After You (Ellie Williams)

VIII

"The worse part of it is, when I close my eyes. I can barely put her face together."

"I'm, I'm so sorry Quinn. I'm sorry I questioned you like that. It's jus-"

"It's fine. I understand."

"Quinn...when you said you were gonna kill the leader. You- are you ready for that?"

"We may share blood and DNA but that man means nothing to me. He deserves to die for what he did to my mother. I can't even imagine the things he's done to those who disobey him." Quinn's spoke in disgust.

"I'm gonna kill every single last one of them." Ellie frowns. "For what they did to Joel, and what they did to you. I swear on my fucking life Quinn."

"If I'm being honest, I came out here in hopes to die in the process. I didn't come for revenge. But I'm gonna fulfill my moms wishes. I'm gonna survive, fall in love..." Quinn looks down at their hands still intertwined and she looks up at the brunette in front of her.

"And I'm gonna live my fucking life. My life that belongs to me."

The two rested for a while. Quinn being the first to fall asleep and the first to wake up.

"Ellie." Quinn shook the girl awake. "I'm gonna see if I can find any source of power."

"What? No. You stay here. Don't move. I'll do it." Ellie quickly stood and Quinn huffed.

"I'm fine. Just small bite." Ellie rolled her eyes at the girls commentary. "You know you always crack jokes at the most weirdest moments."

"I got a different way of coping I guess." Ellie chuckles slightly before walking off. "I'll be back!" 

After a few moments when the lights turn on Ellie comes back a guitar in her hand. "Look what I found. What Id do to bring this back with me."

"You know how to play?" Quinn smiles slightly at the girl's excitement.

"Yeah Joel thought me." Ellie sits down across from Quinn.

"You have to play something."

"What? No. It's super embarrassing."

"Oh come on." Quinn teased and Ellie shook her head. "Maybe when you come back to Jackson I'll show you."

"Oh." Quinn hadn't thought about going back.

"You are staying right?" Ellie looked up and Quinn swore she saw slight fear in her eyes.

"I- I don't know." Quinn answered truthfully. "I feel like I don't belong."

"You do." Ellie argued quickly. "I think you do. You could stay with me...i-if you wanted to of course."

Quinn could feel the heat rise up her cheeks and she nods.

"I guess that wouldn't be too bad." Quinn didn't want to admit it. She was scared, scared of falling for someone. Because loving someone meant you could lose them, and she couldn't handle the pain of losing again.

"You know my biggest fear is ending up alone...and now that Joel is gone. It's like I am. Yeah I have my friends back at Jackson but without him it's not the same. It feels empty. Alone."

"Ellie..."

"Stay with me." Her voice quivered, her eyes needy. Quinn couldn't deny the feeling that had planted itself inside of her. Slowly blooming from the pit of her stomach up to her heart.

"Okay." Her heart spoke before her brain could and Ellie gave her a look of relief. The short but sweet moment got interrupted by a radio in the floor and they both turn their heads at the sudden noise.

"Lone male trespasser spotted in fourteen! Multiple casualties."

"That could be Tommy. It has to be him...do you know where fourteen is?"

"No but I might be able to figure out let me see the map."

"Okay okay, so if we look at the tv station. They're numbered by order. Seven was the school and ten was the tv station. So I'm assuming fourteen must be somewhere in this town."Quinn circles her finger around the map. It was almost fully annotated with tiny notes Ellie wrote on it.

•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.•.

It didn't take long for them to run into WLF soldiers.

"You think that guy is with them girls?"

"They have to be." Quinn and Ellie look at each other they didn't need to speak to understand what the other was thinking. It had to be Tommy.

"I take the one on the right." Ellie whispered and Quinn nodded in agreement. Now that they knew they were coming they had guards posted in every area. Quinn never realized how big the WLF actually was.

Quinn snuck up behind the guy on the left and took him out. The two girls were in sync, watching each others backs. Everything was going quiet and smooth until a small hoard of infected showed up. Humans were easy, infected on the other hand.

"Fuck, run." Ellie yelled out.

"Right behind you." Quinn tried to keep up. Guards followed behind them and though they lost the hoard of infected they now had to deal with a bunch of soldiers. The two girls shot at them taking most of them out.

Just before they could lose all the WLF guards one of them grabbed Quinn by the hair.

"Got you." He breathed in her ear.

"Quinn!" Ellie turned around, fear in her eyes.

"Don't." The man threatened. His gun pointed at Quinn's head.

"Let her go." Ellie yelled but she knew there was nothing she could do. One wrong move and the girl in-front of her would die. Her hands shook as she aimed her gun.

"Run Ellie."

"Shut up." The solider pulled on Quinn hair more and she cried in pain.

"I won't leave you." Ellie argued and the soldier laughed. "How cute but you move even an inch and a bullet goes trough her pretty little head."

"Run." Quinn mouthed the words. Ellie's green eyes stared at hers unsure. Quinn smiled at her and nodded. Ellie slowly lowered her gun looking up at the WLF soldier in defeat. His grip on Quinn's hair tightened and she winced.

"Hey don't move!" The solider shot at Ellie's direction when she unexpectedly started to make a run for it. Quinn took advantage of the distraction to bite the solider on the arm as hard as she could. The strange metallic taste of blood flowed into her mouth and she pushed the man off her.

"Fuck!" The man yelled looking down at his bite.

"You're gonna regret that." He muttered before pointing his gun at her.

"You might wanna put that down or you'll regret it. Isaac will want me alive." The soldier looked up at her confused.

"How do you know about Isaac."

"I'm his daughter." She smiled and the solider shook his head. "Bullshit. His daughter is dead. Abby said-"

"Abby fucking lied." The solider looked at her debating on what to do. "Do you really wanna take your chances? I suggest you put that gun down."

"Dammit. God damn Abby and her group." The man cursed under his breath. Quinn thought of a million ways she could escape alive. Her brain running at a millions speed. Calculating every move.

"Come. I suggest you don't do anything stupid."

The man ushered her closer to him and she had no choice but to comply, knowing there was nothing she could do Quinn let the solider handcuff  her. She'd be lying if she said she wasn't scared. But if this is what it took to get to Isaac then so be it.