Quick note before we start:
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters/places/anything mentioned from the Last of Us or anything else and everything belongs to its respective owners.
Chapter 1: The Outbreak
The rain had stopped around an hour ago, leaving a misty scent in the air. The sun had long since left the sky, bringing darkness with it. Fireflies lit up some spaces from time to time, flitting around the outside of the house.
The light from the TV in the living room brought his attention back to the news. A woman was reporting on the late night events.
"The amount of patients in the Columbus Hospital has risen 300%. Police are cautioning for people to stay away from anyone exhibiting the following symptoms-"
Joel shook his head, not sure what to make of the news. He had heard the broadcast over and over again for the past week or so, but no one knew what was causing the sickness.
People are just getting sick, like always, he thought, trying to ignore the "300%" increase the news had just reported.
A buzzing noise came from the kitchen, and he walked back in to see his cell phone vibrating. He walked over and picked it up off the table, wondering who was calling at this time of night.
It's two in the morning, he thought, glancing at the name of the caller and pressing the talk button.
"You missed me already? You were just here two days ago David," he joked a bit, hearing his brother let out a strained laugh on the other end of the phone.
"Yeah, well your birthday was two days ago, so of course I had to drive the whole way out there," his brother answered, but then his tone grew serious, "Joel, you need to turn on the news. Right now."
His brother's command almost made him sound frantic, and Joel shook his head as he walked back into the living room, glancing at the TV.
"It's already on," he answered, but froze when he saw what was on the TV, "Oh my-"
"Yeah, it's getting worse," his brother's voice stated, but then fell silent, letting him watch the update.
"Citizens in New York City are advised to evacuate. The planes will be flying overhead in five minutes," the leader of the military was shown on TV, giving the announcement. The news switched back to the woman.
"As shown, citizens are being evacuated before the bombing. Everyone around the surrounding area is cautioned to stay indoors…" the woman's voice faded as his brother spoke over the phone.
"You still there Joel?" his brother's voice made him walk into the living room, taking a deep breath as he sat down on the couch.
"Yeah," he answered, feeling somewhat overwhelmed, "They're bombing New York."
"I saw that," his brother stated, making him shake his head in disbelief.
"Why are they even-?" he started to ask, but then he sighed, "Please don't tell me it's because of that virus that's been going around…"
"That's the reason," David stated, and then his voice grew urgent, "Joel, you have to get out of the town."
His brother's words made him somewhat shocked, and he didn't answer for a moment.
"Leave?" he repeated, staring in shock at the TV as the commercials played. It would be another few minutes until it got back to the news.
"Yes, you have to get out of town now!" David's voice became urgent again, "It's already hell here! Meet me at the barn and-"
Beeping noises sounded from his phone, and he glanced down at it to see the connection had died. His eyes widened as he tried to take in the information.
Leave the town and meet David at the barn, he took a deep breath as he stood up, walking towards his office, I can do that much. But he'd better have a good explanation.
Joel shook his head, opening the middle drawer of his desk and pulling out a black safety box. He opened the case and pulled out a pistol, grabbing some ammunition from the drawer.
Thankfully David and I took that class last summer, he thought, moving to grab his backpack. He figured if they were going on a 'trip', then he would need it for carrying supplies.
He walked out into the kitchen and grabbed a few water bottles, knowing he would need to stock up on supplies since the journey to the barn was a few days from his house.
He put the water bottles into his backpack and was just about to grab something else from the fridge when he froze, his gaze settling on the window.
Red and orange flames were coming from the neighbor's house, and he heard screaming from inside. He quickly grabbed his backpack, slinging it over his shoulder as he ran out into the front yard, looking at the neighbor's house.
The screaming died down just as he started to make his way towards the house, and he sadly knew that no one was left.
What is going on? He wondered, shaking his head, better keep packing.
Joel turned to walk back into the house, but stopped when he heard the sounds of a car a few feet away. He turned around, only to move to the left as a car nearly hit him.
The side of the car caught his leg and he bent down in the grass, holding it for a moment until the pain ceased. He wasn't hurt badly; the hit had just stung him for a few moments.
He was about to call out to whoever had been driving the car, which had by now crashed into a tree, but stopped when he saw blood was spattered on the windshield. He warily walked around to look into the window, seeing the driver dead with blood pooling down his shirt.
He glanced in the back of the car for any other passengers and found none. He shook his head, knowing the impact couldn't have killed the driver.
He back away from the car, spying something in between the tree and vehicle. On closer observation, he realized that a person who looked similar to those that were admitted to the Columbus Hospital was dead, partially smashed between the car and tree.
"Is this what he meant?" Joel mumbled, shaking his head in slight confusion. He started walking away, taking one last glance at the car accident before setting his gaze ahead of him.
He took a deep breath as he walked into the garage, glancing through the small window at the news again, or more like where the news should have been. Instead, the fuzzy black and white screen stared back at him, giving him no clue as to what was going on.
No phones, no television… his thought trailed off as the electricity to the house went dead, leaving him in almost pitch darkness, This can't all be because of one sickness.
"It won't help any to stay here," he mumbled, realizing he wouldn't be able to take his car out to the barn this time, "I guess I'll just be walking then."
He walked out of the house, realizing that everything was not normal. Things seemed too quiet, almost like one of those horror movies when you knew something bad would happen.
The streets were eerily quiet; no one else was outside of the houses. Joel knew he lived on an almost dead-end street, but this seemed almost ridiculous.
The lights in every other house he passed were also out, giving no indication of whether anyone was inside; proof of a wide scale power outage caused by something unknown.
He continued walking, knowing he would be heading towards Columbus before making his way to the small trail that headed in the direction of the barn. When he did get to the edge of Columbus, which wasn't that far from where he lived, he didn't expect to see the chaos in front of him.
Buildings were on fire and crowds of people were running through the streets.
No, it almost looks like they're running from something, he thought, noticing a small group of people who looked similar to the ones from the hospital chasing after the crowds.
He checked through the list of symptoms the news had broadcasted for the past few weeks, each of them checking off. The people seemed more aggressive than usual, but he wasn't sure what was causing it, other than the possibility of that virus…
He shook his head, deciding to take one of the less crowded streets, hopefully avoiding any of the strange acting people. He came onto another main road and saw the movie theater up in flames as well.
His mind thought back to yesterday, when David had dragged him to see a movie. It was a teen movie, the words "Dawn of the Wolf Part 2" being reflected on the movie theater's advertisements.
He hadn't known why his brother had dragged him to see it at the time; there was a bunch of other things they could have gone to see. He had figured out later that David had been trying to distract him long enough for their family to pull off a 'surprise party' for his birthday, and that the movie had been the longest at the time.
He was ripped from the memory when something collided into him, shoving him to the ground. He glanced over to see a terrified man, his eyes wide as he quickly got up and continued running.
Brief confusion ran through him as he stared after the man, but it was soon answered when he saw another hospital patient running towards him. He quickly scrambled to his feet, his hand hovering near his pistol for a moment before he decided to take off running as well.
He knew where an exit to the city was, being another side path that most people didn't use. He just hoped that it was still unoccupied.
He lost sight of the hospital patient after a while as he veered onto another abandoned street. The patient had seemed distracted as another crowd of people had gone running by a few miles back, and Joel hoped that they were alright.
I need to get out of here, find out what's going on.
He slowed his pace when he neared the path leading out of the city, hearing a strange sound in the distance. He glanced up to see planes flying over the city, but not normal planes.
Bomber planes; the thought made his eyes widen as he increased his pace, not knowing why they had no warning.
There had been no military presence trying to keep the situation calm, and now his mind came to one conclusion. His guess was right when he got to the end of the road and loud explosions came from behind him.
The aftershock of some of the closer blasts knocked him forward, into the river that cut off the dirt road. His vision swam as he was knocked into the water; darkness being all he could see for a moment as he kicked for what he guessed was the surface.
Something sharp collided with his leg as he swam for the surface, making it harder to keep himself above water. He aimed for the bank, coming out on the other side soaked and shaking.
Joel glanced back at the city, seeing it engulfed in flames as the planes continued their attack. His mind was blank, but strangely overwhelmed at what was happening.
The city was going to be leveled, reduced to ashes within a few hours. He knew he wouldn't be able to go back, so with the only other option being to meet David at the barn, he set off through the woods, going in a northeastern direction.
Well, here it is! The prequel to "Survivors"! I would like to welcome back anyone who has read "Survivors" and my other Last of Us fanfictions, as well as welcoming anyone new to my work! To clear things up, this fanfiction is most likely going to be considered an AU since it is of the outbreak and the twenty years before "Survivors". This fanfiction does not follow the game's backstory for Joel; it is my own made-up backstory for him for when I was writing "Survivors". This is mainly to help clear up some of Joel's backstory and some events mentioned in "Survivors", so hopefully it will help with that. Sorry if this might seem a bit rushed or choppy; I had the idea of how I wanted Joel's backstory to start in my head before the game came out, and now I find it is hard to translate to words. This being said, even though I am going through the twenty years before "Survivors", that does not mean that I will be going 365 days a year kind of thing. I am going to be highlighting the major events of what happens during those twenty years. With that being said, please tell me how I did in a review and I will see you next chapter!
-AnimeWolfGirl9