Joel swallows and takes another half-step back from her; a slow, wary move, like he doesn't trust what his eyes are seeing or who's standing right there in front of him. She sure as hell doesn't look like the Tess he knows. The Tess he remembers.
Christ, the last thing he remembers of Tess is… her shoving him hard, telling him to go, just fucking go. Soldiers outside the door. Joel trying to steel himself against the sudden helplessness warring within him as he'd stared at her, started walking backwards, something resembling ugly, terrified grief trying to claw its way up his chest before he'd forced himself to feel nothing. Just turned and ran.
Ellie exclaiming in shaky horror about what they'd done, about leaving Tess to die. Joel ordering her to stop, just stop. Keep pushing forward. The sound of Tess fighting. Soldiers in the other room ordering Tess to drop her weapon. The sickening, gut-wrenching horror of gunfire. Don't look back, he'd told himself silently, don't fucking look back.
And now--
As the woman motions him to her (his mind can't grasp that this is Tess, doesn't even want to put a name to her just yet in case this is some horrible, sick joke), Joel is about ready to take another few steps backwards and run for his life.
That name, though. Texas. That's what gives him pause. Tess is the only person to have ever called him that.
"Oh, Christ," he hears himself saying, hitched and soft with a sudden realisation that this really is her. And suddenly, he wants to step right in and grab her to him, hug her tight--
He doesn't, though. He swallows again, pushing away the hard lump forming in his throat, draws in a deep breath, tries to squash down on the raging swell of confused emotions surging in him. His hands ball into fists at his sides, tense and nervous and uncertain.
"Ellie?" he echoes, and that's enough to make him break through the bewildered fog in his head. It's enough to bring him back to the present; the sounds and smells and sights all around him come back into focus full-force, like an overwhelming flurry of chaos.
His eyes dart around him, hard and on edge. First things first before he discusses anything with Tess, especially anything that has to do with Ellie. He takes a step forward, throwing a paranoid glance over his shoulder. "C'mon, let's get the hell outta here."
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Christ, the last thing he remembers of Tess is… her shoving him hard, telling him to go, just fucking go. Soldiers outside the door. Joel trying to steel himself against the sudden helplessness warring within him as he'd stared at her, started walking backwards, something resembling ugly, terrified grief trying to claw its way up his chest before he'd forced himself to feel nothing. Just turned and ran.
Ellie exclaiming in shaky horror about what they'd done, about leaving Tess to die. Joel ordering her to stop, just stop. Keep pushing forward. The sound of Tess fighting. Soldiers in the other room ordering Tess to drop her weapon. The sickening, gut-wrenching horror of gunfire. Don't look back, he'd told himself silently, don't fucking look back.
And now--
As the woman motions him to her (his mind can't grasp that this is Tess, doesn't even want to put a name to her just yet in case this is some horrible, sick joke), Joel is about ready to take another few steps backwards and run for his life.
That name, though. Texas. That's what gives him pause. Tess is the only person to have ever called him that.
"Oh, Christ," he hears himself saying, hitched and soft with a sudden realisation that this really is her. And suddenly, he wants to step right in and grab her to him, hug her tight--
He doesn't, though. He swallows again, pushing away the hard lump forming in his throat, draws in a deep breath, tries to squash down on the raging swell of confused emotions surging in him. His hands ball into fists at his sides, tense and nervous and uncertain.
"Ellie?" he echoes, and that's enough to make him break through the bewildered fog in his head. It's enough to bring him back to the present; the sounds and smells and sights all around him come back into focus full-force, like an overwhelming flurry of chaos.
His eyes dart around him, hard and on edge. First things first before he discusses anything with Tess, especially anything that has to do with Ellie. He takes a step forward, throwing a paranoid glance over his shoulder. "C'mon, let's get the hell outta here."