"It's two hearts livin' In two separate worlds" - Sacrifice - Sir Elton John, 1989

As soon as we're outside, I force Ellie to sit down on the roof.

"I'm fine-"

"Sit," I say as I kneel in front of her. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Joel digging in his pack as soon as Tess is out the window. "You good?" I ask quietly as Joel and Tess talk.

Ellie nods her head and I let out a breath. I pull my water canteen out and run some water over the wound on her arm before I pull an emergency pouch from one of my back pockets.

"How many of those do you have?" Ellie asks as she looks at the pouch.

"Not enough," I say as I open it and pull out a large, white rag.

"Not gauze?" She asks and I shake my head.

"I don't know what to put on it," I say honestly. She gulps. "It's alright, sweetheart. I just don't know if I need to let it breathe or keep it covered, so we're going to do a bit of both with this." I wrap the cloth around her forearm loosely. I grab some electrical tape from my pouch and wrap it around the bottom away from the bite.

"That feel okay?" I ask. When I look up at her she nods, but she's not paying attention to me. She's looking at the world around us with wonder in her eyes. I smile at her as I move out of her way. I start packing things back into my pouch as she stands from the roof and walks to the wooden board that connects the museum to the building next to us.

"Over there?" Ellie asks.

"Yeah, I know it looks scary," Joel says as he starts taping up Tess's ankle.

"That was scary," Ellie says walks across the wood, her arms out to her sides. "This is wood."

"You need anything?" I ask as I finish closing up my pouch. Joel looks to Tess who shakes her head.

"Go," she nods toward Ellie. I slip my pouch back into my pocket as I stand. I slip my canteen back into the side of my pack before I step on the wood. It's not the first time I've done this. But it never gets any easier.

I try to control my breathing and not look down. Instead, I watch Ellie ahead as I try to ignore the way the wood moves under my feet. It seems like forever until I'm on the other side.

As soon as my feet touch solid ground, I feel my legs shake.

"You okay?" Ellie asks. I look up at her, her hands are in her pockets and I relax.

"Yeah, I'm alright," I say as I walk to stand beside her. She turns to look back out at the city, and I have to blink back tears.

It's been so long since I've seen such child-like wonder.

"Was it everything you hoped for?" Joel asks as he comes to stand on the other side of Ellie.

"Jury's still out," she says. "But man, you can't deny that view."

I hear footsteps on the makeshift bridge and turn to see Tess walk by us. Blood seems to have sept out across her jacket and my eyes zero in on it.

Her jacket didn't have that blood on it before.

"Come on, let's get there before dark," she says as she walks over to the ladder. Ellie moves to go first, but I step in front of her. I swing myself around on the ladder and pause when I see the storm brewing in Ellie's eyes.

"Sorry kiddo, I really fucking hate heights."

The storm dissipates as she starts to laugh. But Joel stares a hole through me until he can't see me anymore. I focus on getting down the ladder quickly when I see Ellie taking her time.

I hop down, skipping the last few rungs.

"How you feeling?" I ask Tess.

"My ankle is fine to get us there."

"Not worried about the ankle," I say plainly. Tess turns to look at me and she sighs.

"You're annoying."

"I know."

"Don't tell them," Tess says.

"And when you start twitching?"

"I won't hang around that long, I've got a few hours," she shakes her head. "I want to make sure he gets what he needs to get to Tommy."

"You love him." She doesn't say anything. "You tell him?" She shakes her head again. "I'll try to get Ellie away long enough for you to tell him, if you want."

"No," she says as she watches them climb down. "It'll be hard enough the way it is now."

My heart skips a beat when I see there's no guards around the truck outside of the state house. We crouch behind a yellow beetle.

"Where the fuck are they?" Tess hisses. Joel shakes his head. She turns back to me.

"I don't know," I say honestly. "They should have someone guarding the truck, always."

"Fuck," Tess whispers.

Joel stands from behind the beetle and slowly makes his way towards the armored truck. Tess stands after him, she moves to stand on the sidewalk and watch him. Ellie goes to follow her, but I grab onto the back of her hoodie.

"Stay by me, alright kiddo?"

"What's going on?" She asks quietly. "You haven't tried to keep me away from them before, is it an ambush or-"

Tess looks back at us and I sigh.

"If there was an ambush, it would've already happened," I say. "This doesn't look good, I want you as far back and with as many people between you and that truck as possible."

Ellie looks at me for a moment before she steps back on her own.

"Fine."

I hear something squeak and look up to see Joel opening the back of the truck.

"Joel?" Tess asks. "What the fuck is going on?"

"I don't know," Joel says. I pull my gun out of its holster and start to walk from behind the beetle towards Tess and Joel. Ellie is right at my back. I can feel an extra weight on my pack and if we were in any other situation I might laugh at the thought of Ellie holding onto the small handle on my backpack.

I walk around the back of the truck to see it empty. Joel and Tess look at me expectantly, but I have no clue what the fuck happened.

But then I remember the scream from earlier and I start to look around.

"They went inside," Ellie's voice is muffled by my backpack.

"What?" I ask, but I already see what she means when I look down.

Blood on the steps of the state house.

"Fuck."

"Come on," Tess says as she grabs Ellie. She pulls her up the stairs and I run to catch up to them. As soon as they're inside the door, I pull Ellie away from Tess.

"Shit," Ellie curses as she falls into me. "What the fuck is going on?"

"You touch her again, I shoot you now," I say as I look over at Tess. She ignores me.

"Oh Jesus," she says as she starts to walk around the room. I look down and see the bodies.

"Holy shit," Ellie says as she turns her head to look at them. I hear banging as Tess starts looking around for a radio.

I feel sick when I realize what happened. Ellie pulls herself out of my arms, but I stop her before she can get too far away.

"You stick by me or Joel," I whisper so only she could hear. "Do you understand?"

"Will you tell me why?"

"Later, I promise." Ellie bites her lip before she nods. She turns her head to see Joel looking around at the bodies and immediately walks over. I tune out her questions as I start looking in the different containers.

I dig through a few before I find the med kits. I sort through one of them as Joel and Tess talk. I zip it up quickly before grabbing two more of the kits.

"Fuck," Ellie whispers. She stands between me and Joel as she looks at Tess. "She's infected." Joel turns back to Tess as she scoffs.

"Show me," he says.

"Joel," she moves to step forward, but he flinches back. She takes a step back before looking away. And then she pulls back the collar of her jacket to show a large bite. It's red, swollen.

And it already looks like it's spreading. I quickly attach the medkits to the outside of my bag.

"Take your bandage off," she tells Ellie. Ellie sighs and pulls it away. Tess comes over and grabs Ellie's arm.

A second later the barrel of my gun is against Tess's head. She ignores me, more focused on trying to convince Joel that Ellie is immune. Her hands shake as she starts to pull away from Ellie and I let the gun drop, but I pull Ellie away from her.

"I need you to get her to Bill and Frank's."

"No," Joel says.

"You didn't tell me," Ellie says as she pulls on my backpack. I turn around to see her looking up at me with anger. "Why?"

"I wanted to give her a chance," I whisper. "She wanted to get you here before it was too late."

"I hate this," Ellie says, her voice cracking.

"I know." Ellie wraps her arms around my free arm. She buries her face in the side of my arm as I watch Tess and Joel talk.

I hear a noise and instinctively move away. One of the infected begins to crawl and Joel walks over smoothly, shooting it in the head. I feel my sleeve start to get wet.

But then I hear it.

The sound of hundreds of infected. It's unmistakable. A horde of infected, most likely the ones we saw earlier are headed this way.

This never ends well.

"How many?" Tess asks.

"All of them, maybe a minute." Joel says as he walks back into the room.

Tess starts walking around, dumping the gasoline and grenade barrels over the ground. Until she walks over to Joel.

"Save who you can save," she whispers. Joel turns. He grabs Ellie by her backpack and starts pulling her away. I look back at Tess and she nods her head slowly.

"No!" Ellie yells. "We're not leaving her!" Ellie tries to fight Joel and I run to catch up with them. "I'm not going with you!" Ellie hits Joel, but he keeps running and I keep following.

We're a few hundred feet away when the blast happens. Joel pulls me and Ellie around so he's between the blast and us. There's screams as flames pour out from the building. Joel keeps his gun trained on it while I put mine back in its holster.

Ellie's eyes are filled with tears as she breathes heavily. She and Joel watch the building while I turn away. My hands shake as I pull Ellie into my arms. Her arms are limp at her sides, but she rests her head on my chest.

"I know," I whisper quietly.

"Why did we leave her? Why?"

"Because it's what she wanted-"

"We could've- we could've!" Ellie starts sounding hysterical and I put my hands on the sides of her head and pull her head away from my chest.

"We couldn't do anything sweetheart," I say as gently as I can. "This way, this way she could go out on her own terms. And someone she cared about doesn't have to live with the guilt that they were the one to pull the trigger."

I feel Joel's eyes on me as a large tear finally falls from Ellie's eye. I pull her back into a hug.

And for the first time, Ellie hugs me back.

Ellie is unnaturally quiet as we make our way from the city to the woods. She doesn't look around like kids do when they enter the woods for the first time. Normally they're looking around, both up at the trees that cover our heads, and down at the earth below us.

She has a death grip on my arm. I run my free hand over hers as we walk. She just stares at the ground in front of us, her eyes a million miles away.

A few feet ahead of us, Joel walks at a brisk pace. His shoulders are tight and I can see him clutching the gun to his side. He hasn't said a word since we made it out of that building.

I don't blame him. To know that's the way the person you love died-

"Are we safe out here?" Ellie asks. It's the first time she's spoken since our hug.

"Better than in the city," I say. "The further into the woods we get, the better."

"Have you ever been out here before?" Ellie asks, her voice muffled as she rests her head against my arm.

"It's been a long time, but yeah."

Ellie doesn't ask anymore questions. We walk in silence until the few bits of sun that poke through the trees starts to fade.

"We'll stop here," Joel says when we come to a tiny clearing. I can hear water rushing nearby, birds chirping. That's a good sign.

Animals stay away from infected.

"Bathroom," Ellie says.

"You can go over to those trees over there," I nod towards some a few feet away. I feel Ellie shake her head against my arm. "Do you want me to check it out first? Or do you want me to go with you?"

"Check it out first," she says as she slowly releases my arm. I look to Joel and see him sit down, his back against a tree. He closes his eyes and tilts his head back against it as I walk by him towards the trees behind him.

The chances of an infected being this far out is slim. But the chance of a person who wants to get to the QZ being out here are high. We're maybe four miles out of the city at this point. The infected haven't been able to get to the people out here, yet.

I look around for any signs of humans or infected. There's nothing unordinary on the ground. There's only animal tracks, which is a good sign. Nothing seems to be disturbed or placed purposefully. I go back a few feet further than what I told Ellie and use the bathroom quickly.

"Everything okay?" Ellie asks as I walk back into the small clearing.

"Everything's good, kiddo. Just go back a few feet, okay?" She nods and takes the roll of toilet paper I hand her.

"Thought of everything, huh?" Joel asks. When I look over, his eyes are closed.

"I was prepped for a trip out west," I say as I walk towards the sound of the running water. "I'm going to wash my hands and get some water. You need any?"

He finally opens his eyes. He leans over to his pack and pulls out a canteen before he tosses it to me.

"Tell me if you need something," I tell him. He closes his eyes again and I turn around towards the water.

"Charlotte?" Ellie asks. I turn to see her walking back into the clearing.

"Yeah, kiddo?"

"Where are you going?" She hands me the toilet paper roll and I tuck it under my arm.

"To go clean up and get some water, want to come?" She nods as she comes closer, her arm brushes against mine as we walk down a small hill. We walk through some trees, and then we're on the bank of a large stream.

I walk towards the water and drop my pack on the ground beside me. Ellie comes down and does the same. I slip the toilet paper back into my bag and then turn back to the water. I go further down stream and rinse off my hands. Ellie follows my lead. She follows me back to our packs where I crouch down and hand her the med kit I grabbed for her earlier.

"This is what you were putting on your bag?"

"Put it in yours," I say.

"You already gave me one, remember?"

"I do. One is none."

"One is none?"

"It's a saying my dad always used," I reach into one of the pockets and grab the water filter. "Don't drink that, Ellie."

"It's water," she says as she points down at the stream.

"Not filtered. It could make you sick."

"Is that what that thing is? A filter?"

"Yeah, I got it right before we left the QZ, so it should do us a while," I say as I slip the bag into the water. I wait for it to fill up before I put the nozzle inside of Ellie's water bottle.

"When did you know?" Ellie asks as I pull the nozzle out of her bottle. I hand the nozzle to her to keep it upright as I open Joel's canteen with my free hand. I put the lid on my leg and take the nozzle from her.

"When we left the museum."

"You lied to me," she says as I put the nozzle into his canteen.

"I didn't."

"You said you were afraid of heights!"

"I am," I look up at her. "My legs were shaking like crazy, I thought I was going to fall."

"Lying by omission is still lying."

"I didn't know for sure. Tess never told me outright, either."

"But you still knew."

"Sweetheart," I say as the water runs out. I double check to make sure Joel's canteen is full before I put on the cap tightly. "There are things that I will know that I can't tell you in the moment. Just like I told you the first day we met."

"When can you tell me? When can you drop this act?"

"We need to be further away from Boston, I promise you I will drop it as soon as I can. And when I drop it, I'll tell you everything that I've been keeping from you, okay?" She looks away and wipes under her eye as she nods.

"I'm sorry," I whisper as I pull out my own canteen. I pull off the cap and repeat the process I did before as we sit together. We don't say anything, but I can tell Ellie is getting tired.

As soon as my canteen is full, I put it in the side pocket of my pack, and slip the filter on the other side pocket to dry. I pull one of the med kit's from the outside of my pack before I throw my pack over my shoulders.

"Are you hurt?" Ellie asks as I stand. I lean back down and grab Joel's canteen in my other hand as she throws her pack on.

"No, I grabbed three packs, this one is for Joel." She doesn't say anything as we make it back up to the clearing. Joel's eyes are still closed, but he's not asleep. His entire body is tense. Ellie walks over to another tree not far from him and sits down. She leans back against it, almost exactly like Joel.

I walk over and kneel in front of him. He opens his eyes and they just look tired.

"Fresh water, here's a med pack to keep, too." He takes them both from me silently and I stand again.

"Here," he says, his voice gruff. I look down to see him taking his jacket off. He holds it up to me and I reach for it as he nods towards Ellie. I look over and she's already fast asleep.

"Thanks, Joel. Who said smugglers can't be perfect gentlemen?" He blinks up at me slowly before he groans and leans his head back. I can't help it. I let out a small laugh as I walk over to Ellie and cover her with his jacket. I drop my pack on the ground and lean against the tree beside her. She immediately curls into my side and I wrap an arm around her.

It's going to be a long night.