Ellie soon met with Joel in the courtyard, "How'd I do?"
Joel handed the pistol to her, "How 'bout something...a little more your size." He pulled his hand back, giving her a stern look, "It's for emergencies only."
"Okay."
"Now the safety is on. Do you know how to switch it off?" Joel pointed to the mechanism, getting in Ellie's personal space, ready to direct her.
She nodded once more.
"Okay, you gotta...you just gotta respect it. This is not-" Joel looked on past Ellie, watching the woman approach, Pib on her tail, her bag in tow. He raised his pistol towards her, only to be stopped by Ellie as she placed a hand on his gun.
"She's good, she helped me. She helped us."
The girl stayed quiet giving a small gesture for a 'You're Welcome'.
Joel pulled Ellie to the side, "Who is she?"
Ellie shrugged looking to her, "She came out of nowhere, just started providing cover for you like it was nothing."
Joel narrowed the stare directed at the stranger, "Mhmm" Ellie held back a small laugh, she could tell he was skeptical.
The girl approached the two and looked to Ellie, "If you need help with anything let me know, I have to go through my things quickly. And I have plenty of ammo, so if you need any let me know." She awkwardly waited for an answer only to receive quiet nods. She then whistled, Cas moving to her, taking a short glance to Joel. She could sense she made him uncomfortable.
She followed her companion to a bench watching as she emptied her back pack. It's been a few hours since she has checked her jacket, it was dry. She began to pout realizing she has had the same tanktop on since Cas had shredded it when they first encountered each other.
She let out a laugh to herself then gazed around at the dead hunters. She fixed her tank top so both shoulders were covered equally. She pushed and shoved the bodies around, hoping to find one with a tank top. After eight bodies, she found one in black. She stripped it off of the guy, without a care in the world. Joel looked to Ellie with a puzzled face. She did come off as weird, this simply proves it.
Joel looked on catching the scars on her back, "What happened there...on your back?"
She didn't register the question until the tank top was fully off the corpse, "Don't fuck with my leopard." She walked out of view, switching out the tank tops.
Joel turned sour due to the girl's attitude. He walked off. Ellie smiled, noting that their new ally was brash, despite how aged she was, she could relate.
She moved near, as her new found 'friend' zipped up her bag, "You'll grow on each other, don't worry. He's pretty cool, I mean you are too, you have animal companions and you don't see that ever and this is the first time I've seen a leopard..." Ellie was consumed in excitement.
"You can pet Cas you know, she's extremely friendly when she wants to be." The girl sat down on the bench, adjusting her jacket and sword before slipping the rifle back in the bag.
Ellie sat down, allowing Cas to come to them. "What's your name anyways? This is Cas, the other is-"
"Pib..., my dog is named Pib, he's a sweetheart." The girl looked to the ground, her smile disappearing, she had to answer the question. There was nothing on her mind, no recollection of her past life, she just was able to do things, able to function, no questions asked. The one thing she never thought of, was her name, another piece of her that had fallen away in her deep slumber. She thought long and hard, a random name coming to mind. "My name...is Beth."
"That's a nice name." Ellie grinned.
"You think so? I'm glad." She responded, which didn't settle right with Ellie. It was a strange response to such a simple compliment. After an awkward silence filled the air, Ellie excused herself and went to look around.
As Joel scouted for supplies, Ellie wandered around taking in the sight before her. She walked up to a large tree on a platform with the roots taking over and slithering their way down to the ground. on a large branch was a man, seemingly civilian, hanging by his neck.
Ellie looked up at man with a disgusted expression "Jesus. what the hell is wrong with these people?"
"What was that?" Joels called from across the courtyard.
"It was nothing, just … talking to myself" Ellies words tapered off "How the hell did you even hear me?"
Joel just walked off with a small chuckle and continued on with his duties. Ellie turned away from the hanging man and began to make her way over to a rusted car until she heard a little screech. Ellie looked behind her with a confused expression, maybe it was just her imagination. She turned back to the car and began rifling through the debris for anything of some use.
Ellie bolted up and hit her head on the ceiling of the car when she heard another, slightly louder screech "Son of a-" She cradled the back of her head and went over to the location of the noise.
At the bottom of the tree in between two large roots was a moderately sized alcove that she could peer into. She caught a glimpse of some off white feathers that shook when she tried to reach in. Ellie clicked on her flashlight and carefully shone it inside the hole. What laid in this small alcove was a small emaciated Barn Owl with some owlette fluff still around it neck and its left wing slightly disconfigured. Ellie winced in sympathy to see this young owl dying in front of her. She felt a presence behind her and whipped around only to see a not so amused Joel.
"What in the hell are you looking at and get that damned light out of my face."
Ellie quickly clicked off her flashlight and thought for a second about asking Joel if she can help the young owl and quickly made up her mind. "Okay I know this is gonna sound crazy but I found this sick owl, sick as in ill not the other definition, and I was thinking that if I-"
"No"
"...You didnt even let me finish!" Ellie said incredulously.
"Because I know what you are going to say and I'm saying no. Absolutely not. That bird will only slow us down we would have to find food for it, something to bind that wing, and we just can't risk that."
"But-"
"No and that's final now lets go." Joel walks away with yet another scowl on his bearded face and Ellie turns back to the tree crestfallen.
"Help me lift this Ellie!" Ellie not wanting to leave the owl whips her head between Joel and the tree.
Beth walked over to the tree after Joel went off and things simmered down. Cas followed at her heels sitting by Ellie's side. "Hey. So this is what's going to happen, I'm going to help out Joel, you get the owl out of the tree so you can take care of it. Surely, you're responsible. I'll help you take care of the poor thing, I may even have a few things in my bag that could help it out." She backed away from the tree, "Unless you're caught, we never had this conversation." Beth let out a laugh, heading towards Joel.
She crouched down by him, ready to open the door, "I'm ready when you are."
"I'm pretty sure your name isn't Ellie," Joel barely showed gratitude for the help.
Beth scoffed, staring him dead in the eye, "You don't know my name and it damn well could be." She grinned expecting him to make a retort, only to watch him begin to lift the door open. With both their strength, they lifted the door a good amount, only problem being, it was stuck.
Beth ducked under the door, the chains wouldn't budge either. She went quiet for a moment, returning to slide a cart under the door. "You good?"
Joel released the door, responding with a simple 'Yes'.
Back at the tree Ellie was carefully reaching towards the owl trying not to get pecked with its sharp beak. With minimal squawks and pinched skin Ellie was able to carefully fold the owls wing close to its body and maneuver the owl so that it was laying horizontally on its white belly at the bottom of her backpack cushioned on some cloth.
"Don't worry little guy" Ellie whispered to the owl. "I'll take care of you from here on out. What Joel doesn't know won't hurt him." She smiled and carefully put on her backpack making her way towards Joel and Beth.
Ellie arrived at the room that Joel and Beth were in and smiled to Beth mouthing a 'Thank you'. Beth gave her a small smile and winked. She nodded her head towards Joel and they made their way into a hallway with a work bench.
A gruff and angry voice called out from a distance, "Run!"
Joel gets close to the window quickly crouching underneath it, "Oh shit, get down, get down."
Ellie and Beth quickly followed suit, Beth's curiosity caused her to peek out of the window.
"Keep running!" A second voice yelled out, bullets flying through the air shortly after.
The group watched as terrified tourists ran for their lives away from a military vehicle. They're gunned down a few feet away in front of the window. The vehicle pulled around the two bodies parking. Two hunters shortly got out, examining the bodies.
Beth quickly recognized one of the hunters, remembering he tried to gun her down on the bridge. They've had multiple encounters before, however she'd always manage to get away.
"What do we do?" Ellie glanced to Joel, worrying.
"Nothing."
Beth lost her mind after hearing him say that. Stood up glaring at him, rambling, evidently heated, "Are you kidding me?! Nothing? These people have been slaughtering innocents, included those two. And-"
Joel put a hand over beth's mouth, pulling her down to sit under the window. She bit his hand continuing to rant, "Really, shushing me? Who do you think you are those fucks shot at me earlier today. I almost died on the bridge today, we should kill them damnit!"
Joel shushed her once more, not in the mood for her abrasive attitude or the possibility of fighting off the hunters with such a heavy advantage.
The dying woman heard and saw the commotion, reaching out towards the window, "No..."
The hunters finish her off with two shells of buckshot into her skull. They were quick to check the corpses.
Beth glared at Joel, "Did you just fucking shush me? Again?" She huffed quieting down thereafter, not wanting it to be repeated.
Ellie, held back a laugh, loving how obnoxious Beth turned out to be. She got serious once Joels gazed turned to her.
The hunters outside scowled in disappointment, "They got nothin'. Let's go."
"Alright." The other head back into the vehicle, mounting the turret. The other got into the driver's seat, quickly driving off.
"Oh man..." Ellie was consumed in a melancholy feeling.
Joel stood up, "There ain't nothin' we coulda done."
Beth stood up, getting into his face, "We could have taken them both out easily. I can easily say if we have to deal with them at some point its on you!"
"Listen here little lady," Joel got into close proximity of her, "I don't know who you are or who you think you are. I am in charge here. What I say goes, whether you like it or not. And I said to let them pass, if you don't like it...you're welcome to leave. Otherwise, deal with it so we can get going." He stares down at her, not enjoying the extra company.
"Well sucks for you, I'm staying. And don't want any, 'You'll slow me down' bullshit. I can help more than you'd like to admit." Beth laughed to herself, whistling to her companions to move forward.
Joel huffed, a frown creeping back onto his face. He brushed past Beth, heading up the stairs in the adjacent hallway. Ellie on the other hand kept by Beth, staying quiet in fear of agitating Joel further.
Once they reached upstairs, they came across two hunters in conversation while they head in the direction the group just came from. Joel took cover behind an alcove in the wall as the hunters got closer. Beth proceeded with Cas at her heels and took cover behind the desk in the middle of the hall.
Joel peeked around the corner, "What the hell are y-"
She put a finger to her lips as she shook her head. She readied her knife as Cas bared her teeth. They sat at either end of the desk, prepped to take out each hunter. Once they closed in Cas preemptively pounced on one. Beth was prepared, jamming the knife into the man's knee, catching his head as he fell, choking him out.
Joel glared, "I don't like your methods, what if things were to go wrong?"
"Really? You're asking me that...it's called improvise. I'm sure you've had to do it before." Beth wiped her knife on her pants before slipping it onto the band of her pants. She looked out the broken down wall seeing it was already sunset. "This way." She walked to one of the quarantined rooms, using an excessive amount of strength to break the military lock off. "This will be good for the night."
"They had the area quarantined for a reason." Joel spoke up walking in, surprised at how the room looked normal.
"They blocked it off, so they could evacuate people at a central location. It's common in the military." Beth brushed past him dropping her bag onto the floor. "It's as roomy as it gets so hopefully no one will be bitching." She directed her attention back to him.
"Ya know, not everything ends up upsetting me?" He scoffed making sure Ellie closed the door behind them with an unspoken gesture.
"No, I don't know you so how could I?" She began rummaging through her bag as the tensions rose in the room.
Ellie spoke up, "Since you're on that topic, we don't know anything about you...other than the names of you and your pets."
"I wouldn't say pets, more like allies. I treat them like I would a person. Nothing more or less, they deserve that." She turned the questions on them, "Who are you? And what the hell happened to the world?"
Ellie's expression brightened up, she could go on about her travels, however, Joel kept her from speaking.
"We're just passing through, trying to keep moving is all." He narrowed his stare, "I never did catch your name."
Ellie spoke up, "That's Beth! Well that's what she told me. And the leopard is Cas. And the dog is Pib." She smiled only to have it be diminished by Joel's common scowl.
"So...Beth? What brings you here? A group? A family?" Joel kept the questions going, feeling entitled to answers.
"No group, no family. I've come across a group before...they didn't like me, they were hunters in New York...hurt Cas and turned on me. So...I killed them..." She paused looking at the both of them, "I'm sure that's what you wanted to know, if I've killed plenty? It doesn't bother me as much as it should."
"You killed an entire camp of hunters?" He tried to conceal that he was slightly impressed. He scoffed, "They were hunting you last night weren't they? And on the bridge by the hotel?"
Beth simply nodded, pulling canned food out of her bag, pushing one to either of them. "That was me you shot at when you had crashed, a hunter came up behind you and I saved your ass. But don't worry I don't expect a thanks or anything."
"So...if you were in New York...why are you here now?"
"I woke up in Connecticut," She slipped up, "There wasn't anything there for me and I found Pib, gathered my things and started moving. I assumed I was bound to find someone. This virus-"
"Fungus" Ellie corrected her.
"This...fungus...did some weird shit. Turned people into some fucked up monsters. I don't know how the US could go to shit like this in such a short time..." She quieted down, practically trying to force herself to retain some of her past memories.
"Don't know what reality you're in but, the world is like this, it's been years..."
"Yeah, the world has been like this since before I was born...are you okay?" Ellie looked at Beth, starting to worry. She's never met a survivor filled with such confusion and false information before.
"Years? You're kidding me right? I'm 18 years old. I went into a coma just shy of my 18th birthday, then something happened and I woke up...I'm 18..." Beth looked at the both of them like they were seemingly crazy.
Joel nearly choked on the water he was drinking, "I hate to break it to you...but it's 2033, and I'm sure you're far from 18 years old, what are you like 30 something?"
"2033...?" Beth tried to compile all of the information at once, staring off into space. "But...it was 2012...it..." She went dead silent, was she really in a coma for 21 years? She composed herself upon hearing her name being called.
"Are you alright?" Ellie was showing genuine concern, "I'm sure this a huge deal...I'm sorry you had to find out this way."
Beth raised her hand shaking her head, "No, no, it's fine. I have little to no memories of my past life...It's fine. I didn't lose anything." And then it happened, all she had ever known, turned to ash and was taken by the breeze. There was no way for her to know, to find, or remember her family. This was her life now, however long she had left.
Joel and Ellie watched her closely, unsure of her reactions to the predicament.
She pulled her jacket out of her bag throwing it on, turning onto her side. "Should call it a night. I'm sure you've got plans for tomorrow." Her tone was solemn now.
Everyone noticed it, Joel...he didn't care much, he expected her to be some baggage he'd have to carry now. Ellie however was stricken, she didn't realize how quickly people's lives were taken away from others. She didn't realize that many older people knew normal before the cordyceps outbreak.
Cas crept over to Beth, snaking her way under her head, providing heat and comfort for her. Pib on the other hand stayed by Ellie, his eyes on her backpack, knowing the owl was still in there.
Joel brought his voice down as time past, "Goodnight all."
"Good night everyone." Ellie followed suit, resting up against Pib which he eagerly allowed as he kept his eyes on her bag.
Beth was already out cold, her emotions taking hold of her, too stressful for her to stay awake.
A few long hours past, only she woke quickly, her eyes darting around the dark room, adjusting to the dim light. She grabbed her things calling Cas and Pib away from the group, silently stepping out of the room. She needed to get away from them, for it was too much to lie asleep in a confused state. She needed a desperate breather, some way to calm down...or maybe to just get away.
Morning light came, only to bring Ellie disappointment, Beth wasn't there. She glanced to Joel looking for answers, however he was smirking.
"I knew she'd pull this. Get all cozy, then realize she doesn't work well with others and dart of. She's like every other loner out there. She has animal companions because they can't talk back, they can't argue or disagree with her." Joel stood up stretching. "She isn't a people person, and I'm glad she's gone, she cost us some valuable time Ellie. Let's get going." He gathered all of his things, urging Ellie to do the same.
Ellie went to the door to the room, opening it only to find Beth ready to step in, holding her back with both hands. "Leaving so soon?"
It placed a bright smile on Ellie's face, her gut told her she wouldn't just up and leave. She had hoped she'd come back and fortunately she had.
"I hope I didn't keep you waiting, I went out late last night, couldn't sleep. So I took these two and when looting. I have a lot, so be prepared to store some in your bags." She shut the door behind her, quick to dump her bag out.
As she was rummaging through her loot Pib walked over to Ellies bag and started to sniff at it, Ellie noticing this attempted to discreetly shoo Pib away.
"He's mighty curious about something in that bag of yours Ellie." Joel said with a raised eyebrow.
Ellie let out a nervous laugh. "Nah its probably just the canned meat I found."
"Mhmm" Joel hummed unamused. Pib got bold and stuck his snout inside Ellie's bag causing the tenant inside to let out a small chirp. Ellie froze and her eyes widened, across from Ellie, Beth got tense, "Uhh."
"The hell was that?" Another chirp sounds this time louder. "Ellie." Joel says with a stern voice, "Don't you tell me that's what I think it is..."
"Its not " Ellie says quickly.
"Ellie!"
"Ok, yes it is. Look, I couldn't just leave it there it was sick and hurt!"
Joel sighs and runs a hand down his worn face. "Let me see it."
Ellie quickly and carefully slides the young owl out of her bag after a placing a small cloth on the floor and sets it down "I think its wing is broken it doesn't look so good."
Joel glares at the owl for a few seconds then kneels down next to it "Alright, scoot." Joel carefully unfurls the wing and winces "Oh yeah thats broken alright, we'll need to bandage it to its side for awhile." Joel began inspecting the rest of the owl for any injuries or abnormalities.
After a few minutes Ellie spoke up, "You know, back at the library when we got rid of all those hunters I had picked up an animal encyclopedia and had read something on owls. Supposedly, male a owl's throat and chest are white or pale and a female's are brown."
Joel acknowledged this information and checked the owls throat, "Huh. It's a male."
"Wow really? I wonder what I should name him."
Joel shook his head at Ellie knowing that he can't tell Ellie no, especially when she's so headstrong.
"I've always liked old Roman names."
"Well he is big for a young owl, heh, a bit of a brute ain't he?" Joel joked to himself, humoring the entire naming process.
"Huh, yeah thats what I'll name him... Brutus."
Beth looked at the two of them, now her cue to speak up, "Well it's settled, Brutus is staying with us. And I'm in favor of helping Ellie take care of him. Now, regarding his wing, I may have a few things in my bag to help him heal." She quickly sat down, scrounging through her bag, pulling out some dead squirrels and canned food. She laughed to herself seeing the look on Joel's face, "What? I got us food."
Joel simply shook his head, a scowl slowly creeping onto his face, "So that's where you ran off to last night? To find us food?"
It was evident to Beth that he didn't believe her, or trust her for the matter. She huffed trying to sway his opinions, "Yes, I couldn't sleep at all so I went out and hunted, took me a long while to find these. You'd be surprised as to where people leave things." She lied sheepishly, giving an unfamiliar smile to him.
Ellie sat next to Beth, "Thank you for going out. Next time it should be our turn in order to return the favor."
"Now Ellie, She isn't-" Joel projected, only to be quickly interrupted by Beth.
"I'm not what?" She narrowed her glare at him, immediately knowing what he was getting at.
"Nevermind, let's just eat and head out, we've already wasted enough time through oversleeping and conversing." Joel sat down, across from the girls.