Photuris
It started as rumour, a whispering of those that came for trading, a word here and there. Words that passed like air, too shy and fearful to take life, but there, goddammit, there.
The world toke a breath and held it, the air grew quiet, hope and fear choking the words in all the throats, and then the rumour grew and became a clamor.
The light shined once again, the path out of darkness was illuminated by Fireflies.
panic, fear, to quickly, the change. Cries, hope, is real?, is not?, lies, surely, the light was almost gone, but no, didn't you hear?, what?, they did a demonstration, she didn't turn, the leader, cries, happiness, hope, hope, hope, our baby has a future my love, we have a future, don't cry, this are happy tears Tom
what to do?, we just survived, we just wanted to live, but we won, humans won, it doesn't matter, we all did things we aren't proud off
OUR leader has the vaccine, our leader?, of course we Fireflies have the vaccine, yes yes, our leader, our cause, we Fireflies shine in the dark
The first cures will be for the Fireflies. Join us.
We will join, we will, please, let's us join.
-Join¡, what bullshit¡, they just wanted followers, do they really have the vaccine?, I say that even if they do, it seems suspicious they were nearly wiped out and then a cure appears-
-And didn't you heard?, It seems they are selling the vaccine to the richest, we people that have lost everything cannot afford that sum of money, as always the movement is on the higher spheres.-
-I always said that they were just vandals...They killed my...-
Listen to me¡, they are no longer loyal to the cause, they have become toxic to the cause, I was a member and I could see all the dirt, all the maggots that festered in the cause that they were killing, now they want us to sell our souls for the vaccine, and let me tell you something about ''hey'' ''shh, don't talk so loud, what do you want?'' ''what is the Fireflies cause?'' ''*shrug* global peace or some crap like that'' a little kid, one of our most vulnerable ones, got tricked so they could open her head and kill her without pity just thinking in their own interests, monsters just like the infected, like the hunters that for so long have flagellated our society. May you forgive my sincerity but I can't let our society be rebuild in the corpses of others, much less a CHILD¡.
Now, if that wasn't enough, I have prove that they are contacting other countries, I say that they need to come out and say the truth. Don't We All Want That?¡''WE WANT THE TRUTH¡'' We will make another group, one that hasn't been tarnished by the Fireflies, a fair one, a humble one, the group of people, the Night-birds who preys on those spineless beetles ''don't birds get poisoned by fireflies?'' ''shhhhhh'' We will reclaim the control of our destinies¡ ''YESYESYES¡''
The woman in front of the group let her hand slowly fall away from the weapon, ''Nice place you have here, Tom''
The familiarity of the expression just pissed him off , ''If you don't get the fuck out of here Marlene we will start shooting'', he said while many of his men aimed their weapons on their places above the wall.
Her men aimed too and she looked at them and ordered them to lower the guns, ''I just need a place to rest, one of my men got shot'', she said, waving a hand towards the man sitting on the ground with bloody pants.
''I don't care, get the fuck out of here'', he shoved his weapon forward, threatening.
She stood her ground, never wavering, ''We will give you vaccines if you let us in''.
''Bullshit''
She sighed tiredly, the shadows in the eyes of the men were prove enough of their hardships, ''I know you're a good man we just need to treat him, and then we will go''
''…...''
''5 minutes, I can tell you about your brother'' She said letting go of her last card, if this didn't convince him nothing would.
''…...'' But there it was a waver in his eyes that his wife knew how to read ''Tom'' He put a hand towards her and lowered a little his gun, wary still.
''Wait here Maria'', he said to his wife and then with a louder voice to his men, ''more than five minutes and start shooting''
...
He was silent, quietly contemplating the clouds. They moved, just like they had moved when he was a child, like they had moved when humankind first saw the skies. Nature just didn't stop, did it? It wouldn't stop till all its energies were absorbed in a ball of fire. Stubborn, just like the other idiot who just didn't know when to stop, he though with a sad smirk.
The person in front of him moved, apparently tired of being ignored. As if he cared.
He knew, even before Marlene had told him anything he knew it. He knew the destiny of the kid, so he knew.
He had know it since last time, as he saw them both on one horse smiling a little with something light in their eyes, that his brother would die for that child, he had hoped it wouldn't come to that, but he knew hope alone didn't stop death.
He knew.
And that knowledge didn't stop him from feeling a little part of himself dying when Marlene said
'He shot himself'
...
He was preparing for a night of nightmares when thunder broke the peace of the night and the dark let the light pass illuminating their startled faces.
He toke his weapons and ran out of his house stopping only to quickly look at the crying baby in the arms of his wife. There was no time. He heard the raised voices and he couldn't believe the screamed words.
don't think, don't think, just run, run run, I must defend them
Hearing the panicked cries of his men he realized that it was a lost war, all of this. The infected were an all consuming plague with the ferocity of a rabid beast. Humans could create a vaccine against the infection.
But there wasn't a vaccine that prevented humans from becoming monsters.
-¿Did you heard what happened in Jackson County?-
-No, ¿what happened?-
-It seems they got in the crossfire between the birds and the beetles. The birds thought they were housing the higher beetles, bombed the walls and poured the infected through the holes.-
-¿They used infected?¡-
-Yes, they bought containment full of the bastards, runners, clickers, bloaters, by the hundreds. It was a massacre, no one got out alive.-
-...Hmmmm, ¿And how did they catch the infected in a containment?-
-…..How can I know?¡, some guys were talking about it and I heard it. Now shut you damn mouth, a car is coming and I want new toys today.-
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Photuris is a firefly that uses aggressive mimicry to eat other fireflies.
I Don't Own The Last Us.
I write this out of too much thinking on the game and my wish to practice more my english writing. Thank you for reading.