"Soo ..." Ellie said as she followed closely to Matt, trailing behind Joel on a country road, surrounding by nothing but trees and plains, "Where are we going again?"

Matt gave Ellie a confused glance, he thought he told her before, "Lincoln ..." he answered, "Same place I said last time,"

"Oh ..." Ellie mumbled, "I wasn't listening,"

"I know," Matt chuckled.

Chances were, the journey to Lincoln would take just over a week on foot. It was unlikely they'd secure a car to get there faster.

It had only been a day since Tess was gone, they managed to escape Boston quite easily enough and set up a camp on the outskirts, only to get moving the time the sun rose up.

Joel continued to be distant with the two, even more so now. Matt assumed that it was because he lost Tess, although he never figured out what she was to him, it was safe to assume that they were pretty close.

"How long will it take us?" Ellie asked, the scenery before them having not changed on bit.

"A few weeks I suppose," Matt told, unsure of the journey ahead of them, "We've got a long road ahead of us,"

Joel stopped and turned to the others, "We'll continue to follow this road as long as we can," He said, "As soon as it gets dark we'll stop and set up camp,"

Matt and Ellie nodded which caused Joel to carry on walking. The older man had dropped his M4A1 assault rifle because he had begun running low on ammo, instead, he took what few bullets were left and just ditched the gun.

"I'm guessing we'll run into some sort of building soon," Matt said as the road they walked down stretched for miles, "Huh, actually, this place reminds me of Wales,"

"Wales?" Ellie echoed, "Why would this place remind you of some big fish?"

Matt chuckled, "No, no," he corrected, "I mean like the country,"

"Wales is a country?" Ellie questioned her interest having been piqued.

"Kinda?" Matt rubbed his neck, "Wales was one of four countries to make the United Kingdom, I spent a lot of time there,"

"What was it like?" Ellie asked, it was rare for the girl to ask such questions about the world before the outbreak, but someone was actually here to answer them!

"Well, pretty much what you see around us now," Matt smiled as he gestured to the countryside that surrounded them, "Sure there were cities and stuff, but most of it was open land,"

"So, you lived before the outbreak?" Ellie found question after question slipping out, "What's your story?"

Those words echoed through Matt's mind. He didn't have much of a story he thought.

"Honestly, my life was pretty clean cut," Matt told, "I had an education, never liked it, so as soon as I could, I joined the military,"

"The military? So you worked with FEDRA?" Ellie said uneasily.

Matt sensed her uneasiness about FEDRA, but decided it would be best to quell it sooner rather than later, "Not really no, I joined the SAS – Special forces from Britain – and I was stationed in America," he told, "When shit started to go down, FEDRA couldn't order us as we weren't American, besides we wouldn't have listened!" he added with a smile before continuing, "The base I was in got overrun, I think a few of my squad mates are still alive, but I don't know,"

"Wait! So no wife or kids or massive family?" Ellie random asked earning another confused look from Matt.

"Nope," he popped the P, "I think if the outbreak didn't happen, I would've settled down, eventually,"

"Huh ..." Ellie commented at the new information she was told. Not many people were willing to share their story, especially with her, "I heard stories about Special Forces, but not many people are left,"

Matt nodded, "Yeah, the military didn't last long with the outbreak," he told before looking to her, "So, I've told you my piece, what about you?"

"Me?" She said confused.

"No, I'm talking to Dave behind you," Matt sarcastically said as he rolled his eyes, "Yes you!"

"Oh ... heh ..." Ellie giggled, "Erm, Well, other than being immune, I'm an orphan," she told with a slight pained expression, but tried to hide it, "Never knew my dad and my mom died giving birth,"

Matt felt bad for the kid, she grew up during this mess and its definitely had its toll on her, "Here," He said as he reached into his pocket, "Not much, but might cheer you up," it was a chocolate bar, "Chocolate used to cheer me up back then,"

Ellie slowly took the bar and inspected it, "Thanks!" She beamed at the man, "I was starting to get hungry!"

"You two!" Joel called out, "Keep up!"

Matt and Ellie did just that, making sure to keep a good pace with Joel, "What about you, Joel," Ellie asked, "Did you have a wife, kids, family?"

"Pass," Joel said, "I don't want questions about my life,"

Matt shrugged, "Don't worry, he's been like that with me," he whispered, "He'll come around,"

The group continue down the country road, trees had become more spread-out, leaving only room for the tall grass and other plants that grow out here.

In front of them, only a short distance is a withered FEDRA truck, the one's that would take people into the QZs.

"I wonder if there's anything to take," Ellie told as they walked closer to the vehicle.

Joel and Matt already drew their weapons, both of them deciding to use their sidearms. Joel did not have an alternate whereas Matt had the hunting rifle, however, he was running low on ammo, so the pistol was the better choice.

"Its been abandoned," Joel said as they searched around the truck first, "Probably has been for 20 years,"

Joel opened the car door and got into the truck, of course it didn't work, but he checked around for any supplies. Matt walked slightly off the road to look into a ditch that was nearby, "Jesus ..." Matt said as he looked upon what seemed to be a mass grave, full of skeletons, some with suitcases and clothes.

"What?" Ellie asked as she walked over and did the same, "Oh ..."

Joel had exited the truck and joined the two as they stared into the gravesite, "A kid like you shouldn't be seeing shit like this ..." he sighed, he didn't say it, but it did hurt him to see Ellie having to live life in a world like this, "Lets get moving, there wasn't anything in the truck,"

"Come on," Matt whispered, bring Ellie out of her head.

"Why would they do that?" Ellie asked as she caught up with the two.

"There's a lot of reasons to be honest," Matt sighed, "They could've been infected or maybe they didn't have enough room in the QZ,"

"The infection can't spread if its got no one to infect," Joel said coldly.

"Yikes ..." Ellie shivered at the idea that these people were scared, probably taken from their homes and then just ... gunned down.

------

"Okay," Joel huffed as they came to a stop, "See that Gas station?" he pointed further up the road, it was a gas station that had a few cars around it, but seemingly abandoned, "We'll stay there for tonight,"

The sun was beginning to set, so they'll need to clear this place and maybe do some hunting.

"Lead the way," Matt nodded as Ellie followed along.

The two men had their weapons at the ready as they approached the gas station. It was on the smaller side, so it wouldn't take long to clear.

"I'll check around the outside," Matt told as he began to circle it.

Joel nodded and then turned to Ellie, "You stand over by that car," he told, "I'll check the inside, make sure to stay low,"

Ellie huffed, but understood. She figured since it was a small place, she'd only be standing there for a few minutes.

"Alright," Matt said as he appeared from the other side of the building, "It's clear, no infected out here,"

Matt walked over to Ellie and decided to wait with her. If Joel needed him, he'd be hearing gunshots or struggling by now.

"Come on in," Joel said as he appeared from the door, "Other than a few skeletons, it's clear,"

"Awesome!" Ellie cheered as she finally got to rest her legs and even have something to eat.

The three entered the gas station, the first room was just an assortment of aisles that the shop would use to display the products they sold, "Look around, there might be something to take," Joel ordered.

Ellie, Joel, and Matt took separate directions as they began looting the place, thankfully, since it was so small, it would only had a few short seconds to reach each other.

"Fuck yeah!" Ellie whispered yelled in celebration, having found a box of period supplies.

"Empty bottles, empty cans," Matt said out loud, "Yeah, most of the stuff I'm finding over here is just rubbish,"

"Ru-bbish ... Rubb-ish ... Rubbish ..." Ellie said to herself, "That's a funny sounding word,"

"Yeah, just trash over here," Joel nodded in agreement, "We'll head into the back, that's where we'll set up shop,"

Joel lead the other two into the back of the gas station, it was just where the employees would come to start their shift. Blue carpet on the floor, a few lockers to keep things in, and a desk right in the corner for the manager.

Matt took his bag off and placed in on the ground next to one of the lockers, "I'm gonna check the cars outside, see if they have anything," he told Joel and Ellie.

"I'll see what food we have then," Joel said as he dropped his pack to the floor and started shifting through it.

Ellie landed on the floor with a thud, sure she had managed to score some period supplies for later on when she needed them, but this was going to be a pretty boring evening.

"Here," Joel caught her attention and handing her a can of dog food, "It's not exactly edible, but its something,"

"Thanks," Ellie smiled, her stomach must've given her away as it began rumbling for something to be eaten.

Joel had then pulled out another two cans of dog food, one for himself and one for Matt.

"Y'know," Ellie started as she opened the can of dog food and shovelled it into her mouth using her hand, "You're not as reserved as you think you are,"

Joel hummed, "Is that so?"

"Yep," Ellie nodded as Joel followed suit and opened the can to eat the dog food, "You care about us,"

"Sure I do," Joel joked as he moved himself into a more comfortable position on the floor, "I'm just doing what she asked,"

She ...

"You mean ..." Ellie connected the dots, but Joel held up his hand to stop her from saying the name, "Sorry ..."

"Let's not ... Talk about it," He said, it was still fresh in his mind. The deal was supposed to be simple, quick, and easy. Then Tess got infected, the fireflies were dead and then fucking FEDRA attacked.

Now Joel has to lead Matt and Ellie to Lincoln to find Bill and Frank.

Joel cursed under his breath. How did things get so fucked up in the span of one day. His eyes moved over to Ellie how had just finished eating the can of dog food, she decided to wipe her hands on her trousers.

The older man let out a sigh, he really really didn't want to admit it. She was a lot like Sar – NO! Joel closed his eyes and shook his head. Ellie is cargo, nothing more, nothing less.

"You okay, old man?" Ellie asked as she noticed he had stopped eating and just sat there with his eyes closed.

Joel snapped his eyes open and looked at Ellie, "Yeah ... Yeah 'm fine,"

The deal wasn't going to get any easier, that's for sure.

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