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damn-stark · 16 days ago

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Chapter 15 You were scared, so was I

Chapter 15 of Tragedy at the Miller’s

A/N- I am moving forward past episode 7 using GAME CONTENT SO BEWARE!!

Warning- Fluff, ANGST, swearing, talks of weapons and bombs, death and violence, MAJOR SPOILERS for season 2 AND GAME, Remember this is a rewrite not an AU, so the major stuff that happens in the show will happen here :)

Pairing- Joel Miller x daughter!reader (platonic of course :), OC x Fem!reader

Episode- 2x07 and I am using content from the game

(If you want to be tagged let me know!)

————

“Jimmy K.”

“Yeah, go for Jimmy K.”

“Tell your division we’re going silent, Isaac’s orders. Call your boats back. Radio silent.”

“Pull it out! I swear to God, if you don’t do it, I will.”

“Dina, hon,” you try to calm her down as she’s currently withering in pain. “I need you to stop movin’,” you plead with as much patience as you can muster, but that is wearing thin.

It’s why you’re not a doctor like your friend Mia.

“You’re only hurtin’ yourself more.”

“Alright, copy”

“It already fucking hurts!” She exclaims.

“Ok, ok,” you mutter before you tear Dina’s pants to have more access to her wound, causing her to wail out in pain.

“Don’t let me…” she trails off and starts to heave before she continues. “You can’t let me die.”

Jesse pours alcohol on your hands just like you asked before, so you take this chance to glance over at Dina to try and keep reassuring her through her distress.

Albeit Jesse cuts in before you can. “Yeah, we know.”

Dina shakes her head. “No, you don’t.”

“Listen,” you interject as softly as you can, feeling sweat produced by stress start to pamper your face. “If I pull it out, it’s gonna tear an artery. Which means that I need to push it through.”

“How do you know that?” Dina questions you. “What if it’s the wrong way?”

You shake your head as you move aside to let Jesse make his way to your side.

“It’s not,” you assure her bluntly. “I know where the arteries are.”

“No, you don’t, you’re not a doctor!”

“Dina, shut up!” Jesse interjects bluntly, making you and Dina both go still and look at him with surprise.

The rumbling thunder is the only sound that’s heard for a few seconds until Jesse realizes how he reacted and leans in to cup Dina’s face, leaving you still bewildered.

“Hey,” he says as he flips his hair back. “Dina. I got you, alright? I got you.”

After that, Jesse continues to do what he’s supposed to and bathes the arrow in alcohol before reaching Dina’s wound and making her cry louder as the strong liquid washes her wound.

“I know. I know,” Jesse keeps being kind. “I know. Have some, okay?” He says as he offers her what remains of the alcohol.

“No,” she refuses.

“It's gonna help. Have some,” he insists but she remains adamant. For some odd reason. It’s rare when Dina refuses a drink.

“Okay, Dina,” you interrupt the moment before you can waste any more time. “I’m gonna do it now, okay?” You let her know out of courtesy. You would have done it already if Jesse had been faster at disinfecting her wound and the arrow. Alas, you wrap a cloth soaked in alcohol and without hearing any protest or waiting for one, you push down hard on the arrow.

Dina screams bloody murder, but you manage to get it out in one try without needing to cause Dina more pain.

“There,” you breathe out with relief. “It’s out,” you let her know and press the same cloth against the top of her wound while Jesse grabs another cloth and presses the wound from the bottom.

Dina continues to let out labored breaths, but by the look on her face, you can see that she’s not filled with so much pain anymore.

“I imagine you know what to do now, right?” You ask and hope she doesn’t need instructions on how to take care of her wound from here on out.

“Yeah, yeah,” she says between pants, letting you whisper.

“Good.”

From there on you wait for her wound to stop bleeding before you then use your first aid to stitch up the open wound. Dina continues to cry in pain, and your tolerance only wears thinner, but thankfully, the wound isn’t big so you manage to be done quickly and finally offer her some relief by wrapping her wound.

“You need to rest,” you tell Dina as you clean your hands.

“But, Ellie—”

“We’ll wait for her and if she doesn’t make it back by dawn I’ll go after her myself, don’t worry, okay? I’m here now.” You say and offer her a small smile before you finish cleaning your hands and then get up to try and make a bed for her.

However, as Dina sees your attempts she interrupts you. “There’s,” she pauses and swallows thickly. “There’s a dressing room by the stage. I’ll go there. There’s a bigger couch there,” she says and darts her gaze down. You follow her line of gaze and see her stealing a glance at Jesse before she hastily looks at you again. “Please help me there.”

You glance at Jesse and wonder if he offended her by screaming at her earlier, but you don’t actually question it. You just agree and help her off the couch before you then help her to her destination in silence as all her attention is on walking with one leg and dragging the other.

When you eventually reach the changing room you’re caught in complete awe by how beautiful it is inside with the large vanity and the bright lights around it, all the posters of past plays and old movies, and pictures of the cast and famous actors.

“I knew you’d like it,” Dina mutters as she plops herself on the couch with a deep breath.

There’s even a small kitchen and an empty closet that was probably once filled with gorgeous costumes.

“I wish I could take this entire room home,” you whisper as you put down the empty bowl you brought with you and then shrug off your coat before mindlessly approaching Dina, settling herself on the couch.

“I’m pregnant,” Dina suddenly announces, making your eyes go wide before you slowly look at her with disbelief.

“What?” You gasp and feign a laugh. “Are you…joking?”

She shakes her head and her face once again fills with fear. Albeit this time her fear is different. It’s more deeply rooted in her heart than any physical wound that would soon disappear with time. This fear is stressful and aching, which answers your question that she’s in fact not joking.

“Oh, Dina,” you whisper and sit at her side as you offer her all your unwavering attention and kindness without so much as hesitation.

“It's not Ellie’s” she musters a joke, making you smile softly in amusement.

“I’m assuming the father doesn’t know,” you keep things serious as you’re now more worried about her.

“No.” She shakes her head. “He doesn’t. He won’t know until we’re back in Jackson so he doesn’t worry or get angrier. He’s already so mad.”

You sigh. “Yeah, it's been quite a day for us. For all of us, so, just try and ignore it and let him be. He’ll be back to his serious self when we’re away from Seattle.”

“What if I don’t make it out of Seattle?” Dina asks, sounding quite unlike herself. She’s usually so confident and brave, but now she tears at your heart as you hear her sound so scared and vulnerable.

“What if my baby—”

“Don’t talk like that,” you cut her off to try and ease her fear. “You and your baby will make it back to Jackson.”

Dina drops her head and sniffles. “Don’t tell Ellie or Jesse, but…I’m scared. I know I shouldn’t be, but I’m terrified of everything about it. I just…I'm such a burden now.”

You reach over to grab her hands and quickly shake your head. “No. No, you are not a burden. These things can’t be helped and maybe yes, you’ve put yourself at risk by being here, but you’re not a burden. And it's not like you knew before, did you?”

She shakes her head. “No. Not until our first day here.”

“See? You didn’t even know. And we’re all here to look out after each other. That’s why we came after you, so never think that way again,” you press hard, making her nod in comprehension and add nothing else on the matter, so you get to address her fear.

“And it’s normal to be scared, okay? It’s not the same as before. We don’t have everything that the old world used to offer, but you will make it. It’ll hurt. I won’t lie and tell you it won’t because it will, but oh,” you muse as you remember having your baby. “Will it be worth it when you see them for the first time. You will know unconditional love when you hold them for the first time too.”

Dina slowly looks up at you at the sound of your words, so you gently squeeze her hand and offer her a sweeter smile.

“And everything will change,” you let her know. “In different ways than they changed for me, even now as the baby is growing inside you, but you will be okay. Your baby is going to be okay and in a few months, in Jackson, you will meet for the first time.”

Dina smiles tenderly as tears roll down her cheeks.

“I will be there. Ellie and Jesse and everyone you want there will be with you, okay? You’re not alone so don’t be scared to come to me with any questions or fears,” you let her know as you lean closer. “Maria is there to help too.”

Dina nods gently and before you can let her be you continue more seriously now.

“When you have your baby,” you grab her attention. “There’s nothing in the world that you wouldn’t do for them and sometimes that means being selfish. Do you understand? You and the baby come first and that’s completely okay.”

Dina seems to be confused but also completely understands what you’re saying.

“I love Ellie, that’s why I’m here risking my life,” you answer her confusion. “I almost didn’t come. Apollo didn’t want me to come because it’s not the same as before, not because we’re married, but because of Theo. He needs me just as much as he needs his dad. But I need him to know that there’s some trips worth taking.”

Dina swallows thickly and queries. “How do you know what trips are worth taking when someone is depending on you to stay alive?”

You sigh and answer honestly. “You’ll know. You won’t doubt or need to ask when you know. Trust me.”

She nods as she takes your advice, so you then gently caress her knuckles before you bring an end to the matter. “Sleep, Dina. You need to be strong for that baby. We’ll let Ellie know where to find you when she gets here, okay?”

“Okay,” she whispers in agreement.

You put your jacket over her and then get up to leave the room and join Jesse.

“Is she okay?” He asks right away, so without giving anything away, you assure him about her.

“She’s okay. She’s just sleeping now. Don’t worry, she’ll be okay.”

He nods slowly and then adds. “And Ellie? Should we go after her?”

You draw out a deep breath as you sit on the couch and shake your head. “No. We have to trust she’ll be okay. If she doesn’t make it back by dawn, I'll go look for her.”

“Alright…well, in that case, rest. I’ll keep an eye out on things here.”

You debate his suggestion, but now that you’re sitting down, your exhaustion hits you and you can’t fight it or his suggestion, so you sleep without much choice on the matter. And so, for the first time since your dad died, you don’t go back to that lodge. You’re home.

You’re in Jackson, back in your little house with the sun shining down just perfectly over a long set table.

Rather than having people missing, every seat is occupied. Apollo and Theo are on your right side, your Uncle Tommy, Maria, and Benji are on your left side, and past them. Past your own family is Jesse, Dina, and her baby with Ellie beside them trying to make the baby laugh with her silly jokes. Albeit she can’t manage to find the perfect one, she just happens to make you smile from so afar, so she keeps trying tirelessly, making you that more blissful.

Yet, nothing makes you happier than the very image of your dad with Sarah. Seeing her is a reminder that this is all a dream, but what a beautiful dream it is because you see them so vividly again and again.

As your surroundings vanish and turn to every place you stopped at on your way to Seattle, you see them as if they were still alive outside of this dream.

You see them in the theater too, you’re on stage and they’re in the seats listening to some stupid tall story attentively. They’re so clear and so beautiful that you wake up thinking that they’ll be there waiting for you to wake up, but when you open your eyes you see Ellie and Jesse packing their backpacks.

“Ellie,” you gasp as your grogginess is swiftly pushed away at the sight of her with all her limbs intact, and a beating heart.

“About time,” she mutters as she spares you a glance. “Hurry up and get ready if you want to leave with us to meet up with Tommy.”

You blink in disbelief at her bluntness and complete carelessness as if you didn’t just hold unresolved tension between the two of you.

“Are you okay? When did you get back? Why didn’t you wake me up?” You direct that last question at Jesse.

“She—”

“I told him not to,” Ellie interrupts him. “You looked tired and I know that because you have a tell, so I told him not to bother, it’s not like I came in missing an arm or anything.”

You scoff in disbelief and argue. “But I was still worried.”

At the sound of that, she looks up and shoots you a pointed look. “You were sleeping. How worried could you have been?”

“Only because if I had to go and look for you I couldn’t go on no sleep,” you quickly snap back. “Ellie—”

“I’m okay,” she cuts you off. “I came back. Just like I said, so stop worrying. Now get ready or you’re staying back with Dina.”

You and Jesse share a look before you get off the couch and go off on your own to use the restroom and change into…clothes you weren’t wearing yesterday and a tactical poncho. You wish you could have a warm breakfast, but you start eating your second-to-last granola bar as you pack what you need.

“Jesse, did you sleep?” You ask the man who was up as long as you were. “Ellie and I can go after my Uncle if you haven’t.”

Jesse nods stiffly as he slides over more bullets for your revolver. “I slept enough. Don’t worry about me.”

You hum with discontent, but there’s no winning him so you take the bullets and reload your revolver before you put the rest of the bullets in a little pouch on your holster.

“I have one more granola,” you announce. “Who wants it? You might have to fight for it.” You snicker as you show it off, gaining Ellie’s attention.

“Granola? Where did you get granola? I thought you snuck out?” Ellie questions you with confusion.

“Yeah, but surprise, I had a secret cache hidden past Jackson.”

Ellie’s jaw drops and she looks at you bewildered. “What? How come I didn’t know? Why didn’t you tell me?”

You focus back on your backpack and hit her with the truth. “Well, we knew that you’d empty it the first chance you got, so my dad and I kept it a secret. We were gonna tell you if the situation called for it.”

Ellie gasps and looks at you with her face contorted in utter disbelief. “What? That’s so unfair!”

You snap your eyes up and counter. “You went to an infected-infested town for guitar strings instead of going to anyone in town because you said that you needed to feel alive again, and a town life was too mundane. Which was total bullshit.” You mutter, making her gape as she can’t find the right argument to use against you because you are in fact right.

“Exactly,” you whisper and continue packing. “Now here,” you say and throw her a blade sharpener for her switchblade. “Your blade must be dull and I know you didn’t bring yours.”

Ellie catches what you threw and stays quiet for a moment before she whispers. “No. I thought of everything but that. Thanks.”

You hum and pull out a stuffed cowboy that you had found Teddy that has a working pull string to make it talk. “Look. For Teddy. This movie used to be my favorite when I was a little girl.”

“I’m sure he’ll love it,” Jesse says as he takes a glance at you. “He’s at the age now is he not? Where he likes toys that make noise?”

You nod. “Yeah, they reach that age pretty quickly, but he’ll be able to work this now.” You say with a smile, catching both Jesse and Ellie watching attentively, but looking away when you notice them.

You’re positive Ellie knows about Dina. You didn’t ask, but you don’t see why she wouldn’t tell Ellie. As for Jesse? Well, he’s smart but he couldn’t have figured it out yet could he?

Either way, you admire the cowboy toy for a moment longer as you think about how much you miss your son, and how your dad liked to call him cowboy.

You only don’t cry because you hear Ellie turn on the walkie.

“Don’t waste your time,” you interject. “I heard them say that they were going radio silent. For who knows how long.”

“Well that’s inconvenient," she grumbles.

“Yeah,” you agree as you put the toy away. “But we’ll manage. Stick to the shadows and keep our eyes open. How was the underground? Useful?”

She sighs and shakes her head. “Infested. We’ll get no luck there—wait. How did you know we were underground?”

Without looking over you give her a dismissive response. “Long story. We’ll tell you later.”

“Okay,” she breathes out before you hear something rattle where she is. “Do any of you have any extra nine-millimeter?” Ellie asks.

Before you can offer her some, Jesse throws her some bullets without saying anything.

“Thanks.”

The auditorium doors proceed to open and out comes Dina.

“You shouldn’t be on your feet yet,” you tell her with concern as you watch her struggle to walk and drag her injured leg.

“I’ll go back to the couch in a second,” she brushes you off with a heavy breath. “I promise.”

You sigh but finish packing.

“Give me your wrist,” you then hear Dina say to Ellie, making you peer over—“the other one,” she says and makes Ellie change arms.

When Ellie eventually sees Dina taking her bracelet off, she stands on her feet to let Dina put it on.

“It's for good luck,” Dina lets Ellie know.

“Not sure it’s been working for you,” Ellie quips, making you smile as you zip up your backpack and then stand up to swing it on.

“I’m alive,” Dina rebuttals, leaving Ellie quiet, but causing Jesse to cut in.

“Ellie doesn’t have to go if you want her to stay.”

“No,” Dina doesn’t hesitate to respond.

Jesse zips up his backpack and gets up before Ellie adds on. “We’ll be safer as a group of three.”

“Our rendezvous point is not far,” Jesse lets both girls know. “Assuming Tommy’s there, we should be back well before sundown.”

“So be ready to leave,” you chime in. “We’ll probably leave at night or dawn. I don't know, but the sooner we're out of this city the better.”

“Okay, good,” Dina agrees.

“You okay to barricade?” Jesse asks.

“Yeah. Go.”

“Yeah,” he whispers and you can’t take any more of this angst so you go to the door to start moving what’s barricading it.

Once you’re outside you let out a sigh of relief, but you’re not rid of that weird tension Ellie and Jesse hold, making you once again glad that your friend group didn’t date each other.

“It’s very quiet over in this part of town,” you point out as you scan the area you’re walking through to make sure you don’t get surprised like last time. “I wonder why, considering this place is fucking hell.”

“Whatever the reason,” Jesse interjects. “It better stay this way. With Dina injured, we’ll be slower to get out.”

You nod stiffly. “Yeah, maybe one of us should’ve gone back to get our horses. Where did you leave Shimmer, Ellie?”

Said girl looks up completely surprised that you’re addressing her and takes a moment of silence before answering. “A music store. It’s not close but not far either. Where’s yours?”

You smile back at her. “Music store. They sold a lot of cool records and CDs. It makes me bummed that I can’t take it all home.” You groan and drag your feet. “It’s all left collecting dust here. If only Apollo was here he’d carry my stuff and I’d carry all the junk I can carry.”

Jesse chuckles. “We’ll be home soon enough and you’ll get to impress him with that ancient ring.”

You grin and hold your backpack straps. “Yeah. He’s gonna love it.”

“Well, if he was here he’d be leading the way that’s for sure. He’s a fucking wizard with mapping.”

You sigh. “Yeah, he really is. That’s why he was the leader of our little group. He was the leader, Mia was the mother and doctor. I was the fighter and herbologist, and Atlas…well, he was the hunter. Kinda. He was fighting with us. Making everything just a little funnier.”

Jesse looks back at you with a smirk. “I found this old recording of a basketball game. We’ll have to have a barbecue to watch it.”

You sigh softly. “That’ll be lovely. I can leave Teddy with my,” you pause as you realize that in your casual conversation, you almost said Dad. He was always eager to take care of Teddy that you hardly ever considered having someone else take care of him. He was always your go-to and now…

“Well,” you clear your throat. “With someone.”

Jesse catches the solemn look in your eyes and leaves the conversation at that, leading the group to an awkward silence that lasts some time.

You don’t come up with anything to say as you’re overcome with grief and whilst your time on the road Jesse knows that when your grief plagues you he nor your uncle can help you out of its clutches.

“Where’s the rendezvous?” Ellie asks to try and break the tension.

“The bookstore,” Jesse is quite curt, so to try and make amends you give her more than just that, which is quite literally nothing since this city must be filled with them.

“It’s not far from here. It has a broken sign which makes it easy to spot.”

Ellie hums and then mutters. “Good.”

You answer with silence so she piles on. “Are you guys ever gonna tell me how you found the theater?”

“You ever gonna tell me what happened last night?” Jesse avoids her question and rather than answering it for the both of you, you listen because you’re curious too considering she didn’t come in right after you.

Albeit Ellie doesn’t answer, so Jesse finally answers her question “We followed the likeliest path into the city. Got ambushed by some W.L.F. and to make the story short, she pressed somebody for information on trespassers, and that’s how we found the theater.”

‘Pressed them’ is being too kind, you quite literally tortured the guy, but you don’t want to share that right now, so you don’t comment on it.

“Oh, you make it sound easy,” Ellie retorts lightheartedly, but Jesse doesn’t share that same emotion. He snaps back as if scolding her.

“We both almost died and we got chased by a gun car.”

“But we made it out,” you add so Ellie doesn’t feel bad. “And that led us to finding you and Dina.”

You peer over and find Ellie’s gaze and see her nod gently before she expresses her genuine gratitude. “Thank you. I mean it, honestly.”

“We-I would do it again, so don’t worry about it,” you assure her, earning a tiny but soft smile that at last lets you see her relief for having you here and risking your life to come after her halfway across the country.

If only she could get the same reassurance from Jesse, but he keeps averting his gaze, making Ellie press on.

“Look, I know you’re angry—”

“Last night,” Jesse interrupts her and brings the group to a stop to turn swiftly and face Ellie to continue. “Dina said, ‘I can’t die.’ Not, ‘I don’t want to die.’ ‘I can’t,” he quotes. “And then I offered her whiskey, and she refused. Dina, the girl who’s never turned down a free drink in her life seconds before we were gonna push a crossbow bolt through her leg.”

You turn slowly assuming that he was gonna ask what you know and get confirmation that Ellie also knows because of her shitty poker face.

“That’s weird, I don’t why she—”

“Yes, you do,” Jesse cuts her off as he also sees that she’s lying because she can’t fucking lie apparently.

“I’m not stupid and I’m not blind,” Jesse continues. “Ellie, I see the way you two look at each other. It’s different now. Yeah,” he sighs. “And I bet she even tells you things she wouldn’t tell me. Like how she’s pregnant.”

Since you’re behind Jesse you shake your head hoping Ellie doesn’t fall for his trap, but she stares at him for a moment and then gives it away.

“Fuck,” she mutters and Jesse finally figures out that he’s in fact right.

“Oh, shit,” Ellie realizes the truth. “You were guessing? Oh, God.”

“Look,” you cut in and step in front of Ellie just in case Jesse gets ballsy and tries to blame Ellie for not telling him. “She’s gonna tell you—”

“You know too?” Jesse asks as his gaze turns to you.

“Yes,” you nod. “She told me last night and she said that she’s gonna tell you when we get to Jackson, so leave her be and don’t be overbearing. She doesn’t want to be anybody’s burden, so don’t treat her like that the moment we get back, understood? Her emotions are already going to be all over the place; she doesn’t need you stressing her out.”

He clenches his jaw and challenges your narrowed gaze, but he does have more respect for you so he agrees. “Fine.”

“Good,” you whisper and step away from Ellie. Albeit instead of continuing forward, she interjects.

“None of this has to change things between us—”

“Everything changing doesn’t have to change things?” Jesse retorts, making you warn him.

“Jesse.”

However, he ignores you this time and presses Ellie.

“Well, how ‘bout this for something new? I’m gonna be a father, which means I can’t die. But because of you, we’re stuck in a war zone. So, how ‘bout we skip the apologies and just go find Tommy so I can get us and my kid the fuck outta Seattle?” He spats and tries to walk away but you stand your ground and argue back.

“But the truth is you didn’t have to come, Jesse,” you say, making said man stop and look at you with confusion—“No one forced you. You found the letter and decided to join. You were gonna leave without me with my Uncle Tommy, so either stop being mad at Ellie for a choice you made, and let’s work together, or let’s make this trip so much more difficult by being at odds with one another. Your choice.”

Jesse tilts his chin up and clenches his jaw, but he doesn’t argue. He knows you’re right, so he just nods and turns away to continue leading the way, leaving you and Ellie lagging behind to look at one another.

“Are you okay?” You ask referring more to last night than anything else.

“Yes,” she answers bluntly, but softly as she’s still taken aback by Jesse’s sudden outburst.

“We’re all just stressed. Let him cool down and you’ll be back to being friends, okay?”

She exhales deeply and nods before moving after him, leaving you to watch her get ahead a couple of steps before you follow too.

Soon thereafter you walk out to a big street that’s quite lonely with the only evidence of life being the big portrait of a lady with the words, ‘feel her love’ painted under the portrait.

“There’s more than one of her?” Ellie asks and you look away from the painting to shake your head at her.

“No,” you assume from what you’ve seen scattered about the city. “Same lady. She just has a lot of followers. Apparently."

“We need to move faster,” Jesse interjects as the sky rumbles in the distance, threatening to bring the storm over.

So, in attempts to outrun the approaching storm, you quicken your pace toward the bookstore. Nevertheless, before you can reach it it starts to rain like someone is dumping rain over you, so you end up running to a garage for cover.

“Please tell me we’re close,” Ellie says after a heavy breath.

“About two more blocks,” you let her know as you hang your rifle over your shoulder.

“Let’s give it a minute,” Jesse inputs. “See if it dies down and then we’ll—”

Before he can finish, the sound of a gunshot nearby makes him go quiet and makes you all duck and then run towards some dumpsters in the dark depths of the garage.

“You’re fucking dead, Scar!” You hear someone shout before someone else shouts

“Nowhere to run!”

You push Ellie behind the dumpster as Jesse leads the way, and then you crouch by the end of the dumpster to be able to peek over as the group of people run into the same garage.

“Get on the ground!” A W.L.F soldier says as they come after a young guy who seems to be part of that weird cult.

“The world is not in balance,” the young guy begins to chant. “But I’ve done my part to right it—”

“How did you get past our line?” A W.L.F soldier begins to interrogate the young guy but gets no answer, so he presses. “How?!”

“The world is not in balance. But I have done my part to right it. She has led me through the storm. Now I must rest. May she guide me.”

The soldier approaches the chanting guy and says something you can’t hear.

“May she guide me. May she guide me—”

The soldier then stops the guy's chanting by hitting him with the butt end of his gun, causing the guy to fall on the ground with a scream, and making you grow uncomfortable.

“Get his clothes off,” the soldier orders, making the guy start to protest, and causing Ellie to grab your arm to pull and grab your attention. When you give it to her she points her eyes forward and without a need for a further explanation, you shake your head to deny her crazy request to help the guy.

“Wait! Wait! No!” The guy screams as the soldiers rip his clothes off, making it harder for you to stomach.

“Stop it! Get off of me!”

Ellie hears the guy’s pleas and suddenly gets up to go help, but you grab her wrist and yank her back down.

“No!” You mouth sharply, making her gaze narrow and fill with an angry fire.

“Stop!

“Come on, you little piece of shit!”

“Drag him!”

“Fucking go!”

You stop peeking over and just wait with inability to block them out.

“Let’s fucking go!”

“Let’s go! Go!”

Once the soldiers drag the guy away and are no longer heard near the garage, Ellie rips her wrist from your hold and gets up to stomp away, making Jesse now interfere. “Ellie.”

You get up quickly after Jesse, but you jog after Ellie to grab her arm to stop her from exposing you.

“Stop!” You hiss, making her swiftly spin around and retort.

“What?!”

“There are six of them and three of us,” you tell her. “What do you think would’ve happened?”

“He’s a fucking kid!” She spats back.

You let go of her and nod. “Yes, but these people are shooting each other, lynching each other, and ripping each other's guts out. That’s not to add that we’re trespassers in this fuckin’ city. They have orders to shoot us on sight! This is not our fight. We cannot risk our lives for any of them…You know that.”

Ellie steps back and her shoulders fall as she realizes the truth behind your words.

“Now, let’s go. We have to get my uncle to get out before we’re caught in the crossfire,” you order and walk away to continue your path to the bookstore without feeling remorse.

You can’t. There are some fights you can join, but others you have to ignore and this is one of them. You’ve been taught better…

——

*LATER*

Finally, after a lot of tracking through the rain-puddle-infested streets, you reach the library, but your uncle isn’t there.

“Damn it,” you whisper and only feel a knot in your stomach as you grow concerned.

It seems that by the blankets and the clutter around a couch, he was here earlier, but he left. Maybe he got caught?

No. No…that can’t be…

“Is that his shit?” Ellie asks.

You go up to the couch and grab the blanket to take a sniff. When you recognize that it smells like your uncle, you give her clarification. “Yeah.” You sigh and take a look around at all the clutter, finding a lot of this stuff useful for something small yet powerful.

“Alright,” Ellie adds. “So if he’s not here…”

“It’s gonna be fine,” Jesse fills her silence as he finishes boarding the door and then goes to grab a shelf. “He’ll make it back.”

“Well, what if he’s in trouble?” Ellie asks and makes you worry more.

“What if?” Jesse retorts as he pushes the shelf against the door. “He is in trouble. We’re all in trouble. Here we are again. You and me in bad fuckin’ weather.”

You look over and see that he’s solely directing that at Ellie so you don’t butt in this time. You just leave him be.

Instead, you grab what you need to make a makeshift bomb. When Ellie catches what you’re doing, as you wait for your uncle to come to the bookstore, she walks over to watch what you’re doing.

“In all our time together I’ve never seen you make a bomb. Who taught you?” She asks as she takes notes of every ingredient and step.

“I learned when I was a Firefly. They had the younger members make them. We weren’t as equipped as the military, so we made do with scraps.”

Ellie keeps her eyes on your hands with a long frown and a distant look, so you stop doing what you were doing and get something off your chest. “I did want to give you a choice that day. I don’t know if that’s worth anything, but I did want to give you that choice, but…Marlene and the rest of the Fireflies didn’t want to risk it, and my dad…well, you know what he did.”

Ellie gently hits her knuckles against the table and nods softly before she mutters. “You should have told me.”

You nod. “I know. You know why I didn't, but you know…all this time on the road has led me to know one thing, and that’s the fact that if I had a choice between telling you or not. I would choose the same thing every time because you were happy.” You say softly but with confidence so she knows you’re serious about your choice.

Ellie realizes that. She sees that as a fact and takes a shaky breath as she meets your gaze with a small wobbly smile.

“Finish it,” you say and nudge the bomb toward her. “I’ll talk you through every step of the way,” you tell her, making her wipe away a tear and smirk as she gladly takes over.

You continue to make three more bombs because that’s all the materials you have and then you wait.

In your wait, you see Ellie looking over kid books and specifically picking up a Sesame Street one, so you interject. “That’s a good one,” you praise as you walk by to sit on a chair under the dome that’s in the kid section of the store.

“Picked a good one,” Jesse also praises. “I should have thought of that.”

“Listen, about me and her,” Ellie says back. “I don’t really know what to say.”

Jesse stops her by raising his hand before she can go on and interjects. “Right now, we got a lot of problems. Like a wounded pregnant girl. Maybe Tommy’s dead…”

You snap your eyes over to him and shoot him a pointed look.

“Maybe we’ll be dead,” Jesse says morbidly as he walks over to sit on a big plastic red and white mushroom that decorates the kid section.

“So, let me at least just get this one off the table,” he continues. “Yes, I love her. But not the way you do,” he pauses and sighs before he goes on. “Remember that group that stopped by Jackson for a few weeks on their way south to Mexico?”

“Uh, from Alberta?” Ellie asks as she takes a seat across from Jesse. “Yeah, they had some decent shit to trade.”

“There was this girl with them,” Jesse shares. “She was a couple years older than me. I don’t know if you remember. She was selling paintings, like landscapes and shit.”

“Were they good?”

Jesse shakes his head. “No. I bought four of ‘em.”

You snort and Ellie chuckles.

“That fuckin’ feeling,” Jesse continues. “When you’re falling for someone and they’re falling right back.”

“Hm,” Ellie hums and you smile softly as you remember Henry.

“So what happened?” Ellie asks for the both of you.

“Best two weeks of my life,” Jesse shares. “But she couldn’t stay. Didn’t want to abandon her family like that. So, she asked me to go with them instead. And I wanted to.” He says. “More than anything.”

“But?” You probe.

“I didn't because the people of Jackson took me in, raised me, cared for me. Because everyone there is counting on me to be the next Maria. Because I was taught to put other people first.”

You sigh and get up as he now makes this whole thing weird again.

“Okay,” Ellie rolls out as she also senses the same thing. “Got it. So, you’re Saint Jesse of Wyoming and everyone else is a fucking asshole.”

“You can make fun of me all you want,” Jesse says. “But let me ask you this, Ellie. I go with that girl to Mexico, who saves your ass in Seattle?” He asks and you’re about to say that you would come, but before you can, you hear voices coming from the radio followed by distant gunshots.

“Under fire! I repeat! We are under fire. Under fire. Southlake Marina. Sniper, not a Scar!”

It’s your uncle. It’s gotta be!

“Unidentified—Goddammit!”

They exclaim through their walkie, making you take your map out to look for the location they said.

“Two of us pinned down. We need backup!”

Another person screams through the walkie.

“No radios. Repeat.”

“Sniper,” Jesse repeats as he rushes over to look at the map you extend on the nearby table.

“It’s gotta be my uncle,” you say hopefully and drag your finger along the map until you find the spot.

“This is South Lake,” you mention. “There’s two piers right here.” You point. “It’s gotta be one of them. We’ll find high ground on the way there to make the way clear, so pack your stuff.” You say quickly as you fold the map and shove it back in your pocket to rush over to grab your things.

Once the others have their things on them again, you move out, making sure to be as discreet as you can while also running to the highest spot which is a leaning tower with a floor missing most of its wall. However, it does leave a perfect view of the marina and the rest of the sinking city so you don't mind, but you now realize how much the water has taken from the city.

Is that what the two sides are fighting for? A sinking city?

Nevertheless, while you’re looking in the distance, trying to find where your uncle might be, the sound of distant gunshots points the way.

“Do you guys hear that?” You ask enthusiastically. “It’s in the right direction.”

“I don’t see an easy way through,” Jesse points out. “But if he got there it means we can too.”

You nod. “Yeah, and I’m sure that with all his shooting he’s making it easier. We just have to be careful.”

“Ellie,” Jesse calls out after you’re done.

“The wheel,” Ellie whispers, grabbing your attention. “The whale.”

You slowly churn your head to look at her confused. “What?” You ask.

“She’s in the fucking aquarium!” Ellie exclaims, leaving you and Jesse more confused.

“Who?” Jesse asks for clarification.

“Abby,” she says and clears all the confusion from your mind—“the one who killed Joel. She’s in the aquarium. It’s too far to swim. We need a boat.”

It’s not even passing by where your uncle is. It’s on the other side.

“What are you talking about?” Jesse queries, making Ellie stop in her tracks just as she was turning away.

“What?” She asks.

“No, Tommy’s over there,” Jesse points over to where the gunshots keep coming from. “That’s where we’re going.”

You step back into the shadows of the tilting room as you see a rift and a choice that will need to be made soon.

“You don’t know that’s him,” Ellie argues.

“Yes, we do,” Jesse counters, making Ellie only keep arguing with denial.

“We don’t. And even if it is, he’s got them pinned down.”

“For now. They called for backup.”

“Then, he'll pin more of them down. I know him. He would want me to do this.”

You swallow thickly and glance over at where the gunshots are coming from and debate; do you want to go after Tommy, or follow Ellie?

Ellie’s the reason you came all the way to Seattle. You wouldn’t have risked your life if she wasn’t here in the first place.

But your uncle…is the last piece of your family. He’s home. The reminder that you’re not alone. He is the one you love the most, but Ellie…

If she dies then all this would be for nothing. What your dad died for would be for nothing. Plus he loved her and she saved him from himself. You owe her so much and you love her so deeply…losing her would be like…losing Sarah all over again.

“And Jesus Christ, if three more people had voted with you, you’d be coming with me,” Ellie argues.

“I voted no,” Jesse reveals after a deep breath.

“Why?” She whispers in disbelief.

“Because everything you do, you do for you,” Jesse says, making you step forward with shock.

“Oh, my god,” Ellie gasps.

“Ellie.”

“Oh, my god.”

“Ellie,” Jesse insists. “It wasn’t in the best interest of the community.”

“Fuck the community!” Ellie blurts, catching you off guard. “All you do is talk about the fucking community. You hypocrite. You think you’re good and I’m bad? You let a kid die today, Jesse. Because why? He wasn’t in your community?” She argues shakily as she trudges towards him. “Let me tell you about my community. My community was beaten to death in front of me while I was forced to fucking watch. So, don’t look at me like you’re better than me or like you’d do anything differently if you were in my shoes, because you’re not and you wouldn’t,” she finishes as another gunshot goes off.

“I really hope you make it,” Jesse mutters that last thing before he walks off expecting you to follow. When he doesn’t hear you going after him he turns around to face you with disbelief.

However, without explanation, you tell him one thing. “Tell my uncle where we are. You don’t need to come. Just let him know. Be careful.”

Jesse nods stiffly and storms away, asking for nothing else because you staying says more than anything words could have said.

Now, after he’s gone, it’s just you and Ellie left. Not because you want to go after Abby, but because you want to protect her and make sure she doesn’t die. Just like your dad would do and the reason you came.

Albeit she doesn’t seem to understand that. She faces you in an attempt to look unbothered.

“You should catch up to him while you can. I can do this alone,” she says.

You nod. “Yeah, I’m sure that’s true, but I didn’t come here for my uncle. I came here for you, so if you’re going after Abby, I’ll tag along. Not to get revenge, but to help you.”

Ellie walks towards you and then stops as if she finally understands what you’re saying. “Why? Why aren’t you angry at any of them for what they did? For what they put you through?”

You scan the scenery behind her and let out a deep sigh before you shrug. “I already told you. There’s no point in being angry. He’s…gone and no amount of anger will bring him back. I,” you begin to stammer. “I haven’t moved on. I haven’t forgotten, but last night was the first time I didn’t see him getting tortured. I-I was home and he was there…and you were too. You were happy…with Dina and her baby.”

Ellie drops her head and you walk to her to grab her shoulder.

“I know when we get back he won’t be there, but I will. Dina will. My uncle. It will still hurt, trust me. I know, but together,” you say and smile. “Maybe we can grieve together and keep living for him. That’s what he would want. That’s what I want for you.”

Ellie takes a few deep breaths and her eyes tear up so you embrace her tightly, showing every bit of joy and relief to see her alive and well.

Ellie feels your embrace. She feels the comfort of your arms and smells a part of him in you, but that’s not what makes her cry. It’s everything else that makes her shoulders shake, letting you see a part of herself that she still has yet to show Dina.

“Let's do this last thing and go home, okay?” You whisper and feel her nod, so you pull away and cup her cheeks to wipe away her tears before wiping yours and moving on.

With the storm having rolled in, any speck of clarity that the sun provided was soon shoved away by the night quickly rolling in, so when you find a boat and head towards the aquarium, it’s like you're going there blind.

The flashlights are useless because you can only see each other's faces, and the occasional light of thunder isn't enough to guide you through any potentially dangerous waves that may rise due to the storm and the fucking pouring rain.

Thankfully, no wave turned your boat over. You imagine there were many close calls because your boat rocked like fucking crazy and you were soaked by the first wave that you passed over, but you didn’t fall over and made it to the aquarium's dock without dying.

“Here take my hand,” you urge Ellie after you climbed on the slippery dock first.

Once she’s standing on her feet you both try to search the area for any way to get in, but with the flashlight not really working outside, you don’t spot any. However, Ellie does.

“Up there,” she points to a fire escape you hadn’t spotted since you looked for a door or a big window.

“I’ll follow your lead,” you say and let her take over much to her surprise.

No matter what you said she still thought you’d lead the way, but you didn’t, and she doesn’t question it either.

You follow Ellie’s lead up to the roof, and up that fire escape that lets you spot a broken sunroof that lets in the rain and you.

When you're going inside, however, you do jump in first just in case there are people inside.

Thankfully though, there isn’t. There’s just sleeping bags, evidence that people have been here. So after drying your weapons and taking off your jackets, you continue to creep through the halls, hoping to not run into anyone, but also hoping to find the right person.

The further you walk in, the more you see Ellie grow impatient, by the way, her breathing gets faster, and her shoulders get stiffer. You even start thinking of what to tell Ellie when you don't find any sign of who she’s looking for, but in all your searching you finally come across a medical room that’s recently been used.

“Recent,” you sign to Ellie as you take note of all the bloody bandages on the metal table.

“What the hell?” Ellie signs back as she notes the saws, the bloody knife, and all kinds of different equipment that you need to clean after a bloody scene such as the one you walked into.

“Better not linger,” you say, making her take one last hard look at the bloody scene before she continues to lead the way through the dark halls of the aquarium, running into nothing, but coming across evidence that the aquarium has been kept up.

Under normal circumstances, you would have loved it here, but right now, you’re more terrified than afraid.

You don’t want to die…

Either way, eventually you find wet footprints leading to a hall and Ellie doesn’t even think before she follows them, leading you to a dark hall that finally has something waiting for you at the end; warm light, and the sound of people talking—no arguing.

“…for her,” you identify a female voice saying. “So don’t make me sound like I’m being some kind of heartless bitch. I’m not. And let’s be honest. This isn’t about them anyways, Owen.”

Your eyes widen and you turn to Ellie as you now walk alongside her, and nod to give her the sign that this is them.

“You’re talking about being behind enemy lines alone at night,” you hear the girl say and when you’re about to round the corner, you see Mel.

“This is suicide under normal circumstances,” Mel continues to go on. “And you want to do this now? Do you even understand what’s going on?”

“I understand everything,” Owen argues. “But I don’t have a choice, do I? It’s Abby.”

You swallow thickly and look back to Ellie, noticing her eyes widen and darken at the mention of her name.

“Of course, you have a choice,” Mel counters. “And so do I. And I am choosing no, also because it’s Abby.”

“Fine, I’ll do it on my own,” Owen says. “Like always. I can make it there and back in 30. If you’re still here, you can get on board and keep going with us. If you’re not, you’re not.”

You scowl at his comment.

“Fuck you, Owen,” Mel retorts and starts to walk away, but then before she can get far, Ellie walks out, stopping Mel in her tracks.

“Hands up,” Ellie commands as she walks out of the shadows.

When Owen sees Ellie, you slowly make your way out behind her with your rifle pointed at Owen.

“Where’s Abby?” Ellie demands to know without any bullshit.

“You gotta be kidding me,” Owen mutters as he looks between you and Ellie. “O-Okay. Easy,” he says as he puts his hands up and steps back, leaving Mel shielded behind him.

“I’m the one who kept you both alive, right?” He brings up as if that changes anything.

“Yeah, while my dad was being beaten to death.” You spat. “Thank fuckin’ you.”

You cock your gun and Ellie follows.

“We don't know where she is,” Owen answers Ellie’s question as she slowly creeps forward and you trudge behind her.

“You were just talking about her, so, yes, you fucking do,” Ellie points out, but neither of them say anything, so Ellie looks over her shoulder.

“Map,” she says bluntly, so you pull out your map and hand it to her so she can unfold it as she holds it down.

“You.” She points at Mel with her gun. “Come here. You’re gonna point to where Abby is, and then you’re gonna do it, and it better fucking match,” she says as she points to Owen, making him look back at Mel heaving and debating.

“You have five seconds,” Ellie says as she moves closer and doesn’t let them think. “Four.”

“She’s gonna kill us either way,” Owen says to which Ellie quickly rebuttals.

“No, I won’t. Because I’m not like you.”

“Just do it,” you grumble. “And we’ll let you go.”

“Three.”

Owen looks back at Mel and they exchange looks.

“Two,” Ellie says and Mel moves, but Owen quickly stops her and interjects.

“I—I’ll do it. I’ll do it,” he insists. “I’ll show you.”

“Slowly,” you command as you lock your aim on him.

“S-slowly,” Owen repeats and looks back at Mel one more time before he moves toward the table.

However, instead of reaching for the map, his hand reaches down and he grabs the gun.

Ellie notices and lunges forward.

Owen gets his gun and turns to Ellie, catching her about to attack so he reaches over to take her gun, making her drop the map, and making them now struggle.

You glance at Mel and make sure she’s not grabbing for a gun or a knife, and when you don’t see anything in her hands, you turn back to Owen and catch Ellie punching Owen in the eye, winning the struggle by then kicking his knee and causing him to stumble back with his gun in hand.

Before he can raise it though, you’re about to press the trigger, but Ellie beats you to it and manages to shoot him right through the throat, ending his life right away. There’s no struggle to stay alive. He falls lifeless on the ground.

“Owen!” Mel cries out and you don’t consider her a threat, but she reaches down, and before she can reveal what she is reaching for, Ellie hits the trigger.

Mel tries to avoid being hit, but the bullet grazes her neck and then hits the lockers behind her, leaving a smoking hole where the bullet hits.

“Oh, god, oh,” Mel gasps as she reaches for her bleeding wound before she falls on her back on the ground.

“Knife?” She says between gasps as she begins to open her coat. “Do you have a knife?” She asks again and reveals her pregnant belly to you and Ellie, making you drop your gun with disbelief.

“I only have 30 seconds. Get the fuck over here, please. Please, please, please,” she talks with urgency, making you pull out a dagger from your thigh holster, and then making you immediately run to her side.

In your shock, you don't even look to Ellie to catch her reaction, but before you know it she runs over to fall by Mel’s other side with her switchblade in her hand.

“Knife. Knife,” Mel pleads as she presses on her wound.

“You’re gonna take it out,” she says to you and Ellie. “You’re gonna get it out.”

“What?” Ellie gasps as you sit there still in shock.

“I don’t know how to do that,” Ellie says as she looks down at Mel’s belly.

“I do, I do,” Mel assures her. “One incision. That’s all it is. And then, be sure to tie the cord. Work fast. Work fast.”

You were never trained to be a doctor like your friend Mia was. You never had an interest in it. You can do basic first aid, but you can’t help her take out her baby.

You had help when Theo came out and if you ever were with someone in labor you always just fetched stuff for the one delivering the baby. You never helped in that regard. You can’t…

But you have to.

You have to try.

Albeit just as you move your hands down and pull up Mel’s shirt to expose her flesh, Ellie grabs your hands with her shaky ones and shoves your hands away.

“I—I will. Let me. I…” she trails off and looks at Mel’s belly with confusion.

“Ellie,” you call out for her attention, but she ignores you and turns to Mel.

“How deep?” Ellie asks.

“Deeper than you think,” Mel says, quieter than before.

“Which way?” Ellie continues to ask and you try to force yourself in, but Ellie keeps pushing you away, knowing you don’t know more than she does.

“Which way?” Ellie asks again when Mel doesn’t answer.

“Low transverse,” Mel mutters to the ceiling. “Transverse.”

“What?” Ellie exclaims in distress. “I don’t know what that means.”

“Ellie!” You insist and try to take over again, but this time she puts her hand on your chest and shoves you away.

“I said stop!” She cries out and looks at Mel with more panic.

“Low transverse,” Mel keeps repeating, making your heart fall to your stomach, threatening to push out the little you ate, and pulling out streams of tears from your eyes.

“Tell me what that means,” Ellie whispers to Mel.

“You’re doing good,” Mel whispers weakly as she keeps looking up. “You’re doing really good…is it out?” She asks and tears your heart apart, making you start to sob.

“Is it out?” She whispers one last time before she lets out her last breath and lays completely still, making Ellie pull her shirt down, and making you crawl to her to try and console her as she begins to sob and tears at your heart even more, but Ellie pushes you away, leaving you to sit on the ground with disbelief, and watch as more blood pools out of Mel and falls into the drain.

You can’t even move and neither can Ellie, so you both sit there in shocked silence, listening to each other's breath and the distant thunder clapping loudly in the sky. That is until you hear your name being called out.

“Sunny?” A familiar voice calls out seconds after when you don’t answer. “Baby?”

They turn the corner and you see your Uncle Tommy. The sight of him makes you break from your disbelief and stand up to meet him halfway with a wave of relief.

“You’re okay!” You cry and study him for any wounds, but you don’t see any. Thankfully. He’s just soaked.

“Are you okay? Are you hurt?” He asks as he grabs your cheek and studies you too.

“No, no, I’m okay. I’m okay. It’s…Ellie,” you say and look back at her, making your uncle look back and see her still on the ground looking at Mel, so he pulls away and runs to her, finding Owen’s body on the ground as well as Mel’s.

“Oh God,” you hear your uncle gasp before he crouches beside Ellie and grabs her face, making her cry more.

“Are you okay?” You hear beside you and when you look over you see Jesse holding up his gun.

“Yeah,” you nod. “You?”

He nods too and then catches your uncle passing you and him with Ellie, leaving you and him behind to take a longer look at the bloody scene.

“Let’s go,” you break him from his stupor and nudge his arm, making him move after your uncle first, and leaving you to linger there for a few seconds to steal one last glance at what happened.

——

*LATER*

“I thought this was only supposed to happen in the morning,” Dina complains hoarsely as she just finished throwing up a third time.

“Well.” You scoff. “Contrary to the name. No. It can happen at any time and it can happen due to many different things, but some things are stress and exhaustion,” you let her know, making her nod.

“Yeah, it checks out.”

You hum and finish braiding her hair so it’s not in the way. “Just sleep, okay? Drink a lot of water and when we make it out of this damned city I’ll try to find some tea for you to take while we make our way home, okay?”

Dina nods softly and whispers. “Okay…and when we get home you’ll continue to help me, right? I don’t know what I’m doing here.”

You giggle and nod. “Of course, I will. You know sucking on ice really helped me. Apollo would put water to freeze in the morning so by the time we went to bed there was ice for me to eat. It really helped. So I’ll have a bowl of ice cubes ready when we’re home.”

She hums and smiles sweetly. “That’s nice. How did he know to do that?”

You scoff. “He didn’t. It was my dad. My mom…when she was pregnant with me, she would have terrible morning sickness and he said that she liked to suck on ice because it would help. So he and my sister would always have bowls of ice cubes ready for her.”

Dina smiles wider with admiration. “Ice actually sounds very good, so I’m looking forward to it.”

You grin and then get off the couch to walk around the couch and pat the pillow. “Put your head down and try to sleep now, so you can feel better by the time it’s to go, otherwise I will stay here and talk all night.”

“Alright,” she gives in and slowly lays down, letting you put her coat over her.

“We’ll come back to check on you, okay? Try to sleep.” You tell her with a smile, seeing her nod before you walk out and immediately get greeted with Ellie’s presence standing outside the door.

“Lurking?” You tease. “You’re dating now, no? Why not go in?” You suggest considering she’s only checked on Dina once before avoiding her.

“I just need a moment,” Ellie mutters as she follows you away from the room. “Is she okay?”

You exhale deeply. “Yeah. You know this is the last time I will update you and Jesse. You’re gonna need to check in on her yourselves.”

Ellie rolls her eyes. “Well, you're the only one who knows how to help her,” she argues.

“Yeah, and that’s gonna stay between us from now on. It’s not rocket science. She’s just pregnant, not infected.”

Ellie sighs. “I know. I know, I just…” she trails off with a shaky breath and you stop, making her come to a stop.

“Ellie, it was hard what happened—”

“What I did,” she corrects you, so you quickly counter.

“It was not on purpose.”

“It was. I killed her because I thought she was gonna attack us—”

“But,” you rebuttal louder so she can stop talking over you. “You didn’t know she was pregnant. We both didn’t know, so don’t torment yourself about it, okay? Just…don’t shove it under a rug either. Admit it and move on because you can’t change the past. Okay?”

Ellie shakes her head and you grab her shoulder. “Don’t be like him either, okay? You have to let yourself feel or it will eat you up from the inside.”

Ellie nods and you smile softly even if she doesn’t see it and then continue to move along to join Jesse and your uncle on stage.

“Is everything mapped?” You ask as you take a seat on the edge of the stage next to your uncle.

“Yeah.” He nods. “All we need is for the rain to clear so we can get our horses.”

Ellie was not far behind you so she walks out on stage, making both men watch her make her way to the edge of the stage with concern and silence.

“Hey,” your uncle addresses Ellie as he walks towards her. “You know, they were part of it, too. They made their choices. That’s all there is to it.”

The thunder rumbles outside of the theater whilst Ellie nods faintly before she brings her up.

“But Abby gets to live.”

You sigh and drop your head as you feel her frustration.

“Yeah,” your uncle whispers. “Are you able to make your peace with that?”

“Guess I’ll have to,” Ellie says in a whisper before she looks at Jesse just past you, telling your uncle without words that there’s tension between the two friends.

“I’m gonna start packin’ the duffels,” your uncle makes an excuse to give them space. “Sunny, why don’t you come with me? I have something to show ya.”

“Oh?” You question as you get the hint and jump off stage to follow him out.

Once you make it about halfway through the auditorium you probe. “Is this thing for me?” You bounce your eyebrows, making him chuckle.

“No, silly girl. It’s this,” he says and pulls a shiny gold necklace from his pants pocket. “It’s for Maria. I found it in a ritzy section of town.”

“Aw,” you gasp as you take the necklace and look at it closer. “It’s real pretty, and it looks like real gold.”

“‘Course it’s real gold,” he argues as he snatches the necklace back.

“Well if that’s so then can I say it’s from the both of us? I left without sayin’ goodbye,” you tell him, making him laugh again.

“Find your own apology gift.”

“Aw, shucks,” you breathe out and watch your uncle open the door for you to walk out first before he follows and lets the door close.

“Anyway, I did find somethin’ for my Teddy in a store around here. It’s a cowboy from that one animated movie my daddy always used to like watchin’ with me.”

“Oh, oh, yeah!” He snaps his fingers as he remembers. “Is it in good condition?”

You grin at him. “Excellent. It even has a pull string so it can talk,” you let him know as you reach the desk in front of the doors you just walked out of. “I’ll show ya,” you say eagerly as you part away from the desk the moment you reach it, and make your way to your backpack just by the couch near the entrance.

However, just before you can reach your backpack and your guns, you’re about to cross the stairwell that leads upstairs and get startled by the sight of Abby with a gun in hand and a deadly pained look in her eyes. One that matches the look she had in that lodge.

“You,” she grimaces before she makes her voice louder. “Back up and put your hands in the air," she immediately threatens as she slowly makes her way out of the stairwell and reveals herself to you fully without the shadows over her face, showing a much deadlier look.

“Hands up old man. Hands away from the table!” She growls as she continues to move toward you and away from the stairwell, letting a small and slim shadow in the form of a young bald boy walk out behind her holding a bow and arrow that he points at you and doesn’t shake in his hold.

“I said back up and put your hands up!” Abby sneers. “Throw your weapons on the ground and kick them away.”

You do what she says, knowing what she’s capable of and remembering what she took from you, ending up near your uncle and putting your hands up before letting her know your truth. “I don’t have any weapons on me. Swear.”

Abby glances and examines you, making sure she can’t see any before she looks at your face and scowls.

“Back the hell up!” Abby demands your uncle, making him move back and threatening to turn around, but stopping the moment she throws a command and a threat. “Don’t fucking turn around or this one gets an arrow through her leg.”

“You’re makin’ a big mistake—”

“Shut the hell up!” Abby cuts your uncle off sharply. “Lev, keep your bow on her,” she now directs at the boy, who doesn’t hesitate. Without loosening his hold he walks around to stand across from you with his arrow locked on you.

“Get on the ground. The both of you.” Abby now directs at you and your uncle.

“You’re gonna kill us like a coward?” Your uncle spats and Abby storms past you to kick your uncle in the back of his knee, knocking him to the ground, and making you plead. Again.

“Please!” You bellow and get on your knees, but just like before she doesn’t listen. She then follows by smacking the back of your uncle's head with her gun, causing him to fall on his face and making you cry out.

“Uncle Tommy!”

“Shut up,” she grimaces as she points the gun at the back of your uncle's head.

Before she can do anything else the doors to the auditorium are thrown open, making Abby’s shooting arm fly up before she hits the trigger and causes Jesse to fall limp on the ground right next to you.

“Jesse,” you gasp as you see blood quickly spilling from his head. “Jesse!” You cry out as you’re forced to realize why he’s not moving and why so much blood is pouring from him. He’s dead. Abby killed him on sight.

“Jesse!” You whimper and without thinking, you crawl over to him without even thinking about his weapon that fell on the ground. You just grab him and begin to sob.

“Stand up!” Abby now barks and you think she’s yelling at you, but then the sight of someone moving across from you catches your attention, and when you glance up, you see Ellie looking at you before she looks down at Jesse’s body, so you realize Abby is talking to Ellie.

“Stand up!” Abby yells again, making you look over at her with your eyes clouded with tears. “Hands in the air or I shoot the both of them.”

“Just run, Ellie!” Your uncle tries to warn her, but Abby snaps back at him.

“Shut the fuck up!” She bellows and then follows by kicking him hard in the ribs.

“Uncle Tommy,” you whimper as you continue to hold Jesse.

“Stop,” Ellie cuts in. “Stop!” She says again and throws her gun out before she comes out of hiding and slowly stands beside you with her hands in the air.

“You fucking people,” Abby hisses as she also recognizes Ellie.

“Just let them go,” Ellie interjects.

“He killed my friends,” Abby retorts as she keeps her gun pointed at your uncle and the boy keeps his arrow locked on you.

“No, I did,” Ellie defends your uncle. “They had nothing to do with us. They came here for me,” she explains and starts crying as she continues. “I know why you killed Joel. He did what he did to save me. I’m the one that you want. Just let them go,” she pleads.

“I let you live,” Abby grimaces. “I let you both live,” she sneers as she points her gun at you.

“And you wasted it,” she snarls and then drags her gun up to point at Ellie, and knowing what Abby is capable of, and seeing that deadly and blood-thirsty look on her face, you don’t take this new target as a threat.

Just as Ellie seems to welcome her fate with tears, you quickly shove yourself up and in a blink of an eye, just as Abby hits the trigger and sends the bullet flying, you manage to tackle Ellie out of the way, but in the meanwhile, you feel the sharp and sudden pain of the bullet grazing the side of your head, causing you to quickly let Ellie go and fall on the ground almost lifeless next to her.

“No!”

“NO!” You hear your uncle's broken cry rip through the room followed by the cry of your name as you lay there, heaving, and bleeding out.

A/N- A cliffhanger? NO! But wait I’m gonna keep working on this fic to finish it since there’s not much left and it wouldn’t be fair to keep you all waiting for the little bit we have left of this amazing story, so come back next week for more!!

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