TWD - Zomboid - Chapter 277: Ellie, Legendary Candidate (Patreon)

“Once the balance is broken…”

Rebecca didn’t finish.

But Claire already understood. Once that balance was disrupted, Sherry would be consumed by the virus as well and turn into a monster.

Sherry wasn’t Crane. She was still only a child, and her body couldn’t withstand that kind of backlash.

“So we can’t rush this,” Luis said.

“We need a lot of time to study how it works and understand the mutation patterns of this virus.”

“Maybe we can find a way to eliminate the virus without disrupting the balance.”

“But like I said, we need time.”

Claire nodded. For now, all she could do was trust Rebecca. Her abilities spoke for themselves.

...

That evening, Luke returned to his office. The outpost’s latest assessment report was already waiting on his desk.

Another large batch of new shareholders... or rather, survivors joining the group.

The list ran for several pages, covering everything from their backgrounds and skills to where they had been assigned. Everything was clearly laid out.

Leon had also flagged several people who warranted special attention.

Joel.

Ellie.

???

What the hell was going on?

How had these two killing machines ended up here too?

Luke carefully checked their descriptions to make sure they weren’t just people with the same names. A fairly dangerous-looking middle-aged man traveling with a teenage girl...

Yep.

No mistake.

It really was Ellie and Joel.

The two protagonists from The Last of Us.

Luke leaned back in his chair. The world he had been transported into seemed to be a bizarre fusion of countless post-apocalyptic settings, from movies and television shows to video games.

He had gradually gotten used to it. One group of protagonists after another kept showing up. He just hadn’t expected one signal arrow to bring Joel and his daughter straight to him.

Maybe he really ought to put a few more points into luck.

With this many protagonists around, what if he eventually couldn’t keep them all under control?

More importantly, these two weren’t ordinary survivors. Their appearance meant the Cordyceps fungus infection was probably out there too.

Bloaters, Clickers, Runners, Stalkers...

The Cordyceps fungus was troublesome in its own right. It was a fungus capable of parasitizing the human brain and turning living people into fungal beasts.

The infected would mutate step by step.

So far, Luke hadn’t encountered a single person infected with the Cordyceps fungus. That meant the fungus was likely confined to a limited area and hadn’t spread on a large scale.

But even that wasn’t the biggest problem.

The Fireflies organization should also be following close behind Joel and Ellie.

The pair’s destination had always been the Firefly hospital, yet now they had ended up in his Commonwealth. That probably meant Old Joel had completely burned his bridges with the Fireflies and had nowhere else to go.

Leon had handled things well. He had separated Joel and Ellie.

Ellie had been sent to the Commonwealth, while Joel remained with Leon.

Luke picked up the internal phone and called Mercer.

“Mercer, among the latest batch of survivors sent over from the outpost, there’s a girl named Ellie. She should be in her teens,” Luke said. “Where was she placed?”

Mercer held the phone against his shoulder as he quickly searched through the records.

“Found her,” Mercer said over the line. “Ellie, female, approximately fourteen or fifteen years old. Flagged for special attention, but admissible at our discretion. Leon personally signed off on her.”

“Like the other new survivors, she’s still under observation... Let me see... She’s currently housed in the newcomer settlement area under temporary community supervision.”

“She hasn’t been formally assigned to any position yet. For a child her age, if she doesn’t have a guardian, the Commonwealth will appoint one.”

The observation period was part of the Commonwealth’s standard procedure for accepting newcomers.

Until a newcomer’s threat level had been thoroughly assessed, they were given neither real authority nor unrestricted freedom. They could only move within designated areas and remained under constant supervision.

Madison and the others were still in the observation period as well.

“Bring her to my office,” Luke said.

“Got it.”

Luke hung up and leaned back in his chair to wait.

He wasn’t particularly worried about Joel.

Joel might have been ruthless and decisive in the game, willing to do whatever it took when pushed far enough, even storming through the entire Firefly Lab by himself. But at the end of the day, Joel was still an ordinary human.

Leon could keep an eye on him. And if that wasn’t enough, there was always Superman Crane.

Ellie was the one who deserved more attention.

Ellie was immune to the Cordyceps fungus.

Even if she were bitten by someone infected with the Cordyceps fungus, she wouldn’t turn into a fungal beast.

Her blood, and especially what lay within her brain, held the key to saving humanity.

Since the Fireflies had failed to obtain that key, Luke might as well take control of it himself.

The only thing Luke found strange was Joel’s willingness to let her go.

The man was almost obsessively protective of Ellie. Yet he had actually allowed her to be sent into the Commonwealth alone?

That made no damn sense.

Unless Joel was planning to solo the Commonwealth.

While Luke was thinking, a knock sounded at the door.

“Come in.”

The door opened, and a white-armored soldier escorted a young girl inside.

Luke looked up.

She was around fourteen or fifteen, with her hair tied back in a single ponytail. She was thin and wore a set of worn clothes that hung a little loosely on her frame.

A scattering of freckles dotted her face, and the subtle movements of her brows and eyes gave her some of the liveliness typical of a girl her age.

But her eyes were different.

People said the eyes were the windows to the soul. Yet there wasn’t a trace of the innocence someone her age should have possessed in Ellie’s gaze.

Ellie:

[Wary][Vigilance][On Guard]

[Legendary]-Candidate

[Legendary]-Candidate?

Seriously, system? This girl had been fighting her way through the apocalypse since she was a kid, and you’re only rating her as [Legendary]-Candidate?

The moment Ellie stepped into the office, especially when she saw that the person waiting for her was a man, she became like a small wild animal backed into a corner, ready to bare its claws and fangs at any moment.

“You can go,” Luke said, waving the white-armored soldier away. “Close the door behind you.”

The soldier withdrew as instructed.

Only Luke and Ellie remained in the office.

Ellie stayed where she was, her gaze sweeping quickly across the room. The position of the windows, the objects on the desk, Luke’s posture.

It was a survival instinct carved into her bones.

After being trained by Joel, Ellie was already a capable post-apocalyptic survivor. Whenever she entered an unfamiliar room, she instinctively searched for escape routes and anything that could be used as a weapon.

Her gaze eventually settled on Luke’s desk, where a ballpoint pen lay casually across the surface.

A ballpoint pen could pierce a throat or be driven into an eye socket.

Luke noticed everything.

Even that brief shift in Ellie’s gaze couldn’t escape his perception.

“Thinking about using that pen to stab through my palm? Or maybe through my eardrum and straight into my brain...”

A trace of amusement appeared in Luke’s eyes.

Ellie’s pupils abruptly contracted.

Her shoulders tensed instinctively.

How could this man... see through what she was thinking so easily?

“...I wasn’t thinking that!” Ellie shook her head, putting on the act of an ordinary little girl.

“Is that so?” Luke smiled.

Ellie probably had a deep-rooted wariness of adult men other than Joel. After all, David had once imprisoned and tortured her. Being alone with an unfamiliar man...

It would probably bring those memories back.