The Last Of Us (Fanfic)

Joel lives Pt. 18

"How are we gonna get Leah alone? This Qz is swarming," Dina asked.

"We just need a moment to talk to her."

"You gonna make her talk?"

"If I have to," Ellie said dryly.

They went into a grocery store full of infected and did what they had at the gas station - but there were more people on this patrol, and they knew this amount of infected wouldn't be able to take them all out. But it was enough of a distraction for them to get to the top floor and past the checkpoint. As they climbed over a small processing booth they were able to see the TV station in the distance and felt good to be getting closer to finding Joel and getting back to Jackson.

"This Leah chick, what if she's gone by the time we get there?" Dina asked.

"I don't wanna think about that right now."

They made it past the river down the muddy incline and stood for a moment, to get their bearings, feeling the breeze wisp past them through the lilac fields. It felt like the beginning of spring, but there was still a chill in the air.

"Hey, look," Dina said, nodding towards a mural on a wall close by.

"What do you think it is?" Ellie asked.

"Someone who wants us to 'feel her love'," Dina replied. "Do you think she's related to the wolves?"

"I don't know..."

"It's kinda weird."

Close by, Ellie noticed the bodies of the infected leading under the bridge, and she followed them. "Shit... These were all shot."

Then she saw a horse lying against the fence, torn apart. The satchel and the horses  Jackson brand was what made her realize it was, in fact, Rosco.

"Hey look... It's Tommy's." She reached out to see if he left anything inside. "The infected did a number on this one."

Dina couldn't take it anymore, seeing the carnage and smelling the rancid metallic scent in the air. She went to the side and threw up what little food she had eaten earlier that morning.

"You okay?" Ellie asked.

"Yeah, sorry. It's just... The smell." She gaged.

"Alright. He must have taken off on foot. You good to keep going?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Please."

"Okay..."

Ellie had noticed Dina getting sick over the last couple of weeks since they left Jackson, as well as her being more sensitive to the smells of cooked or rotten meat. She wondered if she was getting sick, or maybe it was nerves. Either way, she knew there wasn't long before she had to get Dina somewhere safe to rest like Jesse had suggested hours ago. She hoped he was okay and knew that if they didn't come together soon then she'd have to go out and look for him. She hoped he hadn't been taken captive or killed, but she hoped he'd be safe having never been seen by the Wolves like she and Dina had.
Ellie noticed that she looked pale after getting sick and remembered one of the nurses back in Jackson once told her that smelling alcohol would help with nausea. She remembered the liquor store they'd passed when the infected detonated the trip wires. She sat Dina down on the side of the river to gather more water and told her she'd return after trekking back up the muddy incline. She was quick, stepping over the carnage they'd left behind and trying to avoid the remaining mines. The shelves were bare, but at least the deals were going on before the outbreak that hopefully made the already cheap wine worth it. On the floor behind the counter, she found a mostly empty med kit with only a medical-grade alcohol bottle that was less than a quarter of the way full. She smelled it, and once it shocked her senses, she figured it would do, and maybe some ginger would help settle her stomach. Before she made her way back she noticed the ladder leading up to a watch tower she failed to pay attention to before. She was able to find a silencer, a flimsy knife, and a note from someone who was on patrol here - how lucky they were to not be caught on someone's shift. The illustrations of male and female private parts made Ellie chuckle, "Sorry it was so boring for you, dude." She said and put the note back where she found it.

Dina had filled their two spare cantines, not worrying about boiling the water for now as they couldn't just stop to build a fire. They needed to get somewhere safe and out of the open before they could hunker down, but that didn't stop Ellie from handing her some fruit leather from her pack and the remaining water in her cantine. It was hard for Dina to choke it down, feeling it trying to build back up in her throat, making her feel lightheaded and sweaty. Ellie handed her the bottle of alcohol and told her to inhale, which Dina then joked about it being chloroform. It helped enough to get her back on her feet but her demeanor made it clear she didn't want to talk about what was going on with her. She avoided thinking about it too hard herself and suggested they continue on their way to the TV station.

"How'd this city get so wrecked?" Dina inquired. "Boston wasn't like this, was it?"

"Boston didn't have a full-blown civil war while I was there," Ellie replied. "The fireflies never put up this kind of resistance."

"Maybe they'd still be around if they had."

Ellie didn't know what to say to that, feeling the guilt build back up in her chest. She figured that with her gone and after what Joel had done, they'd disbanded. Gave up, and abandoned all hope like that man back in the museum. She didn't want to think about that now, so she changed the subject when they made it to a chainlink fence.

"You see the TV station?" Ellie asked.

"Yeah, it's that way," She said pointing northwest, "uphill."

Stepping over the barrier, they found more bodies, more shot bodies leading to an alleyway blocked by a fence and mattress.

"Tommy definitely came this way."

Ellie tried to push and pull the fence, but it wouldn't budge, and they figured the easiest way would be to go around. She only took a few steps forward before Dina raised her voice, "Stop!" She said. "Tripwire."

  "Shit... Good catch." Ellie replied, looking around at the glinting wires in the sunlight, dripping from the rain that came down earlier. The tall grass was making them even harder to see and she opted to jump from car to car till she made it into the karate building. She noticed the trophies behind dirty glass, hoping the wolves didn't set anything up in there. But if they had, bricks and rocks were scattered everywhere, and she figured they could take cover behind the cars if they needed to make their own way through. It reminded her of Bill's town back in Boston when she watched Joel do the same.

"They're all over," Dina said.

"Probably for infected."

"Still... One wrong step..."

"Yeah. Let's be careful."

It took time and patience for Ellie and Dina to make it past the entirety of the trip wires before they found the TV station. Ellie was tired of wasting time and trembled with anticipation once they made it to the top of those crumbling, wet stone steps.

"It feels empty," Dina said after waiting for any sound or movement.

Ellie didn't want to admit that she was thinking the same thing, hoping that maybe someone was left behind. They climbed the walls and came face-to-face with the slaughtered WLF soldiers; the gruesome sight was enough to make Ellie pause.

"Was this Tommy?" Dina asked.

"Let's get inside," Ellie replied.

Once they found the hanging bodies and the bloody symbol, their question was answered. This definitely wasn't Tommy, but who else could it have been? The blood on the wall wasn't fully dry, "This just happened," Dina said.
Ellie stood there for a moment, staring intensely at the symbol and back at the bodies.

"Come on, let's find Leah."