Chapter 14

Spring

Months had passed since the encounter with David, but as usual they were on the road once more heading towards the Fireflies' base. Joel had fully recovered by this point so the two teens no longer had any worries there. The new concern for Jake, was Ellie's change in behaviour following the incident with David. She was detached from the world, no longer providing her standard humour in dull moments but instead remaining worryingly silent and distant from Jake and Joel. As was the case right now, she stood away from the other two, staring blankly at a deer mural on the side of a highway.

"Ellie," Joel called out to her, however the teen seemed to take no notice of him. Jake then walked towards and put a hand on her shoulder to get her attention.

"Time to go," Jake said softly as Ellie turned to face. She gave a quiet nod in response and the two returned to Joel's side.

"Look," Joel said and indicated towards a sign "Hospital. This is where we get off," Joel informed them and the group made their way along the deserted road. "You feel that breeze huh? I tell you, on a day like this, I'd just sit on my porch, and pick away at my six-string. You know once we're done with this whole thing, I'm gonna teach you two how to play a guitar."

"You're gonna have to find a guitar first Joel," Jake commented snarkily.

"I'll find one. I reckon you two'd like that. Whaddya say Ellie?" Joel asked her but got no response "Ellie I'm talking to you."

"Huh? Oh yeah, sure that sounds great," Ellie replied though her enthusiasm was at an all-time low. After winter had passed, Joel began to loosen up around the two teens and was now much more open with them, recognizing the lengths they went to protect him. Jake returned similar behavior, engaging Joel in his random conversations now with sly comments, like he would a few years ago. However, Ellie's behavior was very much the opposite, her personality seeming more empty and distant, she barely seemed aware of her surroundings much of the time.

"She seems almost like how I used to be," Jake thought of Ellie dejectedly at her new behavior. He was frustrated at himself that he couldn't keep her away from David, that she was subjected to that and that this causes her new behavior.

"I dreamt about flying the other night," Ellie mentioned after seeing an advertisement for an airline.

"Oh yeah?" Joel questioned in response. "Go on, tell us about," Joel prompted her, given it was one of the few times since the encounter with David that she started a conversation.

"So, I'm on this big plane full of people. And everyone is screaming and yelling 'cause the plane is going down. So I walk into the cockpit, open the door, but there's no pilot. I try to use the controls, but. I obviously have no clue how to fly a plane. And right before we crash. I wake up," Ellie explained. "I've never been on a plane. Isn't that weird?" Ellie asked.

"Well, you know, dreams are weird," Joel responded simply.

The trio then entered a bus station as the other path was blocked off. Ellie sat herself down on a bench inside the bus station while Joel and Jake looked around for supplies and a way through. Jake couldn't shake the weird feeling of Ellie being quiet.
"Everything ok?" Jake asked as he approached where Ellie sat.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she replied with a sigh, not really looking back towards Jake as she spoke.

"You're really quiet is all."

"Oh. Sorry."

"No it's… it's fine," Jake replied dejectedly to her low mood that came out through her words. "It's not fine," Jake thought in annoyance, blaming himself for what happened with David "I shouldn't have let her go."

The group needed the aid of a ladder on an upper level to advance, so as usual Joel got ready to boost Ellie up to retrive the ladder. However, Ellie remained sat on the bench, in her own world. "Ellie," Joel called out to her but got no reply, he called again louder to which she responded. Joel then informed her what was happening. She slowly rose from her seat and walked towards the older man. Joel lifted her up to the higher ledge where the ladder and she started moving it to bring it down to the two below her. However, as she was doing so something behind her had caught her eye. "Oh my God," she exclaimed before putting the ladder down and running away, towards whatever it is she saw.

"What is it?" Joel asked as she ran, "Ellie!?" He called out again but she had already taken off. "Go after her," Joel instructed Jake as he boosted him up, Jake then hastily dropped the ladder down to Joel and ran after Ellie.

"You gotta see this," Ellie announced excitedly while running down the hall and keeping her eyes trained on the windows beside her.

"What is it?" Jake asked confusedly while chasing behind her. She kept on running, getting faster, but not with the urgency of danger but like the curiosity of a child.

"C'mon hurry up," she pestered, wanting to go ahead as fast as possible. Jake then sped up so that he was right behind her and the two arrived into a small room with a large whole in its outer brick wall. Leaves and plants grew out of the bricks and there stood the subject of Ellie's curiosity. A giraffe stood there eating leaves growing from the vegetation in the wall. "You see this," Ellie said softly in a tone that held wonder in it, as she gazed upon the animal peacefully eating.

"Wow," Jake stated simply in equal wonder. The two gazed upon the gentle creature for a few moments until Joel had finally caught up.

"What's all the fuss about?" Joel asked loudly as he entered.

"Shhhh," both teens said simultaneously in a quiet tone, as to not disturb the giraffe. Joel then slowly and softly approached it.

"Don't scare it," Ellie quietly instructed

"I won't… I won't," Joel replied softly as he gently placed his hand on the giraffe's head.

"What are you doing?" Ellie inquired, to which Joel reassured it was alright then motioned her to come over. Ellie then made her way over to it and hesitantly placed her hand on the side of its head and softly stroked it. "Hey there," she said as she pet the giraffe.

"I wish you could see this too Mary," Jake thought to himself and then made his way over and silently copied Ellie's motion.

"So fucking cool," Ellie said while not taking her eyes off it. The giraffe then finished eating from the plants and began to walk away. "Aw, where's it off to?" Ellie questioned half disappointedly and half in curiosity "C'mon. Let's go," she said as she quickly moved through the building to try and follow the animal with Jake closely behind.

"Slow down kids," Joel called out to them. The group then exited onto the roof of another building and observed the giraffe, now joined by many others, roaming freely in an open grass field. The group stood by the edge of the roof and rested their arms on the raised ledge, watching the animals in peace. "So...is this everything you were hoping for?" Joel asked softly.

"It's got its ups and downs. But, you can't deny the view though," Ellie answered whilst still taking in the serene environment before her. The three of them silently took in the view for a few moments before Joel quietly moved away, silently pressing the two teens to move on, but at their own pace.

"Are you...okay?" Jake asked rather awkwardly.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry for worrying you and being so silent," Ellie replied.

"That should be my line."

"You got that right," she responded with a chuckle "it's alright though. You were hurt weren't you?"

"Well...yeah I suppose so," he answered while looking down and away in embarrassment.

"When you came to get me. Back in David's town," she began causing Jake to turn to face her, since this was the first time she spoke on the matter. "You were really cold. The way you set the town on fire, and the look you had. You felt so distant. Like you were just another killer. It was... a lot to take in," she explained, causing Jake's gaze to fall again in disappointment at himself.

"So this is where my past comes back. The decisions I made, the person I became, this is how it'll affect my present connections," Jake thought, internally cursing himself for acting the way he did, causing Ellie to suffer more.

"But you were just trying to keep me safe right? You were keeping your promise." She stated, referencing the promise Jake made to her at Henry and Sam's grave, to which Jake silently nodded. "This whole time you've been suffering alone. I think recently I started to understand how that feels. Is this what you were like before you were hurt?"

"I think so, it's hard to say."

"If it's like this it's ok, the way you were at David's town was too much for me. But this means you're getting better," she explained while gently placing her hand over his "I won't let you be hurt and alone anymore, so please try to get better."

"Sorry," Jake said and then turned to face her, his face was confident but unlike his usual cold demeanor, it was soft and warm "I didn't realize I hurt you like that. I won't let it happen again. And I'll get better so that you don't have to see me like that ever again. I promise," Jake announced with a gentle smile, while her hand was still in his.

"Let's go then," she said with her own warm smile and then led him by the hand towards where Joel waited for them.

"Her touch, it's so warm, and her smile, it's so bright," Jake thought to himself as he followed her.

"This world is worth saving," Ellie reaffirmed internally. The two walked over to Joel who stood by the door to enter back into a building.

"We don't have to do this," Joel mentioned, directed at Ellie "you know that right?"

"What's the other option?"

"We go back to Tommy's. Just be done with this whole damn thing."

"After all we've been through. Everything that I've done. It can't be for nothing,", she reasoned optimistically and then proceeded on through the doorway, with her two companions following behind her after a moment to take the exchange that just occurred. "Look, I know you mean well, but there's no half-way with this. Once we're done, we'll go wherever you want. Okay?" Ellie informed whilst the group descended the stairs of the building.

"Well we ain't leaving without ya, so let's wrap this up," Joel replied.

The group then exited back out onto the streets of Salt lake City; they were surrounded by large white tents that lined the street. "Well this place takes me back," Joel stated.

"How so?" Ellie inquired in curiosity.

"It was right after everything went down. I ended up in a triage just like this. Man, everywhere you looked, you just saw families torn apart. The whole damn world seemed to have turned upside down in a blink."

"Is that after you lost Sarah?"

"Yes it was."

"I… can't imagine losing someone you love like that. Losing everything that you know. I'm sorry Joel."

"It's alright," Joel replied solemnly.

"Hey Joel, I got something for you," Ellie said out of the blue and walked up towards him. "Here. Jake gave this to me and I uh... figured you should have. Hope you don't mind," she explained and handed the photograph to him. Joel then examined the picture and saw a younger version of himself alongside Sarah, the same picture Tommy showed him before.

"Oh yeah… I stole that from Tommy when he showed us. Figured you wanted it deep down even though you refused so I thought I'd sneak it into your bag at some point or something," Jake explained awkwardly.

"Well no matter how hard you try, I guess you can't escape your past. Thanks kids," Joel said with a sigh, trying to keep himself composed.

"This time it's gonna be different. I just know it," Ellie announced as the group entered into the ruins of a tunnel.

"What do you mean?" Joel asked in response.

"They're gonna be there - the Fireflies - I'm sure of it," she stated optimistically. As the group progressed deeper through the tunnel, they began to hear the distinct sounds of Infected filling the area. Their problems seemed to get worse as several bloaters were seen in the distance, setting Jake on edge and causing him to clench his fist from the tension. Ellie, then walked up beside him and lightly grabbed his hand, causing Jake to turn towards her. "It'll be ok," she reassured with a smile "just stay close," she said, to which Jake nodded, as she held his hand tighter now. The group then made their way through the tunnel whilst sneaking past the Infected.

The three then climbed over a truck that blocked off the rest of the tunnel so that the infected could no longer reach them. The section of the tunnel ahead had been flooded so there was little ground to walk across, forcing the group to move over the tops of cars. "Hey, that's what we can do once we're done," Ellie called out.

"What's that?" Joel asked in response.

"You can teach me how to swim."

"You got it," Joel replied with a chuckle.

The group made their way around through the broken down tunnel until they reached a section where water flowed quickly through the tunnel; the speed of the current could easily carry a person away. "Oh boy," Ellie said in concern as she watched the current sweep by.

"Just let me go ahead, and you follow my lead," Joel reassured as he made his way over the tops of vehicles through the tunnel. Joel then jumped from the top of a truck onto another over the water, followed closely by Jake. "Come on, jump," he told Ellie.

"You're gonna catch me?" Ellie asked nervously.

"I got you," Joel answered assuredly. Ellie then took a running start over the truck and leaped across, with Joel sticking his arms out to catch her, though it wasn't needed as she made it over with her own jump. "See? You didn't even need me."

"Let's get the hell off this thing," Ellie replied and moved forward along with Jake followed by Joel. They jumped down onto a bus that was on its side, however with three of them on it the bus began to shift in the water as if it'd tip over.

"Move, quick," Jake told Ellie as they ran across the bus and climbed onto a metal walkway. However, part of the rusted metal walkway collapsed as Joel tried to climb on, followed by the bus door opening from his weight on it, causing Joel to fall inside. The water inside the bus began pushing him to the back in the bus. He grabbed a pole inside and began pulling himself forward along them to get to the front. One of the poles then gave way, allowing the current to push him all the way to the back of the bus. "Stay here," Jake instructed Ellie and then jumped onto the back door of the bus cracking it in the process. Ellie disregarded Jake's instruction and jumped onto the bus after him. "I told you to stay," Jake yelled in urgency while trying to kick the door open.

"Shut up and push," Ellie responded as she started kicking the door open as well while Joel tried to pull it from the inside. The door then swung open, knocking Joel back in the process, however a moment later the bus began to tip over, soon to take all 3 of them under water.

"Grab onto me," Jake shouted urgently at Ellie, knowing that they'd be submerged and Ellie potentially drowning since she couldn't swim. The bus tipped over regardless and before Ellie could heed Jake's warning, causing the current to pull both of them away until it slowed to the point where it could no longer pull them along. Jake grabbed onto the now unconscious Ellie and tried pulling her through the water towards the surface. Joel swam out of the bus and then came alongside Jake and helped him pull Ellie out. The two dragged her out of the water, gasping for breath as they surfaced. Joel's attention immediately turned back to Ellie; he put her ear close to her mouth and noticed that she wasn't breathing. He quickly placed both his hands over her chest and began pumping at a regular pace to get her to breath again.

"Hands in the air," a man called out as he approached the group, accompanied by two other's. All 3 had their guns trained on the group and were dressed in soldier like clothes.

"She's not breathing," Joel answered back desperately while still trying to get Ellie to start breathing again.

"Hands in the fucking air!" the man called out again this time more aggressively as he approached closer Joel. Once close enough the man then hit Joel in the head with the end of his rifle, knocking Joel unconscious. "Think your next move carefully kid," the man warned as all their rifles pointed towards him.

"Shit, what do I do?" Jake asked himself internally. He then noticed the armbands the men were wearing and saw that it had the Firefly insignia on it. "You're Fireflies right? This girl is the one that's immune to the infection," Jake announced in a panic, "we were sent by Marlene to deliver her to the Fireflies. That's Joel, ask whoever's in charge if I'm lying." The Fireflies looked at each other with confusion then one of them hesitantly drew a radio. "Quickly, or the cure for humanity will die," Jake pressed them. The Fireflies then confirmed with their leader that Jake's information was correct. They quickly picked up Ellie and Joel and began carrying them back to the hospital with Jake followed behind. "Don't die Ellie."