Author's Notes: Welcome to part 2 of the Last of the Walking Dead series! A few quick notes before we get into this: Starting with this story, we'll only be doing novelizations from now on. Something to Fight For Novelization will also eventually get finished, but is taking a bit of a backseat due to rewrites we wanna do for the early arcs of the story.

SPOILER WARNING:

There'll be definitely spoilers for some TLOU 2 stuff in this fic, along with scenes adapted from it. Keep that in mind going forward.

And since this is a sequel to Something to Fight For, I'd be remiss not to mention that reading that story first would probably be best, since a WHOLE LOT of stuff gets set up in that book, but if you don't feel like doing that, you should get the general gist of the story from these first couple chapters.

Anyway, let's carry on!

6:43 PM — May 17, 2026 (Five weeks before Negan)

"Man… look at that view. When was the last time you had a picnic? Or even hung out somewhere as cool as this?"

"Pfft, never. By the way… in case you're, like, wondering…? Yes, this is the best date ever. You're awesome."

Ellie was brought back to reality by a gentle push against her arm, eyes ripping away from the valley below. It wasn't hard to get lost in the memories, but at least these were… good ones. She'd give anything to forget the bad.

Ellie focused on the man she was walking the trail with, who'd decided to grow a beard since they'd gotten back to Jackson. Honestly she had to respect it. Bet he's trying to impress Andrea. She smiled, amused by the thought, but it only lasted long enough for Tommy's question to sink in.

"Are you with me? What're you smilin' about over there?"

She instantly nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm good. It's nothing." Can't get distracted, Elle. Not right now.

Tommy's response was a half chuckle as he turned to face the lowering sun. "Okay…"

He headed down the trail while Ellie's eyes found the view beyond the cliff once more. How the trees swayed in the wind. How the birds soared through the air, looking for prey. Good luck, birds. It's getting hard for us, too. She only turned away once Tommy spoke up again.

"Anyway, this silent treatment… Man! I mean, I'd forget my own birthday if she didn't remind me when it was."

Things between Andrea and Tommy were starting to get… tense, Ellie heard. The idea of the Saviors showing up and knocking down their door had everyone on edge, most of all its leadership. She couldn't blame either of them. These folks sounded like actual bad guys from a horror movie, except these assholes were real. They'd seen that first-hand in Pittsburgh. Clementine had seen it first-hand when one broke her nose.

Ellie didn't want to see any more.

"You should just apologize to her," she said, trying to offer some sort of help for Joel's brother. Wasn't exactly her fight to get involved in, but those two seemed to need all the help they could get.

"I just said—" He let out an exasperated laugh, looking back at her. "Okay... for real, what's goin' on?"

"Nothing," she insisted, "why?"

"I can tell when you're off."

All I've been is off lately... She sighed, crossing both arms across her chest. "I just- got a lot on my mind."

Tommy had that knowing look in his eyes that irritated her to no end. "You let me know if you wanna talk about it," he said, continuing down the path.

Truth was, things were good. Better than good. But every time she thought that, the feeling of guilt caught up and lingered 'till it drove her mad. Knowing that this would've been so much better had the cure been possible. That they'd be able to live fully normal lives, doing... whatever it was they had teenagers doing. Instead, they're out here clearing infected, same as always. They're out here being reminded that the world was still shit, and that Jackson was an exception and not the rule.

But rather than voicing any of that, she tossed Tommy a simple "okay," and followed him towards another ledge, where he peered down the scope of his rifle.

"Got stragglers," he said, glancing towards her.

"How many?"

"Just a handful," he answered.

Ellie squinted to make them out across the valley. From here, they looked like little toys, sauntering around dollhouses perched atop a hill. Tommy sent a couple shots their way, downing a few in sprays of blood.

When he held the gun out to her, she met his gaze. "You wanna give it a whirl?"

Uh, hell yeah? "Are you sure?" She asked, smiling all the while.

He returned the grin, like the cocky son of a bitch he was. "I'm feelin' generous."

Chuckling, Ellie accepted the weapon, feeling the weight of it in her hands. She panned over the area ahead while aiming down the scope, and Tommy focused her attention onto a red sign just before the houses. Using it as target practice, it took a couple attempts, with Tommy telling her to aim a bit higher to account for the bullet dropping, but eventually she did hit the sign. That's right, fuck you sign.

And as expected, the rest of the infected freaks down there came out of their hidey-holes. "Sound's attracting them," Ellie said, smiling back at the nod Tommy sent her way. She didn't land every shot, but eventually the last one went down with a bullet to the chest.

"That's all of them." Tommy sang her praise with a smirk and a pat on the back. "Usually more over this way if you wanna keep shootin'." He pointed forward and traced his finger down the trail.

Another chuckle got away, although trying to keep her cool was starting to prove worthless. That rifle was so fucking fun. "Okay," she said, following him. She looked towards the specks of bodies in the distance before focusing ahead, and shooting Tommy a question. "Where are they coming from?"

"Hordes like to move through this area in winter," Tommy said, "they always end up leavin' behind a few stragglers."

Ellie raised an eyebrow. "They do the same routes every year?"

"Like a migration or somethin'." The guy didn't sound too sure of himself, but then again, she couldn't really blame him. Walkers and infected? Migrating like birds? Was pretty out there to think about.

"What's that about?" She asked while pointing the rifle towards a shed down the valley, where more infected milled about.

"Well… when the barometric pressure reaches a certain… temperature…" He shook his head. "Shit, I don't fuckin' know."

Best explanation she'd ever get; Ellie had to share another laugh, forcing herself to calm down to take the first shot. One after another, she finished off the infected, nose wrinkling at the sight of them tearing away flesh from a dead animal. Rot in peace, dude.

"Alright, let's head in," Tommy broke the silence. "See if Joel and Clem're back."

"Sure."

Tommy looked to her as if she'd forgotten something — obviously she had. "Hand her over," he said, and Ellie begrudgingly traded rifles with him. Bye bye, scope.

Her gratitude, though, came a little less begrudging. "Hey, thanks for that," Ellie told Tommy as he pushed back some tree limbs. "It was just what I needed."

"Sure," he answered in kind. Tommy tilted his head to get her to squeeze between the branches blocking their path forward. "Ladies first." As they headed down the grassy hill, he cleared his throat. "I'm not supposed to say anything… but Joel's worried about you."

And there she was thinking he'd take a break from the gossiping. Ellie's words came with a sigh. "There's nothing to worry about."

Of course, he didn't relent. "I'm sure there isn't," Tommy ceded, "but if you don't talk to him, he's going to think something's wrong."

"I talk to him," Ellie had to do her insisting, not at all sounding like she believed it.

It wasn't that she didn't want to… just, well, she had other things she liked doing. Other people she wanted to hang out with. Her and Joel were glued together for months on that last stretch of road, and she'd spent so much of that time in her own head. It honestly felt lonely the entire way to Salt Lake.

Okay, maybe it had a lot to do about Clementine. Would she admit that? Abso-fucking-lutely not.

"Well, you have to do more than hi and bye," Tommy said, and she felt really ticked by the fact that he wasn't wrong. Goddamn it, Tommy.

"Okay." So it was her turn to give in, albeit absentmindedly. "I will try."

As they passed the horses resting outside the lodge, Tommy gave them a short nod. "At ease, fellas." Ellie rolled her eyes before following him inside.

The lodge expanded into a lounge area. She saw a bar table; cups, machines and empty food displays to keep it company, stretching across the entrance that led to a small set of stairs and a fireplace crackling in kindled flames. Joel sat on one of the stools, idly plucking away at a guitar and half-content to let the rest of the world go quiet in his absence. While his strings sang their tune, Clementine lounged on the couch by the window, foot swaying in the air, nose stuck in a paperback issue Ellie happened to recognize. Unlike him, she hadn't noticed anyone coming in.

"You two were raisin' hell out there," Joel greeted in his calm, deep voice, and so the guitar was away from his mind.

"Oh, just some stragglers," Tommy said. "Ellie got to try out my scope."

In the time Ellie spent looking for a seat, Joel seemed to suppress a smile. "How'd you like it?" She didn't quite share his. Ellie fiddled with her jean pockets, looking for a quick way out of the conversation.

"Yeah, feels good."

That was that out of him. Tommy shoved the rifle on top of the lunch table, sitting lazily between the two of them. He leaned his chair so far back, actually, she was expecting him to split something. Joel saw the chance to press on and he didn't miss it. "D'you remember to, uh… lean into—"

"Lean into the stock. I know." She shot him down again, wishing she'd gone smoother about doing it. I mean, that's only the hundredth time you said it.

He was on a roll, though. Joel's gaze fell on the guitar again, in the kind of wistful, dismissive look that meant he had something tender in the backburner. "Y'know, I..." He chuckled. "...I think this thing's gonna be needin' some new strings soon."

"You gotta change 'em?" Honestly, she didn't know much about guitars at all, but… well, she promised she'd try to talk. Her laugh sounded awkward even to her own ears, and she caught herself glancing at Tommy for an assist. Although, seeing the look on his face, she knew he was in on it. Already on his feet, Joel passed the guitar to Tommy as if they'd rehearsed the act, half-smiles sneaking under their beards. His brother playfully strummed the instrument, listening for the sour notes that crashed into everyone's ears and playing up the smirk on his lips. "Sounds just fine to me," Tommy said, needling at him.

"Yeah," Joel grimaced. "We oughta get some new ones."

Tommy didn't miss a beat. "Oh, there's that music store down there," he said, rocking himself back and forth with the foot he had over the table.

Clementine, suddenly out of her own little bubble, spoke up from the couch. "Bet they got guitar stuff."

Seriously? They had her in on it too?!

Tommy feigned a sincere look to his brother. "I mean, that area's long overdue for a sweep anyway. I can keep watch!"

Wow.

The worst part was seeing Joel stifle a laugh. He totally knew how bad it was. He knew. "Whaddya say, kiddo?"

"Sure," Ellie had to say.

With a flick of his wrist, Tommy had the guitar singing again, his fingers dancing between the dissonant chords in a way that almost sounded mocking. Joel nudged at his shoulder, giving him another something to laugh about. "And that's our cue."

Joel went on ahead, shrugging off any sense of rush as he tended the horses outside. But Ellie didn't follow straight away. She breathed another tired, overly loud sigh, and turned towards the girl on the opposite side of the lounge. "You sure you don't wanna come?"

Sneaking a glance past the wrinkled pages, Clementine sounded like she actually put some thought into it — or, just pretended to. "No," she said, with half a mind elsewhere. "No, you two got this."

Ellie sighed, heading after Joel. "Okay, let's go."

"Alright… on me, kiddo."

Ellie climbed onto the horse next to his, giving it a well-deserved stroke of its mane, before following Joel downhill. The afternoon sun made it hard to see where they were going, but at least Shimmer knew when to hop over a log. Joel watched her out of the corner of his eye, clearing his throat.

"So…" Ugh, small talk, Ellie groaned to herself as Joel let the word hang in the air. "You an' Tommy cross anythin' when you was out?"

"Just the few we saw from the ridge," she answered, ducking underneath a tree branch hanging over the trail. "You?"

"Oh, ya know, found two runners in a house." There was that pause again. The one that typically ended with something she didn't really wanna talk about. "Carl tells me you're handling your own quite well on the group patrols. He's even recommendin' you for paired patrols." He definitely didn't like that, she could tell.

She couldn't find it in her to blame him, given what happened the last time she went outside the walls in a pair; Dwight had been found dead a few days later, and she'd been among the suspects. Even now, that shadow hadn't quite gone away yet. At least Tommy seemed like he'd let it go.

"I think you're still a bit young for it," Joel continued, robbing a scoff out of Ellie.

"I'm a better shot than almost all of them," she said, an edge in her voice giving way to indignance. "And I have more experience than most of the new recruits who—"

"Look," Joel interrupted her, clutching the reins of his horse a bit tighter. "If you think you're ready, I trust you."

"Okay," she said, tentatively, waiting for the other shoe to drop. "Thanks."

"Can you just do me a favor and start with the shorter routes for now? Y'know, see how you handle them."

"Alright." Looking at her track record, Ellie hadn't the room to argue, but at least Joel was willing to let her do it. Earning back his trust after what happened was taking time. At least he didn't pry into it too much; how she'd managed to keep the Clementine thing under wraps for this long was anyone's guess.

Joel glanced towards her as they rounded a corner of the trail, towards a creek separating them from a hotel. Shimmer's hooves splashed the water around while Joel struggled to let himself be heard over them. "You remember those Savage Starlight comic books that you're into?"

You mean the ones that Clementine's been blazing through the past couple weeks?

"Yeah."

"Tommy an' I found some when we were movin' through that school the other day."

"Did ya like 'em?" Ellie asked, sending him a smile.

"Oh, y'know, it's not really my cup of tea, but…" He trailed off, thinking it over. "Doctor Daniela Star, I mean, she's pretty…"

"She's a savage." She laughed, more than ready to finish that sentence for him.

"What she does to Captain Ryan in that deathmatch— woo…"

"Yeah. I mean… He definitely deserved it, but…"

Joel returned the chuckle, shaking his head. "It was a nice twist how they escaped, though."

He was trying. Maybe she needed to try, too. She gave him one final, drier laugh, saying "you're funny," before letting things quiet down. A barricade blocked their path up to the road, so Joel turned back towards her, stopping his horse.

"Music store's up that way…" He pointed towards a sign obscured by trees ahead, hopping off his horse. "We're gonna have to leave the horses here."

"Yeah. Sounds good." As she jumped off hers, she gave its muzzle a gentle scratching. "Hey Shimmer, don't get into trouble."

Together, they climbed over the barricade and headed back onto the grassy road. The sign Joel was talking about came into view up ahead. Music Center Jackson. Very creative name, guys. Joel pointed it out as he ushered her forth, towards a van with a trailer attached to the back.

"Need a boost?" He asked, and she instantly assured him with a shake of her head. "I got it." With a running start, Ellie grabbed the edge of the trailer's roof, pulling herself up with a grunt until she finally vaulted over it.

The path beyond came to a very sudden stop. Ellie looked over the massive hole dug into the ground, filled with standing water and a couple rusted-out cars where the road should be. "Uh… I don't think we can go this way."

"What?" came Joel's incredulous voice, who was busy climbing over the trailer next to her. Hands settled on his hips, he sighed. "Well, damn. Used to be able to swim across this…"

"Okay, so…" She began, crossing her arms over her chest. "...Now what?"

"Well," he began, eyes falling on the building next to them. "If you're up for it, we can try cuttin' through that hotel."

"I'm up for it."

The door was locked, of course. She jiggled it bitterly, shoving against it. Nothing. "C'mon," she breathed, side-eyeing Joel as he fell to one knee, looking underneath some roofing that'd fallen off the awning.

"Oh, that might be somethin'." He sounded a bit too relieved for that something to be more roof. When Joel lifted his gaze to her, that relief turned into worry. "You think you can fit in there?"

She wasn't that small, but… "Well, it's worth a shot." Before dropping to the ground, she gave him a shrug that probably didn't make him feel any better about it.

Joel put his back into lifting the rubble off the ground, allowing her just a few inches of entry. The grimace on him only told her to go faster about it. "Careful now." She gave him a quiet "yup," before crawling underneath it. This part she hated the most: how at any second that thing could split in half and crush her. She could feel it digging at her back already.

Inside, Ellie could barely make out the dresser to her left, and as she pushed herself back to her feet, she pulled out her flashlight, clipping it to her shirt. "I'm through!" She called. "Hold on!"

"Alright!"

The hotel looked picked clean; at least anywhere she looked. The green carpeting was stained red in some places, and a yellow vending machine stood silently in the far corner. Hand hovering over her pistol, she made her way to the front door, giving the knob a solid pull before making the jump to unlatch the lock at the top. He stood on the other side, arm rested on the old wooden door as she rolled out the proverbial carpet.

"Well, hello," Ellie smiled, unable to help herself.

Joel lowered his head in greeting. "Howdy."

The man pushed away from the door, clutching onto his backpack straps as he lifted his head and gave her a once-over. Ellie leaned forward. "You impressed?"

"Nope. Y'just too skinny, you need to eat more."

"Ugh…" She rolled her eyes as she shut the door behind him. "You're welcome!"

They looked for a way forward, and Joel eventually locked eyes with the vending machine, waving her over. "Ellie, here! I think I see a way through, but we got spores." Reaching for his gas mask, he whispered the rest of the words. "Put your mask on."

Joel was, of course, not referring to any new, mutated, Ellie-killing spores — but to the latest M.O. since settling back into Jackson. And by the way? She hated wearing the damn thing. Could barely see anything in those fucking goggles. "Do I have to? It's just us."

"What if we run into someone?" Joel asked, his stern voice filtered through the mask.

"Okay," she sighed, grabbing her own out from her backpack. "Fine."

Once Joel pushed the vending machine out of the way, he slipped through, looking around as Ellie followed. "You gotta be smart about this," he went on, already pulling from the lectures he was practicing since they first went out on patrols again. "You stop wearing that mask, kiddo, and eventually you're going to slip up in front of someone you shouldn't."

"I've never slipped," she said, and it was only partially true. She hadn't slipped since getting back to Jackson. Nothing could be changed about what happened with Clementine and Lee, and later, the people Tommy got involved with their own cure plans. She didn't like acknowledging that Carl knew, too.

"You ain't told nobody... new, have you?" He asked slowly, looking back at her. "Not Fionn, or…?"

"Of course not," she scoffed. She'd learned her lesson the last time. If Tommy and Joel wanted to keep it under wraps, then she'd follow that to the letter. People didn't need to get their hopes up…

"'Kay," Joel breathed. "Good."

A hole in the wall provided their way forward, and as Ellie looked over all the musty bed coverings and overturned chairs, she thought it was her turn to ask something. "You ever been in here before?"

"Naw," he answered. "We've just patrolled the streets." His eyes were drawn to the fungal growth on the wall, and she could only imagine the frown on his face. "Feelin' like a bit of an oversight now…"

They searched the rooms for a little while, and Joel's attention focused back to a dead clicker in one of the rooms, a machete buried deep into its neck. "Looks like it's from a while back," he said, giving it a once over before standing up.

"When'd the last patrol go through here?"

"Not sure." Joel's breath came hoarse, uncertain.

"Is it one of us…?"

"Nah. Only people went missing from Jackson're them teenagers from last year." She didn't know much about them either, actually. Nothing other than the fact that they'd left after she and Joel headed off for the Fireflies. "This one's too old," he added. "Probably just roamed in." She watched him tear the blade out from inside the infected corpse, half-glad she couldn't take in any of the smell.

Reaching the reception, Joel slowly opened the door, stopping after a few inches. "Ellie, c'mere." He didn't need to explain; she could hear the infected gurgling on the other side.

Reaching out for her door knob, she looked at him. "We are on patrol, right?"

He didn't seem as keen. Looking at the clicker standing across the way, she was almost on team 'shut the door and try another way through' herself. Clearing this place out took priority, though. "Okay," Joel exhaled, "Let's take 'em out."

—

Ellie found herself huffing as sundown approached, taking a second to catch her breath. There were way more infected walking about than in your average patrol, bordering on the dozens. They'd spent the rest of the day clearing out the hotel, and as the last swarm was put down by a clip of her pistol, Ellie's relief came in the form of a weak laugh. "Joel… I think we did it."

She was jealous at just how calm he sounded in response. "Think so. Good job, kiddo."

"So… what do you say we give up on those strings for today?"

"Couldn't have said it better myself," he huffed right along with her, pushing open the door leading to the conference room. "But I think our only way out is forward now…"

The next room was blocked off, too, but it did look like they could fit through an opening between the wall and the next if they shimmied through.

Following Joel, she took it one step at a time, watching as chunks of dust dropped from the ceiling, walls hugging them so tightly they'd claw at anyone's claustrophobia. Ellie held onto a metal pipe while crouching underneath a gap, and her eyes widened as it came apart with a metallic scream. The floor rumbled beneath their feet, a roar deafening their ears as something huge collided with the wall, breaking it apart like a piece of cardboard. Two massive hands grabbed hold of her and they threw her body across the hallway like it was nothing.

The girl yelled in panic, scrambling backwards in the dark as Joel blew a hole into the bloater's back with a shotgun, shouting to get its attention. With a groan she pushed herself to her feet, reaching into her backpack for the one thing she hadn't told Joel she'd brought along. Stuffing a rag into a bottle of vodka, she caught it on fire, throwing it towards the massive fucking monster now chasing him around. It hit the side of its face, bursting into flames.

The big, fat, ugly infected roared, slapping at its burned would-be lips to try and put out the flames, as Joel continued to shoot shell after shell into it.

Once it had managed to put out enough of the flames, it rushed her, bursting through walls, tables, and whatever stood in its way. The bloater yanked her arm back as it stuffed its fingers into her mouth. Nonononononono, oh fuc—! She tried clawing at it, but that wasn't going to do her any fucking good.

Just as it was about to dislocate her jaw, a machete burrowed into its arm, causing it to let her go and focus on Joel, who kept slicing into the arm until he managed to cut it off, before aiming for the head. When it stopped moving, he finally spared the time for a deep breath, lifting her up with a shaky, "C'mon…"

"Shit…" She breathed, unable to take her eyes off the freaky fucker as she leaned against the wall.

"That was too close," Joel had said, echoing her thoughts. "Sure," came Ellie's response, honestly too fucking elated to be alive to hold back her chuckle. "But we fucking did it."

"Heh. Yeah, we sure did."

"You good…?" She asked as she pushed away from the wall, searching for the quickest way out.

Joel stroked painfully at his swinging shoulder. "Other than being really old?" He said, probably hoping she wouldn't agree with him. "Ain't nothin' a solid night of sleep won't shake off."

As he pushed some furniture away from the next door, Ellie called after him. "What are you doing? What if there's like, two bloaters back there?"

He shook his head. "It'll be fine." Opening the door, he lurched forward with his shotgun raised, searching every corner his flashlight hit. When nothing came out, he declared, "Spores are clear."

Good, 'cause I've already lost my mask.

"Quite the fight back there, huh?" Ellie asked, peering into what looked like a gym before crossing through it.

"Haven't seen a bloater since gettin' here," Joel said, eliciting a chuckled "yeah" out of her.

They'd gotten so fucking lucky.

"Clementine is gonna lose her shit when she hears about this."

Joel's fingers crawled under the mask to rip it off his face, a heave to follow from his tepid beard. Despite increasing his pace, Joel kept his eyes on her — his own kind of concern making the lines on his face that much more noticeable. He pursed his lips, letting their small triumph sink in before they deviated into a smirk. The old man was no doubt entertained by the fact that it took a bloater to break through her walls. And not just literally.

"What about, uh… Carl and Lydia? Ain't you dyin' to brag to those two?"

"Carl? Maybe. Lydia? Not so much." Going anywhere near Lydia was a death sentence in of itself.

"What's the deal with them two anyway?" He sounded genuinely confused, and Ellie thought he must've been better off for it. "They're datin', right?"

"Uh." Well. There was a word for it. Certainly wasn't dating. Ellie shrugged her shoulders, half of a sneer sneaking across her lips. "On and off. Why?"

"Just wonderin'."

He only let the silence breathe for so long. Joel scratched at the hair on his chin, looking an awful lot like Tommy did that morning. He just couldn't let it go. "What 'bout you? Are you—?"

"What? Losing my shit?" She let out a dry laugh. "I mean, yeah."

He coughed the parchedness out from his throat, eyes glossing over the dumbbells scattered around the gym before they landed back on her. "Datin'. I mean."

She wouldn't dare meet his gaze, but that didn't stop the smile from creeping onto her face. Her voice dripped with sarcasm, even if it served only to keep from telling the whole truth. "Maybe."

Joel had himself a quiet chuckle. "Maybe," he said back to her, looking to match her tone.

"Is it that obvious?" She asked, genuinely curious. They'd always tried to keep it quiet; not out of necessity, but given things going on in Jackson, she didn't want to deal with any gossip. Lydia would definitely be the one to do it.

Once they'd made their way back to the halls, Joel seeped back into his serious, gruffer voice as one hand slid down his neck. "Ain't none of my business, kiddo." But he did shoot her another glance, as shyly as Joel could afford to look. "Wouldn't kill you to tell me some, though."

"Yeah," she sighed, ready to push this aside for now. "I'll try. Just gotta get out of here first."

He settled for an "alright," pushing his weight against one of the hotel doors. "Better get on with it. I'm awful at suspense."

The door had opened by a few inches, just enough that Ellie could fit through. "You think you can squeeze through there?" Doing as she was told, she took a look around, making sure they were alone.

"See what it is?" Joel called, and she turned to start pushing the trash counter out of the way. "Yeah," she said, pulling back the door as she finally gave it enough clearance. "Okay."

As Joel entered, Ellie approached a corpse, which had turned into nothing but a skeleton by now. A brown jacket covering bones, while a pair of jeans barely held onto what was left of the legs. A backpack hung haphazardly onto its back.

"Ellie!" Joel's voice had reached her before the sound of a clicker's screams did. Stumbling backwards, she watched Joel put a bullet into its brain. Letting out a breath, she met the back of Joel's head with her eyes.

"Thanks."

"Yeah."

Her eyes fell back onto the backpack, looking at it closer. "Hey, Joel." Her voice had grown quiet. "Huh?" He called, nearly as silent. "I think it's them. The couple that ran away last year." The J label on their backpack was the dead giveaway. That was Jackson's brand.

He frowned, bending to take a closer look at the dead clicker. Ellie's eyes found a note sitting on a table, and her fingers dug into the paper.

"I think you're right," Joel had said, while Ellie read over the first few sentences of the note.

"'Jackson is a wonderful place, but we got tired of hearing the stories of people suffering everywhere else. We wanted to save lives. We had good intentions. We didn't make it an hour before running into a horde. Now we're bitten. We've decided we're going to end our lives instead of turning.'" She paused. Swallowed. Breathed in. "Please tell our family and friends that we're sorry. Love Adam and Sidney.'" She turned the page over, seeing if there was anything on the back. Joel stood up, not saying a word.

"'I shot her,'" Ellie read. "'I can't take my own life. I'm a fucking coward. Adam.'"

"Jesus…" Joel rubbed the side of his face, taking in a deep breath.

But it wasn't that that got her blood pumping. "If only they were immune, right?"

She could feel his eyes on her, but refused to look up. He cleared his throat, looking away. "Well. Let's… Let's go get Clementine and Tommy... and we can get these bodies back to Jackson."

Joel started to head for the door, but she couldn't move. Lowering the note in her hands, she finally looked up. "After you took me out of the Firefly hospital, you said there were dozens of people like me."

Joel, while it took him a while to do it, eventually nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, that's what they told me."

Now she couldn't look away. "I've never met another immune person before. Have you?"

"They could be hidin' it," Joel tried to say. "You do."

She placed the note down. "Do you believe that?"

Realization began to dawn in his eyes, and his jaw hardened. "Is now really the time for this?"

"We traveled across the entire country to bring me to the Fireflies…" Ellie said, her voice rising. Voice breaking. "Lee lost his fucking arm. I nearly lost you. You really mean to tell me that you couldn't've just given them more time to figure it out?"

Joel's expression was unreadable. His lips sat still under the grey of his beard, and his gaze was kept cold and even. The man's voice, however, left him as a harsh, low timbre. "What do you want me to say?"

"I don't know, Joel," Ellie said, her voice growing shrill as her words started to blend together. "I had so many questions for them, and you just pulled me out while I was still unconscious, and—"

"Ellie," he called, as she ran the words by him. Joel lifted his hands and raised his voice. "Ellie!" And as he looked into her eyes, brows collapsed askew, the man spoke his truth in its twisted clarity. "There. Was. No. Cure. There's nothin' that could've helped these people or anybody else." In the heat of his words, Joel's gaze opened its way to sympathy. "I know you wish things were different — I wish things were different.

"But they ain't."

He breathed slowly, never breaking eye contact, never giving Ellie an inch. "Now we need to get these kids back to their families. 'Less there's somethin' else you'd like to rehash."

Her eyes glistened with tears she refused to let drop, grinding teeth together until she had to force herself to stop. When it came time for her to say something, she said her piece softly. Defeated, though she hadn't given up just yet.

"No."

Only then did he break his gaze, when it suddenly seemed so hard to maintain one. Joel ushered her forth with a sway of his head, bearing the weight of silence with him.