Thanks for all the feedback. I apologize for not updating sooner I was dealing with reality. ^-^' But I'm on summer vacation so expect a few more chapters often. Oh! And June 14! TLOU Anniversary! Yay!

"Come on, Ellie." Tess pulled Ellie onto the ledge of the building they had just explored. They shimmed along the edge until the heard the roar of the hunters' Humvee. "Shh...They cant see us." Tess said. She climbed into a window and looked back towards Ellie when she was grabbed from behind. "Tess!" Ellie charged at the attacker with her knife but was shoved back. "What the fuck?" Tess wasn't sure why this hunter was confused but took the opportunity to elbow him in the ribs and loosen his grasp. Tess straddled her attacker and punched him repeatedly, the pain in her shoulder stinging with every blow. "Tess! Stop! Stop!" Tess glanced at Ellie and the teen pointed across the room. A boy who looked a lot like Tess's attacker but younger stood at the door with a gun pointed at Tess and Ellie. They both slowly slid their hands up and Tess got off of the man, looking at her wound.

"Leave him alone." The young boy glared. "Easy kid." Tess stepped infront of Ellie. "It's alright." The man on the ground said. He turned to Tess. "Lady you hit hard." Tess scoffed. "Yeah well I was trying to kill you."

"Yeah I thought you guys were one of them too. Then I saw you." He pointed to Ellie. "In case you havent noticed they dont keep many kids around. Survival of the fittest."

"You're bleeding." The young boy took some gauze out of his pack. "I'm fine, I'm fine." The older man said and took the gun from the boy along with the gauze. Ellie turned her attention to Tess. "How's your shoulder?" Tess held her arm. "I'll be fine. The bleedings been stopped. I just gotta be more careful." Ellie smirked. "No more punching survivors."

"I'm Henry. This is my younger brother Sam. I caught your name was Tess?"

"I'm Ellie, by the way. Um are you guys alone?"

"We had a group. They're all dead." Sam said sharply. "Hey, we don't know that." Henry said. Sam rolled his eyes. "We came into town and got scattered." Henry said. Tess nodded, still carefully studying the two. "Now it's all about getting out of this shithole."

"Hey we could help eachother!" Ellie piped. Tess scowled. "Ellie-"

"Safety in numbers?" Ellie looked at Tess pleadingly. Henry nodded. "She's right."

Tess closed her eyes. This was all too much to handle right now. She knew that this would greatly slow them down and there was a feeling in the back of her mind that one of the duos were not going to get out of Pittsburgh alive.

"We have a hideout not too far from here. Safer if we chat there." Tess glanced at Ellie before nodding. "Fine. Let's go."

"Alright follow me." Henry motioned and started walking through the building.

Sam fell into step with Ellie. "Sorry about the gun thing." He told her. "Don't worry," Ellie said lightheartedly. "I would've done the same thing. Where you from?"

"All the way from Hartford."

Ellie whistled. "I heard some bad stuff going on down there." Henry turned to them. "We gotta be careful. We're right next to a lookout area."

"Is she your mom or something?" Sam motioned towards Tess who was pretending not to hear them. "Er...she's a friend. A friend of my mom. We're- nevermind it's not important."

They entered a toy shop and Henry motioned for them to get down just as the hunters' Humvee passed the windows. "Man, that fucking truck. It's been hounding us ever since we got here." Tess scoffed. "Believe me, everywhere we went there was a pack of hunters just waiting." Henry shook his head and looked back at Sam who was holding a toy robot. "Sam, what are you doing?!"

"N-nothing. I was just-"

"Get rid of it."

"Henry, my pack is basically empty. It weighs nothing."

"Henry walked close to his brother. "What's the rule about taking stuff? The rule?"

Sam exhale hard. "We only take what we have to."

"That's right." Henry glanced at Ellie and Tess who were watching in interest and confusion. "Now come on." Henry began walking again and Ellie swiftly took the toy off the floor and tucked it in her backpack. Tess gave her a small smirk. "Say, how far is this place?" Tess asked? "We're close. Real close." Sam said.

They walked into a garage where hunters were scattered around. "How many do you see?" Tess asked Henry forcefully. Then she heard the sound of a bullet hitting the wall beside them. "Shit, they saw us." Ellie loaded her rifle as Tess and Henry readied their handguns. Tess motioned towards Ellie to take the shot at a hunter while she took care of the other. Henry looked impressed. "Not bad, ladies." Tess scoffed. "Not bad? I didn't see you take a shot. Hey why doesn't that kid have a gun yet? Especially as long as you guys have been out here."

"Because I don't want him hurting himself." Henry said sharply looking between Ellie and Tess. "I can take care him. Just like you can take care of G.I Jane over here." Sam rolled his eyes as Ellie whispered, "Who's G.I Jane?"

They scaled buildings, occasionally taking out the loitering hunter. Finally they entered an office building. "You guys are pretty close to hunter's. You sure it's safe?" Tess quizzed as Henry unlocked the double doors to their hideout. "I'm the only one with the keys."

"And where'd you get that?"

"Hunter. He won't miss it." Henry swung the door open. "Everybody through. It's past here." He closed and locked the doors behind them.

"So. How old are you?" Sam shyly asked Ellie. "Fourteen. How old are you?"

"Uh..the same." He lied. Henry laughed from behind him. "Oh you're fourteen huh?"

"Hey, I'm close!"

They reached another door. "Here we are." Henry said unlocking it. "Welcome to my office." Ellie and Tess looked around. "How long how you guys been holed up in here?" Ellie asked Sam. "A few days. We found a bit of food though. Here." He led Ellie to one of the couches.

"Blueberries." Henry explained to Tess who was looking out of the window. "Found a whole stash of them. You want some?" Tess shook her head. "Maybe later."

"Hey relax. We're safe."

"Then why haven't you left?"

Henry shrugged. "Been waiting for the right opportunity. Check this out." He walked over to the window. "Look at these sons of bitches. Everyday they congregate down there. Guarding that damn bridge. Come nighttime? It's a skeleton crew. After sunset. That's our window. With most of them gone we can sneak right past them."

"And not a bullet wasted. That could work." Tess crossed her arms.

"Oh it will work. It'll definitely work." They heard laughter from the couch. Ellie and Sam were throwing the berries into the air and trying to catch them in their mouths. "Ow!" Ellie laughed as a blueberry hit her in the nose.

"Wow..." Henry said. "I haven't seen him crack a smile in a while. She doesn't seem bothered by all this." Tess nodded in agreement noting the same. "So where were you heading?"

"The Fireflies base. We were gonna join up." Tess laughed quietly. "Something funny?" Henry asked. Tess shook her head. "A lot of people putting their stock on the Fireflies. Putting their trust in Marlene."

"Maybe there's a reason for that."

"So you don't know where they are and your just gonna drag him across the country to find them?"

"I'll tell you what." Henry leaned closer and stared Tess down. "How about I worry about my brother, and you worry about your girl." Tess smirked and held her hands up. "Easy." She said forcefully. "We're after the Fireflies too."

Henry took out a map. "There's an abandoned military radio tower. Any survivors from our group are meeting us there. You and your girl wanna join us it goes down tonight." Tess nodded. "I guess we better rest up then."

Hours later Ellie gently nudged Tess from her slumber. "He says it's time to go."

:3