Present Day

I walk up the stairs and into the radio room to see Dina and Ellie talking. "Hey, girls." I said and they look up at me. "Everything okay?" I asked. "Yeah, we were just talking...." Ellie said and I nod at her as Dina gives an embarrassed smile. "Okay. So, anything worthwhile to report?" I asked, nodding towards the radio.

"Actually, yeah." Dina said and she stands up and walks to the table and Ellie and I walk up next to her. "Abby?" I asked her and she shakes her head. "No...but...This girl, Nora....her unit was assigned this hospital." Dina said as she points at a picture of an African American woman and I pick it up and look at it, Ellie looking over my shoulder.

"They were collecting supplies or something." She said and I look up at the map and see where it says Medical Center. "This hospital." I said, pointing at it. "Yeah." Dina said and I set the picture down. Then I start to walk out of the room. "You're gonna go now?" Ellie asked me. "Yeah, we have a lead. I'll bet you anything she might know where Abby is. And if we can find Abby, we can find Joel." I said and Ellie nods.

"I'll come with you." Ellie said and I look over at Dina. "I'll be fine, if anything I can always wake Jesse up." Dina said and I nod. "Okay. Well, go get your bag, Ellie, and we'll head out." I said and she nods and the two of us head out of the room. "I'll help with the door." Dina said and we gathered up our stuff and head out.

"Alright, if we follow Route 5, that should take us to the hospital." Ellie said as she looks down at her map. "Okay, follow Route 5, track down Nora and have her tell us where Abby is or maybe where Joel is being held." I said. "Easy." Elli said as she puts away her map and we follow the highway signs and head off.

We make our way through some streets and buildings until we climbed up to a wall and I could see a building with a large red cross on it. "There's the hospital." I pointed out to Ellie as she looks out. "Fuck. I thought we'd be closer." She said. "Yeah, me too. But we'll get there." I said to her and she nods and walk over to this building next to us and make our way down then up towards these apartment buildings.

"Do you really think they kept Joel alive?" Ellie asked me as we walked through the apartments. "If they were wanting me as bad as you said they were, I'm sure of it. Like I said, if they wanted to kill Joel, they would've done it back at that cabin. I'm just glad they didn't kill him at the cabin cause if they did, let's just say they would definitely regret it once I met up with these assholes." I said and Ellie nods and we continue walking onwards.

"(Y/n)..." she said and I look over at her. "Do...do you think.. maybe...this might have something to do with the Fireflies?" She asked me. "It has crossed my mind and, honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if it was but...I want to be sure." I said. "What if it has something to do with me? You know, when you and Joel...." Ellie stops and she looks down, guilty, and I placed my hands on her shoulder.

"Ellie, listen to me. This....is NOT your fault, okay? If anything, this is mine and Joel's fault. I don't want you to feel guilty for something Joel and I did. We made that decision, it is our burden not yours." I said and Ellie looks down for a moment then up at me and nods.

I give her a small smile and patted her shoulder. "So, you listen here. If anything were to happen to me, like I get captured by these assholes, I want you to find Tommy and you two, along with Jesse and Dina, get the hell outta Seattle and back to Jackson." I said and Ellie's eyes widen. "What?" She said, shocked. "No! N-No, (y/n)! No! W-What about Aiden and Ethan? H-How would I even tell them?!" 

I closed my eyes, fighting back the tears, and open them again to look at her, firmly. "I would love for you guys to watch over them. And just tell them that...their mom and dad went to go see their big sister, Sarah. They'll know." I said and a tear runs down Ellie's face then she sniffled and gives me a determined face.

"Well, I'm not letting that happen." She said, firmly. "I don't plan on it either but...it's nice to have one just in case everything goes to shit." I said and Ellie nods again. "Okay." She said. "Alright, let's keep going." I said and we start to head out.

We head towards a door and I go to it and try to open it but it wouldn't budge. "Ellie, help me." I said and she comes up next to me and we push all of our weight against the door. Suddenly, a loud noise rings out and we hear some infected. "Shit." Ellie said and we slam ourselves against the door and make it through before a Stalker grabbed us.

I shut the door then another Stalker comes up, grabs me and slams me against the window. "Get off of her!" Ellie shouts as she comes at the Stalker and stabs it. The Stalker flails around then the glass of the window breaks and the three of us fall through, slamming into the running river below.

I resurfaced then look over next to me to see Ellie as the fast currents pushes us. I start to go over to her when I felt something grab my foot and pulls me down. "(Y/n)!" I hear Ellie shout and I look down to see the Stalker had grabbed my foot and started to come towards me. I kick it at but it still held onto me until Ellie came up to it and stabs it in the head with her switchblade.

We resurfaced again and the water leads us through a tunnel and into a section of the sewer system. We land near a platform and we climb up on it then catch our breath. "Fuck Seattle." Ellie growls as she and I cough. "Yeah...couldn't have said it better myself." I said as I catch my breath. "Joel is so gonna owe me for this." I said and Ellie laughs as we stand up.

We look around until Ellie speaks up. "(Y/n), over there!" She said and I look to where she's pointing and see a ladder over the other side of the room. I nod and we make our way to it and climb up the ladder.

We get to the top to see a grate cover and I pick it up and push it to the side. Once out of the way, I get up then turn and help Ellie up. "Okay, now where the hell did we end up?" She asked as I place the grate back over. We turned right and saw some stairs and head up then squeezed through a grate and saw a directional map up ahead.

We walked up as I looked it over. "Okay....so we're here." I said as I point towards the middle right of the map then moved my finger over to the far left. "Hospital is over here." I said and Ellie looks up. "Cut through the park..." she said and we go up towards the park.

Suddenly, I heard some whistles off in the distance. "Did you hear that?" I asked Ellie, softly. She nods and we carefully make our way through the park. Ellie gets up on a ledge right when I heard a loud whistle and then Ellie fell backwards. 

"Ellie!" I exclaimed as I ducked down and crawled towards her, seeing an arrow in her right shoulder. We crawl over to the ridge and I grab the arrow with my right hand and braced my left hand on her shoulder. "Ready?" I asked her and she nods at me then I pull the arrow out of her shoulder and she grits her teeth, muffling her own screams.

Then I hand her some bandages and she fixes up her shoulder as I look up and see a group of cloaked figures coming towards us. "Who the fuck are these guys?" I asked as two of them had torches and a couple of them had their bow and arrows drawn out. "Maybe they're those Scars the WLF were talking about?" Ellie suggests and I shrug. "Could be." I muttered as these people started to whistle, which made me feel uneasy.

We make our way around to avoid them but I was able to shoot my own bow and arrows at them while Ellie would sneak up behind them and stab them with her blade. We make it through the park and see the hospital sign that showed the way to the hospital. "This way." I said and we follow the sign.

We ran into some Scars here and there, including a part where we saw them string up a WLF soldier, stab him in the stomach and rip his guts out. It was horrifying, and I've seen some shit in my twenty-five years living and surviving in this world.

But Ellie and I were lucky to get pass most of them, although we did take out a few stealthily, then make it to the hospital. But we had to jump in the water and began to swim our way into a building. We make it in and see a person sitting on a box, their back to us. Ellie and I swim over to them, which made me wonder why this person didn't hear us until we got up and I noticed the person, or woman I should say, was wearing headphones and playing a game.

We get up behind her and Ellie places a knife around the woman's neck and pulls her up to sit up. Then she takes off the woman's headphones out of her ears. "Don't make a fucking sound. Hands up." I threatened as I stand next to Ellie. 

The woman holds up her hand, her right hand holding the portable video game. "Easy...Easy." She said, fearfully. "You know a girl named Nora?" Ellie asked her. "Sure, yeah." The woman replied. 

"Where is she?" I asked her. "In the hospital." She replied and Ellie starts to hold the blade a little closer to her neck. "Where in the hospital?" She asked. "They're c-clearing out the upper floors. She's somewhere in there." The woman replied then she quickly shoved Ellie's arm out of the way, turned around, and tried to attack Ellie.

Ellie, being quick, stabs her in the neck and the woman falls backwards and chokes on her blood. "That was dumb." Ellie mutters and she wipes her blade with her pants leg and I nod before we head upstairs.

We get up into a hallway and see a couple of WLF walking along outside. We make our way around them and get inside of the hospital, trying not to raise too much suspicion. We make it to these large doors and go through them then pushed a large machine up against the door, blocking from anybody following us.

We head upstairs and walked down this hallway when we hear music playing. "Think that could be Nora?" Ellie asked me and I shrugged as we come up to an open vent and I climb up in it first then Ellie follows.

We crawled through the vent as the rap music played louder and we hear people talking amongst each other. "I'm not stupid. You're gonna tell us where she goes during parts of the day." A man's voice said and I could see Nora standing in front of them. "I haven't seen her all day. Look, I'm getting tired of this." Nora said, annoyed, and she walks away.

"Nora. Nora!" The man calls out but Nora walks over to this door and the end of the hallway. The man scoffs and he and his group leave the room and I make it to the end and open the grate. I crawl out and jump down then Ellie jumps down after me.

We walk up to this door and I open it, both of us enter the room and Ellie shuts it just as Nora walks back into the room, carrying a box of stuff. "Don't scream." I ordered as Ellie and I aim our guns at her. She stops and looks over at us, shocked, then I gesture at her with my gun. "Put that shit down." I said, firmly, and she sets the box down then turns to us, her hands raised up.

"You remember me?" Ellie asked her and Nora looks at her and a look of recognition flashes across her face. "Yeah...you remember me." Ellie said, in a soft growl. "What do you want?" Nora asked us. "Your friend, Abby, has stolen someone very important to us. To me." I said and Nora's eyes widen at me.

"Yeah. Abby was wanting me to come out...well, here I am. Be careful what you wish for." I said, in a threatening tone. "All we want to know is where is Abby hiding him?"

"I don't know." Nora replied and Ellie takes a couple steps forward, her gun still trained on Nora. "You two shoot me... the sound will have every solider come running." She said, who flinched back a bit. "You'll still be dead." Ellie growls. "Tell us where she hid my husband and I'll think about letting you go." I said.

Nora looks at me then over at Ellie. "We coulda killed you." She said. "Maybe you should have. Or maybe you should've stayed the fuck out of Jackson." Ellie said, angrily.
"Where is Abby and where is she hiding Joel?" I asked, angrily, as I stepped forward, aiming my gun at her, she flinches back and said something that was too fast for me to understand.

"What?" I asked her and she bites her lips. "S-She was here earlier. And she told me something." Nora said. "Which is?" I asked her. "That if you didn't come out and find her by tomorrow night, she would kill him." She said, in a slightly shaky voice, and it felt like my heart jumped into my throat once she said this.

Then Nora starts to stand up a little bit taller and glares at me. "So I ain't gonna tell you where he is. That bitch deserves to die and so do you." She said, in a firmer voice, and anger flared in my chest. "You fuckin'..." Ellie started to say as we stepped towards her but she throws something at us and runs.

I shake my head then we chase after her. "Help! Trespassers! Somebody please!" Nora shouts as she runs and we follow after her as we go through various rooms and hallways. "Nora! You can't escape this!" I shouted as ed ring through a room then a lobby area. 

"Shoot them!" Nora shouts and we hear gunshots above us. Ellie and I dodge them and run down another hallway then through some offices.

We make it through a room when Nora comes out and punches me across the face. I stumble back as she pounces on me and we struggled just as Ellie stabs Nora in the arm. She screams then elbows Ellie across the face and I punch Nora in the face and I shove her off of me. Realizing she's being overpowered, Nora begins to run away from us and I help Ellie back up and we run after her.

We hear some soldiers come up behind us but we make our way to these double doors and see that Nora stopped running. She turns to us, her hands raised, and she looked a bit scared. "No, please!" She said and we hear footsteps behind us. Ellie runs at Nora and grabs her then puts her arm around her neck, holding her in front of her like a shield as both her and I aim our guns at the soldiers.

Three soldiers come in and aim their guns at us. "Back up!" I shout at them and they stop and stand in front of us. "Put your guns down!" One soldier ordered us. "You two can walk away from this, okay, I can--" Nora pleads but Ellie aims her gun at her head while mine was still trained on the soldiers. "Shut the fuck up!" Ellie yells at Nora.

"Guns down. Hands up!" The soldier ordered us. "Get back!" I yelled at them, aiming my gun at them. "You two have nowhere to go." The soldier said then Ellie and I look behind us and see a giant hold that leads to the basement but I could see spores in there.

Ellie and I exchange a look before I throw a smoke bomb at them. It explodes and the soldiers begin to cough at this and I, quickly, grab my gas mask, put it on and we jumped into the hole, Ellie pulling Nora with her as we fall. We fall down and landed on our backs then I hear Nora coughing.

I get up and see that she begins to run away while we heard the soldiers scrambling down to the room. Ellie and I duck down behind some crates and I could hear some infected behind us. The soldiers begin to look around for us until Ellie finds a brick and throws it across the room, which caused the infected and Clickers to come out and attack the soldiers.

"Come on." I whispered to her and we head towards this door I saw Nora go through and we make our way around just as I hear Nora coughing. We go open a door, where a red light was shining in, and enter it to see her curled up against a door.

"Hi, Nora." I said with a growl as Ellie grabs a chair and barricades the door. "Oh God....oh God." Nora pleads, fearfully, as I walk down the hall towards her, Ellie just right behind me.

Nora then tried to swing at me with a pipe but Ellie grabs it and yanks it out of her hand. Then she swings it and it hits Nora's arm, breaking it. Nora cries out in pain and I begin to pace in front of her. "Where's Abby hiding Joel?" Ellie asked her but Nora looks up at Ellie, who wasn't wearing a gas mask.

"You're...you're breathing spores." She said, weakly. "You're her." She said, shocked, and I stopped and stared at her, now I got confirmation. "So, you are a Firefly." I said. "There are no Fireflies anymore. Thanks to you and your bastard of a husband." Nora spat at me in between her wheezing and I clench my fists as I stop pacing and stand in front of her.

"Where is Abby hiding him?" I asked her. "I'm fucking dead anyway. Why would I tell you two anything?" Nora asked and I squat down to her. "Because we can make it quick. Or we can make it so much worse." I said and she sniffles then looks up at Ellie. 

"Think about what they did. How many people are dead because of them?" She said to Ellie as she gestures at me. I stand up and look over at Ellie, who looks down at her then at me. She and I exchange a look before Ellie takes a breath then looks at Nora.

"It's your last chance." She said and Nora glares at her, obviously upset she couldn't convince Ellie. "I'm not giving up my friend." She said, firmly. I take a deep breath then slowly let it out before I hold my hand out to Ellie. She looks at me then hands me the pipe, but I can tell she has a nervous look on her face.

I take a couple of steps forward towards Nora and glared down at her before I look over my shoulder at Ellie. "This ain't going to be pretty. If you don't want to look..." I started to warn her, my voice turning cold. She looks at me but nods and I turn back to Nora and I started swinging the pipe at Nora. She cries out in pain with each hit of the pipe but I keep hitting her until she either dies or until she gives me the information I need.

Later, Ellie and I make it back to the theater, now with the information we were looking for. I knock on the door while I noticed Ellie was shaking, slightly. "You okay?" I asked her and she nods, slightly, before Dina opens the door to see us. "Thank God!" She said as she gives Ellie a hug and then me.

"You guys okay?" Dina asked us as we walked in and Jesse looks at me, shocked. "God! Is that your blood?" He asked me, worried. "No..." I muttered as everyone gathers around me and I pull out the map Ellie gave me. "She has him hold up in this aquarium." I explain as I point at the aquarium icon on the map. "The guy, Owen, is acting as a guard. Abby apparently goes there and..." I stopped and bite my lips. 

Nora told me that Abby goes there a few time a day and just beats Joel up as he is tied to a chair. Of course she does, fucking coward. I thought and then she told us why Abby is really after me and Joel. The doctor that was gonna operate on Ellie back at that hospital...was her father.

I sigh at this then looked around at everyone. "...if we don't get to him before tomorrow night....she's gonna kill him." I said, saying the last sentence in a whisper. Jesse's eyes widen and Dina gasps as she places a hand over her mouth. "We'll find him, (y/n). I promise." Jesse said and I blink back tears and take a breath. "Yeah...your damn right, we are." I said then I look down at my blood soaked hands.

"I'm, uh...I'm gonna get cleaned up." I muttered and I walk away from them and head back towards the theater and towards the backstage area. 

After grabbing a bucket full of water, I began to wash my face and my hands. Each time I'd wash them, I started to get flashes of Nora everytime I hit her with the pipe. The sound of the metal pipe when it hit her flesh and her screams of pain rang in my ears.

I brace my hands on the table and closed my eyes as I lowered my head. I take a deep breath and let it out then I raise my head to look myself in the mirror. Shit. I look terrible. I thought as I see the dark circles around my eyes and my cheeks were sunken in and I looked pale.

I sigh one more time then stand up straighter and finished cleaning myself up.

After while, I walk out of the backstage room and head towards the curtains when I stopped and looked through the gap and see Ellie and Dina talking. Ellie looked a bit shaken up and Dina had placed her hand on her shoulder. "Ellie? What's wrong?" Dina asked her, worried.

Ellie sits there and takes a few breathes then said. "(Y/n) made her talk." Then she places her hands over her mouth and starts to sob, which broke my heart seeing her like this. Dina then hugs her as Ellie closes her eyes and tries her best to not burst out crying.
I look down, guilty, then walk away from the curtains and head back into that backstage room.