Secrets And Hope {The Last Of Us Fanfiction}

I

The rain had come out of nowhere, as the downpour had gotten heavy pretty fast. The quiet town's buildings provided little to no shelter except for a small rundown house with a sorry excuse for a roof.

Ellie followed Joel inside as he searched the area before looking back at her.

"Alright this place seems okay, we can wait out the rain here. You know the drill, look around see what you can find."

"Okay."

"And be careful Ellie!"

"I know!"

Ellie smiled before wondered off into the kitchen to look for supplies while Joel stayed in the living room. As he searched through the draws he placed all rags and scissors he found into his backpack before moving through to the dining room. Before Joel could reach the cabinet by the window, he felt someone tackle him from behind.

Joel's instincts kicked in as he reached for his pistol. But it was quickly snatched from his grip as he felt it dig into his temple.

"Who sent you?! Smith?! Miller?!"

With only a grunt as his answer, Joel struggled free and stumbled back towards the doorframe. When he finally got a look at his attacker; it wasn't a hunter or even infected as he had feared, it was a woman. She stood strong and confident. Her long dark brown hair hanging in her face just covering her hazel eyes that burned with anger and fear. Looking at her, Joel would have even gone as far as calling her pretty. Maybe even more so if she wasn't pointing a gun to his head.

"Get the fuck away from him!"

Joel flinched slightly at the sound of Ellie's voice. As he inched closer towards the door, fearing Ellie's safety from this stranger.

"Ellie stay back okay? I got this."

"Joel."

"It's okay. Just stay put."

Joel noticed the woman's harden glare soften when she noticed Ellie and he'd be lying if he said he didn't feel relieved when the woman lowered the gun and took a step back.

"Wait...you're not a hunter?"

Joel glared at her as he slowly took a step forward.

"Do I look like a goddamn hunter?"

The woman smirked as she cautiously handed Joel his gun back.

"You really want me to answer that?"

Ellie was quick to Joel's side as she put her own gun away.

"You okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine."

"What are you guys even doing here?"

"We were looking for supplies!"

"Well there's nothing here trust me I've looked. But this is hunter territory, damn hunters are everywhere! I thought you were one of em...that is till I saw you."

The woman gestured to Ellie as she turned to take a seat by the dining room table. Joel checked over his gun as he glanced back at her.

"If this is hunter territory, then why you still here?"

"It's a... long story but those bastards ambushed me. I've been hiding here ever since, it's the only place they haven't look...yet."

Silence fell over the three before Ellie piped up.

"Well... maybe you could come with us."

Joel was quick to pull Ellie aside, making sure they were out of earshot of the woman.

"Ellie..."

"What?"

"How do we know we can trust this woman?"

Ellie shrugged.

"She seems nice enough."

"She could have killed me! Or you!"

Ellie scowled as she stood with crossed arms.

"Joel I've told you, I can take care of myself!"

"That doesn't stop me worrying, you don't even know this woman!"

"Well you said trust is a hard thing to come by these days, I mean everyone we've come across has tried to kill us!"

Joel couldn't help but laugh lightly at Ellie's logic, she wasn't wrong.

"Maybe we could take her back to Tommy's."

"What? No!"

"Why not?

"Ellie no!"

"Well we can't just fucking leave her here!"

Joel let out a deep sigh as he crossed his arms.

"She is not our concern."

"Oh come on! There are fucking hunters everywhere, we can't just leave her alone! Safety in numbers right?"

"Need I remind you how that worked out last time?"

Ellie's eyes fell to the floor as she placed her hands in her pockets, the memories plagued her mind as she fell silent. Letting out a deep sigh Ellie managed to push them away before she glanced back to Joel with sad eyes.

"It'll be different this time, come on Joel. We've already lost a lot of people, at least help me save one."

Joel scratched his neck as he let out another deep sigh. This woman was alone and she seemed harmless, with the exception the she had pointed a gun to his head. But Joel also reminded himself that she hadn't, he probably would have first.

"Alright."

Joel took a second before he stepped back into the dining room, his eyes found the woman as she sat with her feet on the table while fiddling with a switchblade in her hand. Joel stepped forward as he cleared his throat to get her attention.

"Listen Miss. We were heading back to a settlement just outside of town, you're welcome to tag along if you want."

The woman moved in her seat, spinning to face Joel as she rested her hands on her knees.

"I don't know. I mean how'd you know you can trust me?"

"Well Ellie seems to and that's enough for me."

The woman stared at Joel with deep skepisim in her eyes, before her stone expression soften to a barely visible smile as she stood to her feet.

"Alright...but it won't be easy gettin' outta here. The gate's monitored twenty four seven, I know where there's a hole in the fence but there's no guarantee it'll be clear."

Joel raised his hand before walking off in front.

"It won't be a problem."

The woman scoffed at Joel and proceeded to followed him with Ellie by her side.

"So... I didn't catch your name."

The woman smiled at Ellie as they continued to follow Joel towards the edge of town.

"Nora."

"I'm Ellie, that's Joel."

Nora nodded and looked towards Joel as her eyes levelled with the back of his head.

"Well Joel I'm sorry about the whole...you know trying to kill you thing, it's just trust is a hard thing to come by these days. Everyone you meet is always out to get you."

Joel didn't stop or turn around, he only grunted softly as he continued walking.

"Yeah... you're right about that."