The moment Ellie came to, she started pushing at the hand that tried to hold her down.

"What happened?" she asked, her voice loud in her ears as Anna and Matt's blurred faces came into focus, and slower, Maria and Joel's.

"You fainted, Ellie," Anna said in a sober voice. "I don't know what happened. You just sort of – went."

"Well, now I'm back," she said, grunting and pulling herself into a sitting position. Matt placed a restraining hand on her shoulder as Maria's voice commanded, "Stay there, Ellie. You're probably still dizzy. Anna, get her some water?"

Anna dashed off without waiting to be bidden twice as Joel knelt and pulled Ellie into his arms, getting to his feet as she snorted quietly against him.

"Gosh. I'm getting royal treatment."

"Quiet. We're going to get you some food."

Matt trailed up the steps, his eyes wide, feeling useless. "Anything I can do, Joel?" he asked.

"Ellie, anything Matt can do?"

"Yeah, make sure that my guitar doesn't get left outside..."

Joel chuckled. "You heard her." He side-stepped through the screen door which Maria held open for him, and was met by Anna bearing a cup of water.

"Here," she said breathlessly.

"Holy crap, I'm not dead, I just passed out," Ellie said irritably, squirming in Joel's arms. "Put me down."

"Now, sit still," Joel ordered, holding her tight and walking into the living room, depositing her on the couch. "Don't you even think about gettin' up til you finish that water and whatever food Maria brings you, understand? You can't expect to go around all invincible without eatin' food and drinkin' water."

Ellie nodded guiltily.

"And when you're done, you go out there and clean up that mess you made in the compound. I don't know what you were doin', but it looks like an eyesore to me."

"Matt and I can clean it up," Anna said, pushing against the young man as he entered, bearing the guitar.

"Hey! Hold it – Ellie, where do you want this?"

"Hm." Her voice echoed into the water cup, and she swallowed. "Anywhere."

"C'mon, let's go clean up. Take it easy, we'll be back," Anna called, leaving no room for protest, and ushering Matt back out the door.

Maria met Joel in the kitchen, her hands on her hips. "This ever happened to her before?"

Joel shook his head. "No, but she didn't eat nothing this morning, and may have just..." He trailed off, shrugging.

Maria dropped her voice. "Sometimes a girl will get faintish, you know..." She trailed off, and Joel took a deep breath.

"Alright, just don't push it. I'm goin' to meet Tommy over there by that rift in the fence."

Maria nodded, and turned to begin scrounging up something from the kitchen cabinets.

Meanwhile, Anna and Matt worked in silence, dragging the debris back to its respective piles. Anna inhaled sharply as a splinter entered her finger, and Matt lifted his head.

"What happened?"

"Splinter," she called. "Not life-threatening."

He chuckled, and took his notebook from the keg which had been supporting it, and tucked it under one arm.

"Did you ever read the comic?"

Anna shook her head. "No." A smile twisted her mouth. "But I think I should, if only because you and Ellie like it so much."

"It's good. I'd like to write an expanded novelized version of it. Something with more narrative, more description. Less dialogue and sound-effects."

Anna cocked her head. "But it's an action story."

Matt squinted. "Yes. But I think that even though people have to be ready to do anything at a moment's notice in this kind of society, attention spans should be trained to be longer, cultivate a more sophisticated palate for the written word... The way things used to be."

Anna was listening raptly; he had no idea how out of place he was in this crude hand-to-mouth world. He had the spirit of a higher being, the spirit of one from another universe, which might be earth-bound for some short time, but would eventually wing its flight whence it came, taking any and every pure soul it had converted to a doctrine of a finer world and higher thought with it on the glorious journey. Anna didn't realize she was staring until it was too late.

"Ellie," she murmured at last, looking away, an uncharacteristic awkwardness overcoming her. "Let's go check on her."

"Everything okay?" Matt asked. "With you, I mean?" He wasn't sure if he had detected something strange in her mannerisms, and always wanted to err on the side of cautious kindness.

"Yeah." Anna flashed a smile for his benefit, her eyes sparkling, hiding whatever thoughts had nearly risen to the surface. That sexy black-haired writer. The one that I've known for way longer, and who still doesn't pay me any attention.

Some time passed, and the day that the grass finally began to take on a decidedly green hue, Ellie was sitting with Tommy and Joel at the kitchen table cleaning the firearms.

"Hey," Ellie spoke up, breaking the silence. "Matt is scared of guns, isn't he."

"Haven't talked to him about it, but he doesn't seem too fond of 'em," Tommy replied with a slight chuckle.

"Somebody should teach him to shoot."

Joel let out a snort. "I think his dad tried. At least that's what I hear. My thinkin' if someone can't handle a gun safely, don't give 'em a gun at all."

"How's anyone supposed to learn, then?" Tommy put in. "We got together a little group of the women who wanted to learn to shoot some time back and taught 'em all – now we've got more people who can fight if we need to."

"Tell me that when somebody gets his head blown off in an 'accident'," Joel grumbled, sighting down the barrel of the shotgun, satisfied at last with its cleanliness. "Like I said. Somebody who's scared of a gun sure as heck shouldn't be shootin' one."

"I could teach him," Ellie put in, looking between the two men. Joel stared at her as if she had just announced she had six fingers, while Tommy tried in vain to cover his chortling with coughing.

"That's funny, Ellie," Tommy managed at last, clearing his throat. "Real funny."

"I'm serious." Her green eyes were wide. "Maybe... maybe not not with a gun - try a bow instead. My bow."

"That bow ain't yours," Joel protested.

"I use it more than you," Ellie shot back. "But I think he should have a chance. Another chance. In case he..." she gestured, "I dunno, grew out of it."

"Ellie, I see where you're comin' from, but I don't think it's worth it," Joel said, taking a deep breath. "It only takes a second of stupidity for somethin' to happen -"

"What, like, break an arrow? Shoot a wall?"

Tommy seemed to be thoroughly enjoying their banter. "I think a bow's a safe bet. Just make sure you're shootin' into the woods or away from any entrances where there could be people."

"Pffff," Ellie rolled her eyes. "Yeah. I'm not stupid."

She twisted the barrel of her revolver around and around in the silence that followed, the noise the only sound in the room.

"You gonna be all twitchy until you get an answer, huh?" Joel said, giving her something near a reluctant smile.

"Yeah." She shifted in her chair, pushing in the ejector pin and laying her gun on the table.

"Fine. Go on, then," Joel said, shooing a hand at her. "You ain't much use here. May as well teach the kid something he oughtta know."

"Awesome- I promise I'll be careful!" Ellie burst out, untangling her legs from those of the chair and getting to her feet. A few moments later she exited the house, her bow slung over her back, a stash of arrows in her hand.

"Matt..." she called, hurrying between the tipsy rows of structures. "Matt!"

"In the generator room," Maria called from her position near the north gate. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, fine, I'm gonna teach Matt to shoot!" she called back, waving her handful of arrows at the woman, who nodded with silent approval.

Matt came forth, wiping his hands on his jeans. "Hey, Ellie." He smiled, and offered an arm for a side hug, but Ellie gestured to the bow.

"Hey, can you get away?"

He cocked his head. "Are you... going hunting?"

"Yep, and you're coming – if they'll let you."

Matt hesitated. "I don't... I'm not good at shooting things."

Ellie put her free hand on her hip. "It's target practice, you wimp."

"What?" he said, astonishment pitching his voice high. "What did you call me?"

"A wimp!" Ellie repeated, a challenge in her eyes. "You should learn to shoot. Protect yourself."

"I've seen enough of that..." Matt murmured, going a shade paler than his normal hue. "We're safe here. I don't want to kill anything unless I have to."

"Nope." Ellie's voice was firm. "One, we're trying to survive here. Talk about 'higher feelings' or whatever can come after this infection thing is wiped out. Two, unless you wanna be a vegetarian, we've gotta shoot stuff. For food. But, since I'm nice, today we can shoot trees." She started to offer him the handful of arrows, but snatched them out of reach with an afterthought. "Unless... that's going to mess up your hopes of a good society."

"Just give me the arrows, Ellie," Matt grumbled, taking them from her and giving her a gentle push toward the gate. "You know, if I didn't like you so much, and if you weren't a girl, I might shove you."

"Go ahead." Ellie shrugged. "It might feel good to get it out of your system."

Matt just laughed. "Where are we going?"

"Just outside the wall. We can shoot the trees to the east."

Ellie showed him how to hold the bow – something that came fairly naturally to the young man, and then how to notch an arrow to the string.

"Not so high, look." She adjusted it. "Or you're gonna shoot the ground. Not that handy."

"Thank you, O Wise One," Matt murmured, squinting an eye shut and sighting down the shaft.

"Anytime," Ellie replied. "Alright. So, pull it back, and don't let it go til you're sure of what you're shooting. Yup, all the way back to your cheek."

Matt did so, his arms shaking slightly as he bent the bow as far as she instructed. "Gosh, Ellie, how do you do this?"

"Practice. You can still lift more than me," she consoled. "Whenever you're ready."

Matt released the bowstring with a twang and the arrow struck the bark of the tree with a thud, embedding itself deep within the wood.

"You're a natural!" Ellie crowed. "Do another!"

Suppressing a smile, Matt notched another arrow and started to draw it back when Ellie's voice interrupted - "Hey, hey, remember, don't do that with your elbow." She demonstrated. "Burns like hell if the string hits it. Believe me, I know."

Nodding, Matt adjusted his stance and successfully fired a few more shots, most striking the ground near the tree, but a few driving deep into the bark.

"See?" Ellie tilted her head, the wind toying with wisps of hair around her face. "It's not hard."

"And not as loud as a gun," Matt admitted approvingly. "I like it."

"Good. Now we've just gotta go get –" Mid-sentence, Ellie stopped short, her face blanching as a strange pain struck deep within her torso. She doubled over wordlessly, her arm clamped across her middle, her other arm outstretched for support against the compound wall.

"Ellie-?" Matt grabbed her by the shoulders. "What is it?"

"Gosh," she gasped. "N-nothing, I just – all the sudden I got all weird feeling. Like somebody tied my stomach in a knot."

"I kind of doubt that," Matt said, worry seeping into his voice. "Come on, let's get these arrows and get back."

Ellie walked gingerly down the length of their improvised range and helped Matt collect the arrows in silence. As they walked back, she started to say, "Hey, don't mention that to Jo –"

"Don't mention what to Joel?" The man himself stood there. "Nice shootin' by the way."

"How do you know?" Matt inquired, somewhat bemused.

"Well, neither of you are bleedin', so I'm guessing it went okay."

"Ellie did have a strange thing – a cramp, I guess –" She trod on his foot too late.

"It's nothing," Ellie said, but the remaining pallor of her face, making her freckles stand out like flecks of dirt on a sheet of paper, convinced Joel otherwise.

"Tell your dad I'll be along in a bit," Joel said curtly to Matt, who nodded, and handed over the bow to the girl.

"Bye, Ellie. Thanks for your patience."

"Joel, what're you –"

"Just keep walkin'."

Joel ushered Ellie directly back to Tommy and Maria's house, ignoring her confused protests all the way up the stairs. He escorted her through the doorway of her room with a hand on the back of her shoulder, and stood with his arms folded as she sat on the edge of the bed. Something in his stance, in his countenance frightened her. It was as if... she had done something wrong. Whatever it was, if it made Joel act this way, it shouldn't be brushed off. She shivered.

"What happened," he demanded.

"I don't know what happened, I was fine one minute, and all the sudden –"

"Did you eat breakfast?"

"No," Ellie scowled, "I hardly ever eat breakfast."

"That's new."

"Not really." She shrugged. "I'm not hungry when I wake up like I used to be." Ellie furrowed her brow and stretched slightly, rubbing her torso as if checking that the cramp was really gone. "Scared the crap out of Matt..." she murmured.

"You've been scarin' the crap out of everybody, Ellie," Joel said in a low voice. "This is gettin' serious."

"I just don't know what the heck –" The girl stopped short, her eyes moving quickly, nervously. "It's so weird, I'm fine, and then all the sudden I'm –"

"Ellie," Joel said, sudden realization dawning on him, as he unfolded his arms and pitched his voice to a more calming tone, "You'd better talk to Maria about this, I don't know if I –"

"I don't want to talk to her!" Ellie burst out, her voice breaking, her eyes enormous. "I don't want to talk to anyone about it except you! Tell me what's going on."

"But I ain't an expert on girls' –"

"You had a wife," Ellie spat, "or a girlfriend, or something, whatever Sarah's mother was, so you'd better not pretend to know less about weirdness like this than I do, because it isn't true."

Joel stiffened, and his eyes grew glassy. "Don't you talk like that, you hear?" he managed, his voice low and gravely. "You don't bring up something that hurts to somebody when you're mad, ever. Got that?"

"I'm getting scared," Ellie whispered, drawing her knees up to her chest, and giving in to the shaking the wracked her small frame. "You're scaring me, what in the world did I do?"

Joel's resolve cracked. "Come here, baby," he muttered, pulling her into his arms.

"Am I getting infected?" Ellie managed. "Is my immunity wearing off, what's going on..."

"You need to talk to Maria," Joel said, disturbance on his face, but Ellie pulled away, facing him.

"No! You tell me what's going on, Joel!"

Joel let his eyes fall shut, and inhaled a deep breath. "We already did this before, and I said I wasn't gonna explain it again –"

"I need to know." Her voice was hard, her jaw set.

Joel met her gaze. "That bleedin' thing I told you about, yeah? Has it been happening?"

"Not for a while, but it comes and goes," Ellie said in a low voice, shrugging.

Joel cursed under his breath.

"What?" Ellie's voice pitched higher. "What is it?"