Author's Notes/Announcement: Sorry again for the delay. I tried to tell myself it wouldn't happen again, but there's been a lot going on in my life with my drumming and lyrics. I'm sorry, but there'll probably be long waits in between chapters like this the rest of the way.

Before I talk about the story, I would like to announce that I am adding in a new DOUBLE CHAPTER to the story. This will be the first part. But while I'm adding in two more chapters, I'm also taking out another chapter that I feel is weaker than the rest. So, this story will have a total of 19 chapters, that means counting this one there are 4 more.

Now, about this chapter: Obviously Hannah was traumatized by what happened to her in the last chapter. This chapter will be about Ellie helping Hannah get over it, and during that it will introduce the main plot of this double chapter. I'm a big fan of shows like Law & Order and NCIS, and I wanted to try my hand at that kind of writing. Now, you guys are going to be pissed because of what happens at the end this chapter. You'll really hate Tommy as well. What am I talking about? Read and find out.

Note: The band Jeffrey mentions does not exist in real life or the game. I just made it up.

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. 16: Suspect

It had been a month since Hannah's traumatic ordeal with Butch's gang in the church. The damage that was done to her on that day had barely begun to mend. She had been distant ever since it happened, and kept to herself more than any time since she met Ellie. She had been getting frequent panic attacks, with one being so serious that according to Brenda it nearly caused cardiac arrest. She would only go outside if the whole group was with her; she didn't feel comfortable enough with only Ellie, even if she had her knife. The church itself was now a symbol of that suffering, and she couldn't look at it or even think about it without triggering those awful memories. She had been assured that the five boys involved would each be serving no less than ten years in jail, with Butch locked up for the rest of his life. Since he was only seventeen, he could be in there a long time. Hannah could not take any closure from that news though.

Recent days had shown improvement for her. It had been over a week since her last panic attack, and she was starting to open up to the people around her again. The next step would be for her to try going for a walk with Ellie again. Since Ellie could see she was starting to recover from that day, she felt that it was time for Hannah to take the next step.

"No way!" Hannah said, angrily. Ellie was trying to get her to take another walk, but Hannah still had not worked up the courage to try that again.

"Hannah, it's been a month. The only way to get over your fears is to face them."

"It's not a fear. It's severe emotional trauma."

"You can't stay in here forever. You're gonna have to go out at some point and you should really do it sooner rather than later."

"Or... I could stay here and not get molested again!"

"Hannah, they're in jail, they can't get you."

"That doesn't have anything to do with it. I can't go for a walk or I'll have a meltdown."

"We don't have to go on a full walk right now. We'll just go to the diner and back; two blocks. Do you think you could do that?"

"No, I don't! Ellie... you heard what Brenda said... I have full on PTSD. It's more than just being afraid, I was traumatized by that. Just being outside with you could be enough to trigger the memories and cause another panic attack."

"I won't let that happen."

"You can't guarantee that. Do you remember the panic attack I had the day after what happened in the church? My heart almost stopped; Ellie that panic attack almost killed me. Do you want that to happen again?"

Ellie tried to reason with her obviously distressed friend. "Hannah... you have to understand that I'm trying to help you. If you don't make an attempt to recover from that day, you never will. One day you'll have no choice than to go outside with just me or by yourself. You need to face your fear."

Hannah thought intently about Ellie's reasoning. She knew Ellie was only trying to help, but she didn't know if she had healed enough to take the next step. "Ellie, I don't know."

Ellie took a step closer to Hannah, and grabbed a hold of her hand. Hannah looked down at their hands, and picked her head up to look Ellie in the eyes. "Trust me, Hannah. Together."

Hannah maintained eye contact with Ellie, and took a deep cleansing breath. "Okay. Let's go," she said very reluctantly. Ellie led Hannah to the door, keeping a firm grip on her hand. Hannah dragged her feet a couple times, but they got to the door and Ellie grabbed onto the doorknob. "Wait!" Hannah blurted out as Ellie was about to open the door. "I'm having second thoughts."

Ellie gave Hannah a hug to help comfort her. "You can do it," she encouraged.

She let go, and the girls locked eyes once again. "Do you have your knife?" Hannah asked.

Ellie turned her right hip to Hannah, showing her the knife that was clipped to her waist. "Are you ready?"

Hannah let out a heavy exhale, and closed her eyes for a few seconds. "Let's get this over with."

Ellie opened the door and stepped outside, keeping Hannah's hand in her own. Hannah stayed in the house, and only with a lot of encouragement did she step outside with Ellie. "This is your last chance to change your mind. Once you close the door you have to go through with this." Hannah spent a lot of time thinking about whether or not she was actually ready. She made a slight move to go inside, but then stopped. She was very apprehensive of what she was about to go through, but she didn't want to disappoint Ellie. She closed the door and stood triumphantly next to Ellie. "No turning back now."

"Don't let go of my hand please, Ellie," Hannah begged.

"I don't plan on it." She led the way slowly, with Hannah never more than than an arm's length away. "Baby steps," Ellie said as she helped Hannah along one step at a time. Hannah was tense all throughout her body as the girls made their way down the sidewalk. Just being outside with Ellie, like she was when she was assaulted, gave her a pit in her stomach. Ellie looked at Hannah and saw that she was in some distress. Hannah was looking down at her feet and not paying attention to anything else. "It's okay, Hannah. You're doing great." Ellie's most recent encouragement got Hannah to pick her head up, and before long they got to the halfway point between their house and the diner. "One block down. See, that was nothing. Keep going, you're doing just fine."

The further they got from the house, the more uneasy Hannah got. Ellie felt her grip becoming more and more tense as they kept walking. They were halfway through the second block, when Hannah's grip on Ellie's hand suddenly tightened greatly. "Oh God, oh God..."

"Hannah, it's okay. It's-"

It wasn't okay though. Hannah was shaking and she was doubled over because of her fear. "Ellie, I feel a panic attack coming."

"No, Hannah. No panic attack's coming. You're fine."

Hannah was on the verge of a complete nervous breakdown. "Ellie, I can't do this!"

Ellie put her hands on Hannah's cheeks and tried to calm her down. "Hannah, breathe. Deep breaths." Ellie started inhaling and exhaling slowly to show Hannah what she wanted her to do. Hannah gradually started imitating her, but she was still tense. "Hannah, just close your eyes and calm down." She did as Ellie instructed, and slowly began calming down. "Just take a moment to relax. We're almost to the diner. Once we turn around it'll be smooth sailing." Ellie's encouragement had helped Hannah tremendously. She had avoided a sure panic attack, and she now felt like she could continue. "Are you good?"

Hannah opened her eyes and nodded. "Yeah, I think so."

Ellie grabbed Hannah's hand again, and wrapped her other arm around her shoulders to make her feel more comfortable. "I'm right here, Hannah." Slowly they continued to the diner, taking short steps as they were before. "We're getting close to the diner now." Hannah was still tense, but with Ellie holding her close, she was able to focus on her goal. They took a few more steps and arrived at the diner. "We made it. That wasn't so bad, right?"

"Ellie, I almost had a breakdown."

"But you didn't. All we gotta do is get back to the house now." Ellie turned them around, and now that their home was in sight again, it could only get easier. Ellie helped Hannah along the return walk home at a slightly faster pace than the trip to the diner. As they got closer, Ellie could feel Hannah slowly calming down. They got to the end of the block; they were halfway home. "Home stretch, Hannah. I'm gonna let go now, but I'll still be right here next to you." Ellie tried to let go of Hannah's hand, but Hannah was reluctant. Eventually she did let go, but stayed very close to Ellie. They were so close they could taste it. "Just a few more steps." They took the last few steps, and turned down the walkway to the door. "We did it," Ellie said triumphantly as she opened the door. Hannah stepped inside and shook her arms as if to shake away all the tension, and let out a heavy sigh.

"Thank God that's over," she said.

"It wasn't that hard, Hannah. You did great, really you did."

Hannah turned around to look at Ellie. They looked at each other for several seconds, and then Hannah threw her arms around Ellie. "Thank you, Ellie. I couldn't have done that without you."

Ellie savored the embrace she was having with her best friend. "It was nothing. You know I'd do anything for you."

Hannah nodded. "Yeah, I know.

Joel, Ellie, Hannah and Jeffrey were gathered around their dining table for dinner. Jeffrey had made one of his signature meals; his famous beef stew. Because of Jeffrey's seniority in Jackson, having been there since the beginning, he had access to the foods and ingredients used by the chefs in the diner. Upon tasting the stew he prepared, Ellie was confused as to why he wasn't a chef himself.

"Holy shit, this is good."

Jeffrey smiled at Ellie's compliment. "Yeah, I've always liked cooking."

"I can tell. Hey, I've never asked you this, but what did you do before the outbreak?"

Jeffrey was taken off guard by Ellie's question. It seemed like a random question to ask, since she had never asked before. "Well, what do you mean? I did a lot of things."

"For a living, I mean."

"Ah... Well I wouldn't call it something I did for a living, but... I was a guitarist."

Ellie looked at Joel and smiled, knowing that he played guitar a little bit before the outbreak. "That's cool. Were you in a band?"

"I was indeed. I was twenty, and it was right after I moved to Tennessee from Pennsylvania. I started hanging out with these guys who played some blues together and were looking for a guitarist. I don't remember exactly how it happened but one day when we were practicing this woman was there and she started singing. I don't remember her name, but I remember she had a killer voice. It was grungy but smooth at the same time. We were so floored that we decided to hire her as our frontwoman on the spot. The only problem was that her voice didn't really fit the music we played. We had to adjust to more of a rock sound but kept some real strong blues roots in our music. We all rode Harleys, we all wore leather, so we decided to name our band Leatherclad, and our whole thing was that we were 'biker rock.'"

"You said your name was Leatherclad?" Joel interjected.

"That's right."

"I had Outlaws in my CD collection." Joel chuckled at the coincidence.

"Oooh, our first. That was the one where we had the strong Western sound."

"That's what sold me. I love that Old West style music, and that spin you put on it was great."

"Yeah, I thought it was really cool to mix rock with that kind of music. And it turned out so well; they mixed perfectly."

Ellie leaned over to Hannah. "They're gonna go on for hours... watch," she said so that Joel and Jeffrey wouldn't hear. Hannah chuckled.

"So what happened... at the time of the outbreak?" Joel asked.

Jeffrey sighed. "Well..." he hesitated as he recalled the horrifying details of the start of the outbreak. "We had wrapped up a show about an hour outside Amarillo a few hours ago. We were in our motel when we heard a commotion. We went out in the hallway to see what it was... and that's when our drummer was bitten by a Runner. After that happened I... it took years to forgive myself for this... I ran off; left all my friends for dead. I got on my motorcycle and just rode. Somehow I managed to totally avoid the military. My travels took me to Colorado, where I met a woman named Rose who I would have Hannah with five years after we met. We ran into Houser and his girlfriend, Laura, when Hannah was only about a month old, and we traveled together. One day, without any warning at all... Rose ran off herself. She didn't take any supplies other than her gun, and left me with our infant daughter. Laura agreed to nurse Hannah until she was old enough to eat normal food, but then she got infected. It was just me, Houser, and Hannah who was only three at the time. We met up with Roy, Maria, and the rest of that group on their way to settling in Jackson. And... that's how I ended up here."

"Did you ever think about going back for your friends? After you left?" Ellie asked.

"That's probably what you'd want to hear, but no, I didn't. Once I left them I didn't look back. That's why it took so long to forgive myself."

"Oh." Ellie thought it was time for a subject change. "Moving on to a different topic: Hannah, after dinner I think it's time for a full walk."

Hannah had just put a spoonful of stew into her mouth, so she couldn't talk. Instead, she shook her head rapidly to let her know that wasn't a good idea.

"Come on, Hannah," Jeffrey said. "You did the short walk earlier today, why don't you take the next step?"

Hannah swallowed what was in her mouth. "Because I'm not ready. And I barely did it earlier; I almost had a panic attack."

"Hannah, this time will be easier," Ellie said. "Since you got a little taste of what it was like earlier, it won't be as bad this time."

"Ellie, I just don't know if I can do that."

"If you go on the walk with me this evening, I won't bug you about it anymore."

Hannah considered it. She took a while to think, but eventually made up her mind. "Okay, but only if it gets you to shut up about it."

"I promise I won't bring it up anymore after tonight."

Ellie and Hannah were on their walk in the evening. They didn't go their normal route which passed by the church. They opted for a slightly longer route to save Hannah the extra stress that the sight of the church had always caused her. Ellie had her knife clipped to her hip; it was the only way Hannah agreed to go on the walk. To both girls' surprises, Hannah had remained remarkably calm.

"You're doing amazing, Hannah," Ellie praised.

"I don't know how I'm doing so well, but I really think I'm starting to get over this."

"I told you, once you went outside you'd start to overcome your fear."

As Ellie was reassuring Hannah of how well she was doing, they both heard a loud male scream nearby that sounded like someone had been stabbed. The scream sent Hannah into panic mode. "Oh God, oh God..." she started shaking like she did earlier in the day.

Ellie grabbed Hannah's shoulders and tried to make her snap out of it. "Hannah, don't do this right not! Just get back to the house, go!" Hannah ran back for the house, taking a shortcut through the park. Ellie turned to where the scream came from and saw a young man run out from between two buildings and make a mad dash in between some more houses. "HEY!" Ellie screamed as she gave chase after him. She followed him through the buildings he ran between, but after that could only guess where he went. She made a right and wormed her way in between the buildings. She rounded a corner and saw a man standing there who was not the one she was chasing. He appeared to have not seen anything out of the ordinary, so Ellie knew the fleeing man could not have come that way. She quickly turned around and ran back from where she came from. After a short while of chasing later, she realized that she had lost whoever she was chasing. She admitted defeat and made her way back to the house.

Ellie got back to the house and saw Jeffrey and Joel talking to each other. "Has Hannah gotten back here?" she asked.

"Yeah," Jeffrey answered, "she ran straight up to her room without saying a word to us."

"You wanna tell us what happened while you girls were out?"

Ellie hesitated. "We think someone was murdered."

Joel and Jeffrey were both shocked, and Ellie could see their expressions change. "What do you mean?"

"We heard a scream like someone was being murdered, and then this guy started fleeing. I tried to chase after him but he got away. Hannah was really shaken up, I really need to talk to her right now."

"You can try," Jeffrey said. "I don't know if she'll wanna talk."

Ellie ran up the stairs and made her way down the hall to Hannah's room. She knocked on the door. "Hannah, it's Ellie, open up." Hannah immediately opened the door and let Ellie in her room. "Listen, I'm sorry that happened, but there was no way I could've known about that."

"It's okay, Ellie. It was just the initial shock that got me; I'm fine now."

"Well I still want to talk. Is that okay with you?"

"Yeah it's fine." Hannah glanced at Ellie's hip and saw that her knife was not there. "Did you put your knife away?" she asked.

"What do you mean? It's right..." Ellie reached for the knife on her hip, but it was not there. She began panicking. "It's gone! I lost my knife!"

"Oh, this is bad. You should go tell Joel."

"No, Joel won't hear a word about this until I can come up with some excuse."

"Do you have any idea where it is?"

"I had it when we started our walk. I don't know where I could've lost it, and I never noticed that it wasn't there."

"Well... maybe it'll turn up soon."

Ellie thought it was a very slim chance, but she had to hope that Hannah was right. "Maybe."

Dean and John were the two men charged with investigating the stabbing on that night. The victim was Derek Mills. He was stabbed in the lower back, and luckily he would survive. Dean shined his flashlight into a bush at the crime scene, and saw something out of the ordinary. "Well, I think we have our weapon." He reached into the bush and pulled out a medium-length switchblade with a wooden handle. "Here," he said as he placed it in John's hand. John inspected it, and it didn't take him long to figure out who it belonged to.

"Dean, this isn't the weapon used in the stabbing."

"What're you talking about? The blade has blood on it and we found it less than twenty feet from where Derek was stabbed. Why would you say this isn't the knife that was used?"

"This is Ellie's knife."

Dean was surprised that Ellie's knife would be found at the crime scene. "Well... that doesn't mean she did it." John and Dean had known Ellie as a kind and sweet young girl. Neither of them believed that she committed the crime.

"We'll know for sure after some more investigating."

Dean and John were questioning people about what they knew about the stabbing. They had two witnesses who saw a suspect fleeing the scene.

"I was going out for a walk, just enjoying the pleasant evening, and then I heard this scream. It wasn't a normal scream, it was a being murdered kind of scream. I go towards where I heard the scream, and a short while later I saw this girl fleeing from the area."

It wasn't what John and Dean wanted to hear, but that still didn't mean it was Ellie. "Do you know her name? Can you describe her appearance?"

"I can give a rough description. I only got a look at her from the side, but I've seen her around town a couple times before. She was about five-three, maybe five-four, if I had to take a guess I'd say she was about a hundred pounds, and she had dark hair that was put back in a ponytail. I've seen her around town with this man who I assume is her father. I can't think of her name right now, but if you told me it I'd know it. I think it's something like Alex, Allie..."

"You mean Ellie?" John asked.

"Yeah, that's it! It was Ellie."

"Did you see anyone else?"

"No one. It was just her."

"I was on my porch havin' a drink, and I heard this God-awful scream. I got up and went to go take a look, and when I get to the side of my house I see this girl come runnin' around the corner like a bat outta hell, and as soon as she saw me she turned around and ran the other direction. I don't know 'bout you but if I just stabbed someone, I'd sure as hell turn around if someone saw me runnin' away from the scene."

"Do you know the girl's name?" Dean asked.

"I'll get it if I think 'bout it." He paused for a few seconds to remember the name of the girl he saw fleeing from the crime scene. "Ellie, that's it. Let me tell ya, I never thought she was the kinda girl who'd do somethin' like this. But I guess nobody ever really knows nobody, now do they?"

It was hard to John and Dean to accept, but all the evidence they had gathered told them that Ellie was in fact the one who stabbed Derek. "I guess not," John said.

"Absolutely fuckin' not!" Tommy screamed. John and Dean had just informed him about their findings connecting Ellie to the attempted murder of Derek. When they requested a warrant to place her in custody, Tommy didn't react very kindly to it. "You guys must be outta your Goddamn minds to suggest that Ellie would do somethin' like that."

"Tommy, we didn't want to believe it either," Dean said. "We found her knife at the scene and we have two witnesses who saw her attempting to flee. The evidence is all there."

"It's circumstantial, all of it!"

"But it's enough to make an arrest."

"No. You are not arrestin' Ellie, and that's final. Now get outta my house!" Tommy walked away from John and Dean and sat down on the couch. Despite telling them to leave, they stayed in Tommy's house and approached him as he was sitting on the couch. "What? Didn't I tell you to leave?"

"Tommy, I know Ellie's close to you, but the evidence all adds up. We have to get her off the streets before she does something like this again."

"You're forgettin' the part where she didn't do it in the first place."

"And maybe you're right. However, we have evidence that is sufficient enough to connect a suspect to a crime. By your own laws you have no choice but to place her in custody."

Laws. My laws always come back to bite me in the ass. "There's always a choice."

"And I'm urging you to make the smart choice... Place Ellie in custody."

Tommy sat in silence for quite some time, contemplating his options. His gut told him that Ellie was not the one who committed the crime, but per his laws, he had no choice but to make an arrest. He sighed heavily; he knew he was going to regret the choice he made.

Ellie, Joel, and Jeffrey were waiting downstairs for Hannah to finish her shower so they could all head to the diner for breakfast. Suddenly there was a knock at their front door, followed by Tommy's voice. "Joel, open up."

"Comin'," Joel said. he opened the door and saw Tommy there, along with Dean and John, both of them holding a shotgun.

"We need to come in," Tommy said sternly.

Joel was surprised at Tommy's assertiveness, along with the fact that he had two members of Jackson's new police force with guns. "Okay, sure."

Tommy, John, and Dean walked into the house. "I don't suppose you heard that Derek Mills got stabbed last night..."

"I was there," Ellie said. "Is he okay?"

"Yeah, he'll be fine. Knife didn't hit anythin' important."

"Well that's good."

"Why are these guys here?" Joel asked, gesturing to John and Dean.

Tommy hesitated. He knew what he was about to say would not go over well. "We have evidence that says Ellie's the one who did it."

The three residents of the house that were present were all shocked. Ellie scoffed loudly. "What fucking evidence?" she asked angrily.

Tommy walked over to the coffee table, pulled Ellie's knife out of his jacket pocket, and set in on the table. The three looked at it with disbelief. "That your knife?" Tommy asked.

Ellie scoffed again. "Yeah," she said, motioning towards it, "I've been looking for it since last night."

"You had it with you before you left," Joel said to her.

"And I lost it on the walk." She stopped, realizing that it wasn't looking good for her. "I didn't do it. Yeah, I was out there when it happened and somehow my knife ended up at the scene, but that's not enough to prove I did it."

"That's not all," Tommy said. "We have two witnesses who saw you fleein' from the scene."

Ellie stepped forward assertively. "I was chasing the person I saw fleeing. I wasn't running away I was running after..." she paused again. The evidence against her was really looking bad, but she knew she was innocent. "I didn't fucking DO IT!" She stepped forward again. "Tommy... you have been like an uncle to me for the past year. You know me better than everyone except Joel. You know I'm not a murderer. I mean... yeah, I've killed people but only because they were trying to kill me. I'm not capable of trying to kill someone in cold blood like that... Tommy PLEASE listen to me!" Tears were starting to form in her eyes as she tried to plead with Tommy that she was innocent. Dean reached to his belt and pulled a pair of handcuffs off of it. He walked over to Ellie, pulled her arms behind her back, and cuffed her wrists together.

"Ellie..." Tommy said, "...you are under arrest... for suspicion of the attempted murder of Derek Mills." Dean marched Ellie out of the house, and John and Tommy followed close behind.

"Tommy this is bullshit! Let her go!" Joel demanded as he got right behind Tommy. "Let her go right now!" As Tommy was about to walk out of the house he put his hand on Joel's chest to stop him.

"Joel... don't make this any harder than it already is." Tommy walked out and closed the door.

"Tommy she's FUCKIN' INNOCENT!" Joel opened the door and began screaming at Tommy as he was walking away. "Tommy! Tommy, get your ass back here, NOW!" Tommy didn't even turn back to acknowledge Joel. "GOD-FUCKIN'-DAMMIT!" he screamed as he slammed the door shut hard enough to shake the entire house. Joel pressed both of his hands to his face and walked away from the door. He sat angrily down on the couch with a huff.

"Look, I'm not saying she did it, but the evidence against her is pretty significant." Jeffrey said.

"No, it ain't! She didn't do anythin'."

"So what're you gonna do?"

Ellie had been pacing back and forth in her jail cell for almost an hour. They made sure to put her as far away from Butch and his boys as possible to avoid any more incidents like what happened a month ago. The warden came up to her cell with news. "Ellie, you have a visitor." The man instructed the visitor to come to the cell, and Ellie saw that it was Joel.

"Oh Joel, thank God. You're here to get me out right?" she asked eagerly as she came up the the bars.

Joel paused before answering. "Nothin' I can do at the moment, kiddo."

"Just... talk to the warden, tell him I'm innocent."

"It ain't that easy."

Ellie sighed in defeat. She couldn't stay in jail; she wouldn't last long. "What's gonna happen to me?"

"They're gonna put you on trial in a few days, and then they'll decide whether you're guilty or innocent. Even though I already know you're innocent, the court might not think the same."

"What if they find me guilty? How long will I be in here?"

"If you're found guilty... life." Ellie recoiled when Joel said that. "But they won't. I'm gonna prove that you're innocent. I will get you outta here, I promise."

Ellie nodded to Joel. "Okay."

To Be Continued...

That concludes chapter 16 of Brand New Start. In the next chapter: The fight to prove Ellie's innocence puts more people in danger.

Remember to leave a review.

P.S. I've been getting a lot of response from people who want more material from me. If you guys want it, in the next update I'll include a link to a lyric portfolio so you guys can check out what I really prefer writing. I'll only do that if I get a certain amount of people who want it. So along with your review of this chapter, mention if you want to read more from me.