Long time no see! Sorry for the delay again, but don't worry. I'm writing this all the time, but there's stuff going on in my own life and I have to find special time for this. Still stuff happening, but I'm slowly moving my eyes into the future to start writing my TLOU2 fanfic. This one will continue until it feels right to stop, but I'll be moving onto the next one once this is done. I hope you enjoy my writing, thanks for all who are following the story!

Chapter 27

Time crawled forwards, making the fifteen minutes seem like forever. The boy was hardly moving during that time, and Ellie observed him as carefully as ever. Unlike her, Nathan didn't want to depart his eyes from the wooden floor in front of him. He felt like any wrong move could cost his life, for Ellie had not shown any signs of calming down. She pointed the gun at him the whole time, until they finally heard a knock on the door.

"What was that?" the boy got scared of the sudden noise, lifting his gaze up from the floor for the first time. Ellie frowned her face, keeping the gun pointed at him. Her eyes wandered slightly as she was listening carefully.
"Shut it" she whispered to him, then hearing the door open downstairs. Nathan quickly gazed at the girl, who took a brief look at the open door. A thought of jumping at her quickly entered the boy's mind, but he couldn't be sure how good she was with the gun. He stared at the girl from the corner of his eye, biting his teeth together anxiously. He was trapped.

"Ellie?" Joel dared to shout from the first floor. His steps approached the stairs, but Ellie instantly noticed that he wasn't alone. She frowned her face, alternating her look between the door and the boy. There were two pairs of shoes hitting the stairs.
"Nathan?" a woman's voice called from the stairway, having an instant reaction on both the boy and Ellie. Nathan's eyes widened and Ellie kept the gun steadily at him.
"Mom?"
"What the fuck?"

And then they both appeared to the doorway. Alice was walking behind Joel, and they both looked equally surprised. Ellie's eyes widened, and she no longer looked at the boy. Seeing this woman enter after Joel made her very anxious.

The woman laid her eyes on her son, sitting in the corner of the room. Joel barely got the vision clearly into his eyes before the hassle began.
"Mom!" the boy called, trying to crawl up from the floor. He had just forgotten about Ellie and her pistol. She reacted rather quickly, turning her eyes back at the boy. If the woman was a threat, Joel should take care of her.

"Don't you fucking move!" Ellie shouted, pointing the gun back at the boy. He stopped, turning his eyes back at the girl. He slowly fell back to the floor the same time the woman pushed her hand to the back pocket of her jeans, taking a step forward ahead of Joel.
Ellie did see the movement, and she reacted by pointing the gun at the woman as she pulled out her own pistol. It was a true chaos.
"Put it down!" Ellie shouted, but the woman had already aimed it at her. It was her maternal instinct that had acted before her own senses, and she wasn't aware that Joel was standing right behind her.

They both pointed at each other with their pistols for a second, before Nathan jumped into the situation. He was grinding his teeth together before bouncing up from the floor.
"That's my mom!" the boy suddenly awoke, wincing as he jumped towards Ellie. As she turned her gun at the boy not to make him attack her, the woman still had her gun pointed at Ellie. As the rage inside a mother was quickly forming and she took a small step towards Ellie, she suddenly heard movement.

"Stop it" a male voice whispered to her, and she felt a hand grab her around her waist. A cold blade settled under her chin as she stopped all the movement and loosened the grip on her pistol. After the ten seconds of true hassle, everyone stopped.
"Mom!"

Ellie pointed her gun at the boy who had gathered his strength and gotten up from the floor. He had tried to protect his mom but had to stop mid way not to get shot himself. He also noticed that the odd man had his knife held against his mother's throat, and they definitely shouldn't do anything stupid. Alice slowly lowered her gun as she felt the blade on her neck, and Joel held her tightly for pointing her gun at Ellie.

"What the fuck, Joel? Who are these people?" Ellie shouted, and all the moving had caused the bedspread to reveal the most of her wounded body and her bloody, ripped clothes. The boy, Nathan had his eyes settled on his mom, who stared at Ellie the whole time. She lightly furrowed her brows as she observed the wounds on Ellie's body, and she seemed to understand their reaction. Maybe there was a reason behind her self defence and Joel's protectiveness.

"You point your gun at her again, I ain't hesitating pushing this all the way" Joel whispered to the woman with his low, raw voice. He was calm, but angry at the same time and was definitely not kidding. He had not brought the woman into the cabin so she could point her gun at Ellie.

"Mom, who is that guy?" Nathan whispered, scared yet in vain. Everyone heard what he had said, and Ellie had the strongest reaction.
"None of your goddamn business, asshole!" she waved the gun at him, frowning her face. Joel felt movement as Alice's maternal instinct tried to protect her son from Ellie's words, but he tightened the grip on both her waist and the knife. Even though hurting the woman didn't seem smart, he was acting by his own instincts. Alice swallowed carefully and watched out for too quick breathing. She should choose her acts more wisely from now on.

Another short silence followed. The boy alternated his eyes between Ellie and his mom, and the woman was clearly thinking about what she would say. Nathan became more and more stressed by the situation, getting the feeling that it was their last day. He couldn't keep his eyes off his mom, since he thought Joel was gonna cut her throat open. His eyes were wet and he was just inches away from starting to beg Joel. Alice had lowered the gun all the way, keeping her chin up not to make the blade touch her throat.

"He uh… he saved me from the hunters" Alice explained slowly but honestly, moving her eyes to her son. She could not turn her head to see Joel's face, even though she wanted to. Joel was carefully listening to her words, still holding onto the knife while staring at the back of her head.

Nathan furrowed his brows, having a brief look at both Joel and Ellie, settling his eyes on the girl.
"Then who the hell are you?"
"Again, none of your goddamn-"
"Ellie" Joel then ordered her with a calm voice, turning his eyes at her. She briefly gazed at him, not to depart her eyes from the boy for too long. She still didn't trust them, even though Nathan's will to attack Joel had most likely disappeared.

"How could I know your fucking business? Why'd you sneak in like that?" Ellie rose her voice at the boy, and his attention moved away from his mom.
"Then why didn't you fucking ask?" He was getting angry, just like Ellie.
"Hey, fuck you-"

"Stop it!"
It was Alice and Joel in unison. Joel then gazed down to see the side of her face, sighing deeply as he slowly let the knife hand lower from her neck. He detached his hand from her waist, taking a step aside from her and lowering his gaze to the wooden floor. Alice dared to swallow and exhale deeply as she slowly turned around.
She gazed into Joel's eyes, biting her lip as she thought about fitting words for that moment.
"I'm sorry, I fucked up" she said with a calm voice, lifting her hand to feel her throat. She was somewhat tense and shaking a bit. Her eyes were honest, and even though Joel didn't look into them, he knew she had partly understood the situation. Alice looked at him for a short while, then turning back at the teens. Joel kept his eyes on the ground near Nathan, only turning them back up when the woman turned away.

"Nathan, we should head out. Joel's done enough for us already" Alice said, pushing her pistol back into her jeans.
The boy sighed, having another look at Ellie before slowly walking away. In some way he couldn't feel bad for her, even though she did seem seriously hurt. Ellie had finally lowered the gun, still staring at him with a deadly gaze. The boy noticed this, and was still afraid she would lose her temper and lift the gun back up.

Nathan slowed down as he passed Joel, looking into his eyes.
"Thanks for saving my mom" he said quietly, walking out of the room. Joel nodded, putting his eyes on the ground. He thought about the recent hassle as they both walked out to the hallway. For a while they all stayed quiet, and all they could hear was the creaking sound coming from the floor planks. Joel kept his eyes on the floor, clearly thinking of something. Ellie was catching her own thoughts while staring at her hands.

"If you -", Joel suddenly started with a louder voice, since both Alice and Nathan had already walked down to the stairway. He heard them slow down, and Ellie quickly lifted her eyes at him. Joel kept his eyes strictly on the floor planks.
"If you need a place to stay, cabin eight looked pretty clean. I went there today"

He didn't turn his eyes away from the floor as he spoke, but Ellie stared at him with wide eyes. A long silence followed the sentence, but they couldn't hear any steps from the stairs.
"Thanks for the tip" the woman answered before continuing making their way down. After a short moment, the front door was opened and then slammed shut.

Joel kept his eyes on the floor for a while, thinking about what he had said. Ellie was clearly on the topic, too.
"What the fuck, Joel?" she shouted, spreading her hands. Joel frowned his face, walking back to the bed while still quiet.
"I, uh… I dunno" he murmured as he sat on the bed, facing the windows not to see Ellie's face. Even though he couldn't see it, he was sure she didn't look happy.
"You don't know? I thought you were the cynical guy! Why the hell did you bring them here?"
"I didn't...!" he started again, but faded away. He frowned his face, sighing deeply as he thought of it. Actually he had brought Alice in there, but only because he was sure his son was somewhere nearby and he had to check on Ellie first. No way he could've guessed that the boy was in the cabin.

"Look, I know you don't trust them, but she's travelling with a kid" Joel finally explained his mind with a complete sentence. He turned around to see Ellie, who stared at him with curiosity. She thought all the way back to last summer, remembering how Henry had said it. "Then I saw you". He had also realized their reliability because of Joel keeping Ellie with him. It did make sense, yet she still wasn't all impressed.
"They were running from hunters, just like we are" Joel continued, lowering his gaze to the bedspread. He was thinking it through, too.

Joel continued wondering as Ellie's eyes stopped at his face while she thought of it.
"You think they think the same way about us?" she asked with a calm voice for a change. Joel scoffed, turning his head to see the door.
"Well they might have thought so if you hadn't pointed them with your gun"
"The boy had a fucking knife!"
"Yeah, yeah, I know"

A long silence, but they both seemed to agree on one thing: Alice and Nathan in the neighbourhood wasn't necessarily a bad thing.