Chapter 19: Relictus

The snow had settled and the avalanche was over... all was quiet but for the cold wind sweeping away any loose powders light enough to be whisked away.

Ellie was fortunate because she was only buried partially under a few inches of the cold snow. She climbed out and brushed the debris out of her hair. It was all very difficult with her hands still bound. "Rylan! Can you hear me!?" She looked around and only saw white and the tree trunks that sprouted out of the ground. Panic began to ensue in her heart thinking she was the only survivor, but then she saw a something stirring. "Rylan?"

He coughed as his hair poked out of the snow and dug himself out. He smiled as Ellie ran towards him. "You're okay, that's-! OOF!" Ellie had tackled him into an embrace and they fell back into the snow.

"You fucking idiot! You scared the shit outta me!" Ellie barked at him as she rested her forehead against his which was really hot like a fever. "...Are you sick or something?"

He responded in comfort. "I've been fighting a cold since I left you, don't worry about that alright?"

"Okay..." She nodded as Rylan wrapped his arms around her back. Wait what? "Hey! How'd you get free?"

Rylan must have just noticed himself because his eyebrow rose in a surprised expression. "Holy shit, you're right. Probably broke during the fall... turn around so I can get you."

Ellie gave him a quick but sincere kiss as she maneuvered her body so that her back was facing him as they sat up. "Hurry, I think we can get back to Jackson and-"

"I'd hate to interrupt this cute escape attempt," Grant's voice came from behind them as it echoed across the area. He aimed the crossbow at them, his face red from the anger and flushed from the cold. "But we got someplace to be you goddamn brats. Get the fuck up!"

Rylan gritted his teeth as he pulled Ellie up while at arrow-point, the three of them stood off at each other for a second before Grant gave the order to make their way in the direction towards the Firefly trucks. "Let's not keep the Commander waiting..."

Ellie clenched her still bound fists as her eyebrows furrowed and she spat. "You're his bitch... you know that right?"

"What do you say you little shit?" Grant growled back. "I will not hesitate to put an arrow where it really hurts but still keep you alive. Apologize!"

Ellie chuckled at his demand. "Yeah, sorry bitch."

Before another word could be said to retort or to threaten again, "Oh my god..." Rylan was looking off behind Grant as he saw at least a dozen bodies rise out of the snow like zombies in a graveyard...

*Click Click Click GROAH? WRAGHHAA!*

Play the Last of Us OST- Head Rush

"Infected! RUN!"

*GROAH!*

Grant trek behind Ellie and Rylan as the three of them bolted across the forest tundra back up through the cliffs to escape the sprinting Infected chasing them. Tall hills of snow where too unreliable and risky to climb because that would slow them down and might make them fall. They had to keep on stable ground to have a chance.

They all ran around a boulder and the amount of snow on the ground significantly decreased for some reason. It was now only scattered pine needles and sprinkles of white powder that littered the forest floor here; perhaps because they were in the shade of another wide cliff above them.

But the Infected were closing in on their victims. And the only option to move forward was for the three of them to drop into a rocky ravine which snaked its way out of their sight. They were still within the Runners' and Clickers' radar, following them like bloodhounds though.

"Drop down there!" Grant ordered them. "Move now!"

Rylan and Ellie obeyed only because their goals with Grant were now aligned with his for the first time: Survive and Escape. Rylan hopped down and landed on his feet and put his arms out to catch Ellie and she jumped down as well. Rylan caught her as Grant fired another arrow and followed suit. "Go go go go GO!"

Grant took the lead as they all ran down this trench which was eight or nine feet high on both sides and it was wide enough for only two people to run side by side. The Infected continued to give chase and they flooded the ravine after them.

*GROAH!* *RAHHHHWWWWWWW!*

They were running and running and running until the trench finally opened up into a depression which was a low point in the ground. Basically they were in a sinkhole, surrounded by higher ground in all directions. In the simplest of terms in the mind where adrenaline was pumping like no other: they were trapped...

"No no no! Where do we go!?" Rylan looked around as he tried to climb out of the sinkhole to no avail.

"Hold on a second." Grant responded as he rummaged through his own backpack.

"Uh guys? ...We don't have a second. Here they come!" Ellie pointed at the charging Runners coming right at them as they entered the depression too. "Do something!"

"Grant give me my crossbow now!" Rylan demanded as Grant pulled out some rope attached to a hook. They could use that to climb outta here. "I'll hold them off."

"Be my fucking guest," Grant tossed him back his crossbow which he caught. "Keep those damn things off of us! Little lady, get over here!"

Ellie got the message as she stood by Grant attempting to swing the rope and hook onto the ledge. "Give me a gun so I can help him! Cut these off!"

*SWOOSH*

Rylan made the first head-shot and the Runner fell to the ground dead, but there were at least six more coming at them. The brunette reloaded his arrow as Grant cut Ellie's zip tie and gave her back her pistol. "Anytime now!"

Grant found a tough looking tree to hang the metal hook on and climb out of the natural death pit they were in. He swung it up, and he got it as the rope tightly secured itself around the trunk of the tree, all they had to do was climb out. Ellie and Rylan were shooting with great accuracy and precision with bullets and arrows until they were both out of ammo and the first wave was over. "Girl goes first! Climb!"

*Click* *Click* *Click* *RAWWHH!*

Ellie didn't need to be told twice as three more Clickers were coming at them. Rylan pulled only two intact arrows out of the corpses of two Stalkers and reloaded. As Ellie took the rope and went up, Grant fired most of his clip into two of the Clickers and Rylan shot the last Clicker in the head.

"Come on!" Ellie called down to them, realizing they were clear for now.

In the heat of the moment, Grant retreated back to the rope first and he began climbing as Rylan covered him, listening to a couple more Infected entering the pit they were in. Grant made it to the top as Ellie shouted at him. "Rylan, get out of there!"

The brunette nodded as he slung his crossbow over his shoulder and he grabbed the rope too. He pulled himself up as he climbed and climbed to join Ellie and Grant. "Sorry boy, you ain't coming with us."

Before Rylan could get a hand on the ledge of the cliff, Grant quickly took out a sharp knife and effectively sliced Rylan's lifeline that was the rope. And Ellie screamed. "NO!"

Rylan fell back down into the pit with his back slamming into the snow, and he was looking up at Grant wrapping Ellie around the waist. "You motherfucker, let me g-!" Until Grant knocked her out in the head with the butt of his gun and her body fell limp.

"Lot less baggage for me to deal with by myself, I'm sure the Commander will understand..." He gave one last creepy grin down at him. "You have yourself a nice day..."

Grant chuckled as he slung an unconscious Ellie on his shoulder and he ran off and out of sight of Rylan who only had one usable arrow to defend himself with. "Dammit... Goddammit! ELLIE! Shit! Shit..."

Rylan had to think fast, really fast, because he could hear the last round of Infected coming into the pit. He saw the rope on his right, hook-less but perhaps usable, then on his left he saw a thick tree branch that could be used as a melee weapon. He had four Runners coming at him screaming and hollering, flailing their arms around as they sprinted at him in unison.

Rylan tossed the crossbow aside for now as he pulled his arrow out and held it in his left hand like a small shiv, while he grabbed his hidden hunting knife in his right hand. "Come on!"

Rylan kicked the first Runner back as he used this arrow to stab the second Runner deep in the eye and the shaft broke off, and Rylan spun around and stabbed another Runner and sliced its neck open, spouting rotten blood like a fountain as it stained the now impure white snow beneath their feet.

Another Runner however was able to tackle Rylan to the ground and get on top of him, and before the last Runner fell on him too, Rylan with an outstretched hand grabbed the tree branch and held them both back using it to block them by their necks. Snapping their teeth and inching their ways closer and closer with their combined weight against the tree branch and Rylan underneath, the boy locked his right elbow so he could thrust his knife into the head of one of the Runners with using his left hand.

A quick sharp pain shot up that same arm as Rylan winced and pulled back and stabbed the last Runner in the face... and the only thing that was left to make a sound was Rylan, his heart beating a mile a minute... "Oh my god... How'd I do that?"

Rylan pushed the corpses that fell off of him and his eyes gazed over on the strewn rope ready for use, and then he looked up at the tree above him... "Ellie..."

Bill, Olivia, and Lance had all fortunately survived the avalanche as well; however they were separated from their squad leader Grant, so they had to double-track across the cliffs and circle around to meet up with him. Bill tried to radio him in but got no response. The three of them were sprinting along another mountain trail when Liv barked at them, "Get down! Mira, I see someone!"

Bill ordered the drop-down and they all went prone as they got on the ground and peered over the ledge. Bill was surprised that he could see none other than Joel running across their field of vision down below. He certainly looked like a man on mission, but their orders from Devlin was to take him in, dead or alive...

"I got a shot." Olivia assured him. "I can take him out easy."

"Hold on a damn second." Bill had to think this over for a moment. He didn't really know how he felt about killing Joel, in fact he felt really hesitant about this whole mission.

"It's your call Bill." Lance chimed in to snap him out of his thoughts.

"He doesn't see us, and he's getting away." Olivia informed them as she followed her crosshairs on Joel's distant back. "Bill!"

"Stand down." Bill choked out as he forced Olivia's gun down and Joel rounded into a glade of trees, out of sight now. "I ain't about to kill an old friend, not like this..."

"Since when was he your friend?" An outraged Olivia inquired.

"Since before I met either of you. I don't roll like that, alright?" Bill retorted and argued. "The Fireflies want him dead, so we'll just say so. And by the time they figure that out, we'll be long gone."

Lance smiled. "Okay, I can get behind that."

However Olivia huffed as she rubbed her eyes. "Ay ay ay, I really hope you know what you're doing..."

"Well, I'm doing something." Bill responded as they all got up and continued with their rendezvous. "Let's keep moving."

Grant was panting as he shuffled his way through the untouched snow and looking back over his other shoulder for any more Infected. "Seems clear, good." Ellie was still bobbing along as Grant carried her, and she still apparently seemed unconscious. But that was when in the distance Grant spotted some shelter from the elements. "Perfect."

At the base of a cliff high above them and between two large boulders was a rock shelter that served as a shallow cave that could be used to lie low for a while, and also radio in Bill on his location and status. But when Grant carried Ellie into the cave it looked deeper than he previously imagined, he couldn't even see the other side of it. He didn't have the means to start a fire, so he stayed by the mouth of the cave.

Grant put the girl down and pulled out his walkie-talkie, "Bill come in. I said come in, son of a bitch..." All he got was static, so he turned the dial on top and tried again. But before he got a chance to...

*HUFF* *GROWL*

Lumbering out of the darkness of the cave, Grant had unfortunately interrupted the predator that was concerning the citizens of Jackson, weighting over a thousand pounds with brown fur and white tips in color, there was a pronounced hump on its shoulders definitely confirming that this was the Grizzly Bear. "Oh shit!" This was way worse than Clickers. He had to get away, now!

Ellie had finally woken up and realized the situation. So she pulled out her hidden switchblade and, "RAH!" drove the steel directly into Grant's leg and twisted the handle.

"AHH!" Grant reeled from the splitting pain that sprang from his leg and learned that it was the girl who had done it and she quickly pulled it out and ran off from him. "Girl! Don't you ah-!"

Grant's leg gave out and he fell face-first when he tried to give chase, but his leg wouldn't let him as there was a small gaping hole in the muscle from the knife wound Ellie had given him. The redhead was already gone through when he saw the bear closing in on its new guest... and its new dinner...

Grant pulled out his gun and pointed his pistol at the Grizzly and fired his last three shots. The bear shied away only momentarily from the sound and the slight injuring from the small bullets but then it came at him again, angry.

*ROAR!* *ROOAARRR!*

"No! NO! Not like this! Not like this! PLEASE!" Grant's pleas fell on beastly ears as he attempted to crawl away, as the bear quickly got on top of him and "PLEASE! AHH-!" swung its huge paw with five-inch claws and slashed him across his face.

The blood splatter splashed on the cave walls as the bear's muzzle and jaw buried itself into Grant's motionless body and ripped out his throat. The color drained from the man's carcass as a pool of red formed around the cavern. The Grizzly gave another huff and dragged its snack back deeper into the cave.

Oh the irony for this former cannibal and his fate, only to be mauled and devoured himself...

Ellie was running, she was pretty good at that by now, she had to get back to that sinkhole they were in. She had to check on Rylan to see if he was okay, she knew he would be, he always was. He was like Joel, a survivor; nothing would ever get him down. It wasn't long before she found the tree where the hook was still on it. So she anxiously looked over the edge to see multiple bodies of Infected lying all around the snow down there.

She noticed that the rope that Grant had cut was thrown over a branch but only just swayed slowly in the winter breeze, like someone was about to use it but then decided not to. The sky then began to sprinkle down a fresh batch of snow in the form of light flurries, like tiny twinkles that fell down from the heavens as the now setting sun gleamed off of them.

Then her green eyes found him. "Rylan!" He had propped himself up on a boulder in a sitting-position. Ellie didn't waste any time in climbing back down and landing on his level, sprinting towards him as he didn't even give her a glance to her presence. She finally fell to her knees beside him on his left side. She panted. "Rylan... are you alright?"

Play The Last of Us Left Behind OST – Left Behind

For some reason they were both remembering the night they both spent together, the day they first met. The bottle of wine, and the drinking game and its particular questions.

"Tch... That's... that's not fair..." Rylan stated somberly.

Ellie responded in distaste. "You're fucking right it's not... I'm still waiting for my turn..."

"Ellie..." Rylan sobbed for the first time in a long while in front of his girlfriend, perhaps even the first time. "...It's my turn."

"What the hell are you talking about? Come on, get up." She shook him to no avail, and she finally noticed the tears running down his face. "Rylan...?"

"Ellie..." Rylan rolled up his left sleeve to reveal a bleeding bite wound, mirroring hers...

You got another chance... but still, I really can't imagine it... you..." And then he stopped himself before he could ask another question and gave the wine bottle back to her. "Your turn."

She wanted to check something first as she took it from him. "Hey Rylan?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you care that I'm Infected?" Ellie almost shied away. "I mean, do you see me any differently?"

"...I do see you differently, yeah, I kind of have to." Rylan had to be honest about that. "...But I still think you're too pretty to even be Infected though..." Both of their eyes widened in embarrassment. And they both knew what happened later. That day was the beginning of something special and now...

"What... what... what happened?" Ellie questioned in a panicked tone as Rylan remained silent and only cast his eyes downward from her. "No. No, that's not... No. No. NO. NO!"

"Yes. Ellie it is." Rylan confirmed sadly as he rolled up his sleeve to hide his bite from her and from himself.

It was a bite... this was real, Rylan was bitten. He was Infected. "I'm sorry... Ellie I..." He couldn't even finish his own sentence. "I don't know what to do..."

Ellie sniffled as she tried to collect herself and assess the traumatic situation before her. Oh fuck how this reminded her of Riley so much. She sobbed. "I hate you... you know that? I hate you so much right now. How could you... how could you let yourself..." She could barely get out the word 'bitten'. This couldn't be happening; this CAN'T be happening!

Emotions were running high for both of them, but the boy took a deep breathe and sighed. "Ellie it's going to be okay... I still got time." Rylan stated as he got up on his own two feet. "A day or two at best. I'll get you back to Joel, alright?" He winced as he felt his arm throbbing and the blood dripping from his bite slide under his sleeve and off the tips of his fingers. "You'll be fine."

Ellie got up as well and she stopped him. "You'll be fine too, you fuckin' got it!?"

Rylan let loose the ghost of a smile as he sniffed back some more tears and remorse of his own. "I got it..."

"OY! No tiempo for crying." Olivia hollered over to them from behind as the two teens turned around to see her, Bill, and Lance pointing their guns at them. "You're not going anywhere!"

"Just stay where you are, if you please." Lance added as he quickly ran around them and covered their flank with his gun. There was no escape for them now...

Bill then approached them, his shotgun in his hands as he loomed over them. "Let's go girl, you know what's gonna happen."

"Fuck you!" Ellie pulled out her switchblade as she held it in a threatening-like fashion at Bill and stood in front of Rylan. "Just stay away from us!"

"Ellie right?" Lance tried to convince the distraught redhead. "You can save yourself a lot of pain if you-!"

"Fuck you too!" Ellie hissed at him as she pointed her knife at him instead, "Leave us al-! *BANG!* Rah..." She felt the bean-bag, non-lethal round being fired right into her stomach as Bill's smoking shotgun barrel returned to his holster on his back.

"Lance, grab her." Bill ordered him as he closed in. "Be done with it."

Rylan wouldn't allow that. "Don't you touch her!" He warned as he held Ellie's body from them and stepped back. Rylan even took Ellie's switchblade to defend himself with as she succumbed into unconsciousness from the pain of Bill's effective bean-bag round.

Bill gave the final order however and Olivia took the shot, and her bullet found its way expertly past Ellie and into Rylan's chest... "AHH!" And both of them fell back into the snow. "Ellie! Ellie..." He still loosely held onto her switchblade like it was his last shred of hope...

Rylan though could feel warmth flowing across his staining red shirt now... and he began to feel numb, like the pain was beginning to ebb away. It became so much easier to just let go... to give up.

He looked off to his side and saw that Lance had picked Ellie up and carried her out of his field of vision. Then... he heard Bill say something that made his absolute soul shudder as he checked his left arm. "He's Infected... just leave him then, he'll turn or bleed out before he can do anything..."

"Go ahead and confirm then for the Commando." Olivia reminded him as she walked out of his field of vision as well.

Bill then whispered to a radio he had on his person. "Commander come in, we got the cure and Joel is history. We're on the move now. Be prepared to open the doors for us. Go Bighorns." And he gave one last look at the boy before he walked off to join the others. Rylan then turned his head to look back up at the sky, snow flurries still falling on him, and all he saw was light hazing over into darkness...

A/N-Relictus means Left Behind in Latin. With these events about to unfold, how will Joel be able to salvage the situation and save Ellie? Will the prayers be answered? It's up to you. ;) Tell me what you want. Await the next chapter of this saga. Stay tuned...