Resurrected Bond - a ZNation 10K/Tommy fanfiction

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

10K POV

"So how'd you get out here? You couldn't have always lived in this cabin." He asked after they'd returned from scavenging and Ellie got to work on prepping dinner.

"I've been living in California for a while now, I've lived in Virginia, Texas, but New York was my favorite."

"Is that where you met that really good friend?" he asked unbuttoning his shirt knowing the routine they'd fallen into, once she had gotten the fish cooking she'd be adamant to change his dressing and make sure his stitches were still intact.

"Tommy."

His eyes flashed to her thinking she'd called him by his name but he saw she was smiling to herself as she worked by the stove. It could be another Tommy, he thought, it wasn't like it was a very unique name, pretty common actually. It had to be another Tommy.

Flashback:

He'd been helping his Pa do his afternoon check of the park, he'd had to beg him to go along especially after his mom had given Pa that 'look'. The look that said nine was too young to be out there, that he wasn't old enough yet to be helping out with something so important. But in the end his Pa had let him go, on the one condition that he didn't wander off, and he didn't, well . . . he did, but he wasn't that far. He could still hear his Pa at one of the ranger stations as he did his inspection. Tommy loved it out here, whenever they went into the town for something everything seemed so much busier, like everyone was rushing, he didn't like it. It was loud, it was crowded and he mostly just clung to his mom or his Pa whenever they were out which thankfully, wasn't often.

He much rather preferred the forest, he turned and saw a chipmunk scurry by, he heard the birds in the trees singing to each other, heard the light babbling of the stream that ran downhill next to him and. . . was that. . . crying? He listened harder and yeah, it was crying. Small little sobs nearly hidden behind the other sounds of the forest but still there. He followed the sound going deeper into the thick trees and further from his Pa. The low bushes got thicker and harder to walk through, some had prickers that stuck him through his jeans but he kept on going. Then between a thick tree and a huge boulder was a small figure sitting in the dirt. They had their knees pulled up to their chest and their head bent over hidden by their arms as they tucked into a ball. He saw their back move with each sob and took a step forward making a twig snap under his feet. The person looked up in fright and looked at him with wide blue eyes. It was a little girl, maybe around his age and her eyes and face were red from crying. When he took another step closer she tried to back up but couldn't fit between the thin space between the rock and the tree.

"It's okay. I'm nice." Nine year old Tommy said taking another step but the girl still looked afraid as she sat in the damp leaves and dirt, her shoes and the bottom of her pants were covered in dirt along with her hands and a little up her wrists. "Are you lost?"

She nodded slowly, "My family was hiking down one of the trails, I saw some fish in the stream and stopped to watch, when I looked back up Momma and Daddy were gone." She said as more tears fell down her face.

"It's okay." He said moving closer and this time she didn't back away, "My Pa's a ranger here, he'll help you find them." he said close enough now that he crouched down and held his hand out. "I'm Tommy."

She sniffled and wiped her button nose with the back of her hand before shaking his with her clean one, "I'm Ellie."

"You're going to be okay Ellie." He said smiling as her crying stopped.