Disclaimer: I do not own any character of (The Last of Us) TLOU is owned by Naughty Dog, Sony, and their creators.

A/N: Thanks for reading the story.

Chapter 11: Sneaking Out

A few hours early in the small city close to the old man's house. A pick-up truck arrives at a small warehouse in the middle of it. The place looks like a small abandoned military settlement that was used to control the city population a long time ago. It has a big wall surrounding the whole place and a facing gate with a watch post in front of it. Also, the front street was covered with concrete structures to keep vehicles from passing easily into the base. After the pick-up truck passes all that and enters through the gate, stop in the small parking lot in front of the building. The hunter that was driving the vehicle got out and moved quickly to the passenger side and opened the door.

"Ahrrrr… why did it take you so long to arrive here?" said the boss of the hunters while he started to get out of the vehicle.

"Sorry boss, I drive as fast as I can," said the other hunters while helping him out. He grabbed his arm and put it around his shoulder and started walking.

A few minutes later two armed men walk out of the building and look at them. "What happens?" asked one of them.

"We got into some trouble… and the boss got hurt, so come here and help me take him to the doc." The two men walked toward them and grabbed their boss from two sides and helped him to walk into the building.

The boss looked at him with furious eyes. "Into trouble? What do you think happens there? I lost all my men… you idiot… including my brother… Arrrrggg… be careful you stupid assholes… it hurt like shit..." he say to the two men that were helping him. "Where is the gate guard? I told you not to let it go unguarded…"

One of the men that helped him into the building talked first. "Sorry boss, but some infected come closer this time and some of the men go out to take care of them."

"That doesn't mean all of you have to go and let the gate unguarded you, idiots…" As soon as they get inside the building, one of the hunters goes out and walks to the gate to wait for the others to return.

The one that was helping him to walk looked at the distance of the warehouse and yelled. "Hey John… we need you here quick!" said the hunters while helping his boss sit on a chair in the middle of the place that looks like a living room. The other hunter lowers himself in front of him and starts to check his wound before another man walks out from a small office.

The man walked close to him and looked at his leg. "What happened?" He moved the man close to his boss to the side and got down to check his leg. "Did you encounter more infected out there?" he asked.

"No!... you idiot… Do you think that this was an infected doing?" he said with some pain in his tone. Yes, we encounter some infected, but they don't do this to me… Ahhhh… that fucking hurt…" he yells when the man moves his leg to see better the wound.

"Well, I can see you were stabbed by a knife… you're lucky that it doesn't get an artery or-" he stops when the boss tries to push him away from him.

"Yeah… the fucking bitch that this to me… is going to pay-Ahhhh… that fucking hurt… stop doing that… you idiot, " he said while finally pushing away the man that was checking him.

The man wasn't happy with the situation he had there or how the hunters treated him, but what he could do about it. "I need to stitch you up... So it is going to hurt a lot more." he turned his head and looked at one of the hunters. "You!... help him into the office and put him on the couch… I will get a few things I need to work on his leg." After the boss was taken to the little office, the hunter that was going to patch him up came back with a bag. He tells the other to go outside while he works on his leg.

The doctor slowly cut his pants and started to remove the clot that was covering his wound. He was not a real doctor, at least not officially. The man was studying medicine when the pandemic started and he was taken to one of the military hospitals when the Qz started to get built. They teach him all he needs to know to help with the situation as they need all the hands they can get to help the people. He doesn't remember how he ended with those people but it was the only way to survive.

The doctor takes his tools out of the bag and looks at his face. "This is going to hurt…a little," he grabbed the alcohol and put some on the wound.

The other hunters that were gathering outside the office, hear him scream a few times, but stay away. After a few minutes, some of them go outside to guard the place and others go to other parts of the warehouse and pretend to do something. When the doctor finishes poaching him out, the boss hunter moves slowly and with pain to a chair and closes his eyes.

The doctor put his thing back in his bag and looked at the hunter sitting in his chair. "I know this is not my business but what happens out there? and where are you, brother?"

The boss opens his eyes and looks at him. He was in pain, but still furious about what just happened out there. "You're right, this is none of your business. All you need to do is take care of our wound and stay out of my business."

"Sorry… I just-" the doctor started but he was interrupted.

"Just shot you mouth…" he moved forward on the chair and put his hand on his head. "That fucking bitch kill him…" he said more to himself than to the doctor. "But I'm going to find her… and when I-" the man tries to get up but the leg hurts like hell when he tries to put some wait on it. "Ahhhhhh!... shit!"

The doctor moves close to him to help him, but he only pushes him away. "What the hell you did? My leg hurt like hell,"

"You muscle need to heal… the knife go too deep inside and-"

"I don't care… just give me something for the pain," said the man while sitting back down to the chair.

The doctor turns around and walks toward his desk. "You're lucky that the knife doesn't cut any artery, but you lose a lot of blood and it cuts your muscle very deep." He found what he was looking for and walked back to the hunter leader. I don't recommend using your leg for the next two or three weeks." He said while passing him the jar with the painkiller.

"Two or three weeks? Are you fucking kidding me? That bitch kill my brother and I lose the rest of my men… and you telling me that I can't do nothing?"

"Look… I can't tell you what to do, but if you can't take care of that leg you can lose it..." he said to the man while watching him take the pills. He doesn't know why he is helping him, it is better for him if the man dies, but he knows that the other will kill him after that.

A long time later in the old man's house, Ellie was moving on the bed. It was another nightmare that she hasn't had in a long time.

She was standing inside of that restaurant in David's town. The place was still on fire but David's body was not where she left him when she killed him that day. It was strange, it was like she just came back to that place sometime later and found the place still burning, but not David's body. She has had a lot of nightmares about that before, but none like this. She always saw herself killing David or he finally killing her after the fight. She always saw different outcomes of that night, even one that Joel arrived at the place to save her but David ended up killing him instead. That was the worst one, it woke her up screaming, making Joel run to her room to see what happened to her.

She was so scared that she asked Joel to stay with her on the bed. It was after the first year in Jackson and that was when she realized that she can't live without Joel on her side. After that, she tries to get closer to him, have him open to her about his past and let her in, and with time other feelings start to grow on her. Ellie tries to change her thoughts on Joel and how he makes her feel and see if she can get out of that horrible place. She doesn't want to think about him anymore. He is dead and she needs to stop thinking of that.

Ellie closes her eyes and starts to think of all the good things Joel has done for her; teaching her how to swim, how to hunt, how to defend herself, and even teaching her to cook even if that doesn't go well at first. She was trying to change the bad dream she was having, but a voice interrupted her.

"Do you really think that you escaped me?" it was David's voice again, tormenting in her mind. He was behind her and put his hand on her shoulder to continue. "I'm always going to be here to remind you of what you did to me." Ellie tries to shake him off, but she can't even move.

"You're not real…" she said with a scared tone.

"Oh… I'm always going to be real here…" he moved one hand and touched the side of her head. Then he pointed to the front. "I'm also out there…" Ellie opens her eyes and looks forward. She wasn't in the restaurant anymore but inside the wood factory that was in flames too. "I'm everywhere because we're what this world makes of us and this country is full of people like me."

At that moment she saw the hunter's boss in front of her but he wasn't alone. He has Molly in front of him. "He is right, you know… There are a lot of people like us in this world, just taking what we want," he was holding the girl by her shoulder and smiling. "Do you really think that you saved her? You just postpone what is coming to her…" he lowered his head and started licking the girl's neck. "She is going to be mine and when I finish playing with her I will give her to my men so they have some fun too."

"I won't let you touch her… you sick bastard." Ellie tries to move forward but David holds her back.

"I don't think so my poppet… I want you to watch what is coming next…" he laughs while holding Ellie's head to look in front of her, so she can watch how slowly the hunter starts to undress the girl in front of him. "Don't close your eyes yet… I want you to see how this is going to end."

"Nooooooo!... I won't let you..." Ellie screams in her dream before opening her eyes and notices that she is back in bed inside the old man's house. She sat up and looked at Joel who was still sleeping. Luckily she didn't scream for real and woke up Joel. She wanted to kiss him and lay closer to him, but the nightmare she just had shown her what she needed to do… and that she needed to do it alone.

It was still night on the road on the way to the small city of Wells in the state of Nevada. It was the place where the old man told her they go for supplies and where the hunter should be. The small city was some mile away from the old man's house. Lucky for her, she managed to get out of the bed, grab a few of her things and go out of the house without anyone noticing her. She was lucky that the old man showed her where the trap was and how to deactivate them. Also manages to steal the old man's car without waking up everybody.

As soon as she gets close to the city, she starts to think about how she is going to make it into the city and find the hunter. She is hoping that the city is not too big. As the old man described it, it has to be a small one, but finding the hunter base will take her time. Also, they always have people around to capture any intruder, so she needs to find a way to sneak in without be specter. Also, find a way to kill their boss and get out of their life, because even as crazy as this can be, she wants to come back to Joel and continue their journey to California.

A few hours later, when the sun started to go out. Joel was still sleeping on the bed but opened his eyes as soon as he hear someone open the door of the room and go inside. "Is gone!" yelled the old man as soon he got close to the bed where Joel was.

Joel sits up and looks at him with sleeping eyes. "What!... what is gone?" he asked cluelessly.

"The car… I think that someone stole… that is why I-"

"You mean you car?... but… who and how?" then he looks to the side of the bed and notices that Ellie wasn't in bed with him. "Wait a minute… Where is Ellie?" he asked while getting out of the bed quickly and looking around the room, then he looked in the old man's direction. "Did you see her downstairs?" he asked in a panic now.

"No… I don't see her down there… I just woke up 10 minutes ago and went outside to check things up and noticed that the car was gone…" he started to explain while watching Joel sitting on the bed and grabbing his shoes. "I thought that someone must have come around and taken the car, so I came inside to get my rifle and to wake you two up."

"Shit!... this can be… good…" said Joel while standing up and grabbing his gun from the night table. "Did you check your girl's room? she was concerned about her last night, so maybe she went there and slept with her," he said, hoping that that was what she did.

"No, I don't check her room, but if the car is gone and you girl is gone… the only-" Joel doesn't want to hear him so he walks toward the door pushing the old man out of the way.

"She can't just take the car and go… so she must be here somewhere…" Joel goes downstairs as quickly as he can and goes to the girl's room. The old man follows him just to be sure that he doesn't do something stupid. Soon Joel arrives at the door he opened and looks inside. "Ellie? Are you here?" he yelled as he watched the girl move her head and look at him. He moved inside the room and looked around. "Where is Ellie?"

"I don't know… she is not here." said the girl with a tired voice.

Her grandpa went inside the room and stopped behind Joel. "What are you doing? You girl is not here and my granddaughter needs the rest."

Joel just makes a sound and curses under his breast and turns around. "Just hope that she is okay, or something bad is going to happen here," he said while walking out of the room.

"Did something happen to Ellie?" asked the girl while sitting up on the bed.

"No, honey… everything is okay, just go back to sleep okay?" he said while turning around and going after Joel. Soon he got to the living room, he saw Joel walking out of the kitchen. "I don't think she is in the house," he said as he watched Joel go desperate.

"Fuck!... how I could be so stupid… I should pay more attention to what she was saying last night… fuck!" he turns around and starts running toward the front door.

"What!... the old man said while running after him. "Did she say something last night?"

Soon after Joel was out of the house, he started to look around to see if there were someone out there, especially the hunters.

Soon the old man gets out too, he walks closer to Joel and puts a hand on his shoulder. "What is going on? What did she say to you?" asked the man.

Joel shakes his hand from his shoulder and turns around. "She was talking about the hunters… and wanted to tell you to get out of here before they came back and found you. She was the one that took your car… Shit!... I need my stuff…" he said while walking back to the house.

The man started to walk after him. "Wait... Why did she steal my car?" The old man started but stopped as soon he got close to him and grabbed his hand to stop him. "Why will she take my car?" he asked again while letting go of Joel's arm.

Joel turns around and looks at him. "To go after them… now I need more gas… do you have more… and this time doesn't lie to me," he said the last part with a furious tone.

"Go after them? You mean the hunters?" he asked, surprised.

"Yes… the hunters… she thinks that they're coming back to kill you and get the girl… so she probably to them first… shit!... why she is so stupid," he gives the old man a look. "I need that gasoline… NOW!"

"Okay… I think I still have some more for an emergency.

"Good… go and get it… I will go get my stuff." Joel walks back to the house and gets runs upstairs and goes to the room to get his stuff. At that moment the boy came out of Wendy's room and closed the door. "What is going on? Molly wakes up and is asking all kinds of questions about Ellie… is something going on?" asked the boy as soon as he saw his grandpa.

"Apparently she takes the car… We don't know where she goes, so I need to go with Joel to find her. So go to the shack and bring what we have left of the gasoline."

"Why… she will do something like that? I thought she and her dad were going to leave together in the morning?"

The old man looked at the boy's face. "Just go and do as I said… I need to get my stuff.'' The old man ran toward his room while the boy stayed clueless for a few minutes, before walking away and doing what he was asked.

Joel walked out of the room with his backpack on his back and his shotgun in hand. He walked into the living room and saw the old man with his rifle in hand and a few other things. "If you go out after her… I will go with you," he said while walking close to him.

Joel's temper was getting high. "I don't need your help on this… because all of this happens because of you… if you only tell us the truth at that gas station… nothing of this…" he wants to hit the man in the face for putting Ellie in danger, but he doesn't have time for all that. He needs to find Ellie before she does something stupid. "I will go and find her alone, so get out of my way," Joel walked toward him and pushed him away, then he opened the back door, but before he left the house he stopped and looked at the old man. "Just bring me the gas… That is all I need from you."

The old man grabs his things and follows him outside. Soon he gets to the back of the house where Joel puts his bike, he stops. "If you're going to that town… you will need my help…"

"I already told you that-"

"I know… I know," he said while getting closer to Joel. "I know this is all my fault… and I want to correct that, so please let me help you… No one knows that town more than me, I can help you to find her faster."

Joel put his stuff on the bike side compartment and turned around. "Did you know about those hunters before they ambushed you?" he asked.

"No, we go there every three months and we only see the infected there. So I presume that they establish their base there after my last visit," he said while moving closer to Joel.

"So what help can you give me?... Unless you know where those hunters' base is."

"I don't know exactly, but I know that town, and there are only a few places they may be. So if you want to find Ellie before they do, I'm your best chance for that." Joel looked at him for a moment. He was right, the town is maybe not that big as he mentioned before, but it will be big enough to make it difficult to find Ellie in time. And if the place is full of infected and more hunters it is going to be hard to get Ellie out of there alive.

"My bike can only carry two, so when I found Ellie what were you going to do?" he said while putting his shotgun on her back.

"Don't worry about that, Ellie got my car, so if we find it… I can use it to come back. Besides, the car doesn't have too much gasoline, so she may run out of gas before she gets to the town."

"I hope so… because if she thinks that she can handle them, she was wrong…" Joel stops on his words and looks at the bike. Yes, Ellie is still a teenager, but she never was really a kid… she has more courage and skill than any boy or girl her age, even some of the men back in Jackson. But that doesn't change the fact that she is a 17-year-old girl who doesn't know how many hunters are infected in that town. After a few minutes, he looked at the man again. "Okay you can come, but if I have to choose between you and her…"

"You don't need to worry about that… I would do the same if I was in your shoes... Just let me go inside and bring my maps… that will help us better out there." The man put his bag on the ground and turned around to get back to the house.

A minute later the boy walked out from the shaft that is in the back of the house and saw Joel sitting on his bike. "So, are you going after Ellie…" he said walking closer to him. "Why did she steal our car anyway?"

"She doesn't steal shit… she only borrows it… now give me that!" Joel takes the gas tank from the boy's hands, then turns around and opens the bike gas tank. He started to put the gas on it while the boy just stayed there looking at him.

After a few minutes, the old men go out of the house and walk toward them. "Don't use all of it, I need some for my car when we find it," he said while approaching Joel and stopped beside the bike.

"What do you mean we?" asked the boy while looking at his grandpa.

"I'm going with him to find Ellie. I already told you that… so what I need from you is that you stay here and take care of your sister… okay?" He put his backpack on him and his gun on his side.

"No… is not okay… I don't understand why Ellie takes that car to go to who knows where… but it is unfair if something..." the boy walked toward his grandfather and hugged him. "I don't want you to go… we can't lose you too like we lost our parents. The old man was going to say something, but Joel interrupted him.

You don't need to worry about your grandpa… we will probably find her before she gets in any trouble, " Joel closed the tank of his bike and passed the gas tank to the old man.

"Yeah, we're only going out to find her and bring her back. It can take a few hours, so stay here and watch your sister. Tell her that we will be back before the sun goes down… okay?"

The boy was not completely sure to believe that, but he didn't have any other choice but obey his grandfather and take care of his sister until he came back. "Okay, I will take care of Molly until you get back, but if you don't don't come back before the night falls I will go there looking for you."

Joel sat on the bike and turned it on. The old man sat behind him and looked at the boy. "Just take care of your sister and don't do anything stupid… okay? keep your eyes open in case some of those hunters find our place and try to hurt you two… you know what to do if that happens." with that Joel accelerated the bike and drove away. He doesn't know how long Ellie has been out there, so he needs to find her as soon as possible. Those hunters are probably pissed after what happened in that wood factory so if they found Ellie first, he can imagine what they're going to do with her.

A few hours later, in the hunter hideout inside the town. The hunter boss felt better. "So how many men have we left?" he asked the doctor.

The doctor was looking at the parking lot through the office glass window, then he turned around to see his boss' face. "You're not planning on going after those people are you?"

"What do you think? That bitch killed my brother and the others killed my men… do you think I will let this pass? We own this area now and nobody is going to do this to me and life…"

"I know that I'm just the doctor here and that I'm not one of you people, but I recommend that you let this go… besides if you left their car there they probably gone by now." said the doctor with a calm voice. He was right, he is with them for protection in exchange for his service as a doctor, but he is not really part of the group.

The hunter boss stood up from the chair and barely walked toward him. "Yes… you are just the doctor here and that is the only reason you are still alive…" The boss goes closer and grabs him by his shirt. "And if you talk to me like that again… I will make sure that the infected around here get a piece of you," he yelled at his face. "Now, go outside and bring Carlton here… I need to talk to him," He let go of him and turned around. He went back to the chair and sat again with some pain in his leg. "And give me more pills for the pain… this hurts like shit."

In another place in the small city, Ellie was walking into the town hiding from the sight. She was lucky that Joel taught her how to be invisible using her surrender. That not only works for the hunting party but also to avoid hunters or the infected too. It was still morning but the sky was cloudy and felt like it was late in the evening. Ellie wishes to arrive here during the night, but as she has to leave the vehicle away from town to avoid attention it took more time to get here. She doesn't know how many hunters the man can have here, so it is better to do this as quietly as possible to avoid as many as she can. She only needs to find their boss and kill him, then get out of there as soon as she can.

Is not an easy task, but Ellie came prepared for that. She brings her rifle, she is good at that, but also brings other weapons and things she can use to take care of a few hunters if she needs to. She knows that killing him is not going to be easy, but she was hoping that killing their boss will make the other go away. While Ellie continues walking into town, she feels sorry for didn't say goodbye to Joel, but she knows that if he wakes up when she sneaks out, he will stop her. But she can't stop now, she needs to stop this man like she stopped David from hurting other people.

Hearing his voice and what he said during the fire at the wood factory… bring David's memory back and how he tried to kill her and the things he wanted to do with her. That man was a psychopath he not only want to make her his pet, but also rape and eat her. He almost did that, and she doesn't know how many girls didn't escape their fate. He told her that she wasn't the only one and she was glad that finally, she managed to end his life. But that experience changed her, and if it wasn't for Joel she would be dead by now. What she could do without Joel, now that herd immunity doesn't work to make a vaccine. Joel is the anchor of her whole life and the reason she wants to continue living. She loves him in many ways and is going to be sad if she doesn't find a way to go back to him.

There are a lot of things she wanted to tell him, especially that she loved him, but she needed to do this. This man is another David and she needs to stop him. She knows that he will come for the girl, and Joel insists on continuing with their trip and leaving that family alone. She loves to continue with their journey, but she can't leave that girl there if they don't want to go. The hunter will find them eventually and he will kill her brother and grandpa and do all kinds of things to Molly and she won't let that happen. Yeah, Joel said that it is not their fault if they do not want to leave, but if she kills that mad man they will be safe in the house after they are gone.

Ellie's mind goes back to the task in hand, so she moves between old rusty cars avoiding being seen if they have hunters on the roof of the building watching for people to come into town to rob them and kill them. She put on a hoodie before getting out of the house, so that way she can hide her face and make them think that she is a man. It's better that way because if they think she is a man or a boy, they will treat her more as a threat than an easy target. After a few minutes, she moved to the side of one of the buildings and looked to the roofs. It looks like she was on the main street of the town. There were a lot of commercial places on both sides of the street, so now she only needed to find the place where the hunters are.

Ellie doesn't know where those hunters are hiding or staying and searching the whole town is going to be impossible. So her best chance is to find one of them and follow him back to their hideout, but she can't wait all day in one spot, so she starts moving down the street and watches for any sight of them.

After a few minutes of walking, Ellie hides behind a building wall when she hears the sound of a vehicle approaching from a closed street. I knew it… they always leave a man to watch the main street.

Ellie observed as the vehicle came from a side street and entered the main one. It looks like the car was coming toward her position but stopped a few buildings away. Slowly Ellie starts to move closer but stays out of sight. This is not what she was expecting, because if their hideout is too far away she can't follow them if they are driving a car. After she gets a little closer and hides behind a rusty car, two men get out of the car and go to the sidewalk. One of them walks into the building while the other one stays close to the car looking around.

Ellie needs to hear them, so she moves closer. Joel teaches her well as the man that stays watching doesn't see her when she gets behind an old car closer to the building. "C'mon… Paul… just bring the box we needed, there is another place we need to go before heading back to the warehouse." Yell the man moving closer to the building entrance.

Warehouse? Said Ellie to herself. This town is not too big, but how am I going to find a warehouse here? After a few minutes, the man that went inside got out carrying two boxes.

"Hurry up… we don't have all day." The hunter moves to the back of the car and opens the trunk. The other one put the two boxes inside and closed it.

"All set. Let's go and pick up Marvin and Fred… they're a few blocks from here," he said moving to the side of the car.

"Why did the boss send us to pick them up? They aren't supposed to watch the streets?"

"I don't know… bro, they just want all of us back to the warehouse, so stop complaining and get in." The two hunters go inside the car and drive away. Ellie knows now where they are, the only thing she needs now is to find the place. After the car drove away, Ellie ran in the direction that they came. If they were sent here that means that the hideout has to be that way.

Back on the road. Joel was riding the bike with the old man on the back, they were on route 93 heading to Wells town that they could see on the horizon now. "I want to thank you for don't tell my grandson where we are going… they will be worried if he knows where to go into town."

"You should not have told me that you wanted to stay in that house… that is why Ellie is doing this," Joel said while getting closer and closer to the small city.

Five minutes later the old man saw a lot of cars on the side of the road and started looking for his. "Hey!... stop... I think that is my car over there." He yelled at Joel as soon he saw a car on the side of the road that looked like his. As they were getting close to the town, the road had some rusted cars on the side and even in the middle of it. So Joel slows his bike as they get closer to them to avoid them. Soon he saw the car, Joel drove closer to it. As soon as Joel got close to the station wagon, he stopped the bike behind it.

Joel didn't see any damage to the vehicle, except for the ones it had before, but it was indeed the old man's car. He already was concerned about the car being a little far from the town and had no sight of Ellie yet. "Get off and keep your eyes open… I will go and check the car…" said Joel to the old man. Soon he was off, Joel got off too and grabbed his shotgun. He started to move toward the car as fast as he could, but with precaution. Soon Joel gets to the side, he looks inside of it. "She is not here.." he said while opening the door.

The old man started to look around then he walked toward Joel. "I don't see any extra damage to the car, so she must get out of gas before hitting the town… as I told you..." commented the man as he walked to the other side of the car.

Joel does not want to think the worst. Ellie could just leave the car here and go on foot or she would be ambushed and be taken by the hunters. Of course, he was hoping for the first one. Joel moves away from the car and starts looking at the ground. "The car still has some gas… so she left here on purpose."

The old man opened the door and checked the dash. "Yeah you're right… she has enough gas to get into town and maybe to come back…" he moved out and looked at Joel. "So where is she? And why did she leave the car so far from the town?"

Joel moved forward-looking at the footprint on the ground. The track stops when they go into the road and out of the sand. Joel looks toward the town that can be seen on the horizon. Clever girl… he said to himself as soon as he figured why Ellie left the car there.