Chapter 6 Ellie

She woke up by knocking on a door, causing her to jump up and look for a weapon. 'What the hell.' Ellie thought as she looked around and recognized the place as her old studio. 'Did I fuck it up again and they found me? My stuff is here too. Some of it at least. Maria must have kept my place free all this time.' she snapped out of her thoughts when the knocking started again. While feeling her face for injuries she went to open the door. She was shocked to see Jesse stand there.

"You look like you've seen a ghost." Jesse said "Hey it wouldn't happen to be because you kissed my girl last night?"

'Jesse, but how. Is this a dream? Wait, kissed Dina last night that means Joel is going to die today. This is a weird dream.'

"Hey relax, I'm just messing with you man, we broke up over a week ago so I don't care. Go get dressed, you got patrol." Jesse said.

Still confused and in shock Ellie closed the door. She walked around the studio, quickly becoming determined that whatever was going on she'd save Joel this time around. She grabbed a jacket and remembered the conditions, the snow storm. She went to her closet and grabbed a thicker dirty white jacket instead, put on a pair of boots and went to get her back pack. As she saw her kimber micro 9 pistol laying on her desk she knew it wouldn't be sufficient, so she opened her foot locker that contained some better weapons that she kept at home. As she grabbed her battle belt it triggered a flashback.

She was on a long patrol with Joel and Tommy when she was 15, they stayed in a mansion that had been abandoned long ago. Having woken up early and being unable to sleep she had gone to mess with the safe they found earlier. It was a simple safe, still it took her quite some time of messing with the lock before it opened. Joel and Tommy had woken up in the mean time and had started making something to eat and packing up their stuff. The sound the safe made when she opened it caught their attention.

"Anything good in there?" Joel asked.

"Looks like guns and ammo." Ellie said as she grabbed a wooden box.

She had just opened the box when the two brothers arrived, she didn't know much about guns but it looked like something special. She had just pulled out the magazine and locked back the slide when Tommy grabbed it out of her hands.

"Holy shit, it's a Wilson Combat xtac elite, they had barely started making these just before the outbreak." he said as he inspected the pistol.

"Give it back." Ellie said as she tried to grab the pistol back.

"Hell no, I'm keeping this for myself. Besides this is a man's gun, it's not for a little girl." Tommy said.

"If it's not for a little girl then you definitely can't keep it. She opened the safe so It's Ellie's gun." Joel said as he grabbed it from Tommy and gave it back to Ellie.

It put a small smile on her face as she put the battle belt on and snapped the keepers onto her pants belt and fastened the leg strap around her thigh. She loaded the pistol and put it in her thigh holster, put the spare magazines in their holders and attached a few old world flashbang grenades. She also grabbed her recurve bow and arrows. The only thing missing was her short sword but Ellie remembered it would have been with the blacksmith around this time for sharpening. Jesse looked a little shocked when she came out.

"Expecting trouble?" he asked.

"No, but better safe than sorry." she replied.

It was truly strange as they walked and he gave a recap of what he heard had happened the night before. Everything was as she remembered, too strange to be a dream, it was too detailed, too exact. Unlike last time she stopped by the blacksmith asking for her short sword. As she remembered it was still a fairly new idea back then, custom made short swords for the members of jackson patrol. They came in handy when fighting against infected. In the diner things played out exactly like last time, Seth forced by Maria to apologize for being a bigot asshole. Ellie really wanted to smash his head on the bar but knew now wasn't the time. They left after Seth's half assed apology and Maria was saying to Jesse that she wanted him to go meet up with Tommy and Joel.

"I should go look for them." Ellie cut in.

"Are you sure, Jesse knows that route too, you haven't done it in years?" Maria asked.

"I'm sure, besides I know how they patrol it, their habits." Ellie said

Maria had to think about it, the silence was awkward and made Ellie nervous, when she thought of who was on the other side of the gate they were standing by she became even more nervous.

"Ok, you go find them but don't go taking unnecessary risks, there's been reports of a lot of infected being out there, If there are too many of them, come back for help. If you find them, come straight home with them." Maria said.

"Thank you." Ellie said before they walked through the gate.

There she was, exactly as Ellie remembered, having a snowball fight with some of the local kids. 'Whatever is going on, I won't hold back this time.'

"Yo Dina, assignments!" Jesse shouted.

"Just give me a minute!" Dina shouted back while throwing a snowball that hit a kid right in the face.

"Can you get your girlfriend to the stables, please?" Jesse asked Ellie before walking away, hearing him referring to Dina as her girlfriend put a smile on Ellies face.

"Dina can I talk to you?" she loudly asked after moving closer to the fence of the play yard where the snowball fight was taking place.

"Guys tapping out." Dina said despite the kids protests.

Seeing Dina again, especially the way she looked at Ellie was overwhelming. Dina had the exact happy to see you but also kinda nervous look on her face that Ellie remembered.

"Sorry for running off last night." Ellie said as she remembered what happened the night before in detail.

"No, I should say sorry for last night. I started it and I shouldn't have kissed you in front of all those people." Dina said.

Ellie laid a finger on Dina's lips to make her stop talking 'If I'm going after Joel directly then Dina will be patrolling with Jesse. I need to strike this iron while it's hot.' now that Dina was silent she took off her right glove and caressed her beautiful face gently, Dina leaning in to her hand with her eyes closed.

"Dina I just want to know what you meant with the kiss." Ellie whispered.

"I… I've liked you for a long time." Dina admitted.

"All I wanted to hear." Ellie said before closing the distance and kissing Dina.

She gently kissed Dina, enjoying Dina's soft supple lips as they both caressed each others lips. For the first time in years Ellie felt like she was home. 'I wonder if Abby kisses this well.' suddenly flew through her head. She shook it off and broke the kiss, looking as lovingly as she could into Dina's dark eyes. Their perfect moment was only interrupted by a well aimed snowball.

"HEY!" they both shouted at the kids at the same time.

"Wanna teach them a lesson?" Dina asked and winked at Ellie.

"We really need to go." Ellie said as she jumped over the fence.

They made short work of defeating the kids in a snowball fight, Ellie using the playground to her advantage, making it seem to the kids as if they were being hit by snowballs that came out of nowhere.

"You seem more armed than usual." Dina said as they walked to the stables.

'Dammit, why do you have to always notice such things.' Ellie thought.

"I'm going after Joel and Tommy, they should've been back already and Maria is a little worried." Ellie said and noticed Dina looked worried that Ellie was going out by herself. "Don't worry I won't be taking any risks. Besides, I have a feeling we will have much to talk about tonight."

"And what did you just have in mind?" Dina teased when they collected their horses.

"You're gonna have to find out." Ellie said and kissed Dina again.

They broke off their kiss when Jesse cleared his throat holding out two rifles. Dina was blushing and Ellie couldn't help but think how cute she looked, yet her thoughts also went to Abby wondering how cute she would look when blushing.

"You don't need to lay it on that thickly." Jesse said as he handed Ellie her scout rifle. "We'll be patrolling the creek bed, Dina."

Ellie put the rifle in the scabbard attached to her horse, shimmer.

"Be safe both of you, there's a storm coming." Ellie said after mounting her horse.

"Good luck, be safe." Dina said as Ellie left.

Ellie got the horse warmed up before riding faster. Fortunately the Baldwin's place was in the same direction of where she'd be heading if she would actually intercept Joel and Tommy's patrol route. It tore her apart on the inside that she'd have to kill Abby and her friends, but what choice did she have that wouldn't end in Joel's death. If this was a second chance then she didn't want to go to Seattle again, so she had to end it now or else Maria would beg her to go after Tommy again. No, it would end today and she'd have a normal long peaceful life with Dina and Potato. She would reconnect with Joel and he would get to see Potato grow up as would Jesse. Maybe she'd get some therapy to help with her problems. She was realistic enough to know they wouldn't magically disappear.

Most of the long ride was peaceful aside from a few infected she came across, the were easily dispatched from horseback with her short sword. After an hour the snowstorm had arrived, it made riding more difficult, she started cutting through the woods, the large trees provided some protection from the elements. She approached the Baldwin's place finally on foot. Leaving shimmer several hundred yards behind her in the woods. When she carefully observed the mansion to identify the best points of entry she saw two horses with riders and one passenger fast approaching the place followed by a small horde. It had to be Joel and his stupid brother, there wasn't time or an opportunity to warn them.

Abby's group who had opened and closed the gate quickly took care of the small horde with a few well placed molotov cocktails. Things escalated quickly after that. As they got off their horses Tommy was pistol whipped and Joel who tried to fight was shot twice, Ellie feared the worst at first but quickly noticed Joel was still alive, at least for now. She kept getting closer to the house. A part of Abby's group was patrolling around the house after the others took Joel and Tommy inside, despite the snowstorm. 'That's strange, last time there weren't any lookouts.' Ellie thought as she snuck closer, using the snowstorm for cover. The lookouts didn't really have a decent patrol going on, they seemed more interested in staying in spots where they had some cover from the storm, clearly they did not want to be out here. Ellie grabbed her bow and started picking them off one by one, using the snowstorm as cover. 'I don't remember these guys.' she thought as she pulled an arrow out of the lookout she killed first. Once she quickly retrieved her arrows she went inside starting at the top floor again. Keeping her bow fully drawn was clearly something her body wasn't used to back then. There was a guy and woman downstairs, she snuck down as far as she thought she could without being seen and threw a small rock in the opposite corner distracting the pair as they went to investigate.

Since the woman was the closest she got an arrow in the back of the head, Ellie quickly drew her short sword, grabbed the man's mouth from behind and pushed the sword through him. With the pair dead and the rest of the first floor cleared, she went to the door of the basement room where Joel was clearly being tortured. Her bow slung over her shoulder again she grabbed one of the flashbang grenades, pulled the pin and held onto the spoon so it wouldn't activate until she threw it. She gently opened the door enough to get the flashbang grenade through and tossed it into the room. She drew her 1911, turned off the safety and waited for the loud bang of the flashbang grenade. As soon as it exploded she burst into the room and started shooting the disorientated people in there, the one to her left caught a bullet right between the eyes, so did the two guys holding onto Tommy. The guy torturing Joel was struck twice in the chest and on the floor wheezing for air. Knowing her magazine was almost empty she pressed the mag release, flicking out the nearly empty one and inserting a fresh one just in time to shoot the people coming through the door that led to the garage.

It all happened so quickly neither Joel or Tommy had been able to register what happened as they too had been blinded by the grenades bright light and their ears had to be ringing from the loud bang, Tommy especially was struggling to stay upright. Ellie went over to Joel, double tapped the one still alive and grabbed her first aid kit.

"Don't worry Joel, you'll be okay." she said as she untied him from the chair he was on.

"Ellie, what are you doing here?" Tommy asked as soon as he recovered and realized what happened.

"Ain't it obvious dumbass? Maria was worried about you two and sent me to find you. Now get over here and help patch Joel up." Ellie hissed

Joel wasn't fully conscious anymore, though fortunately they were able to stabilize him. They placed a tourniquet on his left leg above the thigh wound he had suffered. He also had a sucking chest wound that they treated with an improvised chest seal that allowed his collapsed lung to reinflate. Ellie looked around the room and the garage afterwards, Abby couldnt be found anywhere. In fact none of them were people she recognized, but they did come in a military truck that had WLF markings on it. The whole situation was bizarre, but Joel was more important right now. With Tommy's help they got Joel into the back of the truck and covered him with several sleeping bags they found. The backpacks and weapons of the dead were thrown in the truck as well.

"My horse is several hundred yards in the woods over there, I'm driving him back to Jackson you bring the horses." Ellie said to Tommy.

"I'm going to drive him, you get the horses, you brat." Tommy grunted and tried to get in the truck.

Ellie kicked him on the back of his knee making him fall on the floor.

"I'm fucking done with your bullshit, you do what you're told when you're told from now on." Ellie said as she got in the truck.

By no means was she an expert driver, but it was the fastest way to get Joel back to Jackson to get the urgent medical treatment he needed. Tommy could probably do it too but she couldn't stand the idea of having to travel back by herself on horseback wondering for hours how Joel was doing. After an hour with regularly checking on Joel she arrived at one of the gates of Jackson. She knew the wall sentries would be pointing guns at the truck so she carefully got out to shout that it was her. The gate opened and she drove Joel straight to the clinic. They quickly unloaded him and brought him to an exam room that had been converted into a surgery suite years ago.

Being forced to wait outside was hell, she was being driven mad by worry. Maria came to sit with her after a couple of hours, obviously also upset.

"Are you okay?" Ellie asked her.

"Fight with Tommy, how are you holding up?" Maria asked.

"I'm worried, he's hurt pretty bad." Ellie admitted a tear rolling down her cheek.

"Joel is in good hands, I was asking about what you had to do today."

"I'm fine, I did what was necessary to save them."

Maria stayed with her, a little later Joel was taken to a regular room in the clinic and she was allowed to be with him. They had repaired the damage to the best of their ability and said his body would now need time to recover. Maria left after some time since she still had to take care of town business. When Tommy finally came to check up on Joel the tension in the room was pretty thick.

"Those were fireflies you murdered." Tommy said all of a sudden, his disapproval was clear.

'Wait they were fireflies? How is this possible, it was supposed to be Abby and her friends. Why is their truck marked with WLF?' Ellie thought. Thinking it triggered a flashback.

"Tell me… what happened here. If you lie to me one more time, I'm gone. You will never see me again. But if you tell me the truth, I will go back to Jackson. No matter what it is."

"Making a vaccine… it would have killed you. Marlene insisted on it being made as quickly as possible. The head doctor, a girl and I put a stop to it." Joel said after some encouragement.

The flashback confused her, that wasn't what Joel had said to her. 'Who is the girl and was he referring to Abby's dad?'

"I don't fucking care, they were hurting Joel. Where the fuck is your loyalty?!" She shouted at Tommy.

"You should fucking care, they want revenge on him for having taken and hidden the immune girl and clearly that's you!" Tommy shouted while getting up.

'Tommy doesn't know that I'm immune?' Ellie wondered.

Subconsciously her hand had gone to her pistol, her thumb having flicked open the holster's safety hood.

"He's your brother, you asshole. They shot him and tortured him. How does this not mean anything to you?!" she shouted and started drawing her pistol.

The door flew open and an angry looking Maria came in followed by Dina and Jesse. Realizing that she nearly had her pistol out she put it back into the holster. Dina flew to her and threw her arms around her. Ellie could feel the comfort coming from her, it made her regret every time she had left Dina. She realized she urgently needed to get the monster in her under control, if this was a second chance she needed to make the most of it. Murdering valued members of the community, which at the end of the day Tommy was considered by most, would get her either killed in turn or kicked out of town. She ended up going home with Dina after Maria got Tommy out of there, insisting that Ellie went to get something to eat. It was Maria's way of telling Ellie to walk it off. Dina's cooking tasted heavenly. Recognizing that Ellie had had a heavy day Dina had decided not to bring it up.

"I never gave them a chance, I killed them all." Ellie said as they were cuddled on the couch after dinner.

"It's ok, from what Maria told us they had it coming to them." Dina said.

"You don't think any less of me?" Ellie asked, her insecurity seeping out.

"Of course not, you did what you had to." Dina said and gave Ellie a loving squeeze.

It was enough for Ellie to break down crying. The fact that Dina didn't run off after hearing how Ellie had butchered a bunch of people and instead stayed to support her set off her insecurities completely. All this time she had dreamed of Dina, well Dina and Abby really. But her hope had always been getting back together with Dina and now she truly had a second chance. Dina would never have to know the monster she could be. They went to spend the night at the hospital, at Joel's bedside. He was slowly improving but still had to wake up. Maria, having seen how Ellie relied on Dina for support, had given them both time off patrol.

Join us on discord, Femslash server: discord . gg / GExXupQQcJ (remove the spaces.)