1st Arrow [Action]

[threeweeksago]

[Oh man. Oh man this was not good. Not good at all. Last night had been one of those rare nights where Ellie actually got a good night of sleep, a mercifully dreamless sleep where she wasn't haunted by the Infected or the hunters or the faces of all the people she had known and lost.

So of fucking course something had to happen the next fucking day. The morning had started so nicely, and then suddenly everything kind of went weird and she woke up in... wherever the fuck this was. Not cool. What's even less cool is that she woke up alone. Outside of That Incident at the resort in winter, she can't remember the last time she woke up alone. Even in the present, Joel always hung around their tiny little cabin at least until she was awake before heading off. So... being alone in a strange place with no memory of how she got here? That sent a clear jolt of panic lancing through her.

Not even stopping to really absorb her surroundings, Ellie takes off running with no real direction.]

Joel? [She's trying not to sound panicked, but she's not doing a very good job of it.] Joel, where are you, you asshole?!

Comments

[threeweeksago]

... A talking dog? [That actually gets Ellie to laugh.] Dude, that is totally weird, but fucking awesome. Who wouldn't love a talking dog?!

[indirectcause]

[Well, at least she doesn't think he's crazy, that's a good start]

It's really fucking weird. But I guess she's okay, once you get over the talking dog part.

But yeah. For her, talking animals is normal. So you never know what to expect here. What worlds folk come from.

[threeweeksago]

[C'mon, deep down she IS a kid. What kid wouldn't think a talking dog is cool?]

So if that shit isn't normal for you, what is?

[indirectcause]

[He hates his loss so much, he can't really talk a way around this one without it being a lie. So, flatly:]

The dead coming back to life and eating the living.

[threeweeksago]

[... Oh. Well. That wipes the smile off her face. And she looks... strangely sympathetic.]

... Sounds familiar. [Even her voice softened a bit.] People don't die first. But... if they're bitten, or scratched, or inhale spores released by the Infected... they turn into one of them. Lose their minds and start attacking anyone in sight.

[indirectcause]

[He frowns softly. So her world is a mess, too. It's the first time one has come so close to his own, and it provides little comfort]

Jesus. I hoped we were the only ones. You doing okay there? [Obviously not. Ask a stupid question day]

[threeweeksago]

And I thought there couldn't be any places that weren't crawling with those freaks. Kinda funny, huh?

[It's still pretty hard to believe. Places with no Infected... she should probably be jealous of some of those other people, but really she's just sort of confused.]

Things were... okay, yeah. [More like it was one nightmare after another the minute she stepped foot out of Boston, but she's not about to go telling her story to a complete stranger. Still, the way she smiles... it almost seems a little forced.] Before I got dragged here, we managed to settle into a safe place.

[indirectcause]

I felt like that when I came here too. I'm still getting used to not having to struggle to survive every day.

[He'd understand that, after all, the kindness of strangers could be a trap, nowadays. You have to be careful who you trust]

That's something, at least. I hope it lasts for you.

[His safe places sure never did]

[threeweeksago]

I don't think I'll ever get used to it. The Infected have been around all my life... I never really saw them face-to-face until about a year ago, but the threat was always there. They were always trying to drill that fear into you.

[And yeah, she was scared, those first few times. But she got used to it, and she fought.]

... I hope so too. It's well-guarded, and well-run, by people who are actually pretty good... but who knows what shit might happen. Bad shit always happens.

[indirectcause]

[To live with it all her life...he can barely imagine what that must be like] It was only about four months into the outbreak before I- [a pause, a deliberate choice of words here] arrived here. That was long enough. But I guess it's going to be like that for a long while. [Maybe his world will see Ellies of its own. Kids born and raised in a post apocalyptic hell. Where things he took for granted, TV, relaxing with friends, reading a book...where those might all be gone. A distant memory for those able to survive long enough to share them]

Of course it does. We can only make places as safe as we can, and hope we have the chance to fix any weak parts before it all goes to hell.

[threeweeksago]

Only four months? [Damn... though hey, this is good! Real good, actually. The only people she knows that were around before the outbreak, obviously, were all adults. But this dude's a lot younger than all the adults she interacted with during her time in the safe zones, so maybe she can interrogate him a bit...]

What was everything like? Before the outbreak, I mean.

[indirectcause]

[It takes him a moment to answer. Everything is still so raw, thinking about what was once a normal life, lost to him, to all of them, forever. But he realises Ellie's probably never known what it was like, so he exhales]

I guess it depended on the person. Some people had exciting lives, sky diving, working in the army, saving lives in a hospital, that kind of thing. Some people just had normal boring jobs, working in offices, going to school.

People just got to be people and enjoy life how they wanted to. I don't think any of us realised how lucky we were until it was all gone.

[threeweeksago]

Did you do anything like that? Skydiving or other cool shit, I mean.

[The way he talks, it doesn't seem like he did, but it can't hurt to ask.] Even if you didn't... I'd still would've liked to be in your shoes for just one day. [...] Or maybe not. It'd be way too weird. I can't imagine ever being in a position where the worst thing I could be afraid of was an upcoming test or who I'm going to ask out.

[indirectcause]

I played basketball. That was about as exciting as I got.

[He manages the ghost of a smile at that comment] It's really weird, thinking how important all that shit was, once. Like it was the be all and end all of your life. That's one thing about the end of the world, it really puts everything into preservative, shitty as life is after it.

[threeweeksago]

It's true what people say, right? You never really know how great of a thing you have until it's gone.

[She can understand that. All the people she had unintentionally gotten attached to dying, or nearly dying, or just plain leaving her... most of the time she didn't even realize how attached she had gotten before they were gone.]

[indirectcause]

Never heard truer words spoken. It really makes you appreciate things and people after something like that.

[And you try your best not to get attached, because you KNOW how it's going to end, but you go and do it anyway]

[threeweeksago]

Which means you can get attached to the weirdest assholes. Am I right?

[STORY OF ELLIE'S GODDAMN LIFE RIGHT THERE. Or at very least the story of the past year. Fuck.]

[indirectcause]

[He lets out a soft scoff of a laugh]

Tell me about it. You end up with the most dysfunctional group of fucking weirdos ever. [There is still a good deal of affection in his tone, though] But they still look out for you, and each other. Makes all the crazy worth it.

[threeweeksago]

And then before you know it, they're pretty much family.

[Fuck it. Joel may have thought otherwise - early on, at least. Who knows what he thought now? - but... she considers him family now. Maybe not like her dad, but definitely that close.]

There's no doubt that people like that make it all worth it.

[indirectcause]

[He nods, understanding, his group sure became his family. Nothing like the real one, the one he still has no idea of the fate of. No, it was different, but still family]

Yeah, even if you're not related by blood - they're worth everything.

[threeweeksago]

... What were your people like? Y'know, if you don't mind me asking. Out on the road, we didn't really meet any groups except for one other pair, so... [She shrugs.] Call me curious.

[indirectcause]

It's fine, I don't mind talking about them. Two of them are in the castle right now, even. Lee, the guy who leads us [no matter what Lee would say, he's they're leader and that's that] and Clementine, a little girl he found and takes care of.

Our group was ten people, at it's biggest. But- [he frowns softly] well, life's a pile of shit, and you lose people. [And so many of them were his fault. All on him]

[threeweeksago]

Oh hey, I met Lee before. He seems like a pretty nice guy. [He managed to stay calm even when she was freaking out, and that helped her chill a bit, so she's gotta be thankful to that guy just a bit.

Any cheer she might've been feeling at that fades quickly though, and she frowns.]

... How many?

[indirectcause]

He's a great guy. Pretty sure none of us would have made it as far as we did without him.

[Far too many. And far too many he can easily blame himself for] Our group was down to five, and only three of us had made it from Macon to Savannah, the other two were still pretty new. That's how it stood when- [a pause, as he finds the best way to word this] when I was brought here.

[threeweeksago]

Damn... I'm sorry.

[A group of ten dwindling off to just those numbers... Ellie's not sure she'd be able to handle that.]

When me and Joel - the guy I've been looking for - were in Pittsburgh, we met another group. This guy Henry and his little brother, Sam. We actually all got along aside from a few bumps... which is surprising, since Joel's not exactly the friendliest guy. [She tried to laugh, but the sound just comes out hollow, so she sighs.]

They... never made it out of the city. So I understand how that feels. Losing the people you've grown close to in such a short amount of time.