Once he saw she was down the man went back to Doc who was still struggling to come to when the man straddled him and wrapped his hand around his throat, Doc fully woke up then as he tried to whack his hands of but it was no use. The man tightened his grip and Doc could feel himself going light-headed, his lungs burned from the lack of oxygen and just when he thought it was all over the man stilled and blood started pooling from his mouth and down his head. He was then shoved off Doc to reveal a very beaten up Ellie. She had small cuts everywhere, her lip was cut and she was favouring her left hand. The bruise on her head from Murphy also now had a gash running through causing blood to drip down the side of her face.

"I hate bounty hunters" Ellie said breathlessly collapsing next to Doc who also looked worse for wear. His face was full of cuts and bruises and he will probably be sporting a cracking bruise on his neck. "Are you ok?" She asked Doc with concern who nodded before looking at the guy who now had a knife in his head.

"Are you ok?!" Doc asked her and she waved him off

"Never better".

They were both catching their breath when Murphy suddenly crashed out of a wardrobe "What's up Doc? Ellie?" He said before sprinting out of the room

"Murphy!" Doc struggled to shout as he took off not believing that he just watched while they both just had nearly been killed.

"He was here the whole time!" Ellie said before turning to Doc "are you going to be ok?" She said struggling to her feet and Doc just nodded urging her to go. Nodding her head Ellie grabbed her gun and knifes and ran out the door to see 10k coming. "Look after him" She shouted not stopping to explain and she ran after Murphy.

Speed walking down the corridors, Ellie checked the rooms as she past when she could suddenly hear some gunfire a few feet ahead. Jogging slightly she could then hear talking.

"I'm afraid that ain't gonna be enough." A man said laughing "I'd say turn back. But my men will be coming up them stairs any second."

Reaching where the voices were coming from Ellie saw Warren taking cover from behind a wall her back flat against it so she was able to spot Ellie. When Warren saw her she gestured for her to hide and when Ellie took cover by the door opposite her she mouthed 'One guy, more coming" to which Ellie nodded.

"So any way you look at it, you're in a tight spot." The man said before firing his weapon and they had to duck in closer to avoid being hit.

One he stopped firing Warren stepped out firing a blind shot hoping to hit him but she missed.

"That ain't gonna do it, sugar!" He said laughing "Ohh. How many left?" He said when he heard Warren check her bullets "Cause I'm doing great over here!" he said firing again.

Looking towards Warren, Ellie gestured with her head to the guy and mouthed 'Draw his fire" and Warren nodded. Shooting a bullet at him the man responded fire at Warren allowing Ellie to get a good shot, firing her gun with her right hand she hit him in the cheek. Using one hand made it difficult to aim. But the man screamed out in pain and he retreated behind the wall. Allowing Warren and Ellie to run toward another wall closer to the man.

"Ohh! Oh! Sonofa... ...bitch!" The man groaned Yep, that stung Oh! Oh!. You got a friend. I'm gonna have to do... ...bad things to you before I kill you!" The man snarled coming out of his hiding place and firing his gun but after only a few shots his gun clicked. He ran out of bullets.

Seeing this as their chance Warren and Ellie came out of their hiding place and Warren shot him in the shoulder. Warren being the closet to him got knocked in the face with his gun and she fell to the floor with a grunt. Ellie fired her gun but he raised his now empty one to block it and the bullet bounced of his gun and hit a wall behind her.

"Hi cutie" the man smiled creepily at her drawing his knife but was distracted by Warren talking.

"I'm-a... I'm-a kill you." Warren struggled to say before she went quiet as she lost consciousness

"You're already dead, shorty" The man said chuckling as he turned to look back at Ellie and before she could do anything the man charged at her. Slashing his knife towards her face forcing her to duck, but the man didn't stop his slashing as she was forced to jump back when he went to bring it down on her head and she landed heavily on her bum.

Ellie went to aim her gun at him but it was harshly kicked out of her one hands. The man then raised his knife again but before he could use it he was hit from behind and fell to the floor revealing the bounty hunter from before who kept hitting the man over and over again.

"Hey!" Ellie shouted trying to get the man's attention "Hey! Hey!?That's enough" She said and the man finally stopped at looked down at her.

"Are you ok?" He asked her which surprised her and he held his hand out for her to take which she gratefully took and he pulled her to her feet by her one hand as she held the other one to her chest.

"Fine, check on her"

The man nodded letting go of Ellie's hand he leaned down by Warren's' head and pulled out a vial before placing it by her nose bringing her back to consciousness.

Warren's eyes shot open as she started coughing and once she had stopped and gathered her bearings the man offered her his hand which she took and he pulled her up so she could lean against the wall.

"Ugh! Thanks." Warren groaned "We got to go up. I'm out."

"I'm good" Ellie said when she saw the bounty hunter give Warren a clip of bullets "Since when are you two buddy buddy?"

"Since we have a mutual quest" The man said and Warren nodded

"Fair enough" Ellie said

"What happened to you?" Warren asked Ellie

"A Sniper got violent, tried to kill Doc and then threw me through a glass window when I tried to stop him. I'll live and he has a knife through his brain" Ellie explained like it was nothing

"Only you could get into as much trouble as Murphy" Warren said chuckling softly and Ellie smiled.

"What's your name anyway?" Ellie said to the bounty hunter "I'm Ellie

"Vasquez"

"Nice to meet you Vasquez. Can we go find Murphy now?"

Vasquez nodded and helped pull Warren to her feet and then they all made their way down the corridor. Running down a few more corridors they came across 10k and Doc running towards them with zombies on their tail.

"Move!" Warren shouted to them " Get down!" Once they were out of the way Ellie, Warren and the man quickly took them out and carried on running with a quick "Follow us!" from Warren and they followed.

Running up some stars they came to a trap door leading to the roof. Warren climbed up first followed by Ellie, Vasquez and then Doc and 10k. They all scanned the area to see if they could spot Murphy when Ellie spotted him on the farthest side of the roof.

"Over there." Warren said pointing to the same direction Ellie was looking in. Leaving the others behind Warren and Ellie made their way over to the roof Murphy was standing on.

"Hey. It's over." Warren said once they had reached him

"Yep. I'm done" Murphy said defeatedly stepping towards the edge of the roof. Which made Ellie panic, he wasn't going to jump was he?.

"Hey, hey, hey. What you doing?" Warren asked him stepping forward and Ellie did the same. But Murphy held his hand out stopping them

"Don't. Don't. I mean it. Don't." He said and he sounded so broken

"OK. What good is this gonna do?"

"Good? What's it matter? What's the point?"

"The point is you can help cure this world. You can help cure you" Warren said looking over at Ellie who was frozen she wasn't sure what to do. "Or how about you have a beautiful young woman here who is your daughter. What do you think this is doing to her?" That got a reaction out of Murphy who turned to look at Ellie who had a conflicting look on her face. He smiled at her sadly then turned to look back at Warren.

"She's better off without me" He declared turning to face the edge of the roof again.

"No!" Ellie shouted which startled Murphy and he turned to face her again "You left me once and we may fight all the time and I haven't exactly been kind to you in regards with you being my father. But my mother is probably dead and the man who raised me. My whole family and you are the only father I got left, so you can't leave me on my own. Not with this weight of the world on my shoulder, I need you with me" Ellie finished a few tears running down her cheeks and she could see Murphy had tears in his eyes. She didnt think he would try and kill himself, he wasn't the type so Ellie knew he was up to something else. She only hopped that her words would make him reconsider and just come with them. And for a moment she thought she had succeeded

"You're stronger than you know" Murphy said sadly "You don't need me"

"Come on, man. We don't have time for this" Warren complained seeing Ellie's words weren't getting through

"I do. I got all the time in the world."

"Listen. We're not your god damn shrink. We did not come this far for you..."

"Oh, my God. Do you even listen to yourself?"Murphy said stepping closer to them "Doesn't that get old?
Saying that?"

"No." Warren said

"Too many people have died getting here" Ellie said backing Warren up and Murphy scoffed turning around he threw himself of the roof.

"No!" Warren and Ellie yelled rushing forward to see Murphy land in a swimming pool full of zombies

"Arsehole" Ellie declared She just poured her heart out to him even if some of it was a bit exaggerated but she was also revealed he was ok

"Back down!" Warren shouted turning to run back down the trap door and they all followed

Running down the street they saw Addy punching Murphy repeatedly on the floor a few feet ahead of them and both Ellie and Vasquez sped up just as Cassandra rounded the corner and started to charge but Ellie beat her to it. She threw herself in front of Cassandra with her gun aimed at her and shouted at her to stop, and Cassandra froze looking confused.

"Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop!" Murphy shouted just as Vasquez turned up his gun also aimed at Cassandra

"Addy!" Warren shouted at the same time Doc said
"Hey! Hey! That's enough!" And both of them managed to pull Addy of Murphy

Once Addy was of Murphy. Doc leaned down to help pull him into a sitting position
"What the hell?!" Murphy complained wiping some blood away from his mouth. "What I ever do to her?!"

"You OK?" Warren Asked Addy who was crying " Where's Mack?" She asked but they already knew the answer to that question "Where's Mack?!" Warren asked again firmer this time as she shook Addy and she just shook her head.

Shaking loose of Warren, Addy stepped back glaring down at Murphy breathing heavily and Murphy actually looked guilty. Addy then turned around picked up her bat and got into the van.

No one else said anything at first not willing to believe Mack was dead when 10k snapped out of it and pulled the rope back out of his vest and chucked it at Doc who caught it and tied Murphy's hands together, and for once Murphy was quiet. Doc pulled him up and they both made their way to the van which left Ellie, 10k and Vasquez who had their guns aimed at Cassandra just in case she got violent. 10K nodded his head to the van and for some reason Cassandra looked to Ellie who nodded unsure why she was looking at her before Cassandra made her way to the van. 10K followed but Ellie, Vasquez and Warren lingered.

"Can't go west." He said Dust storm is kicking up all that fallout. Gotta outrun that cloud."

"Yeah." Warren said sadly and he left "Damn" Warren whispered looking like she was going to cry and Ellie waisted no time pulling her into a hug, tears in her eyes to. Once they pulled away they both made their way to the van, got in and Warren started the engine and they took off down the street.

Addy didn't say anything to any of them as they drove off but they could all clearly hear her as she tried to keep the tears in and Ellie desperately wanted to help take the pain away but when she tried to comfort her when she first got into the van Addy pulled away so Ellie knew she needed some time to herself. So Ellie reluctantly sat herself next to Murphy and Cassandra who was still staring at her weirdly.

"Can you stop looking at me like that" Ellie snapped at Cassandra getting fed up of the staring and Cassandra jumped slightly before turning her head to look at the floor. Which once again surprised Ellie and looking up at Murphy she could see a look of surprise on his face which he quickly masked when he saw her looking.

"Are you ok?" He asked her gesturing to her face "And I'm sorry I didn't help"

"Oh yeah I'm fine, nothing I can't handle. Think I bruised my wrist and just a few scraps and bruises" She reassured him not mentioning that she knew he was trying to distract her from what just happened with Cassandra "And it was probably best you didn't come out of hiding over wise I would have had to try to keep him from you and Doc".

"I'm still sorry though, I hate to see you hurt" He said to her reaching up his hand to brush his thumb against the bruise on her head from him which was now sporting a cut through it and she winced pulling away from him. "Did you mean what you said... on the roof... about me being the only..."

"My only father?" She asked him clarifying what he was referring to and when he nodded she continued "I don't like what you did to my mother and I'll always see the man who raised me as my father but I'm not against trying to build a relationship with the man who without I wouldn't exist... I wont call you dad and I'm not going to follow everything you tell me to do especially when you have a habit of making poor decisions... But you are the only blood I have left so as long as you are willing to work with me then I am willing to try and build some sort of relationship with you".

"I can work with that" Murphy said a small smile on his face "But you can't blame me for wanting to try and protect you... but I will try to take your opinion into consideration instead of trying to make you do something...and in my defence when I knocked you out in the lab it was spur of the moment I had just found out you were my daughter, my thoughts were everywhere and my main thought was to get you to safety... but I promise next time we are in a situation like that ill give you a choice"

"That's all I ask" Ellie said a smile on her face. He may drive her insane but it was nice to have some form of family around her especially someone connected to her mother. She just hopped she didn't regret her decision and that it wont come back and bite her in the arse later on. She also hoped not bringing up the situation with Cassandra wasn't a bad idea. "And about Mack, I'm going to miss him like crazy as will the rest of us. But even though we were out there looking for you. Mack's death you are not to blame. He knew the risks and it wasn't you who set the bounty hunters on us. Just in future think before you run ok?"

"Ok" Murphy said a solemn look on his face and Ellie knew he felt guilty about it. She just hoped they wouldn't loose anyone else. "Come on, you should get some rest" He said trying to change the subject as he picked up his jacket that was led next to him and folded it on his lap. He then patted his lap and looked up at Ellie and gestured for her to lie down. "C'mom I'm not gonna bite, and sleeping against the wall his not gonna do you any good".

"Fine" She conceded as she turned herself around so she could lay her head on the makeshift pillow on Murphy's lap. And luckily enough she was able to lie on her right side so she could face Cassandra and not look up at Murphy without leaning on her left wrist which rested on her hip. She could also feel Murphy rest his one hand on her hand as he brushed his hand through her hair. Ellie found herself drifting off to sleep with the motion of the van and the side glance of Cassandra. Who Ellie still couldn't figure out why she listened to her.