GUARDIAN, TLOU

12.

After following the trail for a few hours, the adults decided to take a quick rest. The horses had been walking for a while and needed a break.

Currently, Ellie was pressed between a concentrated Joel and Jo, both instructing her carefully as she learns how to shoot with a sniper.

"Wide right. You're flinchin'."

Ellie huffed, "The target's too small."

Joel frowned looking over at Jo in complaint, "I made it bigger than I should've."

Jo rolled her eyes, "Calm down, Joel. It's her first time even firing one of these things."

"Eject the cartridge. And I am not flinching."

"Mm-hmm."

"The rifle just sucks."

The adults share a look and Joel gestures his free hand to Ellie, "Okay, give it."

Ellie rolled her eyes in annoyance but complied none the less, "It doesn't aim right, tell him Jo!"

"Mm-hmm."

Jo hummed, "Sorry Ellie but Joel's actually in the right here. There's a first time for everything."

Joel frowns partially, tilting to look to his female counterpart, "Hey."

Ellie huffs again, ignoring their remarks, "You'll see."

"A deep breath in, slow breath out. You squeeze the trigger like you love it. Mm. Gentle... steady... nice and slow."

Jo raises her eyebrows at his choice of words, stifling a laugh when she catches sight of Ellie's expression.

"You gonna shoot this thing or get it pregnant? It isn't gonna work. It doesn't aim right."

A loud gunshot sounds and the bullet pierces right through the target. Joel failed to suppress a smirk, watching as Ellie's mouth dropped open in amusement.

A puff of air left her mouth as she shakes her head, "You dick."

Jo smirks, taking the gun from Joel's hand and firing quickly. The action had taken both Joel and Ellie off guard, neither seeing the bullet leave the gun, leaving them confused as to where it had landed.

"I don't see it, does this mean you missed?" questioned Ellie.

Jo raised her eyebrows, nodding to the target, "Go take a closer look."

And upon further inspection, Ellie let out a disbelieving laugh, finding a small, bullet-shaped hole millimetres away from Joel's. "Woah!"

Joel pressed his lips together but couldn't stop the glimmer in his eyes as Jo turned to him in victory, laughing childishly in his face, "Take that, old man!"

***

The group headed further toward the old town, Ellie choosing to ride her horse alone and leaving the adults to share. The girl looked around the quiet woods in curiously, tilting her head at her two protectors, "So the way they ran stuff in Jackson, was how things used to be?"

Joel shook his head, slightly tightening his grip on Jo's waist as he adjusted, "The country was too big for that. Back then, there were basically two main ways of lookin' at things. Some people wanted to own everything."

"Mm-hmm."

"And some people didn't want anyone to own anything at all."

Ellie hummed, "Which one were you?'

"Neither. I just did my job."

"Which was... building?"

"That's right. Houses, stores, that kinda thing. We were called 'contractors.'"