borderline - the last of us.

28. teacher to preacher.

'YOU KNOW, you two really shouldn't be out here all by yourselves.' David told them, even though his warning had been given a little too late. He was sitting across from Ellie and Lou, holding his hands out over the fire.

'From where I'm sitting, you shouldn't be out here on your own.' Ellie snapped back at him, Joel's gun tucked under her arm and still aimed right at him. Lou had set down James' rifle on the floorboards next to her, more concerned about warming up. She got cold easily, which wasn't ideal for a situation like this.

'Fair enough.' David clicked his tongue, staring at the flames in front of him, and then looking back up. For a second, Lou opened her mouth, but Ellie narrowed her eyes and shook her head. 'I get it. It's tough to trust strangers. But, I honestly mean you girls no harm. And for what it's worth, there's room for the two of you in our group, if you want it.'

'You're inviting us to your Hunger Club? Thanks.' Ellie said monotonously. David smiled, though Lou could see it in his eyes that he wasn't a fan of that joke.

'It's true, we're hungry.' He admitted rather timidly, acting ashamed. 'But we're still here. I'm a decent man just tryna take care of the people who rely on me. It's difficult, stressful, but I do what I need to do. You get it, don't you?'

That made Lou duck her head a little bit, thinking about Ralph and Joel, impending worriedness finally beginning to creep up on her. She scratched the back of her neck anxiously, wondering if she should interrupt Ellie's chit-chat with David and call off James' hunt for medicine just so she could run back to their base and give her dad a hug. She could feel herself frown, and David saw her do so.

'You alright over there?' He asked quietly, ducking his head to mimic her. He looked like he was about to move, to get up and comfort her, but Ellie jostled her gun and he rested back on his thighs again.

'Yeah.' Lou lied quietly, offering Ellie a phoney smile when she saw the concern on her face. 'Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry, I was just... Uh, thinking.'

"Bout what?' He pried, looking at her with an expression that she had never seen before.

'Um... Nothing.' She mumbled, taken a little bit aback by his sudden interest in her, a little uncomfortable by it. She kicked her legs forward, crossing them in front of her. Her train of speech faded a little when she looked back up and he was still looking at her. 'What were... What were you saying?'

'Oh, yeah.' David nodded at the reminder of his monologue. 'I was a teacher. Taught math to kids around your age.'

'So, you went from teacher to preacher?' Ellie finally looked away from Lou, convinced that she really was just thinking, and back over to David. 'Why? Because it fucking rhymes?'

'Yeah, exactly.' He smiled at her. He looked over at Lou, something he seemed to do a lot, and noticed that she looked rather confused by the mention of David being a preacher. He decided to elaborate and save her the trouble. 'So, I found God, after the Apocalypse, which is either the best time or worst time to find Him, hard to say. But when the Pittsburgh QZ fell in twenty seventeen, Fireflies and FEDRA. I left with a few others and that's how I ended up with our flock.'

'Long way from Pittsburgh.' Ellie remarked rather awkwardly.

'Yeah.' He stared out the window, then to the gap in the doorway that led to the outside world. 'We'd settle somewhere, and then raiders would come, so we'd move again. And as we wandered, we picked up new people along the way until we ended up here.'

'Well, your luck had to run out sooner or later.' Ellie said smugly.

'Luck?' He repeated, amused. 'There's no such thing as luck. No, I believe that everything happens for a reason.'