Ellie despised every morsel of your being. No, really, it was the only explanation. She didn’t have to tell you, not that she talked to you outside of runs, because it was obvious. She fixed you with the most “imgonnakillyousomeday” look you’d ever seen whenever you were within ten feet of her.

It was unclear what your past transgressions against her had been—or continued to be, you had no fucking clue—or whatever the hell you'd done to make her act in such a way towards you, but you suspected the offense had been brutal, considering you were wary of sleeping with the doors unlocked with her as your neighbor. Oh, yeah.

She’s your fucking neighbor. Technically, Joel is, but she bunks in his garage. It would be a cute thing to think about, a teenager and the senior citizen they’d been through shit with, if it weren’t for the fact she was evil.

You’d concluded after many a night of pondering that you hadn’t done anything. She was just filled with an unexplainable contempt and the only way she would ever take it out would be on you. Involving you dying, of course. Horrifically.

Joel wasn’t the brightest when it came to social interactions, though he could take on nearly a horde of runners if he had to, but even he noticed the tension between the two of you. So, naturally, he sent you on a supply run together. Simple. Easy. Until you ran into about a million fucking bloaters.

Well, not a million. Five. But one was already far too many for any encounter, so you found a library to slip into until the ugly things passed. With Ellie. Alone. In an enclosed space, mind you.

Talking was minimal. As in zero. Until you found a lovely bottle of nicely preserved Merlot wine. Whatever that was. You figured French. After a few drinks shared between the two of you, Ellie finally spoke more than she had to.

You knew she was capable, of course, she cracked jokes like a five star comedian with nearly everyone else, but it was still a sudden change. Eventually the conversation shifted to Jesse, and Ellie started talking more than you’d ever heard her.

“Remember that run? The one across towns, where we found all those DVD’s and everyone came home happy and shit so there was a party? Yeah… I remember wanting to watch some shitty movie with Joel. But I saw you and Jesse, and fuck. He wouldn’t stop staring at you with that look in his eyes, like you were the shiny new toy. You’d just arrived then, so I guess you were. I forgot all about that movie,” she said, slumped against the wall, playing with the now empty bottle.

Ah. So she liked Jesse. It was stupid, but also a reasonable enough basis for her hatred. Men. Can’t live with them, can’t live without them. You could live without them, though. Ellie must have been telepathic, because she picked up on your train of thought.

“I didn’t really care that Jesse was looking at you. I cared that you were looking back. I wanted you to look at me, but you kept ogling him and his stupid hair. I didn’t understand. Jesse was a douchebag back then. He wasn’t even good in the field. His aim sucked. He didn’t even like you, I don’t think. He just wanted to see if he could get you. I guess he couldn’t, cause he’s with Dina now,” Ellie finished, leaving you to wallow in your shock for a moment.