005. the truth

Aurora opens her eyes slowly, her body still aching from the previous couple of days. It's practically silent around her, the sound of Ellie's shallow breaths one of the only things that she can actually hear. The girl is laid out beside her, eyes closed and her head resting on her bag as a makeshift pillow — she somehow looks pretty comfortable. Aurora cannot relate to that in the slightest.

Instead, she's feeling twice her age. At twenty two years old, her body shouldn't be feeling like this just yet but the world has a way of fucking people over — that she's learnt first hand.

The brunette pushes herself up into a seated position, gently rubbing her eyes to try and wake properly. Ellie must hear her move, because within seconds she's looking at Aurora sleepily. The older girl gives the younger one a gentle smile, almost as if she wants to assure her that there is nothing to be startled about or scared of. She knows this world is already full of fear already, the least she can do is help make sure Ellie is comfortable and feels safe throughout their short journey — she's just a kid, one with the weight of the world on her shoulders it seems.

Aurora's gaze moves after this, and she jumps when she catches Joel and Tess staring at them. "Fuck! What the fuck? What's with you two?"

It's then she takes notice of the fact they aren't even really looking at her, their eyes firmly situated on Ellie as she sits up. They don't trust her, nor do they believe her, perhaps it's why Aurora had to argue so hard last night when she wanted to sleep here — apparently being near Ellie was 'too dangerous', well according to her uncle. However, just like when she was a teenager, she chose to completely ignore his advice and do what she wanted anyway.

"Good morning," Ellie says casually, eyes flicking to the gun in Joel's hands. Neither of the older adults actually answer her, much too busy trying to figure out whether she's going to spontaneously become one of the infected. "Okay then,"

"You'll have to excuse them, my Uncle has never been one for subtlety," Aurora says, gazing at the man with a pointed expression. "Did you sleep okay?"

"Uh yeah actually, well as best as you can on the floor anyway," Ellie responds, now fully awake and aware. Aurora notices the way her eyes once again divert to her Uncle, obviously wary about the situation. "Do I look like I'm infected?"

"Show us your arm," Joel demands, his usual sullen personality on display for the other three to see. Aurora can understand, to an extent, why he is so unsure about the situation. There has been whispers of a 'cure' for years and nothing has come of it – there's also the fact that Ellie has a massive bite on her arm as well.

"This is ridiculous. Guys, she would've turned by now if she was infected," Aurora sticks up for the younger girl, making a valid point that seems to be going over the heads of the older adults in the room. "Come on,"

Joel narrows his eyes at them. Aurora quite often wonders whether or not cynicism is a Miller family trait or whether Joel is the only one the harbor it. Tommy had always been the more trusting out of the pair, something that resulted in a few good things and a few bad. Meeting Tess was probably the better result, whilst the other involved her uncle running off to join the Fireflies — his and Joel's relationship fraying as a result.

"If we're out in the open city why aren't we getting swarmed?" Ellie looks to direct the conversation elsewhere, clearly not wanting to talk about the bite in her arm any longer. Unfortunately for Ellie, they definitely will not let it go.

"Don't worry about that," Joel responds icily, hands tightening around the gun he's holding.

It's Tess' turn to intervene now, leaning forward in her chair to get a better look at the teenage girl. "What was Marlene doing with an infected kid? And not only that, why did she have Aurora?"

"I'm not infected," Ellie repeats, clearly exasperated by the way they keep asking her the same thing. "She found me after I was bitten. She locked me up and had her guys test me every day to see if I was getting sick, and during one of those days they brought Aurora in. She was unconscious and bleeding,"

Admittedly, the brunette doesn't remember much of what happened during the time she was fighting the infected and when she woke up in that room. She'd apparently woken up a few times and simply looked at them before passing out again, something she cannot admit to remembering.

"Test you how?" Joel questions, eyes flicking to his niece for a few moments. Aurora knows exactly what that means, that the two of them will be having a in depth discussion about the whole 'unconscious' thing later.

"I have to pee,"

Aurora almost laughs at Ellie's attempt to change the subject again. It's almost like looking at a younger version of herself, so eager to dodge Joel's constant questioning. Of course, the queries asked to her were a little less life threatening — "Did you steal my knife again, kid?" or "Did you break something again?"

This is a much more serious situation, one that may bring about a cure for humanity. It is, however, all they've heard since the beginning of the infection — a possibility for a cure. It's clearly never worked and whilst this may, it's a little naive to get their hopes up. Every other time has brought upon nothing but false hope.

"Test you how?" Tess puts extra emphasis on the last word, a tense undertone to the sentence.

"They made me count to ten and hold my hand out and then keep it steady. But, you know, I think what really impressed them was the fact that I didn't turn into a fucking monster," Ellie hisses out the last two almost venomously, some sort of extra meaning to them.

Aurora remembers the mention of another girl when Marlene had been talking to the young girl, Riley, and she wonders whether perhaps this has something to do with it. It's almost as if Ellie had seen the transformation of somebody else, somebody she cared about, whilst she stayed human.

"Now can I please?" Ellie questions.

"Fine. Back there you can find a spot," Tess speaks as she throws a magazine in Ellie's direction. "And here, tear out a few pages,"

Ellie picks it up and starts walking before coming to a halt. "There's not going to be anything bad back there?"

"Just you," Joel states, and it does that sound extremely petty.

"Funny!" Ellie calls as she walks off.

In that moment, Aurora almost calls for the younger girl to come back because she knows what's coming. Her uncle isn't even slightly subtle when it comes to his questioning gaze, eyes on her before Ellie is even properly gone from the room.

"You know anymore about this?" Tess interjects before Joel can even question his niece about anything that's happened since they last saw each other. "I mean, she made it through the fucking night,"

"I don't know anymore than you do," Aurora promises, pushing a stray piece of hair behind her ear. "Marlene gave me a very brief introduction to her whole plan, you know before there was an entire gun fight outside our room,"

"What were you doing there?" Joel finally asks what he wants to, leaning back slightly. It's a simple movement, but one that showcases how much more comfortable he is with it being just the three of them. None of them possess any sort of immediate threat to each other, unlike Ellie who could turn at a moments notice in his mind.

"I was fighting off some infected and Marlene and her group saved me from dying, probably anyway. I woke up in the room with Ellie," Aurora explains, leaning back on her hands as she stays seated on the floor. "She wanted me to go on their trip to the fireflies, I guess for extra protection, and then she was going to get in contact with you,"

"Look, we still need this battery," Tess interrupts the two of them again, reminding them of their current predicament. "If we take her back to the QZ, they'll shoot her the second they scan her,"

"Better them than us. You gotta stop talking about this kid like she's got some sort of life ahead of her," Joel responds as footsteps begin to approach them again.

It causes the conversation between the trio to come to a rather abrupt halt, Ellie tossing the magazine back at Tess. The teenager chooses to sit down beside the least hostile person in the room, sinking into a seated position next to Aurora.

"You hungry?" Tess asks the girl as she pulls out some of the limited food supply that she has. Aurora distinctly remembers the lack of nutritious, or nice for that fact, food that they had back in the QZ. A lot of jerky, at least that's what she thinks it was — seems as if the situation hasn't improved because it's what the two seem to have in their possession.

"Thanks. Marlene sent me with my own," Ellie replies, grabbing a rather nice looking sandwich from her pack and taking a bite out of one of the halves. It appears to have some sort of meat on it, chicken. It's been years since Aurora has had chicken.

Tess must believe the same because she directs the question towards Ellie. "Is that chicken?"

"Hmm," Ellie hums softly, chewing a mouthful. "Marlene said they get it from smugglers. Guess not you guys,"

A chuckle slips out of Aurora's mouth before she can stop it, her face lighting up as a smile graces her lips. The attitude that Ellie has is both amusing and a little concerning, she knows her uncle is more of a stoic guy and Tess can be much the same. However, Joel has raised a teenager, surely he'll have a little leniency — maybe.

"Man, I should've gone with Marlene," Aurora interjects lightly.

It doesn't seem to lighten the mood in the slightest, Tess getting to her feet quickly and rather threateningly. Aurora, without even realising it, gets to her's as well and practically blocks the view of Ellie.

"Hey!" Joel speaks, trying to grab onto Tess firmly to keep her from attacking Ellie.

"Why are you so important to Marlene? And don't lie to me or we'll take you back," Tess' words are full of promise, eyes narrowed and form tense. Aurora can practically feel the fury radiating off of the woman.

"You take me back and you don't get your battery," The confidence in Ellie's voice is astounding, not seemingly the slightest bit fearful of the two people who could take her out within moments.

"You heard that?" Tess questions harshly. "Then I guess you heard that he wants to shoot you,"

The he in question is a quiet Joel Miller, the man watching as all eyes seem to shift to him as a result of the woman's words. Aurora wants to say that he wouldn't shoot Ellie, that he wouldn't end her life when he doesn't have to, but she can't. It's been years since she's seen him, so much could have changed since she was a fifteen year old girl. From observation, she already seems a lot harsher, more cutthroat than he had been previously — which is admittedly a little scary.

"I'm gonna talk to you like an adult, okay?" Tess moves the attention back to her, swiftly bypassing a defensive Aurora in order to crouch down in front of Ellie. The brunette wants to pull Tess away, but she knows better than to try, turning around and going to stand by her uncle instead. "Joel and I aren't good people. We're doing this for us because apparently, you're worth something. But, we don't know what you're worth if we don't know what we have. So, answer my question,"

Ellie bites her lip slightly, portraying her obvious hesitance to the situation. Aurora can't blame her, she never will, because trusting strangers with big secrets in this world is more dangerous than any one infected. People betray you to get ahead, to survive, it's just the way it is. Most people couldn't care less whether it hurts others as a result.

"She told me not to tell anybody and I'm telling the first people that I—" Ellie starts, her voice a quiet mumble before she sighs. "Doctors. They're working on a cure,"

Joel scoffs from beside his niece, clearly not believing her words. "I've heard this before,"

"And whatever happened to me— " Ellie speaks.

"Is the key to finding the vaccine,"

Joel and Ellie speak the line in unison before Joel continues. "That's what this is? We've heard this a million times before. Vaccines, miracle cures, none of it works. Ever,"

"Fuck you man, I didn't ask for this," Ellie hisses, glaring at Joel slightly.

"This isn't going to end well," Joel is talking to Tess more so now, looking at the woman. "We should take her back,"

"Let's just finish it. It doesn't matter if she is or she isn't what the Fireflies say. If they believe that she is then we get what we want," Tess replies.

Ellie is up on her feet now, watching the duo as they converse. Aurora, on the other hand, is awkwardly playing with the straps of her bag and trying not to get involved. She may be a fully grown adult now, but she highly doubts either of them will treat her that way.

"If she so much as twitches—" Joel starts, only to be cut off by Ellie who begins to mimic the sounds and actions of an infected. Joel is less than impressed by it. "Don't,"

"Okay. Okay? Okay. Can I have a gun?" Ellie asks.

"Absolutely not,"

"Jesus, fine. I'll have to throw a fucking sandwich at them,"

NOTE!

Thank you for reading! Hope you enjoyed!