Even outside of the safe confines of Jackson City, people had to sleep. It wasn't as easy to sleep when you were in danger of getting killed, eaten or infected at any given moment. And it definitely wasn't as comfortable. Hell, just finding a mattress that was clean enough to sleep on was practically impossible.

"I can't believe I've got to sleep on a fucking basement floor," Ellie cursed, twisting and turning under the thin blanket in hopes of finding a position that would allow her some long awaited sleep. Upon opening her eyes for a few seconds, she saw Joel sitting against the wall. "Aren't you gonna sleep?" She asked, perching an eyebrow in question. Joel shook his head slowly, not bothering to turn his gaze away from the door.

"No, I should keep watch. You get some rest." He mumbled, his hand clutching tightly around his handgun. Ellie sighed and sat up slowly.

"Dude, you need rest too. We barricaded the doors, we're safe."

"Just sleep." Joel said sternly, a grim look in his eyes as he turned to look at the girl. She sighed even heavier than before and plopped back down on the floor, regretting the dramatic movement immediately.

"Ouch," she mumbled, and then she tried to settle down. It took her some time to fall asleep, and it wasn't the deepest sleep she'd had, but it was something. She woke up hours later, feeling the sun through some cracks in the barred windows that sat high on the wall of the basement. It was warm on her eyelids and forehead, and she blinked a few times as she awoke. She felt groggy and tired but she forced herself to sit up slowly. She didn't want to spend more time than needed on that damn floor either way.

To her relief, she found Joel sleeping against the wall. It probably wasn't the most comfortable position to sleep in, but at least he'd gotten some shut-eye. Hell, she hadn't even heard if he woke up from one of his night-terrors again. Maybe he'd actually slept properly for once. But she didn't know for sure.

Ellie scuffled through some stuff in her backpack and pulled out a can of food. She walked over to Joel and sat down next to him with her legs crossed, softly bumping into him with her elbow. When he didn't react, she did it again, and his eyes flickered open after a few seconds. He blinked tiredly a few times before turning his head to look at her.

"Breakfast," Ellie said, handing him the can after having taken a few bites herself. He accepted the can even though he'd literally woken up a few seconds ago.

"Thanks," he mumbled, yawning a little before eating. They finished up their breakfast and then they removed the barricades from the door and left the basement, stepping out into the mild morning of Missouri. They had decided that they'd do some scavenging around the area before heading back out. They were in a little neighborhood, where they gathered the food and water they could find, and also anything else that could be helpful.

The sun was warm that morning, but in a soothing way. Ellie enjoyed every second out in the sun, because for once she wasn't sweating like a pig and her skin wasn't all dirty yet because she'd showered only a day before. Before they left Jackson City.

"Hey, Ellie," Joel said, sounding a little distracted as he kept looking for things in the cupboard inside of the house they'd entered. "Could you try and find a tube and a little container? I saw a car in the garage, thought I'd check it for gas."

"Sure thing," Ellie piped up and started looking. It didn't really take her long to find what they needed to extract some fuel from one of the cars, and from there they only had to return to the car which was safely hidden beneath a big, plastic cover they'd found on a boat that someone had in their garden. They'd probably taken it with them on vacations to their cabin or something like that. It wasn't easy to determine anymore.

They started driving again, knowing very well that they had a whole lot of road ahead of them. They didn't really speak much. Ellie didn't know if something else was wrong between them, or if Joel just needed time to warm up to the whole travelling situation again, but she did her best not to push the subject. She did, on the other hand, butt in with a few complaints now and then. And so she did after one hour of driving.

"Joeeel," she groaned, arching her neck backwards in an attempt to look exhausted. Joel didn't even look in her direction, so it didn't pay off all that much.

"What is it?" He asked with a dull voice, not seeming too pleased about having to stare at nothing but asphalt for hours on end.

"I'm burning up!" Ellie wailed, slapping her thighs in frustration.

"Are we talkin' the feverish way, or 'the car's too hot' way?" Joel asked, as if trying to make sure it was nothing he had to worry about. The last thing he wanted was a sick kid on his hands.

"Car's too fucking warm. I can't possibly be the only one feeling it?" She asked, frowning in question.

"Then open a window," Joel huffed, rubbing his lip with his thumb.

"Getting the wind focused from one point like that makes it feel like I'm being attacked by the brutal force of nature."

"Then I don't know what else to tell you." Joel shrugged, still keeping his eyes on the road.

"But it feels like I'm about to spontaneously combust or something!" Ellie groaned. Joel was silent for a moment, as if he was trying to figure out a solution.

"Tell you what," he said, tapping the little window behind them that lead out to the back. "If you promise me you'll be careful, you can climb on out and sit back there."

"While we're driving?!" Ellie exclaimed, practically shooting out of her seat in excitement.

"Sure thing," Joel chuckled. Ellie hurried out of her seat and turned around, fiddling with the lock on the window. She got it open and started squeezing through, bumping into Joel with her feet on the way out. He flinched a little and pushed at the bottom of her feet to help her through. She did a little roll onto the cushions and blankets on the back of the truck. As she spread out on her back, Ellie was temporarily blinded by the sun that shone right on her face.

She lifted an arm to shield her eyes from the excruciatingly strong sunlight, her eyelids struggling to stay open. After a little while of trying to adjust, they drove past a brush of trees, and then the sunlight was divided amongst the leaves. Beams of dissipated light shone onto her body, and the other parts were covered in black specks that were the shadows of the trees. As the shadows partially cast upon Ellie, she didn't feel too warm anymore, and she could silently marvel at the beauty that was the sky, and the top of the trees, and the clouds.

"Awesome," she whispered, her voice inaudible against the wind caused not by the weather, but something else. Ellie pondered on how exactly one would go about explaining wind caused by driving a car in high speed. She wasn't exactly a physics genius, after all. In the end, she couldn't think of anything else than the slightly pretentious thought that the wind was caused by the friction between the car and the universe. Going against the universe wasn't exactly easy, after all, and one had to expect an east wind to try and stop your rioting behavior.

"Though, I guess…" Ellie mumbled, knowing that no one could hear her and that her voice would be meaninglessly projected into the open air, and that calmed her in a way. Knowing she could speak freely with no one to judge her was certainly comforting. "I guess, despite all this shit, the world is still kinda beautiful. But I guess that might be shallow to say, since it's really only how it looks that's beautiful… and only sometimes.

She stayed still for a few minutes, happy that they weren't running out of trees to blot out the sun. After a while, she arched her back a little to get her hand into her pocket. She pulled out her box with the harmonica and retrieved the metal instrument, looking it over in her hands. To some extent, she could understand Joel. His need to hide how he sounds when he sings. She hadn't really seen or heard people play music live apart from herself, and that's why she understood. It was like opening up your soul, in a way. Letting people know what was really in there.

She understood because she knew what it felt like. She understood because she'd done the exact same thing. She felt that it had been pretty convincing, even.

"It's been a while since I saw someone like you, huh?" Ellie sighed with a melancholic smile on her face, her eyes fixed on the harmonica. She didn't remember one hundred percent how she'd come to own one before. She knew she'd gotten it from her parents before they left her, but she didn't remember it being given to her. At some point in her memories, it just appeared. And from then on out, she'd been self-taught. And she'd hidden that from Joel, just like he had refused to show her his music.

But at that moment, Joel wouldn't be able to hear her. Hell, she probably wouldn't even be able to hear herself. Again, like before, the wind would carry her voice into nothingness, with no one to listen to it. She put the harmonica to her lips and closed her eyes, playing it as softly as she could. As she thought, she couldn't make out much of what she was playing. She heard an occasional tone, but that was it. The rest was wind. After pulling the harmonica back from her mouth, she parted her lips and let the wind be the only witness to her voice.

With Ellie out of the car, she wouldn't complain about Joel having the window next to him opened up. He enjoyed the wind blowing harshly against his shirt, and at one point, he could have sworn he heard the wind sing. It sang about a rising sun… that's what he felt, at least. He needed to clear his head, that was for sure.

…

Coincidences can save lives. The butterfly effect – that's what they call it. A butterfly flaps its wings in Norway, causing a storm over the Atlantic Ocean. When Ellie went to lie down on the back of the truck, she changed the course of history and avoided an outcome that might have been quite terrible. Might have cost them the car, or worse – their lives. Not that they didn't know how to handle those kinds of situations.

"Joel," Ellie hissed after pulling open the little window from the back of the truck. "I was looking over the edge of the trunk, and there… fuck, I saw a shitload of hunters."

"Crap," Joel mumbled, yet staying perfectly calm. They were driving through a run-down neighborhood, and Joel didn't want to take the chance of just driving straight forwards. They'd run into a hunter trap before – and never again. He turned the engine off and let the car roll in between two houses. As he stepped out of the car he heard the faint voices of hunters shouting to each other. He hurried up to the back and Ellie helped him lift the big plastic sheet from the trunk to cover the car with it. Hopefully it was well enough hidden, because they didn't have any other options.

"What do we do now?" Ellie asked, looking nervously over her shoulder. Joel cocked his gun, while Ellie followed his lead and did just the same. They crouched down against the wall and tried to figure out a plan, and they could hear the hunters closing in on them. They probably didn't know they were there, but it was still scaring the living hell out of Ellie. The voices got clearer with every second that passed, and just as Joel was about to move to another hiding spot, a voice spoke up behind them.

"Over here," it said. Joel and Ellie reeled around and pointed their guns straight at the source of the sound. There, between a few bushes, was an old, black man. He waved them over. "Y'all better come this way, unless you feel like dyin'."

Almost as if Ellie could predict how Joel would protest, she grabbed his wrist and yanked him after her. He knew he couldn't make a commotion, so he followed suit through the bushes and out on the other side.

"No time for explaining, just get in." The man said, opening a hatch in the ground that was actually made completely invisible due to grass and dirt having been attached to the top of it. Beneath it was a dark staircase that they took down into a dimly lit cellar. They could hear the man close the hatch behind them before joining them downstairs.

"Alright," Joel said, pointing his gun at the man. "Not another step."

"Easy there, boy," The man chuckled, shaking his hands dismissively. "I heard you arrive in your car, and I knew somethin' was off. Hunters pass through here once a week, and this group of'em never bring cars."

"So what the hell are you doing here if it's such a hotspot for hunters?!" Ellie asked, though she was more concerned than threatening.

"This town's been my home all my life. I don't want to leave it, so I decided to make myself a safe spot and stay. Hunters' got no idea I'm here, and it allows me to occasionally help passing stragglers. Like you!" The man smiled, slapping his thigh as if he was amused. Ellie was watching Joel intently with an immense hope that he'd take more kindly to the man. Luckily, Joel had become a bit softer after being with Ellie for so long.

"I see," Joel said, nodding as he lowered his gun. "Thank you. We were in a pinch up there."

"I noticed," the man said, perching an eyebrow as he looked at the two of them. "You might not be too happy to hear this, but y'all might have to stay here for a few hours. When I said the hunters pass through here every week, it's not for supplies. I've already scavenged most of the supplies in this town, except for the alcohol in the local bar." He said, smiling as he was proud of his abstinence. "So them hunters, they like to come here and drink once a week. Guess they're all nostalgic about being in a real bar."

"Why don't you just burn it down or somethin'?" Joel asked, frowning deeply.

"Honestly? I'm terrified that they might find me if I do."

"Well that's understandable," Ellie huffed, slumping down on the couch that she had just noticed was there. A couch in an underground hiding place. Genius.

"You two seem like nice people," The man smiled, sitting down in an armchair. It took him some time to actually manage to sit. He probably had a bad back, Ellie thought.

"It doesn't take much to seem like a good person these days," Joel sighed as he sat down next to Ellie.

"Yeah, we've all done our share of messed up shit," Ellie mumbled, subconsciously eyeing Joel as she did so. She'd seen him do many things, but somehow, she felt that she was referring to something else entirely. And she wasn't even sure what it was. Maybe she'd figure it out if she kept drawing. She shook her head in hopes of dismissing the thoughts from her head.

"You never told us your name," Joel said, and it was almost as if he was still trying to sound a bit threatening. Knowing Joel right, Ellie was sure he was trying to state his dominance. He needed to know that he was in charge of the situation, and honestly, Ellie couldn't judge him. The man looked at Joel, still smiling, and it looked as if he was hesitating to actually say his name. Maybe he was just taken aback by the sudden questioning, but the look Joel gave him right then and there was enough to scare the seven living hells out of any creature. Hell, it even scared the shit out of Ellie.

"I, uh," the man stuttered, obviously nervous about the approach Joel was taking. "Sorry," he suddenly laughed as he managed to control himself. It was okay for people to be careful. In the world they lived in, the man wasn't really surprised that people acted like Joel. "My name's Ralph. What about you two?"

"Name's Joel," Joel said, leaning more back on the couch. "This here's Ellie." He motioned towards the girl. "Now, unless there's anything important I need to hear, I think I'll take a little nap." He mumbled, crossing his arms over his chest as he closed his eyes. Sleeping in a sitting position had become an easy task over the years.

"He doesn't sleep much," Ellie explained to Ralph and he nodded in understanding. Joel looked at Ellie with one eye open before shaking his head in what looked like exasperation, but he didn't even bother to comment on her blatant honesty. As he started to doze off, Ellie began to feel unsure of what she was supposed to do. Did she just sit there? Did she speak?

Oh, come on, Ellie, she thought to herself, mentally slapping her own face, you're the undisputed fucking master of making small talk and annoying people you don't know! What's happening to you? Growing weak?

Almost as if he could see that Ellie was having an internal struggle, Ralph spoke up. "You okay there, girl?"

"Huh?" Ellie asked, visibly returning to the real world. "Oh. Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine."

Come on, now. Topics. Subjects. Find something to talk about, damnit!

"Jeez," Ellie mumbled, and at that point she hadn't even realized she'd blurted out with something. She wasn't completely sure what she was going to talk about, but apparently her mouth had decided that for her. "It's a fucked up world out there," she sighed, looking up at the ceiling.

"Yeah," Ralph agreed. "You get used to it, I guess. Just kinda sad that getting used to it is even an option."

"I mean… It's been this way my whole life, so it's the only type of world I know, but… Joel never really told me how it used to be. I've heard bits and pieces, but… what's it like to go from that world to this one? Must be pretty bad, huh?" Ellie asked, looking back down at Ralph. He looked almost confused.

"Well," he started, thinking long and hard on how to answer. "It was obviously quite the stretch… suddenly having to see people dyin' all over, people killing infected, infected killing people… People killing people." He mumbled, shaking his head softly. "But the fact that the world's messed up? That never changed. I was used to it from the day I was born."

"What?" Ellie asked, her eyes widening a bit in response. That wasn't exactly something she'd expect to hear. She was aware that there'd always have to be bad in the world, but Ralph made it sound like it was pretty fucking immense.

"Surely you must know some things about the old world?" Ralph asked, looking intently at Ellie. When she looked at him with eyes that said she had no clue what he was referring to, he breathed out in a whistle. "Wow. That right there's a lot of pain and misery you should be glad you don't know of."

"No, no, no, you gotta tell me!" Ellie suddenly exclaimed. If she had to be honest with herself, she was terrified of hearing what could possibly be so bad about a world she'd dreamt of for so long. But on the other hand, it might help her understand Joel. It was worth a try. "I'm serious," she continued when Ralph started hesitating. "I need to know. At least some of it."

"Fine, fine… but you need to be prepared. It's pretty bad." Ralph sighed. "I mean, especially for people like me."

"People like you?" Ellie asked, frowning in question.

"One thing that existed from long before I was born… and for the entire length I lived my life in the normal world… was somethin' called apartheid."

"What's that?"

Ralph looked at her for a while before smiling sadly as he continued. "It was the belief that white man was better than black man. There was… segregation, and… black people getting murdered. You know, hate-crime. Racism. That kinda thing. It was harder for us to live. Harder for us to get a job. Harder for us to be accepted. Long, long time ago, black people were even used as slaves. They thought we weren't good for nothin' but being forced into slavery."

Ellie, who was listening intently, started feeling sick to her stomach. She didn't know why she hadn't heard of this before. She didn't know things were that bad. It was as if her entire perception of the previous world was shattered into a million pieces. She was afraid that if she continued to learn, she might cut herself on the shards of a broken world, but she couldn't just stop there. "That's…" Ellie started, only then noticing the lump that clogged up her throat. "That's fucking sick." She mumbled, trying to blink away her impending tears. Just the thought that her deceased friend, Riley, would have been looked down upon in a different world… the thought that even Ellie might have been raised into looking down upon her friend… that thought made her furious.

"Like I said," Ralph replied. "World's always been messed up."

"Was there anything else?" Ellie asked, preparing herself for whatever shit she might hear. "Anything else that was… messed up?"

"Lots of things," Ralph nodded. "Even women were seen as inferior. The weaker gender. All kinds of stupidity if you ask me. I mean, people actually believed that men were better than everyone else. Hell, they didn't even let them women vote."

"Now that's just directly insulting," Ellie spat, puckering her lips in dismay.

"Damn right it is. It's an insult to women, plus every one and any man who ever properly loved a woman. And then it was that damn hate against gays."

"Gays? What, hate against gays?" Ellie asked, looking completely and utterly confused. "Wait, I know this one. I read this in an ancient fucking… dictionary I found. Gay means happy, right? They hated people for being happy? What kind of sick fucking-"

"No, not happy," Ralph stopped her, unable to help himself from chuckling a little at her innocence. "Gay used to mean, happy, sure. But eventually it became a word for someone who fell in love with a person of their own gender. You know, man loving a man, woman loving a woman."

Ralph, who was busy explaining, didn't even notice how Ellie had clammed up. Her lips were pursed together, her brow sweating profusely. She could feel the bile moving in her stomach, her nerves going absolutely haywire.

"It was bad, I tell you. They weren't allowed to get married because some people thought God wouldn't want it. But it didn't stop there. People who didn't even believe in God had somehow gotten the idea that loving someone could be a sin. They hurt'em, they… killed'em. If it hadn't been for the outbreak, for… for all of it… It wouldn't have stopped. But people don't care anymore, because all that matters nowadays is survivin'."

"Endure and survive," Ellie whispered, trying to hide the fact that tears were about to burst from her eyes. But she needed to stay strong. She needed to endure. She was no closer to understanding Joel any more than she already did. The only thing she'd learned was that her and her closest friend would have been hated in the previous world. She couldn't even separate the two anymore. Which world was broken? Which world had salvation? She felt as if she was suspended between the dimensions of two shattered worlds with no idea which one to cling onto. She felt lost.

…

After that, Ellie and Ralph hadn't spoken about serious things. They kept to small-talk, and Ellie knew that Ralph had noticed how put off she was by his story about the past world. So he did his best to avoid the subject. After shaking off the initial shock, Ellie was able to enjoy their conversation. At least it helped her stay numb, and the metaphorical pain had been reduced to a dull ache.

Joel woke up after a while, and soon after that Ralph told them it should be okay to leave. They thanked him for his help, and he was nothing but humble.

"Joel," Ralph said as Joel was about to ascend the staircase. "I just remembered… you got a truck, right?"

"I do. How come?"

"I think I have somethin' for you in the back here… if you have a truck, bringing it along shouldn't be hard." Ralph smiled, and he disappeared for a while before returning with a guitar in his hand.

"No, Ralph, I can't accept this," Joel started, but Ralph cut him off quickly.

"Oh, don't you worry." He grinned, lowering his voice to a whisper, just for effect. "I got ten more in the back."

Ellie started laughing and put a hand on Joel's arm to get his attention. "Come on, dude. You never got to bring the one from Jackson, after all."

Joel hesitated for a moment before sighing in defeat. "Oh, alright, then."

…

After making sure the hunters had left the town and the car was still intact, Joel and Ellie had said goodbye to Ralph and gotten back on the road. Joel figured Ellie had taken a liking to staying on the back part of the truck, and he couldn't really blame her. The fresh air, the breeze… Sounded quite nice. In that moment, when Joel drove down the road, he figured that everything might be okay someday. Night terrors and issues with Ellie and the fireflies aside, he was really getting closer to salvation. So was Ellie, he thought to himself. As long as she didn't discover Joel's lies, and as long as she could forgive herself for all the shit they'd done, maybe she'd see the light someday. Joel knew she had issues. It was hard not to. Ellie had worn the greatest burden in the world on her shoulders, and it hadn't paid off. All because of him. Her burden was gone, but Joel wasn't sure she'd actually let go of the thought of it yet. But at least, in that moment… there was nothing else to worry about… nothing else…

The wind moved against her skin, prodding at her to achieve god knows what. But Ellie didn't let it bother her. She didn't care that her bare arms were cold from the wind created by the friction between the car and the universe, because on some level, the cold made her numb. With her face buried in the blankets on the back of that homebound truck, her tears dripping onto the rugged fabric, Ellie was shattering into a million pieces.

"Riley," she whispered, her fists clenched against her chest. "Why does the world have to judge me for everything I do?" She cried, not really knowing what she wanted to gain from speaking to thin air. "Why can't I love you, Riley? Why can't I do that without the world hating me? It's not fair…"

And it wasn't fair. It wasn't fair that shards from an old, broken world had fallen into Ellie's world and reflected its own views upon her. Even though they didn't matter anymore, it didn't mean it hadn't before. And that still hurt. Ellie was crashing into the broken world, and she didn't know how to stop it from happening.