Nothing is own by me in this story. All credit towards The Last of Us goes to Naughty dog. Enjoy.
Sarah prepared for her father's birthday, she debated which card to buy. So many to choose from, she finally concluded on a T Rex card. She chuckled when reading the card. It joked about the reader not being a fossil yet. She ambles to the front counter. She gives it to the cashier, he scans it. "$1.07 please."
Sarah hands the cashier two dollars. He carelessly shoves the bills into the register and gives Sarah her change. "Thank you." She content. The cashier nods. Sarah strolls out the store and into the parking lot. She rushes to her bike and unlatches the lock.
Climbing on she rode back home. The wind blowing through her blonde hair. Nothing seemed like a problem in her little slice of heaven. She rode down through town. She cruised past the local hospital. Something was peculiar. It was quieter than usual. The lights inside were lit red, Sarah didn't mind it much, it was evening closing dusk. She needed to get home before her dad. She hurried past Louis's farm and towards the suburbs. She turned a corner and rode onto her rode.
She smiled at her little quint home. But the lingering feeling of animosity hovers her. She decided not to ponder the worry and just head inside. She parks her bike inside the garage and heads through the front door. "Dad?" She calls. But no answer. "He's working late tonight." She grumbles.
She hides the secret present for her father on a coffee table and jogged up to her room. Climbing each stair with more cheerfulness then the last. She reached the top and sauntered towards her room. Sarah creaked open the door and admired all the posters from her favorite bands and movie. She lifted her soccer ball from beside her bed, throwing it a few times in the air for a little fun. She chucked it back in its corner. She turned to her dresser and placed the birthday card down.
"I'll keep it here till he gets home." She tells herself. Sarah jumps back down the stairs and tumbles to the floor. She giggles and crashes onto the couch. She flips the T.V. on and scrolls the channels. She stops and watch's Dawn of the Wolf. Her favorite movie. She glances at the clock. "8:47." She read. She mumbled to herself, "Long night."
She passed out after a few more minutes.
Hours pass.
Joel creaks the front door open. "Tommy I can't lose this job." He murmurs silently not to wake is daughter. "Alright, alright. You take care too." He sighs. Joel collects himself and places his phone away. He nudges Sarah to wake, "Come on get up." Sarah stirs, "Hard day at work she asks. Joel nods. "You know its way past your bedtime." He cracks. Sarah is afraid, "Oh crap what time is it." She turns to the clock which read 11:50. "Its still today." She beams.
She grabs the present from off the coffee table and offers it to her father. "I don't want to do this right now." He refuses. Sarah forces the present into Joel's arms. He rolls his eyes and rips the rapping paper off. It reveals a watch case. Joel removes the lid and stares at the watch. He places the watch on his wrist and admires it. "What do you think?" Sarah asks perking. "Honey, its nice and all. But I think its stuck." Sarah wrinkles her nose.
"No, no." She pauses. "Oh ha-ha." She bust. "How did you even get this?" Joel wonders.
Sarah smiles "I sell only the finest of hardcore drugs." She cracks. Joel chuckles. The two watch T.V. till Sarah again falls asleep. When she snores, Joel lifts her and carries her to her room. He lays her under her covers and kisses her forehead. "Goodnight baby girl."
He strolls out and back down stairs.
A few hours pass, and Joel is making a drink. Pouring the rich whiskey into a glass. He swigs the drink down quick to make another. On his second, he hears a noise in the backyard. He decides to investigate. Upstairs Sarah gets a call, she wakes due to the loud ringing sound of the phone on her counter.
She yawns and picks up the phone. "Hello." She asks. "Sarah, its uncle Tommy. You have to put your dad on the phone." Tommy cry's frantically. "Uncle Tommy what's wrong?" Sarah hit. Before Tommy could answer the phone cut out. "That's weird." Sarah tells herself.
She slips out of bed and opens her door still wiping her eyes. "Dad." She calls. But has no response. She strolls towards the bathroom. Finding a newspaper. She reads a little snippet.
Fungal outbreak causes 14 counted deaths in Austin Texas.
"What the hell?" Sarah asks herself. She steps out and moves toward her dads room. "Dad are you in here." She pushes the door open and finds nothing. She saunters towards the television and watches a tad bit of the news. A women reporter is near some blocked-out area. She is explaining how a part of town is under zone control by military to control some fungal outbreak. "No." Sarah whimpers. In the background some men charge at the block.
They don't look fine. A man runs towards a soldier and snaps at his neck. He succeeds and the soldier dies. The man rips at the soldiers cloths and starts eating his flesh. Sarah cries, and then an explosion occurs on the T.V.
The explosion occurs only a few blocks away. "DAD!" Sarah becomes frantic. She rushes down stairs and towards the kitchen. Joel's phone rings. Sarah picks the phone up and reads. "Where are you, I'm on my way. Its 2:20 in the morning." She all says aloud.
She turns and her dad charges back from the yard. He looks like a mess, all tousled. He opens the liquor cabinet open and grabs his revolver. He loads it. "Sarah come here." He commands. She darts to her fathers side. "Dad what's going on?" She whimpers.
"It's Jimmy, he aint right." Joel tells. He aims the gun at the door. Where Jimmy charges. Blood flowing from his mouth and his eyes yellow and wild. He bangs the door and screeches at the top of his lungs. "Jimmy, just back away." Joel demands.
Jimmy continues to break the glass door until he finally crashes to the floor. "Jimmy stop!" Joel yells. But Jimmy stands and charges. The booming sound of two gunshots fill the house, Jimmy collapses and stops breathing. "Damn it." Joel utter. A car pulls into the front. "Tommy, come on." Joel orders. The father and daughter rush out the front door and towards the silver Jeep Tommy owns. "What the hell, you got blood all over you."
"I'm fine." Joel jaw. Joel sits his daughter in the back seat and he hopped in front. "Go." Joel instructed. Tommy backs and turns. He starts his Jeep towards the road. Cutting through the suburban streets until he made it near Louis's farm. The farm was up in flames. Billowing to the sky, the animals scattered in the valley. "I hope he made it out." Tommy busts hotly.
They continued down the road. Sarah watches the same road she biked down just last night. But it seemed so different, much more wild and dangerous. They passed a family walking down the road. "Help us please!" they begged. Joel forces Tommy to continue.
They pass over a bridge and back near the hospital. The roads are showered with cars, in back to back traffic. Some more people rush from the hospital and the woods and start attacking the people in the cars. Cracking windows with their bare hands and biting at the necks of the civilians.
Sarah covered her eyes and cry. A man began attacking Tommy's Jeep. It smacked at Sarah's window attempting to break it. Sarah squeal at the gore dripping from the man's mouth. Blood drenched his shirt and he made horrible howls. "Tommy get us the hell out of here!" Joel yell.
Tommy guns it and pulls into town. Cars overturned and some blazing a flame.
"How could this happen in a few hours." Sarah wonder. Tommy blazes down a narrow-cut road but another car ram into his side.
Sarah blacks out on impact.
Joel awakens in the wreckage. The Jeep was overturned. Glass littered the ground, people ran towards the highway. Where the government had set up a provisional safe area. Joel shook Tommy. "Get up." Joel says weak. Tommy wakes, he begins to open his door and Joel does the same. He kicks the door repeatedly till it pops off and he can skulk through. He stands and gathers his thoughts. He busts open Sarah's door and helps her out.
"Are you alright?" Joel asks. Sarah cries, "My leg hurts." He lifts her up. And hauls her, following Tommy. They push through with the people trying to escape. Some of the people saunter around, and attack. Joel watches a man be ripped apart and his insides be devoured. Joel's insides churned. "Tommy, you protect us." Joel speaks. Joel hands Tommy the revolver and Tommy takes it. He aims the gun at anyone that seems different as the group rush towards the highway.
In a back alley they see an exit away from the crowds and the crazed people. Tommy pushes the gate open and goes first. He turns a corner and fires the revolver. Joel hears a lone howl. "Is it safe?" Joel query. "Yeah, come on." Tommy instructs. They continue down the alley, passing trash bins until they reach a bar. Tommy is cautious and eyes the fence. "Shit there coming over the fence." Joel holler. They bust into the bar and Tommy slams the door behind them.
The people beat the door, Tommy almost lost control over the door but he held. "Go, you have Sarah. I can out run them." Tommy tell. Joel begin to fight, but Tommy rebut. "We will see you at the highway." Joel confirms. Joel sprint out the front door and towards the highway. He rushes through the shrubs being pursued by more of the people.
Joel nearly got bit but bullets swarm from his front.
A soldier stood alone with a rifle pointed at Joel. "Stop right there." The soldier ordered. "Look buddy we aren't sick." Joel husk. He breathed heavy, he approached the soldier. "Stop right there." The soldier snarls. Joel backs up. The soldier began radioing in. "Sir there are two civilians here, please advise… But sir there is a little girl. Yes sir." The soldier stopped his radio and aimed his rifle at Joel. "Sir, we've been through hell." Joel pleaded.
The soldier continued to aim. He pulled, and a spray of bullets blazed from the rifle. Joel fell backwards and tumbled down a hill. He dropped Sarah at the bottom and held his arm. He howled in pain. He'd been hit. Sarah wept because of her leg. The soldier ran down the hill and pointed his rifle at Joel. "Please." Joel whispered weakly. A shot fired, and Joel closed his eyes, anticipating the pain. But none came, Joel heard a heavy thud. He opened his eyes and saw the corpse of the soldier at his feet.
He turned and Tommy strut toward Joel. "Is everyone alright?" Tommy asked. "I'm pretty ok." Sarah says in a cacophony of coughs. "I'm hit." Joel mutters. He shows Tommy his arm. "Bastard." Tommy says hatefully towards the soldier. He kicks his corpse and hoists Joel up.
Joel lifts Sarah and they head towards the highway. Through a clutter of bushes, they reach the safe point. Joel sets Sarah down with Tommy. "I'll go find a doctor." Joel gab. Tommy nods and crouches next to Sarah. Joel hobbles around the zone in search of someone that could help. He finds a doctor. "Hello ma'am, can you help me?" Joel says sickish. The lady turned her attention to Joel, she wore a simple white doctors coat. Her eyes were silver and gleamed in the late moon light. She had a dark complexion. And rich maple brown hair.
Her eyes widened when she saw Joel' s bullet wound.
"Of course." She says in shock. Joel hobbled back towards Tommy and Sarah. The doctor followed. "My daughter may have a broken leg." Joel whisked. The doctor snapped, and few assistants came to help. Some assistants began to examine Sarah's leg, the doctor tended to Joel's bullet wound. "How did all this happen?" The doctor wondered. Joel decided to beat around the bush. "Crazed people, shooting wackily and my daughter fell on out way here.
An assistant strolled to Joel "Your daughters leg is not broken, just merely sprained. It will fix in few days." The assistant explained. Joel nod. "And whom is that?" The doctor asked Joel. Pointing to Tommy. "He's my brother." Joel silently sneers. It isn't much of her business.
Once Joel was tended to and his wound sewn the doctor showed him to the sleeping area. Joel checked his watch, he took pride in the wrist watch Sarah gave him for his birthday. It read as 3:47 a.m. Joel decided he'd get a few hours of much needed sleep.