Okay, so I lied. Here is another chapter, but this one is the last of the 'eh' chapters, I promise! I wrote this as filler mostly, but read on, please! Thanks for making it this far, I mean it! Also, review it if you have the time! Good or bad, I definitely want to hear it! Expect another update on Saturday! :)

"Go home, Joel. She ain't gonna talk to you." Tommy wouldn't open the door for him. Joel was extremely upset, and he wouldn't leave.

Ellie wouldn't come out of the house. If Joel didn't know any better, he'd think they were all in some kind of quarantine. All the doors and windows were locked, and the curtains were drawn. I kept raining, though, so he eventually gave up and went back home.

Joel waited until dinner for Ellie to come home. She never did. He waited in the living room for her to come home for bed, but she didn't. He slept alone in his bed, all night in an empty house.

...

Jemma still hadn't come home after three days. Rumors circulated around town, so he headed back to his brother's house.

Tommy was sitting on the front porch when he walked up.

"You need to talk to her, Joel," he said, and stood up. "She won't come out of her room. She won't eat or anything."

He led Joel to the downstairs bedroom, and left him alone in the hallway. Joel very hesitantly opened the door.

The curtains were closed tight, and no lights were on. It smelled like stale bread in the room. Joel flipped on the light.

The sheets had blood on them, and he felt himself get a little sick at the sight of it. She was turned away from him, but he could see that her hair looked greasy. Even the feeling in the room was wrong. Joel felt extremely uneasy in there, and he felt the urge to leave.

He sat down on the lone chair in the room. It was old and wooden, and its green paint was cracking and flaking off. Joel didn't say a word. He counted the stains on the ceiling, anything to keep from looking at the bed.

He wondered what was wrong with her to make her go to such an extreme. He knew that she was weird, but he didn't think she was crazy! Maybe there was something wrong with her baby. That was probably it, he thought. She didn't actually kill her baby, right? Something was wrong with it from the start. That made him feel better.

She turned to him. Jemma looked horrible. Her skin was so pale to looked almost translucent. She had dark circles under her eyes. Her demeanor was just terrible. But Joel didn't expect much from her. Not after what she had been through.

"Are you really just going to come here and not say anything? Or did you really want to look at the ceiling?" Her voice sounded like rocks going down a gravel chute.

Joel cleared his throat. "I-I think it's time for you to come home. It's not healthy for you to lay here. Besides, Ellie misses you."

"I should come home." She sighed. "I just wanted to sleep."

They stayed silent for a few minutes, and Joel left.

Tommy stopped him on the way out of the door. "I need to talk to ya."

Joel nodded. "Let's go to my house."

Tommy walked close. "The night that storm rolled in, I could feel it. Something bad was going to happen. I just didn't know what. I kept thinking about it all night, right until I fell asleep.

"Ellie crawled through the window because we couldn't hear her knocking on the door. She feeling out. She was so wet, and it was freezing outside, and I just knew that was it. That was what was going to happen.

"And when I saw Jemma, I swear to God my heart stopped beating. She looked sick, and she was bleeding, and, I didn't know what to do.

"Maria stayed with her all day, trying to help her. Jemma had woken up, and I guess that's when it started, but she fell down on her way here. That complicated things. And-"

They passed someone, and Joel smiled at him.

"And she was crying and screaming. We don't have any painkillers for her, and I can't imagine hat she was going through. It was so goddamn awful to me to sit there and let her suffer like that. Ellie was helpless. She felt awful because she wanted to help her out, but didn't know how.

"A few hours before you got back, she had her baby. Joel, you should have seen it."

He turned to Tommy. "What?"

"That baby was infected when it was born. The fungus was growing out of its skull."

Joel stopped. "Are you really telling me that she gave birth to a fucking monster?"

Tommy folded his arms over his chest. "You don't believe me?"

"Not really."

"Joel, that thing was not a human anymore. It's no wonder why she wanted to kill it. I'm amazing that she could, honestly."

"How could she not?"

"I'm not sure I would have been able to kill my own baby so easily."

Joel scoffed. "What else could you have done? Coddled it and keep it on a leash, hoping it didn't try to eat you during the night?"

"Don't be such an asshole. It was... I didn't know what to do. I don't see how it was possible for that to happen."

They got to Joel's house. "I don't really want to know," Joel said, and opened the door.

"What are you going to do?" Tommy asked, and walked inside.

"I'll have to think about it."

"You can't be a dick about it. It's not her fault."

Joel rolled his eyes. "You didn't even want her here at first."

Tommy sat down at the kitchen table. "She's a good person. I don't want to see her go. She's good for Ellie."

Joel ran himself a glass of water. He didn't want to see Jemma leave, either, but he couldn't shake the feeling that she was hiding something from them.

"Whatever," Joel said.

...

Jemma joined them for dinner that night. She ate more than Joel and Ellie, combined. Joel didn't say anything, though. He was glad to see her do something other than mope around in her bedroom.

When she started cleaning the dishes, Joel watched her from the corner of his eye. She wasn't as thin as the other women in town. He didn't think she was fat, but she was heavier than most. She looked healthy. She filled out her clothing well, and he couldn't stop looking at her. Her bones didn't jut out, and she looked soft and beautiful.

He groaned, and quickly started thinking about something else. He felt like a pedophile.

Ellie went to bed. She had to go to "school," and Joel made her go to bed at nine those nights. Ellie hated it, but she knew he was just trying to look out for her.

Jemma read in the living room. Joel sat next to her on the couch.

"Are you thinking about staying with us? I mean, permanently," Joel said.

She closed the book. "Do you want me to stay?"

"I'm giving the choice. I don't care, either way."

That hurt her feelings a little. She knew he wanted her to stay, but she wanted to hear him say it. She did want to stay, but at the same time, she felt like such a burden. She adored Ellie, though. She was like a little sister, and she wanted to be her mentor. Jemma felt safe here. She didn't have to keep one eye open while she slept. But, most of all, she was secretly relieved that she didn't have to take care of some baby.

Losing her child made her so sad, in a way. She carried it for so long, and then to have it taken away...

"Joel, I want to stay with you guys."

"Okay."

"But, I really need to go to sleep."

"Mmm."

...

A few days later, Ellie woke up freezing. Her teeth were chattering, and she was curled up into a ball. When she tried getting out of bed, she could barely move her fingers and toes because she was so cold.

She decided to say something over breakfast.

"Is it just me, or is it fucking cold in this house?"

Jemma stared into her food as though she hadn't heard her.

"I'm not cold," Joel said. "Are you cold?" He looked at Jemma. She nodded, slightly.

It was quiet a few seconds, then he said "Well, there's some houses a few miles west that haven't been completely ransacked. Jemma and I can go check them out today and see if we find some blankets."

Ellie groaned. "Can't I come, too?"

"You have 'school,'" Joel said. "So, no."

"Why not?" She whined. "It's not like I will even learn anything useful."

Jemma answered, "You know, World History is very relevant to today's society. You never know when you might need it."

Ellie snorted. "Sure. I'm just as likely to use algebra as I am knowing that Ancient Egypt was in the desert. Who actually cares about that stuff, anymore?"

"You never know," Joel muttered, and ended the conversation.

...

Jemma didn't want to go with Joel. She'd rather stay at home and sleep. Not pick through someone belongings, hoping to find some useful shit she would most likely never use.

She straggled behind him, waiting to see the houses he was talking about. It wasn't looking too good. She could see her breath in front of her, and she tried to warm her hands by rubbing them together.

Of course, Joel didn't notice that she was progressive getting farther and farther behind him. Either that, or he didn't care. If anything he moved faster, and Jemma stopped completely.

"Hey, dickhead. Can we stop for, like, five minutes, please?" She tried to not sound too desperate, but she failed. Even the sound of her own voice annoyed her.

"It's right there," he pointed ahead of them, and she saw three wood cabins. Two of them were small, and the other was huge, and right in the middle of them.

They went into the two smallest ones first. Jemma had found some clothes for Ellie, but the blankets and sheets were moldy and holey. She had read most of the books they had, but she snagged a few copies of National Geographic for herself. Joel picked up a set of kitchen knives, and some movies he had seen when he was younger.

"What're they called?" She asked, trying to seeing them, but Joel turned away from her.

"Nothing you've ever heard of," he said. "It was before your time."

"Just tell me."

"Okay. I have Transformers, the first one. And then I have the whole Indiana Jones series. Do you feel any better now?"

She made a face. "I've already seen those. I'm not as ignorant as you think I am."

Joel rolled his eyes. "Let's just get to the other house."