The Last Of Us

does she come with the muscles😔

i want her muscles RIGHT NOW.

Chapter I 'Finding the Light'

~ September 12th 2037

Juno struggled against the arms that held her down, kicking and screaming. She refused to let this happen. She couldn’t let them die when they were so close to that base.

Just a few feet away she was watching their nearly limp bodies get beat into the floor by these traders. Traders that claimed her parents ‘sold them short’.

“Leave them alone” she pleaded, nearly choking on her own sobs “please..hic..don’t kill them” she couldn’t even scream anymore because of how long she’d been screaming for them to stop.

The man blocking the door pulled his gun on Juno but was stopped by the one holding her down. He claimed there was no need to kill the kid. Juno could tell they were arguing but couldn’t tell what they were saying. Her eyes were locked on the sight before her, her head was pounding. Before she knew it the men were fleeing, the only sounds left were her own cries, shuffling down the hall, and whistling. She quickly moved to where her parents' bodies laid, carelessly thrown beside each other.

“Ma….Ma..Dad..?” Her voice trembled as did her body “No..dammit no..please..please I still need you..” she sobbed harder, hiccuping and coughing. She leaned back against the wall, pulling her knees to her chest. “No…no..no please, please come back..please” She pleads, rocking herself until she inevitably falls asleep.

~ September 20th 2037

Juno approaches the gates of the WLF base. Limping due to a sprained ankle that hasn’t been treated properly yet. She’s stopped by soldiers before she can get too close to it.

“Please..I’m..I’m just looking for my brother, Owen” She explains to them.

Two of the soldiers share a glance before nodding. “Open the gate, she’s just one girl, plus she’s injured” One of them speaks up.

Juno’s eyes light up with hope. He’s here. They open up the gate and one of them leads her to the medical center. “Mel, can you fix up her ankle and these cuts, I gotta go find Owen”

The dark haired woman, supposedly named Mel, looked between the soldier and Juno. She nods before motioning for Juno to follow after. The two of them head back to an empty space for Mel to work. Juno sits down and Mel starts to work on her ankle. After a while the soldier comes back with Owen and a woman.

“Juno..?” He asks hesitantly, studying the frail looking girl in front of him. The blond to his right also studied her.

Juno hesitates as well before speaking, “Owen?”

Owen surges forward, pulling Juno into his arms. Mel and the blonde woman share a glance of confusion before looking back at the pair. They hold each other before Owen steps back to get a look at her.

“How’d all this happen?” He eyes a particular set of stitches on her bicep.

“Some traders to us on the way here” Juno explains, her voice quiet.

“Us?” Owen asks, his eyes darting around the room for a moment. “Mom and dad are with you?” Juno shakes her head at her brother’s second question. She couldn’t bring herself to speak, to tell him what happened. She didn't have to though. He could tell by the pained look on her face. “Oh Jun..”

Series Masterlist

One Moore to Another

Masterlist

Abby Anderson x Juno Moore(my oc!)

Chapter I - Finding the Light - 541 words

Chapter II - Reunion & Reflections - 1.8k words

Chapter III - Unspoken Desires - 1.2k words

Chapter IV - The Aquarium

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This is the face claim I found for Juno a while back

Chapter IV - The Aquarium

~ April 4th 2038

Abby didn’t return back to Juno’s room last night, nor did she return to her own. Manny claimed that he hadn’t seen her since they left the FOB but Juno didn’t exactly believe that. Owen also happened to be missing. At least if they were together they were safe. Juno hoped they were safe. She decided she needed to ask Manny again. Maybe he didn’t tell yesterday because of all the people around. Now she could knock two birds with one stone or something like that. She could see if Abby was there and if she wasn’t she’d ask Manny where she’d run off too.

When Juno arrives she knocks gently on their door. When Manny opens the door he looks a little surprised. 

“Hey Manny, I uh, I just came to see if Abby was back” she explains. Manny sighs softly and motions for her to come in. When she realizes Abby is in fact not here she frowns and turns back to Manny. “Look I’ll tell you where she is but you can’t go blabbing okay?” 

She nods “I won’t say a word” 

“She went off to the aquarium, by the ferris wheel” He tells her quietly.

“Is that where Owen is too?” she asks tentatively.

Manny nods “You can’t tell anybody though, they’ll go after him for shooting Danny” he warns.

“Okay..I won’t say anything, cover for me?” 

Manny huffs softly but agrees. He knew even he said no that Juno would leave to find Abby and Owen. She thanks him before leaving to pack her things. After around an hour she leaves the same way Manny said to. 

She assumes she’s going the way Abby went because of the lack of infected. On her way to the aquarium she has to sneak past a few scars. They’re talking about some apostate, at least that’s what she thinks she heard. She manages to get past them and closer to the aquarium. Juno makes her way through the last of the shrubbery and to the aquarium doors. She boosts herself up through the small window and makes her way inside. 

“Owen..?” She calls out, following up with, “Abby?”

When she’s met with silence she progresses further inside until she finds Owen and Mel arguing in hushed tones. She sits and listens for a moment but it seems she’s too late.

”God arguing with you is always so pointless Owen” Mel snaps.

”That’s because we don’t sit down and talk anymore”  Owen snaps back.

”Cause you always lie to me” She yells at him and the room goes quiet. 

After a moment Mel turns to leave and sees Juno in the doorway. She almost feels bad that the younger girl had been standing there. Juno looks between the two of them, she’s starting to feel awkward. After Mel walks past her she goes up to Owen.

”What was that about..?” She asks hesitantly.

“Nothing” He says firmly.

Juno nods slowly before speaking again, “Any clue where Abby is?”

”She just left, no clue if she’ll be back anytime soon, or at all” Owen murmurs the last bit.

”You get into a fight with her too?” Her tone has a bit more bite to it than she intended. 

“Seriously Juno?” He frowns at her.

”Sorry sorry, It just sounded like something was wrong between you guys too” She explains.

Owen sighs and sits down. He eases his sister's nerves telling her that everything will be fine soon. They go on to talk about what happened with Danny, how the scars are getting closer. They also talk about normal things though, how they’ve been and other normal sibling stuff. It's been years since they sat down and talked like this. Hell It’s been so long the fireflies were still up and running. After a little while longer Owen got up to make some food for the both of them and Mel. In his absence Juno went to talk with Mel. Maybe it was a little invasive but she wanted to know what had happened.

“Hey Mel” Juno softly calls out from the doorway.

Mel looks over her shoulder at her, tensing a bit. 

Juno speaks up again “Just wanted to check in, and um..I also wanted to ask what that was about”

“Owen didn’t tell you?” Mel asks, looking back at the water.

“Nah..he said it was nothing, but obviously it was something”

“That’s typical for him I guess” Mel sighs before continuing “Well..to be blunt he slept with Abby last night” Juno freezes up behind her, unable to speak up. “I didn’t even really accuse him, he accidentally ratted himself out.” she explains.

“They..slept together?” Juno asks, praying she somehow heard wrong.

Mel nods “Yeah, I can barely believe it either” she turns to look at the blonde.

Mel looks like she’s barely holding herself together. Juno is trying to comprehend it all. She knows she shouldn’t really be mad at Abby but she is.

“She’ll probably be back soon” Mel says.

Juno nods “Alright, Owen um..made food by the way, it’ll probably be done soon”

A few hours later Alice started barking at something while Mel and Juno were still eating. They both got up and headed towards Alice. As they got closer they could hear Owen and Abby’s panicking voices. 

“Alice!” Mel called out, silencing the dog.

“Lev put your bow down” Abby spoke warily, “It’s okay”

“Who are those kids” Juno asked, peeking over Owen’s shoulder

“Look, they saved my life” Abby explains.

“They’re scars Abby” Owen snaps.

Juno swats at his shoulder “That doesn’t matter”

They bicker for a moment before Mel interrupts them. Abby introduces the kids as Lev and Yara. There’s another short silence and then Mel motions for Abby to follow her. They lay Yara down and talk about what they need to amputate her arm. Since they had practically nothing at the aquarium Abby said she’d head out with Lev. Juno was about to offer to come but decided against it. She knew that now wasn’t a good time to talk to Abby about last night. 

When Abby returns with the supplies Mel is quick to start the procedure. Owen was..somewhere..which left Juno, Abby, and Lev. Lev wasn’t up for long, falling asleep against the wall while he waited for Yara. This left Abby and Juno.

”Hey..” Juno murmurs, walking up behind Abby.

”Hey Jun” Abby turns to look at the shorter blonde.

They’re both quiet for a moment. Surprisingly, Abby breaks the silence this time. “You seem angry” she points out.

“I..I am..I’m also a little hurt” She nearly whispers, she’s never been this vulnerable with Abby.

”Did..um..something happen while I was gone” Abby asks.

”Sort of, I found out something while you were gone” Juno pauses, “I’d bet you know what I mean already”

Abby sighs, Juno can’t tell if it’s regret, frustration, or both.

”Look..it was a shitty thing to do..It wasn’t supposed to happen” Abby starts off, “I know Mel is angry at us a-

“I’m not worried about Mel right now” Juno interrupts.

They both pause, Abby isn’t sure what this is about now.

”I..dammit..it’s stupid..but I thought..we..you” Juno stops and takes a breath. She wasn’t sure how she was supposed to do this. 

“You thought what” Abby asks tentatively.

Juno takes another breath, she’s started to tremble. “I think I just got the wrong idea over the past month” 

“Jun..” Abby trails off, not sure what to say.

”I just thought that..yknow..the feelings were mutual” her voice cracks.

Abby feels her heart drop as she hears Juno’s breath catch. She looks down at her, not sure how to comfort her. 

“Owen and I aren’t like that” she says after a moment.

”But..you-

Abby stops her “It was a weak moment, I regretted it the second it was over” 

Juno finally looks up at her, her own eyes wet with unshed tears. Without a second thought Abby pulls her in, holding her close. They both relax a bit in each other's arms. Juno was still unsure about how Abby felt. 

Abby pulls back just enough to wipe Juno’s tears. “We’ll figure all of this out soon okay” she speaks softly. Juno nods in response, relaxing further into Abby’s arms. She was more hopeful now than she had been a few hours ago.

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Chapter I - Not Quite Seattle

SUMMARY: Angelica and Julietta’s plan was to get to the WLF, a group of (according to Julietta’s father) old fireflies. With less than a month of travel time left Juliette gets infected. Angelica travels on her own until she tires herself out. She blacks out and next thing she knows she’s in a room with and dark haired man and an auburn haired, freckled girl who are offering to bring her to ‘Jackson’

AUGUST 30 2037 - PIERRE SD

Angelica’s pov

There’s too much open space in this damn city. Too many infected and too much sun. I looked over at Jules who was laying on the couch opposite of me. She looked so peaceful but so uncomfortable at the same time. She almost looked like a shrimp because of her sunburn.

”Hey babe..” I called out to her. Julia opens her eyes and looks over at me. I stifle a laugh before speaking again. “You look like a shrimp”

She feigns offense before snapping back “Yeah? Well you look like a lobster”

”I do not- do I seriously?” I ask in a quieter tone, now concerned for my appearance.

She nods with a chuckle as she pulls herself up from the couch. I watch her start to gather her things, admiring the smoothness in her motions. I pull myself up and grab my own stuff.

”C’mon, we aren’t gonna get across the country just sitting here.” Julia smiles, stepping up onto the ledge, holding her hand out to me.

I grab her hand and pull myself up, carefully dropping down from the window. We make it to one of those ‘Welcome to the city’ signs before we hit another group of infected. It’s a rough fight, far too many clickers for my liking. We manage it though. After the last one drops Julia takes a minute to lean back against a light pole. 

“I’m clean, you?” I pant, looking over at her.

”I..I’m clean” Julia breathes, pushing herself upright.

”Good..c’mon let’s make the most of the sunlight” I push, holding her hand out to her.

We continue down the quieter streets as we get through half of the next city. Making it to Washington was not going to be easy. Julia’s dad better have been right about this ‘WLF’. 

After just a few more hours we both start to slow down. We needed a break. Julia points out what looks like a convenience shop. We pry the boards off the door but before I can try opening it Julia stops me. 

There’s this look in her eyes. Guilt? Regret? Well, those are nearly the same aren’t they.

Her next words are probably the worst thing I’ve ever heard.

”Angel..I got bit” she utters, her eyes downcast.

My breath hitches, for a moment I can’t bring myself to speak. I feel my cheeks become wet with tears. ”No..” I finally choke out. “No, no you’re lying” She couldn’t be bit.

She brings me into her arms, guiding my head to the crook of her neck. I sob against her skin, balling my fists in her shirt. ”This isn’t how it was supposed to go..” I whisper through tears “We’re supposed to do this together Jules..We have to make it to Seattle..”

“You’ll make it..” She murmurs.

“We were supposed to make it! Not just me..It was supposed to be us. It’s always been us!!” I yell at her. I want to keep yelling. Tell her she’s stupid for getting bit, tell her that she should’ve told me sooner. We could’ve amputated it. We could’ve made it. 

“Angel..promise you’ll make it to the WLF..actually, fuck that.. just make it to a civilization, somewhere safe. I just want you to make it. I want you to live for me” She whispers to me. 

She runs her fingers through my hair, trying but failing to soothe me. Occasionally she whispers a ‘sorry’ and an ‘i love you’. I can’t do anything but sob and tell her I love her too while I hold her.

”Get inside” she pleads.

”No..no I’m not going without you” I cling onto her harder, I can’t let go.

I feel her shifting in my arms and next thing I know there’s a loud crack. Something warm has splattered on the side of my face. I don’t have to look to know it’s Julia’s blood. Suddenly my arms drop and along with them Julia crumbles to the ground. Blood spills out around her head, staining the road. I sink to my knees beside her still warm body. I watch the blood pour out, not crying or moving. 

I don’t know how long I sat there before I finally moved. The first thing I do is take her firefly pendant 

I spend the next week or so traveling nearly nonstop. Pushing myself to the brink of passing out before I take a break. Fighting against infected in this state was certainly not ideal. I’ve ended up writing letters to Julia, telling her things I hadn’t gotten the chance to tell her, asking questions I never had the guts to ask. I did all this even though I knew I’d get no answer. No new information. The only new thing I had now was August 30th. A day that no matter how hard I want to, I will never be able to forget.

By now I’ve been walking for nearly 10 hours. I’m starting to get dizzy, my exhaustion is weighing heavier on me. I can’t stop. I push myself for another hour or so before my body gives up and I pass out.  The next thing I know is I’m waking up in a dimly lit room on a mildly uncomfortable couch. There’s two other people in the room. A man with dark hair and a girl with auburn hair. I jerk up into a sitting position, reaching for my gun only to find it isn’t there. 

“Hey woah woah” The dark haired guy slowly stood up, his hand raised slightly.

My breaths were heavy as I pressed further back into the couch. I look between both of them. Both of them seem cautious but also concerned.

”We’re not going to hurt you” The guy speaks up again.

”Who the hell are you” I snap.

”I’m Jesse, this is Ellie” he pauses like he’s waiting for me to speak. When I stay quiet he continues. “We found you passed out in the woods just a couple miles away” 

I studied them both before relaxing slightly. If they wanted to kill me they would’ve already. Right..?

“You can come back to Jackson with us, unless you’ve got family somewhere else” Jesse spoke again.

”Jackson..?” I ask tentatively.

”It’s where we’re from, it’s just a small town over the hill” Ellie explains.

I consider it for a moment, before nodding slightly. “Okay..They won’t mind you bringing back a um a stranger?”

Ellie shakes her head “Maria will question you a bit but she’ll be happy to see a new face” 

“She’d be even happier to put a name to that face” Jesse chirps up, reminding me that I haven’t given them my name.

”It’s Angelica” I speak up a bit more, feeling a bit more safe with these strangers.

They lead me out to their horses and Jesse helps me onto his. The ride back to their town is short but feels like forever. When we arrive at the gates they let us in and this blonde woman meets us at the stables. I assume this is Maria, she seems to be in charge around here. 

“Who’s this” she asks in a firm tone.

”This is Angelica, Ellie and I found her passed out not too far from here” Jesse explains.

Maria gives me a once over “Well you don’t seem like much trouble”

I’m not sure if I should be relieved or offended by her statement.

She motions for me to follow and I do so. She asks me more questions as she shows me around. I answer all of them truthfully and by the time we’re finished we arrive at an empty looking home. 

“This is where you’ll be staying, it’s furnished and there’s a few coats inside but not much else” she says, pulling a small notepad from her pocket and a pencil. She hands it to me before speaking again “Make me a list of your sizes and any allergies you may have and I’ll bring by somethings for you” 

I quickly right down the list before handing it back to her. 

“Perfect, now you remember where the medical center is?” She asks.

”Yes ma’am” I nod. 

“Just call me Maria” she smiles, “I want you to head down there and get checked out, you seem a little underweight”

Now that she mentioned it, I probably am underweight. I nod and we part ways. When I make it to the medical center there’s only two people there who aren’t workers. A tallish, old, blond man and a dark haired girl with some faint freckles. I didn’t pay much mind to them, following the doctor who had appeared in front of me.

The doctor sat me down and took my vitals before asking if I had any pre-existing issues. I told her about my scoliosis and my chicken allergy. She jotted something down and told me I was free to go. I head back to the house Maria had shown me earlier. There were two boxes on the front porch with a note; ‘come see me at the tipsy bison tomorrow morning if you need anything -Maria’. I smiled slightly, picking up the boxes and bringing them in. I spent the rest of my evening unpacking new clothes and other necessities that Maria had brought to me. I headed upstairs to the bedroom and saw that auburn haired girl walking into what looked like a garage. Her name is..um..El..Elaina? Elliot? Wait, Ellie! Her name was Ellie. She must be my neighbor for the time being.

Series Masterlist

Chapter III Unspoken Desires

~ March 17th 2038

“We’ll talk about it later” 

The words rang in Abby’s mind. They had been for the past two weeks. Juno had also been avoiding her for the past two weeks. She even went as far as changing the patrol partners behind Abby’s back. Why would she do  all of this? Why wouldn’t she just tell Abby what the problem was? Why didn’t she just say she didn’t wanna talk about it? These were the questions Abby had been asking herself again and again. They grew close quickly once they learned to trust each other. Now they seemed to be growing apart. All because Juno was too scared of ruining it all.

Juno’s days of avoiding Abby come to their inevitable end when they both get called to the FOB. Abby arrives first, not knowing that Juno will also be arriving soon. When Juno does get there the two of them look at each other for just a moment and she’s filled with regret. She knows Abby’s been trying to contact her and she knows now there’s no other choice. Isaac clears his throat and Juno takes a seat. Isaac wants them back on patrol together, to take out a Scar camp that’s in WLF territory. It’s clearly not optional.

After the meeting with Isaac they left the FOB and ‘coincidentally’ both headed for the mess hall. The walk there is unsurprisingly awkward. They’re quiet but not because they want to be. 

“Abby..we should talk about this..” Juno murmured. 

“Let’s get some food, then we’ll go somewhere less crowded” Abby suggests.

Juno nods and follows after Abby. Once they get their food they head to the stadium and up to Juno’s room. They sit on the floor opposite of each other. 

“So..wanna tell me why you’ve been avoiding me like the plague?” Abby questions in a casual tone.

Juno winces internally “Look..I..I’ve wanted to talk to you about it all. I can’t though..” 

“Why not? Is there somebody else involved or something?” Abby asks.

“Yes, well..kinda?”She questions her own words.

Abby doesn’t say anything, looking at Juno with a hint of concern.  She’s  heard plenty from Owen about how hard it is for Juno to share her feelings with other people.

Juno takes a breath “I can’t tell you”  she murmurs.

Abby sighs in frustration, debating whether or not to push the topic. 

“I’m..I’m sorry..This wasn’t how I thought this would go..” she looked up at Abby, “but you didn’t do anything wrong, y’know” she murmurs, looking away again.

“Right..” Abby nods, not sure how to continue their conversation from this point. She’s not even sure if Juno wants to keep talking. “I..I’ll see you later” she sighs.

Juno watches as Abby gets up from her seat, watching her leave the mess hall.

~ April 3rd 2038

“The scar camp shouldn’t be that far from here” Abby utters, looking at the map Isaac provided.

“We’re sure they’re Scars and not some strangers.” Juno asks, keeping an eye out for any infected.

“Why are you questioning it?” Abby snaps slightly.

“Well the guy who said something about it is blind in one eye” she starts off, “plus he said he saw it from a distance”

“Well if they aren’t Scars we’ll..I don’t know” Abby huffs in frustration.

They continued making their way to the camp, remaining cautious of their surroundings. When they finally arrived at the camp they could see brown coats hanging from the tree limbs. They were likely being aired out from the recent rain. 

“Definitely Scars..” Juno mutters. 

“There’s only three coats..but there might be more of them” Abby whispers, pulling her rifle off of her shoulder.

The two girls stalk closer to the camp, weapons at the ready. From their spot in the bushes they see two Scars emerge from one of the tents. They’re completely oblivious to the two wolves. Abby motions for Juno to ready her rifle as she does the same. They take their shots, both hitting the Scars square in the head. Two more emerge from the other tents, handguns at the ready. One of them manages to shoot Abby in the shoulder before both blondes take them out. Once they’re sure nobody else is around, Juno speaks up.

“Hey..sit down and let me patch you up” Juno speaks softly, motioning to the tree stump behind Abby.

Abby nods, sitting down carefully. She moves her clothing to the side so Juno can help her. Juno sits in front of her and pulls out the small med pack she had in her bag. Once she finished she notices Abby’s shins are pretty cut up from the thorns on the bushes they’d been hiding in. Juno moves back and moves Abby’s pant leg up.

“Shit- I didn’t even notice that” Abby murmured, looking down at her own legs and the other blonde’s hands.

Juno just hums in acknowledgment. She wipes off the blood before disinfecting the cuts and bandages them. Once she’s finished she glances back up at Abby. They lock eyes but don’t speak. The silence between them is thick with the weight of unspoken words. Neither girl can bring herself to speak. Juno gathers her things before standing. For a moment Abby watches her before getting up herself. 

With their job completed they start to head back to the stadium. Just before they arrive Abby tentatively grabs Juno’s shoulder. “Wait..” she whispers. Juno stops in her tracks, turning to face her. They lock eyes and Abby is almost at a loss for words. 

“Juno..I need you to tell me why you were avoiding me” she speaks louder than she had before.

Juno’s breath hitches “Let’s get inside..then I promise I’ll tell you..everything” 

The two blondes sit on opposite ends of Juno’s bed. Juno keeps her eyes averted as she starts to speak. “So..so basically um..” She stutters, starting to pick at her fingers.

Abby gently grabs Juno’s hands in her own, pulling them apart.

”Relax Jun.. you act like I’m gonna bite your head off” Abby jokes, trying to lighten the mood. 

Juno takes a breath and looks up at Abby  “I’m..We..um..I love you” she says it like more of a question.

Abby looks at her for a moment before the realization hits her. “You’re- oh- oh my god” Before she can speak again there’s a knock at the door. 

“Come in” Juno calls out before muttering something unintelligible.

Manny walks in and looks at Abby “There you are, I’ve been looking for you” he pauses and looks between them both “I didn’t mean to interrupt but Isaac wants us at the FOB remember.” 

“Right, give us just a sec yeah?” Abby urges

Manny nods and walks back out. The blondes face each other again. “I promise, we can get into this again when I get back” 

Juno nods and watches Abby leave. She feels rejected even though she knows that isn’t the case, at least not yet. At this point there was really no telling what Abby would say. Maybe she was disgusted, maybe she was happy, maybe she’s confused.

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happy valentines day to other single sevika lovers. this is literally us today

Chapter II - Grief; The Latest Trend

SUMMARY: Angelica is trying to grieve her late girlfriend but is interrupted by yet another patrol. After a bit she considers the interruption to have been a good thing, it gave her time to bond with Ellie while partaking in some ‘extra-curriculars’. Before they can partake in anymore Jesse and Dina show up in a slight panic. Joel and Tommy weren’t at the look out? Once they split up it doesn’t take long for them to figure out why.

Angelica's POV

I’d done decently well adjusting to life in Jackson. The only thing that really stressed me out was the infected we encountered on patrols. You’d think I’d be used to seeing them by now but it seemed like everytime they irked me more. Aside from the few infected, patrols were peaceful. I did a lot of them with Ellie, I liked her company. Ellie was easy to talk to after I realized she’s a total nerd. She’s simple, she likes dinosaurs and those savage starlight comics. She also shared her weed with me whenever we took breaks so that was a plus.

Speaking of Ellie and weed it’d be kinda nice right now. Instead I’ve been sitting on my bathroom floor for the past..two hours? I think. I really needed to get up. I needed to stop thinking about Julia, get ready for patrol and all that. Right, patrol. Patrol with Ellie just what I was hoping for.

I pulled myself up and quickly washed my face. Thankfully my eyes weren’t red and puffy like they had been yesterday. I changed quickly, checked my ammo, and grabbed my pack before heading out the door. Jesse was the only one at the gates when I got there, he seemed tired.

“Long night?” I asked as Cassie(the horse) came to a stop.

He nods “Looong night, you missed a lot last night”

“You and Dina get back together early?” I joke.

“Nah we’re done for good this time” He confirms, it was bound to happen soon.

Before I can speak again Dina and Ellie trot up behind us. Jesse explains that Ellie and I will be taking the creek trail while he takes the new one with Dina (something like that I forget how this went in game). Once he’s done we head off on our separate ways.

The first few minutes are quiet as we make our way to the first checkpoint. It’s a comfortable silence, nothing felt wrong. Eventually Ellie broke the silence, she can never stay quiet for long.

“Wanna tell me what’s going on?” She asks, slowing to ride beside me.

“Huh?” I ask, looking over at her.

“You’re uh..I don’t know you just seem off” She mumbles.

I blink at her for a moment “Uh, it’s nothing El, I’m alright”

“Angel if you were alright you would’ve been at the Tipsy Bison last night”

She was right, it was unlike me to miss events. She knew me just well enough for it to be frustrating.

“It’s nothing big” I mutter “C’mon we’re almost there”

I hear Ellie sigh beside me but she doesn’t press. We check in a move onto the next point, not wanting to waste time. We don’t make much progress before the snow gets worse. We head into an old library and stock up on anything we can find. Ellie ends up finding a closed off area and holy shit there was a lot of weed there.

We find some pre-rolled joints and some matches then decide to get comfortable. I sit on the couch and she leans against me. There’s nothing but small talk as we pass the joint back and forth. After it burns down to a bud Ellie puts it out. We relax against each other, basking in the euphoric feeling. Until Ellie opens her mouth again.

“So..ready to talk” she asks, looking up at me.

“Hm..this week has just got me a little fucked up” I mutter. I can feel her looking at me expectantly so I continue. “Few days ago was Julia’s birthday, yesterday would’ve been our two years”

“Julia?” she murmurs as if she’s trying to remember.

“My girlfriend..well she was, till the fuckin infected got her” I murmur the last bit.

”Oh shit” she mutters.

Ellie’s quiet for a moment, I’d assume she doesn’t know what to say.

“I’m uh..I’m sorry about that Angel” she says quietly, adjusting against me.

“s’alright, I’ve been better today, yesterday was uh..not my best day”

“Yeah, guess it wasn’t a good day for anybody huh” she jokes but I can tell she had a rough time too.

“Oh? Is this what Jesse meant when he said I ‘missed a lot’ last night?” I ask, finally opening my eyes to look at her.

“Mhmm, it was..” she trails off and sighs “I kissed Dina, then got in a fight with Joel” she sighs.

“Are those two things related?” I ask.

She nods “After I kissed Dina, Seth opened his big mouth and Joel pushed him”

“So..Seth was being a bigot and Joel defended you and you got in a fight with him” I summarize the situation and she nods. “Why’d you get in a fight with Joel for defending you”

She huffs “I don’t know I just..I was angry” I could see her getting frustrated, she’d probably already gotten a lecture from Maria or somebody else about this.

“Hey..I’m not gonna lecture you, I just wanted to try and understand better” I speak gently.

She nods and relaxes into me, it was nice seeing her so calm. We didn’t get to relax much longer because Jesse and Dina came hurdling downstairs.

“What are the two of y- is that weed?!” Jesse asks as we both try to hurry off the couch.

“There was a snow storm outside, we thought we’d kill some time” Ellie explains, “and why aren’t you at the look out” she asks, grabbing her pack.”

“Cause Tommy and Joel never showed up” Jesse snaps.

The room goes quiet for a moment.

“We need to split up and look for them” Dina announces.

We all head back upstairs and head off on our horses. I end up finding Jesse after a short while and we stick together. He said it’d be best to find the others while we’re at it.

“Jesse, their horses are over here” I call out to him.

He ties up our horses next to theirs and we head towards the nearby house. We hurried inside and heard Dina yelling from downstairs. Jesse insisted on going in front of me as we made our way to her. He stopped art the bottom of the stairs and I could just see Dina holding Ellie who had * on her face. Jesse slowly made his way over to them. When I step fully into the room I see Joel, or what used to be Joel. His face was..mutilated..* was everywhere.

Ellie was crying into Dina’s arms, Jesse was trying to check on Tommy. I stood frozen, my gaze went from Joel to Ellie to Tommy again and again. After a moment I heard Jesse calling my name. I helped him tend to Joel’s corpse and tried to block out Ellie’s cries. I couldn’t bear listening to her, not when she was like this.

By the time we’d wrapped his body Tommy had woken up. Once he was fully coherent he helped Jesse with Joel’s body. I watched them carry him up the stairs before turning back to Ellie and Dina. She’d stopped sobbing but I could still see the tears dripping down to her chin. I could tell Dina was trying to keep from crying, she wanted to be there for Ellie but she also needed to grieve. Grief seemed to be the latest trend this week.

”Can youn um..can you help her while I go ask Tommy about something” Dina asked quietly. I nodded and took her place beside Ellie.

Ellie leaned against me, trying to steady out her breathing. “Hey..” I get her attention, “Look at me El..breathe with me..” I whispered to her. I can hear the shakiness in her breath as she tries.

”Here..” I place her hand on my sternum. “Feel it..” I ask, eyes darting between our hand and her eyes.

She nods “Yeah..yeah I feel it” she murmurs, closing her eyes. I hear her breathing steady out and let go of her wrist.

She leaves her hand there for a moment, like she’s not sure if she’ll be okay without it. I watch her as she opens her eyes and looks around the room.

”They already took care of him..they’re probably waiting for us.” I explain to her.

She nods and pulls herself up, holding her hand out to me. I smile slightly and accept her help. We walk upstairs and see they’ve brought our horses down too.

“Ellie you’re gonna ride with Angelica” Tommy says, making sure Joel is secured to the back of his horse.

Before we can say anything about it Ellie catches sight of Joel. I see how she almost breaks again. “C’mon” I nudge her, and motion to Cassie. I pull myself up onto her and pull Ellie up behind me. On the ride back to Jackson I can feel her leaning against my back, I can tell her head is turned so she can see Joel. God I feel horrible. If we hadn't of been smoking maybe we would've been able to stop this.

Series Masterlist

If you're having a bad day, this is your reminder that Abby Anderson bickers with her best friend over who gets to drive.

But my favourite part? She's letting her attitude show, the way you only do around people who are in your inner circle.

Her dramatic ass scrunched up face. Her bratty sigh. Her guard is down. It's how you know Manny is one of the closest people in her life.

The closest, if we're being honest here.

It's also quite revealing. Abby anticipated she'd be the one driving. My guess, is that she often is. It leans into her role in leadership and her need for autonomy.

Her people are trusting her to keep them safe. And she does.

I love when we see these flashes of her humanity and her gentle, unfiltered reactive instincts.

And her attitude is hot as hell. I'm not even sorry.

When she's challenged, she scrunches her face up like a wild animal who just got their food dish moved an inch to the left and she's not polished about it.

She's just Abby.

Can't think of anything better than that.