Later that day after having buried Joel in Jackson's cemetery, Jake sat alone in his dimly lit house. He wore the same jacket from earlier in the day, stained in Joel's blood from handling his body. He stared emptily at his room while he held a knife in his hand, flipping it between forward and reverse positions mindlessly. For an instant the image of Joel's lifeless corpse flashed in his mind, with all the detail of the blood and wounds. He grit his teeth and tightened his grip around the knife before slamming it into the coffee table in front of him in anger, causing some chips of wood to fly out from impact of the blade being lodged in the table.

"Damn it," Jake cursed under his breath, frustrated from being unable to help Joel. A few moments later a set of knocks was heard on his door. After taking a second to compose himself, Jake then opened his door to find Tommy standing on the other side, with two containers in his hands.

"Hey," Tommy greeted softly.

"Hey," Jake replied in a monotonous voice.

"This is for you," Tommy said as he extended one container out to Jake, "Maria wants to make sure you're eating properly," he explained. Jake then took the container and set it aside in his house."You got a few minutes?"

"What is it?"

"I thought we should talk with Ellie. Figure out what we're gonna do with this whole situation," Tommy elaborated. Ellie had made clear since they had returned to Jackson that she would make this right.

You sure it's a good idea for me to be around her?" Jake asked awkwardly.

"We gotta figure out what we're gonna do, don't we?" Tommy questioned to which Jake silently conceded "it'll be fine."

"Alright," Jake replied simply and exited the house. He then lit a cigarette and began to silently smoke as the two wordlessly walked through Jackson's snow covered streets towards Ellie's house. After a few minutes of walking through the two they had arrived; Tommy then knocked on Ellie's door and awaited a response. A few seconds passed before Ellie answered, with some of the bruises from today still visible.

"Hey," Tommy said in almost an identical tone to that which he did to Jake.

"Hey," she answered dejectedly.

"Mind if we come in?" Tommy asked, to which Ellie stepped out of the doorway to let Tommy and Jake through. Tommy then took a seat on Ellie's sofa with Ellie sitting beside him, whilst Jake stood nearby. "Maria wants to make sure you're eating," Tommy said as he placed the container of food on the coffee table in front of him.

"She can't stop us."

"To have the guys that we would need. To do this smart...we'd be leaving Jackson vulnerable."

"So they just get to get away with this?" Ellie argued with slight anger in a tone.

"Nobody wants that."

"Yeah but that's what's happening."

"What if we get hit by hunters again?" Tommy questioned after a brief pause, trying to change the angle of the conversation.

"Is this you talking or her?"

"It's a valid point."

"If it were any of us, Joel would be halfway to Seattle already."

"No he wouldn't," Tommy replied as he shook his head.

"He absolutely fucking would be-"

"We don't even know for certain they're from Seattle," Tommy cut off with his voice raised slightly.

"Washington Liberation Front, that's what you said was on those patches."

"What if they stole those jackets?"

"That's," Ellie let out in frustration at Tommy's arguments as she stood up from her seat.

"What if the WLF moved?"

"What are you doing?" She snapped back irritably. Jake watched the whole conversation unfold in silence, unsure of whether he had the right to say anything to Ellie about what she should. He saw the anger and frustration in Ellie and knew exactly what she was feeling, both from present and past experience. "You know what? I'm leaving tomorrow," Ellie declared "and if you two wanna come with me, great."

"You have no idea what you're walking into," Tommy warned calmly "you don't know how large that group is, how armed.

"I don't care," Ellie shot back simply "you can't talk me out of this." Tommy then took a deep sigh and nodded in acceptance before rising to his feet.

"Give me a day to talk to Maria," Tommy said as he attempted to reason "gotta be some folk she can spare."

"And if she won't budge?"

"Well I'll figure something out," Tommy answered in a jovial tone to try and lighten the mood and give Ellie reassurance. "One day. Please," Tommy urged as he walked up towards Ellie.

"Fine," she relented before silently taking Tommy into an embrace. Jake looked away awkwardly in response; frustrated that he couldn't do more to support Ellie, but knowing it wasn't his place. Once Tommy and Ellie had finished, he and Jake made their way towards the door.

"Jake, wait," Ellie called, causing Jake to turn back "can we talk?" She asked awkwardly as she fumbled with her fingers.

"Can you wait for a bit?" Jake asked as he turned to Tommy, who then silently nodded and went outside to give the two privacy. "What's up?"

"You ok?" Ellie asked softly.

"I guess, you?"

"Yeah. The same," she replied before an awkward silence set in between the two.

"You don't have to do any of this alone," Jake stated firmly 'no matter what, I'll always be here for you."

"I know," Ellie replied simply, much to Jake's shock who expected a heated rebuttal as was the norm.

"I do know what you're going through, so if you ever need anything, you know," Jake said awkwardly as he tried to offer his support.

"Yeah I know. If anything you were closer to Joel. You must feel worse than I do."

"That wasn't exactly what I meant. You're angry, and want to make this all right. But that's a dangerous road," Jake explained solemnly as he gingerly touched his forearms, the ones littered with scars, which didn't go unnoticed by Ellie who knew the stories behind each of them. "I don't just mean your safety. To single-mindedly pursue a goal like this, one filled with hate, it kind of… makes you lose sight of yourself. In the end, you may not even feel better about it all. I've been there."

"So how do you feel about all this?"

"I don't know. It's complicated, what's right, what's wrong. I think to see this through, to do what's 'right', I need to be the old me. And I don't know where that'll leave me at the end. Whether everything will be right in the end."

"If you really know how I feel, you'll know I have to do this."

"I know. And you'll have my support in whatever decision you make," Jake reaffirmed "Just tread carefully. Don't make the same mistakes I did," he added as he made his way towards the exit "Later."

"Yeah," Ellie said simply as she watched him leave, thinking of his words though not changing her mind.

"So what's the plan?" Jake asked Tommy upon seeing him outside.

"I'll talk to Maria," Tommy replied simply as the two began walking through Jackson again.

"She won't change her mind."

"You're probably right. If it comes down to it, I'll go do the job myself."

"I'll go too," Jake declared firmly "I think it's best if we can keep Ellie here and handle this ourselves," he added with Tommy nodding in agreement. "You sure this won't cause problems between you and Maria?"

"We'll deal with that if we make it out alive first," Tommy replied with a chuckle, "besides, can't let you do this by yourself."

"Suppose not," Jake responded simply. "What was the girl's name?" He asked after a moment's silence.

"Abby."

The following day, after having discussed the situation extensively with Maria, Tommy informed Jake that she wouldn't budge. So the two began preparations for their departure. They packed all they would need, decided on how they'd leave and their route to Seattle. Jake dressed himself in a pair of worn black Converses, grey cargo pants, a black undershirt and short sleeved red shirt, which showed his scar covered arms as well as a monochromatic tattoo of crow whose things turned to fire that covered his left arm in a similar fashion to Ellie's tattoo, since the two had got them at the same time. He also dawned a brown winter jacket for one he'd be going through cold areas, as well as an old brown backpack and black pouch that held his gear. Once all of that was set in place, the two of them prepared letters to leave behind for Maria and Ellie that would be found after they'd left, informing the two of the plan.

Ellie

Tommy and I have gone to Seattle to set things right. I promise I'll kill the ones responsible, so don't come after us. We're doing this to keep you safe, I promised I'd do that all those years ago after all. I know I have no right to say these things to you. But please, let us handle it.

- Jake

Once all was set in place, the two retrieved their horses from Jackson's stable and left in the dead of night when they'd be undetected.