Chapter Text
it all happened so fast, one minute she was sitting in jackson with her friends, totally ignoring joel and everything about his existence, the next moment she was rushing over towards his last known location, the blizzard making everything hard to see. of course it made things difficult for her, but there she was, approaching the door with caution, no sound but the wind from outside could be heard, which was a bit weird? wasnt joel supposed to be in this place? she carefully raised her gun, checking each one of the rooms as she approached the basement, her heart sinking as she heard the muffled screams that came from said door.
'breathe in, breathe out ellie, he was gonna be okay. . .' she reassured herself in her mind, carefully opening the door annd coming face to face with a bloodied up joel, the person hitting him repeatedly with the golf club, it was too much for her. . . it was all too fast, she moved, gun aimed at the person before she was pinned to the floor, face to face with the bloodied up figure, tears streaming down her eyes as she watched him carefully.
"please get up. . . please. . . " she pleaded as she watched him get smacked, blood pooling on the concrete . . . her face the last thing she saw, that was until she was woken up yet again. . . another nightmare.
"are you okay? is it another nightmare?" dina muttered as she sat on a chair near ellie's bed, her hand caressing the girl's own hand slowly. she was extremely nice to her cause no one would've remained by anoyone's side for this long . . . it has now been a month since the events happened, ellie has been having panic attacks, nightmares, she can't even sleep peacefully because the only thing she sees when she's sleeping is joel, and not even how he was before all of this, the opposite, his last moments, his face bloody, his eyes pleading for help as she just stood there, not being able to do anything about it, with a nod, she muttered lowly to dina, her eyes glancing around to see if there was any sign of tommy, he's been AWOL ever since the entire thing happened.
"where's tommy? i've been wanting to talk to him about something but i can never find him." of course, she and tommy witnessed these events, she wonders how tommy is even doing at this point? maybe he locked himself in his house too? maybe hes plotting ways of revenge? or maybe his wife is not letting him do anything about it since he had a family now, which was a bit unfair, as selfish as ellie sounded in this situation, she needs all the help she can get to bring joel justice, but she doesn't know anything about these people because yet again, no one is telling her anything about it.
"he found a new lead about the people that attacked him and joel and he went for . . . some leads, maybe at eugene's place since he thinks these people are old fireflies." dina answered truthfully, she was always honest with ellie, even if the other failed to mention some things to her, like the fact that she was immune, or the fact that ellie has had feelings for her ever since they became 'friends'.
"why did no one wake me up?" she stood up quickly, getting dressed before sighing heavily, the annoying thing is that her and tommy got into it yesterday, she yelled at him about not bringing joel justice which she assumes is why he is not here at this exact moment, and that made her feel a bit bad about it, she didn't ever hear the fact that dina was explaining everthing to her, until she felt a tap on her shoulder, flinching as she turned around, coming face to face with the girl with her arms up, a small sigh leaving her lips as she grabbed her backpack.
"please don't let anyone follow me, i can't have people knowing i left jackson." ellie started, only to get interrupted by dina.
"who said i'm gonna let you go alone? i can't let you do this alone, i'm coming with."
she sighed at that, and that's how she found herself waiting for dina by the gate, joel's jacket a bit big on her as she kicked a few rocks that sat down on the pavement. why did she pick joel's jacket? maybe she feels guilty that his last moments were spent alone, maybe she feels sad that she didn't get the chance to talk to him before everything happened, she wishes she has, maybe things would've been different? maybe these people came after him becuase of her, because she couldn't provide a cure for mankind, and if it were the case, she wishes she could switch places with him, she wishes it was her that died and not him, he had been through enough when he was alive, she wished for him to remain happy even after they got to this place.
"annnnnd i'm done." and as if right on cue, dina showed up, her backpack small which made ellie furrow her brows.
"you're not bringing anything at all? why is it so small?" ellie started which earned her a punch on the shoulder from dina, making her laugh as they walked to the stables.
maria let them go pretty easily once she found a note from tommy, of course she'd send ellie after him when he risks his life, and of course the other has to go seeing that this was her fault in the first place. the area they were in was filled with so much green, nature started taking over after a while, which is not surprising, but at the same time it made things difficult for them because now its easier for people to just hide behind these brushes or trees, it'll be easier to ambush them, which is why ellie has been on her guard the entire time.
"one time, joel showed me this movie about dinosaurs, he said it's his and yours's favorite and whenever we'd watch it he'd point at a certain dinosaur and says 'this one, this is the one that ellie used to like when she was younger' and i'd be like but he's ugly, and he'd end up sulking the entire night." dina started which made ellie laugh so hard, she didn't even know why but she can picture him slouched on the couch, hands crossed over his chest as he'd just watch the movie grumpily, he'd always do that with her, that was when she'd watch movies with him . . . before they argued, before everything happened . . .
"he cherished his movies, you can never say anything bad about them because they were simply unique." she muttered the last part, it was true, she loved how joel showed her so many things, even dina actually, they'd always find themseleves discussing movies on and on and on, maybe those things was why she appreciated joel a lot, at least when he was alive, she's glad she had the chance to make him feel happy, even if it was for a short time, she's glad she spent time with him when she did, and that they bonded over so many things.
it was a long way to seattle, her and dina settled for talking nonstop about everything and anything, even if they knew everything about each other, that was until one comment caught ellie's attention, it was about her ex, the one that gave her the tattoo, she didnt really talk about her much but she knew dina didn't like her, even though she is with jesse, that alone is what's stopping ellie from making a move. . . for now her mind is preoccupied with something more important, the person that killed joel, she finally got her name from a note that was left by tommy on her desk, and she's not gonna rest until she finds her, and when she does, shes not gonna stop until she makes her feel every bit of pain that joel felt.
Abby.