𝕺𝖜𝖓 𝖂𝖔𝖗𝖘𝖙 𝕰𝖓𝖊𝖒𝖞

- CHAPTER THIRTY ONE -
ONE IN A MILLION

KATHY SHIELDED HER face as she and Joel raced through the snow storm, on their way to the town that held Ellie captive. The winds were harsh, but at least the cold was making her numb so that she couldn't feel the pain of her wound. The hunters were going to pay for taking her daughter, she wouldn't allow anyone to ever get away with doing such a thing and she was certain that Joel wouldn't either.

The town's bell was ringing in alarm as they navigated through the fog and the buildings, they could barely see a thing and the whole town had become a maze.

There was one good thing about the snow storm though, the hunters couldn't see them either. Hiding was made simpler and they could hear the hunters talking about Ellie's escape and killing a few men.

Kathy grinned at that.

Joel held a door open for her after they snuck by a few dumbasses and once they were inside, they could finally see. Her eye's widened when she spotted something familiar on one of the shelves - Ellie's backpack.

She picked it up and held it out to Joel, "Joel look, it's hers!"

"Why the hell is Ellie's stuff here?" He asked, swinging the smaller pack over his other shoulder for safe keeping. Ellie would like it back when they found her.

"They must've taken it off her when they took her." Kathy speculated. "There's other stuff here too. Shoes, clothes - they must take it from the people they kill. Like those guys in the city that gunned down that couple."

Joel walked through the door flaps first, grimacing at the sight of half-naked corpses strung upside down from the ceiling. The smell of dead bodies and cleaning chemicals were strong in that room.

"Oh God," Kathy gagged when she saw what he saw, "We gotta find Ellie." She jogged towards the front door of the building they were in, some kind of bakery - the bodies were in the back and they had to go past the counter to get to the front door.

When she opened it, she gasped at the sight of the burning restaurant just a little ways down the street. She knew immediately that it her daughter's doing - Ellie had to be in there.

"Holy shit. Ellie..."

Not caring if they were going to be spotted, Joel and Kathy sprinted to the fiery blaze.

The brunette froze at the scene that was playing out before her in the flaming restaurant. Ellie was straddling ontop of David, a machete clutched in her hands and she was bringing it down on his face over and over and over again. She'd never seen Ellie perform such and act of violence before, that man must have caused her so much pain. If Ellie was doing that, he most certainly deserved every hit.

She and Joel ran to the teen, wrapping their arms around her middle and pulling her away from the now disfigured body. She protested their movement, crying out and pushing against them as they thought they were more people coming to hurt her.

"Don't fucking touch me!"

"Ellie! Stop, stop! It's us. It's us." Joel assured, caressing the girl's face and showing her that it was them and that they were not a threat.

"He tried to-" Ellie was in hysterics, but she allowed herself to relax and cry in Joel and her mother's embraces.

"Oh, baby, it's okay. You're okay." Kathy mumbled, her own tears falling as she pulled her in tighter, protecting her from the whole wide world.

"Mom." Ellie sobbed into her neck and more tears fell, but these ones - they were happy tears.

Kathy had waited fourteen years for that word to be directed at her, fourteen years of regret and longing and pain. And it was all worth it.

➸ ➸ ➸

Ellie had been acting strange all the way to Salt Lake City, she was quiet, like she was in a daze, and that was when Kathy knew that those few hours with the hunters had scarred her little girl. Getting out of that town had been a hell of a lot easier than getting in. They'd spent another day or so clearing out the hunters and gathering supplies that would aid them in getting to the city in perfect health.

"Ellie. Ellie, did you hear me?" Joel called out to the girl who was staring at picture of a deer on the wall of the highway.

"No." She replied, turning around to face the adults. "What?"

"Look. Hospital." He sighed, pointing at the sign that said the way to the hospital was the next exit. "This is where we get off."

"Let's go, kiddo." Kathy smiled encouragingly and started walking without any trouble.

Over the two months of hiking, Kathy's stab wound had healed up nicely. Her shabby stitches were out and now all that was left was a scar that joined up with her other one, but she didn't care about how it looked. Her scars didn't shame her, not even the one under her glove, each one told a story and showed that she was a survivor. And there was the added bonus that Joel liked to trace them when they were having their intimate moments.

"You feel that breeze, huh? I tell you, on a day like this, I'd just sit on my porch, pick away at my six-string." Joel voiced as they walked through the cars, "Yeah, once we're done with this whole thing, I'm gonna teach you how to play guitar."

Kathy scoffed a laugh, "Teach her guitar? Mister, you still owe us a song."

"Yeah, I reckon you'd really like that." He rolled his eyes and looked at Ellie who was now walking ahead of them, "Whaddya say, huh? Ellie, I'm talking to you."

"Huh? Oh yeah, sure, that sounds great."

Kathy stopped Joel from walking and they watched the teen in concern, she hadn't even realised they'd stopped. "She's got her mind on something. I'm worried about her, Joel."

"She just needs a little time to think, sort out her thoughts." He replied, "The best thing we can do is act like everything's normal and she'll bounce back when she's ready to talk."

Ellie told them about her dream when they caught back up with her, "I dreamt about flying the other night."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Go on, tell us about it."

"So, I'm on this big plane full of people. And everyone is screaming and yelling 'cause the plane's going down. So I walk to the cockpit, open the door, but there's no pilot. I try to use the controls but...I obviously have no clue how to fly a plane. And right before we crash, I wake up." She revealed, "I've never been on a plane. Isn't that weird?"

"Well, y'know, dreams are weird." Joel replied.

"Oh, would you look at that. Another city, another abandoned quarantine zone." Kathy hummed as they got off the highway, now travelling down the roads of the city. She climbed on top of a bus to get over the barricades and found the exact place they were heading, "There's the hospital, it's not too far. Soon, we'll be at home, relaxing and plucking guitar strings."

Joel waved them over to a bus station, "Maybe we cut through here, huh?"

Ellie sat down on one of the benches, staring at the floor, and Kathy joined her while Joel was looking around the station.

"Everything alight, kiddo?" She asked the teen who was resting her head against her mother's shoulder.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"You sure? Because you've been really quiet today and you're usually talking more than Joel and I combined." Kathy joked.

"Oh, sorry."

"No, that's not what I -" Kathy sighed and tried again, "Ellie, you know that you can talk to me about what's upsetting you."

"I know." Ellie nodded, "And I will, I just need to think a little more."

"Take all the time you need, I'll still be here."

"Ellie. Kathy." Joel hollered at them from the other side of the station, he seemed a little frustrated that they hadn't noticed him calling them.

"What?"

"The ladder, c'mon."

"Right..."

Joel braced himself against the wall and hoisted Ellie up so that she could hand the ladder down for them, but she got distracted by something walking past the window and dropped it. Thinking that it might be some danger, Joel quickly picked it up and went up the ladder.

"You gotta see this." Ellie grinned before running off.

"What is it?" Kathy asked, chasing after the girl. They didn't know what had got Ellie so excited.

"C'mon, hurry up!" Ellie stopped after a while in one of the room. Part of the exterior wall was gone and a giraffe was eating some of the leaves that had grown on the side of the building. "You see this?"

Joel approached the animal slowly, trying not to scare it off, but the giraffe didn't seem too bothered anyway. He reached out a hand and patted it's neck as it ate. Ellie and Kathy moved closer, seeing that he hadn't scared it off.

"What are you doing?" Ellie asked.

"It's alright. C'mere. Hurry up, c'mon." He reassured, grabbing the teen's and and placing it on the giraffe's neck for her to pet it.

"Hey there." She laughed softly and smiled at her mother, "So fucking cool."

The giraffe had had enough of the greenery on the side of the building and moved away. Ellie moaned in disappointment, "Aw, where's it off to? Here. c'mon, let's go."

"Slow down, kiddo." Kathy chuckled as she followed the auburn haired teen through the building again.

"Come on." Ellie rushed up the stairs and onto the roof of the station. From there, they could see the whole zoo and the many giraffes that inhabited the park. "Oh man...wow. Look at those things."

Kathy and Joel stood on each side of her, gazing at the majestic creature while they leaned on the balcony.

"So..." Joel began, "this everything you were hoping for?"

"It's got it's ups and downs." Ellie admitted, letting out a breath, "But you can't deny the view though."

They stood there for a good minute, just taking in the sights and the sunshine. They knew moments like those were one in a million.

Joel slipped away and walked towards the door, but he stopped, "We don't have to do this. You know that, right?"

"What's the other option?" Ellie questioned, not seeing another way. She wanted to do this.

"Go back to Tommy's. Just.. be done with this whole damn thing." He replied.

"After all we've been through, after all I've done. It can't be for nothing." She told him, moving past him and going through the door.

Kathy grabbed his face and leaned in a little, "We've come so far, Joel. We can't just give up now because you're worried it will all go wrong. I'm worried too, but she wants to do this - she needs to do it and we can't stop her. I promised I'd be with her every step of the way - I don't intend on breaking that. It would mean the world to me if you were with us too." She pecked him on the lips and went past him as well.

❝IT'S NO SURPRISE TO ME, I AM MY OWN WORST ENEMY❞