This is Not the Last of Us

Chapter 4

The next few days were some of the most exciting for Ellie. At first, she was terrified by the concept of losing more good people, but it turned out that they could really hold their own. And they had gotten this far too, right?

When Ace had said he was trained to be a foot soldier, he hadn't been joking. Ellie was quite grateful that Joel and Ace were on her side. Joel had been a nightmare, but paired with Ace, the two were an unkillable duo. Even if Ace didn't seem to be all that fond of Joel.

And Seth was great at finding resources too, which had turned out to help them more times than Ellie could count now. Anything Joel discarded, Seth would pick back up and say, "We can use this."

And then he'd actually find something to use it for. He was like the ultimate handyman. On top of being great at conversations, he loved Ellie's jokes. Joel may grimace every time he heard another joke from Ellie, but Seth thought they were quite endearing and would even occasionally ask for a joke to pass the time.

(Y/N) was also a lot of fun. She was witty and resourceful, and she was polite and easy to talk to. The only downfall was that she wasn't really geared towards combat, she always hid when her parents told her to, and she never tried to go against what they asked of her. She was almost blindly obedient, and normally that would disgust Ellie, but she didn't mind all that much when it was Ace or Seth. They were never forceful about what they wanted her to do, which made it easier to even get Ellie to work with them.

It turned out that (Y/N) didn't really like carrying a gun. The thought of shooting someone, even if they were infected made her feel disgusted apparently. Ellie didn't really get it, but it made her think of Sam and Henry. The way Sam had asked about being trapped in an infected. (Y/N) seemed to voice that as well, afraid of the thought of killing someone that was alive in any capacity.

The one she had in the building was apparently more for her parents' comfort than her own. She seemed to hold the utmost faith that her parents would be able to protect her, and they trusted their own ability to do so.

Now that she was finally fully healthy, she was a lot more fun to talk to. She was excited to learn about things and hear about them, and she also loved Ellie's jokes, even if she didn't get all of them. She and Ellie would stare at each other in confusion when the jokes referenced something that only the adults got a laugh out of, and then they would smile and share a cute laugh together.

For the first time in a while, Ellie felt both safe and happy.

They traveled together for the next month. Slipping through cities and towns, collecting things and fighting infected when the time came. Ellie was glad that she was traveling with Seth. Thanks to him, they'd managed to find a few copies of Savage Starlight, even. She felt like they were finally getting somewhere with luck.

The girls liked to explore the malls more than the streets.

Ellie was a little uneasy at first, but after passing through their third one, she had found herself kind of enjoying it. As long as they didn't step into any arcades, Ellie was able to pass through just fine. It was honestly a little fascinating, seeing the businesses that could have been, the stores made by people who thought the buildings would last forever. It was also bittersweet in that sense.

Looking at them still brought them a childish sense of wonder. The stores had long since been ransacked, and even Seth was struggling to find things to collect. But seeing what was left in them was kind of fun. Damaged posters and advertisements. These things that Joel called 'record players' that apparently would play music through big black discs. Joel swore by them, and Ace said he remembered his uncle having one at some point.