[based off of The Last Of Us. I had this idea sitting in my folder for a few months before I actually got the motivation to go for it.]

"— No, listen, I need this job, really— yes, I'm qualified, I can handle anything... Uh huh. Alright. Just— okay, thanks. Bye." The rose-haired teen sighed audibly, rubbing her temples the way she had often seen her own mother do, and hung the wireless phone back onto its hook. She wasn't a people person, and never had been, even before her mother's death, yet she found herself dealing more and more with people lately. After all, being sixteen and practically an adult already didn't pay the bills on their own.

Claire Farron hadn't counted on her mother dying at an early age. Especially when her younger sister, Serah, still had no idea how to properly take care of herself yet— yet that wasn't to say that Serah was completely clueless. She often cooked (which relieved Claire; her skills weren't the greatest), and could do a few chores around the house. She still needed to focus on school, even if she was still young, every grade counted. Claire, however, decided to take on the role of guardian for both their sakes, making several calls to several job locations around the city of Bodhum, but so far had come up short. No place in their right mind would hire a kid,especially a "lady", at that. This evening, however, proved to be a breakthrough: the military service of Bodhum had begun taking up new recruits from ages fifteen to twenty one, which seemed perfect for Claire. She always had a knack for defending herself and others around her, so she figured, why not take up a position in the Guardian Corps? It was a well paying job, and could support both the girls until Serah went to college.

For now, until the teen got the call back, Claire voted to rest for the night, her frustration bubbling away as she stepped away from the phone and into the small living room, quickly spotting her younger sister lying carelessly on the couch in front of the small television set. Serah always had their father's eyes— a darker shade of blue compared to Claire's, yet full of determination and kindness. Her hair color was also a shade lighter than Claire's, and she often would wear it up in a side ponytail (just as her older sister would when she was younger), along with a bright and mature personality for her age. Even if Serah didn't see or realize it yet, Claire figured the younger Farron was going to receive a lot of suitors in the near future; the elder sibling looked forward to learning how to fend people off during her future training.

"Hey, sis!" The younger sat up from her spot on the couch, scooting to one side to make room for her sister.
Claire shook her head slightly, yawning as she plopped down next to her, "What are you still doing up? It's way past your bedtime—"

"Wait, what time is it?" Serah leaned back to check the digital clock resting on the side table to her sister, and sighed slightly in relief as she reached under the couch to grab at a white box. "It's still today, though."

With a bright grin, the younger Farron happily handed the box to Claire, who gave a questioning look towards her sibling. It wasn't everyday she received presents— sure, Serah loved to bake sweets for her and all, but an actual gift was usually out of the question. "What's the occasion?"

Serah rolled her eyes half heartedly, "Your birthday, silly."

Must have— must have gone over my head, Claire blinked in surprise as she tried to remember the date. Sure enough, it was her birthday; sweet sixteen, no less. Placing the box on her lap, she gingerly removed the bright pink bow wrapped around the cover and set it off to the side, uncovering the box to reveal something she hadn't been expecting: a survival knife. And a great model, at that, with a switchblade and lightweight handle to easily carry around, perfect for her military training.

"I heard you talking about the military," Serah piped up, twirling a lock of strawberry hair in between her fingers, "So I figured you'd need a weapon or something."

Claire glanced from the knife to her sister, testing out the switchblade for herself and attempting to flick the blade out of its locked position. "Sis, this is really— this is really nice, but I think...it's broken."

"Wha—! No no no..." Serah reached over and easily flicked the blade open. She rolled her eyes, lightly punching her sister in the shoulder. "Ha ha."

"Where'd you even get the money for this?"

"Didn't you know? I own a shop in the slums of Palumpolum," She snickered, sitting cross-legged next to her sister, now braiding the small lock of hair absentmindedly. "Selling organs illegally."

"Great," The rose-haired teen chuckled, "You can start paying for your college, soon."

After a few more hours of chatting and paying little attention to the news reports being spewed out by the reporters, Serah had found herself asleep soundly on the couch, leaning against Claire's shoulders subconsciously. Noticing this, the elder Farron decided it was time they got some sleep for the night, carefully removing herself from the couch and picking up her sister— seeing as she was smaller than the average thirteen year old— and effortlessly brought her up the stairs to their shared room. She made sure the covers were up to her shoulders, and, out of gratefulness, planted a quick peck on Serah's forehead, brushing some strawberry strands from her eyes.

"Night, sis."

Shutting the door to their room, Claire stretched her arms upwards, deciding to grab a quick drink of water from the kitchen before heading off to bed. Taking quiet steps, she ventured down the stairs and reached the kitchen, grabbing a cup from one of the cabinets and taking the jug of water from the fridge. The teen honestly couldn't wait to get into bed after the semi-stressful day she's had, the warmth of her sheets and pillows sounding very appealing to her at that moment—

"What are you doing!"

A shrill shriek nearly made Claire spit her sip of water out, her heart leaping in her throat. She stepped towards the window of the kitchen, spotting one of their neighbors in the middle of the street, backing away from something extremely warily. The teen got up to her tippy-toes to try to see what the ruckus was about, when out from the house across their own emerged a sprinting— thing, their face, or what seemed to be their face, covered in some sort of fungi, sprouting and masking the person's original face. It was sprinting full speed towards the woman in the street, who still stood in shock and disgust, at a loss of what to do. Of course, at this point, Claire had long forgotten her drink of water, instead rushing to put on her boots and grab a jacket to put over her sleeping shirt and sweatpants.

With a wistful look towards the scene outside, she made haste and didn't forget to take her birthday present, flipping the blade out as she shut the door to the house quickly, praying that Serah didn't hear the screams from the woman outside.

A loud ringing roused Serah from her sleep, the phone receiver on her bedside table going off. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, the younger Farron sat up on one elbow and picked up the wireless phone, bringing it to her ear, "Hello?"

"Serah! It's Snow, I need you to put Claire on the phone, it's important," The uncharacteristically urgent voice of the sisters' closest family friend came through the receiver, immediately waking the young girl up. It wasn't like Snow to be worried about something this much— at least, something that wasn't about baseball.

"Snow? What's going on?" She asked, removing the covers and swinging her legs over the side of the bed, noting that her older sister wasn't in the bed across from hers.

"I need to talk to Claire right now, get her on the—" The line was cut, and Serah's suspicion spiked. I should look for Claire.

Hanging the phone back on the receiver, she stood and made her way out of their shared room and into the hallway, checking the bathroom and their parents' old room next to theirs— both were empty, which didn't do anything to calm Serah's nerves. She called out her sister's name several times, but in receiving no answer or reply, she figured that her sister must have left to do something during the night. The rose-haired girl took careful and quiet steps downstairs, ears keen to any noise. Finding none, she hurried to one of the windows in the kitchen, noting a glass of water sitting on the countertop; was Claire here earlier?

The window door in their living room suddenly slid open, startling the younger Farron out of her confusion. Claire slammed the door shut, locking it tight and turned to one of the shelves next to their small television set frantically. Serah noted her shirt was slightly torn and shredded in some areas, and her sweatpants were stained with a dark colored liquid in certain areas. The survival knife Serah had given her hours before was tucked in the back pocket of her sweats, its blade crusted with some sort of liquid.

"Sis— where were you?" She asked timidly, rushing over to her elder sibling.

"Serah, did anyone get in?" Claire ignored her question and continued searching through the shelves with intensity.

"N-No, why would anyone get in here?" She isn't making any sense. "Claire, what's going on?"

"It's the neighbors. Something's...wrong with them,"

The way she said "wrong" didn't sit well with Serah. "Wrong? What do you—"

A loud banging resounded on the pane of the window, causing both girls to jump and whip their heads towards the door. Something— a person— was crawling towards them at an alarming speed, their face deformed and covered with a sprouting fungi and a disturbing amount of blood, it's left eye missing and replaced by a large mushroom. Claire had then found exactly what she was looking for then, her dad's old revolver, and immediately ushered a trembling Serah behind her, holding the weapon up towards the window. It can't possibly break the door down, it's pure glass and—

Serah shrieked behind her as several pieces of glass came flying their way, managing to nick Claire on the cheek but incredibly missing Serah. The infected was making gurgled, warbled sounds, blood oozing from its mouth and remaining eye, and crawling towards them at the fast pace from before. The hand holding the gun shook, Claire's eyes widening, "D-Don't make me do this! Alyssa, please—!"

BANG!

Its movements stopped, however blood continued to seep from its eyes and mouth as it lay crumpled on the floor. Serah trembled behind her, trying to form sentences after just witnessing her sister actually shootsomething, until Claire turned and put her hands on her shoulders. She spoke with a calm yet urgent voice, "Serah-Serah, listen to me, we're okay, we're gonna get out of the city and get somewhere safe, okay?"

"Y-You shot her...you really shot her..."

"Serah—"

"I talked to her this morning..!"

"Serah, listen to me," the rosette cupped the younger's cheeks in her own trembling hands, "something bad is going on, and we need to get out of here. Do you understand?"

She nodded with a sniffle, "Y-Yeah."

Claire nodded to herself as well, as if trying to assure herself of the situation, and took Serah by her hand towards the front door once a loud beep startled them. Snow was parked in their driveway; Claire was a tiny bit ashamed that he knew how to drive and she lacked the information, despite being the same age. Regardless, it seemed it would finally come in handy, given the situation. As both girls rushed into the blond's slightly dented truck, Snow stuck his head out his window to ask, "Where the hell have you been? Do you have any idea of what's going on out there?"

The elder of the sisters only shook her head as she slid into the passenger seat, "I've got some idea."

"Holy shit, y-you got blood all over you..." he muttered, blue eyes growing wide. Claire glanced down towards her nightshirt and sweatpants, dots of blood splattered across the fabrics messily. She was also sure there was a bit smeared on her cheeks, but she did not reach up to feel for any. The smell of copper was enough to confirm her guesses.

"It's not mine. Let's just get out of here."

He nodded, pulling out of the driveway, "They're saying half the city lost their minds. Some kind of parasite or something," he glanced towards Claire once more, "are you gonna tell me what happened?"

The rosette muttered, "Later."

The blond sighed before turning slightly to face Serah in the backseat, a tired yet warm smile on his face, "Hey, Serah. How are ya holding up?"

"I'm okay," her timid voice replied, grateful for his smile. If there was someone else who knew how to cheer her up besides Claire, it was Snow. "Can we hear what's on the radio?"

"Sure thing." He reached for the knob to flip on the radio, but all he received was static. Every station, all static. "No cellphones, no radios...yeah, we're doing great. A second ago, the newsman wouldn't shut up."

"Did they at least say where to go?" Claire asked, attempting to ignore a flaming house and several people fleeing from the scene.

Snow rubbed the back of his neck, keeping one hand on the wheel,"They said...well, the army's putting up roadblocks on the highway. There's no getting into Eden."

The younger nodded, "Means we need to get the hell out of here. Take 71."

"That's where I'm headed."

The car slowed for a moment, police cars speeding past with sirens wailing and lights flashing, before it sped back up again. Serah glanced towards the window of the truck, trying to ignore the people running or the screams of victims on the side of the road. This will blow over soon, she figured, her hands still trembling as she fidgeted with the hem of her night shirt. "Did they say how many were dead?"

"Probably a lot." Snow replied, running a hand through his hair and mussing up his locks, "found this one family all mangled in their house—"

"Snow." Claire's cold blue eyes met his in a glance, and he left his sentence unfinished.

"Right. Sorry."

She sighed, before asking, "How the hell did all of this happen?"

"They don't have a clue. But we're not the only town. At first they thought it was something going on down in Pulse, but then they started saying Palumpolum, Vile Peaks..."

Serah's bottom quivered slightly. "Are...we sick?"Claire turned in her seat to look towards the younger Farron, trying to look calm in an attempt to assure her. "No, no. Of course not."

It almost worked. "How do you know?"

Snow piped up, "They said it was just people in the city. We're good."

"...Alright."

As they drove on, the trio found themselves at the tail end of the long string of traffic. Both Snow and Claire groaned, the bright tail lights of dozens of cars staring back at them. Cars honked, some attempted to ram into the cars in front of them to get them to move even an inch, and others simply yelled for the traffic to get a move on. Claire muttered under breath about having to turn back around and finding another way out of the city, Snow agreeing. Both were silenced suddenly when a screeching man leaped from one of the bushes, donned in a hospital gown, and attacked one of the cars in front of them. He clawed and yanked at the door, his movements twitchy and similar to the neighbors Claire had to face earlier that night, and when he finally had the door detached from its hinges, he bit down on the driver of the car. Blood spewd from his neck, and the hospital patient threw the driver onto the ground to continue feasting, blood pooling below him.

The rosette was the first to snap out of her shock, "Snow, get us out of here, now!"

"H-Holy shit!" The blond did not need any other motivation; he had the car in reverse and down another street in seconds. "What the hell was that? Did you see that?"

"I saw it," Claire could only reply with a shaky voice, "turn here."

As they rounded the corner, they found themselves in the middle of dozens of fleeing citizens, all screaming and scrambling to get away from the city. Snow slowed the car to a crawl, avoiding the people and trying to maneuver his way through the crowd. "What the hell are they running from?"

She glanced behind her towards the back window, and then back to the front. "We can't drive through them, we can't back up..."

"Hold on!" Snow suddenly yelled, and the sisters could only clutch their seats as the truck squeezed through a turned over motorhome in the middle of the street and a shop on the side of the street. It was a tight fit, but they had made it through and were not back on another side street. An intersection came up, and the last thing any of them saw was a pair of headlights to their right before the truck suddenly was flipped onto its side, glass shards flying everywhere and managing to knick Serah's face in the process. Her world was black for what seemed like a few moments before she blinked her eyes open, finding herself on her side.

She sat up, and found Claire still unconscious in her seat in front of her. Her fear spiked suddenly; she reached a hand to shake her sister's shoulder. "Sis," she tried, "Sis! Claire!"

Claire's eyes snapped open, and she sat up to face Serah for a quick once over. When she appeared fine— despite a slight scratch on the cheek— she shook her head and the pain away. Silently thanking her lucky stars for Serah's safety, she replied, "I'm fine, Serah. Get back, for a second."

She brought a foot up to kick the glass window in front of her, thankful she had brought her boots with her. Once the glass was kicked away, she crawled out first, catching a quick breath before turning towards the truck again to retrieve Serah. Her shoulders were yanked hard from behind, and before she could deliver a kick to her attacker on instinct, a loud crunch was heard from behind and a body fell to the floor. Breathing hard, the rosette looked towards Snow, who held a bloodied baseball bat in one hand. He nodded towards her attacker, and she glanced towards another mushroomed face before saying her thanks quickly.

"Claire?" Serah called, worry laced in her sister's name.

The elder squatted down to her level, reaching a hand out, "Serah, I'm here. Give me your hand, honey." As the younger rosette stumbled out of the truck, a sharp pain ran up her leg from her ankle. Claire caught her in time as she nearly fell over, "What's wrong?"

"M-My leg hurts," she squeaked, holding onto her sister.

"How bad?"

"P-Pretty bad."

Snow glanced towards the crowd ahead of them, "We're gonna need to run."

"Shit," Claire cursed under her breath as she pulled her father's pistol from the back pocket of her sweats and tossed it to the blond. As she bent to pick Serah up bridal-style, she met eyes with Snow for a brief moment, "keep us safe, you hear me?"

He nodded, flashing a reassuring smile before they took off into the crowd. The screams were even worse up close like this, and the people they passed were covered in splatters of blood. Claire figured they looked no different: her rose hair was matted with dry blood, her face and clothes caked with dirt and blood, and she was sure her shoulders had bruises from how hard her attacker yanked at her from earlier. "Hold on tight, Serah."

"Okay..." her shaky voice replied. Claire inwardly winced at her tiny she sounded, cursing herself for not waking up from the crash earlier. If she had came to first, then perhaps she could have gotten Serah out in time to get away safely. "Claire, I'm scared."

"I know, just-just don't look. Close your eyes."

Snow had been ahead of them by a few feet, pistol in hand as he showed them where to go and got them through the tight streets. The people around them were screaming, running and stumbling from whatever was within the city, and the rosette could only imagine what was scaring all of these people off. The only thing running through her mind was to protect Serah and to get away from the city, so she focused on her goal and blocked out the still bodies on the side of the street and the pools of blood her boots splashed in.

It was difficult to keep her eyes closed, and every once in a while, Serah would spare a glance towards her surroundings around her, the loud crashes and wails of people nearly driving her insane. Her hands held on tight to her sister's shirt, trying to focus on the warmth of her arms around her or the fabric of her shirt, anything to distract her from the nightmare around them. She heard Snow yell something to Claire, and from behind them, she could hear fast but clumsy footsteps gaining on them. Snow led them into a building that used to be a bar, and as he attempted to shut the door, four bloody, mushroomed hands began clawing at the inside of the door.

"Go! Get out of here!" his blue eyes looked frantic but held a stubbornness to them. He was not going to let them stay and help him whether they wanted to or not. "You got Serah, go! I can outrun 'em!"

"Snow?" Serah's eyes grew big and her bottom lip quivered.

As much as she hated how much time he spent with Serah, or how annoyingly optimistic he was in class, or how he seemed to never think things through (such as now), Claire felt something tug at her saying that she could not leave him behind. "Snow, I can help, just let me—"

"Claire, I mean it, dammit!" he cut her off as he pushed the door with brute force, "go!"

With the intensity in his crystal eyes, Claire had to leave. As she turned on her heel and dashed for the back door, she threw a look over her shoulder, "I'll come back for you."

As she pushed the door open with her back, the rosette could hear the tears in Serah's voice, "Sis, we can't leave him!"

I know we can't,she thought. "H-He'll be fine. He's too stubborn to die."

Her feet felt sore and her arms were beginning to grow tired, but she pushed herself forward with her adrenaline and pure drive to protect her only remaining family. The patio she found herself on was empty, and a bright search light lay ahead in the near distance; her legs steered themselves towards what seemed to be the safest area. The slope leading down towards the searchlight and a large fence was easy enough, but Claire nearly froze when she heard footsteps nearing behind her at an alarming speed. Both girls winced as two bullets flew past them to catch the attackers behind them, and a bright light was shined on their grimy faces.

"Hey!" a figure shouted towards them, "Stop there!"

Claire took a step backwards. "We just need help," she tried, "please. It's my sister, I think her leg's broken—"

The figure neared, and the rosette saw that it was a soldier from the Guardian Corps of Bodhum. His uniform was well suited to take any amount of damage judging from his bullet proof vest, and his face was concealed by a pair of thick goggles and mask covering his nose and mouth. He carried a large weapon with a light attached to it, and both girls felt a pang of fear at the sight of the gun raised in their direction.

"Okay, we're not...sick," her voice trembled, but she swallowed her fear, "we just need help."

"Got some civilians on the outer perimeter," he spoke into his communicator, lowering his gun.

Serah spoke up quietly, eyes never leaving the gun in the man's hands, "Claire, what about Snow?"

"We're gonna get you to safety, then I'll go back for him, okay?" she looked towards her sister and gave a reassuring smile for the first time that night.

The man paused, listening to the reply, "sir, they're just little girls."

Both Claire and Serah's throats felt like closing up. A new wave of fear ran down their spines and the elder could feel her little sister's hands tightening even more around her shoulders. Claire thought of running away right then, just taking off and sprinting, but her feet were frozen in place, her own arms tightening their hold on Serah.

The man in front of them sighed, raising his weapon once again in their direction. Serah let out a cry, and Claire took her last chance and turned on her heel to dash off in the direction of the bar. Before she could take three steps, shots were fired and Serah was out of her arms, her shoulder in an unbearable amount of pain. She landed on her back, and as she struggled to catch her breath and stand up, the bright light was in her face again, the barrel of the gun pointing down towards her. She reached a hand upwards, eyes glassy with tears, "Please, don't..!"

The soldier's finger was on the trigger, and before the teen could close her eyes to face the pain, he collapsed onto the floor by her boots. She looked towards the direction of the shot, and saw a bloodied Snow with her father's pistol in hand. He gave a smile towards Claire then, before lowering the gun slowly as his eyes trailed over her shoulder, "Oh, no..."

Claire's head whipped behind her, forgetting about the pain in her shoulder immediately and crawling towards an injured Serah. The rosette gathered Serah in her arms, her breathing coming out in short pants as the scene before her registered in her mind: Serah's stomach was spewing out blood, and the girl's hands weakly tried to stop the bleeding as she let out strangled cries and sobs of pain. The elder of the two let out a cry of her own, her voice trembling terribly as her hands shakily pressed over the wound, pushing Serah's hands out of the way.

"Serah-Serah, listen, listen, you're gonna be okay, just move your hands and let me..." Serah's cried were quiet, almost as if she could barely cry at all. Her eyes were screwed shut and she was biting her lip so hard there was a thin trail of blood running down the side of her cheek. "I know it hurts, I know, honey, but you're gonna be okay, you're gonna be fine, okay? Just look at me, look right at me."

Serah's hands weakly scrambled to clutch Claire's shirt, and the rosette reached to grab onto one of her hands as she attempted to pick her back up, "Okay, Serah, I'm gonna try to pick you up, alright? Come on, sweetie, I know it hurts, but you'll be okay, I swear, you'll be okay..."

As she glanced towards a trembling Snow, she felt the hand holding hers go limp, the entire weight on her lap suddenly heavier. Claire turned back towards her sister, the blood still flowing, however her eyes were still and glazed over, the life in them lost. A sharp pain struck her then, her breathing short and ragged as she began to sob and cry out louder. "Serah? Serah, no, don't— don't do this to me, honey, don't, please, don't leave! Serah, please, please don't leave me alone..." she touched her forehead to Serah's gently, "please, please,Serah, don't do this, don't leave me..."

"You can still rise with us. Remember, when you're lost in the darkness...look for your focus. Believe in the L'cie."

drop a review if you liked (◕‿-)