chapter 4 - the city

sam sat at the boarded up window looking through a gap, down at the street her gun firmly gripped in her hand as the rest of the group slept. sam lost in her thoughts as she looked out into the city admiring the rain as it fell and the small amount of comfort it gave her.

ellie had so desperately tried to make the adults believe she wasn't sick a small part of sam believed her but that didn't mean she'd lowered her guard at the possibility of ellie turning into a monster. the thought of ellie turning sent a horrible feeling through sams body, she was scared. scared of what she would have to do.

it was so dark, sams eyes heavy but she couldn't allow herself to sleep. especially in a room with people she didn't know, it wasn't going to happen. she'd always found it difficult to sleep, she couldn't remember a night she felt safe not even before the outbreak. she'd never felt safe enough to have a full nights sleep maybe that's why the bags beneath her eyes felt permanent.

sams mind was preoccupied with ellie and what she'd seen joel do, she wanted to ask him questions. speak to him, a small part of her wanting to check if he was okay. the look she'd seen in his eye one she was all too familiar with. the fear from a memory flooding back so quickly, the inability to bring herself back to reality all feelings she knew too well.

a creaking floor board startled her, head shooting to where the sound originated from, gun firmly in her hand as she aimed toward the sound. caught off guard as her eyes laid on joel, rolling her eyes not wanting to engage in any chitchat, she went back to looking out the window.

"aren't you a bit old to be missing out on sleep?" sam scoffed knowing he already offered to take second watch sam declined earlier and she would do the same again.

"ever hear respect your elders?" he countered, sam shook her head at his comment eyes remaining glued to the outside world, a few seconds past and joel took a few steps towards her.

"for the record i'm only 52. now go, i'm taking second watch" he ordered, sam shook her head knowing she only trusted herself to do this, she'd rather not sleep. then lay tossing and turning all night.

"respectfully, i'm staying up either way you might as well just let me do it"

**

the morning soon came around, after joel insisting to do second watch sam had just about managed to convince him to go back to sleep. the window becoming her best friend throughout the night.

sam sat against the wall watching ellie while joel and tess did the same clutching their guns firmly, sam noticed how joel slowly let his gun fall to his side as he gently massaged the hand that he had used to beat the soldier.

"it broken?" she heard tess ask, her voice softer then sam had heard before, sam looked back over at a sleeping ellie in an attempt to distract herself from the couple, she couldn't fathom how people could have relationships in this world it would never work out.

sam wasn't sure the two smugglers were together but the way tess looked at him, spoke to him were clear indications something or something was there.

"probably a hairline" joel's voice spoke quietly as sam watched ellie turn before beginning to wake up. yawning the teen slowly sat up rubbing her eyes, joel's grip on his gun returning to its position in his grip as he watched ellie sit up.

"morning" ellie muttered seeing the adults sat with their guns firmly in their hands staring at the young girl. sam couldn't wrap her head around the fact ellie looked okay, she looked normal.

sam watched as ellie went to stand up joel's gun following her movements until she froze going back to a seated position. sam scoffed from the corner of the room making joel look at her, the expression laid out in his face one as if to say 'don't try anything'

"do i look like i'm infected?" ellie asked genuinely, and in all honesty she didn't. she looked like herself, she didn't look sick. sam had barely moved her eyes from the girl for the past hours and nothing had changed.

"show us your arm." joel ordered with no room for objections, ellie sighed pulling up the sleeve of her hoodie revealing once again the healed bite, sam moved closer to the girl to get a better look at the bite and was again shocked.

"it's not getting any worse is it?" ellie sassed at the adults, sam looked back at joel and tess. sam believed her, maybe it was impossible for someone to be immune but what else could cause this?

the silence between joel and tess thick as the two looked at eachother before looking back at sam and ellie, as sam gently ran her finger across the bite. the skin was sealed, no signs of the infection.

"if we are out in the open city why aren't we getting swarmed?" the silence soon coming to an end as ellie asked yet another question, sam looking up from the bite to ellie.

"don't worry about that" joel shut down her concerns as sam shook her head at his bluntness, sam always had a soft spot for kids. she knew it was her weak point. she wasn't proud of it but at least she was aware.

"what was marlene doing with an infected girl?" tess asked poison in her voice as if ellie wasn't still just a kid. sam didn't care, until ellie was infected she was just that, a child.

"i'm not infected" ellie corrected, sam just got up from her seated position near ellie and walked over to her pack undoing the zipper that kept her supplies secure.

"she found me after i was bitten" ellies voice soon drowned out of sams head as she pulled a journal from her pack, along with a pen she had safely kept tucked away. opening the journal she began writing a short paragraph;

ellie, this girl. she's just cargo. but everything about her makes me wonder what my life would be like now if what had happened fourteen years ago hadn't.

that's not even the worst bit, she's infected. or possibly infected. i'm not sure.

the bite on her arm, it looks like bens. except for the fact it's healed. she looks normal. is she actually infected?

sam closed her journal shoving it back into her pack as her surroundings came back, her journal was still what it was 20 years ago. her therapy. it was the only thing she had. no friends, no family. sam only had herself.

"now can i please?" ellie got up in need of going to the bathroom, joel's gun still aimed in her direction as joel got up following ellie's movements making sam uneasy.

"she's not infected yet. aim the gun at the fucking kid again and i'll make you eat it" sam scoffed leaning against the wall making jokes head shoot in her direction, joel was taken aback at the harsh tone that had just come from sam as his jaw clenched taking a step towards sam.

"so if she turns huh? tries to kill you?" joel argued only for sam to shrug, taking a step towards joel following his actions.

"then she kills me. don't think for a second i'd expect you to save my ass." sam was cut off by the teen again just needing to go to the toilet.

"can you guys shut up for a second, can i go now?" sam looked over at ellie before taking a step away from joel, she didn't want to scare her.

"go. back there, you can find a spot." sam nodded towards a door that was overgrown with leaves, as joel scoffed turning around and walking back over to tess. this was officially the worst job sam had ever taken.

"there's not gonna be anything bad in here?" ellie asked as she walked through the overgrown doorway as sam cracked her knuckles.

"just you." joel. that tiny ounce of humour in his voice confusing sam as she watched ellie walk away. sam looked over at joel the eye contact between them only lasted a second before tess asked him a question to quiet for sam to hear.

"she made it through the fucking night" tess stayed with her head in her hands, sam looked up at the two smugglers as joel looked at tess.

"it doesn't matter, it's gonna happen sooner or later. we're still close to the wall we sneak her back into the QZ" sam shook her head in disbelief  at joel's words.

"we ain't getting back in those walls yet. you beat one of there's to death security gonna be all over the damn place. and if you really think she's infected? take her back then what? watch as she infects the whole QZ?" sam pointed out the obvious, only for the other two adults to completely ignore her and continue their conversation.

sam couldn't care less, with or without them she'd take ellie there. get what was hers and be done with it. getting up sam walked back over to the window, scanning the outside for any signs of infected as ellie re entered the room.

the rest of the group started snacking on whatever food they had while sam moved from window to window ensuring the perimeter was clear of infected so they could make a move preferably sooner rather then later.

sam initially ignoring tess get up and storm over to ellie to consumed by her own thoughts and checking the area, sam needed to detach herself so that is what she was doing.

"she told me not to tell anybody.. and i'm telling the first people that i- ugh.. there's a firefly base camp somewhere out west with doctors. and whatever happened to me is the key to finding the vaccine" joel finished the end of ellie's sentence for her as sam turned to look at the teen, they'd told her she was immune.

"that's what this is? i've heard this 1000x times vaccines, miracle cures none of it works. ever."

**

after exiting the building sam had labelled as her camp, the group ventured further into the city of boston. they decided to check out the hotel to get a better idea of what route they should take, and where the majority of infected were held up.

ellie was mesmerised as she followed the adults to the hotel, sam could admit the city was a beautiful place. as strange as it sounded. the buildings overgrown with leaves, the way the sun hit the glass and the bright green leaves shone. it was beautiful.

but the world had always been beautiful and had always been as dark scary place, even before the outbreak.

"is this where the bombed?" ellie asked looking down at a hole in the floor surrounded by dishevelled concrete.

"yeah. they hit most of the big cities. they had to slow the spread somehow" tess explained as sam and joel kept moving that's the one thing the pair had in common. they wanted this done.