Yelena Belova

Loved your TLOU fanfic story, bud!

Finally decided to re-release Book Two: Chapter 10 - Luck and Book Two: Chapter 11 - Fracture out into the wild. After holding them back for revisions I couldn’t make. Something unsettles me about them still. Maybe that’s just the plot. Maybe it’s personal devastation. Maybe it will occur to me later. 
          
          I’ve released also a short n’ sweet (1600 words?) Book Two: Chapter 12 - Home (that I wrote on a whim).
          
          Much more to come… enjoy? 

Book Two: Chapter 10 - Luck
          Is available now </3
          
          Excerpt:
          
          Survival always came with a cost.
          
          Sometimes it was blood, sometimes trust, but for Yelena, it had always been both—often paid in silence, in secrets hidden like scars beneath old wounds. She'd learned that long before Wyoming, long before Joel stitched himself into her life like a stubborn thread she couldn't cut free.
          
          Now, with the raiders' voices closing fast and horses hammering through the blizzard, she wondered bitterly if this time the price would be her life—or his. The thought twisted inside her, sharp and cold as the wind biting at her face.

Book One: Chapter 9 - Branded Horror
          Is available now! 
          
          Excerpt:
          
          Tommy kept walking, but Yelena noticed his posture shift slightly, interest sharpening his steps.
          
          "That's not a bad idea, kid," he said.
          
          "It was my idea," Yelena snapped, then pursed her lips. After a few moments of silence and pondering, she let out a soft whistle—rising high, then dropping low. Tommy responded, mirroring it in reverse—from low to high like a question asked into the air. They locked eyes for a second.
          
          "It's like a yin and yang," Yelena said, her voice softer now. 

I never meant for this chapter to make it into the book—but the more life I gave it, the more obvious it seemed it was needed. 
          
          Book Two: Chapter 9 - Candlelight (Joel’s POV)
          Is available now. It is a flashback to Joel and Yelena’s early months in Jackson. It could stand alone, but its placement is kind of perfect between the events of Chapter 8 and the events to come. Enjoy <3
          
          Excerpt:
          
          Joel didn't turn around. Just let himself be led, for once, without resisting it.
          
          He sat at the far corner of the table, back to the wall like always. From there he could see the whole room—how the candlelight softened the edges of everything, how the woodgrain on the table caught the glow in seams. And her. 
          
          Yelena moved barefoot across the floor, the hem of his old flannel shirt brushing her thighs, her shoulders squared with a kind of nervous pride. She reached for the pot, bracing it with a dish towel as steam rose up around her like a halo.

Book Two: Chapter 8 - Ruin
          Is available as well <3
          
          Excerpt:
          
          His legs moved on autopilot, carrying him without thought or intention. The noise around him—shouts, footsteps, distant cries—faded behind the reel of memories playing in his head. Joel. Fist fights. Laughter. Arguments. Quiet jokes passed over whiskey. Long nights spent fixing what was broken, or just pretending they could.
          
          The room was mostly dark now, lit only by the weak amber glow of the emergency sconces along the wall. The others had gone—some to rest, some to help.
          
          He sat at the console with one sleeve rolled up, dried blood flaking at the elbow. The radio crackled faintly beside him. He adjusted the gain, tuned to the same frequency again.

Book Two: Chapter 7 - Static 
          Is available now.
          
          Excerpt:
          
          He hadn't meant to cross the street. Had told himself he was just getting his boy to bed and then going back to Maria at the church. But then he saw Joel out there—sitting on the porch, staring like maybe the snow would start giving him answers.
          
          And something about the way his shoulders sagged made Tommy stop, turn, and walk across. 

Book One: Chapter 8 - Best Friend
          Is available now! Quite excited to introduce Tommy’s POV 
          
          Excerpt:
          
          The weight of the night enveloping him brought up a distant memory before he could stop it. Joel and Amy's house had been filled with laughter and chatter, but Tommy couldn't help but frown. It was the Fourth of July, and Amy had decorated every inch of the house—from the rooftop to the floorboards. Joel manned the grill, and Tommy was surprised by how many people had shown up. Neither he nor Joel had ever been big on crowds, which meant most of the guests were likely people Amy had brought into their lives. That didn't surprise him. She had a way of making strangers feel like old friends.

Just published: Book One: Chapter 7 - Only Eight
          
          Excerpt:
          
          Those words—behavioral override—glitched in her mind like a scratched tape. Her chest tightened. Her gut twisted. That room—the one behind him—was familiar. Too familiar. A hazy memory overtook her vision, smearing the screen. Her ears rang faintly. 
          
          She had been in there. 

Just published: Book Two: Chapter 6 - Willow 
          
          Excerpt: 
          
          There was a cool breeze, like a treasure of a mid-summer's evening, moving through the field, stirring long grass. Fireflies flickered lazily through the trees. The air smelled like earth after rain disrupted a dry season. A willow tree stood in the center of the clearing, its branches draping to the ground like curtains. 
          
          Joel was sitting beneath it. He looked up as she saw him, his expression unreadable—but calm. Like he'd been sitting there for a long time just waiting for her to catch up.