AN: Hey, how's it going bros? I'm feeling…tired. Like, dead tired. Y'know, I didn't went to bed until like 3:30 in the morning and I overslept a bit and my mom was like, "Hey Beck, are you up?" And I was just out there. Full of adrenaline and ready to get ready to go to hell (School is hell). So I'm like, "I'm not tired at all and now I'm sitting here in 1st period study hall, I'm just out. I feel like I'm ready to fall asleep. Ugh, I wanna go home and sleep in until like noon. But, oh well, I'll pull through Note to self for the future, don't work late on a school night LOL XD BTW, this story was originally gonna be called something else, something like "A Beginning to the End" IDK. So when I fixing some mistakes from my stories (which is a shocker), when Joel said, "You got to find something to fight for." I'm like, "That's it. That's gotta be the title." #satisfied :P So not to confuse you bros, the prologue will jump 3 months later. Since it was about the end of April, this chapter is around mid-July. Hooray for hot weather! :D Also, this is where my OC's come into play. So you're gonna be seeing them! XD Holy shit, my AN is long…I better cut it right to the story, yeah? :3 So bros, here is chapter 1 of my fabulous story. ;)

Chapter 1: New Beginnings with New Faces

Ever since Joel and Ellie arrived back to Tommy's, life has been getting better. Not just for Joel, but for Ellie, Ellie got a lot better. The quiet, distant girl started to fade away and now becoming to her old self again. She was making sarcastic remarks like she used to do, pointing things that she questions about the world before the outbreak, and she made new friends when they'd arrived there since day one. And let's not forget about her and that damn joke book.

Last week, Joel and a couple of other guy raid a nearby town to look for can goods and supplies. He somehow found the joke book lying on top of an old, dusty kitchen cover. It was pretty noticeable, despite it was in dust and coffee stains, for the cover being bright and colorful, with a yellow duck on it, and having big, funky letters on the front saying, "Shut the Duck Up and Quack It Off!". It was volume 3 of the 2 books she still has; this will make a surprise for her.

As of right now, they're both sitting in the kitchen. Joel leaning back on his chair, arms crossed, with his feet up on the table. He was watching Ellie, who is on the table, kicking her feet back and forth, giggling as she found another joke.

"Okay, I found a good one!" She looks over at him, full of amusement.

Joel raised his eyebrow at her, smirking up at her, shaking his head.

"How come every time you say that, it ends up being terrible?"

"Hey they are not terrible", she said pointing a finger at him. "Not all of them at least, but hear me out."

Joel closes his eyes, sighing, shaking his head back and forth.

"Alright", he sighs out. "Whatcha got?"

"Yes!" She exclaims, her eyes very wide and vibrant with a large smile on her face. "Okay, um…What is the difference between a nicely dressed man on a tricycle and a poorly dressed man on a bicycle?"

She raises her eyebrow at him, waiting patiently for his answer. She tries to suppress her giggle and goofy looking grins. She is enjoying this little moment and she is pretty sure that he is too.

"I don't know what?" Joel said with a faint smile appears behind his scruffy beard.

"A tire", she giggles out loud.

Joel rolls his eyes at her as he lets a long, exaggerating sigh. He sees her flipping more pages in that pun book of hers.

"Don't tell me you're gonna read another one?" Joel playfully wines out.

"Yes I am, mister!" Playfully playing back. "Quit your wining, you're worse than me."

"Oh really?" He said with a smirk. "Saids the person that wanted bacon instead of sausage the other day."

"I wasn't wining!" She points out. "I was simply objecting with the whole sausage idea!"

"Mmhm, I guess I grew up with a different definition then."

"What is that supposed to mean?" She raises her eyebrow at him, bookmarking her page with the tip of her fingers.

"Here's the way I see it kid", he took his feet off of the table, now leaning on the table. "I ask you if you want any of the two and you said, "I don't care, just make it." By the time the food was ready, I called you down to eat and you came down with a hissy-fit about it."

"Hey, I thought you knew me well enough that I prefer bacon over anything", she sighs out.

She looks away from him and opens back her joke book. She looks back up with a slight grin on her face.

"Just be happy that you got your own plate of sausages to yourself."

He chuckles at her comment. "Well just for the future, just tell me before I actually cook it."

"Yes sir", she said with a fake southern accent.

He sighs as he rubs his eyes with his forefinger and thumb, slightly chuckling under his breath.

"I used to be a banker", she reads out, looking at Joel and back. "Then I lost interest."

"That's awful", he said chuckling.

"You're awful", she comes back playfully.

"Do you have any idea what that means?" He questions her.

"Nope", she said confidently. "Doesn't matter."

Joel starts to tap on the wooden table rhythmically. He was thinking about something. He was thinking of a joke that he can pull off. One came to mind; one that he used to tell Sarah when she was little.

"Alright, little lady", he said probing his elbows on the table. "I got a joke for you."

"You, with a joke?" Ellie said sarcastically. "Ha, that's funny already."

"No, no, no, hear me out", he said putting his hand in the air. He clears his throat before continuing on. "I really didn't like my beard at first but then it grew on me."

He starts to stroke his beard, to add more effect. Ellie gave him a weird look at first but then turned into giggles and laughing out loud.

"Okay, you got me", she said laughing out loud. "That was good."

"See, I told you it was funny", Joel chuckles, mentally high-fiving himself.

"That's the good part", she said, wiping the corner of her eye out. "Your joke didn't completely suck."

"Hold on", Joel stopping her. "Are you telling me it was bad?"

"Oh it wasn't just bad", she looks over on her left side and sees an old, crumpled up paper on the table. She picks it up, showing it to Joel, and rips it in half. "It was tear-ible!"

Joel scuffs playfully as he watches her break down in laughter once again. It was his opportunity to take drastic measures. He reaches out to her and pokes her sides, making her squeal and squirm violently. Ellie quickly swats his hand away from her side, now looking at him, trying to display a serious face.

"Don't make me go ninja on your ass!"

She raises her arms high, in front of her. Her serious face starts to twitch and once again broke out in a large, goofy grin. She swings her legs back and forth off the table.

"Alright, that's enough for the day", Joel smiles up at her. "Put that thing away."

She rolls her eyes at him, but she happily obligates to his request. She leans over and grabs her opened backpack. She throws it in her bag and zips it up, setting it back on the wooden chair. She lets out a huff, turning back to him.

"Are we gonna do anything today?" She questions him.

"I don't know, nothing I guess", he replies back. "Why? What do you wanna do?"

"Like…I don't know, get out of the house", she said hopping the table. "And what I mean by out of the house, I mean…outside the settlement, outside the wall."

"Why on earth you wanna do that?"

"Because", she explains. She walks over to the counter and leans against it. "Joel, I've been stuck here for three months. Three months! That's way too long. Even last week, when I ask you if I can go with you and the other to find supplies, you wouldn't let me. And I think that was bullshit. It really was. "

He sees her back start to slouch, crossing her arms in front of him. She was right, she is right about being stuck here and the right to go out of the settlement. It scares him. The only reason why he doesn't allow her to go out is because she might get hurt, when it from something or someone, he is always afraid of what is going to hurt her. She has been through hell this whole time. She should feel like kid that she had always been and be protected by love ones in a safe, caring environment and not worry about the cruel world.

"Look", she said straightening up. "I know you're doing this to protect me. I appreciate it, I really do. But…I worry about you too."

"Ellie"

"What happens to you when I'm not around? Huh? What if you get bit or shot or something? Then what? Then I feel like it's my fault for not going with you", she whimpers.

"Ellie, don't talk like that" he said, reaching out to her.

"No, it's true!" She raises her voice. "Seriously, what if I'm not there to take cover for you? We cover for each other and it's going to stay that way! I'm not gonna sit back here when you get hurt out there only because you told me to!"

She left out a huff through her nose, trying to calm down and not to shout any louder as she is right now. She looks down at the ground, looking at her dirty, black converse, eyeing at the once white shoe laces. As this moment feels like forever, she looks up at him, finally calm.

"Joel just…next time when you go out…"she said uncrossing her arms. "I'm going with you."

Joel was about to say something more but she held her hand up in front of him.

"Before you say anything else", she said being calm and rational. "I'm not doing this to get out and run off and get hurt, I'm just doing this for your sake. Because…I care, about you and…I…yeah…"

Her voice falters and fades away, looking away from the now shocked Joel. He can't believe what he just heard. She admits that she cares about him and that she doesn't want her to her to hear that he got hurt. She was right, about not leaving her here and covering for him like he does for her. He felt his chest swell up and break at the same time. But her explanation persuaded him for now on that he was taking her with him, and now thought of a good idea to cheer her up.

He gets up from his seat and walks out of the kitchen and out into the living room. It caught Ellie's attention real quick.

"Joel?" She questions him, following him.

She sees him go by the door and pick up his backpack, pulling it over his shoulders.

"What'a you doing?" Ellie isn't sure where this is leading to.

"I figure ah, you and I, should go on out and go on a hike", Joel smiling fondly at her.

Ellie green eyes widen; she can't even believe what she is hearing.

"Are you serious?" She questions with a bit of excitement in her voice.

"Mmhm, serious", he said. "Go get your backpack and bring your bow and arrows, we'll try to get somethin'."

"Like a rabbit?" She starting to show her smile, her eyes sparkling as feels her toes squirm in her shoes.

"Whatever you want kiddo", he said walking up to her with a sincere smile. "C'mon, get your stuff, time's a wastin'."

"Yes!" She exclaims, giving the biggest, strongest bear hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

She immediately runs up the steps to her rooms to retrieves her bow and arrows. As she does, he took his shot gun and revolver and reloads them with new bullets. Once everything was ready to go, he put his pistol and shot gun on his holsters and sees the excited Ellie, her backpack on with her bow and arrows and her trusty pistol loaded and now already to go.

"I guess you're ready then", Joel smirks at her.

"Hell yeah, I've been waiting for you for like…two minutes or whatever", Ellie happily said.

"Alright kid, let's go", he said walking over to the door. "But, before we go, we gotta make a quick trip to Tommy's and tells him where we're goin'. I don't want him complaining where the hell we went."

"Fine", she huffs out an exaggerating sigh. "And then we can go after that right?"

"Yeah", he said opening the front door. "Let's get outta here."

He lets Ellie out the door first before letting himself out, shutting the door behind him.

~T~L~O~U~

As Joel was inside Tommy's and Maria's house, Ellie sat on their front porch steps, waiting for him to come out. She probes her right elbow on her right knee, humming a tune stuck in her head as she taps her fingers on the side of her chin.

She hears the screen door open behind, seeing Joel walking out with a satisfied smile on his face. She smiles up at him as he passed her down the steps.

"I guess things when out smoothly huh?" She questions with amusement in her voice.

"Yeah," he said looking at her. "It's alright with him, all he just say not to wonder too far out and keep an eye out on anything that's suspicious."

"So we're ready then?" Ellie said, now standing up.

"Yeah", he nods down at her, pulling her up.

"Alright", she said with satisfaction. "Let's go!"

She starts to run ahead of him; she later slows down, waiting for the calm Joel walking ten feet behind her.

"Come on, time's a wasting!" She shouts, waving over to Joel.

"I'm comin', I'm comin'", he chuckles, now jogging up to her.

Both Joel and Ellie walk side by side together. It was a real good day for him. The sun is shining as there is a decent, summer breeze blowing in their face. Something about this moment made it special; it was a very fond moment for the both of them. Joel wraps his arm around her, pulling her close to his side as they walk.

"I bet you I can get a deer", Ellie said with a grin.

"That a fact?" He said looking down at her.

"Yeah", she smiles.

"Ha", he chuckles. "Not to bring your hopes down or anything but I highly doubt that would happen. The luckiest thing you might get is a good- lookin' size rabbit."

"Alright, I'll make a deal with you", she said with confidence, looking up at him with bright eyes. "If I get a deer…you gotta make me whatever I want for the rest of the week."

"And what do I get if you don't?" Joel raises his eyebrow.

"Um", she said deep in thought. "I don't know, you can choose…I guess."

Once the words came off of her lips, she immediately regrets it. She now sees the satisfied old geezer, lost in thought. Then looks down at her with an ear-to-ear grin. She slowly leans away from him.

"Then you gotta do the laundry."

"That isn't so bad", she lightly chuckles.

"You're not just doing your clothes", he said leaning closer. "You're doin' mine too."

She immediately unwrap his arm around her.

"Ew!" She wines. "That's nasty! I don't wanna touch your clothes, just…no!"

"Then I guess someone won't have her food-of-choice for the week", he said teasingly.

"Maybe this bet is a good idea", she thought. "A bet that I'll choose whatever kind of food or do both of our laundry. I'm not gonna wuss out for not…touching his boxers, or whatever the hell he calls them. It could've been worse. He could've made me sing and play the guitar in front of everyone."

"You're on!" Ellie said confidently. "But I'm still totally gonna win."

"Haha, I doubt it", Joel chuckles.

"Okay, old man, don't push it", she said grinning.

He gave her a teasing look when she called him old man. He chuckles as he tries to reach out for her sides to tickle her. She squeals and runs up to the big, large door ahead of them, with Joel walking behind.

"We'll be heading out for a little while!" Joel yells up at Art, who is on patrol at the moment.

"Alright, have a good time!" Art yells back. "Don't wonder out too far!"

"We won't!"

Joel gives him a quick thumbs up, Art giving one back. Joel pushes the door open, Ellie helping as well. Before they know it, they we're walking away from the settlement, starting a new adventure for the both of them.

~T~L~O~U~

The two companions walked through the beautiful, evergreen forest full of life. All around them, they can see everything that came to life. The flowers bloom, the animals roaming around, and the birds soaring through the clear, open skies above them.

Even though they see squirrels and rabbits running around them, there was no hope for Ellie and her deer. She was starting to get 5

"Goddammit", Ellie mumbles. "All I see is squirrels and fucking rabbits! There's no deer!"

"Ellie you need patience", Joel said. "One will eventually show up."

She turns around, lowering her bow, staring at Joel. Joel was sitting on a log, playing on a long strand of grass.

"Oh yeah, said the person who is making fucking noises with a damn piece of grass", Ellie said unamused. "You're the reason why you scare them off in the first place!"

"Oh I'm sorry", he said sarcastically. "I didn't mean to ruin your little hunting trip."

"No you're not", she objects. "You're just doing it so I can lose and do your damn, stinking laundry."

"No I'm not", he said with an ear-to-ear grin.

She mouths 'fuck you' to him as she gives him the bird, but she smiles anyway.

"You gotta teach me how to do that sometime", Ellie said, pointing out to the stand of grass in his hand.

"What this?" Joel said, holding the strand in front of her.

"Yeah", she said fondly.

She reaches out to him and takes the strand of grass away from him. She took the tip of the grass and rips it down the middle, smirking as she does so.

"Hey why you do that?" Joel said chuckling.

"Someone has to end this madness", she giggles with a genuine smile.

At that moment, something moves in the bushes, being quite noticeable. It was definitely too small to be a bear but yet it was too large to be a squirrel or rabbit. This may be Ellie's chance of catching a deer.

Both Joel and Ellie got into action and crouched down, keeping their heads low and their ears open. Ellie gets ready to load up her bow with a sharp arrow. As she was about to make a shot as the figure appear, they heard something from behind. Joel's neck snaps into the direction that he was previously. Something wasn't right. He has a gut feeling about it.

"Joel I don't think that's a deer", Ellie whispers to him. "Is there infected out here."

"No infected don't hide", Joel whispers back.

They heard something ahead of them, like if someone threw a rock and then hit a tree. Joel notices bit of movements ahead of him. He's gonna check it out this something, or someone, and then end it.

He motions Ellie to stay here, giving him a nod in satisfaction. He continues to be crouched down as slowly moves forward to the tree, full of shrubs vines. He grabs a shiv out of his back pocket, just in case it attacks. As he finally made it to the trunk of the tree, he got up and leans against it. He starts to tighten his grip on his shiv, giving him a moment before springing into action. He quickly jumps around the tree, seeing nothing in his surroundings. Even though nothing is there, he still has a bad feeling about this.

"Joel, behind you!" Ellie screams.

Joel quickly turns around; someone was charging at him a full speed with a pipe. Before the figure swings at him, he moves out the figure's way, missing the hit completely. He tightens his left fist, the figure's collar and punches him in the face. The figure drops to the ground, giving the perfect opportunity to end it once and for all. He then reaches out and grabs the pipe, gripping it tight in his hand.

There was a gunshot; someone shot Joel in his left shoulder, knocking him off his feet. He gets up to look who shot him. His eyes adjusted and sees him, or her actually. The person holding the gun was a teenage girl, who is gritting her teeth with a nasty look on her face.

The girl was no older than Ellie. She seems to be around 5'5, a couple inches taller than Ellie. She's wearing a dark gray cami covered by a loose faded yellow tank top slim yet slightly curved body. The teen is wearing ripped skinny jeans with light grey socks over them that went well with her dark brown, leather boots. She has dark brown hair that is a bit wavy as one strand flows across her face. Out of all the things that he noticed the most was her piecing dark green eyes with a slight tint of blue in them.

"Get away from her", the girl growls.

Joel starts to stand up, clutching his wounded left shoulder. He girts his teeth, groaning in pain. As he stood up, he looked down to see a woman clutching the side of her head. Boy, he feels like an asshole, especially when he punched the woman in the face. He wanted to help her up, but he stops when he hears a click from the girl, ready to pull the trigger to shoot.

"I said get away from her", vemon slips passed her lips, so cold and threatening.

The girl wasn't fucking around and she means it. This was serious business. If he made one wrong move, it's going to be the end for him.

"Okay", Joel said. "Just take it easy."

Ellie stood there with wide eyes. She couldn't believe what just had happened. One moment, they were having a good time and now…there was a woman, lying on the ground and a teenage girl, threatening Joel with a gun in hand, ready to fire at any second.

The girl lowers her gun, being unexpected for the both of them. She puts her 9mm back in her holster. She got down on her knees, checking the woman to see if she is okay.

"It's alright", the woman whispers to her. "I'm fine."

The woman got herself up, now fully standing at 5'9. The woman's long, dark brown curly hair falls in front of her face as she brushes off the dirt off of her. She's wearing dark colored jeans, wearing her blue flannel covered with her dark brown vest. She was wearing blackish-brown boots with belts on the side of it. The woman has a perfect figure. She runs her hand threw her hair out of her face, looking at the two with dark blue eyes.

"I'm so sorry", the woman said to Joel apologetically. "I thought you were a bandit, I really am."

"It's ah", Joel starts out, carefully moving his hand from his wound. "It's fine. I would've done the same thing."

The woman slightly chuckles, looking away from him.

"I'm Heather", she said gesturing to herself. "And this is Attie."

She looks over at Attie; the teen's arms are crossed over her chest, giving her an unamused look. She doesn't want to stay here, they just want to get out of the way and get the hell out of there. It especially suit Attie when Heather talking to this asshole who try to beat her to death.

"Joel", he introduce himself. "This is Ellie."

Ellie made a slight nod to them. Her eyes fallen on Attie, who was staring right back. Her eyes brighten a bit, like as if she was never going to see another girl again. Attie completely dismisses it, looking away, avoiding her.

"So where are you two headin'?" Joel questions Heather.

"…We're trying to get through, head to Seattle. There's a safe quarantine zone up there, so… I figured, her and I can go up there and stay there, y'know."

"Tired of running then, I reckon", Joel said as he cross his arms.

"Yeah, you can say that", Heather said, nodding back.

He groans in pain as felt his wound throb; he clutches his shoulder.

"That looks like that needs fix", Heather said, walking up to him. "Move your hand."

He was hesitant but he did anyway. He looks at her as she examines his wound. She turns away to open her backpack, pulling out a tourniquet, and put pressure on his wound.

"This will be good for now. Put some pressure on it, you already lost enough blood as it is", Heather said zippering up her backpack. "Do you have ah a first aid kit or something?"

"No", Joel simply said. "But there's one back at the settlement not too far from here."

"So you live nearby?" Heather raises her eyebrow.

"Yeah, there's one back at our house", he said gesturing back at where they came from. "If you want to help me and…fix this wound, you two can come back with us, if you want."

"Yeah, yeah I like that", she said sincere.

"Heather", Attie scuffs. She gives her a look as she spread her arms out.

She left out a huff, looking up at Joel and pulls away for a moment. She walks to Attie and gently pulls her away, so they can have a private conversation. Joel and Ellie look at the two talking it out. They can't hear what they're saying, but they can tell Attie was objecting with the idea, giving a dirty look at Joel for a second, Heather pulling her chin to face her. She gives a sad look as she spoke. Attie's attitude starts to fade, calming down but still think it isn't a good idea to go back with them.

"Fine", Attie said, finally defeated. "Let's just go. I don't care anymore."

Heather was concern about her, she really was. She puts her hand on her shoulder, comforting her. She gave her a faint smile; Attie gave a quick one back, before shutting herself off from her and end the conversation.

"It's okay with her", Heather said fondly. "She has been through too much lately, with everything."

"It's fine", he said, giving her a small, sad smile. "Alright kiddo, you ready?"

Ellie looks over at Joel.

"Yeah", nodding up at him. "Yeah, I'm ready."

He nods at her, gesturing the two to follow him and Ellie back to the settlement.

AN: OMG, I'm finally done! YAY! This is like the most I have written in like…forever, so to speak. Sorry if it took a while with this chapter but I want it to be good. So what do you think about my OC's? You bros like Heather and Attie? It may be a bit rough but I manage. Oh, BTW…I finally got my Ellie hoodie! :D The damn thing is so soft and comfortable, and it looks so badass. For some weird reason, I got another Ellie hoodie, so I'm like, "WTF am I gonna do with this?" So…on tumblr, I'm giving away my other Ellie hoodie. If you bros want it, go find brofistpewdiepie now and reblog my post. You can reblog it as much as you want until Saturday night at midnight. So, if you want it, go do it :P Well, imma gonna go and do my homework. I'll talk to you bros later. ;) *brofist*