Chapter 1: Devil in a Mask (1/5)

Ellie: (Early that day.)

It was going to be another cold day, she could feel it. There was absolutely no rush to wake up from her warm bed. Especially with the company that she had.

"We should get up soon." Ellie told her company.

"Why?" Her company asked while kissing her on the cheek. "It's so comfy here."

The company was her girlfriend Dina, who was cuddling with Ellie on her bed. Ellie just rolled around to look at Dina's face and planted a kiss on her lips. Both of them were in their underwear.

"Since when you're so clingy?" Ellie asked with a smile.

"Since I couldn't see you for two weeks because of that cold." She replied. "Speaking of which, did you finally learn your lesson?"

"I already got enough shit from Joel, so please, don't you start too." Ellie replied in annoyance.

"Well, that's what you get for wearing canvas sneakers in the snow," Dina added as she moved herself to touch Ellie's feet. "You're lucky that we were there, you could have died of hypothermia." She started to caress her feet.

"I know, I'm sorry." Ellie touched Dina's thigh and started to caress her leg as well.

Dina then plants a kiss on Ellie's feet. Before moving back to the pillow besides Ellie's. "Are going on patrol today?" She asked.

"I want to, I'm tired of just laying on the bed all day." Ellie complained, "Hell, I even missed the celebration." She was very annoyed by that. "Speaking of which, how was it?"

"Oh... ummm... It was... okay." Dina looked a bit nervous about it, for some reason.

"Did something happen?" Ellie asked as Dina is not someone to get nervous easily.

"Ummm... I... drank more than I should and kind of made a fool of myself." Dina explained while looking away, clearly ashamed of something.

Ellie touched her face. "It's okay, we don't have to talk about it." She assured her. She probably just got drunk and did something embarrassing, I better not pry.

Dina smiled at her. "I'm starving, let's see if Joel has some breakfast."

Ellie nodded and the two got up from the bed, they both put their clothes from yesterday back on.

Ellie put on a pair of blue jeans and a red long sleeve t-shirt.

Dina put on a pair of dark jeans and a black T-shirt.

They exit Ellie's room and make their way downstairs. They sense the smell of eggs. They quickly made their way to the kitchen where they saw Joel cooking the eggs that they smelled.

"Morning," Joel greeted them. "Feeling better?"

"Completely recovered, although I could use some breakfast for some extra recovery" Ellie jokes.

"If that's the case, you two sit down while I finish." Joel replied as scrambled the eggs on the frying pan. "Tommy and Maria invited us for dinner tonight." He told them as they took their seats.

"Is it a special occasion or something?" Ellie asked.

"It's their Wedding anniversary." Dina told her.

"Oh shit, is it already?" They have dinners together on this occasion since Joel and Ellie started to live in Jackson.

"It was actually two days ago, but since you couldn't go because of your cold, they decided to delay until your recovery." Joel explained as he put the eggs on a plate.

"What? They didn't have to do that." Ellie replied a little frustrated as he put the plates for her and Dina.

"It wouldn't be the same without you there, Kiddo " Joel told her as he sat down as well.

Ellie took a bite of the scrambled eggs that Joel did. They tasted really nice.

After breakfast, all three of them decided to go find Tommy to check the patrol duty of the day.

"Are you sure you're good to go?" Joel asked Ellie. This is the third time he asked that.

"Yes, I'm wearing boots this time." Ellie pointed out.

"Don't worry, if she catches another cold, I'll take the responsibility of nursing her back to health from you." Dina joked as they walked.

"Don't even joke about that, I don't wanna get sick again." Ellie complained.

They all kept walking through the streets while a few people waved at them. "So... Are you guys still paranoid about those guys that tried to invade us last week."

Apparently, one of Jesse's friends was patrolling an area up in the north and discovered a group of bandits. Apparently Joel,Tommy and a few others took these bandits by surprise and killed most of them. But two of them escaped and they have been extra vigilant on patrol duty.

"We have to be, they know our location and could come back to try again at any time." Joel told her.

"Jessie has been pretty annoying about that." Dina commented. "Like when he yelled at Fred the other day."

"To be fair, Fred was taking a nap during his patrol." Joel pointed out. "Honestly, Jessie has been throwing himself at work since you two broke up."

"It's been a year, and with Ellie now." Dina replied. "He really needs to move on."

"Do you think that he still believes that you cheated on him with me?" Ellie asked.

"Probably." Dina replied with a smile. "But my conscience is clean, I broke up with him because I knew that I wanted to be with you."

Ellie smiled at her before they finally arrived at their destination.

Joel: (A few hours later.)

Joel and Tommy Miller decided to patrol their usual area in hopes of not finding anything. They were both riding their horses side by side as the snow fell from the sky.

"You sure Ellie was okay to go?" Tommy asked him.

"I took every precaution before letting her go on patrol, and I trust Dina to keep an eye on her." Joel told his brother.

"Good to know, are you two coming for dinner?" Tommy asked him.

"Definitely." Joel replied. "Ellie and I were working on some songs together while she was sick."

"Oh good, you guys can play for us after dinner then" Tommy replied with a smile.

Joel was about to say something else, but before he did. He saw something from afar. "Look." He pointed in the direction of it.

"What is that?"

The two brothers approached whatever it was. As they got close enough, they noticed that it was a gauze bandage, completely soaked in blood. It close to a tree and they could see a few drops of blood on the ground and some in the snow.

"Do you know where this path leads?" Joel asked as he has never been to this specific area before.

"To build a custom-built house, a man named Xander used to live there for a few years." Tommy explained.

"Used to?" Joel asked.

"Died of kidney failure." Tommy answered. "What do you think?"

"Whoever's blood is this, it's probably taking refuge there." Joel suggested.

"Then we better take a look." Tommy replied.

Both brothers then followed the path that led to the abandoned house that Tommy mentioned. As soon as they got close, Joel couldn't help but think that the house was really nice looking.

It was a two floor building, with a big fence surrounding it. There was a dead tree in front of the house, right behind the fence. The house looked abandoned, with a hole on the wall and a broken window on the second floor.

Joel and Tommy noticed the trail of blood leading towards the entrance. Both came off of their horses and prepared their guns. But when they approached, they noticed that the fence door was locked with a chain.

"Shit, I don't think we can break that, without making a lot of noise." Tommy spoke.

"There's got to be another way, let's look around a bit." Joel suggested. "Be on your guard, we don't know if whoever is bleeding is armed or not, " He added.

Both brothers then decided to check around for another entrance, they checked to see if there was any opening on the fence. Soon enough they circle around the house until they notice something.

"Are those footsteps?" Tommy asked his brother.

"Yes." Joel replied.

"They're walking away from the house." Tommy pointed out. "Did he or she leave?"

"Or there's two of them." Joel suggested. "Whoever's blood was that, I don't think that he simply stopped bleeding."

"He could have just bandaged himself." Tommy also suggested.

"Maybe, but I think we should check anyway." Joel didn't want to take any chances.

Tommy nodded.

They noticed a small gap on the fence and decided to use it to get inside. They could see the back door of the house. Both approached slowly with their handguns at hand since they didn't know if there was someone inside or not. Joel quietly opens the back door of the house and Tommy follows behind him, both trying to not make any noise.

The house on the inside looked really bad. The kitchen had dry blood on the floor and corroded objects, like the fridge and the oven. It was clear that it wasn't really habitable, unless you were truly desperate and considering the snow outside, it made sense.

Joel and Tommy passed through and made their way to the living room. Which was pretty empty with only a couch in there. A couch where a man was sitting down. The man was unmoving and his head was leaning backwards.

Tommy looks at Joel with a unsure expression. Joel looks at the man again and decides to approach him slowly from behind with his handgun ready.. But then, one of the boards on the wooden floor made a noise, however, the man didn't react to it at all despite the sound being considerable.

Joel pointed his gun at him just in case, before approaching him slowly, and once he took a few steps, he realized that he was dead. "Hm..."

Tommy approached him as well and took a good look. "Bullet right in between the eyes." The cause of death was obvious.

"This guy was killed recently." Too recently since there was still blood coming out of both his head and an injury in his leg. Joel looked around and realized that there was an empty cartridge on the floor. He kneeled down to grab it.

"You think whoever shot him is nearby?" Tommy asked as he looked around.

"Someone left this place, I could tell by the signs outside." Joel replied.

"Shit." That was all that Tommy said since they had a problem now.

Joel took a good look at the man, and realized that he had a radio attached to his belt. He decided to pick it up to check in order to see if it was working. "This is Fox Boy."

"Hello." Joel ended up responding in hopes to get some answers.

"Joel, there was someone else with him." Tommy spoke up as he checked around the living room. However, whoever was on the other side immediately turned off the radio as soon as Tommy spoke. "Look at this." Tommy highlighted some stuff that was on the floor, mostly cans of food. "What the hell is going on?" Tommy asked in deep confusion.

Joel didn't answer, he was in deep thought, trying to understand what exactly was going on. He looked at Tommy before speaking. "Whoever this Fox Boy is, he left a trail." Joel mentioned since whoever killed the man was apparently called Fox Boy.

Thanks everyone who followed and favorited this story.

Answer to the questions:

Q: So how old is fox boy actually

Also hope despite the infected and all the other people left in the world our dear Oc is the most dangerous thing on the planet.

A: He's technically younger than Ellie.

Not the most dangerous thing on the planet but still extremely dangerous.

Q: I'm curious about this, something tells me that the story will play out differently.

Also, this Fox Boy seems like an interesting character. Looking forward or his interactions with Ellie and Dina.

A: Your suspicion is correct.

They won't exactly have the most warm introduction.

Q:

Cool, short but awesome start. I hope you don't get burned out from running multiple stories at once. Because it's amazing being able to maintain so many ideas.

Anyways there are a few grammar errors here and there but nothing that detracts from the story.

Having read some of your other stories now, one thing that stands out is the unique and original plotlines you make and how much depth they're given. Taking the summary of this story, Jackson falling forcing Ellie, Joel, and comp. to unknowingly walk right into the vengeful hands of Abby. Well, that's if Abby is part of this plot...hopefully? And getting whatever characters survived with them stuck right in the middle of the Seraphites and WLF. So looking forward to whatever you come up with.

Fox boy seems interesting too, I'm always up for oc characters, and you have a decent oc character gallery so far with your other stories. I wonder what the other of fox boy's people are like and if they'll survive or die, leaving him even more 'alone' than he already seems to be. Do they have actual names or did they forgo conventional naming? Either way, I'm looking forward to seeing Ellie and Dina interact with him and get past the mask.

Anyways sorry for rambling and being incoherent with my review. Just wanted to get this out before I forget. Thanks for the story, and hopefully later

A: Not really, the ideas are easy, the writing part that it's complicated because the story often doesn't come out as I wanted them to.

Grammer errors will always be there, as much as I hate to admit it.

Abby will be part of the plot, but in an extremely different way.

Let's just say that Fox Boy and the one behind the mask are two completely different people. Ellie and Dina will become close to the one behind the mask and not Fox Boy.

I don't mind, I love when people review my stories. (When it's not just pointless insults of course.)