ELLIE CAME OUT of the bathroom of the abandoned gas station. She had been playing around with the pistol she grabbed from Bill's house, which the two men still didn't know about.

She was going to keep it a secret for now.

Joel was siphoning gas from the abandoned cars on the road. Y/N stood by with his crossbow strapped over his shoulder, looking around. The teenager walked up to the two.

"We have to do this every hour?" Ellie asked.

"Gas breaks down over time. This stuff's almost water." Joel replied. "Back in the day, we'd drive 10, 12 hours on one tank. You could go anywhere."

"So where'd you go?"

"Pretty much nowhere."

Joel started using his mouth on the siphon to suck out gas. Ellie was surprised by it.

"Nice! How does that work?"

Joel began to explain. "It's a siphon. It's when liquid...travels against gravity because pressure..."

"He doesn't know." Y/N interjected.

Ellie agreed. "Yeah, I could tell."

"I know it works." Joel said.

Ellie was about to walk off, but the smuggler stopped her.

"No wandering."

She turned back around and faced the men. There was a moment of silence before the teenager decided enough was enough.

"Okay. This is your fault then."

Ellie started unzipping her backpack to take something out. Joel watched, wondering what she was doing. Y/N leaned his head back and looked up into the sky, letting out a sigh.

The teenager took out a book. She opened it up and started to read from it.

"It doesn't matter how much you push the envelope, it'll still be stationery."

Ellie laughed to herself afterward. The joke immediately caught Y/N's attention, and he looked back at the girl with her book in hand.

"Wha—What is that?" He asked although he had a strong idea what it was exactly.

"No Pun Intended, Volume Too by Will Livingston." She said and showed them the cover. "Volume Too. Look. You get it? Too? Like, T-o-o."

"Jesus." Joel groaned and started getting up.

Ellie read another. "What did the
mermaid wear to her math class?"

There was a beat as Ellie waited for a possible answer from one of the men. She grinned and prepared to tell the punchline.

"An algae bra." She laughed. "Like, algae bra."

Y/N also laughed at the pun. Joel glanced at his son, surprised at how much he did so. It was actually the first time in a long time he'd heard him laugh that strongly.

Ellie enjoyed the young man's reaction and said another line from the book.

"I stayed up all night..."

"No." Joel said.

"...wondering where the sun went...and then it dawned on me."

She chuckled. Y/N snickered as well before clearing his throat and speaking himself.

"You know, I once heard a joke about amnesia..." He began. "...but I forget how it goes."

It took a second until Ellie got the joke and let out a laugh. Y/N joined in on the guffaw.

"That was a good one!" Ellie said. "At least you try to be fun unlike Scrooge here."

She held out her hand for a high five, which Y/N slapped. Joel glanced at Ellie, wondering how she knew about Ebenezer Scrooge.

"How do you even—?"

Y/N interrupted Joel and spoke to Ellie. "Believe me, my worst nightmare is becoming a square like him."

Joel grumbled and crossed his arms, leaning against the car and waiting for the gas to be siphoned.

"You both feel free to wait in the truck."

"Ugh, okay." Ellie said. "But just know, while we enjoy Will Livingston, you still can't escape him. He'll be back. There's nothing you can do to stop him."

Ellie grabbed her backpack and started walking back to the truck. Y/N followed and walked beside her. She held out the book.

"So have you read this before?" She asked.

Y/N glanced and it and took the book. It was the same edition Sarah used to have and would read to him. He continued looking at it, lightly smiling before handing it back to Ellie.

"Long time ago." He answered. "It's a good read."

They waited in the car for a bit before Joel returned. This time, Y/N sat in the front while Ellie took the backseat. Joel started the engine and they made their way down the road.

Ellie looked through the back window and noticed the abandoned cars spread out and placed on the edges of the road. She figured it was another car that did it.

"Must've been some truck." She remarked.

"Yeah, they used to stick big-ass plows on them, and clear the roads for their tanks and such." Joel replied.

"I wanna see a tank!"

"You will. Tanks, choppers, all that stuff. But they'll fight the wrong enemy. Just scattered around now."

They kept driving. Ellie started taking something out of her bag and leaned into the front of the car. She had a cassette tape in hand.

"I got somethin'. Here." She showed it to Joel. "This make you all nostalgic?"

Joel took it and saw that it was a tape of Hank Williams. Y/N glanced at it too and let out a chuckle.

"Damn, she called your ass old."

Joel brushed off his remark. "This is actually
before my time."

"Great." Ellie replied and sat back down.

"It's a winner, though."

Joel put the tape into the radio. Hank William's Alone and Forsaken began playing. The smuggler was enjoying it.

"Oh, man."

Y/N shrugged. "Yeah. This was definitely your type of music. Now we gotta find a tape of Vicente Fernández in honor of Tommy."

"You still remember that?" Joel asked.

"How can I not? Fucker would play shit from him nonstop. Birthdays, barbecues, even when he'd just stop by and have a cigar."

As they conversed, Ellie took out a magazine from her bag. The men didn't notice until she spoke up.

"Got somethin' else. It's, uh...light on the reading, but it has some interesting pictures."

Y/N glanced back and got a look at the cover. It caught him by surprise.

"Oh, shit."

Joel also looked at her through the rearview mirror and saw the gay porn magazine. He turned back quickly.

"Oh. No, no, no. Put that back. That's not for kids. Ellie."

"Fucking Bill, man." Y/N remarked. "He never did a good job at hiding them."

Ellie opened up a flap from within the magazine. It stretched out into a full panel of a nude man. She was in awe.

"How would he even walk around with that thing?" She asked.

"Please get rid of it." Joel pleaded.

"Hold your horses. I wanna see what all the fuss is about." Ellie turned to another page and paused. "Why are all these pages stuck together?"

"Uhh..." Joel was taken aback by her question. "The..."

Y/N looked out the window, not wanting to involve himself in this any further. Ellie let out a laugh after seeing both of their reactions.

"I'm just fuckin' with ya." She slapped Joel's shoulder with the magazine.

Ellie then rolled down the window and threw it out the window.

"Bye-bye, dude!"

The trio drove for hours until it was beginning to get dark. Joel figured it was enough traveling for the day and ended up parking in the woods.

They set up a small camp and the smuggler heated some canned food with the miniature propane stove they had.

Once it was ready, they indulged in the food. Ellie was forking it down, enjoying it more than the other two.

"Slow down." Joel said, cutting the ravioli into pieces and savoring it.

"This is slow." She butted.

"You're gonna finish it in the next thirty seconds and get pissed when you realize we don't got any more." Y/N chimed in, eating his as well.

"What am I even eating?" She asked.

"That is 20-year-old Chef Boyardee ravioli." Joel replied.

"Our only two cans of it, I may add." Y/N said.

"That guy was good." Ellie spoke with her mouth full.

Joel nodded. "I actually agree."

Ellie chewed and swallowed her food. "How long we staying out here?"

"I figure I sleep tonight...and drive tomorrow all day, all night, get us to Wyoming by next mornin'."

"Just you driving?" Ellie asked. "Can't Y/N switch off with you at some point?"

Y/N took a bite of his food. "I...I, uh—"

"He don't know how." Joel answered for him. "Never had the chance to learn and I don't got the time right now to show him."

Ellie nodded, taking another bite of her ravioli before speaking to Y/N.

"I guess that makes sense. You were small. Not many cars to use. I mean...I fall in the same boat."

Y/N simply nodded and continued eating. There was another moment of quiet before Ellie spoke again.

"So can we start a fire?" She asked. "I'm freezing."

"Now, why am I gonna tell you no?" Joel shot back.

She rolled her eyes. "Because Infected will see the smoke."

"No. Fungus isn't that smart. This is too remote for Infected, anyway."

"Then what?"

Y/N chimed in. "People."

"So what are they gonna do?" Ellie asked. "Rob us?"

"Oh, they'll have way more in mind than that." Joel remarked.

Y/N kept eating his food. He understood what Joel said and knew of the vile people out in the world. Raiders, Hunters, Slavers...creeps like that man under Robert who mentioned bargaining Ellie. The man shook his head as he looked down at his plate.

Ellie seemed to understand too. The teenager picked at her food with the fork.

"Okay." She said.

Later, as night fell, the three got ready for slumber. They each got into their sleeping bags and laid around the lantern.

Joel had his rifle beside him on the floor. Y/N had his crossbow on the ground too by arm's reach. The two of them were beginning to go to sleep while Ellie was reading her joke book.

She closed it and shut off her flashlight, looking over at the others in their sleeping bags.

"Joel?" Ellie started calling out. "Y/N?"

Y/N was the one that answered. "What?"

"Can I ask you a serious question?"

"Sure."

There was a beat as Y/N waited for Ellie to ask her question.

"Why did the scarecrow get an award?"

Y/N rolled back and looked at the girl, he let out a chuckle and turned back around. Joel looked at her too.

"Because he was outstanding in his field." He answered.

Ellie sat up, surprised that the man knew the punchline already. "You dick! Did you read this?"

"No. Now go to sleep."

Joel turned back around. Y/N lightly smiled to himself, knowing that Joel probably remembered some of the puns Sarah would read years ago.

Ellie laid back down and pulled up the sleeping back to her chest. She looked up at the sky in silence.

"Those people you said..." She began. "There's no way anyone knows we're here, right? No one's gonna find us."

Joel stared ahead at the ground, processing her question.

"No one's gonna find us." He reassured her.

Y/N turned around slightly and faced the girl. "You don't need to worry about that. Just...go to sleep."

"Okay." She replied.

Y/N shifted back around and closed his eyes, finally getting a chance at some sleep.

"I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know."

He kept hearing the pleas of his father from when Sarah was dying in his arms. The cries of his sister were also ear-splitting. He could also hear himself.

"Hermanita, please!"

The yelps of Sarah kept going on, then it suddenly changed. It wasn't the cries of his sister anymore. The pitch of it changed...and it instead sounded like Ellie. He could still hear his own shouts.

"Hermanita, please wake up!"

Y/N opened his eyes and let out a shuddered breath. He immediately shifted around, putting his eyes on Ellie who was already sleeping. He took a deep breath in, then out, a sense of relief now enveloping him.

He looked ahead, seeing that Joel wasn't in his sleeping bag anymore. The man was now up, standing by the trees with his rifle in hand.

Y/N wondered why so he got up and went to where he was.

"What are you doing up?" Joel asked Y/N after noticing him.

"I have that same question but for you." He replied.

Joel exhaled and looked back toward the trees. "Keeping watch."

Y/N kept looking at his father then slowly nodded. He understood that Ellie's worry about being found by raiders also had him worried. Y/N felt the same.

"How long you been up?" He asked Joel.

"About an hour."

"In ten minutes I'll take watch. And you get some sleep, all right."

"I don't need—"

"In ten minutes." Y/N interjected sternly and started walking back to their camp. "I'll be back."

Joel watched his son leave. The man looked down at his gun, then gazed back toward the woods.

• • •

THE THREE WERE back on the road. Ellie sat in the front with Joel while Y/N took the backseat, the young man napping a bit since he was the last to keep watch that morning.

Joel was enjoying his thermos of coffee, and Ellie still wondered why he liked that disgusting drink, having got a whiff of it brewing when she first woke up.

"Is that seriously what those Starbucks in the QZ used to sell?" She asked him.

"Well, theirs was a lot fresher than what Bill saved up, but, yeah, this is what they sold."

"Smells like burnt shit."

Joel didn't respond, simply slurping his coffee loudly before looking at her.

"Eyes on the map." He said.

Ellie looked at the map and tried to understand it. "76 west and then...70 west for, like, ever."

Joel grumbled and looked toward the road. Ellie kept looking at locations on the map.

"Where in Wyoming did you say your brother was?"

"Last contact came through a radio tower close to Cody."

"Cody. Cody, Cody." She spotted it on the map. "Ah, man. That is deep up in there."

"Yeah."

"And if he's not there?"

"Then odds are he'll be near a settlement, probably close to another city out there. Ain't too many of 'em in Wyoming."

Ellie tried reading the name of a city. "Chee-Yen."

"Cheyenne." Joel corrected.

"Che... really? Cheyenne...Laramie...Casper? What's his name?"

"Whose name?"

"Your brother."

"Tommy."

"Younger or older?"

"Younger."

"Why isn't he with you?"

"A long story."

"Is it longer than 25 hours? 'Cause I think that's what we got." Ellie shot back.

Joel looked at Ellie, her curiosity displayed all over her face. He let out an exhale and looked back toward the road.

"Tommy's what we used to call a joiner. Dreams of becomin' a hero. So he enlisted in the Army right outta high school. A few months later, they ship him off to Desert Storm."

Ellie was confused by the name and was about to ask, but Joel quickly shot it down.

"It's what they called that war. It doesn't matter. Point is, bein' in the Army didn't make him feel much like a hero. Cut to 12 years later, outbreak happens. He convinces me to join a group makin' their way up to Boston, which I did...mostly to keep an eye on him...have more support...keep both him and Y/N alive. It's where we met Tess. And that whole crew, we, uh..."

Joel stopped, thinking back at the years spent with that crew. The things they had to do to survive and what Y/N had to see...had to endure. He looked at the seemingly sleeping young man through the rearview mirror and chose to move on.

"Well, for what it was, it worked. And then Tommy meets Marlene. She talks him into joinin' the Fireflies. Same mistake he made when he was 18. Wants to save the world. Pipe dream. Him, Fireflies, all of 'em...delusional."

Ellie glanced at Y/N in the back before looking back at Joel. "You think he's delusional, then?"

Joel shrugged. "At least he's more dedicated when he believes in what he chooses. Can't really say the same about Tommy. Wanna know why? 'Cause last I heard, he quit the Fireflies, too. So now he's on his own out there, and...I gotta go get him. Believing in all that...it's what has 'em out there all alone."

Joel took a sip of coffee from his thermos. Ellie processed what the man had explained to her.

"If you don't think there's hope for the world, why bother going on?" She asked him. "I mean, you gotta try, right?"

"You haven't seen the world, so you don't know." He replied. "You keep goin' for family. That's about it."

"I'm not family."

"No...you're cargo. And I made a promise to Tess. And she was like family."

There was a beat. Ellie spoke again.

"What if you don't find him?"

"I will." Joel said.

"How do you know?"

"I'm persistent."

They kept driving. Joel glanced at Ellie.

"Ya got up pretty early. Like Y/N, if you wanna grab more sleep..."

"Pfft." Ellie reacted. "I'm not even tired."

Ellie had fallen asleep about ten minutes after. Joel kept driving and Y/N woke up sometime later. He laid in the backseat, his legs stretched out, and looking out the other window.

Once Joel made it on the highway, Ellie woke up. He stopped the truck upon seeing the tunnel they were supposed to go through blocked.

Joel told the two to stay out and he went to go check. He came back about a few minutes later.

"Where are we?" Ellie asked him.

"Kansas City."

"How far back do we have to go to get around this?" Y/N asked.

Joel looked at the map a bit. He looked back out the windshield before shutting the door.

"Screw it."

He turned the back truck on and started turning it around.

"What are you doing?" Ellie asked.

"We can jog right around this tunnel...take the next ramp...and we're back on the road. Minute tops."

They did exactly that. They made it into a town and drove through the barren streets. Ellie kept looking at the map trying to help with navigating.

"Where the fuck is the highway?" Joel asked her.

"I can't tell from this. I'm all turned around."

"Don't look at the state map. Look at the inset."

"Well, I don't know where we are in that either! This is my second day in a fucking car, man. I mean, I think we're heading north?"

"Pass the damn map to Y/N, then." Joel butted.

He scoffed. "Only map I know how to read is of the Boston QZ. What makes you think I can understand a whole-ass state map?"

"You've got to be fucking kidding me." Joel muttered.

They kept driving. Joel looked around frantically for the correct direction.

"It's gotta be the right." He mumbled. "What the fuck?"

While Joel looked out the right window, Ellie looked out the left and saw something. She suddenly shouted.

"Stop!"

The truck screeched to a halt as Joel hit the brakes. Ellie continued looking out of the window on Joel's side.

"Is that the QZ?"

They looked at where she was eyeing. The walls to the Kansas City quarantine zone were seen. Their doors looked to be blown open.

"By the looks of it...it used to be." Y/N replied.

"Where the fuck did they go?" Ellie asked.

Suddenly, a voice called out from ahead. "Hey!"

They shot their heads toward the road. A young man was holding his side and slowly walking toward them. He kept pleading.

"Please help!"

Joel immediately strapped on his seatbelt. Both he and Y/N knew of the man's true intentions. Ellie was still oblivious to it.

"Are we gonna help him?" Ellie asked as she put her seatbelt on.

"No." Joel answered.

Y/N stared ahead. "Asshole's not even hurt."

Joel accelerated toward the man on the road. He quickly dove out of the way before the smuggler could run him over.

"Fuck! Go, go, go!"

Ellie looked up and saw another man on a fire escape. He had a large cement block and was prepared to throw it.

"Joel!"

It was thrown and it hit the windshield. Joel lost control for a second but quickly regained it. Through the shattered glass, Y/N saw a makeshift tire strip on the road.

"Watch out!" He shouted.

Joel couldn't go anywhere and ended up driving through it. His tires popped and started losing control. Another man appeared ahead and shot at them with his rifle.

"Fuck!" Joel exclaimed and immediately made a sharp right turn to avoid the gunfire.

They ended up crashing into a hardware store. The truck was now totaled and smoking from its wrecked engine. Ellie, Joel, and Y/N were slowly recovering from the crash.

"Are you okay?" Joel asked Ellie.

"Yeah."

The man glanced back at his son. "Y/N?"

"Ugh...yeah. Yeah, I'm good."

"None of you hurt? Nothin'?"

The two reassured Joel that they were okay. Joel started unbuckling his seatbelt.

"Let's get out. Quick."

Ellie was undoing hers and Y/N reached for the door. Suddenly, his was pulled open and a man grabbed him.

"Shit!" He exclaimed.

At the same time, another man opened Ellie's door and started pulling her out. Joel quickly reached over and wrestled for her.

"Ah! Let go of me, you chickenshit!" She shouted at the man.

Joel lost the grip on her and Ellie was pulled out. At the same time, Y/N was dragged out and thrown to the ground. The older man tried opening his door, but the wreck had gotten it stuck.

"No..." He muttered.

The man grabbed Y/N by the back of the neck and pulled him back up. He dragged him toward an empty reach-in refrigerator and hit Y/N against it, shattering the glass.

A shard of glass remained and the man tried to push Y/N's head into it. Y/N fought and kept pushing his head back. Finally, he felt the man losing his grip and took the chance to land an elbow to his face.

The man stumbled back, and Y/N quickly grabbed him and threw him into the same shard. It stuck into his neck and the man fell to the floor, gurgling in his blood.

Y/N heard the grunts of Ellie nearby. He spun around, seeing her struggling to get out of the man's grasp. She bit into his arm, garnering a shout from the man.

"Argh!"

She was now free, but the man retaliated by backhanding Ellie across the face. The girl fell to the floor and the man got on top of her.

"Get off of me!" She yelled.

Hearing her struggling and the yelp after the hit triggered something within Y/N. Without thinking, he made a sprint toward them.

"I'll show you...I'll show you." He said under his breath.

Y/N reached the man and immediately kicked him across the face. He fell to his side and groaned but didn't have time to do anything else. Y/N grabbed him by the collar and shoved his face into the side of a nearby counter.

He lifted him and did it again, and again, and again. The man's face was obliterated and blood covered the edge of the table and floor below it. Y/N let the man's body fall and caught his breath.

Meanwhile, Joel finally ended up kicking the car door open. He practically leaped out of it and saw both Y/N and Ellie seemingly unharmed, giving him a sense of relief.

Y/N went over to Ellie on the floor. She was rubbing her neck and looked up to see the dead man on the floor behind him. It marked yet another time one of the Millers had saved and protected her.

"Are you okay?" The young man asked as he knelt beside her.

"I'm okay." She breathed out. "I'm okay."

Y/N nodded. He looked up, seeing Joel watching them. The older man moved his gaze ahead and saw three more of the men outside.

"Oh, shit!" He exclaimed. "Cover!"

Glass shattered as a bullet shot into the store. The young man immediately grabbed Ellie and ran behind the wrecked truck with Joel. They took cover as they fired again.

"Let's see you, motherfuckers!"

"Give us your shit, you make it through this!"

Joel opened the back door of the truck and took out his hunting rifle. Y/N reached into the truck bed and took out his crossbow from underneath the covering.

"You're really gonna use that against them?" Joel asked him.

"Barley have any pistol ammo and you're using the only rifle we got."

They continued firing at them. Joel looked ahead and saw a hole in the wall.

"Hey, you see that hole?" He asked Ellie. "Can you squeeze through?"

She glanced at it, only giving a nod. The men kept shooting into the store and Joel felt like it would be a matter of time before they pushed.

"When I say go, you crawl to that wall and you squeeze through, and you don't come out until I say, okay?"

A bullet hit the window above Ellie. The girl didn't respond to Joel's request and he understood that she was scared.

"They're not gonna hit you." He started to reassure her but noticed she was gazing around. "Look at me!"

Ellie brought her eyes toward Joel. The man kept speaking.

"We're not gonna let them hit you. You stay down, you stay low, you stay quiet."

She quickly nodded. "Mm-hmm."

"Okay."

After a moment, Joel gave the go-ahead.

"Go!"

He peeked out of cover and fired at the men, who in turn took cover behind their vehicle. Ellie went prone and crawled toward the hole in the wall. Once she went in, Joel stopped shooting and crouched down again.

"Where are they around the truck?" Y/N asked.

"Two by the back. One behind the bed and one at the very end. Other guy is at the front." Joel replied.

"Guy at the very end, how covered was he? You see his legs?"

Joel nodded. Y/N knew what to do.

"I'm popping out and I'll shoot his leg." Y/N said. "Once he's down and out of cover, you fucking finish the job. All right?"

The older man agreed with the plan. They waited a moment before Y/N peeked out of cover. He aimed the crossbow quickly and shot a bolt into one of the men's ankles.

"Argh! Fuck!"

He dropped down and out of cover, exposing himself. Immediately, Joel popped out and shot the man in the head with his rifle.

The dead man's colleague reacted to him being killed. He shouted at Y/N and Joel.

"Fuck! You motherfuckers!"

They kept shooting at them. Y/N glanced at his father and motioned toward a counter ahead.

"I'll try to get a better view."

Joel glared. "Don't be fucking stupid."

"I get it from Tommy."

The young man quickly scurried away before Joel could protest. He loaded another round into his rifle and peeked out to shoot at the men.

From Y/N's vantage point, he saw the two men by the truck. One tried to push toward the store, but since he didn't know Y/N had moved, it allowed the young man to shoot a bolt into his side.

"Argh!"

Joel quickly peeked out and finished him off with a shot to the chest. Behind the cover, the other man saw his colleague die and quickly made a run for it.

Y/N saw the man fleeing. With a glare, he vaulted over the counter and gave chase. He wasn't going to let the people who tried killing them off easily.

Joel saw him run off and shouted. "Y/N! Shit."

Y/N ran after the man. He didn't even look back and notice that he was being chased. The young man stopped and aimed his weapon, eyeing the man. He shot him in the back and saw him drop with a groan.

He walked over to the downed assailant. Y/N could hear his continuous groans of pain as he laid on his stomach.

"P—Pl—Please..." He muttered.

Y/N pulled the bolt from his back. The man kept groaning and Y/N just looked at him. With that injury to his back, he knew he wouldn't be able to get up and would likely bleed out.

"You fucked with the wrong people." Y/N said.

He turned around and left the immobile man on the floor. Y/N started walking back toward the store when he suddenly heard a gunshot.

"Fuck..." He muttered.

Y/N ran toward the store. There was yet another gunshot several seconds later, and he chose to full-on sprint.

Finally, he made it to the scene. He saw Joel on the floor, catching his breath, along with an injured young man who was a part of the group that attacked them.

Ellie stood over him, a pistol in hand, having shot the man and saving Joel from being strangled. She kept the gun on his assailant and contemplated whether to shoot him again.

"No, no, no, no, no! It's okay. It's okay!" The young man raised his hand and pleaded. "It's over. We're not fighting anymore. I'm gonna go home. I'll tell everyone you're good."

Ellie started lowering her gun. The boy started to cry, bleeding from the gunshot wound on his lower back.

"I don't know what to do. My legs don't work." He panted. "My mom isn't far, if you could get me to her."

Joel started to get up. The man looked at him, and knowing that he'd retaliate from almost being killed, tried to plead with Ellie again.

"We could trade with you guys. We could be friends. I didn't know...I was just with those guys. I thought you were bad. I'm Bryan. I'm Bryan. What's your name?"

She didn't respond. Joel stood up and looked back at Y/N and Ellie. Y/N knew what his father was thinking and that the young man wasn't going to make it out of this alive.

Joel reached over and took the handgun from Ellie, the gun she wasn't even supposed to have, and put it in his waistband. He took out his own revolver and turned around, facing the crying boy.

"Wait! Wait!" He unsheathed his knife and threw it aside. "You can have it! It's a good knife."

Joel bent down and picked up the knife. He looked back at Y/N.

"Get her back behind the wall."

The boy continued pleading. "No, no, no, no! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Please, please. We could just talk. Please, please."

Y/N glanced at Ellie. He lightly grabbed her shoulder and ushered her back.

"Come on."

Ellie listened and quickly turned around, going toward the hole in the wall. The boy kept shouting, not wanting the innocent girl to leave him with the disgruntled man.

"No, no, no! Please! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Please!"

Y/N watched Ellie go through the hole. He looked back at his father, who stood over the scared young man with the knife in hand.

"You don't have! Please! No, no, no! We can just talk! We can just talk!"

Joel got closer and leaned in. At that point, the young man knew he was in his final moments of life.

"Mom! Mom! Mo—"

Joel stabbed him in the heart, halting his shouts. Bryan let out his final breath before dying. Joel left the knife in, standing straight up and letting out a sigh.

Y/N looked on. His eyes met Joel's as he turned around, but they didn't say anything to each other. Joel called out to Ellie behind the wall.

"Ellie, we gotta get in there. We can't fit through."

Y/N was near the hole of the room she was in. For a second, he could hear Ellie sniffling as if she was crying. She still was able to respond.

"There's some stuff against the door."

"Any way you can move it?" Y/N asked.

"Yeah."

Ellie moved to the desk that was blocking the door. Joel walked past him and helped push it open while she removed the desk. They both went in and quickly blocked the door again.

Joel looked at Ellie, studying her expression as he was aware that what just happened must've affected her. Ellie knew what they were thinking and brushed it off.

"I'm okay...I'm good." She said quickly and picked up her backpack. "I, uh, got some food in here still, and I got your light still."

Ellie handed Joel the flashlight. She turned to Y/N and saw him still gazing at her but she quickly looked away.

"What now?" She asked.

"We go up." Joel answered and made his way to the other door.

"To get a better look?"

"Hopefully, we spot a clear route out." Joel opened the door and looked back at Ellie. "Stay close."

"Got it."

Joel and Ellie left the room and Y/N followed. They took cover behind a car and watched as more vehicles passed by. Men called out to their fallen friends.

"Bryan! Bryan!"

"Body, body!"

"They got fuckin' Bryan!"

"They got fucking everybody!"

Joel quickly made his way to another door and motioned for the two to follow. They did so and went inside the building.

They chose to wait a bit for the road to clear. Ellie sat and put her backpack down. Y/N looked out through the newspaper-covered window and watched for any stragglers.

"I see another truck." Y/N informed Joel.

He turned around, the man glaring before looking out the window as well. Y/N arched a brow and wondered why he gave him that look.

"What's the problem?" He asked.

"Why the hell did you leave?" Joel replied, still looking out the window. "I told you to stay put."

"One of them was fleeing."

"So let them." Joel spun around, harshly whispering and facing Y/N. "You leave and we got ambushed."

"You mean you got ambushed." Y/N shot back. "I thought you could handle a regular kid."

"Well I fucking didn't and because you weren't there she had to do something." He retorted. "That didn't have to happen."

Y/N didn't reply. He looked at Ellie, who had her eyes on them but quickly looked away once Y/N turned.

Joel had a point. If Y/N was there, he would've helped his father and taken down the man instead of Ellie. They still believed she had her innocence, something they didn't have themselves anymore, but now it was tainted since she had to shoot the kid.

The young man let out an exhale and just walked away, leaning against the wall and putting down his crossbow. Joel turned back around and looked out of the window.

"They're not FEDRA, and they're not Fireflies, so who are they?" Ellie asked about the attackers.

"People." Joel replied.

"Are we okay in here?"

"For a little bit, maybe. Looks like they're checkin' out apartment buildings first. But they'll be coming through these places soon enough."

Ellie got up and looked out of the window too. "There's a really tall building, like, four blocks away."

Y/N walked up to the window and looked out of it. He spotted it too.

"Yeah. I see it." He said.

"As soon as we don't hear a truck, we move." Joel told them. "Fast as we can."

Ellie sat back down. Joel took a seat too and rested his arm on a table. Y/N still stood by the window, looking out of it.

"Are you okay?" Ellie asked Joel.

He took a moment before responding. "I'm all right. Are you all right?"

"Yeah."

Joel shook his head and exhaled.

"Thing is, is I didn't hear that guy comin', and...you shouldn't have had to...you know?

"Well, you're glad I did, right?" Ellie replied.

"You're just a kid. You shouldn't know what it means to..." Joel struggled to get words out. "It's not like you killed him. But...shootin' or...I know what it's like...we know—first time that you, uh, hurt...someone like that. If you, uh...w—uh..."

The man shook his head and looked down. He really couldn't get the right words out.

"I'm not good at this." He mumbled.

"Yeah, you really aren't." Ellie agreed.

"I mean, it was my fault." Joel admitted, also looking at Y/N. "I shouldn't need the help. You were right to go after him or else he would've probably come back."

Y/N just glanced at Joel for a moment then looked out the window again. Joel sighed and turned to Ellie.

"You shouldn't have had to do that. And I'm sorry." He apologized.

Ellie stayed quiet, wiping her eyes and sniffling as she kept herself from crying again. Joel saw this and looked down in shame.

"It wasn't my first time." Ellie admitted.

Y/N looked at her after her statement. He felt for her knowing that she had to hurt someone before at such a young age.

Joel took out Ellie's pistol from his waistband and popped an empty casing out. He then went over and handed it to her.

"Show me your grip."

Ellie did as told and held the handgun.

"Finger off the trigger."

Ellie listened and held the gun, looking up at Joel. Y/N turned to them and watched.

Joel noticed how loosely she held the firearm. "Now, who taught you that?"

"FEDRA school." She answered.

Y/N chuckled. "No fucking wonder."

He went over and crouched beside Ellie and Joel. Y/N grabbed the gun and helped adjust the grip.

"Take it from me, the instructors there don't know shit." He added.

"How'd you know?" She asked.

"Story for another time." Y/N continued adjusting her grip. "Your thumb...over your other thumb. Your left hand squeezes down on the right."

"Mm-hmm."

"Simple enough?"

Ellie nodded. Y/N grabbed the top of the handgun and quickly tugged it, showing that her grip kept it from being taken away.

"You see?"

He pulled on it again but harder. Ellie was still able to keep it in hand and she let out a laugh at how strongly he did it. Y/N smiled.

"Iron grip. Not one asshole will be able to take it away."

Ellie nodded and kept holding the gun with both hands. Joel watched as the young man was teaching the girl, and it brought back memories of seeing Tess showing Y/N how to handle a gun.

"Okay?" Y/N asked Ellie.

She nodded once again. Joel asked for the handgun back and loaded it with the magazine he had taken out. He gave it back to Ellie and she was going to tuck it in her waistband.

"Uh-uh. You put it in your pack." Joel said. "You'll shoot your damn ass off."

He went over to the front door and started removing the boards. Y/N looked at Ellie who was wondering where to put her gun.

"Just put in your jacket." Y/N whispered. "It'll still be reachable."

Ellie listened and put it in her jacket pocket. Y/N went over to help Joel remove the boards and it was soon free.

"We'll get through this." Joel reassured Ellie.

The teenager understood that without their truck, other supplies, and being in a city roaming with violent people, it will be hard. But she knew that they'd still be okay.

She remembered when Y/N saved her from the man who backhanded her and how Joel provided cover for her when they started shooting. They both were even willing to teach her how to handle a gun. Ellie couldn't have been in better hands.

"I know." She replied.

• • •

IT WAS NIGHTFALL and they made it to the tall building Ellie saw earlier that day. To enter, they had to find a way in to unlock the door in the alley. That's where Ellie came in.

"You're just gonna put your foot here." Joel put out his hand so he could boost Ellie up to the vent.

Ellie stepped into it. Joel prepared to hoist her up.

"One, two..."

He lifted Ellie and the teenager was caught off guard, stumbling a bit.

"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit."

"Straighten up. I got you."

Ellie pushed the panel in and started going through. "Okay, I'm in."

"Take a look around first." Y/N called out.

She chose to just go all the way inside. Joel let out a frustrated breath at how she didn't listen.

"Ellie. Goddamnit."

Moments later, Ellie opened the door. She beamed at the two.

"Where would you be without me, huh?"

Joel looked at her and started making his way inside. "By now, Wyoming."

"Heh, that was good." Y/N muttered and went in as well.

Ellie scoffed as she shut the door. "Oh, yeah. Walked into that one."

They pointed their flashlights around the dark room. Joel spotted the door leading to the stairwell.

"All right. We'll make our way up, and come morning, I'll take a look at the city, and find our way out."

They went through the door. Joel led the way and pointed his flashlight ahead.

"We're goin' up 42 flights?" Ellie asked.

"Forty-five." Y/N corrected.

"But not all the way." Joel added as he pointed his light up the long dark stairwell.

"How far?" She asked.

"As far as I can make it." He replied.

"So...like, maybe ten? Fifteen?" Y/N joked.

"Haha." Joel reacted.

Ellie chimed in. "Is that too much, viejo?"

Joel glanced at her then at Y/N, taken aback that Ellie knew what the word meant now.

"Did you—?"

"He told me what it meant during one of our stops." Ellie admitted.

Y/N simply shrugged with a smirk on his face. Joel shook his head and started walking up the stairs.

They went up about ten flights, each of them panting at the workout they were enduring. Ellie decided to ask Joel a question.

"Hey, you know that guy who said he was hurt? How did you know it was an ambush?"

"I've been on both sides." He replied as he stopped and turned around. "It was
a long time ago. We did what we needed to survive."

"You and Tess?"

"And the people we were with. My brother, too."

Y/N let out a huff and kept going up, passing the two of them. Ellie watched him walk up.

"Y/N too?" She asked Joel.

Joel looked at Y/N going up the steps and then looked back at Ellie, simply nodding.

"Did you kill innocent people?" She asked.

There was a pause as Joel contemplated whether to answer, but his hesitance told Ellie all she needed to know.

He chose not to and gestured ahead. "C'mon."

The trio kept going. They went up about thirty flights before entering one of the floors. Joel struggled to catch his breath and sat on the floor.

"Holy shit." Ellie panted. "Thirty-three floors. That's good."

"It's gonna have to be." Joel replied.

"Come on." Y/N turned to Joel, catching his breath. "I can do about ten more flights."

"It's because you're basically half my age." He shot back.

Ellie went up to Joel. "Come on."

"Gimme a minute."

The teenager reach out and offered the older man her hand. "Get up, you lazy ass."

Joel looked up at Ellie. After a moment, he took her hand and grunted as he stood up.

"Lazy ass." He huffed and started walking. "Fifty-six years old, you little shit."

"Just fifty-six? I thought it was more." Y/N chimed in.

That garnered a laugh out of Ellie. Joel didn't even respond and kept going forward.

The trio reached a room and broke into it. They were going to use it as a place to sleep for the night. Y/N helped Ellie set up the air mattresses while Joel scattered the shards of glass from the broken door by the entrance.

"Joel?" Ellie called out. "Joel. Joel!"

He stopped and turned around. "What?"

"What are you doing?"

"I don't want someone sneakin' up on us while we're sleepin'."

"Ohh, I get it." Ellie replied. "Crunch, crunch, crunch."

"Are you sure you're even gonna hear it?" Y/N asked him.

"Of course, I'll hear it. That's the damn point."

Y/N held up his hands and sat on the air mattress. "Whatever. I got good ears anyway."

"Well, good night." Ellie said and laid on her mattress.

"Yeah, good night." Joel replied and did so as well.

They laid there in silence for a moment. Joel was on his side, thinking back at earlier in the day.

"Hey...Ellie?" He called out.

"Yeah?"

"When we were talkin' about hurtin' people...what did you mean it wasn't your first time?"

He waited for her answer. Ellie took a moment before shifting to her side.

"I don't wanna talk about it." She responded.

"All right." Joel turned and faced her. "You don't have to. I'm just sayin'...it isn't fair, your age...havin' to deal with all of this..."

Joel glanced at Y/N, who had his back turned to them. A part of Joel didn't think he was sleeping already and believed he was still awake, likely listening.

"I—I had to see Y/N grow up during all this, having to deal with it. So knowing that you are too..."

Ellie took in his words. She thought about Y/N too and having to grow up in the new world like how she was doing now. The young man seemed to be doing okay, but she also didn't know exactly how he was feeling mentally.

"So it gets easier when you get older?" She asked Joel.

He shook his head. "No, not really. But still."

Meanwhile, Y/N was indeed still awake and listening. He let out a quiet exhale through his nose before closing his eyes.

Ellie spoke again. "The reason I asked whether you'd hear the glass or not is 'cause I've noticed you don't hear too well from your right side. Is it 'cause you were shot there?"

"Probably more from shootin'." Joel replied and shifted around on the mattress. "So if you wanna keep your hearin', you stick to that knife."

Joel closed his eyes and was ready to sleep. After a moment, Ellie called out again.

"Joel?"

"Hm?"

"Did you know diarrhea is hereditary?"

Joel slightly turned around. "What?"

"Yeah. It runs in your jeans."

Ellie snickered. Joel turned back around but couldn't contain his reaction.

"Jesus." He softly chuckled, joining her in laughter. "That is so goddamn stupid."

"You laughed, motherfucker."

"I didn't laugh."

"Yes, you did."

"Jesus, I'm losin' it."

"You're losin' it big time."

Y/N overheard this. Although the joke was funny,  the laugh that came from him wasn't because of it...but from hearing the chuckles of his dad and Ellie. For some reason, that made him feel a warmth in his chest.

"I hear you." Ellie called out to Y/N. "Stop acting like you're asleep, asshole."

"I was asleep." Y/N replied, still with his back turned. "That joke was so bad it woke me up."

"Yeah, right."

They kept laughing. Out of all three, Ellie struggled to contain hers the most.

Joel chuckled. "Go to sleep."

"You go to sleep..." Ellie shot back still laughing.

Y/N had quieted and started closing his eyes. For the first time in a long time, he was falling asleep with that warmth in him. Hearing their laughter...her laughter...made everything seem all right.