Ada Wong Wakes Up

Ada Wong belongs to CAPCOM

Joel and Ellie belong to NaughtyDog

"Joel? Joel. Joel?!" Joel was on the couch downstairs in the living room. Ellie had found him with his face buried in the couch seat cushion, and his body contorted a bit so that his arm hung off the couch. When she had first seen him in the dark of early morning, his fingers were spasming. Now he was stiff as a board and his body was a bit cold. He cleared his throat. Ellie looked around the room for the tablet, but it was gone now. So was Troy's backpack.

"mmm..shpider."

Ellie panicked. Had he been bitten yesterday when Troy had killed the entire neighborhood of Broomfield? It wasn't just plausible. To her, it was a certainty. Just thinking about the mayhem had her stomach in knots. Troy had been so right all along. Even if the infected had been slow, her arm muscles would give out way before stabbing a hundred necks or scalps. Or if she switched between her strong arm and her weak arm, maybe she could've stabbed two hundred but no way could she remain untouched when they were swarming her like they had been doing to Troy.

"Joel where? Where do you th-"
Ellie slapped her face as a panic attack hit her. His arm twitching, his fingers spasming. Ellie felt the room getting much larger, and saw herself getting farther away from it as she stood stilll. In her head, she saw Riley, sat up against a glass counter in the mall. Riley was talking to her.

"It feels like my muscles have fallen asleep. It's like when you get that static, you know, like a buzzing?"

"I don't feel that." Ellie hadn't felt any change other than her heart hurting. What a trivial thing, a bite was. What a stupid, stupid way to die.

Riley kicked out her legs and started writhing. She slid down from her seated position, laying down. "The buzzing, the static is so bad. It's so so bad." Riley then realized that Ellie was staring down at her in horror, and tried to stop herself from saying any more. Ellie hit Riley's legs gently, shaking them.

"What about if you know, if I just squeeze your muscles?" Ellie looked at Riley's legs and then back to Riley's face.

"No Ellie. I-"

And that was when Riley stopped being able to speak at all. Ellie could see Rileys mouth still moving as the silent words passed through them. Her hand reached out to Riley's face again, "I love you Riley." What else could she say? She felt ashamed now because she felt as if she had said the worst thing-the wrong thing. Like when someone confesses that their dog died and you suggest they buy another from Petco just down the street. It was a shame that burned and scraped at her insides. She grabbed Riley's arm and held it tight against her chest, as Riley contorted and writhed. She kissed Riley's hand again and again, clutching as hard as she could. Under her breath, unconsciously, she was chanting, "I'm sorry I'm sorry."

She couldn't bring herself to look at Rileys face anymore. Her knife was on the floor. She looked up and saw Joels hand again. She grabbed it. It felt cold.

She ran up the stairs and into the second bedroom, where the lady was still under the bedsheet covers.

"Lady please help, Joels not moving what do I do?! I wanna save what's left of the world but I just can't. I can't do it alone I won't survive. Its so fucking scary." Ellie started breaking down in tears, feeling like the walls were pushing into her body, refusing to let her lungs expand. The woman grabbed up at her and Ellie gasped.

The lady was smiling-a very small smile- at her in reassurance. Ellie shook with sobs. "What do I do what do I do?!"

The woman pulled the blanket off of herself and bundled it up, handing it over to Ellie. With one hand she signed, 'OLD' and smirked knowingly.

Joel's voice rang in her head, Deep breaths Ellie. She nodded to herself and began counting and breathing.

'You. Are. NOT. ALONE.' the woman signed again, making sure Ellie was focusing on each letter. Ellie put her hands over her mouth.

'OLD man.' The woman signed again.

"Old uh, well maybe that's it he could just be. Ok I'll bring him the blanket. Thanks-wait what's your name?"

'FORGOT.'

"Yesterday was pretty crazy right?" Ellie let out a gasping laugh as her crying fit was subsiding.

'Normal.' The woman signed, rolling her eyes. Ellie peered closely now at this person. White straight hair long was still matted. The woman's body was small and delicate. She still looked to be in her twenties. She had a symmetrical face. Full lips, a small nose and such lively hazel eyes. She appeared to be Asian, just like Captain Kwong-the FEDRA officer that lectured her often. Ellie ran downstairs to see Joel curled up on the couch.

In the night, as Joel had found himself already dreaming, he felt a hornet's sting on his ankle under the sheets. The sting was like a thick needle, giving him a tetanus shot. His eyes flew open as his body lost all feeling, and all ability to move. He was dragged off the bed, hitting the floor with a thump. He remained there for a time. He tried to blink, and couldn't. His eyes felt uncomfortably dry, as the coldness of the house fell on him. Then he was moving again. The carpet gave way to the wooden hallway. He was levitating down the stairs, looking at the bulging back muscles of a massive black creature on the ceiling. As he was moved downwards slowly, the figure crawled down the ceiling to the wall beside him, accompanying him. Its claws left massive gaping holes in its wake. Not exactly silent, because puncturing through drywall and cement is not easily masked. Then he was on the floor, and the figure of Troy was standing 9 feet tall, facing the wall, as Joel was dragged into the living room onto the couch.

Ellie covered Joels body with the blanket. She knelt on the carpet, hugging him to try and give him warmth. She rubbed his hand, breathing hot breath onto it. Riley gave her a thumbs up with a little devilish grin, and disappeared.

"mmm fine Ellie." Ellie looked up as more tears welled up, this time in relief. She wiped them away. "good, good. You're just getting old Joel, that's what the lady upstairs said."

"Mmm?" He still didn't move. Now Ellie began to feel her sore muscles start to scream in all different parts of her body. She started talking to herself. "Ok. What do I do? Joel what do I do? You hungry?"

"Sshtarving Ellie."

She felt full of life now. She ran upstairs again, rustling inside her backpack.

Yesterday, she had declared herself a business. Last night, she had declared herself capable of saving others. And she'd even gotten Troy to sign a contract of employment. She guessed that Joel had gone downstairs to talk to Troy after she fell asleep again. She saw the naked woman shivering, curled on the bed now. A snaking trail of blood had seeped from the woman's injured back and stained into the bedsheets. Ellie sucked air in through her teeth.

There were still a few miles left to walk until they reached the airport bunker. Her feet were throbbing with pain, and she didn't feel like pushing everyone to go any further today.

She pried open a can of soup. "Hey lady, here's some soup."

The woman sat up in bed and looked at Ellie expectantly. She signed the word 'BATH' in the air. Ellie's eyes centered on the purple swirling bruise spread out on the woman's throat. That quick moment, in Ellie's eyes-when Troy had done such a thing-stood as the only shining beacon of hope in his redemption.

Ellie mulled over her options. She hopped, as a small spasm rolled up her calf.

She sat on the bed and began stretching her muscles. The lady was watching her, still curled up. She signed, and Ellie noticed goosebumps on her greenish red and purple bruised arm. 'name'

"I'm Ellie. Joel's downstairs keeping watch. He's got an asshole voice but he's a good guy. Troy's…somewhere. Speaking of! I bet he could get a heater or something."

She started to get up, but the woman tapped her arm quickly. The woman's brows creased as she struggled to find the right thing to sign. 'Who?'

"Troy. He's like, well you see Joel wants me to treat him like an employee-"

An employee. A business.

"Let me handle him." Joel had said that to her yesterday. But he wasn't exactly in a state to handle anything right now.

"He's the new employee. Right, cuz I'm a business owner-"

The woman gasped in wonder, impressed. Ellie felt herself blushing at the attentions of such a beautiful creature. She looked away, abashed. She got up and brought down some soup for Joel. Wait. She stopped suddenly.

Why was the woman signing still? The woman's whole body was a mess of bruises everywhere-especially on her throat and her arms.

Obviously, the woman could hear just fine. But could she talk, even without her injured trachea? Because the woman had signed before Troy had done that.

'I KNOW'

That's what the woman had sliced into the air, staring lucidly at Ellie. And then, after that…

Ellie realized that this woman must have lost someone too.

She heard Joel calling out to her, "Hey Ellie, can you pull me up?"

He was still facing the couch cushions, bundled up. She pulled his legs so they were straight. "Are you joking around with me Joel?"

"I'm feeling my age right about now, Ellie." He lied. She rolled him to face the ceiling. He could see now that there were deep cut marks around in the ceiling,-the area where they had bathed the woman upstairs. He closed his eyes. Ellie finally got him in a sitting position. She put the can of soup in his hands and he managed to grasp it. She had to put his arm up to his mouth, and then he was able to move it a few inches to his lips.

"Joel, we need more blankets. We need heat. The lady is shivering upstairs."

"What else do we need, Ellie-what did the new employee forget?" He looked at her passively. The cut ceiling was still at the edge of his vision.

"…new employee." She looked around the living room. There were tons of jugs beside the couch, and stacks of rags. Her freckled face stretched as she remembered, "ooooh. Well can I tell him now or are you going to-cuz she's freezing Joel." He still couldn't move, and it was obvious to her. "I'll come right back.

"Get your pistol Ellie, and turn off the damn safety."

It was a horrible habit of hers, to try to shoot at an infected-only to realize her safety was on. And then the infected would be gone and she'd have to move again. She ran upstairs again to her backpack and put her pistol in her pocket, forgetting to turn off the safety. She went out the front door, which creaked loudly.