Chapter Text
Ellie rolls on her side and spits up as much of the blood in her mouth as she can. She needs to get to Dina and see if she’s still alive, god it’s like a f*cking nightmare. Her right arm is useless, and her nose is definitely broken, and with the ringing in her ears and pain in her head, she’s most likely concussed. f*ck, f*ck.
Ellie gasps at the spike of pain that shoots up her arm when she tries to push herself upright and ends up falling back down. She can’t stop the litany of swear words that spill from her lips.
“Motherf*cker, sh*t, f*cking hell.” She moans. Rolling her head, she turns towards Dina. All she can see is her back with an arrow sticking out of her right shoulder. Jesus Christ, how is she gonna get them out of this?
Jesse’s f*cking dead, oh god, Tommy’s dead too. What was she thinking coming here, he warned her, he f*cking told her it was a bad idea, she got him killed, she got them all killed.
“Dina? Dina… can you hear me?” She calls desperately, voice cracking. Dina doesn’t move, doesn’t even twitch. She can’t be dead too, she just can’t. If she’s dead… what the f*ck is the goddamn point. “Dina, please, can you hear me?” She calls again, tears now mingling with the blood that runs down her face. “Please.”
“Uhhh,” Ellie hears from Dina, and she can’t hold back the sob that breaks from deep in her chest. She tries again to shove herself up, and this time, she’s able to at least get into a sitting position.
“Listen, Dina, I’m coming, babe, I’m coming.” She sees a drop cloth off to the side and painfully scoots herself over with her one good arm, lightning strikes of pain shooting up her other arm every time she moves. She hears Dina groan, but she's still not moving. “Dina, don’t move, babe, don’t move. I’m coming.”
She grabs ahold of the cloth and uses her teeth, which feel like they’re floating around in her gums after the hits she took from Abby, and her good hand to rip down the middle. She folds one half into an approximation of a triangle and ties a quick sling. After taking a few deep breaths and clenching her jaw, she puts the knot over her neck and reaches with her good arm to try and position her broken arm into the sling. The pain is like nothing she’s felt before. The closest she could compare it to was after Silver Lake with her broken ribs, she’d had to sneeze at one point, and the pain had almost knocked her out.
Ellie was prepared for it this time, but she’s still left seeing stars. She puts her head down between her raised knees and tries just to breathe. Slowly, the pain recedes to a more manageable level, and her vision clears. “Oh sh*t, that was bad.” She mumbles. She looks to Dina, and the distance seems impossible, all she wants to do is lay back down and pass out for a few hours. But she’s gotta get over to Dina and take care of that arrow, and sh*t, check on her head too. She hears a quiet but sharp sob come from Dina, and it's what finally pushes her to shove the rest of the drop cloth down the front of her pants, getting onto her one good hand and knees and start crawling over to her. The sling helps to keep the pain manageable in her arm, but the dizziness and disorientation have her still moving at a snail's pace. “I’m comin’ Dee, I’m comin’.” She mumbles, not even sure Dina can hear her but she needs to hear her own voice, needs to be present in the moment, so she doesn’t fall apart.
She finally makes it to Dina’s side, and she has to take a second to steady herself before she can assess her girlfriend's injuries. It's bad, it’s f*cking bad, but it’s not as bad as it could be, which is not saying much. “Babe, can you hear me?” Dina moans, and her eyes flutter, but that’s all Ellie gets out of her. “Okay, that’s okay. Babe, I've gotta get this arrow out. The shaft is already broken so I’m just going to pull it out the front. It’s gonna hurt honey, I’m sorry.” Dina doesn’t respond, but her chest keeps moving and her heart keeps beating under Ellie’s fingertips where she has them pressed to her wrist. So she pulls the drop cloth out, rips it into a few more strips, and lays them out in front of her.
“Alright, Dee, here goes.” Ellie manhandles Dina gently so she’s laying against her legs and takes a few deep breaths, slow five count in, slow five count out, then grabs ahold of the arrowhead. She makes sure her grip is firm, and then she pulls. She expects Dina to scream, yell, cry out, jerk. She does none of those things; she lets out a garbled whine, and her body slumps against Ellie’s legs. Honestly, this was more frightening, “You did good, Babe, so f*cking good.” Ellie presses a strip of cloth to the front of Dina’s shoulder and holds it there with her knee, then she places another strip of cloth to the back of her shoulder, holding it with her other knee. It’s a precarious balance but she only had one free hand. Using another wider strip of cloth, she wraps it under Dina’s body between her left arm and chest and over the top of the two makeshift pads to hold against Dina’s wounds. She ties it off with her hand and teeth and gently lays Dina on the ground.
“sh*t, okay. That’s done.” Ellie takes another few moments just to breathe, she wants to stay near Dina, but she also needs to lean against something, or she’s going to fall over. So she scoots over to one of the many boxes and puts her back against it, leaning all of her weight into it.
f*ck, this is all so f*cked. Jesse, Jesus, Jesse is dead. He’s just gone, like that, just gone. And Tommy, he didn’t even want to do this, he wanted to stay in Jackson. If it had been Tommy, Joel would have stayed with Ellie, and if it were Ellie who was killed, well, Joel wouldn’t have been going anywhere other than a pine box. Who was she kidding, this had been so stupid. All she got for all of this was a dead friend, a dead uncle, and her girlfriend so badly beaten up there was a good chance she could die too, and f*ck what about the baby. Christ, this was all too much. Ellie lets her eyes slide shut, and darkness envelopes her.
—
“Ellie… Ellie.”
Ellie moans and forces her eyes open, just a crack. It’s too bright. Her eyes burn, her arm aches, her mouth aches, f*ck, everything aches. Her whole body is just a pincushion of pain.
“Ellie, please wake up.”
It’s Dina. She can tell it’s Dina, her voice frantic. Ellie groans and pushes herself away from the box, opening her eyes completely. Dina’s next to her, the wrap still on her shoulder. Ellie can see some red on the cloth, but it seems to have done a good job stopping the bleeding.
“Oh sh*t, Ellie, god, I was so afraid.”
“Dee, oh babe. Me too.” Ellie reaches out a trembling hand to Dina’s face. It's still covered with blood from where Abby bashed it against the floor, but that, too, seems to have stopped.
“We have to get up and make sure the door is secure.” Dina rasps, her voice cutting out at the end. She coughs and grimaces, holding her head. “sh*t,” Her body trembles, and she turns to the side and vomits bile, retching and gasping, her one good arm pressed to the floor. She’s got almost nothing in her stomach. It’s been so hard for her to keep anything down the last few days, and Ellie is reminded that she needs to get her to drink something. She’s been so dehydrated, too. Jesse was worried that she would get worse if they couldn’t get her water intake up. sh*t, Jesse. Dina moans again and sits back up, coughing and spitting to clear her mouth. “Ellie… can you walk.”
“Yeah, I–I think.” Ellie reaches her hand up and grabs ahold of the top of the box. With shaking legs, she pushes simultaneously as she pulls and somehow manages to get herself to her feet. “Let me try walking, just… f*ck, just a sec.” She has to grit her teeth and take a deep breath as pain shoots up her arm. Slowly, the pain passes and Ellie shuffles forward towards one of the other boxes. It’s slow, but she makes it. She turns back to Dina and shuffles over to her. “Can you stand?”
Dina goes to nod but stops, her face going pale. She takes a moment, eyes closed, then reaches a hand up to Ellie.
Ellie takes it, “Go slow, Dee.” She warns, and Dina squeezes her hand in response. Slowly, Ellie helps her stand, and somehow, they manage it, but it’s not pretty. They’re both gasping and trembling, bodies so overwhelmed with pain and fatigue. They lean against each other, each trying to avoid the other's injuries. They are a right goddamn mess.
Ellie can feel tears welling up in her eyes. They spill past her lashline, she can do little to stop them. Dina whimpers and her voice catches on a sob, but she bites it back.
“We can’t do this now, we can’t.” Dina mumbles.
“I know,” Ellie says, and she does. She knows that if they break down now, they won’t be able to keep going. They’ll fall apart, and that will be the end of it. There will be no getting them back off this dirty, blood- and dust-covered floor. Their bodies and bones will rot here with the rest of this theater.
“Let’s go.” Ellie sighs, and they carefully shuffle their way out of the basem*nt.
—
The whole endeavor takes what feels like hours because they keep having to stop to catch their breaths, but they finally make it up the stairs and down into the auditorium. Ellie sees the door to the lobby, and dread suddenly washes over her. Dina doesn’t know; she doesn’t know about Jesse or Tommy. Should Ellie say something, or should she just wait until they get there?
“C’mon, Ellie. We're almost there,” Dina says, holding her hand on one of the seats, using it as leverage.
“Dina, wait, just wait,” Ellie says, putting a hand to her head. She has to tell her. She can’t just let her walk into that. “Dina, I’m sorry, but Jesse…”
“I know, Ellie,” Dina whispers, voice flat.
“What?”
Dina snorts, it's wet, and she has to clench her hand on the chair, fingernails biting into the velvet fabric to keep herself from losing it. Ellie can see that she’s teetering on the edge, one small step from lifting her head to the sky and screaming herself horse. “Ellie, he didn’t come for us. If he were alive he would have been down there. Injured or not. I know, El.” She clenches her jaw and starts moving toward the double doors. Ellie follows haltingly behind. Dina reaches the end of the row and places her hand on the bronze bar. With a warbled breath, she pushes through.
Jesse is where Ellie left him, eyes wide open, mouth gaping, hole through his cheek. Blood pooled beneath his body. His dark hair was matted with it, and his clothing was discolored where it soaked in. Ellie can see that it’s become tacky and dark, congealed. Dina groans and covers her mouth, her fingers wavering over her lips, tears tumble from the corners of her eyes. She turns away, free hand shooting out to grasp the ticket counter behind her before vomiting on the floor. Ellie stumbles forward and rubs a hand up and down her back, mumbling soft nonsense words.
Dina shudders and curves around herself, drawing in deep, ragged breaths between gulped sobs. Ellie keeps rubbing, trying to keep her eyes from roaming to Jesse, looking anywhere but at his now cold body. Her gaze travels to Tommy, and she swears because he’s not there, his body is not there—just a giant pool of blood.
Dina looks up, her eyes red and puffy, but the tears have started to slow. “Ellie?”
“Tommy’s body is gone.” Ellie mummers. She shuffles forward toward the puddle of blood just beyond the rounded end of the ticket counter and suddenly screams as her eyes fall to the far wall. She trips over her own feet as she tumbles backward and falls hard on her ass. With a pained yelp, the color drains from her face. “Tommy?”
Sitting against the far wall is Tommy. The arrow that had been embedded in his leg was lying on the floor. His leg has been wrapped. His head has also been wrapped with a large white bundle covering the right side of his face at an angle. He’s alive, he’s f*cking alive. Pale and covered with blood but alive. His chest is rising and falling, breaths slow and even. How the f*ck did he get there? How is he alive? She saw Abby shoot him in the head. He should be dead. Suddenly, Ellie hears a voice coming from the front of the theater, and she scrambles for some sort of weapon, but there are none.
It’s too late anyway because a small woman, pale with bright orange hair and freckles, and a tall man, Ellie would guess he has to be over 6 and a half feet, with skin so black, he almost blends into the darkness outside make their way through the front door.
Ellie’s sitting uselessly on her ass on the dusty floor.
“I found him here. I was just trying to find a place to wait out the storm, and when I saw the light and the door open, I came inside and…” The woman stops, her eyes wide. The man immediately pulls her behind him and pulls up a gun, pointing it back and forth between Ellie and Dina.
Ellie puts her hand up in front of her in sublication. “Please don’t, we don’t mean any harm,” She begs. The man’s gun doesn’t lower, but his eyes soften as he takes both her and Dina in. Dina chooses that moment to bend over and vomit, her body hunching pathetically against the counter.
The woman peeks around the man and shakes his arm, “Dominic, put the gun down. I don’t think they’re dangerous.” The man stands for a moment more but then lowers his weapon.
He speaks, his voice strangely muted, almost like he has some sort of speech impediment. “Don’t try anything. I’ll shoot if you do.” His tone is so familiar for a moment, and then she realizes why. It reminds her of Sam. Of the few times he’d made a noise to try to draw her or Henry’s attention. Ellie looks closer at the man and sees that he has hearing aids in both of his ears. She decides to try something. She brings her uninjured hand to her face and sighs in ASL, “No Hurt.” gesturing to herself and Dina and then to the man and woman.
The man's brow raises, and he signs, “You know ASL?”
Ellie nods. Years ago, after she and Joel got back to Jackson one day when she was feeling really sh*tty about all the people who had died so she could live, she found herself in Jackson’s library, grabbing a book about sign language.
For a while, she tried learning that way until Tommy saw her one day at lunch sitting by herself, trying to make the motions with her hands. He’d sat down, and the whole story just flowed out of her: Kansas City, the boy she shot, Kathleen, Sam and Henry, the horde, Sam getting bitten, her trying to save him, falling asleep, Sam turning and Henry shooting him, Henry shooting himself, burying them. By the end, she felt raw and ragged around the edges. But something about talking to him had helped her to come to terms with what had happened there and even if she could help Sam and Henry, she wanted to do this one small thing to remember him by.
Tommy had steered her to a woman in town who was deaf and extremely happy to pass on her knowledge. Ellie is thankful for it in the moment.
The man looks back to Dina and Tommy and holsters his gun.
“What are you all doing here?” The woman asks.
Dina’s slumped over the ticket counter, her face pale and waxy so Ellie takes the lead.
“We came looking for help. My friend's pregnant, and she’s not doing very well. We were trying to find the Seattle QZ, but I guess you already know what we found instead.” Ellie waves to her group in general. The woman nods and looks at the man. He seems conflicted for some reason but finally nods back.
“Who attacked you?” The man signs.
“I don’t know, really. Most of them had bows and arrows, but some of them had guns. They all had scars on their faces. We ran in here to escape, and we were okay for a day or two, but then they must have got in through the upstairs somehow because they attacked us.” Ellie gulps and looks down at Jesse. Her eyes start to glaze, and she has to clear her throat before she can speak again. “They killed my friend, and I thought they killed my uncle, but it looks like you helped him?” Ellie gestures to Tommy.
“Yeah, I saw… your friend and your uncle when I came in. I’m sorry I can’t do anything for him,” she pauses and nods towards Jesse. But your uncle, we can help.” The woman's green eyes are kind and sad in the aftermath of her words.
“Who are you, and why would you help us? We could see that FEDRA’s gone.” Ellie slowly scoots back to the couch behind her and uses it to lift herself up to get to Dina. She gets up to the seat but falls back into the cushions when the pain from her arm is too great.
“We’re part of the WLF Washington Liberation Force… or at least we used to be.” The girl waves it off, “We took over after we overthrew FEDRA, but well, things haven’t been going so well recently. The scars, the people who followed you, they don’t like us being here and tonight there was some move to try and take them out once and for all. Me and Dominic were told to just wait at the clinic we work at for any wounded, but no one came back, and it looks like everything went bad.”
The man steps forward now, and his hands start to move slowly. “We’re getting out. We help you, you help us.”
Ellie nods and clumsily tries to sign with one hand, resorting to finger spelling when necessary: “We help, thank you. Friend hurt. Help first.” Ellie points to Dina. She’s still struggling to get out of the seat, but Dominic motions at her to stay put and slowly walks over to Dina, his hands out to the side.
Ellie looks up when she realizes that the woman is now infront of her on her knees. When did she move? Ellie doesn’t remember her moving. Did she black out there for a second? sh*t, she’s in worse shape than she thought.
“I’m Darla, by the way. Can I take a look at you?” Darla’s voice is smooth, calming, and Ellie finds herself leaning into it. She’s so f*cking tired, and at this point, she’ll take help from almost anyone. She nods, and Darla carefully takes Ellie’s arm out of the sling.
“Well, this must hurt like a bitch.” Darla says, her tone sympathetic.
“You can say that again,” Ellie hisses as Darla moves it further from her body.
“I’m going to manipulate it a little to see where the break is and if it can be set. Is that alright?”
Ellie nods tiredly, her vision starting to darken. She gasps, and her eyes shoot open as pain strikes up her arm. “sh*t, f*ck!”
“Sorry, sorry.” Darla gently tucks her arm back in the sling and looks over to Dominic, who’s helping Dina over to a chair near Tommy. “It looks like a clean break, but I’ll need to cast it, and I don’t have those types of supplies with me. We need to go back to our clinic. It’s close with our SUV.”
“Wait, you have a f*cking car?”
“Yeah, that’s why I left. We need to get your uncle back there and he can’t move on his own. He lost a lot of blood, and I need to get a better idea of his head injury and how bad it is.” Darla stands up and walks over to Dominic and Dina. He’s got her in a chair, and he’s carefully turning her head from side to side to assess her injury. Darla taps him on the shoulder and whispers into his ear. He nods, and Darla comes back to Ellie.
“Okay, we’ll get your uncle into the van first, then you and your friend. Is that okay?”
“Yeah, yeah.” Ellie looks down at Jesse and cringes. “Is there any way we can take him? I… want to try and get him home to his family.”
“Sure, we have some… I hope you don’t take offense, but we have some bodybags in the back we can put him in one.”
“No, it’s alright. I know- sh*t, I know it’s not… f*cking hell. It’s fine.” Ellie looks away and tries to keep the tears that are stacking up behind her eyes at bay. “Just yeah, that’ll work.”
“Okay just sit tight then, for a few minutes.” Darla pats her hand and moves away. Ellie closes her eyes and leans her head back on the couch. She knows she should try and stay awake just in case someone else comes after them or f*cking Abby changes her mind and comes back. But she just doesn’t have the energy; everything just hurts, and the fatigue creeps up on her before she can do anything about it, and she slips off into a dreamless sleep.
