[Ellie's P.O.V.]
After bidding farewell to the old man, we still refused to believe him completely so we decided to ask the few families we encountered along our path. But all of them gave us the same answer, which made Kirk's mood instantly fall to the bottom.
Yet, we didn't give up, searching for Chloe around the village but to no avail.
Seeing how dejected Kirk looked, I patted his back to make him straighten up and encourage him. "Don't be dejected. Let's go to her house. Maybe she's already home. If we still can't find her, we'll come back next time. We'll definitely find her."
Kirk looked at me in a daze before finally nodding his head firmly. "Alright."
When we finally found our way back to Chloe's house, we saw the girl in question crouched on the ground, digging at something with a strange smile on her face.
