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When Ellie, Tommy and Dina walked back into Jackson with the wrapped up body of Joel behind them, my world shattered. Ever since I had found my home here, I had felt safe. I had felt at peace. I had felt protected. But nothing breaks that more than hearing about the gruesome death of a loved one.
I had actually met Joel way before I met and became friends with Ellie. Joel and Tommy had brought me in when I was struggling out in the open world on my own. Nobody in my group had survived long enough to see the inner walls of Jackson. Joel found me a home with a couple of other young survivalists and would come by often to check up on me. Tommy did the same, often offering me food that Maria had made for me.
Yes, I had started to feel safe, peaceful and protected. Tommy had undone the bindings around Joel’s body and volunteers had helped Tommy bring his body inside. My eyes strayed from the corpse in front of me to the woman I had started to love. There was rage in her eyes, but also something else. It took me a minute to put my finger on it. She was devastated. She was numb. And I wondered if this was something she would ever truly get over.
Dina had ushered Ellie to the doctors, to check her over. Apparently she had been kicked in the head and she needed to get looked over.
Hours later I found myself shuffling along the corridors of the clinic, poking my head into different rooms, searching for the all too familiar face. I found Ellie sitting on the bed with her back towards me.
“Ellie?” I said softly. Her head lifted and slowly turned towards me. I walked into the room and towards the window so I could turn and face her. “Ellie, are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” She croaked. “I need to get out of here.” I raised an eyebrow.
“You need help.” I told her.
“What I need is to get out of here and go after them.” My brows furrowed.
“What do you mean ‘go after them’?”
“They can’t get away with this. She can’t get away with this.” She stood up and paced back and forth. “They’re from Washington. Seattle maybe. If we go now, we might be able to catch up to them.”
“Oh, Ellie.” I muttered. “Maria said she couldn’t spare the manpower.”
“I can do it myself. They just need to let me leave.” She held herself well, but it was clear she was cracking.
“You know I won’t let you leave on your own. If you go, I go.” I stepped forward and wrapped my arms around her. Her body went stiff, but after a couple seconds she collapsed in my arms, her fingers grabbing a hold on the back of my shirt. I quietly breathed in, making myself memorize her smell. There was a good chance she would leave on her own and I needed to remember her. “I’m pretty sure Dina feels the same way.” I added. As we stepped back I noticed the determined look on her face. “Please, don’t leave without me.” She didn’t say anything, but did plant her lips softly on mine.
I thought back on that memory as we stumbled through the metro station. Tommy, in an attempt to keep Ellie safe, had gone off on his own. And now here we were, following his footprints into the city of Seattle. Ellie’s mask had broken, but she wasn’t dying. Matter of fact, she was doing better than Dina and I. She rushed us out of the station and once we hit above ground, she turned in a circle, looking for our next step.
“There!” She said, pointing to a boarded up theater. “We can recuperate there.” I used my shoulder to wedge open the door and Dina pulled a chair from the corner and handed it to Ellie who locked the door with it.
“Ellie, why aren’t you dying?” Dina breathed out as she planted herself in a seat. “You should be dying.” Ellie turned away from us, running a hand over her face. I picked up her broken mask and looked it over.
“No one can breathe spores and live, Ellie. What don’t we know?” I asked next, a little more careful than Dina.
“Ellie!” Dina yelled. Ellie sighed heavily.
“I’m immune.” She finally said, looking between Dina and me to see our reactions.
“That’s not possible.” I rasped out. “They haven’t found a cure yet.”
“The chemical burn…” Dina looked wide-eyed at her. Ellie only nodded.
“I was fourteen and went to a closed off mall with my friend. We got taken off guard and we both got bitten.” She lifted the sleeve of her jacket and showed us the scars.
“What happened to your friend?”
“What happens to everyone.” Ellie sadly explained.
“Now, what is going on with you?” Ellie turned to Dina. Dina was still panting from our earlier run. She looked absolutely exhausted and I too was wondering what was happening to our healthy friend. She suppressed a sob.
“I think I’m pregnant.” It took all my strength to not let my mouth fall open at her admission.
“You’re pregnant? When did you find out?” Ellie asked, perplexed.
“A couple weeks ago?”
“Weeks? We could have still gone back. Why didn’t you say something?” Anger now clear in Ellie’s voice.
“I wasn’t sure and I want revenge just as bad as you do, Ellie. I didn’t want to be a burden-.”
“Well, you’re a burden now, aren’t you?” Ellie spat. “I’m gonna check out the rest of the theater.” With that she turned her back and walked away. I could hear her muttering profanities as she retreated.
Dina sighed.
“Maybe you should lay down.” I said, motioning to a couch. “You need to rest.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t-”
“Hey, don’t worry. I’m not mad.”
“But Ellie is.” I chewed my bottom lip.
“She’s just worried about you.” I took a coat from the cloakroom and put it over Dina’s shivering body. “Sleep.” I told her. She nodded and gave in to her exhaustion.
After I had made sure Dina was alright, I went to look for Ellie. I found her lightly strumming a guitar near the stage in the theater room.
“Hey.” I muttered to get her attention. She stopped playing and looked up at me.
“Hey.” She mimicked. I sat down next to her. “Can you believe her?” She growled.
“You’re not mad at her.” I said softly.
“How would you know?” Her eyes met mine.
“Sure, she might have kept it from us, but she wants that revenge just as much as you do, Ellie. She would do anything even if that meant keeping this a secret.”
“Yeah, but what are we supposed to do now?”
“Dina will be safe here. We can go on and look for Abby.” I placed a hand on her arm. “It’s not over yet.”
“It’s not over until we say so.” Ellie muttered the phrase we always used. A smile played on my lips, glad she remembered it.
“But just as you were upset with Dina for not telling you, I am for you not telling me.” She looked at me confused. “Your immunity?” Realization dawned on her face.
“Only Joel, Tommy and Maria know. Joel told me to keep it secret from everyone. It would be dangerous if people knew.”
“But you know you can trust me. I wouldn’t have told anyone.” I felt a stab of pain thinking she doesn’t trust me, even though I am her girlfriend.
“You’re right. I’m sorry.” She smiled at me. “I know I can trust you. I won’t keep secrets from you again.”
“So what’s the plan?” I asked. Ellie sat down the guitar and turned to me.
“I’m gonna go see if we can get some power in this place. Why don’t you start by checking the map.” She suggested. I nodded and grabbed her backpack, pulling out the map she always had on her person. Ellie disappeared out of the room and I focused back on the map. Writing down where we’ve been and where we could possibly go next.”
After peering down at the map for forty-five minutes, I decided we needed to sleep as well. So I walked behind the stage in search of possible mattresses, blankets and pillows. I found a couple of thick blankets and laid them down in front of the stage, followed by some decorative cushions. I figured our body heat would keep us warm. Just as I was ready to seek Ellie out again, the lights turned on. I smiled and got my first good look at the place. It was cosy. The theater clearly hadn’t gone through the severe changes the rest of the world seemed to have. Sure, it was dusty and I’m pretty sure I saw some mold growing in the corner, but this could be our home base while we were here.
Ellie burst through the door. “I did it. You can officially call me the greatest electrician around.” She said cheerfully. Seeing her confident and happy again put a smile on my face. “Dina is soundly asleep by the way.” She said as she reached me. “What’s all this?” She asked, pointing to the blankets and pillows.
“We need sleep.” As if on queue she started yawning.
“Yeah, maybe we could use some shuteye.”
“Come on.” I grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the DIY bed I made.
I sat down, and pulled her along with me. Ellie laid her head on the pillow and I settled into the crook of her arm. She kissed the top of my head lovingly.
“Thank you for coming with me.” She muttered in my ear.
“Like I’m going to let you do this alone. Joel might have been a father figure to you, but he was a friend of mine. He deserves to be avenged.”
“Joel has done some fucked up shit, but to die like that…” I hummed in response.
“Promise me, if you get in a dire situation you’ll run. This is not a suicide mission.” I say to the ceiling. She’s quiet for a minute and I wonder if she’s fallen asleep.
“Okay.” She mumbled.
“Okay?”
“Yeah, okay.” Ellie pulled me closer. “I’ll come back to you.” I twist in her grip and pull her face to mine, kissing her lips with force. I swung my legs over her body so that I’m straddling her and her hands grasped onto my hips. The fear that I’ve felt the past couple of days dissipates with every lick of her tongue and stroke of her hands. Our night ends with tangled limbs and swollen lips and even though what’s coming is scary, I feel like we are able to handle it. As long as we are together, we’ll be fine.