Firefly

Sixty-Three

A/N: Only a few more chapters, and this story will be coming to an end. But I will be coming out with a new TLOU story.

Salt Lake City

We had spent a few days in the house before we moved on. Ellie barely spoke to us; she has been doing a lot of spacing out. The car we had ran out of gas only a few miles from the house so we had to walk; luckily for us the snow had stopped and the sun started coming out, warming the air around us. It took us a week before we got into Utah. When we did finally make it, we took a couple days of rest. Joel's wound was healing nicely. But Ellie was still distant.

The time we made it to Salt Lake City the weather was starting to warm up more. We were walking along the highway that led into the city. Vehicles were scattered all over the three lane road; but it wasn't hard to get through. Ellie hung back, walking slower than Joel and I. I had stopped to wait for her to catch up a few times, not wanting her to get lost. Joel's whole attitude had changed. He was getting more and more attached to Ellie, especially after what had happened with David.

Joel was in and RV looking around to see what he could find while I stayed outside with Ellie. “You alright?” I asked. She didn't even look up at me. It's like she hadn't heard a thing I've said to her. “Ellie.” I touched her shoulder making her jump. “What?” She asked, looking up in alarm. “I asked if you were alright. What's going on?” I asked. She shook her head, “Nothing. I'm fine, sorry. Just thinking,” she said.

“Hm. Thinking about what?” I asked her. I had an idea what she was thinking about. “Just stuff. Like what's going to happen when we finally get to that hospital. If there are others like me there. Maybe even kids my age.” I didn't have the heart to tell her that she was probably the only one in the world that was immune. But how could I know that? Maybe there are others out there like her. But from what I understand, her mother had been bitten right before she gave birth to Ellie. Instead of Ellie turning when she was born, she was immune.

I don't even want to think about what they have to do. It can't just be her blood they need. As much as I want a cure to be found and made to finally end this shit, I also didn't want to put Ellie through that. I didn't want to give her over to Marlene and those doctors. I want the three of to turn around and go back to Tommy's and live a semi decent life. I want Ellie to be around kids her own age and have a childhood. But I know she won't want that; at least not before she “saves the world.”

Joel and I talked about it already. We talked about just turning around if that's what Ellie wanted to do. But we both know she won't want that. If she has the chance to help people and change the world, she's going to. Ellie has become an important part of our lives. She's brought us back together. She's healed a part of us that we never thought would be fixed.

After Sarah, Joel had turned into a complete different person. He was broken beyond repair. I had tried everything to bring him back to the man he was before, but it wasn't happening. He became over protective and I understood why, but it pushed me away. Now, with Ellie, it seemed like that old part of him was starting to come back. The Joel Miller I had had a crush on all those years ago, before the outbreak, was peaking through.

And I didn't want him to disappear again. I knew he would if anything would happen to Ellie; if anything happened to me or to Tommy. Ellie might not be his daughter but I know he loves her as if she was. I know he does because I feel the same way. I've never had kids of my own, I probably never will, but I have Ellie, and I'll treat her as my own. I'll love her as my own.

When Joel came out of the RV he had a small smile on his face, eyes searching for us. I nudged Ellie and she jumped off the truck she was sitting on. We followed after Joel, walking off to the right, down the exist ramp that lead into the city. Joel was talking about a board game he found, saying we could sit down and play it once everything is over with. Ellie wasn't paying any attention to either of us. He gave me a concerning look and I shrugged, taking his hand.

We walked through the snarl of cars and trucks, climbing over some of them to get past them. We kept to the left, following the signs for the hospital. “We'll cut through the bus depot to get around the wall.” We walked into the depot and looked around. They had clearly used it to sort through the people trying to get into the QZ. Suitcases layed amongst trash and debris. Joel grabbed a ladder and leaned it against the wall to the second floor. “Come on, Ellie.”

Ellie got up from the bench she had perched herself on. She climbed the ladder after me, Joel following behind us. “Holy shit!” Ellie said, running off. “Ellie!” I yelled, running after her. When I found her she was standing in a room that had a huge hole in the wall. What she was doing shocked me. Joel came up behind me, putting his hand on my lower back. Ellie was in front of us looking up at a fucking giraffe. “Careful, don't scare her,” Ellie said.

I looked up at Joel and smiled, earning a smile back. He slowly walked up to Ellie, plucking a few green leaves from the vines growing along the walls and floors. He held out his hand and the giraffe took them from his hand. Then he handed Ellie a few leaves to let her do the same. In that moment I wish I could have taken a picture. The smile that grow across her face was one that we haven't seen in a long time. She feed the giraffe the leaves and then gently pet it before it walked off. “Aw. Where is she going?”

“Ellie, wait!” Joel called after her as she took off after the giraffe. When we found her again she was standing on the roof of the building looking out over the baseball staduim. “Oh, wow!” I whispered. There were at least four more standing walking towards the baseball field. The three of us stood there and just watched them until they disappeared. The hospital was in the background across the way. It wouldn't be too long before we finally Got there.