A story based on the game, The Last of Us and has a twist to it which you will soon realize. Anyhow, this does include original characters. The beginning is made to be VERY similar (Like as in a couple of direct quotes/switching around wording) so that it basically lets you know what to expect for those of you that are like hardcore about the game. I do not own any rights to the game itself, that's all with Naughty Dog. Will be trying to post regularly. This is my FIRST time EVER writing something this big Chapters may come in wholes or even halves. And further more... Enjoy the story!

Chapter One: Everything Changed

"No, I don't have time for this... He what?! How do you expect for me to be able to deal with this now? We'll discuss this later... We'll discuss this later David!" Mason cut off the conversation on his phone as he walked into his house.

The house itself was part of a huge neighborhood that all seemed very identical and what some people would refer to them as cookie-cutter houses. All were brick on the outside and second stories. The crazy home owners association was really strict so they had to be all neat and orderly, nothing seemed to really give them character.

Hearing her dad entering the door, Rachel sat up from the couch where she had been waiting for him all evening for him to get home. She brushed her short brown hair out of her face and then peeked her eyes just barely above the couch at him with her big brown eyes.

"What are you doing up this late? You know you should be-" Mason began saying to her as he walked over, his voice definitely had a sense of being overworked during the last couple of days. Rachel held out a careful wrapped present and smiled at him. It was unusual for any gift of hers to not be falling apart because she was terrible at wrapping so she must have taken extra care with this one.

"I didn't forget! It's your birthday after all Dad and I wanted to surprise you!" She said with pride in her voice. Her eyes lit up with happiness in the fact that she had been able to get him a gift that could be useful for him. "I hope you like it!" she urged him open it so she could see his face.

"Oh thanks sweetie," Mason began opening the little box carefully. "Why looky there..." Mason's eyes widened as he pulled up a brand new black straight blade knife, it had to have been 4" and he had been talking about wanting a new knife for months. He pulled out a sheath from the bottom of the box and sheathed the knife and put it in his pocket instead of having to just hold the box.

"Shouldn't you be in bed? It is WAY past your bedtime!" Mason raised an eyebrow as he sat down on the couch with her and turned on the TV. Of course was very glad that his daughter had given the gift but regardless, it was nearly midnight.

"Oh please oh please oh please can I stay up a little bit longer with you?" Rachel whined as she jumped over and held onto his shoulder with excitement. They didn't get a whole lot of time together because of Mason constantly being occupied by work and several projects that always seemed to get in the way of him and family time. He sure didn't enjoy being away so much and neither did Rachel so she wanted to make the best of it.

"Alright alright! No more than an hour! You have school tomorrow!" Mason said back to her with seriousness in his voice.

"Make that two!"

"One."

"Arrgh. Fineee." Rachel grumbled a little bit and fell down into the other side of the couch as they both began to watch TV. She was happy.

Not long after that, Rachel fell asleep on the couch. Mason looked over and chuckled a little after seeing her so awake and excited and now out like a light in such a short period of time, it wasn't even one o' clock yet. With ease and also being careful, he picked her up and carried her up the stairs to her room. The room was covered in posters from her favorite bands as well as vacation photos that they had taken a couple of years back, broken drum sticks were on the ground here and there, clothes didn't quite make it into the hamper, and of course her bed was messy.

"Just like your father when he was younger." Mason sighed and said quietly to himself.

Mason set Rachel down on the bed, tucked her in and kissed her forehead. "Goodnight baby girl." He said as he turned off the lamp on the end table beside her bed and closed the door.

The phone went off. Rachel stretched a little and rubbed her eyes as she reached for the phone. Who in the world would be calling at this hour? It's a little after 4 in the morning, what could they possibly want?

"Hello?" Rachel answered the phone and sat on the edge of her bed.

"Rachel? Hey! Is your dad there?!"

"Uncle David?"

"I really need to tell him something! There's something going o-" David said with urgency into the phone and suddenly stopped as the phone died.

"Huh... Phone must be dead." Rachel said while putting it down on the end table next to the bed. "I wonder what that was all about?" She said to herself while walking out of her bedroom.

"Dad?" She called out while walking down the hall.

"Dad?" She opened up the bedroom door. The TV was on and the sheets were all over the place. He must have gone somewhere. "Where could you possibly be right now?" She said to herself as she walked over towards the TV and began watching.

"The attacks were considered as riots in the beginning but seem to be connected to the nationwide pandemic that is sweeping the entire United States. A state of emergency has been called to evacuate as soon as possible. The ones that have been taken over by this infection have been reported to show signs of aggression-" The reporter on the TV said into the camera.

"That's close by..." Rachel said quietly as her eyes widened a little.

"Get everyone out of here now-there's a gas leak!" Several soldiers yelled off in the distance of the screen.

It was too late. The entire building went up in a huge fireball of flames as the gas ignited and the building exploded, killing everyone around it.

"Uhh.. What just happened?" Rachel was beginning to get nervous.

She moved over to the window and then suddenly saw an explosion so big she could see it from the house. It took out the entire school! What the heck is going on?!

"Dad?" Rachel called out even louder now as she was getting uneasy about what was going on. Her pace picked up as she headed downstairs wondering where in the world her father could be. "Dad?!"

As she came downstairs she peered out the front window and saw several police cars speeding down the road. She didn't even want to know where they were heading, she needed to know where her dad was and find him as soon as possible. She was getting more terrified it felt by the minute. She walked into the kitchen and noticed his phone was still lying there and the light indicating missed alerts was going off several times.

"6 missed calls... 'Where the HECK are you? CALL ME' ... 'On my way.'" She read off the phone as she picked it up off the kitchen counter and went towards the guest bedroom that they used as a Study for most of the time. Every little sound seemed to slightly scare her, even the sound of the dogs barking made her jump a little bit.

She opened the door and stepped in, just in time to catch her father entering as well through the other door that was also the entrance to the deck outside. He quickly pulled back the french doors and locked them.

"There you are! I've been-" She began to say.

"Rachel! Are you okay?" He asked back. His eyes were full of concern and also urgency because he knew what the situation was so he was trying to get an immediate answer.

"Well yeah." She walked over to him and watched as he grabbed a box from the bottom drawer of the desk. It was his gun box. Inside was a .357 revolver, Mason's favorite gun that he had bought himself a few years back with some extra money he had been setting aside for it.

"Has anyone come in here?" He asked while grabbing ammo and loading the gun.

"No. Why? Is something wrong?" She asked. So much has been going ontonight she was so confused."

"The Millers. Something's not right with them." He said back to her. "I think they're sick."

"Sick? What do you mean sick?" She asked and then noticed a man on the opposite side of the door trying to get in and backed up behind Mason.

"Andrew!" He yelled out warning the guy at the door. "Honey come here, stay behind me!" Mason put himself between Rachel and Andrew as he busted through the glass door. "I'm warning you!" There was no point in even warning him. The man flung himself in an absolute rage towards Mason with the intent to kill him. "No!" Mason yelled out as he fired a shot into the man and a little bit of blood got on Mason and he then turned to Rachel after taking her into the kitchen.

Rachel stared right into her dad's eyes, they were absolutely frightened. "You.. You shot him..." She barely got out of her mouth as her voice trembled.

Mason put both of his arms on her shoulders and lookened into her eyes with total seriousness. His hands had traces of blood on them as well as his shirt from the neighbor that had just tried to kill them both. "Listen to me! There is something bad happening on around us and we have to get out of here. Do you understand me?"

"Yeah!" She nodded back to him.

Lights flashed through the front door. Someone was there.

"David's here. Come on." Mason said to her while taking her by the hand and quickly heading to the door. He wanted to get out of here as soon as possible. The sooner they leave and make it out of the city the sooner they will be safe.

Mason opened up the front door and looked to the right and to the driveway and saw his younger brother David coming up to get them.

Mason and Rachel both headed towards the old Ford Ranger.

"Where the heck have you been?! Do you realize what is going on around here?" David said to Mason.

"I know a little bit, yes."

"Holy crap you have blood on you too."

"Here baby, in here." Mason motioned Rachel to sit in the middle seat of the Ranger. Thankfully it was an extended cab, a little tight but it made do.

"It's not mine. Don't worry about it. We need to get out of here." Mason replied back to David while hopping into the passenger side of the truck.

"They said half of the city has been affected by all of this. They're losing their minds and attacking everyone basically." David said while getting into the driver side of the truck and starting it up.

"Can we just please go?" Mason was losing patience.

"Heard something about like it's some sort of parasite or something like that. Are you going to tell me what happened?" David looked over at him and motioned at Mason's shirt and hands being bloodied.

"Not now." Mason quickly grunted back, ending the conversation.

"Rachel. How are doing girl?" David asked as he looked back to pull the truck out of the driveway.

"Good." Rachel quietly responded, still shaken up after seeing one of the neighbors shot and killed right in front of her. "It was either him or us." She told herself in her head.

"Let's get out of here." David said pulling out of the driveway.

Rachel's eyes widened in almost a state of shock at what had happened all around where she lived. The school nearby showed no signs of life. Nearly all the brick outside was blackened by the flames which still remained in several classrooms.

Mason looked back and noticed Rachel's terrified facial expression as they passed several houses that also were engulfed in flames. The screams of people who did not get out of the neighborhood fast enough were heard off in the distance. It was too late for most of them. Hardly anyone was ready for something like this to ever happen to them.

"We'll be okay honey, we'll be okay. We'll get out of this." Mason tried to calm Rachel down then turned back to David, "How much further?"

"Not too much." David said turning the truck to the left and realizing the entire road was filled with other cars,

"Crap. This is bad. Everyone and their mother decided to take this way!"

"Turn us around David." Mason grunted. No way would they wait for this. They needed to leave NOW.

A guy in front of them got out of his car and yelled at the other people in front of them, "Hey! What's the problem here?!" A man afflicted with the infection came out of no where and attacked the unsuspecting guy and killed him.

"David!" Mason yelled out.

The infected man then turned his face towards them in the Ranger. His bloodshot eyes and face had the blood of his victim on it was just like the earlier attack at their own house.

"DAVID! MOVE! NOW!" Mason yelled out even more with urgency to get the heck out of there as fast as possible.

"I'm going! I'm going!" David quickly threw the truck in reverse and swung it around. One of the infected tried to jump on to the truck bed but only managed to scrape up against the teal tailgate before David floored the gas to speed away.

They all sighed a breath of relief to be save from being stuck in that death trap back there.

It didn't take long before they found themselves stuck in the middle of the city and the streets had people running from all directions. David began laying on the horn because people kept getting in the way.

"Where are they going?" Rachel asked.

"I have no idea honey." Mason said back. "I just hope we're going the right way now." He honestly had no clue what to expect with all the chaos going on around them.

There was a break of the huge crowds of people frantically running through the street so David decided to go faster but that was the worst thing to possibly do at this moment. Suddenly another SUV collided into the side of the Ranger.

Everything went black.

"Dad! Dad! Wake up Dad!" Rachel yelled and pushed on Mason to try and wake him up.

The truck was smashed in several places and there was no possible way to get any further with it. They had to go on foot and the only way out was through the windshield, Mason finally woke up and started kicking at the glass. Finally he managed to break the glass and pulled himself out of the totaled truck.

"Come here baby, give me your hand." Mason offered his hand to Rachel to help her out of the truck and she winced in pain.

"Are you hurt?" He asked.

"Yes, my leg." She said.

"How bad?"

"Very."

Mason then pulled out his revolver from his side holster and handed it to David, "Keep us safe!" and then picked up Rachel and they began running down the road.

The entire downtown was in pure chaos. Building were covered in flames from top to bottom and we're spreading all throughout the area.

All they knew was to run. Several infected began chasing them as they ran through the streets. David did his best to keep them off of both Mason and Rachel.

They along with several others that had followed ran into a dead end. The flames felt like they were in nearly a full 360' around them and looked to get closer and closer by the minute.

"Through here!" David called out. "Through the alleyway!"

The infected finally caught up to them. They took out the slow ones of the group like a lion chasing its prey. It was horrifying. The screams were unbearable.

Mason looked down at Rachel as they passed through the alleyway. "Keep looking at me baby! Keep looking at me!" Rachel closed her eyes and held on to him even tighter.

"They're coming through the fences!" David called out while opening another gate to another alleyway. "Pick up the pace!"

They ran through the last part of the alleyway and made it to the back of a restaurant and went in through the back while half a dozen of infected were nipping on their heels. David held the door closed with his body and yelled to Mason.

"Go! I can hold them off!"

"What? Are you crazy?!" Mason bursted out.

"Yes! You have Rachel! Just get out of here! I will meet you guys soon!" David yelled back motioning them towards the front door.

Mason busted through the front door and ran across the parking lot still holding Rachel as tight as he could. He started to run down the gravel road.

"We're okay, we're okay." Mason said to Rachel as they continued down the gravel road. Off in the distance he could hear the sounds, the horrific sounds of the infected, not even human-like anymore, knowing they were there and began to trail them.

The infected were extremely close but a gun suddenly went off. It wasn't like Mason's gun at all. It must have been an automatic gun. They looked over and noticed there were two armed soldiers.

"Freeze! Don't move!" One of the soldiers shouted at them from a distance as they both aimed at Mason and Rachel.

"We're not sick! We're not... Sick." Mason yelled back hoping the soldiers were lower their guns.

They briefly put their guns down and said something over the radio.

"But sir, there's a girl..." One soldier radioed over. "...Okay." He said back to his commanding officer hesitantly.

Both soldiers resumed their firing positions at both Mason and Rachel.

Mason's eyes got huge.

"Oh crap!"

Mason threw themselves down the hill while the soldiers opened fire at him and Rachel. Both of them tumbled down until they reached the bottom but the soldiers followed them.

Fear consumed Rachel, she absolutely froze up at the sight of having a gun barrel aiming right at her head and being blinded by a flashlight. "No... No...Please..." Her eyes began to tear up.

Mason had to think of something. He quickly grabbed a big rock and threw it up at the soldier that was staring him down with a gun as well to be a distraction to get the other soldier's attention off of Rachel. It worked. Mason had managed to get both of them distracted.

Now was his opportunity to do something. Mason grabbed the gun from his attacker and turned it on him, breaking the soldier's finger in the process, a trick David had shown him in case the situation came up. "Thank you David." He thought to himself. As soon as he had the gun in his hand, Mason shot his attacker in the chest twice and quickly turned to the other soldier...

One... Two... Three gunshots.

Just as Mason turned around to take out the other soldier, he was shot through the chest three times.

"NOOOO!" Rachel screamed out, tears started to flow like rivers out of her eyes as she watched her father drop right before her eyes.

"Don't take this personal, it's just orders." The last soldier said, holding his pistol up to Rachel's head.

Rachel couldn't control anything right now. Her heart felt like it was beating out of her chest. She could hardly breathe because she was hyperventilating and soaking the top of her shirt with tears gushing from her eyes. What could she even do? There was nothing she COULD do. She couldn't run. She couldn't fight.

"Please... Please don't do this... Let me go... Let me go!" She pleaded and closed her eyes waiting for the worst.

BOOM!

Silence.

The soldier dropped. David had spotted them from the top of the hill where they fell down and shot the soldier in the head. David stood there motionless at the sight of what he saw. Four bodies were on the ground. Two were the soldiers and the other were Rachel and Mason.

David couldn't help but cry at the sight of what he saw, Mason was dead. Rachel began crawling over towards Mason very slowly. Her leg was definitely broken, if it wasn't she would have ran over to him. Every movement of hers David could tell it was hard for her because of the pain.

Finally Rachel made her way over to her father.

"Dad?" Her voice was hardly even audible.

Mason didn't show any signs of life. He had passed.

"Dad?!" She began shaking him as if trying to wake him up out of his sleep. She broke down into uncontrollable sobbing.

"DADDY?!" She cried out to the top of her lungs and held her father with her arms.