I walked along the almost empty streets of Jackson. Everything felt different.

I was on my way to Joel's house to meet up with Ellie and Dina. We planned to leave to find that girl and her friends. We were going to take some horses when Tommy took one this morning and left making Maria lock down the stables. That sort of ruined the plan so now we have to do something different.

I walked up the steps to the porch and stopped at the door of Joel's house. I spent a lot of time here when we all got houses. I contemplated in this very spot to knock on the door or not. I had Joel and Ellie opening the door when I took to long to even raise my fist to knock.

I sighed at the memories and grabbed the door knob and opened it. The house was usually booming with some sound but now it was way to quiet. And the smell of coffee was barely even there anymore.

I closed the door behind me as I walked in and put my hands in my pockets as I looked at the pictures in the picture frames. There was one in particular that stood out to me the most. The one that had Joel, Ellie, and me standing in the kitchen eating breakfast after a sleepover Ellie and I had. My dad took the picture with the camera Ellie had found for me. My shoulders slumped as I picked it up to take a better look at it.

"That's a nice picture." I turned around and saw Dina. "Yeah." I put the picture back in it's spot. "Ellie's upstairs grabbing something but after that we'll discuss the plan." I nodded and the front door opened to reveal Maria. "I need to talk to you guys," She paused for a bit. "Where's Ellie?" I pointed up as Dina called out for her. "Ellie! Can you come down here?"

"Everything okay?" Her voice answered back as I motioned for us to go to the dinning room. "Yeah it's just- Just come on down." Ellie's foot steps could be heard as she made her way down the stairs and into the dinning room. "Maria. I'm headed to Seattle. I wish I could let it go, but I can't..." Maria started reading the note Tommy left her. "I have to bring these people to justice. Ellie and (Y/n) are going to try to come after me but stop them. Take their guns. Lock up the horses. Maybe lock them up." Maria stopped to look at both of us and I raised my eyebrows silently agreeing that it was a good idea. "Buy me some time so I can end this. Love you always, Tommy."

"He's gonna get himself killed."

"He should have taken us with him." Ellie said and I nodded. "You should've given us a group to go after those fuckers!"

"I wish I could."

"You gonna try to lock us up?" Ellie motioned to me. "I prefer that you stay-"

"That's not gonna fucking happen--" Ellie cut off Maria but Maria then cut off Ellie.

"I prefer you stay, but I know you two better." Maria leaned on the table then looked at Dina. "Are you going with them?" Dina answered with a yeah and Maria got off the table. "So you just gonna sneak outta here?" I watched as Ellie crossed her arms. "Yeah."

"On foot?"

"Yeah."

"I told the stable to let you out with your horses. Grab some ammo too." No one said anything as we processed the words Maria just said. "Just, uh, do me a favor and bring my dumbass husband home in one piece, please." I grabbed the invisible rim of my invisible cowboy hat and tilted it. "Of course, ma'am." I said in my best western accent earning a smack in the arm by Ellie. "All right then. Get going... you're losing light." Maria walked out of the house and Dina stood up from her seat as Ellie leaned on the table and let out a sigh.

I walked up to her and placed a hand on her back. "You okay?" I asked and she nodded turning around making my hand fall from her back. I inhaled and put my hands back in my pockets. "We should go then." I made my way out of the house with Dina and Ellie right behind me.

-------------

SEATTLE DAY 1

We rode through the forest as Ellie told Dina a story of when she killed someone for the first time. I didn't really pay attention because I was basically there when it happened. "How old were you when you first killed someone?" Ellie asked Dina. "We talking infected?"

"No. Fully conscious, non-fungal person."

"Ten." Dina answered. God, I wish we could live normal lives. "Wow. What happened?"

"Guy was coming at my mom. I stabbed him. What about you, (Y/n)?" Dina's voice rang out. "Uh... well, honestly, I don't remember. The only 'normal' I had was when I first met Joel and when we got to Jackson."

"Damn, I don't know if you have us beat or not." She let out a small chuckle and I saw that Ellie smiled a bit. "So, how lost are we?"

"Uhhh, we're not." Ellie sounded very unsure if we were lost or not. "Don't worry about it ladies, I'm sure we're on the right track." I said as we continued to ride through the trees and talk about the experiences we've had.