Damon was gone. What do I do now? The dog, a long hair, black-and-white collie mix, was breathing heavily, standing in the damp grass, trying to comprehend the last few minutes. Those nasty-smelling things were still roaming about. He looked back and saw Damon's body. Those things had killed him, as they tried to run away. Why didn't I stay with him? The collie mix tortured himself with that question. He was a much faster runner, but tried to stay close to his best friend. All it took was a stumble and those things swarmed Damon. He looked back, heard a sickening gurgle, then Damon was gone. Three of the things lunged after him, but he easily sprinted away into the nearby overgrown park. His pursuers wandered and jerked aimlessly, then left to look for others. Seconds later, he was alone.

He listened carefully, and couldn't hear anything but the fading sickening moans and shrieks of those things. His ultrakeen nose couldn't smell any living people, either. Not caring that it might attract more of those things, the collie mix whimpered for his companion, his best friend. They had been traveling since Damon found him as a puppy, going to someplace called "Boston", where Damon said we'd be safe.

Confused and lonely, the collie mix lay down in the tall grass where he could still see Damon. Putting his head on his paws, he went to sleep.

Joel and Ellie walked in silence along the road outside of Pittsburgh. Both were still numb from what happened to Henry and Sam.

They were walking through a residential area in a town called Aliquippa. Joel saw something, stopped and held up his hand. Ellie stopped and they both crouched behind a rusted-out car. Ellie saw what Joel had seen. There was a fresh body just ahead, close to the road. Beyond it, the road curved to the left and what had been a city park, now overgrown, was straight ahead.

"Infected." Joel whispered. "Looks like they've been here recent." They had left the radio tower the morning after they buried Henry and Sam. Ellie and Joel silently scanned the neighborhood and listened intently for several minutes.

"Anything?" Joel asked.

"Nothing," Ellie replied. "Do you think it's safe to go through?"

"Let's give it a shot. "

They crept behind the cars, passing the body by the road. As they approached the park, they both stopped again to look and listen.

Even though he was sleeping, the collie mix heard the two coming down the street, awoke quickly and went on full alert. Sniffing quietly, he quickly determined they were people and not those things. Not that people were much better. Damon and he had to run and hide a few times when bad people went after them. His senses told him these people weren't like the bad ones, but he was still cautious. Their smell also had a hint of - sadness? Nevertheless, he flattened himself and tried to hide in the grass.

"Joel - what's that?"

"Where?"

"Just ahead, in the tall grass."

They saw patches of black and white in the tall grass. Ellie crept up behind another car closer to the park.

"Ellie - be careful!" Joel whispered.

Without turning, she gave him a thumbs-up. She was close enough to see the ears and outline of a muzzle.

"Joel," she turned and whispered. "it's a dog."

"Might be wild. Best we give it a wide berth."

Ellie paused for a second, torn between what she knew was the right thing and her want to see if it was friendly.

Giving Joel a nod, she crept back to him. They both angled away from the park, behind some piles of debris and went further down the road.

The collie mix knew he'd been spotted as he saw the girl approach. Tensing up to run, just in case, he watched carefully. The girl, still trying to hide, came closer to him while the man stayed a few feet back. He learned early in life to trust in his nose. Those things had an awful smell - a smell of death and uncontrollable violence. A breeze, almost unnoticeable, blew the man's scent toward him. He sniffed - it was a rich and sweet smell of a person. He shifted his smell to the girl, who was closer. He could detect a little of that awful scent of those things on the girl, but only a tiny bit. His impression of her was that she had a tiny bit of what made those things so awful inside of her, but she had killed them and it would not harm her or make her into one of those things. The scent, her scent and the man's scent, was deep and rich inside his nose. They were the smells of people who were kind and gentle toward dogs - like his Damon.

The girl started to move away. Somewhere, deep down inside, in the thousands of years that people and dogs and been together, his instincts told the collie mix these people were okay and that if he wanted to approach them, they would not hurt him. He stood up and walked out of the grass toward them, about ten feet away. He stopped and watched them. Slowly, he wagged his tail and waited for them to make the next move.

"Joel!" Ellie whispered. "Look!"

Joel saw a black-and white, medium-to-large sized dog standing close to them. His long tail wagged slowly. Joel and Ellie knelt down together.

"Hey," Ellie said softly, "we won't hurt you."

"It's okay," Joel said, extending his arm, palm down.

The collie mix paused a second, then walked to Joel's outstretched arm. By then, Ellie put out her arm, too. He sniffed both deeply and again took in the rich, warm smell of two people like his Damon. He walked a few steps closer and the man and the girl stroked his head gently. It was a feeling that, although Damon had petted him just a few hours ago, he felt like he missed for a long time. He sat down, luxuriating in the feeling as both petted him in long, gentle strokes.

"Aren't you a pretty dog?" Joel said softly. He was a pretty dog. Before the world went mad, dog people would say he was a mix of collie, border collie and Australian shepherd.

"Can we keep him?" Ellie said, "I mean, can he go with us?"

"Don't see why not." Joel said. "Might be good to have a dog around."

"What should we call him - or her?" Ellie said.

Joel bent over to look under the dog, who by now was standing up again. Ellie giggled.

"This is a boy dog." Joel proudly announced. "If I remember my dog parts right."

That caused another giggle from Ellie. "Do you have a name in mind?" Joel asked.

"Well," Ellie said, "he was kind of there, just sort of magically appearing. Do you want to call him 'Ghost'?"

"Sounds good." Joel said. "Does that sound good to you, Ghost?" He said, talking to the dog.

"Ghost," Ellie said, petting him. "Do you want to be Ghost?" she said emphasizing the name.

The collie mix understood that this was what these people were going to call him, much like Damon called him 'Shep'. He learned quickly that when Damon said 'Shep' he would pay attention. Now, when these two said 'Ghost', he'd pay attention as well. Not that it mattered what they called him, Ghost was just overjoyed to be with people again.

Joel and Ellie stood up. Ghost's blue eyes glanced between one and the other, looking expectantly.

"Come with us?" Ellie said, patting her leg as she and Joel and walked down the street.

Ghost cocked his head for a second then broke in a trot, tail wagging, He caught up with them and happily matched their pace as they came to the end of the neighborhood. Ghost looked back one last time at Damon's body and sadly remembered their time together. He would never forget him, even as he had two new companions and two new best friends.

a/n: One year ago today, I lost my awesome dog, Ghost. That's his picture I used for the story's avatar/icon. Since The Last of Us has piqued my interest in fan fiction, I thought it would be nice to include him as a character in Joel & Ellie's journey. Ghost has a good story, too. Thanksgiving Day, in 2002, my friend and I were going to meet my mother and my brother for Thanksgiving dinner. We crossed a bridge over the Atchafalaya River on Highway 1 here in Louisiana. At the top, huddled next to the rail, was a black and white dog. As we passed, we saw his head move. As soon as we crossed the bridge and could pull off, we did and ran up the bridge. He looked like he'd been hit by a car, but we didn't know how badly he was hurt. Fortune was with us that day, as a couple of other people saw him too and came to help. One directed the traffic to one lane, away from the dog, and the other had a truck that he backed up to where we were. Even though he'd been through a horrific experience, not once did the dog turn aggressive or try to bite when we helped him, even as I picked him up and put him in the truck. Again, fortune was with us as the fellow in the truck knew of a veterinarian only a mile or so away that had his clinic at his house. The vet was nice as could be, taking us (and the dog - who you might have guessed by now - was Ghost) in. The vet determined nothing was broken, but there were several deep cuts that he treated. All through this, Ghost was the kindest, most gentle dog I'd ever seen. Ghost stayed at the vet for a few days, and the vet asked around if anybody lost a dog. Nobody claimed him, so Ghost went home with me. Like Ghost in the story, his regular vet said he was most likely a border collie/Australian shepherd mix, with a little bit of regular collie thrown in. I had him for almost ten more years. He was such a sweet, loving dog and I miss him every day. I just hope I do him right by this story. Thanks everyone, so much, for taking the time to read and, if you are so inclined, comment.