As I entered the dressing room, I saw Ellie laid facing the wall, her hands beneath her cheek as she breathed slowly. I pushed the door closed behind me, kicking off my boots and crawling into bed with her. I wrapped my arms around her warm body, nuzzling my face into her hair and inhaling her warm scent.
She didn't turn to face me. She didn't acknowledge me. In fact, her body tensed when I touched her. I sprung up in confusion, placing a hand on her shoulder to turn her over to face me. Her expression was dazed and blank, it was almost as if there was nothing behind her eyes.
"Babe?" I asked softly, "Ellie... what's going on? Did you get Nora to talk?"
She nodded slowly as she stared right through me. I pulled her into a seated position, resting her head against the backboard to straddle her waist. I held her face in my hands, leaning forward to press a gentle kiss to her forehead.
"I thought you were dead. I couldn't find you, I couldn't find Jesse..." She muttered shakily, "I thought you were gone."
"Ellie... I'd never leave you. I will follow you everywhere," I whispered, "To the very ends of the earth."
"Why?" She whimpered.
"Because I love you," I nodded, "I love you."
She wrapped her arms tightly around my waist, nuzzling her face into my chest and finally letting go of the tension in her shoulders. Ellie sighed deeply, as if she couldn't breathe until our bodies were intertwined.
"Ellie... let's go home,"
She hesitated for a few seconds before nodding her head slowly, "Give me one more day... then we'll find Tommy and we'll go."
"One more day," I sighed in defeat, "Just one more."
SEATTLE
DAY THREE
Ellie seemed a little more herself in the morning. She was already up by the time I awoke, perched at the dressing table with a guitar in her hands. Her slim fingers adjusted the tuning pegs. She strummed delicately and hummed in contentment. Singing a familiar tune that I couldn't quite place, Ellie hadn't noticed me pull myself up slightly to get a better view of her.
"What're you singing?" I asked, turning my head to the side with a soft smile.
"Nothing," She mumbled, "You sleep okay?"
"Yeah, what time is it? Didn't you want to set off early today to look for Tommy?" I yawned as Ellie made her way back into bed.
"It's still early. Jesse's asleep on a couch against the door. I don't think he wants us leaving without him again," She chuckled, shaking her head as she wrapped her arm around me and pulled me into her chest.
I inhaled her warm scent as her fingers tangled in my hair, her fingertips grazing my scalp gently causing my eyes to flutter closed again.
"Ellie... when we get back, what're we gonna do?" I asked.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean... is it gonna be hard? Staying in Jackson after all of this?" I began, "Maybe you need to get out. Doesn't have to be far... we could go. Just you and me."
She paused for a few moments before holding my face in her hands, leaning forward to press a soft kiss against my lips. Her thumb stroked my cheek gently as her eyes rested on mine. She pulled my head towards her lips once more, this time kissing my forehead before climbing back out of bed.
"Ellie..." I trailed off, grasping for her as she lifted to her feet and began to shuffle into her jeans.
"Charlotte..." She teased, zipping up her jeans, "We'll talk about it once we're out of here, okay?"
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.