Author's Notes: Yeah, I told you that would be a big cliffhanger. Some of you have voiced your concern about Ellie possibly dying, and I want to reiterate that no character in my story is safe. ANY character could die at ANY time. It could be Ellie, Joel, Tommy, Maria, hell it could even be the dog, Buckley. I won't reveal whether she dies in this chapter or not though, you'll have to find out for yourself.
I also thought I would try something a little different in this chapter. It may be a little out there compared to the rest of the story, but I hope it's not too weird.
Disclaimer: I do not own The Last Of Us or the characters, except the ones I introduce. All credit goes to Naughty Dog.
Brand New Start
CH. 13: Heaven
"Joel," Hannah asked, "is she… dead?" Joel was frozen, not from the cold, but from the fear that he had just lost another daughter. After a few seconds he put his fingers to Ellie's neck to check for life. He was relieved to find a pulse, but it was faint. He sighed, but it was not enough of an answer for Hannah. "Well?"
"No, she's not dead…" Joel had to just pray that Brenda would show up soon and be able to do something. He also needed to get his hands on whoever cut their heat and make them realize their mistake.
"Will she make it?" Hannah was just as concerned as Joel was.
Joel waited before answering her. "I wish I knew, kid."
The front door opened and Jeffrey called out as he walked in. "Joel! Brenda's here!"
"Thank you God," he said quietly. "Hannah, stay here with Ellie." Joel jogged down the stairs and saw Jeffrey, Brenda, and Nicky downstairs. Brenda was carrying a large bag which Joel could see contained all her medical supplies. "Brenda, I'm so glad you're here. Ellie's really sick and I don't know what's wrong with her."
"Well… I'm definitely no stranger to these kinds of ailments. I'll do everything I can. I brought Nicky along to get some firsthand experience."
"I hope Ellie's okay," the young girl said.
"We all do. Now come on, she's upstairs." Joel led the group upstairs into the room Ellie was in. Hannah was sitting on the bed holding Ellie's hand, comforting herself more so than Ellie. "Hannah, get off the bed and let Brenda take a look at her." Hannah did as she was asked and Brenda went in to examine Ellie.
The first thing she did was take Ellie's pulse. It was slower than it should be. She lifted up Ellie's eyelids and shined a light into her eyes. Her eyes had rolled back into her head, which was unusual. "Well... her body's shut down but she's not quite comatose. It's unlikely but not impossible that she could slip into a coma. If that happens... she may as well be dead. I don't have the equipment necessary to support someone in a coma."
"You said that's unlikely though?" Jeffrey asked.
"That's right." She went back to examining Ellie, but she was stumped. "Well... this is a first for me."
"What do you mean?" Joel asked somewhat concernedly.
"I never thought I would say this..." she hesitated. She knew what she was going to say would not go over well. "I'm out of my element."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Joel growled at her.
"In my fifty years of being a nurse, I've never seen anything quite like what's happening to Ellie right now."
Joel threw up his arms in frustration and anger. "You're a goddamn quack."
Brenda took great offense to that. She was normally an extremely gentle-tempered old woman, but she did appreciate Joel's comment. She slapped him across the face, taking everyone in the room by surprise. "How dare you talk to me like that! I have been a nurse almost as long as you've been alive! My mother was a nurse before me! Her mother was a nurse in the middle of a warzone during World War Two! I've cured more ailments than you probably know exist. So when I say something, you better not have the nerve to question it!"
Joel was shocked at Brenda's outburst, as everybody was. "Well, can you save her?"
"I don't know. You have to understand that this puts me in a very bad spot. I'm scared... I really am. If I don't know what's wrong with her... I don't know if I can save her."
"I don't like this, Brenda."
"I'm not asking you to. I don't like it either. I'm just asking you to have a little faith."
"I'm with Brenda," Jeffrey stepped in. Joel turned to him. "She has a lot of experience, and she obviously knows what she's talking about. If she says something's new to her, I'm not gonna question it. I trust her judgement, and I suggest you do the same if you want Ellie to make it through alive."
Joel didn't completely trust someone who didn't know what she was getting into, but it was his only chance to see Ellie wake up. "Fine," he said as he turned to Brenda.
"Okay," she opened her bag and looked inside, but then looked back at Joel. "Hey, Joel." He didn't look directly at Brenda, but listened to what she was saying. "I'm sorry I hit you."
He turned towards her after he heard her apology. "No, I understand. What I said was outta line and you were stressed to begin with."
"Well then... it's good that we can both admit we're at fault. You still have your power, right?"
"Yeah," Joel told her.
"Nicky, go back to the house and get the heated blanket."
"Yes, ma'am," she said as she ran out of the room. She stopped at the doorway with a question. "Where in the house is it?"
"It's upstairs. It's green plaid and it should be on the chair across from my bed."
"Got it," they heard her run down the stairs and out the door.
Brenda reached into her bag and pulled out a syringe and a vile with some kind of medicine. "Now... the first thing I'm going to do is give her this." She drew the medicine from the vial and held it up, checking her measurement. "It will help normalize her internal body temperature." She grabbed the sleeve on Ellie's right arm to pull it up. Joel quickly stopped her so she wouldn't see the bite on her arm.
"Wait, stop," Joel said as he grabbed Ellie's arm. Brenda pulled back, confused as to why Joel would try to stop her. He realized that it was unavoidable that they would end up seeing the bite, so he would have to get it out there. "Before you give her anythin' I need to show you somethin'." He grabbed the end of her sleeve. "Now what I'm about to show you does not leave this room, you understand me? Not one word to anybody, do not even hint at it."
"I understand," Brenda said. "But what could it possibly be if you're keeping it so secret?"
Joel didn't answer, but instead said, "Now try not to panic when I roll up her sleeve." Brenda, Jeffrey, and Hannah nodded, and Joel rolled of Ellie's sleeve to reveal the bite scar.
Everyone's mouths fell open. "Is that what I think it is?" Brenda said as she took a step backwards.
"It's over a year and a half old," Joel informed them.
"That's impossible," Brenda said as she shook her said.
"That's what I said when she first revealed it to me. We've been together for eighteen months and she had that mark before I met her. She's immune."
Brenda was silent from the shocking revelation. "Oh," she simply said.
"I'm glad you said that now," Jeffrey said, "because if Brenda revealed that without you saying anything, I probably would have shot Ellie."
"We can't have that, now can we?" Joel asked.
Looking at the mark made Brenda feel sick. "Okay, I'm going to inject this into her other arm so I don't have to look at that." She rolled up Ellie's left sleeve and stuck the needle into her forearm. "That should bring her internal temperature down to a more stable level. As long as it's this cold in here, her body will not be able to properly regulate her temperature on its own. We need to wait for Nicky to get back with the heated blanket."
After a few minutes they heard the front door open, and Nicky came running upstairs. "I got the blanket," she said as she handed it to Brenda.
"Thank you." Brenda covered Ellie up to her shoulders with the blanket, and plugged it into the wall. "It'll take some time to warm up, but it should help."
"We can only hope," Joel said. He was very on edge. He watched as Brenda and Nicky continued to work on Ellie. The whole time he was thinking about what would happen if Ellie didn't make it. He had never truly felt like he could actually lose her until now. Now that he knew there was a definite chance that Ellie would not wake up, he realized that there was no way he'd be able to handle her death. After about ten minutes of waiting, Brenda spoke up with bad news.
"I'm not usually one to be a downer, but..." she hesitated, and couldn't finish her thought.
"But what?" Joel asked with his voice slightly breaking.
Brenda sighed. "Ellie's chances of survival are lower than I expected."
Joel looked over at Hannah and Nicky, and saw that they were on the verge of tears. "What are her chances?" He didn't really want to know; he was afraid Brenda's estimate would make him break down.
"As it stands right now... fifty percent? Best-case scenario sixty percent, but that's very generous."
Fifty percent was too low for Joel. He felt a tear start to form in his eye, but it never escaped. "Excuse me," he mumbled and walked out of the door. The group in the bedroom heard him go down the stairs.
"I'll go see what he's doing," Jeffrey said as he went down to check on Joel.
He got downstairs and saw Joel sitting on the couch resting his elbows on his knees with his hands folded against his forehead. "I know this must be hard for you. If I was in your shoes and it was Hannah that was sick, I'd be acting the same way."
"I can't go through this again," Joel said. He had never told Jeffrey about Sarah. It was a memory he tried to never bring up.
"What do you mean again?" Jeffrey inquired.
Joel took his hands away from his head and tried to keep a hold on his emotions. "I never told you 'bout this but... back when the outbreak first started... I lost my daughter."
The words struck Jeffrey right in the heart. Having a child die was an unthinkable tragedy that nobody should have to go through. Jeffrey could feel a tear run down his face just thinking about what would happen if he lost Hannah. "Shit, I had no idea."
"She had got her leg broken, I carried her to the edge of town to get her to safety. There was a soldier there, and I begged him to help us..." Joel grew emotional as he was describing the event that shattered his world forever. "But he didn't. He open fired on us... and Sarah was hit." Jeffrey felt genuine sorrow for Joel. "She died in my arms..." he began to cry, "...she was just twelve. Too goddamn young."
Jeffrey sat down on the couch next to Joel and put a sympathetic hand on his shoulder. "One thing's for sure, you're a hell of a lot stronger than I am. If that had happened to Hannah... no way in hell would I have been able to keep going."
"That night has stuck with me ever since it happened. It still haunts me every night. If Ellie doesn't make it... I don't know what I'd do."
"I'm sure she'll be fine," Jeffrey tried to reassure him.
Joel and Jeffrey sat on the couch for about a half an hour when they heard someone coming down the stairs. "Brenda told me to leave her and Nicky alone while they try to save Ellie," Hannah said as she stepped out of the stairwell. "But she told me to pass on good news." Joel perked up when Hannah mentioned she had good news.
"What good news?" Joel asked.
"Brenda thinks she's had a break-through. She said she's confident Ellie will be awake and well soon."
Joel breathed a sigh of relief when Hannah passed on the news. They weren't out of the woods yet, but they could see where the trees end. "We just gotta keep prayin' that she'll be fine."
"Like I said," Jeffrey said as he placed his hand on Joel's shoulder, "she'll be fine."
The three of them waited on the couch for a while, when Brenda came down the stairs. "How is she?" Joel asked as he stood up.
"She's awake..." Joel breathed the biggest sigh of relief he could ever remember, "...but she's very groggy. Nicky's with her right now talking to her."
"So she's communicating?" Joel asked.
"Somewhat. She's a little hard to understand because of how groggy she is, but that will improve."
"Brenda, thank you so much."
"My work's not done yet. I'm going to go back up to check on her in a little bit, but for now she's fine-"
"Brenda!" Nicky called from up the stairs. They heard footsteps scrambling on the floor above them and storm down the stairs. "Brenda!" Nicky poked her head around the corner of the stairwell. "Something's wrong with Ellie!"
"What?!" Joel screamed as he ran past Brenda and up the stairs.
"I think she's dying!" Nicky screamed as Joel ran past her.
"That's not possible," Brenda insisted.
Ellie was convulsing in the bed. Joel ran into the room and went straight to the bed and lifted her up by her shoulders. "Ellie, you cannot do this! Do you hear me? You CAN'T-"
Jeffrey grabbed Joel and pulled him away from the bed. "Joel, get back and let Brenda get to her!"
"Ellie, stay with us!" Brenda said as she sat down on the bed next to her. "Ellie, focus on the light." She shined the flashlight in her eyes to observe the reactions. Her pupils barely changed. "Her eyes aren't responding the way they should be." She put her hands on Ellie's cheeks. "Ellie, it's gonna be okay, you're gonna be okay." Suddenly the seizing stopped, and her eyes were stuck open. "Ellie?" Brenda waved her hand inches away from Ellie's face. She did not blink, her eyes did not react in any way. "Ellie, no! Come on, Ellie!" She put her fingers to Ellie's neck to check her pulse, and was shocked at what she felt, or rather didn't feel.
Ellie found herself in a bed different than the one she lay in before. It was different than any bed she had ever laid in. It was more comfortable too. She opened her eyes to find that she was in a room she had never seen. It was all white, and there was a skylight on the ceiling above the bed that let a bright light shine onto it. She looked directly into the bright light, but it was not blinding; it was comforting. She sat up and observed that she was wearing an all-white gown that went from her shoulders to her feet. She caught sight of her right forearm, and the bite was not there. The thing most weird to her was the way she felt. No matter how happy she was, there was always sadness or fear that she could feel deep down. She felt neither of those now.
She stood up out of the bed to observe the room she was in. There were no doors or ways in. It was just a big white box: four walls, a floor, and a ceiling. She was looking around when she heard a familiar voice behind her that she had not heard in a long time. "Hello, Ellie."
Ellie turned around quickly to see Riley standing there in an identical gown. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. "Riley? Is that you?"
"Yeah." Ellie could not say anything. She was in shock to see her friend who died over a year ago standing there. "I missed you, Ellie."
Ellie said the first thing that came to her. "But... you're dead."
Riley stood there, and nodded. "I know."
Ellie became confused, and worried. "Does that mean I'm..."
Riley didn't say anything, but the look on her face gave Ellie the answer.
"No... I can't be dead. I need to be with Joel."
"You need to let Joel go."
"No. He needs me... and I need him," she began to cry.
"You don't need to worry about him anymore. He'll be fine without you."
"No he won't. You don't know him, you don't know what I mean to him and what he means to me."
"Ellie, would I lie to you? Have I ever lied to you?"
Ellie thought back, and realized that in the short time her and Riley were friends, she never lied once. "No."
"And I'm not lying this time. You've lived your life, now it's time to move on."
Just then, Ellie heard another voice behind her. This voice she did not recognize. "Oh, Ellie, it's so good to see you again, dear."
She turned around to see a woman she had never seen before. At least not that she could remember. "Um... sorry, I feel like I should know you."
"I didn't think you would," the woman said. There was deep affection in her voice. "We were only together for a very short time. But I want you to know that those few moments I spent with you... were the best moments of my life."
Ellie realized that there was only one person she could be. "Mom?"
Ellie's mom smiled seeing her daughter again. "Look at you. You were just a newborn when I last saw you... Now you're all grown up." A happy tear formed in her eye. "I've been watching you. I watched you grow up and become the young woman I always knew you'd be. I'm proud of you, Ellie."
Ellie didn't feel like there was much to be proud of. The one thing that was supposed to come of her life never happened. "I let you down," Ellie said.
"Don't say that, of course you didn't."
"I was supposed to hold the key to the cure for mankind. Since nothing came of it, nothing was accomplished because of my life."
"That was beyond your control. The fact that you were willing to make the sacrifice means your heart was always in the right place. And don't think that was the only thing that could have come of your life. Look at Joel. You made him happy again. That alone should be an accomplishment."
Ellie thought about what her mother said. Helping one man paled in comparison to opening the gate to a cure for all of mankind. Still, she couldn't deny everything that she did for Joel. "I guess you're right."
Ellie's mom extended a hand out to her. Seemingly subconsciously, she reached her own hand out too and began walking towards her mother. All it took was for their hands to touch, and Ellie would no longer have to live in an evil world. She could live in a world without fear, sadness, or pain. It would mean leaving Joel behind, but she would have her mother again. She would have a true parental figure as opposed to someone who merely thought of her as his kid. She figured that Riley and her mom were right. Joel would be fine without her, and it was time for her to move onto something greater. Her fingers were just about to touch her mother's, when she felt a jolt through her body, causing her to yell as she was pulled down to the floor. "Come back, Ellie," she heard her mother say.
"What's happening?" she asked in a panic.
"Ellie, come back to us," her mom said again.
Suddenly the floor dropped away, and Ellie fell down fast. She fell seemingly thousands of feet in an instant, before slamming down hard.
Ellie's body jolted as Brenda jammed the adrenaline booster into her heart. "Come back, Ellie," Joel pleaded. The upper layers of clothing had been removed from her so Brenda could get the needle through to her heart. The blanket kept her covered though so nobody would see her bare chest. "Ellie, come back to us," Joel pleaded again, louder than the first. Brenda jammed a second booster into her heart, and Joel heard a puff of air com from her mouth. He put his finger to her neck, "I got a pulse!" he exclaimed.
"That's not good enough," Brenda said as she reached into her bag. "I've only got one booster left. This has to work or else she's gone."
"Stop talking and use it!" Joel demanded. Brenda jammed the third and final adrenaline booster into her heart, and Joel felt her pulse get stronger. "Ellie?" He looked into her face. Her eyes were still closed, but she was breathing at last. "Ellie, come on, baby girl." He pleaded some more, hoping she would hear him and wake up... but she didn't.
Joel, Jeffrey, and Hannah sat on the couch downstairs. They were nervously awaiting Brenda's final verdict on whether or not Ellie would survive. The tension in the air was palpable. Then they heard Brenda and Nicky coming down the stairs. They were about to find out if Ellie would live or die. Joel got up and went right over to Brenda after she stepped out of the stairwell. "Brenda, is Ellie gonna make it?"
Brenda bowed her head. "After doing everything in my power to try and save her..." she hesitated, and Joel just knew what she was going to say. He knew Brenda was going to say that Ellie didn't make it. She picked her head up, and smiled. "She'll be just fine."
"Oh, thank you Jesus," Joel said as he doubled over with relief. "Bless you, Brenda," he said as he hugged her.
Hannah came over to Brenda and hugged her as well. "Thank you for saving her." she said.
"She'll need a lot of rest over the next few days. She really shouldn't even leave the bed."
"Can I go talk to her?" he asked. With the ordeal he just went through, he had a lot to tell Ellie.
"She's able to communicate, but she'll probably want to be left alone for now."
"No, I need to talk to her," he insisted.
"Help yourself."
"I'd like to talk to her, too," Hannah said as she followed Joel up the stairs.
"Let me talk to her first," he told her.
Ellie lay in the bed with her eyes closed, trying to take a nap. Her clothes had been put back on with the help of Brenda, to which everyone was thankful. The door to the room was open, but Joel knocked anyways. "Ellie?" he asked gently. Ellie opened her eyes and smiled, but didn't say anything. "Mind if I come in and talk?" Ellie nodded, indicating that she had no objections to Joel coming to talk to her. He walked in and sat down on the bed next to her. "You know, you gave us all a real scare." Ellie shrugged her shoulders. "You know... for a while I was afraid I'd have to go through what I went through with Sarah all over again. I'm glad you're okay." He had never come that close to losing Ellie, and it was in that moment when he realized that he could lose her at any moment. There was something he needed to tell her, before his chance was gone. "I love you, Ellie. I love you like a daughter. Just like my own daughter, I'd go to any length to make sure you're okay."
"Joel?" she asked weakly.
"Yeah?"
"When I was out, I saw..." she closed her eyes tightly, as if she was trying to conjure up and image of what she saw, "...I saw..."
"What did you see?" Joel asked.
"Riley..." she said, "...and my mom. What does that mean?"
"It don't matter." He reached out and started stroking her hair, grateful that she was still alive. "What matters is that you're here right now."
"Do you think it was Heaven that I saw?"
Joel hesitated. Although he was brought up that way, he didn't know if Heaven was still something he could believe in. "I don't know. Would it make you more comfortable if I said it was?"
She chuckled slightly. "Yeah, it would."
"Then yes... it was Heaven."
She decided to change topics. "So... that makes it twice now I've cheated death?" Joel nodded. "Think I can go three for three?" she asked as she smiled.
"Now I'm gonna stop you right there. We ain't never gonna have to find that out. That ain't somethin' to joke about either."
"Yeah, you're right. I'm sorry."
"I'm really glad you're okay. Now, there's someone else who'd like to see you." Joel got up and motioned for Hannah to come into the room. She smiled when she saw that Ellie was awake. Ellie smiled back, and Joel stepped into the hallway to give them more space.
"Hey, you," Hannah said playfully.
"Hey, you," Ellie responded.
"I was really worried about you. You almost died on us." She realized after she said it that it wasn't a great thing to say to someone.
"Yeah. Hey, I need to ask you something."
"Shoot," Hannah said.
"Why did I not have any shirts on when I woke up?"
"We needed to take them off so the needles from the adrenaline boosters would get through cleanly."
"Did you see my tits?" she asked extremely bashfully.
"Um..." Hannah said, then went to whisper in Ellie's ear.
Ellie blushed horribly. "Oh, God, that's so embarrassing," she said as she cringed. "I'm glad I wasn't conscious to hear that."
"It's okay. Everyone was so concerned with making sure you survived that they weren't the slightest bit bothered."
"Why would Nicky say something like that in that situation?"
Hannah shrugged her shoulders. "I'm so relieved you managed to pull through. I really thought you were dead."
"In a way I was," Ellie said.
"Well, you're not now. I'll let you get some rest; I'm sure you really want that."
"Yeah."
That concludes chapter 13 of Brand New Start. In the next chapter: Guards of Jackson embark on a daring rescue mission led by a bizarre outsider.