"There it is" he pointed with his finger after another five minutes of travelling. They all stopped to look at it, and were not disappointed. The camping site was looking quite fresh on the counters of how world looked that day. It seemed like nothing was broken. It was located in a small valley on the side of a larger city, and was obviously skipped by most people that came through.
"Wow! It looks pretty nice!" Ellie rejoiced, taking a few quicker steps towards it. There was a gentle slope all the way to the cabins, and it didn't bother them. After climbing all those hills a gentle downhill didn't hurt.

Andy started walking again after seeing Ellie move, and Joel followed after them. Ellie took the lead for the first time in the few days they had been travelling as a trio. Joel walked just a metre behind Andy, who felt like he was under a 24-hour video control.
"Seems like a nice place. How'd you know about this?" Joel asked without the slightest bit of doubt in his voice. Maybe he was just trying to cover it, but Andy took it as a good sign.
"Actually, we used to live here. It was very quiet and peaceful, and we only moved out when my mom passed" Andy explained his own history. This was probably quite many years ago, but his honesty shook Joel a bit. Normally Joel would've apologized for his mother's passing, but he didn't feel like doing so.
"Why'd you move out?" he asked with a frowned face, taking a short look at the boy. He put his head down, and clearly made some decisions inside his head.
"Umm... my, uh, dad wanted to be involved with the hunters, so we.. we left" he muttered, nodding a few times during the explanation. Joel lifted his eyebrows, starting to turn back to his former opinion about the boy. Another mention of David made him more reserved again. Ellie was walking way ahead of them, but she had pulled out her pistol for the sake of Joel, who would otherwise be worried. He took a quick look at her, before gazing to the camping site again.
"So your dad was lacking female company and he wanted to take it by force?" Joel was back with the bad attitude. He was not angry, but teasing the boy would make him crack if he was about to do it at some point. Despite the uncomfortable feeling that passed through Andy, he decided to let that note pass him. He was lucky that Joel wasn't going all crazy again.
"I was very young at that point. I remember quite little of it" he answered, even though it wasn't what Joel asked for.
"Hmph" Joel sneered briefly, shaking his head. After that they were quiet until they got to the cabin. Even though Andy had been honest with him, Joel was not trusting him any more than before. As they arrived, Ellie was already at the corner of the nearest cottage. Andy turned his head a few times, before opening his mouth after the long silence.
"Um, I think we want to go further. Let's take number 5" Andy proposed again, as he seemed to be quite familiar with their surroundings. Even though it was only positive, his certainty didn't please Joel. Andy looked around him, taking his pistol out of it's holster. Joel observed every single movement he made, but he had to follow him. If he hadn't trusted Ellie with this, he would think they were walking into some trap of his.