Part 6: Celebrations
As the trucks pulled into Jackson a large crowd had gathered for the small army. Conner got off the truck with his people first and then Joel and Tommy got off theirs next. Tommy was down for a few seconds before being hugged by Maria. "Don't worry I'm alright," he said smiling and Joel smiled as well.
Maria looked at the people getting off the trucks. Besides the dirt covering some of their clothes and a few of them had bandages on. They were all smiling and happy to be home. A lot of them being reunited with the people they care about, "Please tell me didn't lose anyone," she said looking nervous.
"No were all good," Joel said as Johnny and Ellie got off their truck.
"The rescued were only injured, we got there in time," Johnny said as Conner walked over.
"Their also now working for you," he said looking at Johnny making Maria look surprised.
"I'm sorry what," she said looking annoyed. "Johnny while I'm happy with what you did, you know first hand what they've done," she said.
"They didn't have that many choices," Ellie said calmly.
"Maybe we should take this somewhere else," Johnny said before nodding his at Steve for him to come over.
"What's up?" He asked walking over.
"Tell Dave to come by Joel's house, tell him I have news on the thing he gave me earlier," Johnny said making him look confused. "He'l know what it means," he said calmly. Steve nodded before walking off.
"Alright lets go talk," Maria said before she, Tommy, Joel, Conner, Ellie and Johnny headed to Joels house. There everyone accept Conner who was leaning against the wall, were sitting down as Johnny told the details of how he put the battle to an end.
"So you saved his wife with the cure," said Maria calmly.
"That's right," Johnny said. "Apparently their last leader died a couple of years ago, he thought he didn't have any other choice on how to look after for his group," he said.
"Well I definitely cant agree with the way he did things," Tommy said looking serious. "But hopefully working with us will make things better," he said. They then heard knocking from the door.
"It's open," Joel said and then Dave along with his wife quickly walked in. Dave looked at Johnny and quickly walked in front of him.
"What happened with the cure?" He asked and Johnny smiled.
"It worked on someone who was even bitten," he said. "Its like it never even happened," he said when Dave put his face in his hand.
"That's great," he said as his wife put her hands on his shoulders.
"All your work payed off," she said smiling.
"It wasn't all me," Dave said before looking at Johnny. "Thank you for going back for that journal," he said.
"I'm just glad the cure was made," he said before looking serious. "Now we just need to focus on making more of it and brining people together," he said.
"Theres also the infected still out there," said Joel and Tommy nodded in agreement.
"We need to make sure more of the area around is secure," said Maria standing up. "Start clearing out the infected before they can reach anyone," she said.
"Luckily if someone takes the cure the spores wont effect them," Dave said. "But will need to do supply runs further out, Im gonna need more supply's to make more of the cure," he said looking at Maria.
She nodded before speaking. "I'll have someone to do the check of all of our supplies," she said before looking at Tommy. "Will also need to a check on how much ammo we have if we want to take out more infected," she said.
"Ill assign someone tomorrow," said Tommy. "After the day we've all had I think we could all use a good night sleep," he said.
"I couldn't agree more," Ellie said before grabbing Johnnys hand as the two of them stood up.
"Ill head home tomorrow morning," Conner said. "Will do the same check as the rest of you," he said before looking at Dave. "Will send more medical supplies when we can," he said.
"Thank you," Dave said before he and his wife left. Conner then walked over to Johnny and held out his hand. "Thank you for everything," he said.
Johnny smiled before the two of them shook hands. "Cmon we know a place where your people can stay the night," Maria said before she and Tommy got up. The others left the house until all that was left was Joel, Johnny and Ellie.
"I guess ill see you two tomorrow," said Joel smiling at Johnny and Ellie.
"Yeah see you tomorrow Joe," Ellie said smiling before she and Johnny left. The next day everyone in Jackson was gathered at the gate where Maria and Dave made the announcement about the cure. At first no one believed them before Maria called Johnny and Ellie up front. There they exposed their bite scars which surprised everyone. Then after a few moments after Dave explained it already worked. Everyone cheered.
Then later on Philip, his wife and some of the rest of their group arrived. Maria and Johnny were there to welcome them. "Glad to have you here," Maria said holding out her hand. Philip was surprised but Johnny nodded at him. Letting him know everything was okay. That night mostly everyone was at the bar celebrating the cure.
They later got a surprise when the doctor from Philips group met Dave and took a look at the list of ingredients for the cure. He told Philip that they had plenty of it and could make plenty of doses of the cure. They then had another reason to celebrate.
Ellie was sitting with Rachel and Lily having some drinks. She smiled looking over at Johnny who was talking with Philip and Steven. "Someones happy," a familiar female voice said wearing over.
"Dina," Rachel said smiling as she sat down.
"Feels like I haven't talked to you all in so long," she said handing them drinks.
"Well we have all been busy," said Lily taking a drink. "I'm just glad we all got through that mission yesterday," she said.
"You can say that again," Rachel said letting out a sigh. "I'm just glad I was with Steve when we went in," she said.
"How are you two doing anyway?" Lily asked smiling.
"Great actually," Rachel said smiling. "I'm thinking about asking him to take a break from missions for a while," she said looking nervous.
"Well what do you think Ellie," Dina said.
"Yeah sure, I'm sure Johnny would be okay with it," Ellie said now focusing on them.
"Yeah apparently a lot of Philips group wants to join up," Lily said.
"They're just trying to make up for what they did," said Rachel before taking a drink. "Me and Steve were there when they arrived earlier," she said. "They were nervous," she said.
"Well you guys did fight them for almost two years," said Dina. "Wait Ellie didn't you and Johnny take a break from missions a while back," she said.
"Yeah she had just found out about the truth about what happened in Salt Lake City," Lily said.
"None of the team blame Joel and Johnny for what they did," Rachel said. "It's tough losing someone you care about," she said.
"I told Johnny I would have done the same thing," Ellie said getting their attention. "I couldn't lose someone like him," she said.
"Well of course you couldn't you love him," said Lily patting her shoulder.
"Ive been thinking of doing something with him for a while now," Ellie said looking nervous. "I'm thinking about doing it tonight," she said.
"Wait sex," Rachel said and Ellie blushed before nodding.
"Whoa that's a big step for you guys," said Lily.
"Wait you haven't done it yet?" Dina asked.
"No we would always have other things to do," said Ellie looking nervous. "Plus I couldn't risk anything happening," she said.
"I know were not ready for a kid yet," she said.
"Wait you thought about having one?" Dina asked looking surprised.
"Yeah," Ellie said smiling. "I sometimes thought about having a girl named and wed name her Elsie," she said.
"Ellie that's great," Rachel said. "You know despite everything going on me and Steve sometimes talk about starting a family," she said smiling.
"Well it would be awesome if our kids could be friends," Ellie said smiling before they all laughed.
Over with Johnny, Steve and Philip. "Hey theres someone I haven't seen in a while," a familiar male voice said. Johnny smiled knowing who it was and looked to see Jesse walking over.
"Hey Jesse," Johnny said as the two of them hugged. "Philip this is Jesse, hes been in Jackson for a few years now," he said.
"Hello," Philip said holding out his hand. The two of them shook hands before Jesse did the same thing with Steve.
"Hard to believe yesterday you were fighting but now your having drinks together," Jesse said.
"Well things change," Johnny said before taking a drink.
"Hey are you and Dina still together?" Steve asked.
"Yeah shes talking to Ellie, Rachel and Lily over there," Jesse said pointing over at them.
"Its nice to see relationships in other places," said Philip before looking down. "I didn't even want think about what was going to happen if I had lost my wife," he said.
"Well now you don't have too," Johnny said smiling.
"Speaking of people were in a relationship with," Steve said and they all looked to see he was nervous. "I was wondering if me and Rachel could take a break from missions for a while," he said.
"Yeah sure no problem," Johnny said. "Ellie and I had one so that should be no problem," he said.
"Well theres something else," said Steve before looking around and taking something out of his pocket. Johnny was glad his mouth wasn't full when he saw Steve holding an engagement ring.
"Steve," he said looking surprised.
"I'm going to do it tonight, hopefully she saids yes," Steve said smiling nervously.
"Dude that's great," said Johnny said before putting his bottle down and hugging his friend. Steve hugged him back.
"Thanks for always looking out for us Johnny," he said before putting the ring in his pocket. Which was a good thing because a few seconds later Ellie and Rachel walked over.
"You guys doing alright?" Rachel asked.
"Yep," Steve said before holding her hand. "I just got us some time off," he said making her look surprised.
"Enjoy it," Johnny said before noticing Ellie looked nervous. "Hey everything okay?" He asked.
"Can we head home, i need to talk to you about something," she said.
"Yeah sure," Johnny said before finishing his drink. "See guys tomorrow," he said.
"Have a good night you two," Rachel said smiling.
"Alright," Johnny said looking confused. But Ellie was looking ahead as they headed home. When they reached their small house Johnny opened the door. After walking in Ellie closed it.
"So everything alright," Johnny said looking at her. "Your arms still not hurting is it?" He asked remembering when she got hurt in the mission.
"No it's fine," she said before standing in front of him. "I just want to do something that Ive been wanting to do with you," she said.
"What is it?" He asked looking confused.
Ellie then smiled. "This," she said before wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him.
Johnny was surprised before kissing her back. They moved to bed where Ellie pushed him down and removed her shirt. Revealing her bra and Johnny blushed before removing his shirt.
Ellie smiled before climbing on top of him and kissing him. Johnny unhooked her bra and it fell off. "Not bad," she said smiling as she tossed it away.
"Ellie you sure about this," said Johnny. "I mean we don't have any protection," he said.
"Johnny," she said touching his cheek. "Everything will be fine, will just have to be safe," she said.
"You want this too right," she said.
"Yeah of course I do," Johnny said. "I love you," he said.
"I love you too," she said before kissing him as they both reached for their bottoms. After a while they both ended up under the covers naked. Ellie felt some pain at first but then kissed Johnny to let him know it was alright.
As the two of them made love they never let go of each other. Ellie smiled at Johnny at Johnny before kissing him as they continued. They never stopped until they reached their limit. They held each other close before going for a bath.
"Well that was," Ellie said as she sat in front of Johnny.
"Good?" He asked nervously.
"Amazing," she said smiling at him before kissing him on the lips.
"Oh I almost forgot," he said making her look confused. "Steves proposing to Rachel tonight," he said.
"What, that's great," she said. "Shes been looking forward to spending some time with him," she said.
"Well now they can celebrate too," he said smiling.
"Hey Johnny," she said and he noticed she looked serious. "Despite everything we went through together, I'm happy we ended up together," she said.
Johnny smiled before hugging her. "I should be thanking you," he said. "It was thanks to you I felt happy after I almost lost everything," he said.
Ellie smiled before hugging him back. She then kissed him and he kissed her back. She then stood up making Johnny look surprised.
"Cmon we can change the sheets tomorrow," she said. They went to bed where they went another round before falling asleep in each others arms. After that night Johnny was determined to keep an eye out for a ring for Ellie.