The car chased down the street, engine howling and the exhaust blew smoke into the air that smelled burned.

Tense, you looked through the back window and watched how the group of infected shrunk into small figures, then silhouettes and in the end were nothing more but little dots.

Their screams faded but the feeling of discomfort remained. Your fingers dug into the chipped leather of the seat.

Ellie sucked in a sharp breath.

"We'll make it to the museum.", her eyes followed a billboard that passed by. "No further."

You threw yourself back in the seat, crossed your arms and let out a loud sigh of frustration.

"Fucking hell!", you wiped your face with both hands, her pistol slipped from your lap and disappeared in the room between your feet. "I've never met so many infected. You're bad luck."

You gave her a gentle bump to the shoulder.

"Shut up!", she snarled.

With a snort, she flinched, moved slightly to the side and tries to return the punch blindly. Her fist missed and instead hit your chest.

"Ow!", overly dramatically, you grabbed the boob she had hit and gave her your best impression of a dying gasp. "Not my tit. Do you have any idea how much I love this one?"

Snorting, Ellie threw her head back and laughed in such a genuine, warm way that it made you chuckle about yourself as well.

"You have no fuckin' shame, do you?", her voice had a handsome sounding rasp to it as she tilted her head to huff you a quick smirk.

As she eyed you, you caught her gaze wander a little too deep and rest on your chest a little too long. In response, you smirked and gave the boob she had hit a demonstrative squeeze.

She realised that you had caught her. A slight blush appeared on her face as she turned away to look at the road again.

"You're a pervert, aren't you?", you returned the question with your head tilted.

Strands of your (H/C) hair fell into your sight. They had brown quite a bit over time. Maybe it was time to give it a good trim again.

Ellie let out a sarcastic snort and shrugged.

"Can ya blame me?", she asked back and took another turn at an intersection.

The engine stuttered as the car slowed down to take the turn. For a moment it seemed like the old thing was about to break down but recovered as Ellie pushed it back to a quicker speed.

With your lips pursed, you tried to blow the strand back into its place. But it was too heavy and always came smacking back into your face.

Ellie watched for a few seconds before she reached out and tugged the strand back behind your ear. Warm fingertips caressed your (S/C) skin in the process and chased a shiver down your spine.

Struck by what you felt all at once you froze and just stared at her. She smiled softly. And if you would have allowed yourself to be a little delusional you would have sworn this was the kind of smile that people who loved someone used.

A trembling breath squeezed its way through your slightly parted lips.

Ellie's hand came to a rest on your cheek, the tip of her thumb gently caressing the soft skin while she kept her attention on the road.

Heat made your brain go empty. It felt so comforting yet private. Like something that was shared with just anybody.

The warmth traveled from your brain all the way down to your face to make it feel like you had a raging fever. You could have passed it off as a stupid reaction to the first kind of physical touch after ages.

If only there wouldn't have been the beating of your stupid heart. It was as if you had just ran a marathon.

Unable to say anything, you turned your eyes away and swallowed hard. The feeling of Ellie's hand on your face did something to you.

Something that you couldn't explain. Or didn't want to. Because the explanation was either mad delusional or immoral.

You didn't want to be either.

Almost by chance you let your gaze wander out the window to have a look in the mirror.

The infected were gone and with them the tension you had felt at their sight. It had been quite a while since you've seen any infected at all. And now that Ellie showed up they seemed to swarm close by the dozen.

It was kind of an amusing thought that she could be some sort of bait for them. Then again, you preferred to not be noticed by those monsters at all.

All they did was bring up awful memories.

At the thought a shiver chased through your body and made you wrap your arms around yourself.

Ellie noticed and glanced at you from the corner of her eyes.

"You okay?", she asked, a worried shimmer in her eyes, and wiped some hair out of your forehead. "Gee, you're burning hot."

That only added to your embarrassment.

"Yeah.", you trapped her hand with both of yours and forced her to rest it in your lap, away from close body contact.

It made you nervous. She made you nervous.

Part of you wanted to believe it was because she was the first human being you had met after years. But part of you also wanted her. And you didn't know what to do with that.

Again, you looked away. Your head sunk to your shoulder and a sigh left your lips as your eyes fell shut.

Ellie freed her hand from your grip to entwine her fingers with yours. The skin of her palm was slightly rough from manual labour and the fight for survival.

"You sure you're okay?", she asked again.

At the edge of a row of trees another withered billboard appeared. The museum wasn't far no more. Just a few more minutes and you'd be able to walk free again.

You had to massage your eyes with two fingers.

This wasn't right. You wanted to be free and Ellie had responsibilities that she tried to return to. And yet you couldn't help it.

"That kid... and his mom.", you had to swallow hard. "Tell me about em'."