The Last Of Us (Fanfic)

Joel Lives PT4

Joel Lives PT4 [Fan-Fiction]

Dina found Ellie lying unconscious on the floor, with Tommy not far away. He looked pale as the blood puddle underneath him had grown since the group had left, and he was left unresponsive. Dina woke her up, apologizing, before calling for Jesse who was still searching upstairs.
Ellie was afraid to look, afraid to see him lying there in a bloody heap on the floor. But when Dina moved, all she saw was a blood smear where he used to be, where she last saw him look at her. She couldn't move, it almost hurt too much to breathe, but that didn't matter - Ellie had already made up her mind before even getting back to Jackson. She didn't care how long it took for her to get it done and make those people pay. She looked over at Tommy, how pale and still he was, she looked at his chest and hoped to see it rise and fall. The dried blood on his face and the steadily growing pool underneath him made her realize how personal this truly was. This wasn't a wrong person, wrong time sort of thing, these people had planned this. But why?

<••••∆••••>

Tommy and Ellie were bedridden for a couple of weeks, no matter how hard they tried to get discharged sooner. Tommy had a minor gutshot that would heal within weeks under the guise of care and antibiotics. Ellie had suffered a concussion and two broken ribs, one that had nearly punctured her lung. Maria, kept everyone out besides Dina and Jesse, trying to understand what happened out there and who these people were. She was angry they'd shot her husband and took her brother-in-law whom she had grown close to over the years. She had gone back to the Baldwin place accompanied by Jesse and one of the Taylor boys. These people were out in under half an hour before Jesse and Dina showed up, and seeing the dried pool of blood where her husband was left to die nearly made her break down. While the shot itself was minor, he nearly died of blood loss, and Joel... She had no idea what they'd done to him. The amount of blood he left behind may not have been enough to kill him, but it was enough to cripple him for a while. She thought about how many infected she saw outside the gate, how many more were out there on the road to God knows where; she knew how easy it would be for them to leave him to be overtaken if it came to that. She hated these people, she hated how they came onto her land, how they nearly killed her husband and endangered the rest of her people. Maria had never been the bloodthirsty type, she'd never craved to go after someone as bad as she did right now, but she didn't have the luxury of just checking out. Leaving her town to its own devices so that she could go on some mission she may not even succeed at. Maybe if she didn't have the responsibility she'd be more inclined. She also hated how this was going to take her husband away from her again, in a different way than any time before. And it wasn't only him she had to wait for this time, but Ellie too. There was a score to settle, and she understood that much.

The moment they were discharged Tommy sought Ellie out; Maria hoped they'd change their mind, even though she knew that would never happen. As Tommy sat in Ellie's room, sliding over some leftovers Maria had sent him out with.

"Maria wants to make sure you're eatin'." He said.

"She can't stop us." She replied, not wasting any time by cutting through the bullsh*t.

Tommy sighed, "To have the guys that we would need to do this smart... We'd be leaving Jackson vulnerable."

"So what? We just let them go? Leave Joel to figure it out on his own?" She asked, already getting defensive. She already felt they had wasted enough time letting them get away, letting them torture Joel.

"Nobody wants that," Tommy said.

"Yeah, but that's what's happening."

"What if we get hit by hunters again?" He asked.

"Is this you talking or is this her?" Ellie asked, now getting frustrated.

"It's a valid point."

"If it were you or me, Joel would be halfway to Seattle already," Ellie replied.

"No, he wouldn't." Tommy denied.

Ellie shifted in her seat, "He absolutely, f**king would be."

"Well, we don't know for certain that they're from Seattle."

"Washington Liberation Front, that's what you said was on those patches."

"What if they stole those jackets?"

Ellie stood, "That's..." She couldn't find the words for how meaningless this conversation felt, how much of a waste of time.

"What if the WLF moved?" Tommy asked.

"What are you doing?" She sighed and shook her head. Tears of frustration threatened to fall as she realized both of them thought Joel was already gone. That there was no way they had let him live this long; maybe this was Tommy's way of staying oblivious... But she didn't care, she had to know and make it right. "You know what?" She started, wiping the tears before they fell, "I'm leaving tomorrow. And if you wanna come with me, great."

He looked at her in her stubbornness, wanting this as much as she did, just without compromising her. He knew that if anything happened to her on his watch, Joel would never forgive him. Dead or alive.
He knew the game, he'd played it when it all fell, Joel was familiar with how this all played out. He'd been on both sides before, as had Tommy. They understood the human condition and what type of group this was. "You have no idea what you're walking into. You don't know how large this group is, how armed -"

"I don't care. You can't talk me out of this"

He sighed and stood, knowing there was no use. All he could do now was buy some time, "Give me a day to talk to Maria. Okay? There's gotta be some folks she can spare."

"And if she won't budge?" Ellie asked.

Tommy scoffed, "Well, I'll figure somethin' out." He said, walking up to her. "One day... Please."

Ellie stood there, hating having to wait, but she owed him this much at least. "Fine." She complied.

Tommy could see that look in her eyes, the same look she had when she found out what Joel had done. That hopelessness. He hugged her, knowing it wasn't the same, but hoped it brought some level of comfort. He tried to keep himself together at the same time, holding her there. "Okay... Okay." He said and patted her arm before taking his leave, knowing what he had to do to keep her safe.