𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙫𝙞𝙫𝙤𝙧 ━ 𝙩𝙡𝙤𝙪

bus depot

╔═══*.·:·.★ ✦ ★･:･:*═══╗

B U S  D E P O T

It had been months since winter and was now spring time. Although on the surface Paige didn't seem effected by the David ordeal, whenever Joel and Ellie weren't looking, her face would drop instantly and turn into a frown, however the pair did notice but decided against pushing the blonde about it.

Joel had healed since then and he was now more open, cracking jokes every now and then, whistling a tune from time to time, which was the closest Ellie got to hearing him sing.

The redheaded girl stops as she looks over a deer emblem on the wall, "Ellie! Did you hear me?" Joel asks.

"No. What?" She replies, pulling at her sleeves.

He points to the big building in the distance, "look. Hospital. This is where we get off. Let's go, kiddo." They walk down the street as Joel hums, "heh. Feel that breeze, huh? I'll tell you, on a day like this, I'd just sit on my porch, pick away at my six string."

"I always loved that guitar." Paige smiles, her voice was more quiet since winter but it didn't make it any less kind.

"Once we're done with this whole thing, I'm gonna teach you how to play the guitar. Yeah, I reckon you'd really like that. Whaddya say, huh?"

She smiles at him, jogging to keep if with their pace, "yeah, sure, that sounds great." She agrees.

They continue walking until they see a plane on an advertisement, the young girl stops in from of it and begins in hopes making the blondes mind at ease, "I dreamt about flying the other night."

Paige crosses her arms across her chest and tilts her head, "oh, yeah?"

Ellie nods her head, "yeah."

"Tell me about it." Paige nods, her lips curved into a smile.

Joel wanders off to look inside an old caravan as Ellie begins, "so, I'm on a big plane full of people. And everyone is screaming and yelling 'cause the plane's going down. So I walk to the cockpit, open the door, but there's no pilot. I try to use the controls but... I obviously have no clue how to fly a plane. And just before we crash, I wake up. I've never been on a plane before, isn't that weird?"

Paige nods her head in understanding, "yeah, well, dreams are weird sometimes."

Joel reappears and they see a warning sign where the road ends, "look at that. Another city, another abandoned quarantine zone. There's that hospital the fireflies mentioned. C'mon kiddo."

They jump over the QZ fence and and enter an old bus station, Joel Iris look around for a way up, as Ellie sits down on a bench in the middle of the room, Paige sits down beside her, "hey, you wanna hear a joke?"

Ellie's lips twist up into a grin, "always."

"I was wondering why the ball was getting bigger. Then it hit me." Paige tells her, a smile of her own forming as Ellie begins giggling.

"Okay, okay. What about this one?" Ellie says, rambling off jokes she had memorised from her joke book.

Joel finds a ladder just beyond reach hanging on the edge of the balcony, he shouts for the girls to come help him, he gets into a position for a boost, but they dont hear hear him as they were too busy telling jokes, "girls."