Chapter 21

She was being chased by infected, hundreds of them, without any possibility to escape. It actually didn't matter where she was going to, because the monsters were always there, right behind her.

"Sarah!" Ellie called into the emptiness, only finding that the infected were answering with a growl in unison as they were gaining speed. Suddenly, something caught the young red-head's foot and she fell, followed by a strong pain in her upper leg. A Stalker had grabbed her and was now biting into her thigh.

Screaming and kicking in desperation, Ellie managed to free her leg from the infected and then continued to sprint. But the agony wasn't over.

Something began to spread throughout her body, starting from her leg. It was an indescribable feeling, like if the blood in her veins began to boil. With each passing second she got slower and slower, the creatures behind her now catching up and about to knab her.

Once more, she screamed with all the power of her lungs as the infected were about to consume her.

Accompanied by a loud gasp, Ellie woke up with a start, sitting upright in bed. She was bathed in sweat, the garments sticking to her young body that was continuously heaving from her heavy breathing.

It had just been a dream. Only a dream. No, more of a nightmare to be exact. An agonizing nightmare.

Slowly, her breathing steadied, until she was calm enough to let herself fall back onto the mattress. After closing her eyes for a few seconds again, she was finally able to become aware of her surroundings.

She was lying in a clean, comfortable bed that was situated inside a wooden building. Ellie knew this interior from the day before. The patterns of the boards of the ceiling, which she had stared at after she had gotten locked in here. She was back at the hospital in Jackson. Back in this freakin' quarantine room.

She recalled what had happened in the woods. The attack by the infected. How she had fought like a lion. How she had gotten bitten. How the Clickers had pulled her out of the window and how she had tried to get away. The pain as the one Clicker was about to kill her. And then…nothing! Just a blur.

No, not everything!

In all this blurriness, one special thing was always as crystal clear as a beacon of light in the darkness: Sarah!

She had been there. Had saved her. Had defended her. And…was probably very pissed at her.

Damn! All this mess, all those people that had died, just because she was worried without any rational reason.

It clicked at the door, signaling that it had been locked and someone was entering now. It was Maria with a tray full of medical equipment in her hand.

"Oh, you're awake," she said politely, setting the tray down on the small table before approaching the bed. "How are you feeling?"

Just now - as it got mentioned - Ellie had the chance to listen into her body, realizing quickly the pain in her arm, back and leg, plus a strong headache.

"Like shit," the young girl mentioned dryly, leaning back and gulping hard. Maria, however, only commented with a humm and then checked her pulse.

"You lost a lotta blood," the blond nurse then told her as she rolled back the sleeve of the white hospital shirt, under which a with blood and puss soaked bandage appeared. "The Clicker nicked the artery in your leg, which caused your blood pressure to nosedive quickly. Luckily, Matt brought you here right in time. Don't worry, we fixed it. But the real bitch is this new bite of yours."

"Yeah, they take ages to heal."

Ellie tried to be easygoing about this. Eventually, she was immune, so what was there to worry about?

"Your body's fighting an infection, Ellie," Maria replied with a stern gaze, undoing the dirty bandage. "Though you seem to be immune to the Cordyceps, those wounds are a paradise for secondary infections."

As the gauze became undone, Ellie quickly understood what Maria wanted to tell her. Her entire arm was fiery-red and the bite oozed greenish-yellow puss. Yes, she was immune to the fungus, but not immortal. Bacteria and blood loss could still easily kill her.

Cautiously, Maria started to clean the wound, whereas Ellie sometimes had the feeling that she was deliberately adding some pain as a lecture for the future. But if the young teenager thought that she would get away that easily, she was enormously mistaken.

"What in the hell were you doin' out there anyway?" Maria said chidingly, talking herself into a rage. "We have rules here, and a curfew. Nobody's allowed outside the walls after dark, except those with a special order. You broke the rules, Ellie! You and Dina. And I promise you one thing: there will be consequences. Big consequences!"

"But I…" Ellie tried to counter, only to get angrily interrupted by Maria right away.

"But you, what?! You tried to help?"

Furiously and not able to contain herself anymore, Maria jumped up, yelled and pointed at the medical equipment.

"You see that? These are valuable resources. Resources that are worth more than any gold in the world, and I now have to waste it, because of…of your stupidity!"

"Then stop using it and lemme kick the bucket, asshole! Y'all 're shittin' your pants 'cause o' me anyway, 'cause of this!" Ellie yelled back and showed her arms, tears of anger and frustration rolling down her cheeks. "I never asked for this! I never wanted this!" She then started to sob as her fury turned into deep sadness. "I wanted to die with Riley. I wanted to be with my mom. But since this happened, everybody treats me like a fuckin' freak."

Her anger now abating, Maria sighed deeply and dropped her gaze as she felt miserable upon unloading so much pressure onto the young girl.

"Ellie…you're no freak. Sorry that I…"

But Ellie didn't want to hear the nurse's excuses, yet jumped out of bed, ignored all the pain, pushed her aside and ran out of the room, out of the building and onto the street. Many people were there, doing their duties. Some ogled her, most ignored her. Yet, she felt alone. So alone. Her arm, however, was still exposed, showing everyone the infected wound. First people were beginning to take a closer look at it and Ellie feared that it would be like with those people in Pittsburgh. That they would surround her and try to kill her.

But to her surprise, Sarah emerged from the crowd and immediately guided her back to the hospital, yelling over her shoulder "Don't ya fuckers have anythin' better to do?"

Sarah. Her Sarah. Ellie had lied. Lied to herself and Maria. She wasn't alone. There was still Sarah, the only person she trusted and who was taking care of her. The only person who was giving her some hold.

They had barely entered the waiting area, as the young teenager embraced her guardian tightly and unloaded her mental load on her with big tears.

"Shit, Sarah, I'm so sorry! I…" chimed Maria's voice, which got interrupted by Sarah right away.

"It's okay. I'll take care of her. Just keep the rest of your fuckin' council off our asses until she's better or I'll freak!"

There she was again. Her guardian. Her protector. Her friend. And before Ellie knew it, they were back in the quarantine room, where Sarah was immediately taking care of the young girl's injured arm again.

"Are you mad at me?" Ellie asked as she found that the silence by Sarah was somewhat uncomfortable and some tension could be felt.

"Not mad, yet disappointed," answered the blond woman calmly, still being focused on the bandage. "I told you to stay put, yet I find you out there, almost gettin' killed by a fuckin' Clicker and…"

As Sarah had finished the bandage, she sighed deeply, followed by a few seconds of quietness.

"Dina told me everything… why you've been there and what happened? And believe me, it's not your fault. The mission was fucked from the start. Unorganized and sloppy. We're lucky to be alive."

There were two things that were leaving Ellie pondering. First, Dina told Sarah the reason for breaking the rules, which let the young girl feel a bit flustered. And secondly, Dina obviously survived this mess, too.

Wanting to avoid the first - way more embarrassing - point, Ellie asked "How's Dina? Is she okay?"

"She's in custody," Sarah replied and signed the young girl to turn around before she lifted up the shirt, revealing her also bandaged lower back. "Heads had to roll after only the four of us returned from the mission with empty hands. Most of the council blame you and Dina for the failed mission."

"But that's bullshit, I…"

"I know," Sarah confirmed, undoing the next bandage. "Believe me, I already talked to Tommy, but… They want a whole debriefing, and as far as I can tell, it won't be pretty. They want a scapegoat to present to the public."

The next line of gauze fell to the ground, leaving Ellie's entire upper body bare.

"So, they wanna blame everythin' just on me? Yellow motherfuckers!" Ellie said with gritted teeth as Sarah cleaned the next wound.

"As I said, I won't let it come to this. I'll take the fall."

Swiftly, and without Sarah being finished, Ellie turned around and looked her right into the eyes, exclaiming "And why the fuck would you do that? You're the last one who's responsible for this shit."

"Maybe so, but what's the alternative? You? Tommy? Dina? Forget it!"

"What 'bout that other guy?"

"You mean Matt, the guy who saved you?" Sarah returned with quirked eyebrows and a scoff, turning Ellie around again so that she could continue the treatment. "Well, he was in charge, sure. But ratin' him out won't help anyone. He has enough on his tab, believe me, as well as Tommy. And Dina… You probably don't want her to get blamed, do ya?"

A good question. An easy question. Of course, Ellie didn't want Dina to get blamed. She had helped her. She had fought and tried to save lives. She's a good person. But this Matt-guy…? Ellie couldn't place him anywhere, besides that Sarah was somehow behaving strangely when he was around or his name got brought up.

"You two have history, don't you?" Ellie asked out of a sudden, and she felt how Sarah froze for a second before she answered and tried to act normal.

"Who? Me 'n' Matt? Uh…yeah. We, um… We kinda dated after Joel was born. Just, y'know…"

Sarah was nervous. Very nervous. A rare reaction to such a topic. Was she embarrassed to talk about this relationship with Ellie? Was she embarrassed about this former relationship?

Ellie kind of loved it to make Sarah feel uncomfortable. But not because of mischief or because she liked to bug her, but because it made her feel special. Especially, since her guardian wasn't mad at her anymore whenever she asked about her past, but answered her. A sign of trust. A sign of their deep relationship.

"Alright, your leg's up!" Sarah then said, bringing Ellie back from her thoughts. She put the white shirt back down and laid down on her belly. Cautiously, Sarah then pulled down the wide pants, revealing the teenage girl's bare behind and thighs.

Again, Ellie felt how the bandage unwrapped. On one side it tickled as her thighs were very sensitive, let alone that the wound was pretty far up. On the other hand, though, it hurt a lot.

After the fight with Maria, Ellie hadn't paid much attention to the pain, which now came back tenfold. Especially as the last layer of gauze and the padding became undone.

"You're lucky, Ellie. The stitches survived your lil' sprint," Sarah mentioned and then also treated the wound. It hurt a lot as water and the disinfectant touched the sore and injured flesh. But it all vaned as soon as Sarah put on a new layer of bandages, because her hands and the gauze were continuously brushing over the unscathed skin. And it was so close to her intimate area, that the young red-head closed her eyes and focused only on those touches.

She knew that her leg was slightly spread in order to give Sarah enough room to work with the bandages, but would also give the woman a good view of her intimacy, which fueled her yearning even more, causing her hands to clench as it was hard for her to not moan.

"Aaand done!" Sarah then announced, wanting to pull Ellie's pants back up, though it wasn't easy since the young girl didn't raise her hip in order to help, yet stayed in place, not even moving an inch. "Uh, Ellie… Are you alright?"

No, she wasn't alright. She wasn't okay. She wanted something. She needed something. Her mind was only filled with one thought that she needed to get off of her tongue. Yet, it would be so embarrassing. So shameful.

"Sarah," the young girl eventually said with a low, shivering voice, wishing to sink into the ground. "I… I wanna have sex with you."

There was no answer. Not one word. Only silence.

Not knowing what was going on behind her back, Ellie turned around, her face beet-red blushed. She saw Sarah, sitting still, head bowed, not moving. It was very sure that something was off. That something had triggered her again.

"We can't!" was everything that was able to leave her mouth before got up again and wanted to leave. But this time, Ellie was faster and held her by the sleeve of her jacket, looking at her with a determinant gaze.

"Why not?" she asked angrily, already expecting no answer. "Why the fuck not? I'm old enough. Or is it because of my mom, huh? Is it because I look like her? Well, newsflash, I'm not her!"

Again, her words triggered something. This time it was Sarah who looked determinantly at her.

"Do you even know what you're asking for?" she hissed back in a threatening tone. "What do you want anyway? A real relationship or just to finally fuck and get off?"

It hadn't been the reaction Ellie had expected. A simple 'no' or that she wasn't ready yet would've been enough. But instead, she answered with stupid questions. With hurtful questions. Questions that were beating the young girl down.

"You know what I want, Sarah…" Ellie eventually returned quietly with a sigh and then pulled up her pants and laid down again, back towards Sarah. "But it's okay, y'know. I'll stop tryin'." She then scoffed, accompanied by a sniff as her eyes were welling up and her emotions overwhelmed her. "I dunno what my mom, Carla, Matt or all the other fuckers did to finally get your attention, but… I obviously can't do it. So…just fuck off and leave me alone!"

Ellie didn't know what hurt more. Her wounds or Sarah's constant silence as she left.

Turns out, when the council of Jackson was meeting, there were two locations. One, in the town's tavern for small meetings, and two, in the bigger church for public meetings.

Ellie had expected a lot, but not that this council would make this trial a public matter. And to make things worse, she had to stand in the middle of it since her wounds were hindering her from sitting down. Yet, she didn't know if Dina, who was sitting a few seats away, was having it even worse, since she was in cuffs.

The whole room was filled with loud chitter-chatter from all the people. Still, she could hear Sarah's agitated voice chiming through the noise. She didn't understand what the argument was about, but sure as hell she was pretty pissed at her uncle.

"Stupid assholes!" the blond woman only hissed as she took her place beside Ellie, yet refused to sit out of hospitality.

"So, now you're talking to me again?" retorted Ellie and immediately earned a stinky eye by her guardian.

"You wanna do this now?"

No, Ellie didn't want to talk about this now. Actually, she never wants to talk about this ever again.

The loud sound of wood hammering on wood echoed through the enormous room, causing everyone to sit down and the various conversations to die. Matt, another survivor of the expedition also took his seat beside Sarah, whereas one member was missing: Jesse. And just now Ellie realized why Dina was so depressed the whole time.

The council was sitting at a row of three desks in front of the crowd. And besides Tommy and Maria, it consisted of two other women and one other man, whereas the elder woman in the middle of them seemed to be the chief since she began to speak.

"My dear people of Jackson, as we all know by now, two nights ago, we lost five members of our community to the infected. As the head of our council and our town, I - once again - want to give my condolences to the families that were left with a big hole in their midst. Yet, such a tragedy always raises the question of how this could happen, and the answer is simple: irresponsibility and disobedience."

Irresponsibility and disobedience…

Ellie knew what this woman was on about and who she wanted to blame. And when her's and Dina's name were announced it all became crystal-clear. They were the target. Scapegoats, Sarah had called it. Yes, she and Dina were nothing more than scapegoats.

People were already murmuring and staring. Yes, they saw the witch in her that should burn on the stake.

They asked her why she had left the town and gone after the group. And, of course, Ellie bended the truth, telling them that she only wanted to help. But she also mentioned this idiot of a guard, who, instead of keeping it quiet, had yelled at them and therefore triggered the attack.

"So, you're saying that Mike Sharidan was the one responsible for this incident?" one of the other council members asked, obviously not having expected this detail of the story.

"At least he was the one yelling all the time," Ellie replied with a shrug, supporting Dina's story and not showing any sign of remorse, which didn't fit into the council leader's perspective.

"The question here is, however, if he would've been forced to yell at all, if you two hadn't been there in the first place?"

There it was again: the blame. It simply didn't matter what Ellie and Dina would say, since they were the only living witnesses of the events before the attack, anyway. The case was clear for the council and the public. But not for Sarah, who then yelled "That's bullshit!"

Now all eyes were on her, whereas the elder woman of the council was piercing her with her angry glare.

"You want to add something to the case, Miss Miller?"

"Yes," the blonde announced, answering the chairwoman's glare. "Since when did it become common for this town to start a witch hunt after a fucked up mission?" she asked rhetorically, not expecting or awaiting a proper answer. "Yes, these two have left the town without permission, but I've been on the road with Ellie for over half a year. We've been through enough shit, Cordies as well as Hunters, and I know that she can take care of herself. She knows how to move in a hot zone. And now you dare to blame her for the fuck-up of the idiot who bit the dust?"

A giant commotion broke out. Especially a bunch of people who seemed to be Mike's relatives, protested loudly.

"Sarah…" Tommy addressed her, trying to calm the upcoming storm. But this was doomed to fail as she countered him.

"Shut up, Tommy! It was your stupid plan in the first place. Sending rookies into an infested zone was the shittiest idea I've ever seen. Even me 'n' Matt only survived by luck. And now you wanna make these two kids your scapegoats, though they've been helping us? None of us, including me, would be sitting here without them. How yellow can you be?"

Another murmuring by the crowd, ignited by Sarah's speech, echoed through the room, while the council didn't look very happy. Especially Tommy seemed to be shocked by his niece's honest words. They were all talking, whispering. It was chaos. Not even the wooden hammer could bring a quick silence. Eventually, the whole meeting got adjourned, and while all the townspeople left, the council and the survivors stayed, awaiting the absence of the public.

And as soon as the front doors closed, Tommy jumped up and yelled "Sarah, what the fuck…?!"

"I warned you, Tommy!" she, however, retorted, closing in on her uncle. "I warned you all to keep her out of this! You wanted the war, now you got it!"

"Miss Miller!" chimed the chairwoman's strict voice again, letting everyone look at her. "There was a reason for this trial: exemplary. What these two did…" She then ogled the two teenage girls sternly and continued. "...could be a bad example for others. We need to put a stop to it before more people get hurt. That's our responsibility. This is why we need to do this!"

But this caused Sarah only to scoff. "Instead of training those people and looking for leaks in your wall, you rather feed two girls to the wolves. Pathetic!"

"You're one to talk," furiously chimed the other female council-member in. "You abandoned us and left your own child behind. Which mother does that?"

Again, this topic got brought up, and again Ellie could see the hurt in Sarah's demeanor, paired with boiling fury. Luckily and to everyone's surprise, Maria jumped in and took her side.

"She had her reasons. Reasons we shouldn't judge."

"Reasons?" the chairwoman, however, replied, crossing her arms. "We all have reasons. Nonetheless, you left our community and are merely a guest at that moment, and so is that girl."

"Her name's Ellie," Sarah blurted back, crossing her arms as well. "And what do you wanna do now, throw us both out?"

"Nobody gets thrown out!" Tommy then intervened as well, and positioned himself between his niece and the council. "She's right, Audrey. It was my mission, my responsibility. I made the wrong choices and chose the wrong people. And as a consequence, I'll resign as the head of security with immediate effect."

"Bullshit!" Sarah, however, scoffed, not being convinced by the drama. "Stop trying to play the hero now."

"I don't," he then replied, turning towards his niece and laying one hand on her shoulder. "Remember when you arrived here and I told you that this could've been your job if you would've stayed? Well, here you got it! I only took it over anyway, 'cause nobody else wanted to do it."

"It's not that easy, Tommy," the head of the council, Audrey, threw in. "It needs the vote of the council to make someone our head of security."

"Yeah, fine," Tommy immediately replied with a shrug. "Then find someone else who's volunteering for the job. You probably won't find anybody."

To underline his proposal, he raised his hand and so did Maria. It just needed one additional vote by a council member to make it official and it came from the other male one, who also added "I always trusted you Tommy. I hope you're right about this one."

"So it's settled," Tommy then announced joyfully, very much to Audrey's dismay.

She gave him an angry glare, saying "You're playing a dangerous game, Miller. Let's hope she won't be the downfall of our community."

And Sarah? Well, Sarah was still stunned, not knowing what to say about this sudden promotion. And only as Audrey approached her, she finally managed to break this stupor.

"Congratulations, Miss Miller! I hope you find pleasure in your new job," she mentioned dryly, briefly shaking her hand. "And it goes without saying that this also makes you and the girl automatically members of our community. And since we're all gathered here, let's talk about your future plans for Jackson's security, shall we?"

There was this spiteful tone in the elder woman's voice that let Ellie go on high-alert. It was more than obvious to her that Audrey wanted to let Sarah walk into an open knife and let her fail in the first minute of her new job. But if Sarah had realized this too, she didn't show it. On the contrary, she was standing strong as a tree in the storm, waiting for the council to take a seat again before she began to report her plans.

"A lot of changes need to happen," the tall blonde began, and walked over to an old map of Jackson and its surroundings on the wall. "First, we need to secure the close perimeter around the town and fix any loopholes in the wall. And I mean any!" During those last words, her sight fell first on Ellie and then at Dina. "Dina and her team will help me with this, since they seem to know the wall pretty well."

"Dina is relieved of her duty indef-..." the other female member of the council protested, only to get shut down by Sarah right away.

"And I hereby reinstate her!" She then walked over to a very taken aback Dina and undid her cuffs after Tommy had tossed the keys to her. "I saw her fight. She's exactly the type of trooper we need right now, plus it's a perfect chance for her to make up for her mistake."

Dina, on her side, couldn't believe what just happened and Ellie used the chance to go over to her and give her some comfort. She needed it and took it gratefully by taking the young girl's hand. They were friends…somehow. Though Ellie didn't know how or why this happened. But it did and she was glad about it.

"Anyway…" Sarah continued, being back at the map. "Our highest priority is the security of the town, the fields and the dam, short: our critical infrastructure. And for this, we need more men. Way more. And I talk about conscripts, if there aren't enough volunteers. Plus, a basic training for every man, woman and kid at the age of 12 and higher."

"That's crazy!" the council-woman protested while the rest stayed quiet. "You can't teach children to fight!"

But all she received from Sarah was a merciless glare.

"When was the last time you've been outside these walls? Five years…maybe ten?" she asked, not getting an answer yet only a sour glare in return, causing her to scoff. "Just to cool your pants, I'm not aiming to build an army, but to make sure that everyone can defend themselves in a worst-case-scenario. Because we'll need every patrolman to clear the infestation south of here, step-by-step…"

Thoughtfully, Ellie listened to every word Sarah was telling the council. And despite having been angry at her guardian before, she was now enthralled by her again. Or simply said: she wasn't able to hate her anymore.