Disclaimer: I do not own any character of (The Last of Us) TLOU is owned by Naughty Dog, Sony, and their creators.
A/N: Hi, I want to thank the people and that are reading this. Sorry for the chapter week delay, but I was trying to finish my other story that was for Halloween and continue with the edition of this one. Now that that one is finished I can continue posting this one in his regular time. so let continue with the story.
Chapter 16: Searching for Joel
In another part of the town, Ellie and Thomas were getting closer to the building Joel & Ellie were hiding before hunters found them. Part of the building was still on fire as is not one that put it out or cared to do it. Ellie's body still hurts, but she is managing the pain very well. They have to stop a few times before they get closer to the building street. They also have to kill a few infected that they encounter, because they were attracted by the fire. Soon both of them got close to the building, they hid behind an old car that was on the other side of the street.
Ellie looks at the burning building and her memories get her back to the moment Joel and she was on the roof of the building trying to escape the hunters. She tries not to but her body starts to tremble as soon the image of Joel in flame goes into her mind. No… he's not dead he can't be… she said in her mind while sitting down with her eyes closed. C'mon Ellie get yourself together… Joel is out there somewhere and you need to be strong if you want to save him. She has not had a panic attack since the first few months in Jackson. And all that happens is bringing back all that again. Bring back the memories of all the people she lost in the last few years.
Tomas was looking at the place before he noticed Ellie sitting down beside him with her eyes closed and moving back and forward. He slowly sat down behind the car and looked at her. "Are you alright?" he asked with a worried tone. Ellie doesn't say anything at first and continues her erratic movements. "I know you are worried about Joel… but don't worry we are going to find him." The old man took his backpack off and took out a bottle of water and took a sip of it. After a few minutes, he hears Ellie coughing again. He looks at her and passes her the bottle. "Here, drink some of this... but do it slowly or you will hurt your throat as it is still sore from the smoke."
Ellie turns her head and looks at him. She did not want to say anything, but he was right, the water burned her through a little the first time she drank it after the fire, but she was tasty, so it did not matter much. After drinking half the water she passed the bottle back to him. "Thanks... not only for the water but... for helping me." Ellie was thinking about Joel and how much she wanted to find him and telling him how much she loved him. Seeing him on that roof before the explosion, makes her think about all she has in her head. That makes her realize how short life can be and if she wants to be with him that way is better to tell him before it is too late. Ellie calms herself and starts to stand up to continue. "C'mon… we need to find Joel before something bad happens to him."
Thomas starts to stand up too and stays beside her behind the car. "You don't have to thank me for that, that's the least I can do after you and Joel help my family. I know that you worry for you old man… but I'm sure he is around here somewhere..." he turned around to move to the other side of the car, but stopped as soon he saw two men walking out of the corner of the street closer to the building. They were looking around apparently looking for something or someone. "Wait," he pulled Ellie back down with him, so the men couldn't see them.
Ellie looks at his face as soon as the old man pulls her down to hide again. "Why did you stop me? we need to move-" Ellie stops when the man points in the direction of the building, so she can see two men walking there. "Shit!... hunters…"
"Yeah… and they look like they are searching for something..." he said while continuing looking at them.
"Or someone…" a little smile came to her at the thought of Joel being alive. "Maybe they're looking for Joel, so that means that they don't have him," said Ellie with a new spark of hope in her eyes."
The old man doesn't want Ellie to lose her hope for that, but she needs to understand that Joel can be dead or captured by them. "Maybe, but they can also be looking for you. They must realize that Joel didn't come here alone. So in that case they'll probably be looking for you or whatever comes with him." he said while looking at her now.
"Yeah, that can be true too." Ellie takes a deep breath and moves past the old man and moves to the backside of the old rusty car to look at them better. "They're only two, I think we can take them without any problem…" she said while moving her arm to her back to grab the bow.
Tomas moves behind her and grabs her hand to stop her. "If they have Joel, we need one alive of them alive, so don't kill them both."
Ellie turns her head and looks at him. "Yeah, I know that."
"Okay… So what is the plan?" he asked her.
Ellie turns her head back in the hunter's direction and watches them. "Simple… I shot an arrow and hit one in them in the leg and you can kill the other one with your gun… after that, I make take the one alive and make him tell us where Joel is and his fucking boss."
"Well that sounds simple to me… but you still want to go after their boss? Are you crazy?" he said while checking his gun.
"That baster wand to rape you granddaughter and kill us all… so I was thinking of killing him first," she said while preparing her bow and arrow.
"We don't know if they have Joel, so maybe it is better to concentrate on that…" He said while moving to the other side of the car.
Ellie put the arrow in position and looked at the hunters that were getting closer to them. She was ready to shoot one of them. "Okay… I have the one on the right… you take out the other one… if we take them at the same time it will be-" she was interrupted by the old man.
"Wait!... I hear something," he said while moving his hand to stop her. He started to look at the street behind the men while Ellie turned her head to look at him. After a few minutes, he saw what it was. "Shit!... let's get out of here… now," he stands up and starts running in the opposite direction.
"Hey where are you going?" asked Ellie while watching him running away from the car.
"Hey there is one of them…" yells one of the hunters, but before he could shoot, Ellie stood up and shot her arrow. She hit one of the hunters in the leg, but before Ellie could do something else, she saw why the old man was running away.
The Hunter grabbed his leg and screamed in pain. He looked at the other hunter and yelled at him. "Shoot them you asshole… don't let them-" he started to say before he saw the horde of infected coming toward them. "Fuck!" He raised his gun and started shooting at the infected.
The other hunter turns around and starts to shoot them too before some of the infected jumps on him.
Ellie saw how many they were and lowered her bow. "Fuck… not now…" she put the bow on her back and start running too.
The man that she shoots with the arrow starts running away, but with his leg wounded he doesn't go too far. The man starts to scream when a few infected grab him and start biting him. Some of the infected notice Ellie and Tomas and start running after them.
Soon Ellie gets close to the old man, she starts to speak to him. "We need to lose them… they are too many for us." They turn on the corner of the next street and go behind the buildings to lose the infected that were after them. After a few turns, they went into an alley and found a fire escape ladder that was half down. "Go to the ladder and get up. I will take care of the ones behind us," said Elliw while turning around and waiting for the infected to enter the alley.
The old man looks at her. "Are you crazy? I am not going to let you fight those things alone…" he said while walking toward her.
Ellie turns her head and looks at him. "We can't shoot these ones or we will attract more… just go up and wait for me… this will not take long," she said while turning her head back to the entrance of the alley.
Tomas thinks for a moment but does what she says. It was better to cover Ellie as soon as he was upon the ladder. "Okay… I will cover you from about…" he said while turning around and ran to the ladder and pulled it down. He starts to climb when he hear the infected word scream getting closer to them.
Ellie hears them too and quickly takes her knife out and waits for the first infected to get closer to her. There were only a few of them so it will be easy to take them down, but in her condition, it will take more time and precaution to do it. Soon the first infected gets close to her, Ellie makes her move to the side and stabs the bastard on the back of his neck making him bleed faster. After that, she pushes him to the ground as a second one launches at her.
Runners are faster but easy to kill if they come after you in lower numbers. As Ellie was ready for the other one, she manages to grab his arm on time and move it away from her as she stabs the infected in the chest, but before Ellie pushes him away a third one comes behind her and grabs her back, and starts trying to bite her. Lucky for Ellie, her backpack helps to keep the infected away from her neck, giving her time to get down and quickly cut in his legs making him fall to the ground.
Soon the infected was down. Ellie stabbed him in his chest a few more times. After she kills it, two infected women lunge at her, but before they get closer one of them gets hit by a brick on the head making it fall to the ground. The other one tries to grab her, but Ellie moves quickly and stabs the infected woman in her eyes. Ellie starts to push the infected away from her when she hears the old man yell at her.
"Ellie behind you!" he yelled as soon he saw the other infected women get up and make her move toward Ellie.
Ellie quickly kicks the dead infected to the ground and turns herself to see in time the infected women running toward her. But before it gets too close, Ellie moves toward her and stabs her on the neck a few times. As the infected fall down Ellie takes a memento breath all the faster movement leaves her without air. Ellie was surprised that she took care of all those infected with not much effort, but the celebration stopped when another one came out from nowhere and grabbed her from the side.
On the stairs, the old man looks for something to throw, but he doesn't see anything else there, so he takes his gun out and points to the infected. "Ellie… get away from him so I can shoot him!" he said in a desperate tone.
"No!... don't shoot… I can handle him…" Ellie turns around making the infected go for her hand to bite it, but Ellie kicks him away from her, then throws the knife at his face and stabs him in one eye killing him instantly.
The old man was getting worried and yelled at her when he saw more infected enter the alley. "C'mon up girl… a few more coming your way from the right corner," He said while pointing at them with his gun.
Ellie moves faster at the infected she just kills and removes the knife she just used to kill him. "I told you not to shoot them, the sound will bring even more of them." Soon she removes her knife, Ellie turns around to face the incoming ones. But soon she saw that they were too many for her, Ellie decided to run toward the ladder.
The old man moved to the edge of the ladder and bent down. "C'mon girl give me your hand I will help you up... quick," said the old man while extending his hand to Ellie. Soon Ellie gets on the ladder, she grabs his hand and lets him pull her up. The new infected got to the button of the ladder and tried to grab her, but she was out of reach before they could.
Soon Ellie was up, she started to climb up the rest of the ladder. "Okay, let's get up to the roof and out of sight, they can't follow us if they don't see us," said Ellie while continuing to climb up toward the roof with the old man following behind her. Soon they get to the roof, Ellie walks to the edge of the building and looks down. She looks at the corner of the alley but does not see any more infected coming. "I think we lose the others, that is good," she said while moving away from the edge of the roof. Soon they were out of sight, Ellie sat down to try to relax a little. Her heart was beating faster and her side hurt like hell. All those movements and running hurt her ribs. After a minute Thomas moved closer to Ellie and looked at her.
"That was very impressive… Are you alright?" he asked while taking out another bottle of water from his backpack and offering it to her. "Here, drink some water. It will help you to calm down…" Soon Ellie grabs the bottle, he speaks again. "You should let me help you down there… but I'm really impressed with how you handle yourself..."
Ellie grabbed the bottle and opened it. She drank half the water before passing it back to Tomas. "I have a little experience with that… Joel and I have to-" she stops on the remainder of Joel and where he is. She needs to find him and tell him how much she loves him, and no hunter or infected is going to stop her.
Thomas looks at her while drinking the rest of the water, but after a few minutes, he notices some blood on her right hand. "Did you get cut or something?" he said, looking directly at her right arm. He lowered himself in front of her and grabbed her arm to look closer. "Let me see…"
Ellie looked at her arm and saw the blood on it. Oh shit! She tried to move it away from him but it was too late. He already saw the new bite mark on it.
"Oh my God… you… you… got bitten!" he said while looking at her face now. Thomas moves away from her with a surprised expression. "Oh my God… oh my God… Ellie you… you're infected," he said while moving his hand to grab his gun.
Ellie needs to calm him out before he does something stupid. So she stands up quickly and puts her hand in front of her. "No…no... is okay, I'm not infected…" she started but stopped when he took his gun out and pointed at her.
"Not infected? I just saw the bite mark in your arm… so one of those things bit you and there is not a cure for that." he moved backward and away from her.
"No… you don't understand…" Ellie continues with her hand up to try to calm him down. "I am not going to turn like them… I'm… different…" Ellie does not want to tell him about her immunity because she primes Joel not to. But she needs to do something before the old man decides to shoot her.
Thomas continues moving away from Ellie. "What do you mean you're not like the others? I saw a lot of people get bitten and turn a few hours later…including my family," he said with a sad tone. "I'm so sorry kid… but maybe it is going to be better if I just put an end to this before you get worse."
Ellie moved a little forward but was ready for anything. "Please lower your gun… I not going to hurt you… or turn like them… please you need to believe me-"
"No, just stay away from me… please," he said with his hand trembling. He doesn't want to kill Ellie after she helps him and his children, but he knows when a person gets infected there is no way back. "I'm so sorry kid… you and Joel save us… but… I don't have any other choice," he said with tears in his eyes. "I don't want to do this, but I will if I have to, so I will give you a choice. If you want me to end this quickly for you I will help you with that, but if you want to do it yourself I just walk away and leave you to do it."
Ellie looked at him and did not move. It is better if she doesn't try to take his gun and make him shoot her, but if he gives her time to think, maybe she can convince him that she is not going to turn as normal people do.
"Look… yes I got bitten, but I'm not going to turn as normal people do... okay," she watched his face and the gun in his hands. Ellie is ready to move to the side of the man who chose to shoot and hopes that he misses hitting her. But it's better if she convinced him not to.
The old man looked at her with confused eyes. "What do you mean you're not going to turn as other people do? All the people that get infected, turn after that… I see it a lot of the time… so don't try to tell me that you will not."
"Look, I know this will be a little confusing to you, but what I mean is that I can't get infected because I already am…" Ellie lowered her hand and looked at the confusing man. "Look, I promise Joel that I will not tell this to anybody, but I got bitten a few years ago. But the virus did not affect me the same way it does to other people," she explained with a calm voice.
"I don't understand… What the hell are you trying to tell me?"
"Is a long story… one that I do not have time to tell you, but I need you to help me to find Joel and I can't let you kill me… okay?" she said with a more desperate tone now.
"I don't understand what you tried to say, kid… You've been bitten before and not turned? How is that even possible?"
"Yeah, I know that is hard to believe… and I know this will sound ridiculous to you, but I'm immune," Ellie said while taking a deep breath. "When I was bitten, the virus somehow mutated inside of me, so even though I'm infected with the virus I can't turn like a normal person does when it gets infected."
The old man looked at her with surprised eyes now, but it was still hard to believe for him. "So you're telling me that you can't get infected? I don't believe it… I have never heard anything like that before. F.E.D.R.A tried for so many years to find a cure for the virus, but they never found it."
"Yeah, I know… I'm not telling you that I'm cured… just that I can't get infected by the virus… Look, this is a complicated thing that I do not still understand, but we need to move and continue looking for Joel." Ellie watches him as he moves side to side now trying to get all that in. She doesn't know what he is going to do, but at least he is not pointing the gun at her anymore.
The man walked around trying to get his thoughts in the right place. "So you're telling me that you're immune and no one can get infected?" he said without stopping or looking at her.
"Yep… that is what I'm telling you… so you don't need to kill me or anything like that, because I'm not a treat to you… okay." she answered him back.
"Did someone else know…? I mean besides you dad I mean?" he said after he stopped moving and looked at her directly.
"Yes, Joel knows I already told you… and he is not my dad… okay… I already told you that."
He looks at her like it doesn't matter right now. If the girl is immune to the virus, then she can be the key to finding a cure for it. "Did you tell some else? Like a doctor or something? Because what you're telling me can be used to find a cure and end all this."
Ellie is not surprised at his comment, because that was something she wanted to. "Believe me we already tried that… but the fire-" she stopped before she said too much. She already told him more than he needed to know, so she doesn't have to tell him the whole story. "No one is looking for a cure. So I don't think that my immunity can be used to find a cure for the virus."
"Really? No one can use what you have to create a cure? How so? If you're immune it has to be a way to pass that to others… I can't believe that no one can find a cure."
"Look, I know all this is fascinating for you, but I don't have time for this… I need to find Joel and we just lost that opportunity when those infected killed those two assholes…" Ellie takes her backpack off and starts looking for a bandage and medkit to take care of the bite wound. After Ellie found what she was looking for, she sat back down and started to attend to her arm. First, she put some alcohol on the wound that hurt like hell. But what bothers her more, was the issue of having to hide another bite mark again.
Thomas looked at her and after a few minutes he offered his help, but Ellie told him that she can manage herself. Before she finished the sun was getting down on the horizon and it started to get dark. While Ellie was almost finished with her arm, Thomas walked toward the edge of the roof, to see if the infected were still there. But after he took a peak, he saw that the infected moved away from the stairs, probably looking for them elsewhere.
"So… Can you infect other people?" he said while turning his head and looking at her. "I mean if you bite them or in another type of contact with someone?" he asked with some curiosity.
Ellie raises her head and looks at him. "No, I don't think I can infect other people…" she said as soon as she finished with her arm and put the things back on her backpack.
"How do you know? You just told me that no one knows about your condition except Joel…" he said while moving away from the roof edge and walking toward her, but not too close. "You and Joel mention a place called Jackson… that you came from. Do they have a doctor there? I mean someone that can see if they can find a cure by examining you?"
Ellie put her backpack on and looked at him. That is one of the reasons Joel doesn't want people to know about her condition. Because people start to get to their own conclusion and probably try to use her as an experiment or something. The fireflies already tried that and it didn't work, at least that was what Joel said… and even though she didn't believe all the things he said at first, she wanted to leave all that in the past. Her time with Joel is the best thing that happened to her and to be honest she does not want to change any of that, not even for the thru.
"Look I already told you that some doctors already tried and I was not the only one… they found others like me and never were able to find a cure, so they probably stopped looking for one because of that." Ellie turns around and starts to walk to the other side of the roof. The last thing she wanted is to talk about all that now.
Thomas watches her and starts following her. "Where are you going?"
"To find Joel, what do you think?" She gets to the edge of the roof and looks at the other building. There was a building close enough for them to cross and move away from the one they are now and away from the infected. After she checks if it was safe to cross, Ellie turns her head and looks at the old man. "Are you coming or not?"
He moved closer to her but not too close. "And how were we going to find him? It will be dark soon and the only clue we can get was with those hunters we found and now they're dead."
"I know… and that pisses me off… but I know that they mention a warehouse, so how hard is that place to find?" said Ellie while moving on top of the edge of the roof and jumping to the other one. Ellie hurt her side soon after she landed on the other side, but not as much to stop her. She needs to find Joel, especially if those hunters have him, that is the only thing in her mind right now.
Soon Ellie was up, she walked to the other part of the roof and looked down to make sure that no one was there. After a few minutes, she hears Thomas land on the roof too and walks closer to her. "Did you say that they mention a warehouse?" he asked as soon he was beside her.
Ellie turned her head and looked at him. "Yes… why?" Ellie was surprised that he asked that. "Do you know where that place is?"
"Well, the town has a few of those, but there is one closer to the school in the middle of the town. I think the military made a base there when the pandemic started, but it is abandoned now," he said while looking at her. "I never checked that place out because they're always infected close to that area. But it has big walls and some fortifications on the front, so if they are hiding from people or infected, that could be a good place to be."
"Are you sure?" she asked with some expression of hope on her face.
"Positive… part of the school and the park in front of it were added to the base. All the streets close to that place are barricades. So the only way in is a barricade military post in the street in front of the place. I bet they're using that place as a hideout. I always try to keep searching for things close to the borders of the town, so that way we can make a quick escape."
Ellie turns her head to the front as the darkness starts to get into town. "Okay, that is a good start… So what way should we go?" Ellie was not sure if the old man wanted to go with her now. He seems a little scared of her, probably because he must still think that she can infect him if she goes too close to him. "Are you going to tell me or not?"
She can understand his fear, but it was kind of stupid because even if she can infect people she needs to bite them and that does not even work with David… so she probably can't. As they don't want anyone to know about her conduction in Jackson, they never check that theory. After a few minutes, Thomas starts walking away from her and toward the back of the roof.
"Just follow me okay…" he said while grabbing the ladder that will take them off the roof.
"Okay…" Ellie starts following him to the ladder and goes down after him.
Back in the warehouse, the boss of the hunters was sitting on a couch in the middle of the place. He was trying to rest the leg that Ellie stabbed with her pocket knife. He has kept it after taking it out because he is going to use it to repay her when he gets his hand on her. He was alone there since all his men were outside watching the place. Soon the night came he ordered them to start up the generators that keep the place illuminated during the night. As he was drinking some water, he saw his second in command walking toward him.
"I have half of the men outside guarding the place and the rest are watching the two entrances to this place," he said while moving closer to his boss. "Either way is not sighing at the town intruders... yet," he said while stopping in front of him.
The boss drinks the rest of the water and throws the plastic bottle to the side. "How about the two men you sent out? Do they get back?" he asked while trying to get up.
The man moved closer and helped him to get up. "No… and I sent them like two hours ago… so they should be here by now," he answered.
The boss put his hand on his shoulder as soon as he stood up. "Then don't bother… they must be dead by now." he shakes his head and moves to a table where he has a few blond weapons and knives including Ellie's knife. After looking at them for a few seconds, he grabbed a bat with some nails on it. "I have to admit that they're good, I just wonder why they're not here yet?"
The hunter moves closer to the table and looks at him. "Maybe they're dead too. There are a lot of infected in town… or maybe they were in that building that went on fire."
"Oh… no... they're still out there… at least that girl is." he looked at the bat with some interest. He already uses some of those weapons with the prisoner they take when they come to town to make them talk or just to see them safer. "That bitch killed my brother and stabbed me in the leg, so I will make her suffer for that." he swung the bat around like he was proud of his weapon. "Remember the first time I used this?" He says while turning around to face the man.
The man smiled a little. "Yes… I remember… you used to beat up the father and mother of that girl we found in that Walmart in phoenix a few years ago," he said, remembering that day like it was yesterday.
"Yeah… they don't want me to have some fun with their little girl… too bad she has to see that… sex not was in that place after that." he put the bat back on the table and look at the other weapons. "All this has its history… and I enjoy all of it. This virus thing was the best thing that has happened to this country… it feels good to be free to do whatever we want," he said with a smile on his face. "We can kill and rape all the people we want and not only for surviving but for pleasure too."
The man walked close to him and smiled. "Yes… we came a long way together… it's bad that those assholes kill you-" he stopped when his boss gave him a glaring look.
"No… not them… it was that girl… but by tomorrow she will be mine." He grabbed a machete from the table that still has some dry blood on it. "I not only going to fuck her until I break her in two, but I will also make that old man watch too. Then, I will make her watch while I beat the crap out of him with the bat until I break all his body and have my revenge."
The man looked at him and knew that even after that he would want more. They killed his brother and even though he was morron, he was the only family he had. "What are we going to do after that? We lost too many men… so are we going on a trip to find more?" he asked while thinking what to do next.
The boss doesn't move, he just stays there looking at his weapon. "I will think about what to do next after I finish with this… but I assure you, that I will go out and look for the little princes that got away from me." he looked at the machete and smiled. "She will be mine too after I kill her grandfather and brother for ruining my fun."
"What makes you think they are still around in this area?"
"Oh… I know they are… she ran to that factory-like she knew it was there… So I'm sure that they lie about just passing by. I bet that they're living somewhere close to this town… and after I finish with this group, we will focus on that little family and find them." he said with a smile on his face.
Back in the town streets. Ellie and Thomas were walking on the sidewalk of one of the streets closer to the center of the town. They walk for one hour but have to hide when they encounter a few infected on their way. They manage to kill a few of them but have to run and hide when a big group shows up. They hide inside the post office and wait for the infected to lose interest and go away.
"So what is the plan when we find the place? The sun is not going to be out soon, but I bet they still have a lot of men there," he said while watching the front part of the post office through one of the windows.
Ellie was sitting on a counter checking her things. "They don't know how many we are, so that will give us some advantage. I already told them in the wood factory that I was part of a big group, so they probably will expect a lot of people to attack them."
The man turned his head and looked at her. The place was dark, but they used their flashlight to illuminate the place a little. "That is if they believe you… but if they have Joel and make him talk?"
Ellie stops what she was doing and looks at him. "You don't know Joel… he will never do that to me…'' Ellie said with a furious voice. "Did you rat out your granddaughter when they torture you grandson and you?" she asked.
He understood what she meant. Because she was right he will die a thousand deaths before telling those fuckers where his granddaughter went. "I'm so sorry, I don't mean to sound like that… I know that Joel means a lot to you, and I am sure it is the same for him. I saw how tough Joel can be, so I bet he didn't tell them anything if they had him."
"You got that right, Joel and I are… very close and he never will rat me out no matter what. He probably told them the same thing I did, so they're probably expecting a lot of people to come for them."
"Well, I don't know if that is good or bad for us, because if they're expecting a lot of people, they will put more men to guard the place."
"How many do you think they are?" asked Ellie with some curiosity.
"I don't know, you and Joel already killed a lot of them and I never found out how big their group is."
"Well, we have to assume that they have a tin number now… We will figure out how to get into the place and rescue Joel if they have him."
"Yeah… but we have to be sure that they have him before we get in there." he turn his head and looked outside. "We still have a few blocks ahead of us and we also need to wait for the few infected out there to leave."
Ellie moves off the counter and starts to put her things back inside her backpack. Well, we can't wait here forever, so let's find a way out on the back of this place."
Soon she finishes putting her thing inside her backpack, Ellie and Thomas walk toward the back of the place. Lucky for them they don't encounter any infected as soon they open the door on the back and get outside. They use the darkness on the street to walk away from the building. They walk for half an hour before starting to see a few F.E.D.R.A and the military sing. They were warning the people of the town about the situation and with an indication of what to do. Ellie and Joel saw a lot of that on their journey, even if those towns they cross do not have any QZ.