With a stitch starting to seize hold of his side, Joel eventually comes to a stumbling stop by a dark thicket of trees. He's breathing hard, a strong taste of copper and blood in his mouth and throat; adrenalin is making his shins and calf muscles burn.
He takes stock of the view below: the fires blazing from the building, the explosions going off, the thundering peppering of gunfire. Jesus, he hopes Tommy got out, Jesus, Jesus. Joel don't give much of a damn for anyone else, just Tommy. And Maria, given how much that woman means to his brother.
"I'm thinkin'," he says to Ellie's question about what they're gonna do, and then angrily explodes when she presses the issue, "I'm thinkin'!"
He runs a bloodied hand through his sweat sodden hair, the cold air like dry ice going down his burning throat with every breath in. Jesus, that settlement had become their home; it had become a place where Joel had finally found some semblance of hope, some semblance of normality, after all these god forsaken fucking months of running.
By habit, though, he's already squashing the impending grief trying to claw up his chest. If they go back... If the Hunters themselves don't kill them, the fire will. Joel ain't willing to risk Ellie's life for that. He's not going to risk losing her, doesn't matter how many people are burning alive in that building right now. He watches with hollow numbness the roof at one corner of the building suddenly caving in under the pressure of heat.
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He takes stock of the view below: the fires blazing from the building, the explosions going off, the thundering peppering of gunfire. Jesus, he hopes Tommy got out, Jesus, Jesus. Joel don't give much of a damn for anyone else, just Tommy. And Maria, given how much that woman means to his brother.
"I'm thinkin'," he says to Ellie's question about what they're gonna do, and then angrily explodes when she presses the issue, "I'm thinkin'!"
He runs a bloodied hand through his sweat sodden hair, the cold air like dry ice going down his burning throat with every breath in. Jesus, that settlement had become their home; it had become a place where Joel had finally found some semblance of hope, some semblance of normality, after all these god forsaken fucking months of running.
By habit, though, he's already squashing the impending grief trying to claw up his chest. If they go back... If the Hunters themselves don't kill them, the fire will. Joel ain't willing to risk Ellie's life for that. He's not going to risk losing her, doesn't matter how many people are burning alive in that building right now. He watches with hollow numbness the roof at one corner of the building suddenly caving in under the pressure of heat.
"We ain't goin' back."