Inhale. Exhale. A foul stench pervaded Ellie's senses, of piss mixed with the dank rot of the ancient house she'd found herself in. Her gaze focused on the source of the smell, a mutilated man sprawled out on the bedroom floor, with bloodied wounds from her machete all over his body. She suppressed the desire to gag, clasping the neck of a guitar in her left hand as she drew in another deep breath, feeling the worn strings with uneven fingernails. Her other hand shook violently, adrenaline that hadn't subsided yet continuing to take its toll on her, only further fueled by the sharp pains around her bloodied knuckles. She squeezed her hand shut, grimacing, before opening it again. The trembling subsided, if only by a little.

He hadn't been expecting her, surprise plastered across his face as she stood in the open doorway. He moved first, but wasn't fast enough. By the time his fingers clasped around a metal pipe, Ellie pounced on him, knocking them both to the ground with a heavy thud. Had she not landed on top of him, she doubted she would've been able to get the upper hand, but he was afraid and alone and already calling out for help. She silenced him before he could get the second word out, burying her machete into his forehead with two solid swings. By the time his friends called out for him, from somewhere deeper inside the house, she was already on her feet, pulling the blade out. She counted two voices, as expected. Approaching the hallway, it didn't take long for the second bandit to rush into the room.

Her gaze remained focused on the wooden instrument, ignoring the body sprawled out by her foot. She plucked the strings one by one, adjusting the tuning pegs accordingly as one string sung a sour note. With the issue corrected, she closed her eyes, images of days out on the porch with Joel and a similar guitar flashing through her mind. The rhythm came naturally; she'd practiced it far too many times to ever forget. Her voice was soft and shaky, yet she managed to maintain the pitch. How many times had she fucked this up? A hundred? Maybe two hundred times? It'd taken her a while to get used to playing the guitar and singing at the same time, like two independent halves with edges far too jagged to fit back together. Joel had insisted, though, so she'd figure it out, one way or another. Those countless hours had paid off, in the end.

The second bandit was a woman wearing dark clothes and combat boots. Shock only had seconds to sink in before Ellie pounced on her, knocking both of them against the wall just within the hallway. She put up a fight, though, forcing Ellie off before pinning her against the opposite wall, one hand clutched around her throat, while she struggled to reach for the knife on her belt with the other. The machete fell from Ellie's grip as she clawed at the woman's own neck, digging into her skin with her fingernails before finally managing to loosen the woman's grip. It took an instant to turn the tide, knocking away the woman's knife before kicking her away. She grabbed the machete desperately, rushing towards the woman before tackling her into the far wall of the bathroom. It took only one good swing to pierce the woman's right eye, burying the blade just enough for her to struggle pulling it out. The woman slumped to the floor, leaving a trail of blood behind on the tiled wall.

She clenched her left eye shut as blood trickled over her eyebrow from a gash on her forehead, only relaxing once the trail had slid past her eye. The chords she played echoed off the walls in a quiet, sombre tone. Under different circumstances, she'd probably be enjoying herself. The sense of calm; the rhythmic tune; the sound of birds chirping from outside the half-shattered window nearby. If there wasn't a body at her feet, she'd feel completely at peace, something she sorely missed, back when Jackson was still around. As she began to sing the chorus, though, she pushed those thoughts away, closing her eyes.

She could hear footsteps down the hall now, her voice draining of energy as she strummed one last chord, clenching her eyes shut further. His voice reached her ears like a reassuring whisper, and she opened her eyes, gazing towards the ground.

"What are you doin' kiddo?" Ellie didn't respond, shaking her head slightly. She was at a loss for words, that same adrenaline from earlier still surging through her veins. The fact that Joel was- "You really gonna go through with this?"

She averted her gaze to the far wall, setting the guitar down on the bed next to her. She knew what he meant, and knew exactly what she was doing to do. Nothing was going to stop her from finishing what she started, what she had to see through to the end, no matter what.

She spoke in a low voice, angry and bitter. She couldn't help herself, not when it came to Joel. "I'm gonna find… and I'm gonna kill…" She turned towards the source of Joel's voice, taking in his form that seemed to not age a day since she first met him. That same old, grouchy man she'd gotten to eventually open up to her. "Every. Last. One of them."

Until I find you.

Once the thought had settled in her mind, she closed her eyes again, opening them to see that Joel was gone, replaced by another person entirely. The woman, barely a year younger than her, met her gaze with worried glances and a tightened jaw. She leaned against the door frame, adjusting her baseball cap.

"We'll find them," was all the woman said, her tone even and confident. For a moment, Ellie wasn't sure if she heard anything that she might've said, and found herself hoping that she didn't.

Yet she appreciated the sentiment in Clementine's words all the same.

A smile forced its way onto Ellie's face, mainly for the woman's benefit. She admired the confidence Clementine had in droves, and often found herself jealous of it. After everything she's been through, holding onto hope and carrying on have become increasingly difficult to accomplish. The trail ahead was long and unforgiving, with no promise that their friends would be alive on the other side, though Clementine would never let that stop her, and neither would she. For Joel's sake, Ellie would walk to the ends of the Earth. He'd probably do the same. After a pause, Ellie nodded, taking in a deep breath.

"Yeah. We will."