[AN] The next chapter almost certainly won't be out tomorrow, but it should be out the day after that.

"Can't believe you agreed with this bullshit, Bill. What you shoulda done is left them back there."

Fuck you too Bill. Joel thought to himself as he walked up the stairs.

"You weren't kidding about him." Ellie said.

"Yeah, he's one of a kind."

"So, what kind of trouble are you in?" Where the hell's Tess?"

"It's a job. A simple drop off." Joel said, really hoping Bill wouldn't bring up Tess. Her loss was still far too fresh in his mind.

"What are you delivering?" Bill chuckled, "That little brat?"

"Haha. Fuck you too." Ellie replied sarcastically.

Bill laughed. "Y'know, I hope you know what you're doin'."

"Are you kidding me with this guy?"

"So, where we goin', Bill?"

"My other safe house. It's more of an armory." Because having all your shit in one location would be to much to ask from you. Joel thought as he picked up some useful looking scrap metal from the floor.

"Wait, I thought we were gonna fix up a car?" Ellie asked, confused.

"We?" Bill laughed, "you know how to fix a-"

"Bill, just..."

"Like I said, what I need is on the other side of town. Now, that side I don't ever go to because its filled with infected. So we're gonna need more guns."

Joel and Ellie followed Bill down the steps. Joel heard a runner and said, "Shhh. There's one inside."

"Oh, I've been meaning to take care of that. Relax, its nothing." Joel walked into the next room, and saw a runner caught in one of Bill's traps.

"So, you didn't answer my question about Tess. I mean, I thought the two of you were inseparable." Bill unknowingly dumped salt on Joel's recent wound.

"She's busy." Joel said.

"Yeah, sure, busy." Bill chuckled. "Sounds to me-" Bill said as he took one swing at the runner's neck with his blade, "like there might be trouble in paradise." He finished on the second swing, cutting the infected's head off.

"Aw gross."

"Yeah, something like that." Joel said, sadly.

"Alright, here we go." Bill said as he opened the door to the street outside.

"So... why don't you fix one of these cars?" Ellie asked, noticing the abandoned, rusty cars on the street.

"Oh my God, you're a genius. I mean, the whole time, why on earth hadn't I thought of fixin' one of these cars." Bill said sarcastically

"Okay, don't be a dick." Ellie retorted.

"Their tires are rotted and their batteries are dead."

"Are you done?"

Bill continued, "Can't even begin to think what the inside of the engine blocks look like. Only ones making new car batteries are the military."

Joel saw some runners climbing up over some overturned cars.

"Oh shit."

"Infected!" Ellie called out, getting Bill's attention.

Joel smashed open the skull of the last clicker with a metal pipe.

"Alright... You gotta check the barricades again. You neglect the simple shit, and now your paying for it." Bill mumbled to himself. "You know what that means... taking all the supplies from the warehouse and lugging them to the east fence again..."

"Okay, well, now he's talking to himself." Ellie said to Joel.

"Yeah." Joel said to Ellie. "Bill?", he asked, trying to get Bill out of his own thoughts.

"Joel? This way." He walked up a set of stairs on the other side of the street.

"You picked a hell of a place to hole up didn't you?" He asked Bill as they walked up the steps towards what seemed to be a church.

"You know, as bad as those things are, at least they're predictable. It's the normal people that scare me. You of all people should understand that."

"What does that mean?" Ellie asked.

"Nothing." Joel said unconvincingly.

"So, which way?" Joel asked when he reached the top of the steps.

"We're here. It's in the cellar." Bill said.

Joel walked up to the doors to the basement and opened them.

"You don't touch anything, and you close the door." Bill said as he walked down the stairs, pointing at Ellie and Joel respectively.

Bill turned on a kerosene lamp. "Lets gear up." Joel went to follow Bill, then heard the little girl's footsteps next to him.

"Uh-uh." Joel said, grabbing Ellie's arm.

"What? I need a gun."

"No you don't." Joel said condescendingly.

"Joel, I can handle myself."

"No." If by some freak chance you found out I almost killed you, I don't trust you not to turn a gun on me. Plus, no way in hell Bill would allow it.

"Just stay here." Joel told Ellie firmly.

"Fine. I'll just wait around for you two to get me killed."

Joel walked over to bill who was pulling a shotgun out of a box."

"Well, this goes on record as the worst fucking job you've ever taken."

"It's up there."

"How in the hell's Tess okay with this suicide mission?"

"It's actually her idea." Joel said honestly.

"Really? Well then the broad's not as smart as I thought she was. But, fuck her." Bill picked up a bucket of shotgun shells. "Seriously, you got to take that kid back to where ya found her."

"Bill, I can't just take her back."

"Then send her packing and let her find her own way." "I would have done that if it weren't for Tess."

"Look, let me tell you a story. Once upon a time, I had somebody that I cared about. It was a... partner. Somebody I had to look after." Bill finished angrily as he pumped the shotgun. "And in this world, that sort of shit is good for one thing. Gettin' ya killed. So you know what I did? I wisened the fuck up. I realized its gotta be just me."

"Bill... It ain't like that... It's." An obligation I have to Tess. He thought to himself.

"Bullshit. It is just like tha-" Bill stopped talking.

"Hey! What did I say to you when we walked down the steps? What did I say?" Joel saw Ellie touching one of Bills stacks of old magazines.

"I'm just fixing your stupid pile."

"Don't touch!"

Ellie rolled her eyes and gave Bill the middle finger.

"Goddammit. You keep babysitting long enough, and eventually its going to blow up in your face."

So what if it does. It's not like I have much left anyways.

Joel sighed. "Bill. Can we please just get on with it?"

"Here." Bill tossed him a loaded shotgun. "Lets get on with it."

[Roughly an hour later]

"You gonna be ok with this?" Joel asked Ellie through the open window of the pickup truck.

"Yeah, not a problem."

Joel paused for a moment. "You're doin' a good job. I figured you should know that."

"I won't let you down with this." She said, somewhat confidently.

"Alright." Joel nodded and walked towards the back of the pickup.

Why in the hell did I say that? Joel thought to himself.

"Alright Bill. Lets do this."

Bill lifted up the door to the garage. "Alright. Put 'er in first." He said to Ellie, who was sitting in the drivers seat of the pickup.

"Already did it."

"Just keep your foot on the clutch and when we get to roll- "

"I know how to pop a clutch."

"How the hell do-? You know what, I don't care. Just don't fuck it up!" Joel and Bill pushed the car to the door enterance.

"Alright Ellie, get ready."

"Now! Now, hit it!" Bill called as the car rolled down the small slope towards the road.

The car failed to start up. However, there was a big hill below them, which was more than enough room.

"Guys, to your left!" Ellie called out as Bill and Joel pushed the car. Joel grabbed his shotgun and blasted a clicker 5 feet away.

After a few more seconds of fighting, he heard Ellie, "A little help here?" Joel looked and saw Ellie struggling against a clicker. Joel pulled out his pipe, ran up to the clicker as fast as he could, and swung.

"Jesus Joel!" Ellie cried out as she saw the clicker's head shatter.

"You ok?" Joel asked, clearly worried if anything had happened to Ellie.

"I'm fine dumbass, get back to pushing!" She told him.

Joel ran to the back of the pickup tuck and started pushing. Bill was already there. They reached top of the hill and pushed the car down.

Ellie managed to get it started. "You hear that?" He called out to Bill

"Yeah, but that means that the infected hear it too. Get to the damn truck!"

Joel and Bill hoped into the back of the pickup. "Go, go! Floor it!" Ellie drove the car away from the infected chasing after them, and they left the town.