Author's Notes: Well, it can't all be happy happy sunshine and rainbows. Like I said earlier, people will die, and no character is safe from my wrath... muahahahaha!... *clears throat* oh... erm... sorry. But seriously, Joel and Ellie haven't left the world; the dangers are still very real. This chapter gets very dark, and it will introduce a new set of plots that will continue over the next several chapters. There will not be any "fun" chapters for a while, just letting you know.

Oh, and just something to look for in the future: I will incorporate some of my original lyrics into the story in a future chapter, so look for them.

Disclaimer: I do not own The Last Of Us or the characters in this chapter, except the ones I introduce. All credit goes to Naughty Dog.

Brand New Start

CH. 7: Tragedy

Joel had woken up extra early. In the 20+ years he went without an alarm clock, he had developed a precise internal clock. He needed to get up early to get a head start on the day. He was not looking forward to the day that lay ahead. This would be he and Ellie's first true test since settling in Jackson. How would they manage being away from each other all day? Joel worried every time he was away from Ellie. What if something happened to her and he was not around to protect her? He knew he had nothing to worry about, but he couldn't help it. He already was well aware of how Ellie felt about being alone. He had promised her that he would come back safe, and he did not intend to break that promise.

Ellie was still asleep. He walked around to her side of the bed and put a hand on her shoulder, shaking her gently to wake her up. "Ellie, I know it's early but it's time to get up."

She rubbed her hands against her eyes and sat up slowly. She looked out the window to see that the sun had not fully risen yet. "Why'd you wake me up so early?" she asked, slightly irritated that she couldn't sleep it.

"We gotta eat breakfast early so I can be ready to leave for the scavenging run."

Ellie had forgotten about that, and she did not like being reminded. "Shit, I forgot that was today." She stood up and walked over to Joel by the window.

"Listen kiddo, I know don't like bein' alone, but you have to just for today."

"It's not that I'll have a problem being alone today, it's that I'm worried you won't come back." She looked up at him with a sad expression on her face.

Joel put an arm around her shoulders and reassured her he'd be fine. "Ellie, I told you I'd be back safe. You don't have to worry about me."

She didn't doubt him, but, like Joel worried about her in the back of his mind, she also worried about him. "I know," she said.

After breakfast, Joel and Ellie met at the stables with the other men and the families of those men who were going. Accompanying Joel would be Tommy, Barry, John, and Mike. Ellie had met Barry at Brenda's house when she was attending to his son Adrian, John had helped get their shower working, and she had not met Mike yet.

Tommy and Maria had just finished sharing a long embrace when Ellie and Joel got there. Tommy came over to Joel and put a hand on his shoulder. "You ready to do this?"

Joel really wasn't, but he didn't have much of a choice. "As ready as I'll ever be, I guess." Tommy let go and Joel turned around to face Ellie. Before he could say anything she threw herself against him and wrapped her arms tightly around his midsection.

"Promise me you'll be safe, Joel."

He returned the hug, but not as tightly to avoid hurting her. "Like always." Ellie did not respond, but continued holding on to him tight, even after he had let go. "Ellie, you can let go now." She didn't let go. "Ellie…"

Maria interjected by grabbing Ellie's shoulders and gently pulling her away. "Ellie, you need to let him go. He'll be fine."

Ellie turned to her right to see Barry saying goodbye to his wife and kid. "Now listen little man," he said to Adrian as he squatted down to get at his eye level, "I'm gonna be out most of the day, so I need to be real good for Mommy. Can you do that, buddy?"

"Yes daddy," Adrian said.

Barry ruffled Adrian's curly brown hair and gave him a big hug. He let go and stood up to give his wife Connie a kiss. "Be careful out there," she told him.

"Of course," he said as he held her closely.

He turned to walk towards the stables when Adrian called out to him. "Daddy!"

Barry turned to face him. "What is it, my man?"

Adrian grinned and said "Give them hell."

Connie scolded him under her breath for his language, but her husband just laughed. "I will, little buddy."

Ellie couldn't help but chuckle at that last exchange. Joel gave Ellie one last quick hug before turning to head to the stables himself. After he had gone into the stables to get his horse, Maria came over to Ellie and put an arm around her shoulders.

"You gonna be okay while he's gone?"

Ellie thought about it for a while. Though she was worried in the back of her mind, she knew she didn't have a real reason to be. "I think so."

While Joel was out for the day, Ellie decided to take the opportunity to explore the woods around Jackson. Maria had assured her that if she stayed below the ridge she was in no danger. She had a radio and her knife with her; she didn't feel like she needed to take her pistol. She didn't know what she was looking for and she wasn't following any path. She just went. After she had been exploring for a while she spotted a rock outcropping just below the ridge. It was a small cliff with about a twelve foot drop-off and conveniently no trees in front of it. She figured it would provide a fantastic view. She quickly hustled to get on the outcropping and when she got to the edge, what greeted her was stunning. The view of the valley the ledge provided made her jaw drop, and she sat down on the edge dangling her feet off to take the time to soak in the view. She looked off at the snow-covered mountains in the distance, the town below, and all around the valley, admiring every little nuance of the view. You can't deny that view. She was so absorbed in the view that she had lost track of time. She was off in her own world when Maria's voice over the radio brought her back.

"Ellie, are you okay?" Ellie could hear worry in Maria's voice. Why's she worried? I'm fine. I haven't been out long.

She took the radio off of her belt and answered. "Yeah, I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?"

Maria's answer shocked her. "You've been out there for over three hours and I haven't heard from you. I thought something may have happened."

"I've… been out here like forty minutes. Where are you getting three hours from?"

"Look at where the sun is in the sky."

Ellie looked up towards the sun without looking directly at it to protect her eyes. She could see that it had moved past its vertex and it was after noon. "I… guess it has been three hours. I must have lost track of time."

"Where are you anyway?"

"I found this little cliff with a… fucking awesome view. I guess I should come back to town now though."

"Yes, you should. I was starting to worry."

Ellie put the radio back on her belt and slid off the edge. While she was in the air she thought about whether or not she would regret the decision. When she landed without breaking her ankles, she got her answer. She walked into a dense part of the forest on her way back to town, and as she made her way through she could hear leaves rustling behind her. Without stopping she turned back a couple of times to try and see what it was, finding nothing every time. When the footsteps seemed to be following her and getting closer she stopped to listen. She did not turn around, but she could definitely hear something or someone following her. "Maria, I don't think I'm alone out here," she said into the radio.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm hearing someone walking behind me. I can't see who or what because there's a lot of trees."

"You have your gun with you, right?"

Ellie silently cursed herself when Maria asked that. She didn't take her gun because Maria said she was in no danger. It was looking like she was wrong. "No, I only brought my knife. If whoever's following me has a gun then I'm fucked."

"Just get to the wall quickly. If the guards get a shot they'll take it."

Ellie kept the radio out but began speed walking towards the wall. As her speed quickened, so did the speed of her pursuer. "Maria, they're getting closer!"

"Just haul ass, Ellie!" Ellie started running as fast as she could to get away from the unknown follower. "Can you get a visual on who it is?"

Ellie glanced back a couple times while running, trying not to run into a tree full speed. She still could not see anything, but the footsteps were in a sprint just as she was. "No, the forest is thick and I – ahh!" She wasn't looking where she was going and fell off a small ledge. She fell forward and hit her head square against a thick tree root, causing her to see a bright flash and then many stars. For several seconds she was unable to move, while Maria was talking over the radio in a panic.

"Ellie, what happened?" Ellie was unable to respond, she could only listen to her voice. "Ellie! Ellie, are you okay?!" She moved to pick up the radio but still could not speak yet. "Ellie, if you're able to respond please let me know you're okay!"

Finally she could speak. "I'm fine. I fell and hit my head."

"You need to get up and get out of there!"

As Maria said that, Ellie heard the footsteps closing in on her, closer and closer. "Too late. They've found me." Ellie's voice became choked up with fear.

"Ellie, stand your ground!" As Maria said that, her pursuer revealed himself: a twelve point buck. "I'm sending some guards out there!"

Ellie breathed a heavy sigh of relief when she saw that it was just a deer. Her heart was beating at well over 200 beats per minute, and each beat was painful in her chest. "False alarm. It's a… deer."

Maria waited before responding. "Ellie, don't ever fucking do that again." There was distinct anger in her voice, and still a hint of fear indicating that it had not worn off yet.

"Hey, I didn't know until just now."

"Ellie, this isn't funny! I was scared out of my mind!"

"You think you were scared?" Ellie laughed. "I think my chest has bruised from the inside out from my heart beating so much. I really thought I was gonna die just now."

Maria sighed. "How's your head?"

Ellie was confused. Her fear had made her forget that she hit her head. "My head?"

"You said that you hit your head, how is it?"

As Maria reminded her, so did the throbbing pain. "Oh, right." She put her hand to the right side of her head where it smashed against the tree root, and when she took it away her fingertips were covered in blood. "I'm bleeding… and my vision's pretty blurry."

"Do you feel nauseous?"

"A little bit."

"Sounds like you have a concussion. Get back to town and have Brenda take a look at you."

"That's what I'm doing." She tried to stand up and immediately felt extremely dizzy. She dropped down to her hands and knees. "Woah," she said while still on the radio with Maria.

"Ellie, are you okay?"

"Yeah." Her voice was weak. "I'm just a little lightheaded…" Her head began swimming more and more, and the dizziness intensified. "…really lightheaded."

"Can you get back to town?"

"I should be able to. I just need to… I just…"

"Ellie, stay with me." Her body became limp and she fell over onto her side. Again was unable to move or speak. "Ellie, can you hear me?" As she laid there, the world around her slowly faded to black. "Ellie? Ellie!"

"This floor's clear," Joel said as he emerged from one of the rooms he was checking out. They were in a compound consisting of three buildings. They had cleared out the first building and were on the second now.

"Mike, John, check the basement. Barry, check upstairs." Tommy was calling all the shots on this mission. Anything he told the men to do, they did without question.

Joel stood still, lost in thought. The whole time he had been out he was thinking about Ellie. He couldn't stop thinking about her. If he didn't make it back, how would she handle it? If he got back to town and something terrible happened to her, how would he handle it? No matter how much he told himself that Ellie was fine, a nagging voice in his head told him that she wasn't. His mind then drifted to what he wanted to avoid thinking about most. What would happen if Ellie were to die? After losing Sarah, would he be able to continue if he lost Ellie as well? He tried as hard as he could to brush these thoughts away because he knew they were stupid to think about, but they kept coming back. He was snapped out of it when Tommy put a hand on his shoulder. "You worryin' about Ellie?"

Joel let out a long sigh and shrugged his shoulders. "I can't help it. What if somethin' bad happens and I ain't around to protect her?"

Tommy shook his head. "You need to get that out of your head. Ain't nothin' gonna happen to her."

"I didn't say somethin' would happen. I said what if somethin' happened?"

"Like what?"

Joel stood in silence trying to think of a hypothetical scenario that could happen. He couldn't think of anything and didn't respond.

"See? You can't even think of somethin'. That proves that you're worryin' about nothin'." Tommy began to walk away, but then Joel continued on the conversation that Tommy was trying to stop.

"It ain't completely out of the question though."

Tommy turned sharply and walked back over to Joel. "Alright. It's time to drop this conversation. You're bein' foolish and it's time to stop discussin' this."

Suddenly they heard a ruckus coming from upstairs. "Fuck!" Barry screamed, then two blasts from a shotgun rang out. Tommy and Joel immediately ran upstairs to where they heard the commotion. Barry was standing there with two runners on the floor in front of him. One had its head blown to pieces, the other had been disemboweled from the shotgun. "There were two runners up here. They scared the shit outta me but they didn't get me."

"Check him for bites," Tommy ordered. The two searched every inch of Barry's body that the runners could have bitten. Their thorough scan revealed that he had indeed not been bitten. "He's clean."

"You okay, Barry?" Joel asked.

"Yeah, just a bit shaken up."

John and Mike then ran up the stairs to give their report on the basement search. "Basement's clear," Mike informed them.

"We're done with this building. Move on to the last one, then we'll patrol the surroundin' areas to make sure it's clear. Let's go Barry."

"Right behind you." The other four men walked down the stairs, but Barry remained where he was. He was afraid. He was not just afraid, he was in fear for his life. He had not been bitten, but some of the infected blood got into his mouth when he blew the head off one of the runners. He gulped in fear, but eventually followed the other men out of the building.

Ellie was woken up by the searing burn of alcohol on the cut on her forehead. She screamed and writhed in pain as she lay in a bed in Brenda's house.

"Here grab my arm," Nicky offered an arm for Ellie to squeeze to help fight the pain. She grabbed onto her arm and held it in a death grip. "Ow! Easy, you're stronger than I am!"

"Sorry! Fuuuck!"

"I know this hurts but you should watch your mouth," Brenda said as she cleaned Ellie's cut with an alcohol soaked rag.

Ellie managed to grit her teeth to avoid screaming. Maria was standing at the foot of the bed, and Ellie looked right at her. "How long was I out?"

"It was a little less than an hour between when I lost you on the radio to when you woke up. I don't think you realize how scared you had me."

"Sorry," Ellie said, genuinely apologetic.

"You have a concussion," Brenda informed her. "You're going to be having headaches for a while so you need to take it easy. You're also going to need some stitches for your head."

Ellie grimaced at the thought of needles repeatedly digging into her skin. "I hate fucking needles."

Brenda looked at her angrily. She hated hearing that kind of language come from a kid's mouth.

"Sorry… freaking… I hate freaking needles."

"That's better."

She put on her best puppy dog face and looked at Maria. She was really good at guilting people into giving her what she wanted. "Can you not tell Joel how I busted my head open?"

"What do you want me to tell him?"

Without hesitating, she thought of something. "Tell him I tripped on the stairs."

Maria smiled. "Sure thing."

The men arrived back at Jackson shortly after dinner time ended. At the stables waited the families of the people on the mission. Maria was waiting for Tommy, John's wife Jenna was waiting for him, Barry's wife Connie was there, Mike's girlfriend Heather was there, but Joel did not see Ellie. He was worried that his fear of something happening to Ellie had come true. He got off the horse and looked around for her, but did not see her. "Ellie!" he called out. He went over to Maria, who was giving her husband a big hug. "Maria, where's Ellie? Is she at the house?"

"Actually she's at Brenda's. She tripped down the stairs and hit her head."

Joel put a hand over his mouth. Goddammit, I knew something would happen. "Is she okay?"

"She's fine. She has a concussion and needed some stitches though. Tell her to get a lot of rest, she'll need it."

"I'll be sure to do that."

Connie went over to embrace Barry. "Welcome back, Barry-"

Barry cut her off and pushed her away when she tried to hug him. "Yeah, I'm glad to see you too but I had a really rough day. I need some time to myself." He brushed past her and walked back to their house.

"But, Barry! You just got back and-"

He cut her off again and turned back to her as he continued walking away. "Just… give me some space. Okay?"

Connie stood there in shock at how her husband brushed her off. "Yeah… sure thing…" She went over to Joel, Maria, and Tommy. "Did something happen to Barry out there?"

"He got attacked by some runners," Joel informed her.

"Oh my God," she gasped.

"Relax, he didn't get bit. He's fine, he's probably just a bit shaken up from the encounter. Give him the space he needs tonight."

She paused for a long time, letting what Joel said soak in. "Okay… sure."

Joel walked into Brenda's house to find Ellie lying in one of the beds in the back. She had her eyes closed when he first opened the door, probably trying to take a nap, but opened them when Joel walked in. A big smile spread across her face. "Hey, Joel!"

Joel walked over to the bed. "Hey, kiddo. You okay?"

Ellie nodded. "I'm fine. My shoelace was untied and I tripped down the stairs. I got knocked out by it but now I'm fine."

He brushed her bangs aside to inspect the cut. It was about an inch long going horizontally across her forehead with five stitches holding it shut. "Well, I'm grateful. Try not to be such a klutz next time."

She giggled. "I'll try."

Brenda walked in and greeted Joel with a wave and a smile. "Is she good to come home with me?" he asked.

"Yeah, she's good. Make sure she takes it easy. Concussions are nothing to take lightly."

"Yeah, I know." He turned to Ellie. "You ready to go, kid?"

"Yeah," she said as she stood up.

The two were woken up the next morning by a commotion outside. They could hear Connie yelling at someone, but were unable to hear exactly what she was saying. "What's going on out there?" Ellie asked.

"Somethin's goin' on with Connie; apart from that I got no idea. I'm gonna go see what all the commotion's about. You stay here, I mean it." He grabbed his revolver from his bag and went outside and over to Connie's house. When he got there he could see Tommy, John, and Mike standing outside. "What's goin' on out here?"

Tommy spoke up first. "Connie said that Barry started actin' up. He was shoutin' at her and actin' aggressive towards her."

"Goddammit," Joel said to himself.

"Joel, you don't… you don't think Barry's…"

Joel knew what Tommy was trying to say, but he brushed it off. "No, course not. We all saw he had no bites. He was probably just traumatized by what happened."

"Well I don't wanna take any chances. Go in there and get the kid outta there."

Just then Adrian opened the door and ran out with Barry chasing him. Barry had blood dripping out of his nose, mouth, and eyes, and had growths on his face. "Fucking hell!" Joel screamed as he reached for his revolver. As he took it out of his waistband, he fumbled it. Adrian tripped on the front steps and Barry fell on top of him, grabbing his legs. Joel managed to grab the revolver, kick Barry off of the kid, and shot him twice in the head. "He was infected!"

"I fuckin' knew it!" Tommy screamed.

"He had no bites though!" Joel said.

"Oh shit…" Mike said. "…the kid."

Joel looked at the back of Adrian's leg and saw a clear bite mark. "Jesus Christ." He had been marked for death. He was only six years old, half Sarah's age when she passed. "Kid, I am so sorry about this."

Adrian stood up and remained silent. He was taking the knowledge that he only had moments to live fairly well. He was not crying, or showing any emotion at all for that matter.

Connie came running up from the distance. "Barry!"

"Shit," Joel said. He turned and ran out to meet Connie and keep her away. He put his hands on her shoulders and blocked her from getting too close.

"What happened to Barry? Is Barry okay?"

Joel looked Connie in the eyes. "Connie, listen to me and try not to panic. Barry was infected."

Connie recoiled upon hearing the news. "Oh my God."

"He turned and went after your son."

"Is Adrian okay? Joel, is my fucking baby okay?!"

Joel hesitated. This was news nobody ever wanted to break to anyone. "Adrian was bitten."

Her knees buckled slightly, then she turned to run past Joel. Joel held onto her to prevent that from happening. "NOOOO! Adrian!"

"Connie, you need to stay back!"

She stopped resisting and went into a panic. "Oh… we have to do something… we have to…"

"There's only one thing we can do, Connie." Again, he hesitated, feeling empathy for her. "He has to be put down."

She stepped backwards and started crying. "No. I won't let you do that."

"I know." He took his revolver out of his waistband and held it out to her handle first.

"What?" she asked faintly.

"I figure he's your kid… you should be the one to do it."

Her sadness turned to anger at his suggestion to kill her own son. She shoved the hand holding the gun away from her. "No! I'm not shooting my fucking son!"

"Okay." He looked at her and then to Dean, who had come up behind her to see what was going on. "Then I will. Hold her back, Dean."

She lashed out at Joel as Dean grabbed her from behind. "NO! NO! Don't fucking do it!" Joel ignored her screaming and continued walking towards Adrian. "You do anything to my son, I'll FUCKING KILL YOU!" He walked up to Adrian and stood beside him. "STOP!" He put an apologetic hand on his head for a brief moment, and raised the gun. "WAIT! WAIT, STOP! I'LL DO IT!" Joel turned to face her. She had stopped struggling and had accepted the fact that it would be best to put Adrian down herself. "I'll do it." He lowered the gun and gestured to Dean to let her go. She slowly walked over to Joel and took the gun from him. Joel stepped aside as she faced her son. She got down to his level and hugged him. "Adrian, baby, I am so sorry about this."

"Mommy, I don't wanna die," he said, clearly scared.

"I know, and I don't want to do this but I have no choice. I'm only doing this because I love you, and I don't want to see you turn into one of those monsters." She let go and took a step back. "Close your eyes for me, baby."

Adrian closed his eyes like his mom said. She raised the gun after he did. She didn't want her son to have to stare down the barrel that would inevitably kill him. Tears were flooding down her face, and the gun was shaking in her hands. Although the gun was only a mere foot from his head, her hands were shaking so much that she could still miss when she pulled the trigger. After a long hesitation, she pulled the trigger. A shot rang out, and Adrian fell to the ground. It was over.

The gun fell from her hands onto the ground, and she threw herself onto the ground next to the bodies of her husband and only child. "NOOOOOOOO!" She wrapped her arms around Adrian and held him close. "ADRIAN! I'm so sorry!" Mike moved in to separate her from her son's body and was met with strong resistance. "LET ME GO! LET ME FUCKING GO!"

"Take her inside, let her cool off," Joel told him. As Tommy took Connie back into her house and closed the door, Joel turned around to see Ellie standing there. The look on her face was in between horrified, saddened… and guilty. Joel sighed, and Ellie turned around and ran back to the house. Joel walked over to his brother who was inspecting the bodies.

"We'll give 'em a proper burial. Or at least as proper as we can," he said.

"Yeah. I gotta go check on Ellie, she's gonna real shaken up from this."

"You go do that."

Ellie was sitting with her feet up on the couch. She was holding her knees in tight to her body, staring at the far wall. She did not react when Joel walked through the door. She did not speak, look at him, or give any indication that she acknowledged his presence. Joel walked over to her and put his hand on her back, gently rubbing in circles. "That's why I told you to stay. You didn't need to see that. I know it's hard to watch somethin' like that but you gotta let it go. Ain't nothin' we coulda done."

She still sat there staring at the wall. It was not until several seconds after Joel walked away that she spoke up. "It could have been prevented…" Joel stopped and turned to face her. He had no idea what she meant by that. "…if there was a cure."

Joel simply shook his head. "I told you, it was a lost cause. That whole operation was doomed from the start."

Ellie was in denial. She knew what he said wasn't true. The Fireflies wouldn't just give up on trying to save the world. There could have been a cure, there should have been a cure, Barry and Adrian should not have died. She chose to shrug the thought aside; it was only making her more depressed. "Right."

Joel and Ellie had stayed after dinner to help clean up. They were second to last to leave, with only Tommy and Maria staying later. As they walked out onto the street Joel caught sight of Connie standing alone in the church cemetery. He stopped, and Ellie bumped into him. "Why'd you stop?" She turned to look at what he was looking at. "Is that Connie?"

"Ellie, get back to the house now," he promptly ordered. "I need to go talk to her."

"Joel…"

"Just go." Ellie cooperated and started heading back to the house. Joel approached Connie in the cemetery standing in between the graves of Barry and Adrian. Joel went up to her gently. "Connie…"

She faced him and jumped back, pulling out a pistol and pointing it at him. "STAY AWAY FROM ME!"

Joel put his hands up, showing her that he was not trying to hurt her. "Take it easy, Connie. I'm not tryin' to hurt you; I'm tryin' to help."

"You can help by GETTING THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME AND LETTING ME DIE!"

"I can't do that."

Connie stopped shouting, and instead started crying. Her gun was still pointed at Joel "My family is… dead."

"I know, so is mine." She lowered the gun slightly, but still had it pointing in his direction. "I lost my daughter twenty years ago. She was the only thing I had. I know how it feels to lose everything you love. And like you I thought it might me better to end it. But I didn't because I knew there was still a purpose for me, and there still is for you too."

She lowered the gun a little more. She could tell he was truly empathetic, and he was being reasonable.

Joel slowly moved over to her, like when walking up to a wild animal to avoid startling it. "Give me the gun before you do something irreversible."

When she felt that Joel got too close, she stepped back and raised the gun again.

"Take it easy, Connie!"

"YOU CAN'T HELP ME JOEL!"

"Alright, fine, end yourself right now. You won't have to live without your family any more, but you'll go outta this world a coward. Is that how you want your family to see you?" That question seemed to work more than anything he had tried previously, as Connie again lowered the gun slightly. "Do you want them to see you as a coward who gave up when faced with adversity? Or do you want them to see you as someone who fought those adversities and won?" She lowered the gun a little more, still in tears. "It's your choice."

She held the gun up and looked at it. She was weighing the pros and cons of taking her life. She didn't want to live without the only two people she loved, but Joel was right. She would shame herself in their eyes if she took the coward's way out. She let the gun fall to the ground and buried her face in her hands. Joel walked up to her and wrapped her in his arms. She hugged him back tightly, crying into his chest. "Oh, Joel…"

"I know, hon, I know. It's gonna be okay. I made it through losing my family and you can too."

"How, Joel? How can I make it through this?"

"You just fight. Any voice that tells you to give up, fight it. Any voice that tells you it ain't worth livin', fight it."

She didn't respond, and instead continued crying into his chest.

Joel arrived back at the house and saw Ellie sitting on the couch. "Is Connie gonna be okay?"

Joel nodded, even though he wasn't entirely sure she would be. "Yeah. She just needed someone to talk to."

Joel sat down next to Ellie and held her close to him. "Don't let this get to ya too much, kiddo."

"I'll try," she said.

That concludes chapter 7 of Brand New Start. In the next chapter: Cracks begin to appear in Joel and Ellie's relationship.

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