(A/N: I don't know if I made this clear but I am NOT following the story of the game, exactly. A good chunk of the story I am keeping but the thing that I am mainly changing is Joel's fate as the more I think about it the more I don't like how it was handled. So Joel's fate will be different in this story. And there are some stuff that y'all will noticed I changed and I did that on purpose to make the story make a bit more since)

*Knock*

*Knock*

I groan as I hear the sound of someone knocking on the front door. Then I felt the spot next to me on the bed shift and I open my eyes to see that Joel was getting up. I raise my head to see that it wasn't even sunlight yet. "What the hell?" I groaned, sleepily, as he gets out of the bed. "I got it." Joel said and he walks down the stairs.

I run my hands over my eyes and make the effort to get up out of bed. I head down the stairs to see Joel talking to Tommy. "Hey, everything okay?" I asked them as I make my way down the stairs. "Yeah, we got a report on a horde of infected out north. Maria wants us to go check it out." Tommy explains as Joel comes to stand next to me.

"Okay." I said, nodding, then I turn to Joel. "Just be careful, okay?" I said to him. "Of course." He said and I smirked before I lean up and kissed his cheek. As Joel heads upstairs to get ready, I turn to Tommy. 

"You want me to make you something before you boys head out?" I asked him. "Nah, I've got some food packed up we should be good for the next few hours. But thanks." Tommy said and I nod. "Okay, suit yourself. I guess I better go ahead and cook breakfast for the munchkins before they decide to wake up." I said as I head into the kitchen.

After gathering up what I needed, I set them on the counter and was about to start cooking when I hear heavy footsteps behind me. I turned around to see Joel, now dressed up in his winter clothing, walking towards me. "I'll be back in a few hours." He said. "You better." I said and Joel chuckles before he comes up to me, leans down and kisses me.

Once we break the kiss, I look at him in the eyes and give a worried look to him. Even though he and I have done these patrols before and we've been through hell and back, I still get scared of what could happen to him.

"Please be careful." I whispered to him. "Always." He mutters then gives me a quick kiss on the lips again before he walks over to his brother. "Hey." I said and he turns to me. "I love you." I said and he smiles. "Love you, too." He said and I smiled as he goes over to Tommy.

"You be careful too, Tommy." I called out to him. "Will do." Tommy shouts and the two men leave the house.

Few hours later, after cooking breakfast and getting Ethan and Aiden up and about, we finished eating our breakfast and then I made the boys get dressed as it was time for them to get ready for daycare.

"Alright boys, you got your boots and your coats, your bags?" I asked them. "Yes, Mommy." They said, in unison, as they come up to me dressed up for the winter. I kneel down and check them over, making sure everything was in check, when there was a knock at the door.

I get up and open the door to see Jesse standing there. "Jesse! What brings you here?" I asked him. "Maria wanted me to tell you to meet her at the mess hall, I think she wants you out on patrol as well. I'm...about to go get Ellie so she could go on her routes." He said and I nod. "Okay, yeah. Well, let me grab my stuff and take the boys to daycare and I'll be there." I said.

"Cool. See you in a minute." He said and I nod at him then shut the door as he turns to leave. "Okay, stay right here, boys. I have to go get my backpack." I said as I head upstairs. "You about to go fight monster again?" Aiden asked, worriedly. "Yes, but don't worry. It shouldn't be too long. Besides, your father should be home soon." I said as I pick up the old familiar backpack, looked through all of my weapons, then put it on.

I make my way downstairs and then the three of us headed out.

"Okay, boys. You two be good." I said to them before I kneel down to them and kissed the top of their heads. "We will." Ethan said and Aiden nods. "I love you, boys." I said. "Love you, too." They said, in unison, and I hug them before I get up and head over to the mess hall, which was just around nearby.

Just as I make it over there, I see Maria, Jesse and Ellie walking out of the front door. "Maria!" I called out and she turns to look at me. "Sorry, I'm late." I said once I got up to her. "It's okay. I was just about to wait for you." She said and I nod then I turn to Ellie.

"Hey, Ellie." I said to her, a bit awkwardly. "Hey, (y/n)." She greets back and a small smile appears on her lips. "Anyway, the reason I asked Jesse to come get you is that I want you to go with him and both of you trade off with Tommy and Joel. Those boys have been out for far too long." She explains as we started walking.
"Okay." I said.

"Where do we meet them?" Jesse asked her. "If you guys go up to the northwest lookout, they're scheduled to arrive later today." Maria said and Jesse and I nod at her. "Watch yourselves. I mean there's too many sightings of infected recently." She said. "Of course." I said.

"I was gonna check out the Creek trails, but I'll need someone else to cover it." Jesse said then Maria turns to Ellie.

"Ellie, you know the Creek trails?" She asked her. "Not really." Ellie said. "Dina's done it a bunch. I'll have the two of them take it." Jesse said. "That settles that." Maria said and we come up to a set of gates. "Ellie, can I talk to you for a second?" Maria asked her.

Ellie nods at her then her and Maria go off to the side and talk while Jesse and I go to the gare and walk through, passing by a playground where I see Dina playing with the kids.

"What do you think they're talking about?" Jesse asked me. "Knowing Maria, asking about last night." I muttered. "Yeah, about that...is everything okay between you guys? I mean, I don't understand why she was so upset with Joel..." Jesse started to say but I shake my head. "It's...it's complicated. But...she did come by later last night and...I think we're working things out." I said and Jesse nods before he looks over at Dina just as Ellie comes up.

"Yo, Dina, assignments!" Jesse yells. "Just give me a minute!" She yells back at him and he sighs. Then he turns to Ellie and said. "Can you get your girlfriend to the stable please?" Then he walks away just as Ellie scoffs. "Oh God."

I smirk then I patted her arm and give her a sympathetic smile before I go and follow Jesse but then I hear laughs and shouts. I turn to see that Ellie and Dina were playing snowball fight with the kids and I smiled.

Then the kids started to dogpile on Dina and Ellie was about to come in and save her when Ethan and Aiden run over and start to tackle her. Ellie let's out yell and I hear the boys laughing and screeching with her.

I laugh and shake my head before I make my way to the stables. "Hey, (y/n)." One of the guys said to me as he grabs one of the horses for me. "Hey." I said as I take the reigns of the horse. "Thanks." I said then I walk out of the stables and see a group of people that was about to go on patrol with their horses. Then I make my way over to Jesse.

"Ellie and Dina coming?" He asked me. "Yeah, they should be here." I said as I go stand by someone then I pull off my backpack, open it and look over my guns to make sure they were ready.

"Ahhh! Look who decided to join us." Jesse said and I look over to see Ellie and Dina coming over with their horses. "Yeah, yeah." Ellie grumbles as she walks over to him as he hands her a rifle then Dina another rifle.

He walks over to the main gate and shouts. "Open it up!" Then the gates started to open and Jesse turns to us. "Alright. You all know the drill. Run your routes. Mark your log books. Clear any infected you see. You run into anything you can't handle, you come back. Be smart about it. All right, get goin'." He said and he walks over to me to get to his horse that was next to me.

I put my bag on my back then mount my horse. Jesse gets on his horse and both of us nod then we galloped out and into the snowy woods.

"And then after he put all of the fruit in our mom's blender, he pushed the button to turn it on, but he forgot to put the lid on top of it. Covered the whole counter in that mess." I said as Jesse and I rode along the trail to the lookout. Jesse laughs at this.

"Oh man, what did your brother do then?" He asked. "Oh, he panicked and tried to clean it up but...mom came home before he could. She was pretty pissed at him." I said and Jesse chuckles a bit. "He tried to blame me, said I distracted him as I was running around and playing with my toys. But mom saw right through it." I said. 

"How old was he when that happened?" Jesse asked me. "Um...I think he was about twelve and I was seven or eight." I said. "Ah!" He said as we got closer to the lookout. "And his name was Aiden, right? I mean that's how you got your son's name right?" Jesse asked. "Yeah. And Ethan was my dad's name." I explained and Jesse nods.

"I want to know how was your brother with Joel." Jesse said, intrigued, and I start to laugh. "At first, he was hesitate with Joel. I remember when I first brought Joel over to meet him and my mom, Aiden threatened him with his gun. He had a pretty good gun collection, considering he was part of the military." I said. "Damn. Honestly, it's kinda hard to imagine someone threatening Joel." Jesse said. "You'd be surprised." I muttered.

"How did Joel take the threat?" Jesse asked. "Pretty well. All things considering. He just assured my brother that he wouldn't harm me or hurt me in any way shape or form. He understood were Aiden was coming from since Joel had Sarah." I explained. "They eventually got along and became inseparable. I remember the days when Joel, Tommy and I went to Aiden's house and they would just watch the sports channel on the TV."

Suddenly, the wind started to pick up and I pull up the collar and hood of my coat up. "This isn't good." I called out to Jesse, through the growing harsh wind. "Yeah, but luckily we're here." Jesse said and just as he said that I could see the building up ahead. "Thank God." I said and we make it over to the lookout and head into the garage.

We put the horses inside as the blizzard started to pick up, to the point we couldn't even see two feet in front of us. Jesse shuts the garage door and we take a breath. "That was close." I muttered and he nods. "Yeah. Hopefully, Tommy and Joel make it here, safely." He said. "I hope so." I said, a bit of worry in my voice, as Jesse goes into another room.

*3rd Person POV*

Meanwhile, Tommy and Joel were heading into an old warehouse when the blizzard started coming through. Not to mention a horde of infected was following them. They seemed to be coming from everywhere, but Joel and Tommy were able to handle their own as they shot or killed any infected that would come near them.

"Joel, over here!" Tommy yells as they go around some crates and head to the entrance of the building. Suddenly, an infected grabs ahold of Joel, knocking him off his feet. Joel let's out a pained yell then turns on his back as he holds the infected aback while it flails its arms wildly at him.

Tommy was busy shooting at any oncoming infected and he didn't noticed until a girl with a long braided blonde hair comes in and shoots the infected that was on top of Joel.

Joel looks at this a bit surprised and the girl holds out her hand to him. "Thanks." He said as he accepts her hand and she helps him up. Then the two look over at the collapsing fence in front of them, where the horde was leaning against it a d trying to get through.

"We're gonna have to run!" He tells her as Tommy comes up and starts to shoot at some infected that were trying to get through. "There's too many of them!" Tommy shouts. "I'll cover you, get going!" Joel said as he aims his gun and fires. Tommy runs over to the girl and pats her shoulder.

"C'mon, this way!" He said to her as he runs inside of the building, her not far behind. Joel fires at many infected that he could before he follows after them.

"Oh shit!" Tommy exclaims as they run down a hallway then stops once he sees more infected coming. "Hold up!" He said as he pulls out a molotov and throws it at them. Joel goes over to a door on their right and opens it. "This way, c'mon!" He shouts and Tommy and the girl run, Joel gets in next then he and the girl push up an old vending machine up against the door, blocking the infected.

"You okay?" Joel asked the girl. "Yeah." She replied. "Where'd hell that all come from?" Tommy asked, exhausted. "It don't matter. What does is where we goin'?" Joel asked him. "I reckon we go out the back...we can make a break fro the lodge." Tommy suggests as they look around the room.

Joel sighs at this then said. "Ain't got a better idea." To him it didn't matter how they got out of here, he just wanted to get out of here as soon as possible, and as safely as possible, so he could be back home with his boys, his wife and Ellie.

He turns to the newcomer as she looks around for supplies. "Hey. You got a gun?" He asked her. "Yeah." She replied, breathless. "Hope you're a good shot. Keep up with us." Joel tells her and she nods.

"We gotta warn everyone...come back with a cleanup crew." Tommy said. "We gotta live through this, first." Joel said to him, firmly. Then suddenly some more infected started coming at them.

After shooting their way through the horde, they were able to push an old gondola under a window and they go out that way. The three kept running through the snow and wind til they got to the old lodge and barricaded the door once they went through.

They backed away from the door then Tommy turns to the girl. "Hey. I'm Tommy." He introduced then he nods to his brother. "That's Joel." He said and the girl glances over at Joel as he keeps an eye on the door. "What's your name?" Tommy asked her. "Abby." She replied.

"Abby, are you okay?" Tommy asked her. "Yeah." She replied, nodding, but she seemed to be in shock. 

Suddenly, the board they used to barricade the door begins to crack as the infected kept piling up towards the door. "That ain't gonna hold. We gotta go back." Joel said as he aims his gun at the door. "We ain't gonna outrun them all the way back to Jackson. We need to barricade that door." Tommy said, pointing at the other door.

"Tommy, we can't stay here!" Joel yells at him. "Horses ain't makin' it all that way--" Tommy argues but then Abby speaks up. "My friends. My friends are at a mansion just north from here. It's fenced in. We have the whole perimeter secure." Abby suggested, Joel and Tommy exchange a look.

"It's the Baldwin place. It could work." Joel said and Tommy nods. "All right. I'll get the door." Tommy said and he runs one way then Joel turns to Abby. "All right, you ride with me. C'mon." He said and he heads over to his horses while Abby stands there and thinks about the plan she had.

"C'mon!" Joel yells as he mounts his horse. Abby breaks from her thoughts and runs over to him, Joel helps her up to his horse as Tommy opens the door then he gets on his horse and they gallop away just as the horde burst through the door.

*(y/n)'s POV*

"I'm getting worried." I said as I pace around the room. It been almost an hour since we've been here and there was no sign of Tommy or of Joel. This is scaring me. "Maybe, it's the blizzard that's slowing them down." Jesse said, obviously he was trying to keep me calm as I start to panic. "No, no. Something is not right. They should've been here by now." I said, my breathing quicken.

I look out the window and could see the blizzard had calmed down some but it was still windy as hell. I let out a sigh then head over to the horses. "Fuck it. I'm gonna find them." I said as I grab my bag and mount my horse. "Whoa, wait, (y/n)! You sure? I mean, I don't want you going out on your own!" He said, worried, and I chuckled a bit.

"Son, I've been doing this kind've thing for the past twenty-five years. I can handle it. If you want to look around, that's fine. And if you find any of our people still out here, have them cover the area as well. Should be quicker that way. I'll head east, see if I can find them that way." I said. "Yes, ma'am." He said and he goes to open the garage door and I dug my heels into the side of my horse and galloped into the snowy storm.