𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐂𝐋𝐎𝐂𝐊𝐒 | 𝗧𝗟𝗢𝗨 𝘅 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿

⤏ 𝗬/𝗡'𝘀 𝗚𝘂𝗶𝗱𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲

THE FIRST FEW shots were way off target. Joel knelt beside Ellie, who held his rifle and tried hitting the target ahead.

"Close it up." Joel said. "Wide right. You're flinchin'."

"The target's too small." Ellie butted.

"I made it bigger than I should've. Eject the cartridge."

Ellie pulled back the bolt of the rifle. "And I am not flinching. The rifle just sucks."

Joel scoffed. Y/N, who was standing by watching, let out a chuckle and went up to them.

"Let me give it try. That all right?"

The smuggler agreed and told Ellie to hand them the rifle. Y/N took it and crouched behind the fallen tree they were perched at.

"It doesn't aim right." Ellie said. "You'll see."

Y/N looked through the scope. He began to give pointers that Tess and Joel once gave him when operating a rifle.

"You gotta take a deep breath in, then a slow breath out. That'll relax your nerves. Finger on the trigger...you squeeze it like you love it. Gentle, steady, nice and slow..."

"You gonna shoot that thing or keep pretending that it's Jane?" Ellie interjected.

"Heh, that was funny." Y/N muttered, still looking through the scope.

Ellie kept looking through the binoculars at the target in the distance.

"It isn't gonna work. It doesn't aim right."

Y/N finally shot the gun. Ellie looked ahead, seeing that he hit the sack right in the middle.

"You dick." She breathed out.

Y/N put the rifle down and shrugged, proud of himself. He glanced at Joel, who nodded with a barely noticeable smile.

"Good." He simply said.

Y/N smirked back. "Had a pretty good teacher."

Afterward, the trio got back on their horses and continued their travels. It spanned miles and miles and they stopped several times to camp. They were a couple of days into their trek. Ellie was on Joel's horse while Y/N rode alongside them on his.

"So, the way they ran stuff in Jackson, was that how things used to be?" Ellie asked.