A Place To Call Home

Encounters

The second birthday gift Joel had given to Ellie had topped her new garage apartment, she couldn't believe he had taken her to a Dinosaur Exhibit. She wasn't expecting anything like this to have survived the apocalyptic world, it was the best day ever. She had jumped from the big model Tyrannosaurus into the pool of water below it, Joel hadn't been too pleased about that little dive bomb incident even though Ellie thought it was cool. They had explored the exhibition together, Ellie played a silly game by putting hats on dinosaur's heads and she even got the chance to make fun of Joel because he was old. Joel showed off a little bit with some dinosaur knowledge from some movie he had seen decades ago. Ellie wanted to see that movie when they returned to Jackson, but other than that she enjoyed seeing the old dinosaur skeletons and the other artifacts that were still at the museum. The part that Ellie enjoyed the most was The Space Exhibit, it blew her mind. She could hardly contain her excitement when she got a glimpse of the rotating solar system, Joel had outdone himself. Especially with the Space Shuttle and the cassette tape recording of the Apollo 11 blasting off, she loved how he had written happy birthday on the cassette tape with love Joel written after it. 

They had left the Space Exhibition through a side door and discovered another part of the museum, they had to dive bomb from a great height to reach it. Ellie had gotten into the building with a leg up from Joel, but the main entrance was blocked inside the building. She had no choice but the venture on alone while Joel searched for a way in from the outside, the building was dark and creepy. It turned out to be a Natural History Center, there were stuffed Deers, Owls and Wolves. She used her torch to light her way through the building, but she soon heard a crashing sound and some weird noises coming from around the abandoned museum, it didn't sound human. She didn't have many bullets for her pistol, but she had managed to find some supplies to make an alcohol bottle bomb. She had seen messages written on the walls in different parts of the museum and found a human skeleton, the person had gone mad from what she had read in a letter the person must have wrote before he had killed himself.

The building seemed to get more darker as Ellie ventured forward, she heard the weird sounds once again. She stumbled upon a pack of stuffed Wolves which scared the shit out of her, their eyes shone when her torch made contact with them. She took a deep breath before she jumped over a wall, but without any warning she was knocked to the floor by some unknown beast. She managed to get a glimpse of it, it looked like a Wild Boar. She got to her feet and stumbled forward, that's when she saw a familiar symbol painted on the wall. She stared at the Fireflies symbol on the wall, it seemed like whoever had painted it here in this unexplored part of the museum had a grudge against them or they knew something she didn't know. She felt the happiness she had felt earlier draining from her body, her stomach felt unsettled and she just wanted to get out of here. She heard Joel banging against the door, it wasn't long until the doors flung open and Joel barged into the room. He hurried over to Ellie and asked her if she was okay, but he soon went silent when he saw the Fireflies symbol of the wall. He told Ellie they should leave this place and setup camp before it got dark, she wasn't going to argue with him after what she had just seen. They left the Natural History Center and made there way back to where they had left their horses, Ellie packed up her guitar before she mounted Shimmer. She remained quiet as she rode behind Joel, her mind was full of questions and thoughts about the word lair written beneath the Fireflies symbol. She had no idea what it meant, all she knew about the Fireflies was what she had been told by Marlene and Riley. Even Joel had told her they were studying to find the cure and that there was dozens of immune people out there, the Fireflies couldn't be lairs since they were trying to find a cure for humanity.

They kept on going until they reached an abandoned town not that far from The Jackson Community, the streets were overgrown with plants and most of the buildings were falling apart. It was getting dark now, they needed to get off the streets in case any unwanted company was lurking in this town. Joel told Ellie that there was a garage in this town that they used to shelter in when they were out on patrols, he had stayed there more than once with Tommy. Ellie hadn't been out on patrols yet, she had been helping in the crop fields and also Maria had been showing her how to repair the outer walls of the community. But she was hoping at some point to start training for patrols with Jesse, they had made a packed to be patrol buddies one day.