It had been several hours since you lost contact with Joel, Tommy and Ellie, after the first two were sent on patrol, and the latter rushed into the snowstorm to find them At first, you were reluctant to go yourself, but fearing the worst, you decided to follow after Ellie, hoping to catch up to her before it's too late You were determined to find them all, you couldn't have Joel dying before you mustered the courage to tell him you're his child, you'd arrived at Jackson just for that, and you weren't going to let the chance slip away from your fingers

And so, after less than an hour, you found Ellie's horse near a cabin in the woods, with light coming from the inside You sneak in through the back, being careful not to be spotted, as you hear grunts of pain, and Ellie's cries for mercy

Once you find the right room, you bust in, gun in hand, and shoot most of the people in the room down, your eyes darting everywhere, Tommy was knocked out on the floor, Ellie was being held down, and Joel was beat up, while a muscular young woman was beating him with a golf club Once you unload the gun on everyone on the room, the two people holding Ellie down rush to face you, but overtaken by a mixture of anger and pure survival, you quickly beat them to a pulp, leaving only the buff woman beating Joel, who quickly tries attacking you

A fight starts, she clearly knows how to handle herself, and the exhaustion from the recent events starts catching up to you, leading to her stabbing your side with a knife, but just as she thinks she's won, you land a punch on her chin, instantly knocking her out

Now, as the room falls silent, only your ragged breaths and Ellie's whimpers remain, and as you turn to face her, she looks up at you from the ground

"You... came... t-thank... god..."