What was taking Marlene so long? She'd brought me to this shithole hours ago for "safety" and then promptly left to "get some contacts to get us out of the city." Nothing since then. Just me in what looked like a place that sold food from the cases in the counter.

For amusement, I imagined what the place looked like before Hell came for a permanent vacation. Brightly colored paper on the walls... Okay, already too cheery and kinda freaky.

Sitting near the door in the back, I brought out my switchblade and looked at it, wiping the blade on my jeans to try to dislodge some of the grime that always seemed to be on the blade.

Just three weeks ago I'd plunged it into an Infected to save Riley, only to realize that it was too late. To see the blood drip down my arm and her hand, I lost it for a while.

Finding a pipe on the ground I went around the entire room and broke everything in there, crying and swearing progressively louder until I was smashing flowerpots near Riley screaming fuck over and over again until I couldn't do it any more before chucking it and sitting next to her.

I still remember it, "You know we can be all poetic and just lose our minds together."

She had lost her mind. I watched her turn and didn't do a damn thing.

Stop doing this to your self Ellie, it won't help, a little voice in my mind said. It was right, mulling over it wouldn't help, but the guilt still hung around.

It never left, it just hung around my head like a cloud of spores, and was just as painful. Every time it successfully was shoved to the back of my mind, at the first chance it would come roaring back and remind me every single time just what happened to Riley until it felt like my stomach would crawl out my mouth and my head would go up like a Molotov. It just so damn painful.

When Marlene finally figured I was immune, she started babbling about finally finding a cure. Frankly, I didn't care about the cure. I just wanted to feel better about living when others didn't. To make sure that others didn't go through what I had.

But getting a cure wouldn't bring her back. Nothing would.

Our final hours together. We just walked around the mall holding hands. We'd already got our backpacks from the ground where we threw them and I grabbed my Walkman. It had broke, but hadn't cared at the time, I wouldn't need it anymore.

She had picked up her pendant from where she had tossed it when she decided to stay. Looking at it, her face filled with disgust and threw away again, pitching it across the store. I tried to comfort her but she snapped back at me.

We just walked after that. Through the arcade, past the turny thing with horses, and by the cars we had chucked bricks at.

The infection had been kind to her, she turned after only about six or seven hours. The look on her face when she told me to leave, so I could still remember when she had been alive.

I cried.

How a single little knife could bring back a torrent of my worst memories. Trying to think happy things again, I looked around the food-store again, lettering on the windows said it was a bakery. That explained the bright colored wallpaper. I checked out the cases again, making up images of what the display looked like with its pretty little sweets. Wonder what they tasted like.

A scraping noise came from the door next to me, snapping me out of my thoughts. Jumping up, the sound of multiple voices and footsteps came from the other side.

Marlene asking for help floated from behind the heavy frame. People were with her and her voice was strained, something was off. I prepared myself and stood a little distance away as the door finally swung open and people came through.

AN: This took way longer than necessary for this little blather. School started and I was too lazy to write. If you couldn't figure it out, this is just before Ellie meets Joel and Tess.

I'm taking suggestions now, because I'm too lazy to think of new ones, HOWEVER! I will not do cutscenes just yet, along with action scenes. Please review and enjoy.