The Last of Us part III Ellie's Redemption

Headed East

Less than an hour later they found an old country house and found the front door open. They brought the horses in, put a chest of drawers against the door then sat down on a mildly comfortable sofa, even if it was a little damp. Curtis had been talking a lot, Ellie listened mostly.
"I'm sorry we had to meet like we did, I'd rather it be under different circumstances." Curtis said.
Ellie extended her damaged hand. "Hi, I'm Ellie Williams, nice to meet you, what's your name?" She asked.
Curtis shook her hand. "Curtis Fornaro, nice to meet you Ellie, for the first time ever, right now." He replied.
Ellie gave him a thumbs up. "Same here."
"That's a better way to meet for the first time." Curtis smiled.
Ellie nodded. "It will be fine here for tonight. Tell me your story, then we rest and get going next light."
Curtis took some time to come around but finally replied.
"What about you?"
"I'll tell you my story tomorrow, I will, okay? At least some of it." Ellie was prepared to lie to him.
"Okay, there's not much to tell but here it goes."
His story was that his father was ex Military before he bought the farm for him and his wife, then Curtis came along. When the outbreak happened the fence was built by his dad, mom and his uncle Freddy.
They grew crops and hunted meat, things seemed okay and infected were dealt with efficiently.
One day Freddy went out hunting and never returned, Curtis' father went looking for him but never returned either. After a month of just him and his mom she had to leave him to hunt for meat and also never returned. Curtis was angry at them all for leaving him. He'd been alone just over three months but was running out of supplies and had been unlucky trapping food.
Then Ellie had arrived and in his eyes had become the saviour of his prayers.
He went quiet after that.
Ellie looked down and nodded. "Okay Curtis let's rest. Trust me, I'm no saviour, just get your head down. If today's taught us anything there's no such thing as good guys in the world."
"We're not talking about what happened earlier anymore, I shouldn't have held you at gun point, but..."
"Curtis if I was you I'd have probably done the same, what we need to do now is build trust, it's what we're doing and if we're riding together we need to trust each other. Please forget it, let's just move forward." Ellie jumped in surprise at Curtis' response.
"Don't you run out on me, don't you leave me Ellie!!" He grabbed her shoulders, Ellie winced. Curtis let go. "Sorry."
Ellie looked him in the eyes. "You call me your saviour, you're wrong. But I call you my redemption, I won't leave you, but if on our way we come across good people who can take you in you'll go. Until then I will look out for you, just remember my terms."
"I get it okay, don't mess up." Curtis said mockingly.
"Yeah, you said you'd be useful, I need you to be useful. I'm sorry if that's harsh, but I'm not changing my mind. We can talk, get to know each other all you want but I don't want deadweight. Now get some rest, you understand don't you?" Ellie had to be blunt with the boy, this wasn't a camping holiday.
"Sure." Curtis nodded then went upstairs (they had already checked out the entire building). Ellie followed him upstairs, they both slept uneasily.

Curtis felt a hand on his shoulder, he looked up and Ellie was staring down at him. "Get up, we're going in ten minutes." Ellie gave him some meat. "Eat."
"Are you sure?"
"I can hunt for more. I've eaten, now hurry up. Nine minutes."
Curtis was ready within minutes and met Ellie downstairs. She handed him his gun.
"Don't point it at me ever again okay, I'm trusting you."
He took it. "Okay, I was desperate, I'm sorry."
"No more apologies, time to go." They went.
The boy had saved her life, she would do everything in her power to do the same, but telling him this wouldn't help. It would blunt his senses and she needed him on his A game. Although she had no idea what that was. He'd prove himself out here she was sure, even if he was 13, just like she had proved herself to Joel as a 14 year old.
"So Curtis, how are you with a bow?" Ellie needed a full rundown of his abilities.
"I've used one, I'm better with a handgun."
Ellie nodded. "Your dad was in the military so he taught you to shoot I guess?"
"That's right Ellie, what about you, did your dad teach you to shoot?"
Ellie dropped her head and exhaled. "Yeah, yeah he did."
"Did something happen to him?"
"That obvious? Yeah, he's dead. I'd rather not talk about it."
Curtis nodded. "Your mom?"
"Dead."
"Sorry Ellie, we're both orphans aren't we?"
"We are."
"I'm here if you need me." Curtis said.
Ellie didn't reply and they continued in silence for quite a while.