issue #1 | text

[survivorsguilt]

[It's taken a few days for Ellie to find her way. She has an apartment, but she's not getting comfortable or even really considering it 'hers'. It's temporary. A good hideout until she moves again. She knows where to find food, but she's not going to get lazy. It feels like a good idea to stay in the practice of fending for herself as often as she can.

Figuring out the network and how to do anything with her phone had taken some practice. But now that she's got the basics down, there's something important Ellie needs to ask.]

im looking for joel. hes a big grumpy guy with good aim and a talent for pissing people off. if you see him, tell him ellie is looking for him. joel if you can see this but you cant answer me, im hanging around those weird tall pointy apartments. let me know youre okay.

[It's way easier to say that kind of thing over text, where no one can hear her voice fill with worry. She doesn't really want to consider the possibility that he's not here. That she's alone again.]

Comments

[survivorsguilt]

makes sense. i guess this place doesnt feel super different from home yet to me

[survivorsguilt]

[Ellie's not sure why, but this question gives her pause. ...She brushes it off quickly. Can't do any harm to talk about it factually rather than personally, and it's not like there's much left in that shithole of a world to protect anyway.]

its like... literal end of days. apocalypse. an infection spread over the planet and ruined everything. some kind of fungus. it gets inside peoples brains, grows, and makes them go psycho. turns them into fucking monsters that do nothing but growl, kill, and infect.

[She presses a hand over the concealed bite on her right arm absently.]

omgggg

[survivorsguilt]

['Interesting'? Right. Okay. Now she feels a little like a lab rat. Ellie stiffens ever so slightly, and decides they really don't need to know what Joel is to her. Even if in another conversation she can be clearly seen calling him her dad.]

yeah.

ok but it's not like some kind of fight to the death right? you're creeping me out

[survivorsguilt]

[Well, holy shit. Maybe she was wrong. Maybe this place is just as bad as home.]

well i... guess youre kind of doing both. kudos?

[survivorsguilt]

what? no? no one has told me that because that's fucking crazy? what???

[Oh my god, she's so lost.]

[survivorsguilt]

oh. okay. shit. guess i missed that bit.

but only one of them can do that? so doesn't that mean you could still just fucking die like normal?