Disclaimer: I do not own any character of (The Last of Us) TLOU is owned by Naughty Dog and its creators.
A/N: Well, the only note I have is to thank the people that are reading this story. Now let's go with the chapter.
Chapter 11: Something Doesn't feel right
Ellie wakes up early the next day. She was excited to go on another adventure day with Joel. Even if the week is almost over and Joel will probably not be her guide around the island anymore. Ellie was hoping to continue to see him around and spend some time with him. She knew that the deal was only for a week, but she was hoping to talk to him to extend that. Joel has been such a great guide and she was getting costumes for his present already. Ellie knew that she would miss him, so today she was planning to talk to him and ask him if he wants to be her guide for another week even if they are already visiting all the good places around the island. But she knows that Joel most knows other places where he can take her.
So Ellie gets out of bed and starts looking in the drawer for the clothes she will use today. Of course, she will put her bikini under her clothes in case they end up in a river or the beach and she will like that very much. So she grabbed the new one she bought yesterday and put it on the top of the bed. Then go to the bathroom to brush her teeth and take a shower. Soon she finishes, Ellie goes back to the bed and put the bikini on, then the rest of her clothes. Ellie was ready to go and after two hours of waiting for Joel to arrive, she decided to call him.
Ellie was sitting on the bed with her cell phone in her ear listening to the ringing. C'mon Joel, where are you? She said while waiting for Joel to pick up the phone. Why the fuck you don't have a cell phone? It will be easy that way. She said after letting the phone ring more than ten times and nobody answered. After hanging up, Ellie grabs her bag and walks out of her room. Soon she got to the front desk of the hotel, and she saw a new man there, but it wasn't the same as booking her when she arrived.
"Buenos Días…" she said in Spanish as soon as she got in front of the man.
"Buenos días señorita… como la puedo ayudar?" answer the man with a smile.
"Mmmm… How did I say this in Spanish?." said Ellie trying to look for the words.
"Oh an American, I can speak a little English, so you can tell me what you need."
"Excellent… because my Spanish is not so good," she said with a relieved tone. "A man was supposed to pick me up an hour ago… Did someone ask for me here?"
"Hmmm… I don't remember anybody coming here and asking for…?"
"Ellie… Ellie Wilians… his name is Joel is a tourist guide. He is tall, has a beard and he is 40 years old… he drives a red old jeep," she explained to him.
The man starts thinking about the description. "I'm sorry miss… some people have come and gone this morning, but I do not remember anyone with that description."
Ellie put on a disappointed face but smiled later at the guy. "Okay… he may be late so I will wait outside," she told the man before turning around and started walking out of the building. Soon she was out, Ellie called Joel again, but as before he did not answer it. Ellie starts to feel worried about it because since he started to be her guide he always arrives on time if not early. But today he was almost 2 hours late and didn't answer his phone.
After hanging up, Ellie starts to walk toward the plaza that was close to her hotel to check if she can see him there. Ellie arrived at the plaza 10 minutes later and started to look around. It was almost 11:00 am so the place was full of tourists and local people. Ellie walks around the place but does not see him, so she calls him again. C'mon Joel… where are you? She said in a lower voice, then hung up when he didn't answer. After a few minutes, Ellie decides to go to the bar/restaurant where he works to see if someone has seen him or at least tell her where he lives.
The place was closer so Ellie decided to walk there. After walking for 20 minutes Ellie arrived at the bar. It was open but did not have too many people as it has at night. First, she looks around the parking lot to see if his jeep was there, but when she doesn't see it, Ellie walked toward the entrance of the place. Soon Ellie goes inside, she starts looking for Joel or the manager of the place. Even if some of the tables were empty, there were some people at the bar counter. Ellie walks toward there to talk with the bartender when she hears someone say her name.
"Hey… Ellie… eres tú?" said an old man who was sitting on one of the wall tables.
Ellie turns her head and looks in his direction. "Rodrigo… is that you?" she said while walking in his direction.
"Yes… that is me… ven, ven… sientate con migo," he said while suggesting to her to come to his table with his hand.
Ellie walks to the table but stays standing. "Hey it is good to see you again… maybe you can help me. Do you see Joel today? Mmmm… sabes… si está… aquí?" she asked him again in Spanish.
"Is okay girl… you don't need to talk in Spanish. I understand English too. What are you doing here? I thought you were going to be with Joel for the rest of the week."
"We're supposed to be… this is supposed to be our last day, but I don't know where he is," she said while sitting on the other side of the table. "I mean… he was supposed to pick me up this morning and didn't show up… so I called him, but he did not even answer his house phone either… so I came here looking for him."
"Well, he is not here, so he probably was out drinking too much last night… so he has to be in his house with a very bad hangover."
"Really? And how do you know he has been out drinking too much?" Ellie asked with some concern.
"Sorry darling… that is his personal stuff… and is not my place to talk about Joel's personal life,"
"I… just worry… I don't want to intrude in his personal life, but I really want to know if he is okay." she said in a lower voice.
"Sorry… I don't mean to be rude… but Joel has some sensitive issues in his life that he needs to resolve. I would like to tell you, but it is not my place to talk about them, so you need to ask him yourself. Anyhow, it's nice that you're worried about him even if you are just his client."
Ellie looks into the man's eyes wondering what was wrong with Joel. Maybe it is good to want to know about him, so maybe she can help him. " I want to think that I'm more than just a client to him… but that is another issue that is not so important now. So can you take me to his house… so we can check if he is alright?"
The man looks at Ellie with curious eyes, wondering if the girl likes Joel for real. Yeah, he was mocking him a few days before because he saw something between the two of them, but he didn't think it was something serious. "Why do you want to go there? He probably has a hangover… and he probably doesn't want you to see him like that," he said while looking at her and wondering why she is so interested in him.
Ellie moves her head around checking if someone was looking at them. "I don't know, but I have been having a good time with him. We also talk and share a few things… So I just want to be sure that he is fine."
The old man looked at her for a moment before answering her. He takes out his cell phone and dial Joel's number and moves it to his ear. The old man looked at Ellie and saw her face as she shook her head. "Que!" he said in surprise.
"Nothing… is just that you have a cell phone and Joel doesn't… I mean you're older than him and look more… Never mind," she said, not knowing why she said that.
Rodrigo knew what she meant. "Is not what you think… Joel had a cell phone before… he just doesn't want to have one now…" he said while hearing the ring a few times and Joel didn't answer. "Okay… girl. I will take you to his house… see I'm now a little worried. Joel likes his privacy, so don't touch or ask anything when we get there. We just go and see if everything is okay," The man took his wallet out and put some money on the table, and stood up. "Come girl… vamos a darle una pequeña visita a ese terco hijo de perra…" he said while starting to walk away from the table and toward the exit. Ellie doesn't get what he said but starts following him.
Before they left the bar, the manager came from behind the bar counter and walked toward them. "Hey… Rodrigo de casualidad has visto a Joel? No vino a trabajar anoche… y tampoco llamó hoy y necesito hablar con él."
Rodrigo turns around and looks at him. "No lo he visto. El estuvo en mi casa hace 2 noches atrás, pero no lo he visto desde entonces."
Ellie quickly moves beside Rodrigo and looks while looking at the man. "What did he say about Joel?"
Rodrigo turns his head and looks at her. "He asked me if I saw Joel… because he did not come to work yesterday."
"Well, I was with him yesterday, but we came back before the night fell. And he told me that he has to work… so I guess he came here after letting me stay in the hotel."
The owner looks at Ellie. "Eso te dijo? … well, he never showed up… se supone que trabajaba doble turno anoche… y ahora no contesta mis llamadas…" the man said before look at Rodrigo. "Si lo ves dile que necesito hablar con él urgente…" he said with a furious tone, before turning around and walking away.
"What was all that? He sounds outraged," asked Ellie.
"Nahhh… if you really see him when he is mad… half of the island will hear him." The old man turned around and walked out of the place. "Now come girl… let's give Joel a visit."
"Are you sure that he will be there? He didn't come to work last night and he is not answering the phone… I'm starting to get worried." said Ellie while walking behind him.
"Don't worry too much girl… he is probably sleeping on his bed." After both of them get into the old man's car, he starts driving in the direction of Joel's house. The road they took after they got out of the bar was a solitary one. "Sooo… are you friends with Joel Now?" he asked out of curiosity.
"Well… I'm not sure about that… but I like to think so," she answered in a lower voice.
"Wow… eso fue algo inesperado… especialmente de parte de Joel." he said without looking at her.
Ellie turns her head and looks at him. "What!"
"Sorry… Sometimes I forget. I mean that it surprised me that Joel became friends with you knowing that you will be going back home in… how long will you be here?" he asked in the last part.
"Two more weeks I guess… but I can stay a little longer if I want to," she answered him. "Why surprise you that we become friends?"
"Well, if you knew Joel as long as I do… you will understand. Anyway it is a surprise that you befriend Joel in a week… that is a record." said the man in a mocking way.
Ellie looked at him with surprised eyes. "Why is that so difficult to believe? I mean he has been really friendly and good company all this time," she said with a questioning face.
The man looked at her. "Is it not you? I can see you're a lovely person. Is that Joel not so good at making new friends in the last few years? I assume that he hasn't told you anything about his past yet… right?"
"We talk about a few things, but not much about his life," That was something that Ellie wants to know, so maybe this man can help her with that. "Did something bad happen to him?" she quickly asked. But the man continued driving without saying anything more. "I know is not your place to ask, but I really want to know more about-"
"We're here…" he interrupts her as soon as he slows down his car as gets closer to Joel's house. Rodrigo stops his car beside Joel's jeep that was parked in front of the house. "Well, at least he is here," he said while turning off the engine and opening the door, and getting out.
Ellie looks at the old beach house and all the garbage and things around it. "Is this where he lives?" she asked while getting out of the old man's car.
"Yes… don't worry about the mess…" he told her before walking toward the front door and started calling him. "Hey… Joel!... estas aqui?" he said a few times before trying the door.
Ellie moved closer to the front of the house and stood behind Rodrigo. "He has to be in there… his jeep is here."
Rodrigo tries the knob and the door goes open. "Hey, Joel… ¿Estás aquí amigo?" he said while making a pick inside. As Joel didn't respond, he turned his head and looked at Ellie. "Check the back and see if he is out there."
Ellie looks at the man before he goes inside and closes the door behind him. Okayyyy! She said in a lower voice, before walking to the side of the house and toward the back. Soon she got there Ellie looked around to see if he was there, but she only saw more rusty things, empty bottles, cans of beer, and bags of garbage. She also saw a small shack at the back of the house, so she walked toward there. As she got closer she saw a small table and two beach chairs closer to the back door. Ellie wondered why Joel has his house yard like that, even if he lives alone, he should keep the place cleaner.
As Ellie walks toward the shak she notices that the door has a chain with a padlock, but it was open. "Joel… are you in here?" she said before getting closer and grabbing the padlock, but she stopped when she heard the old man yell at her.
"Don't open that, he doesn't like people checking his stuff." said the old man as soon as he opened the back door of the house and entered the backyard.
Ellie turns her head and looks at him. "Sorry… but you told me to check the back so I was going to see if he was inside. Besides, the padlock is open."
Rodrigo starts walking toward her. "I don't think he is in there… he barely goes inside now. He only has old stuff in there… so he has to be elsewhere," the old man started to look around until he saw the footprint on the sand that goes toward the path that leads to the beach at the back of his house. "I think he went to the beach… so he's probably still there," he said before walking toward the path that goes up on big dune sand that covers the ocean view.
"Are you sure?" asked Ellie before letting go of the padlock and following him.
After a few minutes, the old man stops on top of the dune and starts looking toward the beach. "I see him… well I think is him."
Ellie walks into the sandy path until she stops beside the man and looks toward the beach. But she was surprised by what she saw. "Is he on a surfboard?" she said as soon as she saw someone on a surfboard far into the ocean.
The old man started to walk fast down the sand dune and toward the beach. "Que carajo estas haciendo… JOEL!" he yells as he walks down the dune.
"Is that him?" asked Ellie while following him. "Is he surfing? What the fuck! He knows how much I want to find someone to teach me and he was a surfer all this time?" she said with a furious tone.
"Sorry… but this is not the best time for that…" he said without looking at her. "Carajo, él no se supone que estuviera haciendo eso…" said the man as he continued running toward the beach. "HEY JOEL! WHAT THE HELL YOU DOING?" he yelled again toward Joel this time.
But Joel was really far into the water so he probably couldn't hear him. The old man stops close to the shore and yells again. "HEY JOEL REGRESA A LA ORILLA… AHORA."
Soon Ellie gets to the beach, she stops beside the old man. She watches Joel get ready for a big wave coming toward him. Ellie watched as Joel saw it and started to get ready for it. "Is he any good at that?" Ellie asked.
"He was the best…" answered Rodrigo with worried eyes. ¿Qué carajos haces Joel?"
"Really? So why do you sound so worried?" said Ellie while continuing to look at Joel.
"Because this beach is dangerous and he has an injury, he is not supposed to be surfing anymore." the old man told her. "Carajo…" he cursed as he watched Joel get up on the board and start to ride the wave. "HEY JOEL!... DON'T" he yelled again but it was too late. Joel was up on the board and down the wave. All was good until he lost his balance and fell down the board and the wave hit and pushed him under the water. "Carajo… Joel!"
"JOEL!" Ellie yells as she watches him fall into the water and get hit by the wave he was on. The surfboard flew into the sly as Joel was covered by the water. As Ellie watched that, something inside her made her feel fear like she was about to lose something precious to her. Her heart starts to beat faster and she knows inside that she needs to do something. So quickly Ellie took her t-shirt off and her shoes and quickly started running toward the water.
"Hey… what are you doing that water is too dangerous?" Rodrigo yells as he watches the girl jump and dive into the water and starts swimming toward the place Joel falls. As the remainder of the wave gets close to the shore, Ellie dives under but still gets hit by it. "Shit!" The man quickly starts to take his shoes off as soon as he doesn't see Ellie didn't surface from the water. "Carajo… en qué diablos estabas pensando… Joel." The man walked into the water but stopped when he saw Ellie's surface again and started swimming forward. A few more waves got toward her, those were lower than the previous one so she was okay. He was going to yell at the girl, but he knew that she was too far now. Even so, he gets deeper into the water and starts to swim toward them.
As Ellie arrived where the surfboard was floating, she quickly went under and looked for Joel. C'mon Joel doesn't do this to me. She said in her mind as she started looking around for him under the water. After a minute, he saw his unconscious body close to a rock formation on the button of the ocean. So she quickly swam toward him and grabbed his body. I got you Joel… just hang on…
Ellie pulls Joel toward the surface with some difficulty as he was bigger and heavy than her. After another minute she managed to bring him out, but they were still far from the shore. C'mon… Joel… hang in there. Said Ellie while putting her arm around his neck and started swimming back to the shore pulling Joel with her. Ellie was lucky that she is a great swimmer or both of them will have drowned by now. Ellie tried to swim as fast as she could, but pulling a man as big as Joel wasn't easy and the waves were not helping either.
Rodrigo swung toward them and got them halfway. "Are you okay girl?" asked the old man while holding Joel's surfboard close to him.
"I'm okay… but he is not breathing," she said while grabbing the board with her free hand.
"Let's put him on the board, it will be faster to take him to the shore." The man helped Ellie to move Joel's body on top of the board and grab one side of it. "Grab the other side and swim, the waves will take us faster this way." Ellie does as he said and both of them start to push the board faster. After a few minutes, they arrive at the shore of the beach and Ellie starts to pull Joel into the sand. Soon he was out of the water. Ellie starts to check his pulse. "How is he?" he asked while watching Ellie.
"Not good… his pulse is weak…" answered Ellie. She checked his head and saw some blood on it too. "I think he hit his head on the rock… too,"
"I will go back to the car I left my phone there… and I will call an ambulance." said the old man with a desperate tone.
"We can wait for them to arrive. He is not breathing and his pulse is getting weaker." Ellie quickly moves her hand on his chest and starts to give him CPR. She moves her hand up and down on his chest a few times before moving to his head, grabbing his nose and chin to open his mouth, and lowering her head to blow some air into his open mouth. She repeated the act a few more times but he was not responding.
Rodrigo got really scared and stood up. "I will go for my phone… and call an ambulance anyway," Said Rodrigo before he started to run away. "Please… don't let him die," he yelled as he went up the sand dune.
As Ellie continued with her effort to make Joel breathe again, her chance to do that was getting low. "C'mon Joel… don't do this to me… the last thing I need is to lose another person that I care about…" she said before starting the CPR again. Ellie blew more air into his mouth a few more times. C'MON JOËL… DAMNED… Breath… you can't quit now… you need to live," she gave him a few slaps on his face before lowering herself and giving him more air mouth to mouth. Ellie was doing all she could to save him. She is not going to lose him too after caring for him too much in just a few days together. Until today, she didn't realize how much she liked him. Even if she only knows him for less than a week and doesn't know much about his past life.
After a few more pumps on his chest and a few more air blew into his mouth. Ellie felt his chest moving like he wanted to throw up the water inside and that was a good signal. "That is Joel… spit the water out." Ellie moves him to his side and gives him a few hits with her palm on his back. After a few seconds, Joel starts to cough and starts to spit the ocean water. Ellie gives him a few more hits on his back as Joel continues to spit more of the water he swallows. Ellie continued rubbing his back making him cough and spit more water. After a minute he stopped coughing and stayed still. Ellie takes a deep breath and lowers her head to his shoulder as she thanks God for not letting him die.
A few minutes later the old man came back cursing in Spanish because it takes time to get a signal on his cell phone. "This fuck island and his bad signal…" he said while walking toward Ellie and Joel. "Me tomó mucho tiempo para conseguir señal… así que me tardé un poco más en conseguir que viniera una ambulancia" he said as he walked down the sand dune and got closer to them. "How is he doing? Did you manage to take his breath?" he said with a worried tone.
Ellie raises her head and looks at him. "Yes I did… he is breathing now… but he doesn't look good." Said Ellie while looking at Joel's chest and face. Ellie looked around and quickly grabbed her t-shirt that was closer to them. "He is bleeding too from the head…" she said as she put her t-shirt on the back of his head to stop the bleeding.
Rodrigo goes down to his knees and checks him out. "Shit… man don't scare me like that… no quiero perderte asi despues de todo lo que hemos pasado." he said while looking at his face.
"This is not over yet… How long will the ambulance take to get here? He drank a lot of water and the heat on his head doesn't look good. He also stays too long without breathing, which is bad too, " Ellie said while holding Joel's hand.
The old man raised his head and looked at her. "It will be here in 10 minutes… I hope." he looks at Joel's face again. "Gracias por salvarle la vida."
Ellie doesn't understand much Spanish but gets what he says. "He was lucky… that we arrived in time to help him… but he is not out of this yet," said Ellie while looking at the old man. "Why was he out there if you said that he is not supposed to? Especially if he was drinking since I tasted the alcohol on his breath."
"I don't know the answer to that, but I think he was lucky to have you around… si no hubiera sido por ti… he will be drowned," he said while watching her and how she interacts with him, even if he is still unconscious. "Thank you for staying around and worrying about him… I really see now how much you care."
Ellie looks at Joel's face making sure he is still breathing. "I don't know why I feel that something was wrong… I think that he is a good man, even if I practically don't know much about him," said Ellie while looking at Rodrigo's face now. "Why didn't he even tell me that he was a surfer… even when I asked him to help me to find one?"
"Don't feel so bad about that… he does not want anyone to know about his past… that was one of his reasons to come to life on this Island… Sorry, I didn't tell you anything about him either, it was something he needed to do himself."
Ellie looks at the man with sad eyes. "I-I wish he could talk to me… I really want to get to know him better."
"Give him some time… girl. El es algo terco… and blocks himself out from people, but he is a good man." A few minutes after that they hear the sirens of the ambulance getting closer, so Rodrigo just goes up and looks toward Joel's house. "I will guide them here… just stay with him until we come back."
"Sure…" Ellie answered quickly, not letting Joel's hand go.
The old man walked toward the house and a few minutes later he came back with two paramedics carrying a portable stretcher and some medical equipment.
"¿Cuánto tiempo estuvo bajo el agua?" ask one of the paramedics.
"Algunos minutos… creo, todo pasó muy rápido." answer the old man quickly. "La muchacha aquí lo sacó del agua… y le dio respiración de boca a boca… ella lo salvó." Said Rodrigo while watching one of the paramedic's knees beside Joel and starting to check his vitality. The other one started getting the stretcher ready while the one beside Joel continued asking questions.
"Está respirando, pero su pulso es débil. Tampoco veo mucha reacción en sus pupilas y eso no es bueno." said the one that was checking Joel. After a few minutes, the man notices the bloody t-shirt on the back of his head. "Al parecer se golpeó en la cabeza también… Tenemos que sacarlo de aquí rápido."
The other man moves closer. "Ponle el oxígeno y llevemoslo a la ambulancia rápido." said the other paramedic as he started to help his partner.
"Is he going to be okay?" asked Ellie with a worried tone.
"American?" asked one of them while moving Joel to the stretcher and picking him up.
"Yes, I'm… will he be okay?" she asked again, more desperate.
"We don't know… but we need to take him to the hospital quickly." All of them start to walk up the dune and toward the ambulance.
After the paramedics put Joel inside, one of them stays inside while preparing Joel to go. The other one got down and look at Rodrigo. "Vamos a estabilisarlo, pero parece que el golpe en la cabeza va a complicar las cosas… además su cerebro estuvo mucho tiempo sin recibir oxígeno y eso no es bueno tampoco." Said the paramedic that was close to the old man.
Ellie looked at Rodrigo and wanted to know what the man was saying. "What he said? Is Joel going to be fine?"
"He said that they need to take him to the hospital to be sure that everything is okay. But he said that it looks like the hit he got on the head is not good," said the old man.
Ellie turns her head and looks at the paramedic. "Can I go with him?" asked Ellie with a worried tone.
The paramedic looked at Ellie. "Son familia?" asked the man.
"Yo soy su amigo de hace tiempo… él no tiene familia que yo sepa. Pero yo puedo ayudarle con lo que necesite. Somos como familia." Explain the old man to the paramedic.
"Ok… ¿y usted, es algo de él?" he asked Ellie.
The old man moves closer. "Bueno ellos solo se conocieron hace poco… pero le hará bien tener a alguien familiar a su lado cuando despierte." answer Rodrigo for her.
The man looks at both of them before he hears the other one from inside the ambulance. "Ya está ready… ya podemos irnos?"
The paramedic looked at Rodrigo. "Ok… la chica puede venir, pero necesitaremos toda la información del paciente que nos pueda brindar."
"Por supuesto… Yo puedo darle ahora lo que pueda y lo otro tan pronto lleguemos al hospital." Said, Rodrigo.
"Ok… sigan nos." said the man before turning around and starting to walk toward the ambulance.
¿Ella puede ir con ustedes en la ambulancia? Tengo que buscar unos papeles dentro de la casa y después arranco para el hospital."
"Esta bien…" he turned to look at Ellie. "Sube…"
Ellie looks at Rodrigo before going inside the ambulance. "Thank you… I see you there," she said before the paramedic closed the back door and walked toward the driver's seat.
"Estaré ahí lo más pronto posible." said the old man while watching the paramedic go inside and start the ambulance sirens and start to drive away. "No se en qué estabas pensando Joel… but I hope that when you wake up, this serves you as a waking call."