Ellie had finally made it to, what she ultimately believed would be, her final destination. Ever since she learned of a possible lead on Abby's location, she had thought of nothing but her face. She saw her face ever time she looked at her own every. She saw her face every time she closed her eyes; and, though rare, when she was able to sleep, she dreamt of nothing else. Abby had become an obsession for Ellie. It had gone far beyond revenge; so far beyond that, over the last several weeks, she barely ever thought of Joel. Though his murder was the reason Ellie left her life behind her, reason had long since left her mind. When Dina told her on the farm that she was unwilling to go through this again, Ellie knew she meant it. In that moment, Ellie knew what she would be sacrificing if she walked out the door.

She didn't plan on living past encountering Abby. Whether she was killed on the way there, killed by Abby, or died of malnutrition and exposure afterwards didn't make a difference to her. She had no plans beyond her mission, and no longer had a reason to make any. So powerful was her desire to hurt Abby that she was willing to sacrifice everything to do it. Over the last several months it sometimes felt like the only thing that kept her going. She could barely eat, rarely slept, and was nearly half-dead herself by the time she finally made it to the apparent slave camp in which Abby was imprisoned.

Every muscle in her body ached, her eyes burned, she wasn't completely sure the abdominal wound she suffered wasn't fatal, and a kind of autopilot had taken over her body. By the time she made it to the beach where Abby was tied up, it was all she could do to look for that face. There were a dozen or more people on the beach tied to tall wooden logs sticking out of the sand like spikes. She walked around for a minute or two looking at them all, not really registering any of the horrors she had seen within the prison thus far. She was just looking for that face. Eventually she found it. It took her a few seconds of staring to recognize it, but she did. At first she didn't even move. There was a part of her that never really thought she would find Abby, but would just look for as long as she could. Now that she stood in front of her, she felt unsure of how to proceed. So she just stood there, looking at her.

Abby looked so different to the last time Ellie saw her. She had lost at least 30 pounds, her hair had been cut off, and she had been severely beaten before being tied up. But Ellie had seen that face too many times in her mind to mistake it for anyone else's. After a few minutes of staring at Abby's limp body, she walked closer, until she was standing right in front of her. Just then, she moved a little, and whispered,

"Help me... please..."

Ellie didn't say anything. Then Abby opened her eyes and they looked at each other.

"It's you..."

She sounded half asleep. It took her another few seconds before Ellie could move. The force of this moment hit her like a truck. She had thought of nothing but this moment for so long that, now that it had come, she did not know how to proceed. All she knew for sure was that she needed to get Abby in front of her. So, she got out her knife, walked around to the back of the pole she was tied to, and started cutting the rope. Abby hit the ground hard. When she stood up the two looked at each other again. For a fraction of a second, neither knew what they were doing. It was Abby who snapped out of it first. Looking to Lev who was tied up near her, Abby quickly walked over and began untying the boy's ropes. Ellie could do nothing but stand there dumbfounded.

Lev fell to the ground, but did not move. Abby quickly went to him and untied the rope from around his wrists. As bizarre as this moment was, Abby had snapped out of her confusion. All she could think of now was getting Lev safely away from this hell hole. She mustered every bit of strength that remained in her, picked the boy up, and started walking. Then, remembering the woman who had just saved them both, she turned around. Abby didn't know what she was doing here or why she just cut her down, and she didn't care. All she could think of was getting as far away from there as possible.

"There are boats this way"

Abby said, and continued walking with the boy in her arms towards the shore.

It seemed that Ellie had entered a state of shock so severe that nothing made sense anymore in her head. She had become emaciated, dehydrated, battered and bruised, and had lost enough blood by now that, coupled with finally seeing the woman she had been obsessed with for over a year, she was surprised she didn't faint. It seemed to her that the only option available was to follow her.

She and Abby walked a few yards to a nearby beach where there were two boats anchored to posts in the sand; one of which was mostly underwater and obviously unusable. When Ellie finally caught up, Abby had placed the boy carefully into the good boat and was untying it from the post. Ellie waded through the waves and slowly made her way to the boat. With no small amount of pain, she pulled off her heavy backpack and placed it next to the unconscious boy. Holding the bleeding wound in her side with one hand, and the edge of the boat with the other, she turned to look at Abby.

The two women looked at each other for only a moment. But in that moment, something unspoken was shared between them. Both were shocked at the others' appearance, neither knew quite what they were doing or how to proceed from here, and neither could find the strength at that moment to confront any of it. So, without a word spoken, Ellie climbed painfully into the boat, and sat at the front. Abby threw the rope into the boat, climbed in at the back, got the engine running, and then carefully put Lev's head between her legs. She looked at Ellie again, half lying down against the front of the boat and examining her bleeding stomach. Abby started the boat forwards, and they sailed silently into the night.