Connoisseur of Well-written Fan Fiction

Joel’s hand moves further down your arm, finding purchase near your elbow. 

“‘S your turn.” He says quietly, making no attempt to remove his hand despite it accomplishing its goal of waking you. His words bring you further into consciousness. 

You nod slowly and squeeze your eyes together, banishing the remainder of sleep. You stand up and stretch, regretting the action immediately as the warmth of both Joel’s hand and your sleeping bag are stolen from you. 

“Fuck.” You shutter, word drawn out by the contractions of your body adjusting to the cold. Your hands scramble across the ground for your jacket. However, the material chilled by the night air provides little comfort. Joel stands idly watching your floundering attempt to warm up. 

“Here.” He says, setting the rifle down before moving to take off his own jacket. 

“Oh Joel, you don’t have to-” He motions for you to stop speaking with a wave of his hand, the other being used to offer up the jacket. You hesitate, but ultimately take him up on the offer for additional protection from the weather. 

“I’m surprised you’re actually letting someone else take a shift of watch.” You say quietly as you put the jacket on.

“Yeah, well.” He starts. “I figured you’d give me shit ‘bout it in the morning if I didn’t.” You smile at his words.

“Right you are, cowboy.” You say, moving to pick up the rifle. “Get some rest.” You touch your hand to his arm as you pass as a final good night. 

While you don’t see it as you are facing the opposite direction, Joel remains standing for a few moments longer than necessary. Head tilted towards you as he watches you walk away. His hand flexes for a moment, signaling his internal debate. He shakes his head, turning away from you as he does so before making his way to his own sleeping bag to get some much needed rest. 

As you take your position to watch, the heat from Joel's jacket settles into you, although something else entirely warms your cheeks. 

…

Watch goes by about as slowly as it always does. Although you admittedly spent more of it glancing at Joel than necessary, which sped things up a bit. Looking to the East you see the sun peeking out as daylight begins to seep into the sky. You sling the gun over your shoulder and begin to make some “coffee” for you and Joel. 

Your two traveling companions woke up with the sun. Joel sleepily shuffled his way over to you, or more accurately over to the coffee. Part of his hair sticks up in an oddly charming way, making you wish you had a camera. 

He yawns, arms stretching above his head. The movement reveals a portion of his tanned midriff, you take a deep sip of your beverage as you once again find yourself wishing for access to a camera.

Ellie sits upright, but stays in her bag for the time being, determined to not be anywhere near “that burnt shit.”

The warmth provided by the sun allows you to shed a few layers. You return Joel’s jacket to him with a quiet thank you. His hand lingers on your own in a way that does not go unnoticed by Ellie. 

The girl, having little else to be entertained by, had noticed a shift in the interactions between the two of you. Just little things, stuff she had originally assumed was due to lingering awkwardness from Jackson but… now as she witnesses the look you and Joel share she’s not so sure. 

…

The three of you get moving, and soon enough Ellie is pestering you and Joel about the “before times” yet again. 

“Okay, so- if you mess up your fourth down, then you give the ball to the other team… which is called a turn over?” Ellie repeats the information she had been given as though it’s a test.

“Yep.” Joel confirms. 

“But, if you make it to ten years, then you’re back to first down.”

“Uh huh.” Joel says, clearly enjoying this retelling of a once-favorite pastime. 

You take a deep breath to sigh, not being one for sports at any time in your life. On the exhale though, you cough, drawing attention from your companions. 

“You alright?” Joel asks.

“Yeah, fine.” You say a bit hoarsely after clearing your throat. “Just the dust.” He nods, before continuing his football lesson with Ellie and moving on to explain the Super Bowl.

“You know-” You interrupt, “the best part of the Super Bowl was the snacks. Oh! And the commercials.”

“Aren’t those like… advertisements though?” Ellie asks. 

“Yeah, but they were always really funny. Talking dogs, that sort of thing.”

“Sooo you enjoyed people trying to sell you things?” Ellie askes.

“Huh,” you pause. “Yeah, I guess it does sound kind of weird when you say it like that.”

…

“You went to college right?” Ellie directs her question towards you as the three of you pass the large University of Eastern Colorado sign.

“That I did.” You respond. 

“What was it like?” She asks. 

“Well,” you start, glad to finally have something to share that she’s interested in. “It’s a lot of reading, a lot of studying…” Ellie’s deminer diminishes slightly at the start of your description. “And… a lot of parties.” Your attempts to keep her interest seem to have been successful. 

“Really?” Joel and Ellie say simultaneously. “You went to ‘a lot of parties.’” Joel finishes incredulously. 

“Sure did.” You say, shooting him a glare. It’s not entirely a lie, a lot is a… relative term. Technically to Ellie, who had never been to a college party, three is a lot. “Friday night, would head down to frat row and not come back ‘till morning.” 

“What’s frat row?” Ellie asks.

“It’s the street where all the fraternities on campus were located.”

“And… what's a fraternity?” 

“Oh, well. It’s sort of like a club that a bunch of guys join because they think it looks cool. It was also good for networking -like getting a job once you graduated- but mostly people joined for the parties.” You say, looking around to see if you could spot any decrepit fraternity signage. 

“Only guys got to have party clubs? That’s stupid.” Ellie said, pouting slightly.

“Well, no. There were also sororities, those were like fraternities for girls.” 

“Oh! I want to be in a sorority.” Ellie says enthusiastically. The comment causes both you and Joel to burst out laughing. “What?”

“Alright party-animals, focus up. We’re looking for-” Joel starts before you cut him off. 

“Speaking of party animals.” You point across the quad to a group of monkeys running through grass. 

“Woah! Monkeys!” Ellie exclaims.

“Someone must have let them out of the lab when things went south.” Joel comments. 

The monkeys quickly scamper across the field and into some alleyway, eager to avoid the unfamiliar intruders.

…

“What about you Joel, did you ever go to college?” Ellie says after a lull in conversation.

“No, you don’t need that for contracting.” He responds. 

“Did you always want to be a contractor?” She asks.

“Well,” he pauses. “When I was a kid, I wanted to be a singer.”

“Shut up.” Ellie says as the two of you start laughing. 

“Why is that funny?” You quickly attempt to straighten your face out as Joel looks back and asks. 

“You gotta sing something now.” Ellie says.

“No.” Joel responds playfully.

“Come on… we’re not gonna laugh.” You add to the girl’s pestering. 

“You’re already laughing.” He states plainly.

“Okay… true.” Ellie admits in defeat. 

…

The halls of the university buildings exude a emptiness you’ve never quite gotten used to. Even after all these years, seeing places once full of life be so, well, dead just feels off. 

Of course, not everything here is dead. Vines climb along the interior walls, stretching towards broken skylights. Once well-manicured accent trees have roots that spill out of their pots and into the cracked tile below. 

Thankfully, the campus was largely free of infected. Less thankfully, it also appeared to be free of any Fireflies. Your search for signs of life had remained largely unfruitful until…

A cacophony of metal clangs rang out as Joel pushed the laboratory door forward. A troop of monkeys quickly exits out of the shattered windows. Ellie playfully avoids the metal pans scattered about as you begin to investigate. 

You find yourself standing in front of a wall filled with opened metal cages. Undoubtedly the ones which once contained the furry inhabitants of the university. As you stare at the rows, you imagine the person who freed them. Was it someone who was researching them? Who saw them daily and chose to risk their life to free them? The campus would have been heavily populated, it must have been a matter of hours before it was taken over by infected, if not less. Or maybe it was just some student who didn’t realize how serious the situation was, who thought it would be funny to add to the chaos. 

“Shit,” Joel’s words drew you from your thoughts. 

“What?” You reply as you begin walking over to see what he’s looking at. He hands you a piece of paper, taking the time you read it to inspect a set of dog tags on the table. 

“Shit.” You repeat.

“Yep.” He agrees.

“What? What is it?” Ellie asks, coming away from the window.

“Fireflies aren’t here, kid.” Joel says.

“Well where are they?” Ellie says, distressed.

“Fucking Utah.” You reply flatly.

She rolls her eyes, although you’re not sure if she actually knows where Utah is. 

“What’s the plan then?” You look to Joel.

“I guess we're going to Utah.” He says as he starts to make his way back out of the lab. 

Ellie’s groan of frustration is accented by your growing headache. You zip up your jacket, unsure if the air has gotten cooler or if the exhaustion of the day has just caught up to you. 

Although there’s honestly a part of you that’s glad you didn’t find anything. It’s not entirely clear what lies at the end of this journey. 

“So… you went to a lot of parties, huh?” Joel comments quietly to you as you avoid rubble. 

“Shut it,” Your laugh following the comment turns into a cascade of coughs.

“Y’alright?” Joel asks, placing a hand on your back. 

“Yeah, of course. Just y’know, the dust again.” He nods slowly, more hesitant to accept that answer the second time around. 

…

You return to the two horses, both safe and sound. Ellie’s already petting “her” horse's snout. 

You place your foot in the stirrup, arm readied on the horse's back to help pull yourself up.

“You sure you’re alright?” Joel asks, noticing your hesitation. 

“I’m fine,” you sigh as you attempt to step onto the horse. “Just a bit…” lightheaded, lightheaded was the word you were going for, although Joel seemed to get the idea. As you went up all the seemed to rush to your head, or was it away from? Whichever direction caused your hands to feel fuzzy and vision to blacken. 

Tag list: if you would like to be added, let me know!

Sarahhxx03

Blurredx18

groggygrogu

Yyiikes