borderline - the last of us.

26. R.

THANK FUCK, it didn't take long to find some form of civilisation near the tracks. It must've taken them around three or four hours to find the run-down suburbs that stemmed off of their original path, and after Ralph had secured the perimeter and checked for any creeps for stray Infected, they got to work calling dibs on a house and finding a safe space to rest Joel.

They had spent the night there, and by the morning, the three of them were right back to their respective jobs of caring for the man and making sure he was feeling as comfortable as he could have under these circumstances. It was difficult to make a dirty, damp, freezing cold basement feel homey, but they were trying their best. It was a team effort.

Ralph hadn't slept that night. He had sacrificed his much-needed beauty sleep to make sure Joel was okay. He had also sacrificed his coat too, which left him in that icicle of a room in a tank top. They could tell he was freezing, but he refused any piece of clothing that had been insisted upon him and requested for it to be given to Joel instead.

He kneeled there all night at Joel's beside, one hand pressing firmly against his stomach, the other messing with his head full of dark grey curls and fiddling with his messy beard to either keep himself entertained or to make Joel stay somewhat conscious. For all the complaining he did when he was under Ellie and Lou's care, Joel sure seemed to love Ralph's.

Right now, he was under Ellie's, and it was no surprise that the groaning and writhing had begun again, desperate attempts to try and get her away from him.

'Don't be so rough on him.' Ralph said tiredly, shuffling forward to take over her shift as he had been doing for the past seven or eight hours. Ellie, who was putting her full body weight under both of her palms, moved when he made her, nudging her to the side gently. 'The way you're doing it, you're forcing more blood out.'

'You said that last time.' She said grumpily, sighing at him.

"Cause you were doing it wrong last time as well.' He didn't mean to be such a dick about it, but he was also pretty sure that he was beginning to hear colors with all the stress and the tiredness, and the hunger building up. So, social cues weren't his main priority. As he held the cloth over Joel's stomach, he started to yawn.

'Jesus, would you go to sleep already?' Lou ordered, snatching the fabric from him and taking matters into her own hands. Joel began to groan again, and Ralph bit the inside of his cheek, staring down at the man on the floor.

'You said you had to pee, like, two hours ago.' Ellie added. Now that she had mentioned it, Ralph had remembered that he really needed to fucking pee. It took him a moment of hesitation and encouraging nods from Ellie and Lou for him to get off of his ass and jog over to the bathroom at the far side of the basement, clicking the lock behind him.

The girls shared a sigh of relief, grateful that Mister Bossy Pants was gone for the time being, and Lou shortly went back to pressing down on the injury beneath her hands. Joel huffed out a breath, head tilting back and face scrunching up, until he let out that same breath a moment later and Lou realized that he was trying to say something.

'Leave.' He whispered, looking at her with wide, glassy eyes that stared right into the back of her head. She didn't know what to say, just stared at him and shook her head. He nodded at her. 'Take Ellie. Take the gun.'

'We're not leaving you here.' Ellie interjected shaking her head left to right and looking around for Ralph to inform him of the miracle of Joel speaking. She stopped searching for him when Joel used what was left of his strength to grab Lou by the collar, tugging her close.

'Go, Lou.' He ordered softly, voice wavering. 'You two go. Go North, go to Tommy. He'll help. Go.'

He let go of her with a small shove, and she landed on her ass with her arms thrown out behind her, thinking about what he had just said.