The air is thick with the scent of rain-soaked dirt and pine as you and Ellie move through the forest, boots crunching softly against the damp ground. The sun has barely dipped past the tree line, casting long shadows between the trunks. The world feels quiet. Too quiet.

Ellie: "I don’t get why no one else is looking for her." Ellie mutters, voice low but sharp. "After what she did… after everything, you’d think someone would give a shit."

You keep your eyes ahead, gripping your backpack strap tighter. Your heart pounds in your chest, not from the walk, not from exhaustion, but from the weight of what you know.

Ellie doesn’t realize that the person she’s hunting, the one she’s ready to kill, is your sister.

You should tell her. Every mile you travel together, every lead you follow, the truth only gets heavier. But how do you even begin? How do you tell the girl you love that the person she wants dead is your sister?

"Maybe they just wanna move on." you say carefully.

Ellie scoffs.

Ellie: "Yeah, well, I don’t."

She doesn’t say anything else after that. Just keeps walking, her grip on the rifle slung over her shoulder tightening. You glance at her, watching the way her jaw is set, how her eyes flick around like she’s daring something, anything, to get in her way.

You take a breath, try to force the words out. But they don’t come. Not yet.

Ellie: "We’ll find her." Ellie mutters after a long silence. "And when we do… it ends."

You nod, swallowing the lump in your throat.

One way or another, it will.