"How about a can of peaches?" Ellie grins, glancing over her shoulder to flash you that smile. She thinks she's funny, which is basically a joke itself. But, if you were alive, she's sure you'd be giving her that eye roll and suppressed smile she used to love seeing.

"Nope, okay." Ellie muses, shoving the can in her backpack and rising to a stand, reaching for the leash that's sitting perfectly around your neck like a pretty little choker. People thought she'd gone a little crazy after the incident on patrol a while ago, but when she brought you back to Jackson - despite the fit of terror it caused - no one have any reason to deny her words,

“she's completely docile” is what Ellie told Maria at first, then Joel, and Tommy, and then anyone else who asked. Dina was worried, though the constant fussing over Ellie was soon met with a look of astonishment the minute she brought you back to Jackson, all cold skin and mindless, incomprehensible yammering.

Your flesh wasn't decaying, but you'd lost all your colour, yet your eyes managed to keep a shine. You could pass for an infected, but not once did you bare your teeth at the people of Jackson or seem hungry for human, at least not enough to lose stability. No one could explain it. You'd been bit and yet you didn't lose your mind. Not completely, anyway, as if you had a certain sentience about you. You always stayed glued to Ellie's side, and for that, she was grateful.

The minute she lost you, it was like her greatest fear all over again. First Riley. Tess. Sam. You. It's like she's cursed. Cursed with this stupid immunity and bad luck to anyone that gets close to her. Especially the girls she loved.

But it's not some kind of unhealthy coping mechanism. You really are alive, she knows it, she can feel it. You just sort of seem a little.. latent. Understanding words but unable to speak without a bunch of infected garble, even if she swears you're getting closer and closer to being able to say her name. She's seen a few instances the way you protect her from other infected, like her own little pet. But you'd never eat her brain, she's sure of it.

"Woah." A hand stretches out, what turns into gathering supplies is now a stand off. She holds you a little closer, glancing over to make sure you're soothed enough before her olive eyes eyes, in narrowed suspicion, find the group of three that stands opposite them, guns raised, but they seem more defensive than anything. She can tell they're eyeing you up, and before you get all defensive too, she murmurs a soft, "they're just jealous."

"She won't bite!" Ellie calls, positioning you behind her a little. A gunshot might not kill you, but three or four could. You'd never do anything to jeopardise her trust, you never did when you were fully alive either (she shouldn't say that, you're almost scarily like your old self), she knows you'll listen, no amount of death could banish the love you two share. Like that one vampire movie.

"Just put the gun down." She bargains, careful amd cautious.