The Way It Is - Chapter 6

With her eyes closed, Ellie could almost pretend that nothing had changed. That she was still back at the farm enjoying the cool afternoon after a hard day of work. She could almost believe it with Dina laying against her, that she hadn't left all she had behind in search of some sort of resolution.

Almost.

It wasn't anywhere near a cool afternoon, and there was still a space between them, even as Dina was close. Something that had not been there until she had made the decision to leave.

The fingers that she had lost ached. She flexed all the fingers of her left hand, and finally opened her eyes again. Dina hadn't said much, seeming content to simply sit by her side despite the fact the warmth of the day left them both sweating through their clothes still. She had picked up the letter, looking at Ellie for the brief explanation she had given of where she had gotten it.

Her mother, Anna.

So much for making her proud.

She had read the letter, as far as Ellie could tell, from the way she had carefully folded it back up and held it, looking at the Firefly pendant beside it on the floor. She'd never shown anyone else these things, never really talked about her mother with Joel.

Then again, they had never really talked about anything for the last few years before he died. She knew she had a reason, but it seemed so stupid now, so much time wasted.

So much time gone.

It felt like she wanted to sob, but her body had given up trying to produce tears today. Small blessings, she guessed.

"You left all this here."

Ellie blinked as she was pulled from her dark thoughts, looking down into brown eyes and feeling that familiar skip in her heartbeat. "What?" She then followed the gaze across the room, the boxes and old things left in here. "Yeah, I guess."

"What happened?"

She didn't need to ask for clarification this time, she only looked down.

"You said it wasn't worth it." A hand took her left hand into it gently, and Dina gently touched the stubs where her ring and pinkie fingers used to be.

Sighing as she shifted and looked down at the hand that was being held, she tried to find the words to explain what had happened. It wasn't like when she talked to Tommy. There wasn't an urge to lie, to cover up what she had done. Dina deserved to know what she had done, the person she had become in those months away. "Tommy was right, about where she was. I found her, but it wasn't what I thought."

She risked a glance over at the other girl, finding Dina pointed not looking at her. "She had spent a couple months captured by these.. People. They called themselves 'Rattlers'."

Dina let out a long sigh. "They always have to have some stupid name."

"Yeah." A smirk crossed Ellie's lips for a moment before she looked up at the wall littered with her drawings. "They.. Tortured people they caught, used them as workers, I guess?"

"Fuckers."

"Anyway, I got caught in one of their traps and.." She winced at the memory of the broken branch stabbing into her side, of hours passing while she hung upside down and felt blood running down her chest, drifting in and out of consciousness. "I got out. I found their place, and I found her."

Ellie hadn't realized how tense she had gotten until Dina was gently moving her hand to hold it more comfortably. She met that intense gaze from the other girl for a split second, her nervousness growing. "She wasn't anything like she had been in Seattle. Half-starved and weak, they had tied her up and left her to die on these poles on the beach with the boy she had been with."

"I couldn't leave her there, but I couldn't let her go either." She pulled away from Dina, looking out the window to a setting sun. "She didn't want to fight, so I.. I made her. I told her she had made the boy a part of it, and.. Put my knife to his throat."

"Goddamn, Ellie."

"I know."

"So you finished it?"

"I couldn't." Ellie hung her head between her knees now, shaking it and becoming very aware of the space between her and Dina now. "I was holding her under the water and.. She was so weak." She squeezed the two stubs on her left hand, the hot flash of pain rushing through them. "I let her go."

"Why?"

She scoffed, shrugging futilely. "I don't know."

"Ellie."

"Killing her wouldn't do anything, and the only reason she would fight was to protect the boy.." Ellie thought back to that night on the porch, with Joel. "Just like Joel did for me." She sighed, unable to find the right way to express it. What word could even describe what she had felt in that moment, staring down at bubbling and bloodied water?

Sad?

Pointless?

Lost?

A hand laid on her back, causing her to tense for a moment before it began to rub long, slow circles. It brought her head up, brought her eyes back to Dina. The corners of her eyes burned again, like she was supposed to be crying. "I'm sorry."

A sad, sympathetic smile was her only answer as Dina continued to rub her back, and a long moment passed before she spoke. "Did it change anything for you?"

Her apology was left hanging in the air.

"I don't think so."

A soft hum came from Dina, who looked like she was going to say something else when a short, sharp whistle sounded out from outside the house. It could have easily been someone whistling for a horse in Jackson, but out here it set Ellie's thoughts on fire as it was answered by two other whistles.

Rising up to a crouched position in alarm, Ellie raised a finger to her lips and then motioned for Dina to follow her as she drew the revolver from her waistband.

Reaching the door, she slowly leaned out to look through the railing. No one was in sight downstairs.

At least, not yet. She hoped that meant they would have enough time to get out the back, anywhere that was better than being cornered upstairs.

Ellie crept forward, reaching the stairs and descending as slowly as she could. The wooden stairs creaked softly, and each little noise left her cringing inwardly. She could imagine the look on Dina's face right now, and could almost hear the 'I told you so'. It wouldn't be wrong to say, she had said she was going to fix these stupid steps a handful of times.

Stopping just shy of being able to see the front door, she focused on her hearing, straining to catch any sound.

Steps on the porch.

The front door opening.

It was too late to back up, and Ellie aimed her revolver.

The Scar was looking to the left when he came through, arrow nocked in his bow. His eyes slowly swept the room before he turned.

His eyes widened, but before he could utter a sound she fired, and his body toppled to the floor with a new hole in his head and a spray of blood behind him. "Come on!" She moved for the open door.

"Ellie!"

Arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her back, leaving her tumbling into Dina as they crashed down back on the stairs, and an arrow was shot into the space she had just been. Extracting herself from the other girl, she rose up and aimed around the right corner towards the kitchen entrance.

She was a split second too slow, as the next arrow sliced over her left forearm. It didn't stop her from correcting her aim though, and she shot the Scar woman in the shoulder just as another arrow was being drawn.

Growling in pain, Ellie ran forward as the woman stumbled back against the far wall. The bow had fallen to the ground, but the Scar was going for a knife. As the woman tried to struggle up to her knees, Ellie kicked her in the shoulder to shove her to the ground, and then put two more shots into her chest to keep her down.

She was panting when she heard the heavy footsteps thudding on the floorboards. There was a cry of alarm as she turned, and she saw Dina stumble back onto the stairs, falling out of sight to avoid the swinging machete from the third Scar. Ellie was too slow to aim, and the Scar disappeared around the corner even as her heel dug in to start running towards the fighting.

"Dina!"

There was no clear shot.

Something instinctual took over as adrenaline flooded through Ellie's veins, and she ran up behind the woman attacking Dina. The Scar was swinging wildly, advancing up the stairs when her hands closed on that stupid brown overcoat.

"Don't you fucking touch her!"

Throwing the woman back, the weight took her and the Scar crashing back down the stairs. The railing shattered as she tumbled over, landing on her back hard enough it knocked the air from her lungs.

Pain was spiking through her stomach, but there was no time to recover as the Scar glared at her and scrambled for the machete.

Dazed and still gulping in breath that didn't seem to do much for her, Ellie weakly struggled as the brawny woman crawled atop her, sticking the point to her stomach. She managed to get her hands on the Scar's wrists, even as the tip dug into her skin and she felt the warm wet of her blood bubble up. "You are nested with sin!"

The words were spit at her like venom, and her attempts to hold the blade back were easily batted aside as the machete rose to deliver the final strike.

Three shots rang out from up the stairs, the last of which went right through one of the woman's eyes and splattered Ellie with blood as she shoved the corpse off of her.

Dina dropped down from the stairs next to her, holding her pistol out at the ready as she reached down. Ellie coughed as she managed to sit up, looking at the other girl. "You okay?"

"I'm fine, get up!"

She was pulled to her feet, collecting her revolver from where it had fallen as she looked around the house. Her shoe caught on the machete the Scar had dropped, and she crouched to grab it, holding it tightly in her left hand as she stepped towards the door.

Her pulse was still pounding as she opened the door slowly, aiming to check the porch before moving to check the front side of the house. No sign of any more Scars.

She glanced back towards Dina. "It's clear." Ellie leaned down on her knees as she fought to catch her breath, sticking the revolver back into her waistband before holding her chest. "Fuck, ow.."

"Ellie." Dina spoke softly, having walked over, and Ellie followed where her gaze.

It brought her attention to her arm, which now sported a heavily bleeding gash from the middle of her wrist to almost her elbow, earning a grimace from her. Red was dripping off of her fingers, puddling in the dirt. "Fucking Scars.." Taking a mental stock of her injuries, she could feel bruises already forming from where she had hit the stair railing and the wall on the way down. The mass of scar tissue on her right side was flaring with pain from the tumble she had taken, leaving her still bent over a bit as she tried to breathe normally. The spot where the machete had dug into her was bleeding, but not heavily, and while it ached it didn't feel deep enough to worry about right now.

Dina wordlessly dug into the bag she had brought, pulling out a roll of cloth that she immediately began wrapping Ellie's arm with.

As the bandage was being tied off, Ellie looked up at the other girl. "Are you okay, she didn't get you?"

Dina looked okay, physically. But she also looked rattled, an expression Ellie hadn't seen since Seattle.

"No, I'm fine."

"Alright." Ellie searched that expression the girl gave her for a moment before she finally looked towards their horses, still tied to the porch and riled up by the commotion. "Come on, let's get the hell out of here."

Author's Note: Took a lot longer to get this out than I would have liked, been a bit sick the last week and hadn't found the motivation to really write until tonight. Hope its good! 'Til next time! -Fox