𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐎𝐫 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 | 𝐉𝐨𝐞𝐥 𝐌𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫 - 𝐓𝐋𝐎𝐔

𝐀𝐥𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬.

"Alright... time to sack up."

Bill leads Ciri, Joel and Ellie out of the church safehouse through a window, where they spot the high school's sign in the distance. They jump off the slanted roof and down towards the gate to the graveyard.

"Past this gate, it's all new territory to me." Bill mentions as they reach the beginning of their path.

"I think I remember these parts from last time, so I'll take front." Ciri walks down the steps and immediately senses infected ahead of them.

She raises her hand to the others as she bends her knees slightly, trying to get an idea of how many there were. "We've got clickers ahead and the path is very narrow, so it's gonna be hard for all four of us to sneak through."

She then faces the two men directly. "Joel. Bill. There's two in this first section here - take them out as quietly as you can once I've reached the other gate and I can get an idea of how many more there are."

From there, the men follow her instructions and the four of them make it through the graveyard and alleyways without catching the attention of infected.

Despite her slight annoyance and bruising to her dignity, Ciri let Joel and Bill handle infected when necessary. Though she was thinking logically in the case of her injured shoulder, she had a slight gut feeling about the school and thought best to preserve whatever strength and energy she had left to be able to handle what they would come to face.

They come to a garage door that was tied on the other side and they sent Ellie through the 'doggy door' in order to get through. Then, although there was a number of clickers inside the house, they managed to sneak through without waking them from their dormant states.

They finally reach the last house they had to pass through in order to get to the school, and to their relief there were no infected inside.

"I'm gonna check one last time for supplies in here before we head out there. Won't take two minutes." Ciri announces upon entering, to which the others agree.

Bill disappears into the garage while Joel and Ellie follow after Ciri, checking various drawers and cupboards for anything useful.

Ciri jogged up stairs and Joel was close behind her. As she checked the master bedroom, Joel took to the child's bedroom, where Ellie appeared in the doorway and caught his attention.

"Hey, you got a second?"

Ciri couldn't help but pause what she was doing and listen in on their conversation.

"Yeah?"

"I... I just want to say, I'm sorry - about Tess. That's it, I won't bring it up again."

"Ellie, you don't need to worry about me." Joel sighs. "Now, let's head on downstairs and check on Bill."

Ellie nods and walks out. Just as Joel followed her out and was going to head for the stairs, Ciri walked out of the other bedroom. He had no doubt he heard his and Ellie's short exchange about Tess and he felt the need to say something about what had been on his mind.

He stopped in front of her before she could make for the stairs herself and she looked up at him with a quizzical look. He hesitated for a second before finally speaking.

"Look, I... if it's worth even saying, Tess..." He pauses. "What happened wasn't your fault."

The guilt flashed in her eyes for a second as she quietly sighed.

He'd recalled the look on her face when he discovered Tess had been bit back at the Capitol building and again when they'd escaped the soldiers right after. There wasn't a shadow of a doubt in his mind that she was blaming herself.