Ellie x male reader

𝓒𝓸𝓵𝓭

"Wow!" I said as the arrow went straight through the rabbit Ellie was aiming for. "You're a fast learner." I praised more as I grabbed the arrow and pulled the rabbit off of it. "Yeah, but it won't last very long." She said as she looked at the size of the animal. "True, but you're learning and there's not much we can do about size of animals." I wrapped the rabbit onto the horse with the rope that we had. 

"Hey, (Y/n)." I looked down at Ellie. "What?" She pointed and I looked to see a deer. "Think you can do it?" I asked as I grabbed the horses reins and put it on the tree. "Yeah." I motioned for her to lead the way and we were off. 

We slid down the snow and tracked the deer for a bit, Ellie shooting arrows every now and then, until the deer was dead. 

"What is this place?" Ellie asked as we came up to a village looking place. When we jumped down a small cliff/ledge she started talking to herself to calm down. I shook my head and pulled out my pistol just in case as we came up to the dead deer.

"Who's there?" Ellie asked as we heard rustling behind us. We both aimed our weapons at them as they came out. "Hello... we just want to talk." One guy said as he came out from behind a tree. "Any sudden moves and she'll put one right between your eyes." I said. "Ditto for buddy-boy over here." 

"What do you want?" 

"Um, the name's David this here's my friend, James. We're from a larger group - women, children - we're all very, very hungry."

"So are we - women and children - all very hungry too."

"Well, maybe we could ah, trade you for some of that meat there. What do you need? Weapons, ammo, clothes-"

"Medicine!" We both shouted at the same time. I knew immediately we thought of Joel in that moment. "Do you have any antibiotics?" I asked. "We do." The guy who did most of the talking looked to his friend then back at us. "Back at the camp. You're welcome to follow us-"

"We're not following you anywhere." I said holding my gun a bit tighter and taking a step forward. "Buddy-boy can go get it. He comes back with what we need, the deer is all yours. Anyone else shows up-"

"She'll put one right between my eyes." 

"That's right." 

It was silent for a while but the guy continued to talk to his friend. "Two bottles of the penicillin and a syringe. Make it fast. Go on." The friend left and I aimed my gun at the other man. "I'll take that rifle." Ellie said and he handed it over. 

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We made our way into a place where we were somewhat safe from the cold, taking the deer with us and built a fire. "You know, you two really shouldn't be out here by yourselves." 

"We prefer it this way." Ellie said. "I see. What's your names?" 

"Why?" I said getting a little defensive. This guy was giving me bad vibes. Not passing my vibe check. "Look. I understand it's not easy to trust a couple of strangers. Whoever's hurt, you clearly care about them." I saw Ellie look at the floor out of the corner of my vision. "I'm sure it's gonna be just fine." "We'll see."

Suddenly we heard the sound of infected. This alerted all of us as we stood up. A clicker made its way into the building we were in. Ellie stepped on something and the clocker rushed towards her but was shot down by the man. "You had another gun?" She asked. "Sorry." He said. "Okay, I'd really like my rifle back now." He said as we heard more infected. 

"No. You have your pistol."

"I hope you know how to use that thing."

"Trust me, she does." 

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"Listen." The guy said as we walked up to him by a window. "No infected." Ellie said. "No infected." The guy repeated her words. "What'd I tell ya?" He let out a chuckle. " Alright. Let's head on back, check on that buck of ours." He playfully hit Ellie's arm and started walking away. "Wha-" I tried making my way over to the guy but was stopped by Ellie. "It's fine." She said with a slight smile and patted my shoulder. I scoffed and we followed the man back to where this all started. 

"You two handled yourselves pretty nice back there. Ha. Whew. I'd say we make a pretty good team." He started tending to the fire that was surprisingly still going. "Psshh. We got lucky." Ellie squatted down near the fire to get warm. "Lucky? No, no... No such thing as luck. No, you see I believe that everything happens for a reason."

I scoffed and leaned against a wall. "Sure." 

"I do. And I can prove it to you. Now, this winter has been especially cruel. A few weeks back, I ah... sent a group of men out - nearby town to look for food. Only a few came back." Ellie and I listened intently. "They said that the others had been ah, slaughtered by a crazy man. And get this, he's  - a crazy man travelling with a little girl and a boy." 

'Ah shit.' I thought as I stood from my spot on the wall. "You see? Everything happens for a reason." Ellie stood up, grabbing the rifle and aimed it at him. "Now don't get upset. It's not either of your fault. You're just kids. James, lower the gun." I looked behind me to see the guy from before aiming his gun at me. "No way, David. I'm not gonna let them go."

"Lower the gun." James lowered his gun. "Now give them the medicine." 

"The others won't be happy about this." 

"Yeah, well, that's not your concern." 

James tossed the medicine to me and I caught it. "Move the fuck out of the way." Ellie said as she continued to aim the rifle at him and we made our way to the door way. "You won't survive long out there. I can protect you two."

"No thanks." Ellie said and we left. We rushed our way back to the horse and then rode our way back to the house we left Joel in. 

"Joel?" I heard Ellie say as I tended to the horse a bit. "We only managed to get a little bit of food. But... we did get this." I quietly made my way to Ellie but didn't make myself present. I only watched as she gave Joel the shot. She covered him back up when she was done and I walked up to them. Well, sort of, I sat against a wall. "You're gonna make it." She said checking his temperature. I felt bad because she was doing all the work.

I've known him longer yet she's taking better care of him then I would have. I let out a sigh and took off my jacket as I walked up to Joel to put it on him. He needed it more than me anyway. "What are you doing?" Ellie asked, looking up at me. "He needs it more than I do, I'll be fine." I said but the cold was already getting to me. I made my way back to the spot I was at before and sat back down, folding my arms. 

"Thanks." Ellie said as she came over to me. I shook my head. "I should be thanking you. You've done all the work." It was silent for a bit until Ellie grabbed my arm closest to her and put it around her as she leaned into me wrapping her arms around me. I was shocked for a bit but I couldn't deny the warmth coming from her. So I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her closer.