to the ends of the earth || ellie williams (book one)

thirty two

Ellie reached for her shirt and I plucked it from her grasp, hiding it beneath me causing her to raise a brow. She folded her arms over her chest with furrowed brows, shaking her head before lunging towards me.

"Give it back now," She grunted, climbing on top of me to begin wrestling for her stolen garment.

"Run away with me," I responded with my grip still firm on my merchandise.

"Give. It. Back."

"Run away with me!"

"Okay," She sighed, "Okay... now can I have my shirt back?"

I tossed it from beneath me causing her to roll off of me, standing up once more to continue getting dressed. Once she was ready, she slung her bag over her shoulders and made for the door.

"Get dressed, I'm gonna go wake Jesse." She nodded, "No funny business. We need to find Tommy."

"And get the fuck out of Seattle." I added, forcing myself to my feet to begin getting ready.

Jesse and Ellie stood at the door, skimming through the map and talking quietly amongst themselves. I approached quickly, adjusting the straps on my bag and greeting them with a warm smile.

"We ready to go?"

"Sure," Jesse nodded, "Apparently Abby's hiding out in this aquarium. We're gonna head there and then wrap around to try and find Tommy."

"Sounds good," I hummed, pulling the chair that locked the door and placing it to the side.

As always, it was throwing it down with rain. The sky was grey and drizzly, the already flooded floor somehow becoming more soaked with the constant precipitation.

"This fucking weather," Ellie groaned, pulling her hood over her head as we walked.

"Kinda makes me miss the snow," I responded.

"Hey, Ellie..." Jesse began as we navigated our way through the debris and flood sites, "Did Nora tell you why they did it?"

Ellie paused for a few moments, collecting her thoughts before explaining, "Joel had a falling out with some Fireflies... Now former Fireflies."

"What kind of falling out?" He pressed.

I could tell Ellie was getting uncomfortable. She hadn't even told me yet.

"He was a smuggler. And they disagreed about some goods... Fight broke out. Some of them died. Guess they wanted payback," She shrugged.

We continued on in silence, weaving through buildings to avoid having to swim to the aquarium, taking out infected as we went. The city was full of them. I still couldn't erase the Shamblers from my head, I thought bloaters was as bad as it got.

"They say when we ship out?" A WLF soldier asked from just around the corner of the building we were heading through.

Ellie grabbed my arm, ducking down behind a shipping container closely followed by Jesse. She pressed her fingers to her lips, pulling her bow and arrow from her back and laying on her stomach to draw it back.

Jesse and I crawled from behind the container, slowly approaching a pair of guards by a truck and taking them out silently. I thrust my knife into the guys neck a few times, lowering him to the floor slowly before pressing my back against the truck to check for any more.

Jesse split off, heading into the surrounding buildings to clear them out whilst Ellie and I focused on the outside area. I crept quietly through the grass, turning the corner to see a few more on the other side. I stayed low, taking cover behind a wooden crate before reaching into my bag for a Molotov. I lit it up, pulling my arm back and launching it towards the small group causing them all to screech in horror as they scorched to death.

"Brutal..." Jesse mumbled as he jogged up behind me, "I think that's all of them. Let's keep moving."

I nodded my head, waiting for Ellie to join my side again before following behind Jesse.

"These wolves, man. So trigger happy," Jesse remarked as he boosted Ellie and I over an army truck.

"They're at war with this fucked up cult," Ellie responded.

"Heard them talk about it. Sera-phines or something. Seraph it's?" He pondered.

"Scars is all I've heard them called," I shrugged, "You don't wanna run into any."

We continued in silence for a little while longer before approaching another large building. It was littered in withered banners and posters, as if some sort of event had taken place here on outbreak day.

"What's up with all these posters?" I inquired, surveying the large building ahead of us.

"It's a bunch of comics... Wait, what was happening here?" Ellie asked - more rhetorically than anything else as she attempted to figure it out in her own head.

"A gathering for people who were really into this stuff? Like you, basically," Jesse teased.

"We were born in the wrong time, man." Ellie sighed.

"Come on, let's get up there. Hopefully we'll be able to get a better view," Jesse said, leading us towards another building to survey the city.