"Well, this is a good sign."
Joel glanced sideways at Melanie and seen a small smile on her face, frowning a little he was about to ask her what she was talking about when he followed her eye line and seen what she was looking at.
"HOSPITAL. NEXT EXIT."
Chuckling a little, he fixed his backpack and nodded, "Literally and figuratively," he replied and Melanie let out an exhale of amusement, "should get there before morning."
"Hopefully we'll be able to sleep on one of the hospital beds tonight," Melanie said, stretching out her back and wincing a little, "the ground isn't particularly soft."
Joel had to agree with her there, they hadn't found many safe places to sleep while travelling to Salt Lake City and he would never use any of the mouldy and blood stained blankets they had found. The ground or even the floor of an abandoned house had been their bed and hadn't been comfortable at all.
"Hey, Ellie. Looks like we're getting close," Joel said trying to sound pleased about it and turned to talk to the small girl but frowned when she wasn't behind them and instead further back down the motorway staring at a stone wall.
Melanie sighed softly, "She's gotta stop doing that," she muttered, running a hand through her hair, "it isn't safe."
"She needs to snap out of it," Joel said heatedly but he wasn't really angry at Ellie, he was angry at the fuckwit who made her like this and couldn't help but wish it was himself who killed him and not Ellie. He could have lived with this blood on his hands but it was clear Ellie was struggling to overcome what happened in the town.
A hand on his arm made him grow quiet and he turned to look into Melanie's softened eyes, "Take it easy on her," she said quietly, her eyes flickering over to Ellie "she's been through enough without us coming down on her."
Breathing heavily through his nose, Joel nodded and called out her name, "Ellie!" he closed his eyes and counted to ten when she didn't even acknowledge him: what he wouldn't give just to have her back to her usual self telling him bad puns.
"Ellie?" Melanie called out a little louder and Ellie seemed to snap out of it and looked over at them.
Joel seen the distant look in her eyes and sighed, "Didn't you hear us yelling?" he asked.
"No. What?"
He noticed the lack of energy in her voice and forced himself to put on a calmer tone, "Look," he said indicating to the sign, "Hospital. This is where we get off."
"Should make it there by tonight," Melanie said encouragingly, smiling at her as Ellie caught up to them, "can't believe we've nearly made it."
"Yeah… can't believe it," Ellie repeated lamely and Joel shared a worried look with Melanie.
He gave her a nod and forced a smile, "Let's go kiddo."
As they walked along the motorway in silence, Joel glanced sideways at Ellie and couldn't help but feel worried about her. She had been too damn quiet for his liking and barely ate or slept. The bags under her eyes had gotten darker and she had become quite gaunt looking in the face. He had lost his temper one night and demanded she ate all her dinner but the terrified look on her face made him immediately regret his words and he had apologized.
His eyes flickered up to Melanie and for what felt like the thousandth time, he felt glad that he had her with him and that Ellie had her as well. She just had a way with Ellie and could gently coax her into eating a bit more or even to take a short nap, the younger girl barely spoke back but Joel could tell Melanie's presence soothed her a little and for that he was glad.
Feeling the slight wind on his face, Joel closed his eyes and smiled, "Heh. You feel that breeze, huh?" he asked, breaking the silence, "I tell you, on a day like this. I'd just sit on my porch, pick away at my six-string."
"Yeah, when no one else was around," Melanie snorted, rolling her eyes at him, "in all the years I've known you, not once have I heard you play the guitar. I'm quite disappointed."
Joel grinned back at her, "You never know, might find one on our travels and your wish will come true," he hesitated before smiling at Ellie whose eyes were on the ground as she walked around the cars, "and then I could teach Ellie how to play it, once we're done with this whole thing."
"Now I'm hoping we do find one," Melanie said, smiling at him, "that'd be a sight to see."
"Yeah, I reckon you'd really like that," Joel chuckled and then realized that Ellie hadn't said anything and looked back over at her, "Whaddya say, huh?" when she didn't reply, Joel sighed again, "Ellie, I'm talkin' to you."
Shaking her head, Ellie glanced at him "Huh? Oh yeah, sure," she mumbled, "that sounds… that sounds great."
"Hey, those bodies look fresh," Melanie pointed out, "how about we take a breather and see if we can find anything useful. We're running a little low on ammo."
Joel nodded in agreement, "Okay, you two take those tents over there and I'll check out this RV," he said taking out his gun as a precaution, "be careful."
"It's me who should be saying that to you," Melanie pointed out and got out the pistol he had given her, "come on Ellie, over here."
Watching as Ellie followed her silently, Joel let out a haggard sigh and rubbed his face with his free hand. He just hoped this got better, he didn't know how much more of this Ellie he could take. Walking up to the RV, he noticed a decomposing body in the doorway and curled his lip in disgust. Twenty odd years and he still couldn't get used to the smell of death.
Stepping over the body, he glanced around the inside of the small RV and seen that there were no real threats and put away his gun. Looking in a few drawers, he found a handgun and a box of bullets, "Just what I like to find," he murmured and checked the shelves and found some painkillers that wouldn't go unused.
He was about to leave the RV when a photograph on another body made him stop. Narrowing his eyes, he walked to the end where the body was slumped against the bed and bent down to pick it up.
And then he felt his heart sink.
It was a picture of a woman and a man holding a twin boy each in their arms while laughing at the camera. Joel gripped the photo hard and felt his hand shake a little, it was a picture of Lucy and Garrett with the boys.
He had found them.
Looking over to the bed, he felt himself get misty-eyed when he seen two small figures under white sheets with a single bloody bullet hole at where the head would be. He wondered if one of the twins or both had been infected… there was no way in hell that Lucy or Garrett would willingly kill their own children, there would have needed to be a good god-damn reason.
But then they wouldn't have been able to live with themselves, the twins were their whole world and without them – especially in this new world they had to live in – they probably wouldn't have wanted to go on. Garrett probably was the one who did it… his last act as a husband to not let his wife suffer before shooting himself in the head.
Covering his mouth, he stood there for a minute and looked down at the rotting corpse of Melanie's sister. His heart clenched in his chest at the thought of telling Melanie about his find. She would be heartbroken.
After the night where it all happened, Melanie had desperately tried to find out what had happened to her sister and her family. She had bribed soldiers and everything but to no avail. It had taken her a while to stop trying but then she had a firm belief that Lucy and Garrett were somewhere safe with the boys.
When all along they had been here… rotting away.
Letting out a shaky breath, he knelt down and looked at the body of Lucy, "I'm sorry…" he whispered, "I'm sorry we didn't find you and the boys sooner…I'm… I'm sorry..." shaking his head, he actually had to compose himself before looking up again "I promise I'll look out for Melanie… I'll keep her safe. I promise Lucy."
Straightening up, he looked one more time at the photo and then gently put it beside Lucy. "I'm sorry," he repeated one more time, "but I can't break her heart again. I just don't have it in me."
Hoping he made the right choice, he stepped slowly out and gave a sad look down at Garrett's corpse in the doorway. A bullet hole was visible on the left side of his skull… his last sight before dying was his dead wife and children who he had just shot.
"Find anything?"
He looked up to see Melanie and Ellie waiting further ahead and he took a deep breath before nodding, "Some ammo and another gun," he said, walking towards them, "plus some painkillers."
"Unlike us, who didn't find anything," Melanie sighed, "tents have been picked clean. Probably the Fireflies. Hopefully not bandits."
They were about to move on when Ellie surprised them both and spoke up, "I dreamt about flying the other night," she said casually, looking at an advert of a plane on the side of a rusty bus.
"Oh yeah?" Joel asked, glad of the distraction, "go on tell us about it."
Ellie kept her eyes on the plane as she spoke, "So, I'm on this big plane full of people… and everyone is screaming and yelling 'cause the plane's going down. So I walk to the cockpit, open the door but there's no pilot."
"And… then what happened?" Melanie asked hesitantly, giving Joel a sideways look.
"I try to use the controls but… I obviously have no clue how to fly a plane," Ellie looked up at Joel with a slight hint of sadness in her eyes "and right before we crash, I wake up," she frowned a little and glanced back at the advert, "I've never been on a plane. Isn't that weird?"
Melanie shook her head, "You haven't missed much," she said jokingly "makes your ears pop and you get leg cramp from sitting for so long. Wasn't fun at all. Me and Lucy had to get stinkin' drunk on the flight home so we would sleep through it."
"Well, you know, dreams are weird," Joel said changing the subject off of Melanie's sister as her rotting corpse went through his mind, "I wouldn't think much of it kiddo."
They continued along the motorway, heading down towards a deserted quarantine zone which brought back memories to Joel. Bad ones that he didn't care to think about. "Look at this… another city, another abandoned quarantine zone," he muttered.
"Takes me back," Melanie said softly, looking sadly around the area "wonder how many people came through here."
Joel turned away and looked over to see several cars crashed into the exit, "Come on looks like we'll need to climb over."
He stopped and helped Melanie to climb up on one of the cars and watched as she then got onto the top of the bus. Glancing behind him, he seen Ellie dawdling behind and forced himself to join Melanie on the roof: mollycoddling her wouldn't help.
"Hey, do you think that's it," Melanie said pointing out a building to him, "looks like we're close."
Joel nodded, "Yeah, I think that's the hospital the Firefly mentioned," he was glad to see that Ellie had caught up with them and gave her a smile that she weakly returned, "c'mon kiddo, let's find these Fireflies."