DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN 'LAST OF US,' NAUGHTY DOG DOES.

The last thing Ellie remembered was being in a cage, breaking David's f***ing finger.

She had escaped, David on her tail. She had managed to hide out in a beaten down restaurant, trying to figure out what her next move would be. She cursed herself for forgetting to grab her backpack before she left; it contained all of her guns, comics, ammo, and clothes. She heard David enter the restaurant, grinning like a madman.

"Come on, Ellie, I know you're in here." Ellie bit her lip, gripping her knife, praying that it would be enough to take him down.

She crouched down, and followed David from behind, too scared to act on her initial instinct; kill. She rounded the corner, and scrutinized the place. David was no where to be found.

Out of nowhere, he grabbed her neck from behind, choking her. She struggled, but successfully stabbed him in her thigh. He immediately dropped him, hissing in pain. She kicked him up on the side of his head, and kept on punching him.

He quickly grabbed her by the fist, and kicked her in the ribs with his good leg; she knew she heard something crack. She gasped in pain, and fell backwards.

David chuckled, pinning her arm down by planting his foot on her wrist, and grabbed her by the neck, scooting her up. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw his fallen machete on the ground, under a table.

She extended her right arm, hoping to reach it in time, and drive it in his skull. She only saw red when she grasped the machete's handle. She swung it, slicing David's head wide open. He loosened his grip on her neck and arm. Shouldn't have done that, you son of a bi***.

She stabbed him in the middle of his neck, crimson blood oozing out. It splattered all over her, but she didn't care. She grabbed him forcefully by his shirt, and pulled him under her. She knelt on top of him, stabbing him repeatedly.

She gasped when a pair of two strong engrossed her. She wiggled out of the stranger's grasp, aiming the machete at the stranger's head.

"It's me, It's me, It's me. I'm here, baby girl." When Ellie realized it was only Joel, she crumbled in his arms. She sobbed, soaking his shirt in tears. She sniffed, trying to tell him what happened.

"H-he t-tried to..." Joel tightened his arms around her, knowing that the bastard had it coming.

"Ellie, I have to. You know I have to." Ellie hung her head low, grimacing. She knew that Joel was right; if anything was broken, it wouldn't be good.

Joel had been trying to coax Ellie to let him look at her wounds, but in order for that to happen, she needed to take her shirt and jeans off.

She sighed in defeat, trying to lift her shirt off. She cried out in pain, knowing she wouldn't be able to do anything, anytime soon. She looked pleadingly at Joel, and whimpered when he took the bottom of her shirt, and gently raised it from her arms, leaving her bra on. He examined her bruises and cuts. He knew she had gone through some pretty tough sh*t, but he was surprised at the amount of bruises she had; she must have been hit pretty hard.

He shut his eyes, taking deep breaths, trying to keep himself strong for Ellie's sake. He reopened his eyes, and gently ran his rough hands around her stomach, putting some pressure on her ribs, trying to figure out if any were broken.

"Argh! F***, you hit the f***in' jackpot." He sighed, and noted where she told him it hurt. He searched for anymore broken ribs, and was thankful when he discovered she hadn't had another one.

After leaving the town, Joel had carried Ellie to a cabin about five miles from their old cabin. He cleared the entire place out, but decided that they would set camp up in the basement. There was a mattress, and a few lanterns.

He applied cream to her open cuts, and rubbed lotion on her back, trying to soothe the burning pain that she was feeling. She let out a little moan, feeling the heat radiating off of his hand, and onto her shivering cold body.

After a few minutes he stood, and walked over to his backpack, pulling out an over sized black t-shirt. He walked back to Ellie, and slipped it over her head. She didn't bother to look up, but put her arms through the holes.

Joel looked at her expectantly, and if she wasn't so tired, she would have blushed. She nodded stiffly, unbuttoning her jeans. She was too tired to fully step out of her jeans, so she let Joel take them off of her. She winced in pain when he searched for cuts or bruises.

It took him about two hours to completely clean and bandage all of her wounds, but he knew it was worth it. But whenever he had touched her, she would cower away a little, like he would do anything to hurt her. It made his heart tug a little, and made him want to raise that motherf***er from the dead, and kill him himself.

Ellie shifted uncomfortably, mostly because Joel had washed her clothes and left them to dry, so she was standing with only a shirt, barely covering her thighs. The shirt hung, loose from her small figure. She remembered what Marlene would always say. You're all bone, and no skin.

"You can have the bed. I'll keep watch." She walked to the mattress, not meeting Joel's gaze. He noticed her hesitation, and quickly said, "You can wear my boxers for now." Ellie nodded, and slipped them on.

She watched as Joel moved to leave, and quickly grabbed his arm. He turned to look at her. She looked pleadingly, and said, "I-I can't be alone right now. P-Please stay."

Joel nodded, and went to sit on the mattress. He took off his shoes, and laid back on the bed. Ellie followed, and put the blanket over them. She shivered, and snuggled closer to Joel, his arm acting as a pillow.

Joel woke up, with Ellie clawing at him. He straightened up, and knew that it was from a nightmare. He caught her wrists, and said, "Ellie, wake up, it's just a nightmare. It's just a nightmare. Come on, baby girl, it's just a nightmare."

Ellie's eye lids flew open, looking around bewilderingly. Once she realized it was all just a nightmare, she broke into hysteric sobs. She clung to Joel, not wanting him to leave.

After a few minutes, Ellie started to calm down. She pulled away from Joel, and wiped her eyes. F*** me. I know I must look like a f***ing train wreck. Sh*t.

She looked up at Joel, and said, "Thanks." She didn't want to go into any detail on what she meant by saying thanks; Joel knew what she meant.

She changed into her now-dry clothes, and handed Joel back his shirt and boxers. They both shared a can of baked beans and a water bottle Joel had found when he went to scavenge.

After finishing eating, Joel said, "I was thinking that we could stay here for a few days. I figure we could both use the rest." Ellie fumed.

"You've gotta be sh*tting me. No f***ing way, Joel. At the pace we have been going, we could make it to the Fireflies in two weeks, but if we stop now, it would take us near f***ing three weeks to get there is we stop." Joel put his arms up in surrender.

"I just thought with the sh*t we've been through so far, you might wanna rest for 'couple of days." Ellie sighed, and sat on the edge of the mattress.

"Joel... what happened in that town, It's kinda like a what 'happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas,' thing, or whatever you call it. I want to forget it as much as you do, but it's running a f***ing loop in my f***ing head, and if I'm cooped up in this room, I'll go crazy." Joel sighed in defeat, and nodded.

A/N: This story contains stories if you haven't finished it.

I want to let you know that the device you're using to read this story did not filter out the bad language in this story; I filtered it out purposely. I think that if I don't filter it out, this story would be considered an 'M' rated fic. I have not, and never plan to write a rated 'M' fic.

Also, this story takes place after *SPOILER ALERT* Ellie kills David. I am planning on continuing this story after they find the fireflies. I'm going to include their life in Jackson.