Hey guys! This story is inspired by one of my all time favorite movies. I'm also super excited to see how this story pans out. DISCLAIMER: This story is not in any way related to my other TLOU fiction. Just in case anyone got confused. OH BY THE WAY: Especially for my friend Melanie, to clear the air there is no JOELXELLIE. Enjoy! -CurrentWay

"Oh come on, please Joel? " Ellie asked in a pleading, desperate voice.

"I don't know, Ellie," Joel replied in an unsure tone.

Ellie has been asking to go camping in the woods nearby Tommy's settlement for weeks now and Joel kept declining every single time. Joel was still hesitant of the area and didn't want to go out of the boundaries until he knows the surrounding areas were safe.

"Seriously. You and I never do these kinds of things."

"I just want to know if the forest is completely secure, Ellie," Joel said in a fatherly and stern voice. "I'll ask Tommy to go scouting tonight with a couple of his men and see if it's safe. Ellie looked down and sighed.

"Ugh. Fine."

The next day, Joel and Ellie set out to go camping. Tommy saw nothing wrong with the forest and there was a clearing about half a mile into it. On the way, Ellie told Joel some more of her stupid jokes that he now have come to love and at around 6:30 they settled down in the clearing.

"Wow. This is a nice place," Ellie said quietly. She looked to her left and saw a small river with a dam in it. There seemed to have been something behind the trees on the other side of the river but she couldn't quite see it so she didn't think anything of it.

She turned back and saw Joel looking around cautiously.

"I don't know," he said under his breath. Something still wasn't right. But, he looked at Ellie's bright eyes and it helped ease his mind. He put down some sleeping bags and started a small fire. Though he was still skeptical, maybe he was just being paranoid. Ellie seemed to be alright with it. She appeared to have been healing ever since the incidents of winter. She wasn't as distant, though sometimes she'd have her days where she wouldn't speak at all or have night terrors.

She seemed more lively and happy, especially when around Joel. She never had any parents and he's been without a daughter for so long. Ellie brought life back into Joel.

"Okay so, what do people usually do when they go camping?" Ellie asked as she lay down on her back.

Joel looked at her. "Well, normally people would roast marshmallows and hotdogs, set up tents, start a fire, and tell really dumb scary stories."

"Pshh. That's sounds lame," Ellie said.

He chuckled. "Yeah it was. But, it was fun if you were around the right people."

It was quiet for a while. Ellie turned on her side to face Joel.

"Joel, were you good at any sports?" He turned and looked at her. He was used to her odd, unusual, and curious questions that came up out of nowhere by now.

"Well, football and basketball were my favorite sports as a kid. I reckon I was pretty good at football. Probably still am," he said with his thick Texan accent.

Ellie let out a loud laugh. "Ha! Yeah right."

Joel scoffed. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh nothing, nothing. I mean you're doing pretty well for an older fellow," Ellie said and putting emphasis on 'older fellow'.

Joel smirked a cunning grin. "Older fellow? Ellie, you know what we did when we played football?"

Ellie had a confused look on her face.

"To get the ball, we had to tackle!" Joel then swooped Ellie up in to his arms off the ground as she let out a playful squeal. He wrapped arms around her started to tickle her where she let out even more squeals of laughter.

"Oh my god you ASS!" she said trying to get out of Joel's teasing grip. He released her and sat back down on his sleeping bag. Ellie was still panting from all of the hard laughing and her face hurt from smiling so much.

"Well next time don't call me an old man," he retorted jokingly.

Ellie moved her sleeping back closer to his as Joel put out the dying fire. In that moment, Ellie completely forgot about her past. It didn't bother her anymore and it couldn't hurt her. She was so content and glad she chose to stay with Joel. Everything that went down with the Fireflies didn't seem to matter at this point. All this time he was trying to make her see that he needed her and, without her knowing until now, she needed him.

She laid on her side facing Joel and he put his arm around her as she was trying to go to sleep. She loved the familiar feel of him being around her. Safely protecting her from any harm. She buried her head into his neck and quickly fell asleep.

Joel heard stirring behind him. His eyes shot open in a groggy state. He half-turned to his left trying to find out where the noise was coming from. It was pitch black outside and he couldn't see a thing. His right arm was still around a sleeping Ellie. He let go of her and turned around for a split second to see where the noise was coming from when a pair of big hands grabbed him from behind and put him in a sleeper hold. Joel lifted up his large arms and grabbed his attacker's head causing the arms to release him. Joel shoved the guy in the other direction and then realized that there were about four other guys. Two of the guys grabbed Ellie. She woke up in a panicked state.

"Get off of me, asshole! Get off! Joel!" she screamed and tried to reach her pocketknife she always hid in her pocket. But, one of the men grabbed her hand and pulled out a pair of zip ties and zip tied her hands together. They gagged her and dragged her away.

"Ellie!" Joel got up and started to run when he was a hit by a blunt object and it all went black.

THANKS SO MUCH FOR READING! I would like to thank my friend Meghan for inspiring this chapter! ILY so much! 333