013. shootouts and new people

Aurora doesn't even have time to brace herself for the impact, the girl incredibly thankful that she has a seatbelt on right at this moment. She does, however, manage to stick her arm out in time to stop Ellie from going flying forward. The teenager grabs onto the older girl's arm tightly, almost as if she's fearful of what would happen if she let go.

"Are you okay?" Joel is directing the question at the two girls, both of them nodding in response. "You're not hurt?"

"I don't think so," Ellie breathes, a light shakiness to her tone of voice.

"Aurora?"

"I'm okay,"

The gunfire starts up again, shattering what's left of the store window. They all duck their heads to avoid the oncoming bullets. Aurora takes off her seatbelt and opens her door, pushing herself out and allowing the other two to follow after her quickly. The trio lean against the side of the car, as the shots begin to pierce the other end of the vehicle.

Aurora curses lightly when she realizes that all of her weapons are currently sitting on the backseat, looks to her uncle with a desperate expression upon her face. She has to get in that car, otherwise they have no chance of defending themselves. Joel, who seems to be thinking the same thing, opens the door he'd previously been leaning against, and goes searching for something. He manages to grab hold of his gun, letting it clatter to the floor before grabbing the bow that Aurora had shoved in the car back at Bill's.

Considering her handgun is buried in her bag, it's probably the best choice for them right now.

"Give us your shit, you make it through this!" One of the men call from around them, peppering the car with even more bullets.

The brunette leans forward and pulls the bow into her grasp, slinging the sheath of arrows over her shoulder. Joel, who's instructing Ellie on where to hide, doesn't even notice his niece slowly sneak away so that she has a better view of the other group.

Aurora grabs one of the arrows and pulls back on the string of her bow, breathing heavily as the rough material brushes against her face. The men are none the wiser, unable to spot her from where she's stationed. One of them rushes forward and she doesn't even blink, letting go and allowing the arrow to launch in his direction. She does, however, cringe slightly as it imbeds itself into his neck and he begins to choke on his own blood.

Joel is now shooting his gun at them rather erratically, wanting to take them all down before they move on.

One of the men is making his way towards the hole in the wall that Ellie had just crawled into, his gun at the ready. Aurora shoots an arrow at his knee and he collapses into a heap, the girl rushing forward and using the bow to hit him in the face several times. She's unsure, by the end, whether he's dead or unconscious but she cannot bring herself to check — and in the end she doesn't have time too.

A body collides with her's and sends her flying to the ground with a pained grunt. Blood seeps from her arm as one of her own arrows nick it, but it doesn't hurt anywhere near as much as the weight of the other person landing on top of her. Aurora tries to fight him off, but she's overpowered quite easily.

"Give up, bitch. You should've just given us your stuff," he hisses, pressing his gun to her skull with his finger hovering over the trigger. Aurora spits at him, a look of disgust washing over his face and giving her just enough time to grab one of the scatter arrows and stab it through the side of his neck.

She pushes him away just in time to watch Ellie shoot a gun straight at a man who seems to be trying to take out Joel. Aurora scrambles to her feet, grabbing her things and rushing over so that she can join them. The man, who looks as if he may only be around Aurora's age, is practically pleading for his life at this point — there's a simmering sympathy within her, but it is easily overpowered by a protective instinct.

"Get back behind the wall," Joel says to Ellie, the girl looking over to him as the man continues to whimper. Aurora takes it upon herself to gently grasp Ellie's wrist and pull her over towards the hole. Ellie goes in first and Aurora manages to squeeze in after. 

Ellie's breathing is extremely heavy as she leans against the wall, having to listen to this man, this boy, call out for his mother to save him. It's a tough listen, probably more so for the teenager who has more than likely never really experienced it. Aurora offers her hand as a comfort, Ellie grasping it tightly and squeezing her eyes shut. There's a thump and then the pleads cease to exist, and Aurora knows he's dead.

A stray tear slides down Ellie's cheek as Joel's footsteps echo throughout the abandoned building. "Ellie I gotta get in there. I can't fit through,"

Ellie's hand slips from Aurora's, the younger girl quickly wiping over her face to hide away the signs of her cries. "There's some stuff against the door,"

"Can the two of you move it?"

Aurora looks over at the desk which is leaning against the door and nods at Ellie. They walk over and manage to pull it away, allowing Joel to slip into the room. "Let's go, fast,"

They push the desk back.

Joel finally looks to Ellie, almost a concerned expression washing over his face as he come to the realization that she most certainly heard all that. Ellie notices too, because she's quick to reassure him that she's fine and begins to ramble about food she has in her backpack.

"We better go," Joel says.

"To get a better look?" Ellie questions

"Hopefully we can spot a clear route out,"

The trio move their way forward, Joel shining his torch ahead so that they can properly see where they're going. It's eerily quiet for a few moments before a car zooms passed them, not spotting them as they hide behind another vehicle.

Joel takes the lead, the two girls following after him as they make their way into a completely different building. This way they should be able to get by without being seen, it's a long shot but it might work.

The building then end up in is rather secure, old newspapers stuck all over the windows in order to keep the place dark. The front door is also blocked off by several pieces of thick wood, practically bolting it up tightly. Joel, through a tear in the newspaper, is looking out at the rather large group as they look for, well she assumes, them.

"They're not Fireflies and they're not FEDRA. So who are they?" Ellie questions from beside Aurora.

"People," Joel comments shortly.

"Are we okay in here?"

"For a little bit, maybe. As soon as we don't hear a truck, we move,"

Aurora fiddles with an arrow in her fingers, a little less than comfortable with the fact she no longer has a gun to defend herself with. A perfectly good weapon sits in the back seat of the car, ready to be used and probably already in the hands of these people. At some stage she'll have to get another one, hopefully an opportunity presents itself at some point.

Several trucks pass by them, people talking loudly to each other as if they don't have a care in the world — she guesses they really don't, they probably outnumber them a hundred to one. If they get caught, they're dead, there is no other alternative here. Aurora doesn't want to die this young, so the best thing to do at the moment is wait them out.

"Are you alright?" Ellie's voice breaks the silence, her question directed at Joel who simply nods his head in response. "Rory?"

"I'm okay, kid. Couple of scrapes and bruises is all," Aurora smiles softly, leaning her head back against the wall. "What about you?"

"I'm alright,"

They return to quiet, Aurora can clearly see Joel trying to figure out what to say to Ellie. "The thing is I didn't hear that guy coming and you shouldn't have had to... you know?"

Ellie gives him a glance, her expression clearly showing the guilt she feels over doing what she did. It's the harsh reality of their world, kids who are forced to do things that no kid should be doing. "Well, you're glad I did, right?"

"You're just a kid. You shouldn't know what it means to— it's not like you killed him. I know what it's like, the first time you hurt someone like that. If you wanna uh — I'm not good at this,"

"No you aren't,"

"I mean, it was my fault. You shouldn't have had to and I'm sorry,"

It's so genuine, almost gentle. Aurora would like to say she isn't shocked, but she is. Joel has always had a tough relationship with both sympathy and remorse, at least since the world had gone to shit. The stories she heard about her mother over the years, they almost always included Joel and in those he seems like he was a completely different person.

Ellie sniffles softly, wiping away her tears and effectively causing Joel to look away. "It wasn't my first time,"

That's a bit of a shocking revelation though, the idea that this girl has killed before. It gains the complete attention of both Millers, confusion washing over their faces. Joel pulls out a gun, the one Ellie must've used earlier and walks over to her, crouching down.

"Show me your grip," Joel speaks.

Ellie holds the weapon and Joel shakes his head. "Finger off the trigger. Now who taught you that?"

"FEDRA," Ellie responds.

"Figures. Your thumb over your thumb, left hand squeezes down on the right. You got it?"

Ellie nods her head. Joel roughly grabs the top of the gun and gives it a yank, causing a laugh to fall from Ellie's lips. Aurora can't lie, the brief moment of happiness is enough to make her momentarily forget about what's happening around them, her lips curling up into a smile of her own. Joel doesn't smile, but he looks a little less cold than before.

"Uh uh," Joel speaks when Ellie goes to put it in her pocket. "Put it in your pack. You'll shoot your damn ass off,"

Aurora doesn't say a word when she sees Ellie sneak it into her pocket.

A few hours later, as nightfall sinks in around them, Joel is boosting Ellie through a small gap in a wall. Aurora is keeping guard, eyes surveying the area in case anybody decides to jump out at them. It seems as if the large group have moved on, or at least they've settled in for the night and will continue their search tomorrow.

"Rory,"

Aurora turns to look at her uncle, seeing that the door is now open. She nods and walks over, moving inside to join Ellie. It appears to be some sort of old car mechanic, a van sat in the the middle with papers and tools strewn all over the place.  The positive is that there seems to be nothing else — no infected and no people.

"Alright. We'll make our way up and come morning, I'll take a look at the city and find our way out," Joel speaks, pushing the door at the end open.

"We're going up Forty-Two flights?" Ellie asks.

"Forty-Five,"

Aurora wishes she was born in a time with working elevators.

The trek up the stairs is difficult, and rather tiring to say the least. Aurora can hear Joel's heavy breaths, meaning that they probably won't go much further, and Aurora is pretty grateful for that. "Thirty-Three fucking floors,"  Aurora groans as her uncle slides down the wall for a break.

"Get up you lazy ass," Ellie says to Joel, gently kicking his feet. His expression is incredulous, almost disbelief. Ellie holds out her hand and he grabs it, letting her pull him up.

"Lazy ass? Fifty-Six years old, you little shit," Joel mummers.

"Fifty-six? Fuck you're old," Aurora snorts, earning a laugh from her brunette counterpart who was more than likely thinking the same thing.

The room they end up in, thankfully, has some old couch cushions to use as a makeshift bed. Aurora wastes no time practically throwing herself onto it, a small groan escaping her lips as her muscles finally get a break.

"Joel!"

The man in question turns to the youngest of the two girls, raising his eyebrows.

"What are you doing?" Ellie asks.

"I don't want someone sneakin' up on us while we're sleeping," Joel responds, putting some more of the shattered glass near the front door.

"Will you hear that?"

"Of course I will, that's the point,"

Aurora closes her eyes and readies herself for sleep. That's until she hears her uncle. "Hey, when we were talking about hurting people, what did you means it wasn't your first time?"

Ellie shuffles around a bit before answering. "I don't want to talk about it,"

"You don't have to. I'm just saying, at this age, having to deal with all this isn't fair,"

"So it gets easier when you're older?"

"No, not really,"

Aurora opens her eyes up again, knowing that she's not going to sleep at the moment. She's right in the middle of their conversation, it'll be kind of hard to.

"The reason I asked if you'd hear the glass is cause I've noticed you don't hear too well from your right side," Ellie says, clearly trying to divert the conversation. "Is it because you were shot there?"

"It's probably more from the shooting. So if you want to keep your hearing you stick to that knife," Joel responds.

Aurora is then contempt that they're conversation is over, and she settles back in again. She can almost feel eyes on her, Ellie staring a hole into her face and she knows the girl is going to speak again. "Hey guys?"

Joel merely makes a noise of acknowledgment.

"Did you know diarrhea is hereditary?"

"What?"

"It runs in your jeans,"

Ellie is giggling behind her and when Joel joins in, Aurora cannot help but laugh as well. It's so stupid, a silly little joke, but it's one that seems to break the looming tension. The three of them let themselves enjoy the moment, chuckling loudly and letting it echo around them — a moment that they cherish at that time before going to sleep.

It's a nice change, one that Aurora wishes could last forever. Except, in this world, happiness and safety are a rare find — something that washes over her mind quite often.

No more so than when she opens her eyes the next time and she's staring down the barrel of a gun.

Sign off gif by @/fireandbloods