I open my eyes slowly and see Marlene standing next to my bed "Marlene?" I ask confused, she smiles and sits on the chair beside my bed "Hey Ellie" she smiles warmly. I sit up and hug her tightly, "It's been so long since I've seen you" she cries happily, "How have you been, did Joel take care of you?" I go through all of our memories and smile "Yeah- yeah he did" she gives me a weird look "he took great care of me" I blush lightly and finally look up at her "Is something going on?" She asks "Yeah, um..." I laugh and scratch the top of my head "it's a long story actually" I trust Marlene so I tell her anything. I tell her how close we've gotten, everything we've been through, I leave out David though, I don't want to go through that story again. "Honestly Marlene, I'm starting to fall for him, I know what you're going to say: 'What the hell, Ellie!? Why him?' But he's been with me through everything, he's kept me safe, and I know he cares deeply about me" I say. "Well, I never expected that to happen... that's going to make this even harder" Marlene sighs and looks down. "Make what even harder?" I ask confused, she looks up at me sympathetically "I promised your mom I'd take care of you, and I am, I promise this is to help you, and everyone else in this world" she explains, I look at her with a puzzled look.
"I'm confused, Marlene. What's going on?" I ask, Marlene sighs then grabs my hand in hers and squeezes it tightly. "The doctor's explained to me that the cordyceps inside of you have mutated, which is how you are immune, once they remove that they can reverse engineer a vaccine" Marlene smiles sadly, "But the cordyceps grow everywhere in the brain..." I trail off, then it dawns on me, Marlene knows that. They'll have to remove my brain in order to make a vaccine, I'll have to die in order to save everyone else. I gulp and look up at Marlene, she nods "It's bittersweet" she mumbles. "Do I even have a say in this?" I ask raising my voice a little bit. "Ellie, don't you see? The world can go back to normal! No more infected, no more of everyone you care about being bitten by those horrible creatures! Everyone can go back to their normal lives, don't you think this is what Joel would want too?" Marlene asks me, Joel... I didn't even think about what he'd want, he always says how he wants the world to go back to normal. I bite my lip, this is what Tess died for, Tess died so that I could save everyone else.
The entire journey to get here has made Joel and I closer, we've been through so much together, we fought together, we've laughed together. He was my first kiss, my first love. He's the only person in my life that I have ever wanted to die for, when he was almost dead I wished every day that I could be in his spot. I've loved him ever since he protected me in that car crash, I know this now. Of course I want to save him, I want to avenge everyone's death, Riley, Tess, Sam, Henry, My mother... But is it worth my life? I can't imagine a world without Joel, he's lost so much already, if he lost me... He would be crushed. But... our whole adventure has led up to this, for us to find the Fireflies, for me to be able to make a cure, to save everyone. Like I said, this all can't be for nothing. If Joel can't accept the fact that I'm doing this for him, and for everyone else we've both lost because of the Infected, then I can't help that. I only hope that he won't be too lonely in a life without me being right there beside him. Eventually I look up at Marlene with tears flooding down my cheeks, I nod "You're right, I need to do this" I say, I don't want to die but at least it's the best way to go.
It'll be peaceful, and I'll be with my memories forever. I'm not doing this for myself, I'm doing it for Riley, Tess, Sam, Henry, and my mother. They all died from infected and I'll be damned if I let another person die in the hands of those monsters out there. It's not like my life was important anyways, sacrifice the few to save the many, that's what Joel said. I breathe in and out quickly, "I'll do it, but I want to see Joel first, please" I say. Marlene hesitates "If I'm allowing you to kill me then I atleast get to have one request, I need to see him" I demand, she eventually nods "If that's what you want then alright". Marlene helps me stand up then we walk towards Joel's room "You know I love you right, Ellie?" Marlene starts to say, I look back at her with a smile "Yeah, I know" I say then turn back around. "Then you know that I'm doing this out of love" Marlene says, huh? I'm about to turn around again and ask what she means but then I feel something sharp in my neck, it's not a knife, it feels more like a needle. "Wha- Marlene?" I ask. Suddenly I feel tired "I hope you'll forgive me for this, it's for the greater good, Ellie. Joel would try to stop our plans, allowing you to see him would just interfere with our plans, he'll forgive me too for not being able to see you" she says then catches me when I start to fall backwards "Get her to the surgery room!" Marlene yells to soldiers that start to surround me "Joel" I say as my eyes start to close. No! This wasn't the deal! I have to see him! "I-I need to see Joel, I didn't tell him" I mutter out. My body goes limp and I look up one last time at Marlene "Oh, I'm sorry Ellie. But I have to do this, you'll be with your mother soon" she says. My heart rate decreases rapidly along with my vision, everything gets silent after a while, then all of my senses stop.
YOU ARE READING
The Last Ones Left
Romance"I can't lose you like I've lost everyone else" I say, something inside of him clicks and his eyes turn angry "You have no idea what loss is" he says through clenched teeth. The tears in my eyes finally overflow and they fall down my cheeks faster t...
