We were heading to Seattle to save Tommy from killing himself in a suicide mission, there were Ellie and Dina with me on their horses. I was in the front of the group, Ellie in the middle and Dina sat at the back of the group.
I was silence while Dina and Ellie talked, I heard them talking about the first time they killed someone.
"Joel couldn't get to his gun, and someone was strangling him. In that moment I didn't think, I grabbed his gun and shot that man at his head." Ellie said
"Cool, and how old were you?" Dina asked
"I was 14" Ellie replied
"God-" Dina said
"Let's hear now about you!" Ellie added
"I was 12"
"And what did you do?"
"Well- someone was trying to kill my mother so I stabbed him in his neck" Dina replied
I was still silent, hearing their conversation, but then I heard Ellie
"What about you Phil?"
I was just starting to speak but she added
"Wait I know this, you were 11 right?"
"No, much younger than 11" I replied and then saw her getting curious about that
"I remember that I was 9, when someone- Fuck- I was 9 ok? I just say that-" I added as I start sobbing
"Oh my-" Dina was surprised I was that young
I was starting to shake thinking about that day, my eyes were getting watered and then Dina asked
"So you were 9, but what did you do?"
I was really struggling in that moment
"Sorry Dina but none of your business-" I said as I got my hand over my face to wipe my tears off
Ellie came up to me and took my hand
"Don't cry, he's still with you" She said referring to my father, in fact she was the only one to intuit what happened to him
Then I just smiled at her and carried on
After some minutes Dina asked
"So how lost are we?"
"We're not" I replied
"You sure?" She didn't believe me
"Yeah, trust me, I know where we are"
Then the silence grew again.
"I think, maybe there were those black market smugglers in Boston" Dina said trying to guess who killed Joel
"Robert's guys? Definitely not!" I replied
"What about those cannibals?" She kept guessing
"They didn't seem like that group" I said and the silence grew again
As we were continuing to go to Seattle, I started singing, releasing some tension
"Talking away
I don't know what I'm to say
I'll say it anyway
Today is another day to find you
Shying away
I'll be coming for your love. OK?
Take on me
Take me on
I'll be gone
In a day or two
In a day or two. . ."
I saw that Dina and especially Ellie recognized the song
"Wow Phil! You can sing?" Dina asked looking amazed
"Yeah, thanks Dina" I said
"Yeah he's good at singing and playing the guitar, but I'm better" Ellie chimed in chuckling
"I don't have to answer, do I?" I replied playfully
"You know that I'm better" She said
"You can't even play half the chords I know" I said chuckling
"You just have bigger hands than me, that's it!" She replied
We stopped talking after Dina said
"Guys look, cars!"
"Good, we're close to them" I replied
After some minutes we went to the highway, then we saw some armoured vehicles, so I got down my horse to go checking
"Be careful" Ellie said
Ellie's POV
"Fuck-" I said underneath my breath
"What is it?" Dina asked as she heard me
"Nothing" I replied
I haven't yet told Dina about me and Phil, but I felt like I should do it
"Hey Dina" I started
"Yeah?"
"Well, you know- Phil and I used to- I mean, we were together, but we never called ourselves a thing" I said
"You still love him?" She asked and I didn't know what to say
"Well, I like you" I said
"But do you love him?"
"Uh- It's complicated"
"Ellie can you answer me? Do you still love Phil?" She wanted to know, but I couldn't hurt her feelings
"I just-"
I couldn't say anything more 'cause Phil was walking back
Phil's POV
"I found an old tourist map" I said while I was walking back to them
"Well at least that's something" Dina said
We saw a wall with a WLF logo on it
"Watch out for the high spots" Ellie said as I got down my horse
"Ok girls, just stay there, I'm going to search a way to open the gate" I said
I was climbing that wall when I heard Ellie saying
"Where are you going Phil? You'll get yourself hurt that way"
"I'll be fine" I replied as I got on the top of a platform that was unstable
The platform moved a bit and I was almost falling down, but managed to stay up there
"Jesus Christ Phil! You'll give me a heart attack!" Ellie shouted
"Don't worry, I'm ok" I replied and then thought between myself
'Fuck you were almost killing yourself, dumbass!'
--- Time Skip ---
After climbing that wall I finally made it and opened that gate and we walked into the Seattle QZ.
There were some big buildings, but most of them were in a state of total abandonment and almost falling down.
Ellie and Dina kept talking a bit while I stayed silent all the time.
We found an old music store and we explored it finding something useful. I was watching some pianos that were still there, but they no longer made any sound as the strings were damaged.
While I was still looking at those pianos and remembering my dad, who used to play the piano and taught me to play it, I heard Ellie singing the song I sang to her the day we met again, but I saw that she was playing it for Dina
'Are you fucking kidding me Ellie? Why the hell are you doing this to me?' I thought as I walked away disappointed
I was walking out the store when I got knocked out cold
Ellie's POV
I had just finished singing and called for Phil
"Phil?"
He didn't responded
"Phil where are you?" I asked as I didn't see him in the store anymore
"Ellie? What is it?" Dina asked
"Phil's missing" I said
In that moment my hands started shaking and my heart speed up its rate.
Phil's POV
I woke up that I was tied up to a table leg, and saw these two mans in front of me, talking to each other. I recognized one of them that was there when Joel died
'Damn, what the fuck can I do now?' I thought
I managed to reach out and grab the knife I had in my pocket, so I was able to cut the rope that was holding me to the table leg.
I got up and beat both of them, knocking them out;
I then tied them in two different parts of the room, one to a chair and the other to a radiator.
I then slapped them awake and asked one of them where Abby was.
"Ha-ha I'm not going to tell you so easily," He said, laughing
So I beat him up by punching him in the face a couple of times
"Do you think I'm going to start telling you everything now? No no boy, absolutely not" He continued, not wanting to talk
I got sick and tired of him, so I pulled out my knife and said
"Last warning, if you don't talk this will go straight into your leg" I showed him the knife
Again he didn't want to talk so I stuck the knife in his leg, making him scream
"So where the fuck is Abby?" I asked
"Are you fucking crazy man?" He replied
"If I take this knife out of your leg now, it won't be long before you bleed to death, so tell me where the fuck Abby is!" I shouted
"She's at the TV station" He finally replied
I turned to the other one who was tied to the heater
"I need the gate codes, what are they?"
"Fuck man, he just told you where Abby is, what the fuck do you need the codes for?" He asked
"None of your fucking business" I said and then added.
"Tell me the damn codes or you'll end up like your little buddy"
"Absolutely not" He replied
So I kicked him a few times in the stomach to get him to talk
"Ok ok, I'll tell you, just stay calm" He replied and then added
"8236 for the first gate and 2975 for the second gate"
"Good" I said.
"Hey! Fuck, let us go now, you got what you wanted!"
"And according to you I should release you believing that you are not going to inform her and the others? No fucking way!"
At that point I pulled the knife out of the leg of the other who was tied to the chair, causing him to bleed out quickly, he would bleed to death in a few hours. I approached the other one in the heater and stabbed him in the leg as well, right in the femoral artery, making him end up like his comrade. After this I looked around and saw what I had just done, and I was frightened at how bad I could behave.