-CHAPTER 6: FRIENDLY-

-SPRING SAGA-

Yesterday a group of strangers attacked us. Luckily, they were nice enough to bring us to their camp.
Nothing seems fishy about them. They look welcoming enough. Just for now.
Joel told me we'd be joining them to Los Angeles. Apparently there's a safe zone there.
I wonder what it's like over by the coast. I hope it's nice.

Ellie read over her recently finished entry within the pages. She had just awoken and decided to write in her diary to rouse her mind. She sat alone in the spare tent Bruce's group lent to them. There were two sleeping bags; one for Tommy and Maria, the other for Joel and Ellie to share. The Savage Starlight comic Joel found the day before laid on its open pages beside her.

"I wonder how Daniela is going to get out of this one." Ellie remarked, looking over to the last panel of the comic. The words, To be continued... spread across the end of the issue. She had spent all of last night reading it after she and Joel reconciled.

Ellie had thought over about Joel's lie back in Salt Lake City. The horror of Marlene's death and how she died hit her hard in the stomach. Joel had killed her. In his defense, he did it to protect Ellie. He hoped she would have understood in the moment. But she was struck with so much grief and anger all at once, Ellie could only yell and hold a grudge to him for the next week. It was only until last night her eyes had opened. She recalled to when Joel recounted their journey together when he introduced himself to Bruce's group.

After all we've been through, I feel stupid for getting angry at him. He did it to protect me. Like he always has.

Still, Ellie could not fathom the fact Marlene had tried to sacrifice her life only for a vaccine. After their encounter with the Reapers, Ellie decided there was no good with the solution. She would never want to be a part of a what she now thought was a devilish plan. A vaccine only brought out the worst in people.

They're monsters. Sick monsters. Fuck those Reapers.

But with the dream of her becoming hope to mankind gone, what was Ellie's purpose in life now? After everything she'd been through, it all seemed for nothing. She felt like nothing more than to be Joel's baby girl. Although, she didn't complain, she wanted to be more than that. She wanted to have more meaning in her life. Ellie rolled her sleeve up to reveal the scar on her arm and contemplated over her existence.

What can I be? What can I offer to this world?

Ellie decided to grab something to eat. She stuffed the diary in her backpack and exited the tent. She welcomed the serenity of the day. The sky above Saratoga Springs was clear, the air was comfortably warmer and the camp was peacefully quiet. Ellie walked around, noticing only Maria was there with the other two women: Natalie and Jenny. The three conversed as they cooked over the campfire.

"That smells good." Ellie said, looking over to see what they were cooking.

"Why thank you. It's a special recipe of mine." Natalie explained. She stirred the pot of soup with a wooden spoon. The mother loved to cook. Even before the infection, she deeply enjoyed cooking for others. "I had to improvise with the ingredients we had though. It's not like we can just head over to the supermarket nowadays."

"And yet, your cooking is supurb!" Maria complimented her. She had taken a few taste tests earlier and was surprised how delicious Natalie's food was. "You could be on par with Paula Deen."

What are they talking about? Ellie thought. Supermarkets? Paula Deen? These words were foreign to her. She decided not to bother with it and instead ask where the others were.

"Joel and Tommy already went with Bruce, Gordon and Mark to find fuel while you were asleep." Jenny explained. She pointed over towards the direction of the tents, where the lake was. "Kyle and Alice went over by the lake to walk Charlie not too long ago."

"Why don't you go find them? I'm sure they could use the company. And you could take the time to know each other." Maria suggested. She remembered back in Jackson County how Ellie was always by herself. This was a good opportunity for her to make friends.

"Might as well." Ellie said. Although, she was a little uneasy with the idea. Alice was a young girl who seemed quiet to her. And she remembered how Kyle gave her a weird look when she asked to pet Charlie last night. But they were the only ones close to her age. It wouldn't hurt to try and befriend them.

As Ellie headed towards the lake, she spotted Roselyn sitting by herself behind one of the tents. The young woman had her baseball cap covering her eyes, while her crowbar laid against her. In her hands appeared to be a black device with an antennae sticking from the top. Curious, Ellie decided to talk to her.

"What is that thing?" Ellie asked.

"It's a walkie-talkie. Nothing important to you, kid." Roselyn answered, keeping her focus on the device. She was currently using a screwdriver on the back, apparently trying to fix it.

"I was just asking, that's all." Ellie explained herself. "Hey, can't you talk to other people with that thing?"

"Well yeah, but you need the other that comes with it. I found this one by itself."

"Where did the other one go then?"

"Beats me."

"Did you try finding it?"

"You know, you ask a lot of questions, kid." Roselyn stated. She put the walkie-talkie down and made eye contact, giving a slightly annoyed look at Ellie. "You ever heard the saying, Curiosity killed the cat?"

"I don't even know what a cat is!" Ellie defended herself. Roselyn rolled her eyes and went back to the walkie-talkie. Ellie crossed her arms. "Sheesh, sorry for taking interest, I guess. Just thought I'd try to get to know you."

"There's nothing good you need to know about me, kid."

"Whatever. You were the one who knocked Joel out with that crowbar anyway."

"Aren't you biased. It was in self-defence. You know it. I recall seeing you lunge at Bruce with that switchblade of yours."

Ellie had enough of her attitude and left Roselyn by herself, continuing towards the lake coast. Why does she seem so uptight? No wonder she sits alone. Nobody probably talks to her. Ellie thought. Their conversation made her nervous. If she couldn't make friendly with Roselyn, how was she going to acquaint herself with Kyle and Alice.

Maybe I'll just talk to the dog. The worst it can do is bark.

The lake coast was not too far from their camp. Ellie gazed around the area and marveled at the sight. Small shrubbery covered the edges of the coast. The water glistened from the sunlight as the waves rocked gently back and forth. The mountains from the other side of the lake added to the grand sight. Ellie walked around the coast, admiring it's beauty. It took her awhile to find the other kids. Kyle and Alice sat along the edge. Kyle had a notepad in his lap and focused on his drawing. Alice gazed out to the lake with a blank look as she listened to both the waves swaying and Kyle's scribbling. Behind them, Charlie sat on his back, panting like any other dog would do.

"Uhm... hi there." Ellie spoke, awkwardly waving as she approached them. The kids ignored her. On the other hand, Charlie turned his head towards her and continued to pant with his tongue out. "So... what are you guys up to?"

No answer.

"Can you guys hear me? Hello?"

Still no answer.

Am I invisible to them? Why won't they talk to me?

Ellie disregarded Kyle and Alice and decided to turn her attention to Charlie, who was at least willing to look at her. As she motioned her hand to pet him, Charlie let out a loud bark and stood up fiercely.

"Whoa! Calm down boy! I'm not here to hurt you." Ellie yelped, taking a step back cautiously.

"He doesn't like strangers." Alice spoke softly. Ellie was surprised to hear a word from the little girl.

"Well, maybe I don't want to be a stranger. Maybe I'm trying to make friends."

"Try giving him food." Alice suggested.

"But I don't have any."

"Then I guess you can't be his friend then."

This girl seems such a downer. Ellie thought. Alice had spoken with a soft, monotonous British accent. It kind of gave Ellie the chills to hear her voice. But at least she was able to talk, unlike Kyle. The teenage boy kept his focus on his notepad, paying no attention to Ellie.

Carefully walking around Charlie, Ellie went and peeked over Kyle's shoulder to see what he was scribbling. On the page was a very-detailed sketch of the lake, including the mountains in the background. The sketch matched perfectly with the environment, all down to the rippling effect in the water.

"Wow. That's a pretty cool picture you've got there." Ellie remarked. She noticed the pencil had stopped scribbling. Kyle turned towards her and made eye contact.

"...Really?" Kyle asked. Ellie nodded. His blue eyes shimmered from the light as he gave a small smile from her comment. He turned back to his sketch. "Uh... thanks, I guess."

"Thanks, I guess?" Ellie repeated him, crossing her arms in a playful manner. "What? Was my compliment not good enough for you?"

"N-no! It's just... uhm... " Kyle stuttered. "Look... I-I didn't mean to offend you... I meant to say-"

"I'm just messing with you! No need to worry." Ellie chuckled. She was amused by Kyle's panicked behaviour. She decided to take a seat beside him and gazed out towards the lake. She gave a relaxed sigh. "I'll be honest. This place looks pretty amazing, don't you think?"

Kyle didn't answer as he was already back to focusing on his sketch.

"Hey, that's rude! I'm talking to you." Ellie poked him to get his attention.

"Oh... sorry." Kyle apologized. He scratched the back of his head nervously and cleared his throat. "I didn't hear you because I was drawing... and yeah... sorry."

"You aren't good at talking, are you?" Ellie told him. Kyle simply shrugged, which caused her to chuckle at his timid behaviour. "Don't worry. I'm not like the infected. I won't bite if you try to talk."

"What do you want from me, anyway?" he asked.

"Nothing. I just thought we'd talk. Get to know each other. Isn't that what kids did back in the day?"

Kyle shrugged, which Ellie noticed. He seemed to be oblivious about life before the apocalypse like she was. What were kids supposed to talk about anyway? At the moment, they didn't know any movies, or had much hobbies. It was all about surviving.

"How old are you?" Ellie asked.

"Sixteen." Kyle answered.

"Aww, shit." Ellie silently swore under her breath. Other than Alice, she was the youngest in the group by a year. Kyle heard her swear and gave a concerned look.

"Did you just curse? My mother said it's not polite to curse."

"Is that really a big deal? The world is filled with monsters and all you care about is my swearing? Nice to see what your priorities are."

"Well... my mother said that not swearing is a way to keep our sanity in this world."

"You calling me crazy?" Ellie questioned, causing Kyle to sweat in panic once again. Ellie rolled his eyes at him. "Don't worry, I'm kidding. Geez, you take things way too seriously."

"Sorry..."

"Uhm... I wasn't asking for an apology." Ellie said. Kyle suddenly blushed in embarrassment and slapped himself in the forehead, which cause Ellie to chuckle again. "Aren't you a little hard on yourself. It's totally fine."

Ellie continued talking to Kyle, who was still slightly awkward and shy at times, but began to slowly open up to her. Ellie was able to learn a number of things from him. Kyle and his mother, Natalie, originated from North Dakota, where he grew up. Due to personal reasons, the two fled from the city and headed south, eventually meeting up and joining with Bruce's group. Hobbies that interested him were sketching and playing on an electronic handheld he found called a "Game Boy". Kyle liked to keep things to himself and found comfort in doing things alone. Especially drawing, which he'd grown a talent on.

"What about your dog? How'd you two meet?" Ellie asked.

"Now that is a long story." Kyle said, smiling as he turned back and pet Charlie on the belly, which the dog enjoyed. Kyle explained he and his mother found the Shiba Inu wandering alone on the road when he was younger. Charlie seemed to have been abandoned by his previous owner. He would stumble around in a weak manner, looked like a skeleton and whined loudly in pain. Kyle and Natalie took the dog in their care and nursed Charlie back to health. He was loyal to the Parker's ever since.

"I'm sure he's really thankful you found him. You practically saved his life." Ellie said. Her comment made Kyle smile. For some reason, the way his eyes shimmered, along with his dimples as he smiled, made Ellie smile. Through all the horrible things she'd been through the past week, seeing that she made someone happy, made her happy.

This guy isn't too bad. He's still weird, though.

"So... you know a few things about me. How about you?" Kyle asked. Ellie thought for a moment, wondering what she could say about herself. There wasn't much she could say. She would have talked about her journey, but Joel already explained it to the whole group last night.

"Well, I guess I'm just a girl who's been through a lot of shit lately." Ellie started to explain. She suddenly became silent as memories of the previous week flooded her mind. The massacre in Jackson County. The evil acts of the Reapers. The revelation of Marlene and the Fireflies. Just thinking about the events made Ellie hyperventilate in anxiety. She began to curl her body up as she breathed heavily.

"Uhm... Ellie? You're freaking me out." Kyle said. He put a hand on Ellie's shoulder, which caught her by surprise as she slapped his hand away. Kyle stared in shock. "Ellie! What's happening?"

"I... I..." Ellie repeated. She took a moment to calm herself down and control her breathing. She rubbed her forehead. "Sorry... I guess a panicked for a second."

"Geez, you had me worried for awhile."

"I'm fine now. Really."

"Did you remember something you didn't want to?" Alice spoke up. Ellie had forgotten Alice was there since she was quiet the whole time. Ellie nodded to the little girl, who kept her eyes on the lake.

"I've been having nightmares recently." Ellie decided to confess to them. She thought they deserved an explanation after witnessing her anxiety attack. She skimmed through what she, Joel, Tommy and Maria had been through after leaving Jackson County and before meeting with Bruce's group, without going into full details. She didn't want the memories to come back to her again.

"Oh... really? I can't believe that you went through all that... I'm sorry." Kyle expressed in sympathy. On the other hand, Alice kept the same, emotionless look on her face. The terror of Ellie's experiences didn't seem to faze her. Kyle spoke. "Thinking about what you've been through, you must be really lucky to have your dad with you."

"My dad?"

"Yeah. His name is Joel, right?"

"No, I think you misunderstood." Ellie corrected him. Although, she thought of Joel as a father, in reality, he wasn't. It also went vice-versa. She would never be his actual daughter. That spot was for Sarah, and Ellie understood. "We just really care about each other, that's it. He even said so last night. Weren't you listening at all?"

"Oh... I was probably focused on my sketches... my bad."

"Hmph. Of course you were."

"I really liked the story Joel told us yesterday." Alice recalled. "It wish my daddy was like him."

Ellie could only look in confusion. Was Alice being serious? Gordon was the father of her, and Ellie remembered how loud-mouthed and snobby he was yesterday, especially when he complained to Bruce about bringing Joel and the group to their camp.

"Alice and her family have been going through problems as well." Kyle explained. He told Ellie how uncooperative Gordon would be, while his son, Mark, who was also Alice's older brother, would blindly follow his father's commands without judgement, adding his own aggresive spin to it. The others assumed they became like this from the death of Gordon's wife, which the backstory remains to be unknown. This may have also explained how distant and somber Alice was.

Shit. That's terrible. Ellie thought to herself. Alice seemed to have suffered through loss at already a young age. Ellie tried to comfort her. "I'm really sorry for what you've been through. Believe me, it's never easy to get over someone you lost." Alice continued to stare out into the lake, with the same expressionless face. Ellie had thought she was simply shy, but to know the truth, she finally understood her behaviour.

"Our lives can never be easy, can they?" Kyle stated.

"We've just got to keep looking for the light." Ellie remarked. She sighed as they sat there in silence, admiring the beauty of the lake, while recounting their own lives and reminding themselves of the world they were forced to live in.


A few hours had passed into the evening as the sun set behind the horizon of the lake, giving off an orange hue in the sky as the light reflected off the water. By then, Joel, Tommy, Bruce, Gordon and Mark returned, having found a few cans of gas in the southern parts of Saratoga Springs. At the moment, Bruce was showing Joel the truck they were going to use.

"Some genius decided to leave the keys in here. Who knows what they were thinking at the time." Bruce explained as he went in and took them out of the ignition, handing the keys to Joel. "Congratulations, you're the new owner of this truck."

"Must be my lucky day." Joel spoke with sarcasm. With a vehicle in possession, getting around would be much easier than walking. The only problem was gas. Currently they only had enough to travel a few miles. They would eventually need to search for more later on.

"You really handled yourself back there." Bruce said as the duo walked back to the camp. Earlier that day on their gas hunt, the men broke into the garage of a house, only to be greeted by a large number of infected. At one moment, Bruce had been pinned down by a trio of Runners. Luckily, Joel put a bullet in them before they took a nibble out of him. "Thanks again for saving my ass."

"It's nothing special. I did what I had to do."

"Let me just say, you have some really outstanding survival skills. You even surprised me with that nail bomb idea. I would have never thought of that."

"Well, give credit where it's due. A friend of mine taught me that." Joel explained. He reminded himself about Bill. It had been almost a year since he last saw him. Was he still alive, alone in his town? He suddenly felt sorry for Bill. To live and survive by yourself, without anybody to interact with was simply depressing.

It was his choice, though. I hope the fellow is doing alright.

As they reached camp, they found everybody circled around the campfire. They were all eating dinner, which was the soup Natalie had started to brew in the morning. Everyone appeared delighted as they chowed down.

"I must say, this the best cooking I've tasted in years. You are a really talented chef, Natalie." Tommy complimented, taking another spoonful of the soup. Joel took a seat beside Ellie as Maria handed him a bowl.

"So how was your day, kiddo?" Joel asked Ellie.

"I guess it was alright." Ellie responded. She turned over to Kyle, who was getting his hair fixed by Natalie, albeit embarrassed. Alice was silently stirring her soup beside her older brother. "I made a few new friends."

"Well that's great of you." Joel felt grateful at her accomplishment. Ellie seemed to be happy at the moment. She deserved to be after the events they'd been through so far.

"I really needed this scrumptious soup, especially after Joel's cock up!" Gordon expressed in arrogance. Joel's mood quickly changed from content to annoyed. He had forgotten he was the one who accidentally released the infected from the garage. But they made it out alive. For some reason, Gordon wouldn't let him live it down and complained about for the rest of the day.

"I'm sure it was an honest mistake." Jenny assured him. Gordon thought otherwise.

"A mistake? Do you realize your husband almost died because of Joel?! You should have seen how daft he looked when he realized there were infected inside. The stupid fool almost killed all of us!"

"Hey! You can't talk to him like that!" Ellie shouted at Gordon. "Joel's smart! He'd never do anything that stupid! You're the fool!"

"Why don't you shut up, you mewling quim." Mark snapped at her. "You were never there. You don't deserve a say in this argument. Just accept the fact your man did something foolish."

Ellie stood up and was about to tell Mark off when Joel stopped her. "Baby, please relax. They're right. I did make a mistake. I have to accept that responsibility. There's no need to get mad at them."

"Listen to your man, little girl. Besides, it's rude to yell at the ones who took you and your friends in. You need to learn some manners, my dear!" Gordon remarked in a snarky manner. Ellie glared at him as she sat back down.

Roselyn had sat beside her and was amused by Ellie's tantrum. "Guess it wasn't smart to explode in their faces, huh?"

"Oh, shut up." Ellie said.

"I suggest we all get as much rest as we can. We have a big day tomorrow." Bruce told them. The others agreed. They needed to get up bright and early if they wanted to cover as much ground between them and Los Angeles. The sooner they got to the safe zone, the better their lives would be.

"To Los Angeles." Joel said to Ellie. She rested her head on his shoulder, finally feeling the exhaustion of the day get to her. They both knew this journey would not be easy. But with the help of their new comrades and their devotion to each other, the duo felt like they could do this.

But nothing would prepare for the challenges that awaited in the days beyond them.

-END OF SPRING-


A/N: First of all, I appreciate the feedback from last week. My aim with the new characters is to hopefully get readers to care about them as much as Joel and Ellie. On my profile, I have written up brief summaries for each character in the story to allow a better insight on them. Go check it out!

In terms of story development, we have now reached the end of Spring. The whole purpose of this saga was to set up the tone of the story and the new characters. Next week, we're moving on to the Summer saga! You can expect a lot of jaw-dropping moments in the coming chapters!

Thank you for all the support everyone has given so far! I always enjoy reading your comments. Bye for now! :D


~I do not own any The Last of Us material. They are the respective property of Naughty Dog Inc~