I don't own or claim any rights to any characters, scenarios, and/or any game-plays in this work of fiction. All rights and property belong to Naughty Dog, Sony Entertainment and/or any and/or all other parties in respect to any popular television, literature and/or motion pictures references that I include in this work. In other words, I own nothing (seriously, ask my bill collectors they'll tell you I own nothing) in this work; I am only playing around in the amazing world Naughty Dog created. My only hope is that if Naughty Dog, Sony Entertainment and/or any other parties who's works I am referencing see this work; I hope that they are entertain and do not send the Runners, Stalkers, Clickers, and Bloaters … er … I mean the lawyers after me. (That does sound like a great name for law firm, don't it … 'Runner, Stalker, Clicker and Bloater … we'll take a bite out of you for justice'.)

I hope that you, as the reader, also enjoy this work. Updates, unknown; sorry but I can't tell you how often I will update, or how long this will be nor the end point. Ellie and Joel will tell their story at their own pace, I'm just the transcriber. This follows "Home is where the heart is", you might want to read that one first.

I don't like Author notes, so don't expect any. Except the first and last chapter, each chapter will be first person of one character, who that character is depends on the story that needs to be shared. This story is and will remain rated M, don't blame me; Ellie has the mouth of a sailor. Also for violence, some adult themes, drinking … however, if you are looking for graphic, hot, steamy, sex scenes … sorry you are not going to find it here.

So enough of my babbling on to the story …

Year Zero

Green Bay, Wisconsin

Spring +1 day

It wasn't supposed to go down like that.

Sammy cringed as she looked down at her twin brother, a gash from the impact with the wall had left a trail of blood on his forehead. His eyes still wide with fear as he hastily reloaded the revolver with the precious few rounds they had left on them. She moved away from the other half of her soul to wrap up her leg, to catch her breath.

We planned to make it a quick run to the old mall, outside the city walls. We have done it before, no reason not to do it again. We just wanted to get a few things, just something to remember our home.

"What do we do now?" Heather asked, out of breath as the two twins patched themselves up. Samuel, the oldest by 12 minutes, looked around the dark store they were hiding in, looking for anything to use to get the girl he loved, the girl whom he was going to marry in a few days, out of this place, and back to the safety of the city.

We were three fourteen year old kids, so cock sure and invincible or so we had thought. That day, we all learned a valuable lesson about our beliefs. About how the world really works. The real world, it doesn't give a shit about what you believe. Or what you wanted.

"We'll be fine honey, okay." Samuel said hugging her shoulder as he looked over at his twin sister. "Hey Sammy, you good?"

"I'll … I'll …" she stopped speaking, he could hear the tears falling as she struggle to control herself. "Just make sure you save a bullet for me, Okay big brother."

"Bullshit Sammy," Samuel snapped, "You don't know if that is a bite or not, Okay?" He was in denial, he knew it but choose to just ignored what he had seen earlier. That clicker teeth clamping down on her right thigh, easily puncturing her light weight sweatpants. Her scream as it happened … no! It never happened … it couldn't have happened because she was his twin!

Twin are special in this new world mom and dad had told us many times, and we knew it was true in our hearts. There is a bond that twins share, a bond that others who were not a twin could never understand. Even fraternal twins like Sam and I, we could feel it although I am sure if we ever met a set of identical twins, they would have a strong bond. It was a special bond that couldn't be broken even by one twin moving on while the other lived. It was eternal.

Sammy knew that her twin knew, but she didn't try to force him to see the truth, to see that she was going to wish she was dead before she ended up in a living hell. She loved her twin and desperately wanted him to survive and be happy with Heather and the child she is carrying and … and if it meant that she allow him the luxury of being delusional for a few hours longer, so be it. They were twins and what more could be said?

"We're almost clear, only a few more yards and we'll be at the hole." Sammy reminded her brother and his girlfreind.

"Yeah, ready honey ...", his words cut off by a loud crunching noise above his head.

Sammy watched in horror as a section of the ceiling caved in on top of her brother and his girlfriend. Along with rubble came two runners. Sam got the pistol swung around but a piece of wood knocked the gun from his hand, while store front dummy smacked him in the head. Sammy wasted no time crossing the room to pick up the spinning gun as the runners screamed out. Whether they're screamed in surprise or pain, it didn't matter to her, she just need to shut them up before the others heard them. It took three of the remaining four shots to silence the intruders. She wasn't the best shot in the world and she had been more concern about not hitting her brother and their best friend then getting a clean shot on the runners. As she knelt next to her brother, she could hear the screams from above; the others had heard the shots and now knew where they were hiding.

"Sammy, help me I'm trapped," Heather grunted as she tried to push the mess off herself.

It was on that day I learn the cruelest lesson of all.

Sammy looked between her brother, who was out cold and his girlfriend who partially buried debris. She did the calculations in her head, hating herself when the answer came to her. The screams were getting closer, time was running out.

"Sammy, please help me! Sammy, I think my leg is broken, I … I ..."

Calculation time was over, Heather's fate just got decided, she could only save one. She bent down and slipped her arms around her brother. He was bigger then her but not too much, plus fear gave her the strength she needed to lift him up over her shoulder.

"Sammy, what are you doing? I need you to help me too! Sammy?"

She made sure the pistol was in the ready as she staggered towards the broken glass door.

"Oh God, please, please Sammy don't leave me!" Sammy had one shot left, and had so far to go but if worst come to worst, one of them won't suffer before he died. "Sammy, they're getting closer! Sammy, for God's sake don't do this! Please Sammy! Sammy!"

In this new world, nothing was sacred. Nothing was left unbroken.

Sammy never looked back as she pushed through the door, checking the wide mall hallway for anything moving before running as fast as she could with her unconscious brother towards the barricade entrance. She tried to block out the screams of the girl who had been her best friend since they could both crawl, who had been all set to be her new sister, her newest family member. Her brother's weakly calling out Heather's name but Sammy needed to blocked that out as well. Behind her, she could hear the runners falling through the hole in the store.

"Oh my God, no! No! Sammy! Sammy come back … NO!"

Not even the bond of a twin could survive.


Sam, I am.

By Mik Sunrider

Year Zero

Near Jackson, Wyoming

Winter +6 weeks

"Well, at least it stop snowing," dad said as we trek through this forest located somewhere in Western Wyoming. Don't ask me where, he had the map not me.

I rolled my eyes as he laughed at his own joke. Yeah, dad, you're the comedian alright. Instead of going along with the joke, I asked once again, "Why didn't we wait till spring to leave Green Bay?"

"No, the question should be why didn't we leave Green Bay last winter," dad said letting out a bitter laugh.

"Being out here during the winter is stupid, isn't that what you always told me," I sniffed as I keep an eye out for anything edible running about.

"Not this time," he said easily as he walked next to me. "We are all familiar enough with blizzards and such, can't live in this part of the Good Ole USA without learning about this kind of weather. There are enough empty building to hole up in during the worst weather. Plus, we're certainly dressed for it."

Yeah, we were; each of us in this three person hunting party had at least four layers of clothes on, two pair of socks, skiing caps that cost us a fortune back home and gloves made from real leather. The gloves and skiing caps were probably worth more than our weapons, without those two items you could die rather slowly and painfully out here.

"As long as we are careful not to drop off a cliff or fall through a lake, we will be good. And don't forget Sam," he added while turning his head to look behind us. "Most of the bandits and other groups we would rather avoid, those guys will be holed up somewhere waiting for spring to arrive. It is safer for our rather large, and mostly unprotected, group to move around without having a huge 'come kill me' sign hanging around our necks. When you have a group of fifty people and half of them younger than you and your twin sister ..."

"My dead sister you mean," I snapped bitterly refusing to look at the third person in our group. It wasn't really a person anyways and did not deserve any acknowledgement by me or anyone.

"Samuel," my dad said, or more like let out a sigh that sounded like my name.

"It's not worth it dad," the thing said, sounding just as tired as he did.

It picked up it's pace on my dad's left moving towards a clearing in the woods. Dad and I followed suit, we were all silent for now, which suited me just fine. Noise scares away the food. Of course, with silence came memories. Memories of a year ago, when I was fourteen and in love with a girl. When I found out I was going to be a daddy myself and when I had a twin sister name Samantha.

Neither my parents nor Heather's parents had bust out the beers when we told them that Heather was pregnant, but they also didn't disown us either. In the Zone, it wasn't unheard of for kids our age being parents. If anything, the military government passively approved of kids being parents. Got to get the population up, even though they had a bitch of a time feeding us as is.

That lack of rations is what prompted my parents and the others to decide to move away from Green Bay to out West, where the Fireflies are rumored to have a QZ of their own. We should have left last winter but with Julie new-found condition, dad and the others wanted to wait a bit longer. Traveling with a new-born would be tough enough, having a child on the road would be deadly for her and my child.

God, why did we …

Then I saw it, about thirty yards of to my right and down in a small valley, standing in a clearing being all smug as shit as it ate a green bush. A big old buck, at least a 20 pointer, more than enough to help feed all of us back at the camp. For a few days anyways.

"Dad," I whispered while pointing at my discovery. Both of them stopped moving as that big stupid animal continued to eat away as if it didn't have a care in the world.

"Okay, you two keep an eye open," Dad whispered back as he shuffled forward to a better firing position.

That thing pretending to be Sammy and I fell back into position to watch our flanks, making sure nothing on four feet or two tried to sneak up on us. Wolves, bears, coyotes, or wild pack of dogs; humans weren't the only things that go hungry in winter. We both silently agreed to let dad take the shot since he was way better at this kind of precise shooting then either of us. When we were younger, he had told us stories of him spending the weekends hunting with our grandfathers and his uncles back before the Day. He even had won a gold medal in a shooting contest back when he was in high school. I had called bullshit on that before we left Green Bay; after all, he was old and you know, just lived to tell jokes. Even Sammy, before she became a fucking runner, didn't believe dad's stories either.

Yeah, well; whatever, you know. I swallowed my fifteen year old pride and had to admit, he wasn't full of shit on this one. If it hadn't been for his hunting skills, I think we would still be in Minnesota, wasting away and not stinking until spring. If it hadn't been for his survive skills, his ability to see hazards buried under several feet of snow, we would have laid at the bottom of some ravine. I'm just so glad none of our old friends were around, I would hate to have to admit how wrong I had been in front of them.

"That's it you big dumb animal, just keep eating," Dad whispered as he slowly moved up to a fallen log. "Nothing to see here, we all just out for a walk."

Yeah, he was good but also strange as hell. I don't know how mom put up with him all these years.

As we all kneeled behind the log, dad using it to brace the rifle, the deer made a god awful noise, like a grunt and jumped to run away; heading in our general direction before falling to the ground.

"What the fuck," my dad whispered out sounding as confused as I was.

What the hell happened to it? Was it sick? Some new kind of sickness? We would be so fucked if we couldn't eat any of the venison around here.

"Dad, look," the runner said whispering as well and pointing off to my right.

A small figure came bounding down the side of the hill, wearing a fur-lined, hooded jacket that may have been white a long time ago, an old school bag for a back pack with more arrows sticking out of it and a bow in his left hand. The guy was short and well, tiny really. I was five eight, mom and dad were both five ten, heck even Samantha was five seven; this guy was probably five one or five two, maybe. Maybe it was a kid.

"Damn, brought that buck down in one shot." Dad whispered out in admiration. "Who ever that is must have it in the lung to bring it down so quickly."

I watched the kid running up to the buck, it set the bow down as he reached for a knife on his belt. While the kid knelt a plan started forming in my head.

"Dad, we need that buck," I said lifting my gun.

"No," Dad said quickly. "We don't kill other humans, not unless we have too to protect our self."

"We are protecting our self, we need food."

"There will be other game Sam," dad said with a firm tone that would have forestalled any argument when I was eight and didn't no shit about starving.

"You don't know that dad," I snapped back. "You know we can take that kid easily, plus we probably won't have to shoot him. It is just a stupid kid. We go running out there, fire a couple of shots over his head, that little shit will get so scared he will run away. Probably run all the way home before he stops." The kid pulled out the arrow out of the buck, but he seem to move slower, more cautiously.

"Or right to his dad, who is probably not that far away. No parent would let a kid that young run around the forest in the middle of winter alone." Dad snapped at me in a low voice, the kid was slowly picked up his bow off the ground. I wasn't worry about him, there was no way he could hear us talking as far away as he was. "We don't want to attract trouble Sam. We can't run the risk of ..."

The kid turn suddenly, spinning on his knees in our direction, dad stopped talking and dropped flat to the ground as I heard the arrows hit the log.

Thump

Thump

Thump

Fucking hell! I ducked back down behind the log trying hard not to shit my pants, Sammy let out a yelp as well. Fuck me! I didn't know you could shoot three arrows that fucking fast. By dad's expression, I don't think he was aware you could shoot that fast either.

"That was a warning shot!" A young, female, voice yelled out and not sounding the less bit intimidated by our presence. "Show yourselves and your fucking hands had better be empty!"

"Dad," Sammy whimpered out, she maybe a fucking mushroom head but she can still die like a normal human.

"Easy," dad whispered and then repeated louder as he stood up. "Easy there miss. We aren't looking for trouble." He bent down to lean the rifle against the log, the barrel facing up. "We are just out looking for food, just like you."

"I said all of you, now!" She had a strange accent, I've never heard one like it before.

"Just take it easy," Dad said holding out his right hand as he waved at Sammy and I with his left. "They're just my kids, okay. Let's all be nice and calm about all this, alright. Sam, Sammy, come on up, nice and slow." Sammy and I slowly stood up, I don't know how dad could be so damn cool and calm, I was trying my best not to shake or bolt. In this case, running would be a really bad idea, her bow never wavered much as she tracked our movement. They weren't quick jerky movements but very smooth arch as if she was on a the firing range and not out in the middle of the forest. Yeah, she would put one in my back if I tried anything. Sammy and I also leaned our rifles against the log as dad had. "There is no reason for anyone to shoot anyone here, Okay."

"Take three steps back," the girl yelled out as she stood up herself.

"Three steps back, right. We'll do as you ask, you are in charge here," Dad said calmly taking long steps backwards with Sammy following suit.

"You too pretty boy, move it." She started to slowly move forward towards us.

"So you can shoot us without us being able to defend ourselves? Fuck you." I shot back lowering my hands a bit.

"Pftt. Guess what, dick head, if I wanted you dead, you already be dead; now back the fuck up!" She stopped about ten yards away, close enough to see some details on our faces but not close enough for us to rush her. She was wearing a scarf around her face with only her eyes not covered and a few strands of reddish hair sticking out from the fur-lined hoodie.

"There's three of us and only one of you." I reminded her, trying to shake some of that cool from her.

"Five."

"Sam," Dad hissed out.

"Four."

"Great, so you can count, congratulations."

"Three."

"Samuel!" Dad grabbed me by the back of my jacket, pulling me back to him.

"Damn it dad," I glared at him as he glared back at me.

"Be quiet!" Dad used a tone that he hasn't used on me or Sammy in years. One that made me fume, I am not a little kid anymore you fucking coward. "She right, if she wanted to kill us, she would have." Then he changed his tone to a more friendly one and turn back to the girl. "She doesn't want to hurt us and we don't want a fight either. No reason we all can't be friends, is there?"

"You, bright eyes," the girl said with her bow pointed directly at me but speaking to the runner next to dad. "Slowly, and I mean really slowly, take your cap off." I saw Sammy glance at Dad before complying with the request. When she took her cap off her long blond hair, tied up in a pony tail, spilled out on her shoulders. "Now, slowly move to the rifles, unload them one at a time and put the ammo in your cap, got it?"

"Yes, unload the rifles one at a time, ammo in my cap," Sammy said, her voice not betraying her fear. It took a few moments for her to comply, when she finished she held the skiing cap towards the girl.

"Back up and give that back to your dad," the girl said, her damn bow still pointed at me. Well, at least, she knows who is the most dangerous of the three.

"Thank you for the ammo," Dad let out a sigh of relief as Sammy took up position between dad and me. Okay, yeah, ammo is good but useless without our fucking guns. He stuck the cap in his left pocket of his jacket as he talked to the kid, "This is my child Samuel, and my other child, Samantha, and I am ..."

"Let me guess, Sam?"

"Larry," Dad said giving the kid his world-famous grin. "And you are?"

"Cold. So what you doing out here Larry?"

"Just passing through, heading out West trying to find somewhere to settle down. The kids always wanted to see Yellowstone; so I figure, what the hell, let's go to Yellowstone."

"Yellowstone is further North, you know." She pointed behind us with her arrow.

"Well, I've never been good with directions." Dad said still grinning.

"Uh huh," she shifted her weight slightly but still hadn't lowered her bow. She had some serious strength, I guess, on that tiny body to hold a bow that long. "So lets hear it."

"Uh, hear what?"

"How you are just out hunting, part of a large group, women and children, all starving, blah blah; you willing to trade for the deer, will try to kidnapped me, cut me up into little bitty pieces, blah blah, you know the drill."

"Why … why … little pieces?" Sammy stuttered out as dad got a weird look in his eye.

"You're from Colorado, right?"

"No, no we're not. Are you saying there are … here … in America?" Dad asked sounding genuinely surprised and a more than a bit disgusted. "Fucking hell."

"Yeah, ran into a group down in Colorado," the girl said eying Dad as if trying to gage his reaction. "If you are heading that way, be real careful accepting any meals from anyone, never know who you might be snacking on."

"Dad?" Sammy was asking the same question I was, what the hell were they talking about?

"Nothing kids," he said shaking his head in disgust. "Don't worry about it, we're not headed that way." He nodded to the other kid, "Thanks for the warning."

"Free of charge," the girl said nodding. "So if you ain't from around here, where are you from?

"Green Bay QZ, over by Lake Michigan, you ever hear of it?"

"Green Bay?" The girl repeated the name to herself quietly then her eyes lite up brightly. "Cheese heads!"

"Wow," Dad snorted out a laugh. "You really know your football, young lady to know about that kind of stuff."

"Well, I am still learning," she said with a tilt of her head. "But yeah, I know a few people who love to talk about football," she rolled her eyes and somehow gave the impression she was actually smiling. "They mostly talk college but they liked the pro stuff as well."

"Sounds like dad," the runner said, a small smile on her face. "He'll talk your head off about Rodgers or Favre, if you give him a half of excuse."

"Yeah, I get the same thing about Romo and Akimen."

"Really? A Cowboy fan? By your accent, I would have figure you for a Brady girl?"

"My friend is from Texas, so he loves the Cowboys." Then she gave a small giggle that caused my dad and sister to smile as well. "But Brady? A Patriot? Do I look like a weirdo to you?"

"Yes." I snapped.

She didn't move, didn't respond in any way but yeah it got really cold really fast. So much for trying to distract her. Sammy must gotten a bad vibe from the girl, she shifted her weight slightly to slowly lean in front of me.

"Easy, Sammy." The girl said, "he hasn't pissed me off enough to shoot him … yet."

"He is my twin," Sammy said quietly, that actually seemed to confuse the girl.

"He is your what?"

"They're twins," Dad nodded towards us. "You know what twins are, right?"

"Yeah, but I though they were always same-sex except in like movies. So they are like Luke and Leia Skywalker, uh?"

"Yeah, just like them. I take it you haven't met many twins before, have you?"

"No, can't say that I have," the girl stared at Sammy and I for another half second before shifting her eyes towards Dad. "Alright enough chit-chat, let's get down to brass nails; what do you have to trade for the deer?"

"Actually, I don't have anything to trade," Dad said slowly. "But I do have an offer, if you're willing to listen?"

"Talk."

"Let Sam and Sammy go, with the ammo, and I'll stay here until the rest of your group shows up, then you can decide what to do with me." Both the runner and I protest but dad cut us off. "No, she is just stalling for time. There will be others here soon, she will need help getting that deer home. She probably sent a signal before she came down to check on the deer. That is why she had you unload the rifle, she not worry about us shooting her but doesn't want the others getting shoot when they show up. She doesn't want anyone getting hurt by a misunderstand, right?"

"You would do the same if you were in my shoes, I think."

"I wouldn't, I would have shot you by now." I growled out.

"Pftt, now tell me something I haven't figure out on my own, asshole."

"I'll stay, let my brother and dad go," Sammy said as my dad told me to be quiet.

"Agree," I snapped.

"Be quiet Samuel!" Dad stare at me with a look of murder on his face.

"You would let your sister stay back while you run home," the girl said slowly shaking her head. "Well, that's brotherly love for you. And you are willing to die for that little fucker?"

"He is my twin," she lashed out in a low voice. "And he is father, family might not mean much to you but it means everything to me, bitch."

"Well, she is prettier," the other girl said softly as if in thought.

"No," Dad said in a voice that I never heard him use before, I didn't think he could ever sound that threatening. The girl didn't even twitch as he step in front of us. "No deal. We don't want a fight but I will not, will not under any circumstances, allow you to hurt my children in any way."

"You're not leaving me many options."

"Yes, I am. The kids leave unharmed and I stay behind or we fight. Either way, they leave."

"What do you think?" She said after a few tense moments.

"I don't trust the boy," a rough voice said from behind us … Oh motherfucker!

"Daddy," Sammy whimpered out as she turned with me to see the what was behind us.

The fucker was huge, he had to be at least six two and fuck, shit, he was built! He had a shotgun pointed at us, had a rifle slung to his backpack as well as a 9mm on thigh and the biggest revolver I have ever seen on his left thigh. His eyes were sharp and menacing, that bushy salt and pepper beard just added to the pirate look. When the hell did he show up? I never heard him!

"This … this changes nothing, kids go free or else," Dad's composure falter at the sight of that man. Okay, not going to hold it against him, I seriously think I just shit my pants.

"Yes, them and you are free to go," the big man said pulling the shotgun up on his shoulder and walked around us to the girl, who had finally let the bow drop down to her side. The arrow was still on the string, ready at moments notice.

"Sorry about all that," the girl said after pulling down her scarf to expose her face. Wow, she has had a hard life even if she was no older than us, very cute if you like a brawler type. "Had to be sure. You guys can have the deer as well."

"Team six to control," the big guys said into a microphone sticking out of his jacket. I also notice he had an ear piece in his right ear, damn can't hear what is going on. "Situation under control, seem to be friendly, she offered her catch to them, we're going to help get it dressed. Will call back when on our way back." He nodded as if someone was talking to him. "Roger, and yeah, she managed not to get hurt this time. Team six clear."

"I'm going to let that bear eat you next time, asshole," she said glaring at the older man.

"So what is the catch," Dad asked.

"No catch, you guys probably need it more than we do," the big guy said. "The girls can carry the rifles, Sam, you and I will field dress the deer, how does that sound?"

"Too good to be true."

"Yeah, well; she is like that sometimes. She seems to trust y'all, and it is her deer, so might as well help out before she starts her whole damn L routine."

"L?"

"Trust me … you don't want to know."

"You won't be able to resisted forever, you old goat," she said with a smirk.

"I keep telling y'all, I am immune." He said as he started walking towards the down deer with dad close behind him. Sammy picked up her and dad's rifle while the girl took mine.

This is just so … fucking stupid!

"So what? We are all kissy face now? Just like that?" I asked as the girls started after the men.

"Look, we can all get together some other day to kill each other, but right now I am fucking cold. The sooner you guys get that deer done, the faster you guys can get the hell out of here. And when you leave, I can go home where it is warm. Dumb ass." The girl said without even turning around. "So Sammy, you're the twin who got the great looks and the brains, what did he get out of the deal?"