A/N: Huge thanks for Carl Solo for helping me on this one, a lot :) I'll be posting chapters every week so everything won't seem rushed hehe... Leave a review if you like and I hope you enjoy!

(5 Years Later)

Jackson grew pretty wide, to the point where it has 4 gates. The north, south, east, and west gate. With Jackson being in the middle. The distance of Jackson from each gate is maybe 6-7 km? That's what Joel said anyways. This made us expand our area of hunting, our area of cultivating plants, and more. Maria and Tommy have really outdone themselves this time around.

Joel and I pretty much got used to this place. We were given jobs to contribute to the town. Since Joel used to work on construction, He and a few people were assigned to fix, or build any houses as Maria sees fit. I on the other hand have no fucking experience with any chores. So, I got assigned to watch the wall, which I am pretty good at if I do say so myself, after all, searching for threats was the daily routine during my little adventure with Joel.

Adding to that, I have only a few number of friends, since Maria deemed it was necessary to tell everyone in town about my condition.''We need to keep everybody's trust'' she says. So everybody knew I was infected. At first, everybody in town didn't want me to stay, cause nobody wanted to let a possible threat stay in town, but, thanks to Maria's wonderful speech and reasoning, they had no words of comeback, or any decent protest at all. I gotta admit, Maria was damn good at her job. Even though Maria played a huge part, the town doctor: Rachel, helped; Proving to everybody that while I am infected, the spores in my body cannot infect another living being, meaning I'm not exactly contagious.

Also, I hate to say, that there was a fucking school in town! luckily, they didn't teach anything boring, like history and some other shit… The school focused on teaching basic things to survive: How to shoot, hunt, and do hand to hand combat; Which I basically already mastered. What's more, I was a fucking wizard at that, cause, after all, I learned from the best.

After the adrenaline from an entire year of surviving in the roads has finally worn off, the nightmares from the year-long experience started to haunt me. Faces of the people I killed started showing up in my dreams. Some chasing me or torturing me, some tried to take off my clothes. Every time I wake up, with my body trembling, I would always immediately go to Joel's room, making sure Maria and Tommy doesn't hear me, and I wiggle beside him. Before long, he always places his arms around me making my fears and nightmares disappear, letting me have a peaceful night.

Adding to that, Joel and I had our very own house 2 years after arriving in Jackson. I was very happy, also very thankful to Maria and Tommy. I never thought I would ever see the day when I could finally have a place I can call home, and Joel being a member of the house made it feel genuine.

''Ellie!'' I hear Anna, (one of my few friends) shout at me,trying to get my attention. I was startled and was going to ask her what was going on, but that didn't seem like it was necessary since I heard a truck coming in our direction, with no signs of slowing down. After not stopping even after I demanded them a second time, I decided it wasn't friendlies. ''Shoot the tires!'' I shout out and we immediately let out a flurry of bullets, aimed at the wheels of the truck. After hitting both of the front wheels, it immediately changed its course and crashed onto the west part of the gate we were guarding. Not a moment later, the truck exploded, destroying half of the gate. After tripping due to the impact of the explosion, I hear a large number of footsteps heading our way, also hearing gunshots from both my side, and theirs. I immediately got my Talkie and tried to inform Joel and the others of the situation, but for some reason, nobody was answering.

''OH SHIT!'' I hear Anna shout looking very panicked.. I immediately rush to her side in attempt to calm her down. But with no time to spare, I tell her ''Listen, Anna, I need you to do something for me, you understand?'' I tell her sounding as calm as I can. ''I need you to go back and ask Joel and the others for reinforcements okay?'' I added. She looks at me with a very pained face and tells me ''W-what about you? I-I can't'' She tells me looking like she is about to collapse. I let go of the gun that I was holding at my left hand to the ground and slapped her face. ''You are strong! Didn't you tell me that the reason you wanted to be on guard duty is so you can stop being so Goddamn weak! this is your first step... will you take it or not?'' I told her, almost screaming. She looks at me, panicked and scared, but also slightly determined. ''I-I'll do it!'' She tells me with her hands still shaking. ''Alright, now go!'' I tell her, immediately picking up my rifle. She went to the horse and immediately went straight back.''

I go to the higher grounds of the gate, which is a perfect spot for using a sniper rifle. I crouch down then scan for enemies using my scope, then line up the fuckers head in the middle of the cross line, then shoot, pulverizing their fucking skulls.

I scan through the scope, and I noticed a bandit whose face was covered by a handkerchief getting something that looked like a molotov from his bag that was on the ground. As he was about to throw the molotov, I decided to shoot the bag where he got the molotov from, causing the bag to explode, leaving the handkerchief man and some of his allies catch point blank range of the explosion. BINGO! I thought to myself. Because of that, they noticed my location and focused their gunfire to me.

I immediately scram from my current location, and hide behind cover. I look at my companions for a second, and it seemed as if time turned into slow motion as I watch the people whom I spent time with guarding the wall, die one by one.

I gritted my teeth and I got the flash grenade that was on my pack. ''GET DOWN!'' I screamed then I threw 2 flash grenades at the direction of the enemies. My companions heard my command then immediately got down. After the barest of a second, the grenade let out a blinding white light rendering the enemies vulnerable. ''FUCK'EM UP!'' I yelled and they immediately let out a flurry of bullets to the enemies. I on the other hand got my trusty sniper rifle and scanned through the scope once again. I see a flash of light blink through from the forest, and it looked like it was aiming at me. ''Oh Shit!'' I shouted and I immediately rolled over to my right, fortunately dodging the bullet.

Not a moment longer I looked at the place where I saw the flash of light through my scope, and saw a bandit, using a sniper rifle. He immediately aims his gun at me as I aim mine to him. In one intense moment, both of us fire our shots. His shot missed me as it only scraped the side of my cheeks (still pretty fucking hurts though, a lot ) and I hit the barrel of his rifle. Both of his hand got heavily injured because of that. He immediately tried to escape but before he could, I shot him in the head, destroying his fucking skull.

Even with all of our efforts, we barely pushed the enemy back. But it wasn't enough, the attack was extremely sudden that none of us prepared enough for this kind of scale.

There were too many, I looked at the others and shouted out. ''Retreat!, there's too fucking many! Retreat back to Jackson and regroup!'' I commanded.. The others immediately thought of the same idea that I did and got all of our explosives from our packs and threw it at their direction. Smoke bombs, Molotovs, grenades from the mix were thrown.

After that, we immediately headed to the horses, but just as we were heading back, to our surprise, the wall was suddenly blown to bits, leading to an explosion. We, as well as the poor horses were caught up by the impact. What…what the fuck!? I thought to myself, my vision getting blur. As I was about to lose consciousness, the only thing that was on my mind, was Joel.

(Joel POV)

''Hey Joel! watch your head.'' Bob (One of my companions in construction) tells me. I crouch down giving them space for the wood that they were carrying. Since my part was over and the rest was their job, I really wanted to go home and get some shut-eye. ''Alright, I'm going on ahead.'' I tell them.

For the past 5 years all I've been doing is either building a new house, or fixing one. It never fucking ends. Having a place where you don't have to worry when you'd find your next source of supply is damn good, but all this shit is such a fucking pain in the ass. But I sure as hell don't intend to be one of those freeloaders, so screw it.

I head over to Maria's office and report to her that I've finished what it is that I need to do. She gave me an earful for leaving early, but I really needed to hit the sack. After her very detailed lecture, she finally excused me.

I stand up from the chair I sat on and saw a girl, who came bursting through the door, looking very pale. ''MARIA!'' She screams out. Isn't she Ellie's friend? I thought, then a chill went down my spine.''ELLIE…THE OTHERS… THEY… THEY-' She said. Maria quickly rushed to her side to calm her nerves. ''Calm down, take your time, look me in the eyes and breath..'' Maria told the Anna. After waiting for a few seconds, Maria finally asked what was going on. ''T-there was… there was a truck….'' She says, barely getting the words out. ''It- it exploded… the gate was destroyed... bandits... Ellie and the others are fighting them, please... please help them!'' She said, with tears falling down her eyes. After hearing what she said, I immediately thought of the horrors that might happen to Ellie. Maria quickly calls me, but I ran outside through the door, not caring whatever the fuck Maria was telling me.

I quickly go home, got my pack and checked my guns and ammunition. Then without any delay, I got my horse and I immediately head out. Ellie was definitely on the south gate today I thought to myself. I didn't think about the things that might happen to her, cause I definitely won't let any of them happen. I swear, if they so much as touch you baby girl, I'll make sure they ain't ever gonna see the light of day again. I tell myself.