Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Ellie crashes to the ground, groaning in pain from the impact. The young woman lands violently on her back. She also feels like a tree root, probably sticking out of the ground, struck her right between the shoulder blades when she fell.

It's the year 2044. Ellie is now 25 years old, born in 2019. That means the world has been ravaged by the Cordyceps Brain Infection for 31 years, since 2013.

The young auburn-haired woman now lies on her back on the ground, with what appears to be a tree root digging into her between the shoulder blades. She groans again in pain as she slowly moves her hands. She moves her left hand to her belly, then her right hand to her nose where she just took a nasty punch straight to the face.

— “Fu...ck...” she mutters to herself.

Four individuals stand around her, smiling and exchanging glances. There are three men and two women. The oldest among them can't be more than ten years older than the woman currently on the ground. Around them is the forest. It's pitch black, and the only source of light is the campfire.

Ellie is wearing a shirt torn in places and completely stained with blood, dirt, and other things. With it, she wears a pair of jeans in just as pitiful condition. And a pair of boots so worn out that what stands out most is the duct tape covering nearly the entire footwear.

With her tattoo covering the chemical burn she gave herself on her right forearm — itself hiding her first bite — she is easily recognizable to both those who know her and those who don’t. And with her missing left ring and pinky fingers, even more so. And the self-inflicted knife scars on her hand, completely covering her second bite... That too, makes her unique in a way.

In a way.

— “I don't think you realize how deep in shit you are, kiddo,” says one of the two men who didn’t punch Ellie.

— “You’re probably only ten years older than me, asshole...” Ellie replies under her breath, her voice heavy with pain.

— “Doesn't matter. You're in some deep, deep shit,” the other man continues.

The young woman slowly sits up, groaning again in pain. At the same time, she pulls her hand away from her nose and glares at the four people around her, her left nostril gushing blood. She remains silent for a moment before speaking again.

— “I’m giving you one last chance... to surrender, you bastards...” Ellie says, dead serious.

As soon as the words leave her mouth, the four captors burst into laughter, exchanging looks. The man who nearly broke Ellie’s nose steps forward and grabs her by the shoulders to pull her up. He then immediately slams her against a tree, pressing his right forearm against her neck to pin her down... or break her neck if she tries anything.

Instinctively, Ellie grabs her opponent’s arm, but makes no move. They stare into each other's eyes under the watchful gaze of the other two men and the woman just a few meters away. He stares at her with a smug smile. She stares back with a cold, dark glare.

— “Why are you looking for those people? Huh?” the man pinning her asks.

— “I’ve got unfinished business with them. A deal to make,” Ellie answers coldly.

— “Oh yeah? With the Fireflies? I doubt that.”

— “Wells,” one of the other men suddenly calls out, whispering.

The man pinning Ellie — Wells — turns toward his comrade. Seeing the others all staring in a specific direction, he turns his head to look as well. Even Ellie follows their gaze. Very quickly, a familiar clicking sound can be heard.

Clickers. Those monsters infected for so long that the Cordyceps fungus has fully grown through their skulls and out of their eyes, rendering them completely blind. These infected use clicking sounds for echolocation, their hearing extremely sharp. Blind, but dangerous. And clearly, one is nearby — just a few dozen meters away, at least.

But in the darkness, the survivors can't see it. And it hasn’t noticed them yet — otherwise, it would’ve charged already. A single one is easy to handle, at least from behind. But killing it might make noise and attract more. There’s no way to take it down silently if it attacks head-on.

Ellie slowly turns her head to look at Wells again. He and his three comrades are still focused on the clicking sounds. It’s time to flip the situation and stop pretending. Now or never.

She releases Wells' arm with her right hand. This makes him look back at her. Ellie quickly slips her right hand into her pants pocket, pulls out her switchblade, and before Wells can react, she plunges the blade into his abdomen while he’s still pinning her to the tree.

Wells immediately cries out in pain, releasing the pressure on Ellie’s throat. The other three captors turn their heads toward their friend just as Ellie knees him hard in the groin to make him back off.

— “Wells!” the woman in the group suddenly shouts.

Without wasting a second, one of the remaining men screams in rage and charges at Ellie. The young woman is tackled to the ground, the man trying to rip the knife from her hands. The other woman rushes to Wells and starts pressing on his stomach wound. The last man pulls out his gun and starts aiming at the source of the clicking sound — the Clicker, which has spotted them and is moving in fast.

Ellie and her captor struggle on the ground. She tries to free herself and hold onto her knife; he tries to pin her down and take it away. Both grunt with effort as they fight. The Clicker noises grow closer, but it’s still hidden in the dark.

Suddenly, Ellie brings her right hand to her face. Her attacker, still holding her wrist, sees his own hand move toward her mouth. Without hesitation, Ellie bites down hard, drawing blood. The copper taste in her mouth, and the man's scream of pain, confirm she succeeded.

His grip vanishes as the pain overwhelms him. Ellie quickly plunges her blade into his neck, shoving him away as he begins to choke and gurgle, falling to the side.

Ellie quickly gets back up, just as the third man opens fire on the Clicker emerging from the darkness. The first bullet hits the infected in the chest, the second in the shoulder. Before he can fire a third, the Clicker grabs him and sinks its teeth into his neck, prompting a scream of agony.

Ellie ignores the scene and turns toward the last remaining attacker — or rather, the last woman. But just as she turns to look, she sees the woman pointing a gun at Wells rather than helping him.

Out of pure instinct, Ellie leans backward at the last second, dodging the bullet. Her back slams into the ground again. The woman aims again and fires a second shot. This time, Ellie quickly rolls to the side and dodges. The woman has no chance to fire a third time before the Clicker leaps onto her and bites into the side of her face.

Ellie gets up and rushes the Clicker that just killed the woman. She drives her blade into its neck from behind, pulls it out, and stabs again. The infected drops dead after the second strike.

One captor bleeding out from a gut wound. One with a knife to the throat. And two killed by the Clicker — who, by sheer luck, just helped Ellie in a way. That makes two kills for the stupid blind infected, and just one for the clever Homo sapiens... for now.

The auburn-haired girl stands up fully after catching her breath. Nose still bleeding, her mother’s switchblade in her right hand, Ellie places her left hand on her stomach and approaches the last surviving attacker. Wells. Wells, who watches her approach while trying to stop his own bleeding.

— “I told you you had one last chance to surrender. All I want is the Fireflies. Where the fuck are they?” Ellie demands.

— “Go... fuck yourself...” Wells responds.

— “Alright, listen...” Ellie starts, not finishing her sentence.

Having gotten close enough to the bleeding man, Ellie kneels on his left side. She continues to look him dead in the eyes from above, squinting in anger. After about fifteen seconds of silence, she speaks again.

— “I've had a fucking headache that won't go away for days. I’ve got cramps because of my goddamn period and nothing to manage it. My feet are killing me from walking all over this shitty country. I’m hungry, I’m thirsty, and I’m tired. It’s been a fucking awful week. So don’t make it worse.”

— “You can dream on. I won’t say shit about the Fireflies...” Wells replies.

More clicking sounds suddenly echo in the distance. Ellie turns her head toward the noises — more Clickers. Two or three this time, maybe more. She lowers her eyes again toward the man bleeding out, then stands up, groaning in pain.

— “I don’t want to play this game... Where are they?! Where are the Fireflies?!”

— “Shit... You need to... You need to...”

— “Where? I need to go where?”

— “You need to... go to hell...”

She rubs her temples with her thumb and middle finger, trying to soothe the headache that won’t let up. She looks him over, from head to toe — clearly too weak to stand or fight back.

— “Let me give you some advice, Wells. Stay quiet. Don’t make a sound. Maybe they won’t find you. They’re Clickers. With some luck, you’ll just bleed out.”

With those last words, Ellie turns her back on him. She folds her knife, slips it into her pocket, grabs her backpack leaning against a tree, and walks off without slowing down. She disappears into the darkness.

A few moments later, as she walks away clutching her belly, she hears the Clickers' screeches, followed by Wells screaming in agony. Ellie slowly shakes her head, never stopping or turning around. Then she mutters to herself as his screams continue:

— “I told you to stay quiet.”

---

The next day

With daylight back, Ellie can finally see the direction she’s going. She sits atop a moss-covered wreck of a car, inspecting an old map of the former United States she found four years ago. Red markings cover it.

Seattle is marked. So is Jackson, Wyoming. Many other places Ellie has visited over the past five years are also marked. She even marked Boston and Salt Lake, though she hasn’t been there in ages — not since before Joel died.

Eyes nearly vacant, Ellie stares at the map in her hands. Her gaze lingers on the Jackson marker. Nostalgia washes over her as she remembers the Jackson community. It’s been five years since she last saw Jackson.

Five years since she saw the people living there. Since she saw Maria or Tommy. Since she saw... Dina, or even JJ. These past five years, she’s wandered the former U.S. A long journey — for not much in the end.

She went all the way to the East Coast. To Florida, chasing ghosts — the Fireflies. She’s traveled so far since her trip to Santa Barbara to find Abby, for nothing in the end. She even went to Mexico. For nothing. She even considered going to Canada.

The fear of ending up alone...

For five years, she’s been almost completely alone. Sometimes she stayed briefly with others, but never for more than two weeks. Yet she once had everything: a great girlfriend, a baby... a family. But her revenge cost her everything. All for nothing.

Ellie groans in pain, placing her left hand — the one missing two fingers — on her belly. Ironically, she’s also got a headache. At the same time. One hell of a shitty week, she said.

Shoes completely ruined, wrapped in duct tape to the point she might as well tape her feet directly. A backpack entirely void of food or water. A pistol with only five bullets. Joel’s revolver — but no ammo. And pain in both her belly and her head. Shitty week... Shitty journey.

In recent months — or at least the last few — Ellie has felt a growing urge to return to Jackson. But she fears the reactions of Dina, Maria, and Tommy, and everyone else, if she returns after five years.

She reaches into her bag and pulls out a very specific object. Slowly, she takes out Dina’s bracelet, which she’s kept for five years — sometimes in her bag, sometimes on her wrist depending on her mood. A Hamsa bracelet, adorned with a hand. At least, that’s what Ellie remembers Dina calling it.

After sitting a while on the old car, Ellie decides to move. She puts the map away and climbs down. She winces in pain as her feet hit the ground, but she starts walking again. For what purpose and to what destination? She doesn’t know. She just walks in some direction.

---

Jackson Community, Wyoming:

Meanwhile, miles away, as a young woman walks alone, life continues in the Jackson community. Patrols ride out to keep the town safe, builders construct new homes for newcomers... Life goes on.

And in the town’s streets, a young black-haired woman walks peacefully, holding the hand of a five-year-old boy. She smiles at him as he talks excitedly about his fun day with his paternal grandparents.

Even a complete idiot could tell they’re mother and son. Though they don’t look much alike, anyone could guess the boy’s father was Asian.

The woman is none other than Dina. The boy walking beside her, joyfully detailing his day with his grandparents, is none other than JJ, short for Jesse Joel. And right now, they are both heading towards their house in downtown Jackson. If you can call it a downtown. It's a small town after all.

— "Hey, JJ. You know what I feel like doing?" Dina suddenly asks, smiling brightly, stopping and letting go of her son's hand.

— "What?" JJ innocently asks.

— "Racing to the house!" Dina immediately responds, starting to run toward their home.

— "Mom!" the little boy exclaims, reprimanding his mother for cheating.

Nevertheless, the five-year-old boy starts running with a smile, laughing all the way. Of course, Dina purposely doesn’t run too fast, but she has a competitive spirit and makes sure to keep a small lead over her son. She laughs too, running almost sideways so she doesn’t lose sight of him.

Several passersby throw a few glances at the single mother and her young son. Most of them even smile at the pair and stop for a moment to watch them. The mother and son continue racing towards the house, and Dina almost trips a few times, not looking ahead. But eventually...

— "I won!" Dina exclaims as she reaches the porch, raising her arms in the air.

— "That's not fair! You cheated!" JJ protests, arriving less than two seconds later.

— "I didn’t cheat. I was much better!" Dina responds, putting her hands on her hips and looking down at her son.

The boy retorts by punching his mother’s leg, still smiling. Dina pretends to have been severely hurt and lets out an exaggerated little scream before starting to laugh. Both of them are laughing as they walk completely up the porch and head towards the front door.

The woman opens the door and lets her son go in first, before following him without closing the door behind her. JJ sits down on the floor behind the door, stretching out his left foot toward his mother. Dina chuckles softly, kneeling down slowly on the ground. She grabs her son’s little foot and begins untying his shoelaces, tickling him in the process, which makes him squirm, laugh, and makes the task a little harder for Dina.

She continues to tickle JJ a little more while removing his shoe, staying kneeling with her back to the front door. They’re both still laughing. They are very close to each other. After all, the boy’s father died before he was even born, and... his other mother... She’s also dead. At least for Dina.

So, she made sure to stay very close to her son. To make up for the fact that she was alone raising him, not counting Jesse’s parents, Dina made sure to always be there for her son. To become, in addition to being his mother, something like his best friend. Today was one of those days where she was busy and had to leave JJ with Jesse's parents.

And just as she finally manages to remove her son's first shoe...

— "Dina."

Still kneeling beside her son, Dina turns, continuing to smile, hearing someone call her. She then spots Maria, standing on the steps of her porch. Slowly, the young mother's smile fades as she notices that Maria seems... tense. And the way the older woman looks at her... Something is going on.

— "I missed you at Jesse’s parents' house," Maria says.

— "Maria? What’s going on?" the young woman asks, staying kneeling.

— "A group came to town. I think... you’d better come with me. We’re not in danger, but it’s important."

— "Uh... Okay."

The young mother turns to her son, regaining her smile. She slowly runs her hand over JJ’s cheek, who seems a bit scared now after Maria’s words. If she specifically asked for his mother, then something must be going on. He’s small, but already smart.

— "How about you go play in your room with your toys? It won’t take long. Mommy will be back soon. Alright?"

— "Alright, Mom," the boy replies.

Dina gives a quick kiss on her son’s forehead before slowly standing up with a slight groan. She turns to Maria and motions for her to lead the way. She gives one last look at her son before descending the porch steps and following the woman who leads her somewhere in the town. Technically, there is a council. But unofficially, it’s Maria who’s in charge.

The duo walks to the Tipsy Bison, which is normally and exceptionally closed today. Yet, the two women walk in without any problem. And as Dina expected, the place is completely empty. Except for one table where Tommy and a few strangers, whom Dina doesn’t recognize, are sitting.

Hearing someone enter, Tommy turns his head. The moment he locks eyes with Dina, they exchange a nod. And as always, when she sees Tommy since Seattle, the young woman can't help but think that what happened there really broke Joel's brother. At least physically.

Today, Dina and Tommy tolerate each other. They both haven’t forgotten what Tommy said when he came to the farm years ago, explaining that he had found Abby’s trail. And Dina hasn’t forgotten that, in some way, it’s his fault Ellie left. She’s not really angry anymore, but she hasn’t forgotten either.

Anyway, the young mother starts looking at the strangers sitting across from Tommy, as Maria sits down right next to her husband, and Dina stands to the right of Tommy. In this group, there’s a man who looks to be in his thirties, a woman of the same age holding a baby in her arms, and a woman in her twenties who looks a lot like the man.

— "What’s going on?" Dina asks again after briefly scanning the strangers with her eyes.

— "Tell her what you told us earlier," Tommy asks the strangers in response.

The man in the group looks at the two women with him before clearing his throat and turning his full attention to Tommy, who is still sitting in front of him. But even as he looks at Tommy and opens his mouth, Dina takes it as if he’s speaking to her. After all, she’s the only one who hasn’t heard anything so far.

— "Four months ago, we came across a woman. We stayed with her for about a week, give or take a day. When we parted ways, she mentioned a community called Jackson, right here in Wyoming," the man says, explaining their story once again.

As these words leave the stranger’s mouth, Dina freezes in place. She crosses her arms and stands still like a statue. She’s fixated on this man’s lips, who doesn’t stop talking, but who also looks toward her. He points to a specific area of his right forearm.

— "She had a burn scar here. It was covered by a tattoo of a butterfly. She was missing two fingers. The ones opposite the thumb on her left hand. I don’t remember their names."

Dina’s mouth slightly opens as the man stops speaking. She slowly turns her head to the left and sees Maria, still sitting on her chair to Tommy's left, looking at her. Dina then refocuses on the strangers who’ve just arrived in Jackson, shuts her mouth completely, then reopens it, letting out a few words.

— "Did she have a scar on her eyebrow?" Dina asks, looking at the man.

— "Yeah," the man replies.

— "Her name?"

— "Uh... Actually, she never really told us her name..." he says, looking at the woman holding the baby in her arms to his left.

Dina slowly nods her head. She clearly doesn’t need a name. She knows exactly who this woman is, according to these strangers’ story about their encounter four months ago. It seems Ellie lost two fingers... But just as she’s about to ask something else, the youngest woman in the group of strangers cuts her off.

— "Uh... That’s not entirely true..." the blonde woman in her twenties suddenly declares.

Everyone turns their gaze toward her, including her companions, as she rubs her neck and briefly looks up at the ceiling. All the gazes on her literally say it all. They’re all questioning her with their eyes, asking her to elaborate.

— "She might have whispered her name in... my ear, one night... The night before last, maybe... Ellie," the stranger says.

If Dina’s heart wasn’t already broken five years ago, it would have shattered right then. But instead, the young woman lets out a dry, bitter laugh, still crossing her arms, while the blonde woman’s cheeks turn a darker shade, and she looks away, clearly embarrassed.

— "Where was she headed? Did she have a goal in mind?" Maria asks the strangers.

— "She talked about finding a group. She said she had been searching for a group called... the Fireflies or something like that," the man replies.

— "Very fitting. She mentioned looking for light in the darkness. Something like that. And she had a moth tattoo on her arm," adds the woman holding the baby.

Dina, Maria, and Tommy exchange glances at hearing this. There are only three people in Jackson who know why Ellie would be looking for the Fireflies. And those three people are currently gathered at the Tipsy Bison. Because even though Ellie is no longer here, her secret is still deeply kept.

A long, awkward silence follows. The strangers take turns looking at the three people in front of them, who don’t say anything else. Finally, Dina breaks the awkward silence by exhaling loudly before leaving the Tipsy rather quickly, but not too fast.

Maria and Tommy watch her go, while the strangers exchange glances.

— "I... Is there a problem?" the man asks after a few seconds.

Maria turns her head toward him and locks eyes with him. She gazes into his eyes for a few seconds before speaking again.

— "You’re welcome in Jackson," she says, standing up and heading toward the exit.

The young single mother is walking away from the Tipsy Bison, once again not necessarily quickly, but not exactly slowly either. Yet Dina completely freezes when, for the second time today in a matter of minutes, she hears Maria’s voice calling her from behind.

— "Dina. Wait."

Once again, the concerned woman crosses her arms and turns around to look at Maria, who approaches. Once she’s within two meters of the younger woman, the unofficial leader of Jackson stops too and places her right hand on her hip, looking the young woman with black hair in the eyes.

— "I think we should talk," the older woman says.

— "There’s nothing to talk about, Maria. There’s nothing left to say," Dina responds, keeping her arms crossed over her chest.

— "Listen... Ellie is my niece. Last I checked, Tommy and I are still married. And Tommy was Joel’s brother. And Joel was Ellie’s father figure."

— "So what?" Dina asks, her tone colder than she intended, and with more impatience.

— "And so, that doesn’t change anything. If she ever comes back to Jackson one day, I can assure you one of us will kick her ass for those five years of absence, but it won’t be you who will do it first. That said… I do have to admit, my idiot of a husband has something to do with it."

At Maria's words, Dina looks away, shaking her head with her arms still crossed. Seeing the reaction of the younger woman, Maria tilts her head slightly, then steps closer. She gently places her right hand on Dina's shoulder, urging her to look her in the eye again.

— "We don’t even know where Ellie might be. The country is very vast. And from what we know, Ellie could have left the country in the last few months. She could just as easily… be dead." Maria continues.

— "Maria. You and I both know that if Ellie managed to stay away from Jackson for five years, there’s little chance she’s dead in the last four months." Dina retorts.

— "You can't keep… I understand how you feel. Really. If you knew how angry I was with Tommy when I learned he decided to leave for Seattle. But you can’t keep hating Ellie your whole life just because she left. And I’m not asking you to stop hating her for her. I’m asking you to do it for your own mental health. Believe me."

The two women continue to look each other in the eyes for a moment, and the younger one seems to be genuinely reflecting on the older woman’s words. Dina looks away for just a brief second, but quickly meets Maria’s gaze again. Then, after a few seconds, she nods gently. Maria nods in return before speaking again.

— "In case you want me to question these people, they could tell us where they left Ellie." Maria says as she takes her hand off the younger woman’s shoulder.

— "No… No. I don’t want to know anything." Dina replies, turning away and heading back toward her house, leaving Maria standing alone in the middle of the street.

---

A few hours later

Elsewhere, miles away from Jackson:

As much as Ellie still remembers Seattle for its bad weather, which quickly shifted from sunny to a full-on storm, she has come to realize that weather changes fast not just in Seattle. Fortunately for her, she wasn’t in the middle of nowhere when the weather turned.

The young woman has taken shelter in what was once a grocery store in the Old World. Of course, everything has been completely looted. Or the few things left are all expired. And that’s completely normal, 31 years since the outbreak. A whole generation has never tasted those few things left, all far past their expiration.

Ellie moved some shelves around to make space. She then gathered as much moss and grass as she could, which had grown inside the building over the years, to make a campfire inside the now overgrown store. She also added some small things found in the grocery store that could easily burn.

Now, she’s sitting near the fire she started, shivering, completely soaked, and staring at the flames. The rain is pouring violently on the few windows still intact. Dark clouds hide most of the sun. A headache that won’t go away, stomach cramps from her menstrual issues, and a stomach growling with hunger.

It’s maybe exhaustion, hunger, or pain, or maybe all of it combined, but Ellie has ended up sitting with her back to what’s left of the store’s door. A clear mistake, of course. But one she doesn’t notice. She’s too lost in her thoughts, staring at the dancing flames, to pay attention.

In her right hand, she holds Dina’s bracelet. “For luck,” she had said when she gave it to Ellie… Ellie gently rubs the bracelet with her thumb. It’s a habit she’s picked up over the past few years. She’s definitely not religious, far from it, but it feels good to have that bracelet in her hand. It reassures her. Partially.

Dina…

Her sweet Dina…

A few years ago, Ellie left Dina, JJ, and everything she had behind to track down Abby in Santa Barbara and finally kill her. But when Abby was finally found, Ellie not only decided not to kill her, but she saved Abby’s life and that of the boy with her.

In the end, she left everything behind for nothing… When she came back, Dina and JJ were gone. But her things were still there. Just hers. She had everything, but out of vengeance, she lost it all again. Then, she was too cowardly to return to Dina in Jackson, and for five years, she searched for the Fireflies.

She finally had a solid lead. These four people knew something about the Fireflies. But in the end, that lead, her best one in five years, was lost when these four survivors died. When they chose to die and fight.

All of it for nothing... Five years for nothing... Everything lost for nothing, by her own fault...

And as Ellie is lost in her memories, her eyes half-closed, they suddenly widen when she feels the barrel of a gun pressed to the back of her head. The young woman freezes immediately and regains her composure. Her heart starts pounding.

— "Shh, shh, shh… Hands up." a male voice murmurs softly.

Feeling extremely guilty for having turned her back to the entrance of the building, realizing her mistake, Ellie furrows her brow in anger but slowly complies by raising her hands. In her right hand, she still holds Dina’s bracelet but makes sure not to clench her fist so that her captor can see that it’s not a weapon.

— "Are you alone?" the man asks.

Ellie doesn’t respond. She just takes a loud breath in and then exhales just as loudly. In response, the man presses the barrel of his gun harder against her head. This causes the young woman to growl and lower her head slightly.

— "Are you alone?"

— "Yes…"

The man pauses for a moment. A brief silence. Then, much to Ellie’s surprise, he removes the barrel from the back of her head. Her anger fades and is replaced by astonishment. Her surprise grows even more when she hears the characteristic click of a gun’s safety being engaged.

— "If I wanted to kill you, you’d already be dead." the man declares, apparently reading her mind.

Very slowly, Ellie turns around and lowers her hands. She then discovers a brown-haired man, probably in his thirties, unshaven, soaked from head to toe. Like her, his hair is unevenly cut. That’s what happens when you’ve been outside too long with only a knife to cut your hair. He wears clothes in better condition than hers, and a backpack with a pan attached to the side.

— "Want to share? It’s raining cats and dogs outside. And I don’t think it’s stopping anytime soon." the man says.

Ellie looks at him for a moment. Then, without saying a word, she nods her head. The man gives her a small smile and walks around her to sit across from her, placing the campfire between them. He takes off his backpack, sits down cross-legged on the ground, sighing contentedly, and shivering, just like she is.

Ellie watches him closely and tenses up when her guest opens his backpack. But she immediately relaxes when she sees that he pulls out a can of beans. He also grabs his pan. Clearly, he’s going to use the fire to cook his beans.

— "You want some? I’ve got another can." the man suddenly asks, noticing Ellie eyeing the beans.

— "Wow. Not only are you not going to kill me, but you’re offering me your beans? You’re a rare species… People aren’t this nice these days." Ellie responds, staring at the man.

— "Yeah… Well, maybe I’m trying to gain your trust so I can kill you later." the man replies with a grin.

Ellie takes this as a joke, but raises an eyebrow, continuing to watch her guest with a completely neutral expression. In front of her, the man opens his can of beans and pours the whole contents into his pan. Then, he holds the pan over the fire with his right hand. His smile fades as he focuses on the beans.

— "Anyway, the human species is already endangered." he says.

— "Yeah… But the people who are alone, they’re even more endangered. So the people who are alone and kind… You might be one of the last of your kind." Ellie continues.

The man nods slightly, looking at Ellie’s feet. His gaze lingers for a moment on her boots, almost entirely covered in duct tape. He lets out a little chuckle devoid of humor as he looks at them. Ellie doesn’t comment, though she knows exactly what he’s looking at and what he’s probably thinking.

A long, awkward silence falls between the two survivors. The rain continues to pour outside. The man still holds the pan just above the fire to cook the beans. Ellie’s stomach growls as she stares at the food. She’s thankful that her guest seems to have poured the entire can, enough for four servings, if she had to guess.

— "My name’s Arthur. I’ve been on the road for six months now. I’m looking for… I’m looking for my brother." the man suddenly announces.

Ellie stares at Arthur for a moment but stays silent for several moments. A long, awkward silence settles in, before finally, she slowly shakes her head and sighs. She keeps her head down for a brief moment, eyes closed, before lifting her head again, opening her eyes, and speaking at last.

— "You don’t need to know my name. I’ve been on the road for… for five years now. I’ve traveled all over the country and even went to Mexico. I haven’t stayed more than two weeks with anyone during all this time."

And just like that, Ellie finds herself with someone named Arthur. Sharing her shelter while he cooks beans for four people, but in reality, just for the two of them. They both shiver from time to time, still soaked, as they wait for the beans to be ready. After a short moment of silence, Arthur breaks it again.

— "Which direction are you headed?" he asks.

— Sigh "Before I took shelter, I was heading north. But actually, I think… I’m going to head east instead, once the rain stops." Ellie responds, placing her left hand on her stomach, trying to ignore the headache.

— "What’s east? Why the sudden change in direction? Well… if it’s not too personal."

— "People. There are people. People I should never have left in the first place. For five years I’ve been chasing ghosts..."

Once again, Ellie shakes her head, sighing. She’s lying to herself. She knows it. Last night she found a group of four travelers. And like every other time, she asked if they knew anything about the Fireflies. They decided to attack her in response… They knew something. Ellie knows it.

Her best lead since she started searching for the Fireflies! Her best lead in five years, by far. Supporters of the Fireflies, but not the Fireflies themselves, who seemed to be fiercely hiding the information Ellie had been searching for so long. Too long. But in the end, that lead vanished last night.

— "I went all the way to Florida. I went to Mexico, even though I don’t speak a damn word of the local language. Most people told me they knew nothing. Others gave me outdated info. Some spouted nonsense... and I ended up in Mexico, for this nonsense."

— "Wow. I don't know who you were looking for, but one thing’s for sure, you’re persistent. Are you heading back home now?"

— Sighs "Yeah... Yeah, I think I'm going back home. If I can still call it home," Ellie responds.

Arthur nods slowly in understanding. He lowers his gaze back to the beans. If he notices Ellie seems to be in pain, he doesn’t comment, although his eyes linger for a moment. Then, after a few minutes, Arthur decides the food is cooked enough. He pulls the pan off the fire and reaches into his bag with his free hand.

He pulls out two metal mugs and fills the first with a generous portion of beans, then does the same with the other. He sets the half-full pan on the ground before offering one of the mugs to Ellie. Trying not to rush or seem starving, Ellie grabs the mug Arthur offers and dips her hand in to grab a few beans, popping them into her mouth.

They both begin to eat, of course with their fingers, while outside the rain keeps pouring. At least the fire warms them a little. It’s not exactly comfortable, compared to the comfort you could find in the few survivor communities scattered across the former United States, but for people who’ve been traveling for so long, it’s the best they could get. A nice fire, shelter from the rain, and a hot meal that feels good going down.

The rain isn’t stopping anytime soon.

Suddenly, Arthur sets his mug of beans down beside him before reaching into his bag again. Once more, Ellie fights against her instincts not to do something unpleasant, guided by her survival instincts. But she relaxes immediately when she sees her companion pull out a bottle of alcohol. A full bottle.

— "Thirsty? I was saving this for a special occasion, but... you want some?" Arthur asks, holding the bottle in his right hand.

Ellie’s gaze lingers a little too long on the bottle as she remains silent for a moment. Generally, when she finds a bottle of alcohol, she turns it into a Molotov cocktail or uses it to disinfect wounds. Now that she thinks about it, she’s never been much of a drinker, even during the celebrations in Jackson.

Eventually, she nods in agreement. It’s probably a bad idea in hindsight, as it’ll probably worsen her headache, which she can’t shake off. But it doesn’t really matter.

The man smiles as he uncorks the bottle and gets up to sit closer to the fire so they can pass it back and forth more easily. He grabs his mug of beans again. Ellie then takes a few swigs directly from the bottle’s neck.

They pass the bottle back and forth several times over the next few minutes. The one not drinking sips their beans. When they finish their first mugs, they save and share the rest. It’s almost like a five-star experience. Good food, alcohol, shelter, a nice fire... That’s what Ellie would think, at least, if she knew what stars were, the kind once assigned to hotels or restaurants in the Old World.

As they eat and drink, Ellie starts to relax a little more. Then they both start talking, filling their stomachs with a mix of beans and alcohol, while warming themselves by the fire Ellie had lit earlier. They begin to exchange a few anecdotes, but both make sure never to give names or hints in their stories.

— "How many people do you think you’ve killed, really?" Arthur asks after a while, once Ellie has told him about killing two people with a single homemade bomb.

— "A lot," Ellie responds.

— "And how many infected?"

— "A lot," she replies again, taking another swig.

The auburn-haired woman has finished her beans, while the man hasn’t yet finished his second serving. Ellie now holds in her right hand the bottle of alcohol, which is 4/5 empty, staring at the flames dancing beneath her nose. She stays silent for a moment before speaking again.

— "Looking at me like this, you probably think I’ve been through a lot, with all these scars. I’ll reassure you, not even half of my scars are visible right now... And I’m talking just about the... physical scars."

— "Damn... Let me tell you what you are... Lucie. Do you mind if I call you Lucie? Since you don’t want to give me your real name... Anyway, you’re... a purebred survivor, Lucie."

— "A purebred survivor... Yeah... I had a... a... a friend. She once told me her ancestors survived the Inquisition and the Holocaust. Now she has to survive Cordyceps. A long line of survivors. She was proud of it, belonging to that lineage."

Arthur lets out a small dry laugh, lowering his gaze to the flames as well. Unlike Ellie, who seems to have been educated enough and has some knowledge of history, Arthur has absolutely no idea what the Inquisition or the Holocaust are. But he stays silent and doesn’t ask for more information.

Unlike Ellie, who seems too young to have been born in the Old World, even though her eyes and physical state make her appear older, Arthur was born in the Old World. However, he was still very young when the world went completely crazy, and when Cordyceps started infecting humans. He literally doesn’t remember anything from before the apocalypse. But maybe that’s for the best.

---

A few hours later, in the evening

Dina’s house, Jackson community, Wyoming:

The young woman with black hair is sitting on her bed. To her left is an old shoebox containing several small sheets of paper, adorned with realistic pencil drawings. But inside the box, there are also Polaroids. And one of those Polaroids is now in Dina’s hands.

She’s been staring at the photo for maybe three or four minutes straight. Looking at the photo, she feels a pang in her heart. But for some obscure reason, she can’t tear her eyes away from it. This photo, this Polaroid... In it, there are two young women. One of those women is Dina, the other is... Ellie. In this photo, it looks like Dina has swallowed a watermelon.

Dina clearly remembers when this photo was taken. It was taken just a few days before JJ was born. In the photo, the woman with black hair is lying on a bed, and the one with brown, almost red hair has her head resting on the large belly of the pregnant woman. Both are smiling, looking at the camera.

These realistic drawings and a few photos are literally all that Dina has decided to keep from Ellie. Everything else, all her things, are probably still in that upstairs room, at the now-abandoned farm. She’s never gone back there since she and her son left for Jackson, shortly after Ellie departed.

— "Mom?"

The young mother quickly looks up and sees her son standing in the doorway. She forces a small smile and waves for him to come closer. He does, and Dina sets the Polaroid back in the box, which she then closes. But not before JJ gets a brief glimpse of the photo.

— "Who’s that?" he asks as he climbs onto his mother’s lap, and she pulls him into her arms.

— "Who?" Dina asks, even though she already knows who he’s talking about.

— "The woman in the photo. Who’s that?" JJ asks innocently, having of course completely forgotten his second mother, whom he last saw when he was a baby.

— "No one. It’s no one, sweetheart. Don’t worry about it."

---

The next day

Elsewhere, miles away from Jackson:

The rain finally stopped as the sun was setting. So even though Ellie had been very reluctant to let Arthur stay with her for the night, and especially very cautious, she ultimately agreed to let him stay. That said, she probably only slept for about an hour in total. Her dark circles are proof of that. Now, both of them stand in front of the grocery store. They’re both ready to part ways.

Each with their backpack, they stand facing each other about two meters apart. It would be a lie for Ellie to say she didn’t enjoy the company, at least a little. But she’s gotten used to avoiding people like the plague lately. Her long journey had often reinforced the need to avoid people... sadly...

— "I guess our paths separate here. Right?" Arthur asks, even though he already knows the answer.

— "Yeah... And... uh... thanks again for the beans. It felt good to eat something, especially something warm," Ellie responds.

— "Yeah. We’ve got to stick together. Humanity is already completely screwed anyway. We’re already on the brink of extinction. We were before the mushrooms started taking control of people."

Ellie nods slowly. She briefly remembers the history lessons from a FEDRA enthusiast. She wasn’t very attentive, given that he called the Fireflies terrorists. But she remembers some things. Horrible things humans did in the past. Still, even the apocalypse hasn’t changed human nature. In fact, if Ellie had to guess...

— "Before we part... maybe you can tell me who these people you’ve been searching for for five years are. I might have information. Real information, not outdated."

— "No. No, those days are over. I’m just... I’m just going back home. I’m going back to where I never should have left in the first place," the young woman declares.

— "Let me tell you something, Lucie. This world is completely rotten to the core. It always has been, but even more so now. You’ve got to enjoy every moment. And if you have the chance to be surrounded by close friends, family, then don’t hesitate. You’ll learn that the worst thing isn’t just dying. It’s dying... alone."

The young woman watches the older man in silence for a moment. She looks into his eyes before slowly nodding and turning her gaze away. Arthur steps closer, and they exchange a handshake, then a nod, as a farewell. But before he turns and walks away from Ellie, Arthur says a few final words.

— "Good luck. Take care of yourself, Lucie. I hope everything works out for you. And if we ever cross paths again, try not to shoot me."

— "Not likely... Good luck. I hope you find your brother," Ellie responds.

They exchange one last nod before Arthur fully turns and starts walking away, heading south. Ellie watches him leave, before finally turning in the direction she knows is east. And if she hasn’t made a mistake with her map, then east is the direction to take to get back to Jackson.

Ellie looks down at her left hand, still missing her pinky and ring fingers. In this left hand, she holds Dina’s bracelet. She stares at it for a moment before slowly, very slowly, lifting her eyes to the sky. She’s never been religious. But Dina had once told her she prayed regularly.

She sighs and slips the bracelet into the left pocket of her pants. She turns fully toward the east, takes a deep breath, exhales slowly but loudly through her mouth to give herself courage, and then finally takes a step forward. The first step she’s taken toward Jackson, with Jackson as her destination in mind, in five years.

Five years of searching in vain for the Fireflies, after her trip to Santa Barbara to find Abby, and her return to the farm... completely empty. Now, with some luck, maybe... she can try to pick up the pieces.

You’ll learn that the worst thing isn’t just dying. It’s dying... alone.

And Ellie’s greatest fear has always been ending up alone.