The way was done in silence, Tess had suddenly become very distant and weird and all along the race she walked quickly as if in a hurry to reach their destinations. And when they got to the big white building filled with greenery they hid behind a car as a precaution. Just to protect themselves in case someone deigns to shoot them.
"We're the fuck are they ?" Tess asked seeing no fireflies.
"Surely they all had to confine themselves inside ?" Lara suggested looking at the two adults with her.
Tess looking at Joel then the brunette with her: "It's possible but better check."
They nodded and the older woman pointed to a blue truck ahead, behind which they discreetly hid for Joel to open the door. Lara pointed her gun in front of her in turn but frowned when she saw no one, just like the rest of the group.
"Stay back." Joel ordered as he and Lara moved forward. "I said "stay back !"
The brunette arched an eyebrow and replied harshly. "You want them to kill you before you can even get in!? They know me, remember?" The woman gritted between her teeth, pointing to her firefly necklace.
The man blew through his nose and they resumed their journey, discreetly skirting the truck when they came across a dismembered body. The Smith woman quickly realized that he would not be the last. Joel opened the trailer of the truck while the brunette pointed her gun in front of her but quickly lowered it when she saw no one.
"What the fuck, man ? Swore the lost woman.
Tess walked around the truck and asked: "Joël ? What the fuck is going on ?"
"I don't know..."
She advanced near the trail of blood on the marble stairs: "They went inside."
The three adults turned and studied the building as Tess walked past and grabbed Ellie's arm to pull her as Joel and Lara opposed, "Tess !" "What the fuck are you doing Tess ?"
The woman continued to climb the stairs and repeated : "Come on !"
They raced up the stairs and the older woman opened the door and pointed her gun in front of her. Lara passed the group when she saw a trail of blood on the floor and pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Seriously ?" Hissed the woman seeing a whole pile of lifeless bodies on the ground.
Tess continued to move forward and examine the room : « Holy shit ! Jesus » the woman let go of Ellie's hand and walked to the center of the room spinning around as she saw all the bodies.
Lara joined the young girl who was ready for a body and she put her hand on his shoulder. "Don't watch this, you'll have nightmares." the teenager turned and smiled: "I've seen worse but, thank you mama-" the woman cringed. "Don't call me like that ! I'm serious kid !"
Tess rummaged through the boxes on the tables in a quick and agitated way as if she was afraid of something while Lara and Ellie joined Joel a little further. "Who killed them? FEDRA's? » ask Ellie. Joel turned the body they were watching with his foot dripping blood. "One of them got bit. The healthy ones fought the sick ones. Everyone lost. » then the man turned to his friend. "Tess, what're you doing?" »
Ellie continued to stare at the body as Lara turned away slightly to look away at Tess who was looking for a radio in each crate. "When did Marlene say that she was talking to you ? Ellie ? » the girl pursed her lips and replied. "I don't know. Just west. »
"Just west ? Fuck ! Okay."Tess huffed. "Well I mean one of theme's gonna have a map on them right ? Joel can you help me ?"
"No !" The man got angry. "Tess it's over ! We are going home."
Lara took a step forward and fixed her eyes on her friend. "Tess let it go !"
The woman stood up furiously :"That's not my fucking home !" A hovering silence and the woman resumed : "I'm stayin'. I mean, our luck had to run out sooner or later."
"What are you talking about ?" Ask Lara.
She rolled her eyes as if she understood. "Shit ! She's infected !"
Lara's gaze hardened and Joel stared at his friend. "Show me !" Tess stared sadly at the man. "Joel." Barely had she advanced on the man had retreated.
The Smith woman clenched her fists and backed away, not because she was scared, but because it felt like the truth had just hit her in the face.
Tess pulled her jacket and a red bite showed in front of them. « Oops, right ? »
A lump formed in Lara's throat and she swallowed hard, holding back the pain and rage that threatened to burst. That one friend was going to die and she couldn't do anything about it.
Tess turned to Ellie who was further away. « Take your bandages off ! »
The young girl ran and pulled off the white cloth that Joel had given her earlier, and the older woman stepped forward to grab her arm. "Look, Joel. This is real. Joel she's fucking real. "
The man watched the bite, which hadn't gotten worse, then groaned as Tess began to shake. "I need you to get her to Bill and Franck's."
"No."
"They'll take her off your hands."
The man shook his head as Lara dug her nails deeper into his skin to keep her tears from falling.
"No, no, no. I can't. They won't take her. They're not gonna take her." Joel refused.
"They will cause you'll convince them. Yes you will. I never ask you for anything. Not to feel the way I felt-"
"No."
"Shut the fuck up cause I don't have time. This is your chance. You get her there, you get here there, you keep her alive, and you set everything right. All the shit we did. Please say yes Joel."
"No, we can't desert you !" Lara had finally said, her voice almost trembling.
"Lara please, is the only thing I ask you !"
One of the bodies moved behind Ellie and she immediately hid behind Lara, swearing. "Oh shit !"
Joel pulled out his gun and fired without hesitation, letting all the anger he had built up from the start pour out onto the clicker. Then the man suddenly ran to the large wooden door and opened it before closing it quickly.
"How many ?" Ask Tess.
"All of them. Maybe a minute. "
Joel spun around to find a way out, Lara running a hand through her hair as Tess dropped barrels of gasoline onto the floor, the yellowish liquid spilling onto the floor. Then the older woman came forward to face Joel.
"Joel. Save who you can save."
The two friends looked at each other before the man grabbed Ellie's arm to pull her as she struggled. "No ! We're not leaving her ! Get of me. You fucker ! Lara do something !"
The woman's throat tightened and she couldn't say anything as her friend grabbed her by the shoulders. "Lara, you have to go!"
The brunette shook her head as she swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat. "I'm not going to leave you-" a knock on the door cut off the woman and Tess resumed, "Lara go !" shouted her friend. "Get off, let me go !"
The two women looked at each other for long seconds before Lara finally helped each other, she turned to her friend several times with tears in her eyes before she came out the back. The brunette felt a tear roll down her cheek and she wiped it away as quickly as she had arrived before quickly joining Joel and Ellie. The girl watched the Smith woman with a look of reproach in her eyes. The building exploded behind the group and Joel forced the teenager down before pointing his gun at the source.
Lara sat up and watched Ellie then Joel but the man didn't wait any longer and walked away.
~~~
Lara was leaning against a tree with her legs stretched out in front of her, her knife in her hand and her pistol on her thighs. The woman couldn't get to sleep, and for nearly three hours, she just spun around again and again and...again. So she had given up, she had realized that sleep would not come and that only the images of her past and Tess would parade before her eyes.
Tess... She hated herself so much for leaving him there, she had abandoned him like she had done with her family with her sister, her mother and... her father, did he even still deserve his title? She believed in it very little. But Tess deserved to live and she gave it up without even a fight, she was content to give it up and leave it to the clicker. And that, she would never be able to forgive. How could she?
"Oh, fuck just let's me !" Whispered the woman to herself in hopes of dispelling her thoughts.
The brunette removed her jacket from her legs and put it back on her shoulder before taking her knife to play with as she used to do.
Lara saw Joel move and she realized he wasn't sleeping so she blew heavily. Why didn't she suspect that? It was Joel Miller she had rarely seen him sleep why would he now. The brunette saw something out of the corner of her eye so she immediately got up, pointing her pistol in front of her, she turned on her flashlight and discreetly advanced to a tree.
"So Lara are you proud of what you did to me ?" Leslie suddenly asked with a bloody forehead and a hole in the middle.
Panicked the woman backed up and tripped over a tree root in a scream of fright as she dropped her gun and flashlight, she quickly picked them up. A beam of light to illuminate the trees but nothing seen apart from the greenery.
"What happened ?" Joel asks his rifle in hand while he was behind Lara still on the ground.
The woman got up as quickly as she could when she heard the man's voice and she tried to calm her jerky breathing which had become painful.
"Nothing, I just thought I saw something."
The brunette walked around Joel but the man grabbed her wrist forcing her to stop at his level. "Are you sure there's nothing?"
The woman narrowed her eyes and the sudden closeness made her cringe, bringing back too many memories; so she pulled her arm out of the Miller man's grip and laughed mirthlessly.
"I'm sure ! You don't have to worry about your safety."
Lara continued on her way and Joel growled behind her before declaring coldly. "How much longer are you planning to play the cold girl ? » the woman stopped abruptly and turned in the direction of her interlocutor. "I don't know, are you going to play the asshole much longer ? No because it seems to me that you have screwed everything up ! »
"Are you moralizing me ? » wondered the man, taking a step forward. "You're the one who walked off without saying a word ! You left like a thief in the middle of the night. »
Lara's blood was boiling in his veins and an urge to slap Joel seized him at the moment, he had the nerve to pretend that he was not at fault in this whole affair? He was the main cause of his departure if we forgot the QZ.
"I left after you made it clear to me that I was a burden to you ! After you dumped me like I did one of the worst things when you..." Lara's voice quivered as her words stuck in her throat remembering tonight, tonight or for once after two years she had felt something special. "You kissed me and then you made me feel like shit because I made the mistake of not pushing you away !"
Joel didn't know how to say a word throughout Lara's monologue, realizing how much his behavior had hurt him that night... But she didn't know that they blamed each other for every second and every minute that passed. to throw like that only because he was scared.
"But you were right, the world doesn't revolve around Princess Lara and I'm not the only one hurting... You must be in a lot of pain too considering how you behaved but unlike you Joel, I tried to help you as best I could. »
He knew it, he had realized the help Lara had wanted to give him before or even after Tommy left, but he had always been withdrawn so that evening... When they kissed it had seemed too good for him. to be true and it had been since right after that came the moment of regret in whatever way it was and...unfortunately both had suffered in their own way, one out of fear and the other out of sadness and disappointment.
Lara resumed her journey with tears of rage and sadness on her lips when something forced her to stop again.
"I wish it had been otherwise. »
Joel whispered softly, so softly that Lara thought she hadn't heard him but it had been real she was sure of it.
So... was he really sorry?
The woman returned to her seat next to Ellie as Joel silently joined them. The man put his jacket on the teenage girl's trembling body and then left, probably doing a round and venting his anger.
Lara stayed up the rest of the night until Ellie woke up with a tired moan. The girl had settled down next to the brunette and she was allowed to lay her head on his shoulder, which the woman had had the point of tensing up, but; she had not made a reflection and had endured.
Joel had finally returned a few minutes after the teenager woke up, the anger could be seen on his face: his jaw was contracted and the lines between his eyebrows were deepened.
« You want your jacket back ? »
The man shook his head negatively and continued to rummage through his bag until he found his rations, he ate some and stopped as he went to put them in his bag. He growled and threw the bag in the direction of Ellie and Lara, the girl picked it up and offered it to the woman who kindly refused since she had already eaten before.
« I've never been I the woods. More bugs I thought. » Joel didn't answer so the girl continued : « Look, I've been thinking about-"
"I don't want your sorries."
The teenager shook her head. "I wasn't gonna say I'm sorry. I was gonna say that I've been thinking about what happened. Nobody made you or Tess take me. Nobody made you go along with this plan ! You needed a truck battery or whatever and you made a choice. So don't blame me for something that isn't my fault."
The two looked at each other as Lara stood up and Joel nodded. Ellie jumped to her feet in turn and handed the jacket to the Miller man while Lara slung her bag over her shoulders and kept a little distance from the group; not wanting to confront Joel Miller now.
« How much long ? » ask the teenager.
"Five hours hike." Answer Joel.
Ellie looked down. "We can ménage that."
The man turned without answering and they started walking again. The hours passed and the walk became almost unbearable but they had to continue. Lara drank from a new bottle of water and handed it to Ellie who took it thanking her. They continued to walk in dead silence until they came to a large path and the teenager broke the ice. « You've gone this way a lot ? No infected ? »
« No often. No. »
« What are you looking out for ! » ask again the teenager.
Lara was shaking her head at all the questions she asked but remained silent.
"People."
Ellie hummed back and resumed her questioning as Lara slowed down to get away from all the insufferable questions. The teenager continued to ask questions but unfortunately the Smith woman was not far enough not to hear her.
« Are Bill ans Frank nice ?
"Frank is."
"How'd you get that scar on your head ?"
This time Joel growled really not liking the question.
"What is something lame ? Like you feel down the stairs or something ?"
"I didn't fall down any stairs !" The man breathed.
"Okay, so what then ?"
By understanding that he would have no choice but to answer Joel to blow. "Someone shot at me and missed." Ellie's face almost lit up and she replied : "See that's cool ! You shoot back ?"
"Yeah."
"You got him ?"
Joel shook his head from side to side. "No, I messed too. It's happens more than you think."
"Cause you suck at shooting or, like in general ?"
The man looked at Ellie and deepened the line between his eyebrows : « In general. »
The girl nodded and turned to Lara who hadn't said a word since they left. "And do you have a battle scar ?"
The woman didn't answer for a long second wondering if she could tell or not. "Yes I have one."
"When ? How ? »
Joël listened almost intrigued by the answer but kept his mask of indifference.
Lara huffed and ran a hand through her dirty hair. "A man tried to rob me he stuck his blade in my arm when I protected myself. »
Ellie was very interested in this information and slowed down to get closer to the brunette. "Can I see her ?" At this question Lara nearly choked on her saliva but ended up lowering her jacket and rolling up the sleeve of her t-shirt. " Oh fuck ! Joel do you see that !? »
When the man heard her name he turned and his eyes went straight to the woman's scar. He had never seen her before and that's how he understood that it was to pass after she left... because of him.
Ellie stared at the gun in Joel's belt and innocently resumed. « You know seeing as it's just two of us I was thinking I should pro-» « No ! »
The trio continued to advance until they arrived in front of a small, completely dilapidated store.
"Cumberland Farms !" Say Ellie deceptively cheerful.
Joel turned to the teenager: "Hang back a minute. I gonna grab some stuff I stashed."
"Stashed ? What do you have stuff stashed here ?"
"You asks lot of goddamn question !" Hissed Joel.
And for once Lara agreed with him, the young girl asking way too many questions and it was becoming exasperating. But Ellie didn't seem offended by the reflection as she resumed : "Yes, I do."
The trio and discreetly entered the shop and Ellie asked again : "So are you gonna answer me or what ?"
"We hide supplies on routes in case we find ourselves short of gear, which I currently am 'cause-" The teenager cut Joel off to walk up to a machine and Lara was almost surprised. "No way !"
« God Ellie ! » hissed the woman.
"Your ever play this one ?" Ask the teenager. "I hade friend who knew everything about this game this is one character named Mileena-"
"She take off her mask and she has a monster !" Smile Lara.
Ellie turned surprised by this information. "You ever play this game ?"
"When I was your age, no doubt."
The girl smiles. "It's really cool ! Riley would have loved you !"
The woman frowned not knowing her name. "Who is Riley?"
Ellie hesitated for a moment and huffed. "She was my friend." she continued to play with the joysticks and ended up pushing the machine. "Oh man. » then she turned to the two adults searching the room. « You forgot where you put your stuff. »
Joel straightened up. "No, I'm just zeroing in on it. It's been a couple of years."
"Okay, well I'm gonna take a look around see if there's anything good."Said the girl, stepping near a door.
"Trust me. It's all been picked over already." Said Joel, continuing to search.
Lara watched the teenager's back as she continued to move forward before responding : « Maybe, maybe not. It's there anything bad in here ?» Ellie asks pointing to an open door.
"Just you."
"Ah, getting funnier !"
Before the girl completely disappeared from her field of vision Lara couldn't help but say : « And be careful ! »
"Yes mom !"
The woman sighed and looked around the store looking for something that might be interesting but it was empty so she leaned on a shelf and looked at Joel completely lost. "You forgot where you put your things Ellie for a reason !" Assures the brunette.
The man shook his head with too much ego to confess the truth.
"I'm sure it is !" the woman scoffed again with her eyes fixed on Joel. "You forget all the time when you were your business to me ! »
A slight smile and come formed on the corners of the lips of the two adults recalling memories. Lara felt like she hated Joel Miller a little less since what he said in the forest, like she believed him deep down.
The man has to tap his foot on the ground and a deaf noise to reason, he bends down and plant his knife in the wood which he removed to reveal his equipment. "See, I didn't forget ! "It was just a fluke. Joel didn't answer but his lips stretched a bit more, he continued to search as Lara turned towards the door : « Ellie are you okay ? » no answer. « Ellie ? » still nothing and that almost worried Joel who also called him. « Ellie ? »
The Miller man stood up and pulled out his gun as Lara imitated him, then the pair walked towards the door from where the girl came out showing off a packet of tampons. « Picked over my ass ! »
The man looked away and Lara smiled as she stowed her gun in her belt. Joel put away his equipment as well as his rifle while the teenager put her find in her bag which she then put on her shoulder.
"What are you doing ?" Asks the girl when she sees the weapon put away.
« There's not much ammo out there for this thing makes it mostly useless ! » answer the man.
« Well, if you're just gonna leave it there ? »
The man stood up, putting the wooden plate back. « No. »
Lara readjusted her bag on her shoulders and turned towards the teenager. "As long as we're here you won't need a weapon !" They silently left the store resuming their walk on long paths. "What if we get attacked and you get hurt ?" Tempted Ellie.
The two adults took a long breath. "If we are attacked and injured we will fight back !"
Understanding that the answer would remain the same, the young girl abdicated and they continued their hike silently until Ellie resumed speaking when she saw a plane crashed on one of the small hills of greenery. "Holy shit !"
The trio turned towards the plane in pieces and the teenager resumed while looking ahead. "Your fly in one those ?"
Lara remained silent staring at the plane as Joel responded : « Few times sure ! »
"So lucky !" Ellie huffed as Joel resumed : "Didn't feel like it at the time. Get shove into a middle seat, pay 12 bucks for a sandwich. " "Dude, you got to go up in the sky !"
Joel looked at the girl next to him "Yeah, well so did they." Lara shook her head and resumed walking, insisting the group do so. The sooner they arrived the better for everyone.
All the way Ellie continued with her questions which Lara answered from time to time but more often she left Joel to suffer with the interrogation of the teenager.