Melanie followed Joel up one flight of stairs and tried to not make much noise, they had locked the door tightly shut to stop any Fireflies following them but she didn't know what the plan was. "Hey, Joel," she said, slightly out of breath "what's the plan here?"

"We get Ellie the hell away from here," he said determinedly looking at her, "that's the plan."

"There is a lot of Fireflies after us with guns," Melanie pointed out, narrowing her eyes at him as they continued up the stairs, "we're no use to Ellie dead. We need to be careful, no more impulsive shooting."

Joel didn't answer her but when they reached the next level, they heard footsteps up above them and Melanie swore under her breath, "So what do you suggest?" Joel asked sarcastically as they ran into the next floor and into a darkened room, "I wouldn't want to be impulsive."

"Shut up and let me think," Melanie hissed, both of them silent as men ran by the room. Thinking a little, Melanie glanced out the door and seen that they were looking for them, "you have any of those nail bombs that Bill made you?"

Carefully looking through his pack, Joel nodded and reached in for something, "Lucky I made some during the winter, I got some smoke bombs to. They'll come in handy."

"For a distraction yeah," Melanie whispered, "we just need to be quiet and careful."

Joel went out first and quietly stood up and threw a nail bomb directly in the middle of a small group of Fireflies, there were shouts but they were too late before it exploded and they were all impaled with the nails.

Jumping out of the room through a window with no glass, Melanie spotted another Firefly on his own patrolling a corridor. Noticing that Joel was sneaking away to deal with two further down, she put her gun back in the holster and cautiously made her way towards him, taking out her knife as she did.

His breath was laboured as he looked about the rooms, his rifle light shining brightly in the darkness but that wasn't any help as Melanie stuck the knife in his throat and covered his mouth to stop him from shouting out. Trying not to vomit at the feel of the dying man writhing under her hand and the smell of blood, she gladly let him fall and wiped her hand on his shirt.

Joel came up and made her jump when he put his hand on her arm, "Look what I found," he whispered, showing her the assault rifle, "should come in handy if things get squirrelly."

"It certainly would-" Melanie stopped when they heard voices from behind them and they ducked down behind some tables and listened carefully. Frowning, Melanie guessed that it was a large group of men behind them and that a sneak attack was no good.

Joel glanced quickly around the corner and made an annoyed noise, "We need them to split up… be easier to take them out," he muttered.

Looking around, Melanie seen a dusty glass bottle lying on the ground and leaned over to pick it up, "What are you doing?" Joel asked confused as she snuck forward and raised her arm.

"Get ready to act fast," Melanie whispered and threw the bottle as hard as she could into the other side of the room.

As expected, when the glass shattered loudly in the silence, the Fireflies split up to investigate. Making it easy for Joel and Melanie to pick them off with his bow and arrow and her knife. Looking outside, Melanie seen that it was getting dark and began to panic about Ellie.

What if they were too late?

Joel seemed to have the same thought as he worriedly looked ahead, "We gotta step up our game," he said quietly, "we're runnin' outta time."

"You go on ahead," Melanie finally said as they heard more Fireflies approaching, "I'll hang back and get rid of these guys – and meet you up there."

He looked at her and shook his head, "Try the other way around," he said firmly, "I'm more-"

"Don't bother saying smarter because we both know that's a lie," Melanie interrupted with a weak smile, "I'm not talking about me sacrificing myself Joel. You get rid of any in your path to the stairs and I'll worry about the ones behind us. You're just wasting time arguing."

Joel sighed and nodded, "You're right… as always," he muttered and then looked at her, "you can be a right stubborn bitch at times, you know that?"

"I do."

He gave her one last look before making his way down the corridor and Melanie watched him leave before hurrying over to the corner where a large surgical table on it's side would provide her with cover. Picking up her gun, she seen a few Fireflies coming near and was glad when there were no lights to give her position away.

Here we go…

Joel heard the gunshots behind him and nearly stopped but thoughts of Ellie on the operating table made him keep going. As he ran towards the door, he just prayed that Melanie knew what she was doing and would be up here soon.

Pushing the door open, he seen the silhouettes of the doctors and operating equipment through the shadows and felt sickened at the thought of all the people who had their brains cut open for a cure that was never found. Ellie wouldn't be one of those… he would make sure of it.

Shakingly opening the door, his eyes widened at the sight of Ellie in a hospital gown lying still on the table. The doctor and two nurses stared at him in shock as the doctor stood poised at Ellie with the scalpel in his hand.

He had almost been too late.

"Sweet Jesus…"

The nurse began to panic and gave him a scared look, "Doctor?"

"What are you doing in here?" the doctor wearing medical scrubs glared at him behind his surgical mask, "You're going to contaminate my theatre."

They all stood still waiting for Joel's next move as he took a step into the room, the doctor made a frustrated noise and reached behind him for a gun and pointed it at Joel, "I won't let you take her!" he said desperately "This is our future! Think of all the-"

Screaming echoed in the room as the doctor suddenly fell to the floor and Joel turned to see Melanie with a cut lip and a bruise already forming on her cheek as she lowered her gun, "Seems like I got here just in time," she said coming to stand next to him.

"You sure did…"

The nurse screamed again as the male nurse covered his mouth, "You fucking animals!" she shouted.

"Kari! Shut the hell up!" the male nurse pressed himself against the wall, looking at Joel and Melanie in fear. Melanie was about to speak when the male nurse suddenly ran towards Joel with a scalpel in his hand, shouting out, Melanie felt her ears ringing as Joel quickly shot him in the head and he fell to the ground with a sickening thud.

Keeping her gun on the scrub nurse who was whimpering in the corner, Melanie glanced quickly at Joel who was tenderly lifting Ellie off of the table and into his arms. "Come on baby girl," he whispered softly to the unconscious girl, "I gotcha…I gotcha…"

"Where's her medical file?" Melanie asked in a harsh tone, trying to intimidate the nurse as she knew they were running out of time, "I know you have one!"

Shakingly the nurse stood up and reached over the desk to a file lying on it, grabbing it, she slid it across the floor to Melanie. Who picked it up without lowering her gun, "You tell your friends that they ain't getting this girl," she said coldly "so don't bother coming after us."

The scrub nurse didn't reply and instead slid down the wall to the ground and began to cry into her knees as the doctor and other nurse lay bleeding on the floor not too far from her. Hearing shouting behind them, Melanie shared a worried look with Joel. "Oh shit," he muttered, "this way, come on."

Leading the way, Melanie felt her heard thudding in her chest as they ran down a corridor and she glanced up to see a sign indicating the way to the lift.

"Come on, this way!" she said, pointing ahead to Joel and she quickly fired her gun to make the Fireflies stall as they took a shortcut through a hospital room.

"Cover the exits! Don't let this fucker escape!"

Ellie's unconscious head flopped around in Joel's arms and he looked down at her worriedly, "I got you… I got you," he murmured, trying to focus on getting to the elevator and not on the Fireflies shouting behind him.

"Goddamnit!" Melanie cursed as they seen the corridor blocked off with hospital beds and Fireflies standing behind them, "Which way now!"

Joel thought quickly on his feet as Melanie covered them, "You've nowhere to go asshole! Give us the girl!"

"Mel! This way!" Joel said, ashamed that he kept Ellie in front of him but he knew that the Fireflies wouldn't shoot at him in case they hit Ellie, "locker room!"

Following him through the darkness, Melanie cursed when it seemed that the Fireflies were right behind them, "Go around the other side!"

"We're okay, we're okay!" Joel whispered more to himself than Ellie, he spotted the elevator ahead of them as they exited the locker room and he turned his head to Melanie as they began to run, "We're okay!"

"You can say that when we're away from this fucking place," Melanie said out of breath and then cried out when a bullet just missed her, "Fuck!"

Melanie fired her gun at the Fireflies following them while Joel slipped into the elevator. He hit a button quickly and the doors closed just in time as a Firefly ran towards them. Heart racing, she finally let out a shaky breath and leant against the wall. "That was too fuckin' close."

Joel was panting slightly as he shifted Ellie in his arms, "Tell me about it…" he whispered, looking over the young girl's face, "We need to get her outta here. Now."

"There should be cars in the basement," Melanie said, glancing at the descending numbers, "if I know Marlene, she'll have them at the ready in case they need to evacuate quickly."

Joel took a moment to catch his breath and then noticed the blood slowly spreading on Melanie's t-shirt, "You get hit?" he asked concerned, wishing he had a spare set of hands to make sure she was okay.

"I'm fine… bullet just grazed me," Melanie hissed a little as she pulled her top up gingerly, the blood sticking to her top, "just needs cleaned. I'll be okay."

Tearing his eyes away from her wound, Joel anxiously looked down at Ellie when she made a small noise and waited for a moment to see if she would wake up. Melanie stepped forward and gently took the younger girl's hand in hers and felt for a pulse.

"It's steady… she'll be alright once the drugs wear off," Melanie whispered, tenderly brushing her har out of her face, "I can't believe we nearly lost her…"

Joel's eyes flickered over Melanie's face as he looked down at her, "I nearly lost both of you…," he said slowly, Melanie's brown eyes meeting his, "I don't want that to ever happen again."

For a moment, Melanie seemed on the verge of saying something but she shook her head and gave him a faint smile, "I can't make any promises but I'll try to behave," she joked and Joel chuckled a little as they both looked down at Ellie.

The elevator kept descending and they were almost at the basement level and Joel looked at Melanie one last time before the doors opened, "I'm glad your with me," he said sincerely, "I didn't think I was ever gonna see you again."

"It hasn't all been fun and games," Melanie said quietly and glanced up at him, "but I'm glad too…" she paused before she cupped his cheek and smiled "I'm glad we were both proved wrong."

Their moment ended when the doors opened and Melanie went back into survival mode, with her hand leaving Joel's cheek and grabbing her gun, "Come on, one of these cars will probably have supplies in it."

"Wait," Joel shifted Ellie in his arms and hit the red button on the elevator so the Fireflies wouldn't be able to use it once they got out, "okay, come on. Let's go."

He was going to head over to the cars when Melanie suddenly turned and raised her gun, glaring at someone over his shoulder, "Put the gun down!"

"You can't save her!" Marlene's voice rang out as she approached them warily with her gun raised also, "Even if you get her out of here, then what?"

Melanie looked to Joel quickly and then shook her head, "She'll be safer with us then with you."

"How long before she's torn to pieces by a pack of clickers?" Marlene demanded, looking at them seriously "That is if she hasn't been raped and murdered first."

After what happened in the town with David, Marlene had chosen the wrong words and Joel's eyes clouded with anger, "That ain't for you to decide," he snarled through gritted teeth, holding Ellie tightly against him.

"It's what she'd want!" Marlene said, her voice growing soft all of a sudden as she looked at them pleadingly "and you both know it."

Melanie felt her heart sink as she realized what Marlene said was half true but she didn't lower her gun one inch, "Ellie didn't know all the facts Marlene," she said firmly "she didn't know how you were going to get this cure. And you know it!"

"Look…" Marlene said after a moment of silence, slowly lowering her gun and looking at Joel "You can still do the right thing here… she won't feel anything…."

Melanie shared a look with Joel and he sighed before looking down at Ellie, "You're right… we should do the right thing," he murmured.