Chapter 04: An Unlikely Ally/Disturbing Revelations

Texas, Four Decades Ago.

The last class period had finally come to an end, and Joel waited in front of the school for Tommy to meet up with him before he began the walk home as per usual.

When Tommy arrived, Joel frowned as he saw yet another bruise on his little brother's lip. "I'm gonna kill that sumbitch one of these days.", Joel said, venomously. "It ain't him this time, I swear. I just fell.", Tommy said, lying. He didn't want his big brother, his only real friend and family, to get in any more trouble than he already had to deal with on a constant basis.

Joel was distracted when he noticed that girl Charlotte from his english class being aggressively hauled into the forest by the guy who was supposed to be her boyfriend. Joel normally didn't give enough of a damn to meddle in the affairs of others, but something about this made him feel as though he would regret standing idly by.

"Wait here, baby brother. Imma go see what's up with that."

Tommy began to protest, but Joel was already walking quickly in Charlotte's direction.

"No! Please! I don't wanna!", Charlotte begged. "C'mon bitch, it'll taste real good!", Ed said as he tried to force the girl's mouth onto his erect penis.

She almost ran out of strength to resist when she saw Ed get hit in the face with half a brick. "ACK! Who the fuck?!"-

They looked over. It was none other than that violent freak of an older brother of that loser, Tommy. "Oh shit! What do you want, asshole!?", Ed shouted as he pulled up his pants and Charlotte scurried away. "Leave the girl alone, she don't need to be doin' that if she don't want to!", Joel yelled.

"Fuck it, I ain't crazy enough to fight him!", Ed thought as he hauled ass. Charlotte let out a sigh of relief after her tormentor (and now former boyfriend) ran away. Joel walked quickly to the girl and extended his hand. As she took it and rose up off the ground, Charlotte said, "Thank you, Joel. thought I was gonna have a real bad afternoon for a minute." A puzzled look crossed Joel's face. "How you know my name? We ain't never had a conversation, together.", he asked.

"Well, you and Tommy are kinda infamous 'round school, I'm afraid.", she said with genuine shame as she now knew the ridicule Joel got was undeserved.

"You okay?", Joel asked her. "Yeah, yeah, I just gotta take a damn shower, lay in bed and try and forget 'bout all this drama."

After a brief awkward silence, she said, "You know, you ain't as bad as they say. You wanna...maybe catch a movie sometime?"

Joel actually blushed a tad. "I...I don't got any money, and dad sure as hell ain't gonna give me any.", he said, laughing lightly. "Well...I can get some from my mama, prolly. Something to think about.", Charlotte said, smiling.

As she began to walk home, Joel said, "Hey wait...maybe I could walk home with ya. In case that asswipe tries to get ya, again. Don't think Tommy'll mind."

Charlotte grinned. "Well, c'mon then.", she said.

That night, Joel laid in bed thinking back to the walk he took with her and Tommy. It was probably the most pleasant walk he took in his whole life. They spent the whole forty minute walk talking about various things and interests they all shared and laughed merrily with one another. In retrospect, it could be he felt compelled to aid her that evening due to being bewitched by her beauty.

After all, she did have the most beautiful blonde hair and blue eyes he had ever seen.

...

Seattle, Day 2.

"...Joel. Joel, hey wake up." Joel slowly opened his tired eyes. "...Yeah, Dina? What?", he asked. "Tommy's by the doors holding up one of the Wolves.", Dina said. "Why didn't he just kill em?", Joel asked. Dina's answer shocked him awake.

"She walked up to him with no weapons and her hands raised like she was surrendering, and...she's one of the ones in those pictures we found. She's that Mel girl with the short hair. She was there the night Ellie was killed."

Joel quickly shot out of the seat he was sleeping in and drew his revolver when Dina said, "No Joel! She says she's willing to tell us anything we wanna know as long as we don't hurt her!"

As Joel and Dina rounded the corner, Joel saw that was indeed Mel being held at gunpoint by Tommy. She appeared to have already sustained a moderate injury going off of the bloody bandage wrapped around her stomach. He recognized her both from the picture and from the night Ellie was slaughtered. Mel felt her fear rise in intensity upon seeing the infamous man himself, but she kept her composure. "Mornin, Joel.", said Tommy in a grim voice. "Tommy.", said Joel.

"You.", said Joel as he strode up to Mel after he grabbed his nearby M16. "My friend here told me what you want. You got a deal, for now. You try anything, I'll put more bullets in your gut and we'll be leavin' you to die in your own shit. You got that?"

Mel nodded, fearfully.

They allowed her to sit down on the couch as the three Jackson citizens stood near her, guns ready in case this was some kind of trick. It was difficult for Dina with her injury, but she tried her best to stoically ignore the pain for this.

Joel began, "Alright, first things first: Why in the goddamn hell would you betray Abby?"

"...Well, you might remember what I called her after she...After she did what she did?", said Mel. "Fucking Maniac, I think you said.", said Joel. "Well it isn't innacurate. That's all she fucking is, now. I used to think that at the very least, she used to be a good friend, but honestly? She's a piece of shit, and I'm beginning to think she probably always has been. After you murdered Marlene, Jerry, all the other Fireflies...I should've just left them all behind."

Dina's eyes widened. "What a minute, Joel, did I hear that right, that was YOU who ended the Fireflies?!"

Realizing the cat was well out of the bag now, Joel answered, "...Yeah. That was me."

"All by yourself?! Oh my God! I always just assumed a squad of FEDRA Red Berets did that or something. All along it was you? Why would you even do that?!", Dina asked in a raised voice.

"They were gonna kill Ellie!", Joel answered. "Wha- that's absurd! Why would THEY even do THAT? Fireflies weren't afraid to get their hands dirty, but they wouldn't just kill a teenage girl for no reason!", said Dina. "Wait, you didn't know?", Mel asked Dina. "...No. Know what?", Dina asked.

"Ellie was...immune. To the Cordyceps. To the Infected.", Mel said in a serious, shaky tone.

Dina errupted in laughter that sounded almost psychotic. "That's fucking ridiculous, I don't believe it. NO ONE's immune to that shit, it's never happened before, and it's never going to happen. Joel, tell me what actually happened."

Joel and Tommy's expressions were that of sadness and shame as they realized Dina would find out what they've been hiding from her. "...Wait, it's actually not bullshit?", Dina asked, her voice breaking.

Joel answered, "Dina...Ellie was bitten when she was fourteen, and nothing happened. I had to take her to the Fireflies. We crossed the whole damn country together to make it happen. When the time came...They told me that she'd have to die to make it work. I didn't think. I didn't need to think. I did what needed to be done. There was no way in hell I'd let her die. I don't give a damn what the reason for it was."

The shock and pain finally got to be too much, and Dina had to sit down. "Well...SON OF A BITCH!", she yelled, now crying. "When were you motherfuckers gonna tell me!? When was SHE gonna tell me!?"

They all let her cry for a bit, then Mel slowly got up, hands raised to show she had no ill intentions, and walked over to Dina. Pointing to her thigh, she said, "I'm a Medic, and I've still got a couple of kits left in my backpack. I can help with that."

"I'd...I guess that's fine. Fuck man, I need...I need to go back to lying down or something. Shit, man."

...

An hour later, Dina's thigh had at last been free of the metal, and had been administered medicine and bandages. Now significantly more at ease knowing her wound would heal properly, Dina had fallen back asleep. This time, much more peacefully than the previous night.

Mel left Dina's room to face Joel and Tommy. "She's alright, she's gonna pull through. She needs to rest for as long as she can afford to before she can run around town dodging Clickers, though.", Mel said. "Shit Doc, I could'a told you that.", said Tommy, causing Mel to chuckle, slightly. "Joel...I honestly don't know for sure where Abby is, but I can think of a place she might be at. And even if she isn't there, I know someone of value who definitely will be.", said Mel.

Mel continued, "The Hospital. It's a heavy Wolf stronghold, but given the fact that you've taken down a Firefly stronghold on your own, a lesser Wolf stronghold shouldn't be an issue for you."

"How did you know I was plannin' on goin' alone?", Joel asked. "Something tells me you wouldn't feel comfortable taking your brother with you and leaving a former enemy here with your only injured ally.", Mel answered. "Damn, and she's a talented Medic. This girl ain't stupid.", Joel thought.

Tommy frowned a little. He didn't feel wholly comfortable letting Joel fend for himself, but he understood Joel's reasoning.

"Who's this other person of value you mentioned?", Tommy asked. "Her name is Nora. She's black. A medic, like me. She's always at the hospital. She's much closer to Abby than me. Even if Abby isn't there, you can talk to her and she could probably spill some important intel regarding her whereabouts.", said Mel.

"I'll watch over Dina and make sure this one don't try anything funny. Good luck, Joel. Don't do nothin' stupid, you hear?", said Tommy.

Just before Joel turned to leave, Mel said, "One last thing, Joel." He turned back around. "Look, I will never forgive you for what you did that night in Salt Lake City, but...but no parent should have to watch their child die like that. I'm not stupid, I know what Ellie was to you. I'll help you end this thing, but after that, we go seperate ways. Capiche?", asked Mel.

Joel nodded slowly, then left the Theater. "Alright. Nora. Hospital."