Chapter Text
Charlotte let her pace slow just enough to fall in line with Joel, allowing Ellie and Vito to move ahead on the dirt road. The air was cool and heavy underneath the canopy of the afternoon clouds, a sharp contrast to the heated tension between her and the man beside her.
"What's up there?" She asked quietly, her voice low enough not to carry to the others. Joel didn't look at her. His eyes stayed locked on the path ahead, dark and unreadable. "You'll see soon enough," he muttered. Charlotte nodded, trying to break the awkwardness with a bit of humor. "Not much of a conversationalist, are you?" She said with a half-chuckle, her tone light and teasing.
But Joel didn't take the bait. His face remained stone, carved with exhaustion and irritation. The only sign he'd even heard her was a small twitch at the corner of his eye—quick and involuntary. Sighing, Charlotte gave up on small talk and picked up her pace again, intent on rejoining Ellie and Vito, who was trotting faithfully at the girls side. But just as she moved ahead, a sudden force closed around her wrist. Joel's hand, rough and calloused, clamped down with firm authority.
She froze, her body tensing. Instinct took over quickly, her free hand dropped casually towards the hunting knife tucked inside of her jacket, her fingers brushing the hilt with practiced familiarity. She quickly turned to face him, her eyes narrowing as they locked with his.
He didn't flinch.
Joel's voice was low, nearly a growl, but unmistakably clear. "Listen to me," he said. "I don't know who you really are or what your deal is. But don't think for one second that if you put us at risk, I won't leave your ass behind."
Charlotte didn't move, but her jaw clenched.
"You're not my responsibility," Joel continued, his grip like iron. "And if you make one move that makes me question your place with us—one twitch that I don't like—I'll put you down. Fast. Right between the eyes. You understand?"
The tension between them hummed like a live wire. Charlotte yanked her wrist free, stepping back with slow defiance.
"Well," she muttered, her voice clipped. "Aren't you just a ray of fucking sunshine?"
Joel's expression didn't change.
"You don't have to worry about me," she added sharply. "As soon as my damn dog decides to stop playing house with your girl, I'm gone."
Joel gave a simple nod. "Good."
He brushed past her, but not before adding over his shoulder, "For now, just pull your weight and leave the decisions to me." Charlotte scoffed, loud enough for him to hear. "I don't take orders. And like you said—I'm not your responsibility. You handle yourself. I'll do the same."
Joel's jaw tightened, but he said nothing more. He simply pushed ahead, footsteps heavy as he rejoined Ellie up the path. Charlotte stood still for a moment, watching him go. Then, with a muttered, "asshole," she stalked after them, the knife still warm under her fingers.
By the time Charlotte caught up to them, Ellie and Joel were stopped at the edge of a small overlook just off the road. Vito stood beside the girl, tail still but ears pricked, sensing the shift in the atmosphere before Charlotte could even take it in.
She followed their gaze downward. At first, she wasn't sure what she was seeing—but then the shapes registered. A few—no, dozens—of human skeletons lay scattered in a pile. Tattered clothing still clung to some of the bones, sun bleached and wind-shredded. Rusted personal belongings glinted faintly in the weeds. A child's doll. A metal lunch box. A boot with no foot inside.
Charlotte's heart swelled, a feeling she had been immune to for quite some time. But this scene embedded itself in her stomach.
Joel stood stiff beside Ellie, his arms folded tightly across his chest. He didn't speak right away, but the weight of the scene did enough on its own.
"I didn't want you to see this," he said quietly, his voice like gravel scraping against stone. Ellie stared, her expression blank, but her silence spoke volumes. "FEDRA used to evacuate towns," Joel explained, eyes locked on the carnage. "About a week after Outbreak Day, soldiers went through the countryside... Evacuated the small towns. Told you, you were going to a QZ, and you were, if there was room. If there wasn't..."
"They'd kill them off." Charlotte finished flatly, her voice riddled with bitterness.
Ellie's voice came out cracked and strained. "These people weren't sick?" Joel shifted uncomfortably. "No. Probably not." Ellie looked up from the site. "Why kill them? Why not just let them be?"
"Dead people can't be infected." Charlotte responded, her voice brittle.
Charlotte had seen this before. Not this site, specifically, but ones just like it—rural highways littered with bones, makeshift graves in collapsed barns, entire neighborhoods gone silent overnight. But something about this one—this quiet massacre tucked into a single patch of grass like it was a secret—made her feel hollow. Ellie said nothing more. She just stood there, brow furrowed, jaw set tight.
After a long silence, she quietly turned away and began walking again. Vito followed, brushing up against her side protectively. Charlotte swallowed down the feeling of dread and fell into step beside her. Joel was the last to move, lingering for a moment longer before turning his back on the gravesite.
They walked the next few miles in near silence, the sound of boots against gravel and birdsong overhead the only reminders that the world hadn't stopped entirely. Eventually though, Ellie's questions returned. She began to ask about how The Outbreak had started. Joel explained the history—that it was likely a mutation of the Cordyceps fungus that was spread through mass produced food products that, after eating enough of, turned people. That's when the biting started. Ellie nodded in understanding.
The woods thickened slightly before thinning out again into the remains of what must've once been a perimeter road. And then, up ahead, a towering chain-link fence came into view.
"Is that where we're headed?" Charlotte asked, brushing a stray curl from her face.
Joel gave a grunt of acknowledgment, stepping ahead towards a section of the fence that was gated. "Yep. Don't get any ideas about touching it."
Charlotte raised an eyebrow, "Why not?"
He gestured at the structure. "Electric. You touch it, you're cooked alive. Besides, it's got a code to get in."
She smirked. "Let me guess—you don't know the code."
Joel shot her a look, already inputting numbers into a worn keypad. "Of course I know the damn code."
The gate creaked and groaned before slowly sliding open with a sharp mechanical whine.
"Full of surprises, aren't you?"
Joel ignored the comment and stepped through.
On the other side, the landscape changed entirely. Houses lined empty streets, windows dark and broken. A small post office sat on the corner, its flagpole rusted and bent. Storefronts with faded signs peeked out through ivy-covered walls. Everything was still—eerily so, like a town had been frozen mid-breath.
"It's like a ghost town," Charlotte whispered to Ellie. The girl giggled softly, eyes wide as she took it in. "Let's just hope ghosts are the only things in here." Charlotte gave a short laugh, but her hand stayed close to the handle of her bow, and Vito's guarded posture told her he was thinking the same thing.