“I was born in the middle of it, a couple years after the infection ruined the world.–uh, my mom died a couple days after she had me. Marlene said it was cause they didn’t have the food rations they needed or some bullshit reason like that. so as soon as I became lil’ orphan Ellie I was dropped off at some Military training base. where I’d become one of the new city guards. or go out and risk my life for a couple food ration cards a day. It didn’t really MATTER because as soon as I turned eighteen I planned on leaving. It’s where I met Riley, she was my best friend, but left to become one of the Firefly’s so I didn’t see her much. ” she caught herself rambling and decided that was enough information on her sob story life that she had GIFTED the other with. she knew that she was rambling but it was just a factor that once she started going it was hard to stop.
she moved over the rocks in front of her, arms SPREAD out so she could balance the small weight she had out. one wrong move and shed create enough noise to draw any infected nearby. “ so you could say life sucked, but I know how to shoot a gun and choke hold someone so that has to count for something right? ”
as tess listened to her story, she couldn't help but allow herself to feel some kind of SYMPATHY for the girl. she’d been through a lot in such a small amount of time. anyone at her age had now, it was just the way things were. but to lose a mother, when CONNECTIONS were all that was left in the world, it wasn’t something that bare thinking about. but tess couldn't stop her train of thought as she thought back to her parents. it had been a long time since she’d thought of them, not that they were ever as present as she imagined ellie’s mother to be while she still REMAINED living. tess had never felt much of anything other than animosity before the world fell apart; her world simply felt broken already. there was grief, everyone felt it to some capacity, but she spent so long trying to be somewhat of a mother to her younger brother that she didn’t have the chance to grieve. then he was gone, suddenly she was alone and all that time she spent actually wanting to grieve had almost vanished. simply put, she just got on with it. never looked back. and that’s when she met joel and she didn’t need to put on a BRAVE face any more just to get through, because they had each other.
it was funny to her that whenever someone told their story, it had some sort of effect to FORCE you to delve into your own, ( whether you wanted to or not ). so she thought of her parents for a short time and when that was over she pushed them away again, watched the MEMORIES fall because they were worthless to her now. not much had changed with that. ‘ military base is rough. ‘ rough place to start out, tess thought. ‘ i’d want to leave too. ‘ tess managed a smile, but it wasn’t of joy, there was a certain DISTINCT look of distant pain beneath it. she wasn’t one for a lot of words when conversations turned sentimental, but she managed what she could. ‘ being able to do all that definitely counts for something. it’s the only skill that’s gonna keep you alive. ‘