This is Not the Last of Us

Chapter 28

Finding Serevena base had proved to be more of a challenge than Ellie had first expected it to be. At least, until her genius of a girlfriend pointed up at a sign that proudly announced SEREVENA HOTEL.

"Oh, shit," Ellie laughed, "You know, that's a little too on the nose. I expected it to be a code for something."

"Me too, actually. But I guess it makes sense to make it something anyone can find."

"You're right."

"Sometimes." Her girlfriend said with a tiny smile.

The two girls trotted along as close as they could, until they finally realized there was a giant gate in their way.

"Son of a bitch." Ellie grimaced and hopped off of Shimmer.

"Well, there's got to be someway around this... fuck FEDRA gate. I have to admit, I can respect the sentiment."

"Let's look around. There's gotta be some way to get through." Ellie announced.

Ellie moved to the generator first, letting her girlfriend look around the environment. With a gentle huff, Ellie tried to get the generator started. They were both visibly disappointed when it refused to turn on.

"It's out of gas." Ellie announced and scratched the back of her neck, "Let's hope we can find some out here."

"I'm sure there's something around here with gas in it. This seemed to have been a base, so they had to have been prepared for this."

Ellie was incredibly grateful that her girlfriend always had reserves of hope for some reason.

"The note!" Her girlfriend cheered, "The note mentioned there were gas reserves in the courthouse garage, and the dome."

"Then... let's start looking. It didn't say anything about the locations on the notes." Her girlfriend pouted, "I was really hoping we'd be able to be in and out, but I suppose it's not that easy, huh?"

Ellie was staring at a note that logged people that were removed via FEDRA decision making. It kind of pissed her off to see how many people would just be kicked out, and how few they let in. Seth hadn't been joking when he said it was hard to get in, and way too easy to get kicked out.

"Do you... do you think Tommy's been through here?"

"Probably not," Ellie said with a sigh, "He wouldn't have gone through all the trouble of unplugging things and closing gates. He'd have to circle around too much."

"Yeah, you're probably right. It makes more sense if he didn't. I hope that he's doing alright all alone. Dad always said everything was better in threes, I wish Tommy had just had us tag along with him."

"Why does Seth say that anyway?" Ellie asked as they hopped back onto Shimmer.

"Oh, you know...? I never asked." Ellie's girlfriend admitted, "I always assumed it was because of how the three of us were together. You know, I'll have to ask him when we get back. It's gonna bug me now."

Ellie laughed and shook her head, "You really never thought to ask?"

"It just... never came up. I can't believe I never thought to ask."

It wasn't hard to find a building with a domed roof. Ellie had handed the map to her girlfriend so she could mark it as they rode along. Ellie couldn't deny that Seattle was a beautiful place to be. Even if most of it was bombed to shit.

"So, Ellie, why's this place all destroyed while the rest isn't?"

"Well, sometimes the soldiers would just decide to bomb places that had been overtaken by infected... or rebels."