And I'm back from the dead! This chapter took longer that it should have, and I apologize. Is there anything you think would make the story better? Leave it in the comments!

Jay carefully walked along the side of the road, sticking close to the walls. Some of the guards gave her suspicious glances, but she ignored them, sticking her hands in her the pockets of her black jacket. Her hands hit cool metal, and she closed them around her Firefly pendant. Remember when you were one of them? Remember when you weren't… She gripped the pendant, its edges cutting into her skin. Lonely? Maybe this is your chance. She raised her head. The sky was beginning to get dark. I'll stay out here a little longer. No one will miss me anyways. A rare calm settled over her, and she sat and hugged her knees to her chest behind a wall. She fiddled with her house key as people hurried home, looking forward to getting some sleep. The other people just came here today. At least, that's what Maria said. Could they be the people who I met earlier? What was up with that girl? A girl that scared of something dead couldn't have survived so long.

Joel sat down on the couch next to her and considered his reply.

"Well," Joel held eye contact. The silence hung in the air like a fog. "Even if they had got what they needed, there was no guarantee that they would have found the cure." Ellie looked back down.

"What do you mean 'even if'? What happened, Joel?" Her voice rose. "What are you not telling me?"

You've hid behind a wall of lies for long enough. Joel exhaled. It's time to come clean.

"You see, they had to extract the mutation from you to get the cure. Least it's what Marlene told me."

Marlene? What was she doing there? Ellie swallowed her questions and waited for Joel to continue.

"But it grows all over the brain," he said, replaying the moment in his head. "They were goin' to have to kill you to get it."

Ellie's expression turned from one of hopefulness to one of shock, then realization.

"Oh."

"A-and I couldn't let them do that, so I… I stopped them." Well, that's one way to put it.

"And Marlene?"

"All the Fireflies in the building are dead."

Ellie's eyes filled.

"Why did you save me? I was the cure for humanity! Remember what you said? Saving humanity was my purpose! You had no fucking right to take that away from me!"

"Look, even if they had killed you, they still might have not gotten the cure. In fact, there was a big possibility that they wouldn't." If Joel felt any remorse over his actions, he didn't show it. "Let's just sleep on it. We can talk about it more in the mornin'. Besides, there's supposed to be another girl your age comin'. Might as well get to know her." But Ellie wasn't listening. She ran out the door and shut it with a bang. Joel sniffed the air, where a faint burning scent was gathering. Goddamn beans are burned.

Jay shivered. Even with her jacket, the night air still was cold enough to chill her to the bone. I should head back before the other people are asleep and think I'm trying to murder them. Her footsteps echoed in the silent town, and she pulled her jacket tighter around her. As she walked up to what was now her house, she heard snippets of the conversation from inside. "...cure for humanity! ...take that away…not gotten the cure…" Cure for humanity? Before Jay could lament on this, the girl that she had seen earlier ran out of the house, tears streaming down her face. Something went down in there. Jay looked up. Enough to make her run out on a night like this. Hey, at least it's not snowing. She'd catch a cold if it was. An idea popped into her head. Hey, I'm not that tired. Maybe it's the adrenaline from the battle. Whatever. I'm gonna shadow her. Might be a challenge, considering her skittishness. She followed Ellie, trying to step as lightly as possible while moving at top speed. Challenge accepted.

Ellie ran straight toward the one place she felt at home, the stables. A twinge of sadness hit her as she remembered Callus. Hopefully this horse won't die on me. She stuck her head in the door. Nothing. Danny must be asleep. She took one of the horses and left, thoughts bouncing around in her mind. As the wind rushed past her, she could only think of one place to go.

Jay ducked behind the side of the building, eyes trained on Ellie. Is she getting a horse? That must be the stables. Yep, that's a horse. How am I going to track that? She ran, silently and stealthily, to the gate. Horse tracks. Of course. She sat down and leaned against the wall, at an angle where the guards couldn't see. I can wait a bit then.

As the shape of the ranch house came into view, Ellie slowed the horse into a trot. It looked different at night. Remembering what had happened the last time she was here, she pulled out her gun as she opened the door. Nothing. Well, that's good. Her footsteps echoed eerily as she ran up the stairs. I never got to see what happened with that girl. As she sat down on the bed, turning the pages of the girl's diary, reading about a girl who would never had dreamed of the things Ellie had done, her mind started to drift. First it was Riley, then Tess, then Sam and Henry, and now Marlene. How many more people are going to die because of me? What if Joel dies? Is he lying about anything else? She pulled up her sleeve. If Riley was immune instead of me, things would probably be better. Her mother's letter came into mind. Anna -is it weird that I'm calling her Anna instead of mom?- told me to fight for my purpose, but what do I do if that's taken away? Riley's speech flashed into her mind. Can I even trust Joel anymore? She put down the book and sunk her head into her hands. A moment later, her heart started hammering as she heard the door open.

The beam of her flashlight shone on the slightly muddy grass as Jay looked for horse tracks to follow. She nimbly jumped across a log covered in moss, and stopped at the entrance to a house. And at the front, was a horse. This is where she ran off to. She put a hand to the door.