In case anyone was wondering, these last chapters have been such a BITCH to write. I started writing this story right after this chapter takes place, and so I was somewhat unmotivated when I wrote all the story so far. I PROMISE IT GETS BETTER! Anyhow, just to clarify, I imagined the perspectives of Joel and Jemma/Tommy/Ellie to be somewhat simultaneous. I don't know. This was really rushed, but I am just excited to get the rest of the story out. So, just let me know if this chapter is really terrible. And I'll fix it for y'all.

Much thanks for reading! Love you all!

When the two got to Tommy's house, they were both soaked to the bone. Ellie pounded on the door, but the wind was blowing so hard they probably couldn't hear it. Jemma shouted, but it was no use.

Ellie ran to the back door, and tried it. It was locked. She banged on that door, but there was no response. She noticed that one of the windows was unlocked, so she pushed it up enough to where she could crawl inside. She pulled off her soggy jacket and shoes, and yelled up the stairs.

"Hey! Tommy! We need help!" She could hear a loud thump, and she saw him coming down the stairs, holding a gun at her. "It's me!"

Ellie unlocked the front door for Jemma. She was shivering, and could barely walk.

Tommy met her at the door. "Is everything okay, why are you two here?"

She pushed past him to the bathroom, and slammed the door shut. Ellie and he could hear the sounds of her vomiting, and Ellie turned to him.

"Can we can get towels or something?"

Maria came downstairs. Her hair was messed up and her bedclothes were wrinkly, but she seemed somewhat alert. "It's really coming down," she said. "What's going on?" She saw Ellie. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, we were locking up the horses, and Jemma fell down and hurt herself."

"Hurt herself?" Tommy asked, stepping closer to Ellie. "How?"

"I don't know, she was bleeding and wanted to come here. We were close, so I didn't have time to ask."

Maria got Ellie a towel. It was tattered and faded, but so was everything else in the town. Ellie dried her hair. "She puking in the bathroom now. If you want to know, ask her."

Maria walked by herself to the bathroom. She knocked on the door, and Jemma let her in. Their conversation was inaudible, but Maria came out looking worried.

"Ellie, can you go upstairs and get some clothes for you and Jemma?"

As soon as she was out of ear shot, Maria turned to Tommy.

"Look, she's going to have that kid today. She was actually in labor before she ever fell down, but that made things go even faster."

Tommy sighed. He didn't want a baby to be born in his house, let alone a night like tonight.

"I don't even know how to help her. I'm not a doctor."

"It'll be fine," he said, and squeezed her arm.

...

The storm was raging, and the hunting group was just getting started. Joel and Samuel, a man in his mid thirties, were searching in a cave for some sort of shelter. They had set camp near the river earlier in the evening, but the rain and lightning forced them out.

The cave looked clear, so Sam called to the two down below. They were Robert and Chance, twin brothers, born right before the outbreak. The three other men weren't fantastic shots or had much experience in hunting, but all the men in the town took turns, and so Joel was forced to be with them.

He didn't actually mind. They were alright guys. They were kind of ignorant, though, and so Joel had a hard time holding a decent conversation with them. There was still a few hours left to sleep, so Joel laid his pack on the ground and tried to relax. The rock floor under him was freezing cold, and he tried to get his mind on something else.

He thought about what he wanted to do with Ellie once spring came around. Joel thought about taking her hiking or something, anything to get away from the town for a few days. Then he remembered Jemma. He wondered if she would stay with them after her baby was born. In one turn, he wanted her to stay, to help around the house, and liven things up. At the other, he didn't want her to stay because she was too much to handle for him. She was pretty weird and he wasn't sure how to deal with that.

Joel must have fallen asleep to those thoughts, because he woke up, and he felt like he hadn't skipped a second. He could hear the other men joking around while they made breakfast.

"Now, that's a mother I'd like to fuck."

"Did you see her ass? So fine."

Joel sat up and looked at them.

"Good morning, old man," said Chance.

"So," started Sam. "About that girl living with you guys..."

"Jemma's her name. What about her?"

Sam continued. "Is she single? I'm interested in getting to know her."

"Getting to know the inside of her," laughed Robert.

"Shut up, dumbass. I'm a grown man, she's a grown woman, and we can take things to the next level later."

"I just don't think she's your type." Joel said, surprised that he was defending her at all.

Robert scoffed. "Hang on. Are you fucking her already? Or have you got plans for her? She is a little young for you, but, hey, whatever floats your boat."

Joel rolled his eyes and got up. He passed on breakfast. Those idiots made him sick to his stomach.

The group headed down the river, waiting for something to show. Nothing did. Minutes turned into hours. Joel was beginning to lose hope. The most they saw was a skinny squirrel, and that wouldn't even feed one person.

The rain was fucking everything up. He was freezing cold, and wanted to go home. They were starting to hear lightning, and it was around noon.

"Do you think we should turn back?" Robert asked, looking at Joel.

"We better. Rather go vegetarian than kill myself over a damn deer."

...

Tommy and Ellie were watching old television shows upstairs while Maria and Jemma were downstairs. Tommy wanted to hide everything from Ellie, but at the same time wanted to involve her in the birth.

When he tried to go into the room downstairs, Maria quickly pushed him out. Jemma was having trouble, she said, and should really be left alone. He heard her crying and saw blood staining some towels on the floor. He couldn't remember what went into a birth, anyway, so he assumed it was all normal. Tommy turned Married with Children on for Ellie. Even though the volume was turned up loud, he could still hear Jemma now and then.

The storm was picking up again, and Tommy could feel the tension rise in the house. With every hour that passed and Jemma still hadn't delivered, he could feel himself getting more and more worried. He was pretty sure it wasn't supposed to happen that way.

Ellie had fallen asleep on the couch next to him. He guess she wasn't that interested in 90's sitcoms.

He heard a scream from downstairs.

"Hey, Tommy, come here!"

He ran down the stairs. Maria had blood on her hands.

"It's coming, feet first. She's lost plenty of blood, but she's not unconscious. Oh, Tommy, I don't know what I'm going to do." Her voice caught in her throat. "She's in so much pain and there's nothing I can do to help her."

He stood in the hallway while Maria went back with Jemma.

Her screams sent chills down his spine.

"Make it stop!" She wailed. "This is wrong, it has to be wrong, kill me or something, I can't handle this anymore!"

"Just push," Maria said. "It will be over soon."

A few wails later, and the room went quiet.

"Can you cut that?" Jemma asked.

"Oh, my God," Maria whispered.

He heard something drop on the floor, and a blood curdling scream from Jemma.

"What the fuck is that?!"

Tommy turned into the room to see Jemma stomping on the baby's skull. The dress she was wearing was streaked with blood, and it looked like a scene from a horror movie. "What in God's name are you doing?!" Tommy yelled, and pushed her against the wall.

He looked at the remains of the baby on the floor. Something was coming out of its skull. It looked like-

It couldn't be, he thought to himself.

It could. Anything was possible.

Tommy saw what he thought was fungus coming from the baby's skull.

...

The rain was starting to get pretty bad again. The four men jogged along the way they had come, all the while searching for infected.

At that speed, the could easily make it to town in a couple of hours. Had nothing gone wrong, of course.

Joel looked back to the south, where the clouds were coming from. He saw black clouds heading their way. He knew immediately that they wouldn't be able to make it before that cell hit them. As he began to turn to head back to their course, he saw a flash of lightning.

"Hey, over there!" Yelled Sam.

Three deer were hiding under a large tree. Its thick branches covered them from the rain. They were unaware that the group was looking at them.

"Should we shoot 'em?" One asked.

"No. Lets get closer," Joel whispered, and pulled out his bow.

The four moved in on the deer. Joel signaled for them to stop, and he raised his bow. He knocked an arrow, and aimed for the deer in the middle. Chance got the one on the right, and Robert aimed for the other.

"On three,"

The two nodded.

"One," A boom of thunder.

"Two," he blinked rain out of his eyes.

"Three," and he let go.

Two of the deer fell to the ground immediately. The third limped around, and Sam shot it down with his rifle.

Chance cheered. "Whoo! Fuck yeah!"

Joel even smiled a bit to himself. He was glad that they managed to do something, even if they were some small deer.

It took them longer to get back than anticipated. The storm did catch up with them, and they had to run the last stretch of road. Joel carried the deer he killed on his back, and he could feel a trickle of its blood running down his arm.

When they got to town, a strange feeling fell over Joel. His heart started to race, and he became jittery. He thought it was just because he was so fucking cold. He dropped the deer off with the others, and headed home.

He still couldn't shake that feeling, though. As Joel entered the house, he knew right away that something was wrong. He went to the neighbor's house.

After the third knock, she came to the door.

"Do you know happened to the girls?" Joel tried to sound normal, but he could hear the concern in his voice.

"Didn't you hear?" She asked through the screen. Joel could only see her outline. "Jemma killed her baby."