PetrA

Chapter twenty-one: Ellie

Ellie sort of hoped that they would meet somebody along the road, or just see signs of life, but nothing happened, and it didn't improve her mood. She already had the failure from the night before, to deal with. She couldn't afford to panic like that again and end up as a helpless little girl who couldn't defend herself. Despite what Kim told her when the others had fallen asleep, Ellie knew that she couldn't freak out again and let a personal flaw come in the way of survival. She had to be strong, no matter what. She was just glad she didn't have to say anything as they drove, mostly because she didn't feel like saying anything and she just wanted some peace to gather her mind and figure out what her next move would be.

Even if Gemma could read her fairly well, she still had a reputation to protect among the others. She didn't want them to know what she struggled with and why she's acting the way she is. As they drove, they passed several lone zombies, they tried to follow them, but they weren't fast enough and they lost interest in their potential prey. Driving all day is as boring as it sounds, even if you get to squeeze the life out of someone you like to keep yourself steady on a bike. Finally, around midday they took off up into the hills. The surroundings were vaguely familiar to Ellie, like she'd been there before. They stopped in a clearing with a cluster of small abandoned huts. Ellie got off the bike and started to look around, her friends yelled after her, but Ellie had a very good idea of where to look for anything hidden. Suddenly she stopped dead in her tracks and stared into a very familiar face. The two of them stared at each other for a long time. Without moving a single muscle in their bodies.

"Ellie, what's taking so long?" Daniel asked. He walked around the corner of the small hut and stopped dead in his tracks. He pushed Ellie aside and went for the attack. "NO!" Ellie screamed lounging herself at Daniel just before he reached the other person. She wrestled with Daniel for his knife. The others must've heard their fight because they came running around the corner. "What the hell?" Joachim asked staring at Ellie and Daniel who was wrestling on the ground. Henrik was the first to step into action and try to separate them, but he had to dodge the knife. "A little help." He said looking at the audience. Ellie vas vaguely aware of what they said. She was more focused on getting the knife from Daniel. She wasn't about to let him hurt him. Kim and Joachim started to pull Daniel and Ellie away from each other, and successfully managing to take the knife from Daniel.

"What the fuck are you thinking?" Daniel asked harshly glaring at her. Ellie detangled herself from Kim and Henrik's hold. She glared at Daniel. "Do you think I'm going to let you kill somebody just because you don't know them? Did you ever consider that somebody else in might know the person?" Ellie's tone made it clear. No one touched the kid. "Oh so now you know who we know?" Daniel asked. She glared at him, "I know that I know him." She pointed at the kid. "And I'll be damned if you hurt my friends." Kim went over and started to rub her shoulders slowly. Daniel stared at her in silence. "We're not taking him with us." He said. The kid didn't seem to mind Daniel's rudeness, which made Ellie calm down a little, but she still wanted to drive her knife right through his eye. "No need to." The kid said. When a sudden thought hit Ellie, she stiffened so fast and whipped around to face the kid. Her hands painfully gripping his arms. "Are they alive?" She asked. It took a second for him to understand what she was saying. "Are they alive?" she asked again.

"Timothy is alive, so is Gordon. I don't know about Danielle or Julia." Ellie had a feeling of panic rise in her. "Is, is my parents alive?" She asked shakily. She had to know. "Jeremy, please. I need to know." He winched and looked at her. "No." that was it. Everything in her head started swimming and she could feel herself falling. A pair of arms caught her before she could hit the ground. No, no, no it couldn't be. They couldn't be dead. Jeremy squatted in front of her, "But they're not walking around." The feeling of that she wouldn't have to see them walking around as rotting corpses gave Ellie a sort of peace she hadn't felt in a while. A screech made Ellie jump to her feet she clutched the knife looking around. The others had heard it too. They all huddled into a small circle, ready at every angle. A sole walking dead lumbered towards them. If there's one, there will be more. Ellie thought grimly. It didn't move towards her, but Gemma and Cody. Gemma managed to stab it through the eye with a stick she had picked up on the floor. It crumbled to the ground. "Let's get out of here." Lesley said. He fired one of his usual bad timed jokes and they went towards the bikes.