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Boston, Capitol Building, Summer.
Joel should have felt relieved when they got out of the shallow water and climbed the stairs leading to the entrance of the capitol building, the absolute silence other than their steps and some occasional sounds from the surrounding wildlife gave him a bad feeling about this.
To their dismay, the interior had been the scene of what must have been an absolute carnage, as five bodies spread across the lobby with bullet casings and blood decorating the floor.
“No.” Tess was the first to react, rushing inside and over a body, while Joel closed the door soon after Ellie walked through. “No, no!” She kept exclaiming in shock, while frantically searching over the corpse.
“What happens now?” Ellie asked, only receiving a glance from Joel as he walked towards Tess.
Before he could question Tess actions, he heard a noise coming from behind one of the pillars near the end of the room.
He trained his gun at the source, and a figure emerged, not stepping too far away from her hiding spot. She raised both arms while holding a pistol in her right hand. Joel might have squeezed the trigger regardless if it wasn’t for the fact that the person who revealed herself was a girl, couldn’t be much younger than Ellie herself.
She was angrily staring back at him, Joel could barely make out her eyes locked on his weapon as they were obscured by a blue baseball cap over her dark brown hair.
---
“I was just leaving…” Clementine spoke up, knowing she could not make it out of the room unnoticed. She had been trying to salvage anything that might have been left behind before having to hide due to steps coming from the front door, thinking that those who did this were back for the bodies.
She quickly realized they were not with them, and decided to take her chances rather than waiting to be found, maybe they would give her a chance to explain herself.
“I wasn’t the one who killed them.” She was scanning the room; these people clearly were here to meet them if the woman’s reaction was anything to go by. Maybe they would let her go if she explained herself.
“Of course you didn’t kid.” Clementine tried her best to not show her annoyance at the man, he and the woman didn’t give the vibe of being very nice people, in stark contrast to the teenager who was with them, she tried not to pay attention to her as she was more worried about tracking the gun aimed in her direction.
“Tell us what happened.” The woman asked, walking up to her, Clementine took a couple of steps back to keep her distance from the stranger, but the sight of the man lowering his gun helped her loosen up a little.
“Some armed guys stormed in and killed them; I was just here to try and get them to take me wherever they were going.” She explained, not wanting to give more details, she lowered her arms and tucked the pistol on her back, glad that the hostility had seemingly come to an end.
“You firefly?” The man kept questioning to her annoyance, she was still trying to decipher if they didn’t shoot her because she was a young girl or because she might have known something.
“Uh, no. I’m just looking for them.”
“We don’t have time for this, did you know where they were going?” The woman seemed to be in a rush, that was a good thing. Clementine had been wanting to leave since they arrived.
“Ellie?” She now asked the younger girl who still stood near the entrance.
“She never said, just that somewhere out west” Ellie informed, even Clementine felt disappointed at the lack of any meaningful information.
“Let’s go home Tess, there’s nothing for us here.”
Both adults seemed to enter an argument, Clementine decided this might be her best shot at getting away, so she slowly tried to make her way toward the door at the end of the room, thinking they would be distracted enough to not notice.
“Holy shit” She froze for a second at Ellie’s voice but realized she wasn’t looking at her. “She’s infected”
The man, whom she heard his name was Joel during the argument, insisted on seeing her companion’s bite, or at least she assumed it would be a bite.
She didn’t exactly know how this infection worked, a lot of it was familiar… Yet from what little she has been able to find out, it was a completely different situation.
She felt out of place in their discussion, like an awkward spectator who wasn’t invited, this feeling only got worse once the woman pulled Ellie’s sleeve and exposed a bite mark on her arm.
Maybe this infection wasn’t as bad, she overheard it being three weeks old. Although judging from their tone, it wasn’t a common occurrence.
They didn’t seem to mind her overhearing all of this, acting as if she didn’t exist in the room at all, the sound of a truck outside and voices grabbed their attention, and she took this chance to take off running, not wanting to get caught in any kind of crossfire.
She didn’t get to learn anything useful, so now she would have to find a new way to these “Fireflies”, even if in a very unfamiliar environment.
University of Eastern Colorado, Autumn.
“Yeah. No Fireflies either. Well, maybe in all that research they turned into fucking monkeys.”
Ellie and Joel were navigating the abandoned lab, making their way inside a room full of cages that used to contain monkeys, many of them having escaped their cages ran away screeching at the sight of both survivors.
Joel was hoping to find some clue as to where the rest might have gone, they had found plenty of bodies on their way across the university, but certainly not enough to indicate this place had been overrun by infected.
They searched through the laboratory, finding a lot of the research the Fireflies were conducting in this place.
A noise came from an office that had the door slightly open, Joel at first assumed it could be more monkeys.
“…looking for the others, they've all returned to Saint Mary’s Hospital in Salt Lake City. You'll find them there. Still trying to save the world. Good luck with that.”
The voice came from a recorder, much like the ones they had found spread around the laboratory.
Ellie and Joel exchanged looks, not caring as much about the information they just heard over finding out who could be inside the room.
Pistol in hand, he slowly pushed the door open with the barrel, finding a familiar figure looking down on a map while holding the tape in her left hand.
“You again?” Ellie spoke up, startling the girl and making her drop the recorder.
Joel frowned when the girl tried to reach behind her, not at all subtle about trying to pull her own firearm, but was wise enough to realize she would never beat him in the situation they found themselves in.
“Fuck, I swear I didn’t do this… either.” She was talking about a body sitting in a chair inside the room, a bullet hole through its skull. The patch on the jacket indicated he used to be a Firefly.
It's not like Joel believed she did, the body was quite decayed already. He slowly lowered his pistol as the girl seemed to regain her composure, although maintaining her frown. He wondered how a kid made it all the way here from Boston, maybe she wasn’t alone.
“Were you following us?” Ellie accused her, as nonsensical as it sounded, this was quite the coincidence.
“What? Of course not.” She quickly shut down Ellie’s theory, but knowing it still didn’t answer much, she continued. “I just need to find them; I was trying to find where this Salt Lake City is.”
Joel got closer to where she was standing, she tensed up as if expecting an attack, even if they hadn’t shown much hostility towards her. Joel figured that if she really made it all this time alone, the girl must be aware of not trusting anybody.
The map that was laid on the table was of the entire country. Some lines had been drawn indicating what he guessed to be points of interest or places she had visited already.
“Here.” He put a finger on a spot nearing the West Coast.
“That’s not as close as I hoped, I ran out of fuel a few miles from here.”
“You got a car?” Joel's eyes lit up, although the girl fiercely looked back at him, telling him to not get any ideas.
Before she could answer, a bright light came from the bottom floor through the windows of the office, catching everyone’s attention.
“Is that one of yours?” Joel asked the girl; noticing how in the brief moment they all got distracted, she had already pulled out her gun and was looking suspiciously.
“Get down!” He yelled, pulling Ellie alongside when the light pointed in their direction, a bullet came through the glass, shattering it.
“I don’t know them.” The girl said, crouching beside them, surprisingly calm about the situation. “But I’m not staying to find out what they want.”
“Let’s get the hell out of here.” Both girls nodded with determination at Joel’s words.
---
Ellie had been quite curious about the girl, who she still didn’t even know her name.
Even back at the capitol, she always looked so… Angry, it never seemed directed at them specifically, but something had to have happened to her, Ellie wondered if it had to do with her search for the Fireflies.
Now that she thought about it, a lot was similar to when she first met Joel, a very cold demeanor and just overall not wanting to talk, she might have been raised outside any QZ.
She really hoped the girl didn’t turn out to be a hunter like the ones they crossed in Pittsburg, although they didn’t keep around any children.
Regardless, it didn’t matter now. Joel had been pushed off the guardrail after a struggle with one of their attackers and now needed her help.
“We have to leave!” The girl had the guts to tell her what to do as if she couldn’t just leave on her own.
Ellie used some dangling wires to get down. Seeing Joel impaled by a rebar through his abdomen made her panic.
“What do you want me to do?”
“Move,” He groaned, she had a second to process what he said before he pushed her to the side. “Move!”
Joel’s shout snapped her out of it, two figures came rushing open after opening a door that led to the courtyard which they were in.
He managed to kill one of them with a single shot of his. Ellie quickly got her gun out and shot twice in the direction, making the second attacker fall to the ground from the many bullets that hit him from his front and above.
Ellie looked behind her as she heard someone land from the same place she came down from. Having a good guess of who it could be.
“Don’t thank me yet.” She held her smoking gun in one hand, somehow even more annoyed than usual.
Ellie guessed she was conflicted about being here. Regardless, she still came back. Ellie was glad to know not everyone was a piece of shit out here.
They both went to Joel, who still winced in pain from his injury.
“I’m gonna need you to pull.” He said, struggling to keep a steady breathing.
Salt Lake Hospital, Spring.
Ellie looked so peaceful while being carried in Joel’s arms as they hurried for an exit.
Clementine couldn’t imagine what Joel was feeling if he was feeling anything right now, they had guards right on their tails as the fire alarm of the hospital blasted the corridors with noise.
She had killed before, tons of people, and yet, this didn’t feel like self-defense, it didn’t feel like she was doing the right thing, yet when Joel shot that first guy who was escorting him outside, she didn’t even think twice about helping him, even as he insisted on her getting far away from this place.
Joel didn’t have time to argue with her though, this she knew very well, and now all that blood was in their hands, she would have time for regrets later.
Clem grasped her rifle, taken from one of the many bodies they left behind, mentally preparing herself for what’s next.
Joel was running ahead of her, too focused on finding an exit to notice her trailing behind, it was only after she closed the door he noticed something was wrong.
“What do you think you are doing?” Joel angrily shouted at her.
“Buying you time, get her to safety.”
“You don’t need to do this.” Joel had no idea why she was doing this; they were so close to making it.
“There’s something else I need to do.” Clem finally confessed, her eyes pleading with him to listen, it shouldn’t be hard for him, they knew each other for very little and had to think about Ellie first and foremost. “I’ll be fine.”
Joel hesitated, he looked angry but knew he had a small window. He turned around and kept running without looking back.
Clementine found herself taking a long breath, feeling relieved he listened.
Before on the lower floors, she had Joel to rely on during what could only be described as a slaughter, now she was alone against plenty of people who had every reason to hate her.
Back there, she had her doubts they could even make it past the first floor, but Joel was something else. Nothing could stop his rampage if Ellie was in danger, and Clementine was contemptuous feeling they would get away safely.
She aimed her rifle at the place they’d come from. Flashlights illuminate the room alongside the red sirens triggered by the alarm.
This wasn’t going to be a last stand; she will get through this.
Clementine still had something to fight for.
Seattle, Eastbrook Elementary, 4 years later.
Bullets hit the wall right next to Ellie, as she took cover in the cafeteria.
Dina was not joking, there were a lot of these Wolves around, and now she lost sight of her in the tall grass outside.
She was about to peek outside, pistol in hand with only a few bullets left when a crack of glass alerted her just in time from someone behind her.
A woman lunged at her from behind, attempting to stab her. Both of them grunted as her attacker tried to push the knife closer to her chest, Ellie was stronger though, and managed to turn around the struggle, a kick on the stomach was enough to free herself and a hit with the pistol’s grip to her head send her to the ground.
Ellie launched herself at the woman, using her switchblade to try and finish her off, she would have easily done so since she was still trying to recover from the hit, but a second wolf came inside with a rifle forcing Ellie to act fast and as the woman got on her feet, she pushed her towards the new threat.
Ellie took cover behind one of the tables when two shots came, then, a panicked scream came from that same direction.
She took her pistol and aimed, only to find the second wolf with a knife to his throat as the woman pushed it deeper inside.
The confusion stopped her from pressing the trigger, and as they locked eyes, she felt something familiar from those hazel eyes, who in return also looked to be having a realization of her own.
“Ellie!” Dina’s voice came from outside, as she fired upon the stranger who scrambled to take cover.
“Dina, stop!” Ellie shouted to her, still unsure of why she felt this way.
“Ellie?” The woman, no, the girl spoke from behind the table. She looked to be a bit younger than herself.
“Clementine?” She finally realized it’s been years since they last saw each other, last she knew… Well, Joel never told her, but from what she could find in the hospital that day, the recordings made it sound like Joel had not been alone back then.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” She stood up, revealing herself, and eyeing Dina who was no longer aiming at her, although confused as to what was happening.
“Fuck, I almost didn’t recognize you without your hat.” From all the time she knew her, that hat never left her head once, she could now see how the girl had been hiding a messy, but curly hair beneath.
“Are we always going to meet like this?” She said with a half-smile.
Ellie figured she was here for a similar reason, if they killed Joel, she might be next, the chances of them crossing paths like this for a third time had to be astronomically low, but she was glad to find another friendly face in this hellish city. A small distraction from everything else in her head, and maybe a reliable ally. Not like Dina hasn’t been extremely helpful so far, but the more the merrier right?
More shouting could be heard from the distance, they were not out of the woods yet after all.
“We have to move!” Ellie said, looking at Dina who probably had a few questions, but now was not the time.
“Lead the way.” Clementine said, picking up the rifle from the dead wolf, determination on her face.