Lilium || A The Last of Us story.

Day 6 of 6 - The End

Life. Ever since the outbreak, which marked the true end of Joel's life, he had been merely existing. If you could even call it that. The world was in a state of epic disarray, and so was he. That was until six days ago. One could argue that from the moment he met Ellie, his life had purpose again. But then came Lily. She reignited his heart, filled his lungs with air, and showed him that love existed beyond the one-track road to hell.

"Did you sleep at all?" Ellie asked Joel, her little mouth pressed together worrisomely.

Joel shook his head head, his throat was dry and he had that nauseating feeling in his gut.  He couldn't differentiate between the exhaustion and anxiety of Lily making it through the night. But she did, make it.  Barely.

"Did you?" He asked in return, his gaze snapped to her. She had endured so much.

Ellie gulped, and nodded hesitantly. Her eyes had betrayed the turmoil within. The RV bed had been comfortable enough, but her dreams were plagued with the haunting images of David, and Lily lying half-dead on the cell floor. Despite this, her body had forced her to sleep, as if telling her that she needed to face her fears.

Reaching down, Ellie began to stroke Lily's hair. If it weren't for her, would she even be alive? The answer is no.  If Lily hadn't used the absolute last drop of energy she had left, then Davids commune would have been tucking into Ellie stew.

Hovering her ear above Lily's mouth Ellie could hear her shallow breaths, "The bleeding has stopped, or her body has run out of blood." Joel told her.

Ellie opened her mouth to ask the question that was burning a whole in the dense atmosphere, "Joel, what are we going to do?"

If only he knew. Sighing, raggedly he ran his hands over his face and through his hair. He owed Ellie his truth, and to hear her opinion, consider it and make a decision. Together.

"We could go back to Tommy." Joel said, glancing up through his heavy eyes.

Ellie blew out a sigh, "Yeah." She said. "We could."

She stood up, stuffed her hands in her jeans pockets, and began pacing the RV.

"Or I could carry her all the way to Salt Lake City, and hope that the fireflies doctors would help her too." He continued and he would, carry her the whole damn way.

Her head bobbed as she chewed the inside of her mouth. Ellie was stuck, she wanted more than anything for Lily to be okay, she was worried sick about her. But what Ellie also wanted, was to have her own purpose and be like the heroes in her comic books, she wanted to be the cure. The little taste she got of life back at Maria and Tommys, she wanted that for the world. Despite the chaos and cruelty, she wanted to help. There were so many people she had let down...

"Joel... I need to tell you something." She said on a sigh, Joel looked up from Lily's hand, sensing the immediate urgency in her voice.

"Okay," he whispered anxiously.

"I killed someone," she said, "Before David, I had already killed someone."

Joel nodded, "The guy you shot to save my life, back in Kansas city.  Ellie, I could have kept him alive, so that's not on you."

Ellie just stared, her eyes brimming with tears.  The closer Joel studied it, the more he knew.
"You're not talking about him."

She shook her head, "My friend, Riley. She was more than a friend actually. We both got bit together, and she turned and I didn't. And I tried, god I tried so hard to turn too, but in the end..."

Joel held up his hand, he knew what she was saying. She didn't need to relive it.

Defeated, Ellie covers her eyes dragging a high pitched breath into her lungs, "Riley was the first to die, and then Tess and now—"