The Damned Enchained
By Fifth
Disclaimer: I don't own anything by the Dogs of Naughtiness except for my own characters.
A/N - I've been meaning to write this fanfiction for some time. You know, it's interesting. As I get older, sitting down to write something has become more of a luxury than a pleasure. The magic in creating a story-life concentrated-out of thin air has lost its charm, and I attribute that to changes I've endured in my early college years. And now I find myself with more time once again, but with different stresses pulling me out of focus. Writing is my attempt to regain that focus. Coming back to this habit has been rough, but those little rushes of complete serenity are still there, if faint.
I loved this game. In my experience as a game enthusiast, I've always wanted to see a game that could uphold the storytelling principles seen in TV and screenplays. The Last of Us was that game, if imperfect in many other respects. It was, in my opinion, better than all the post-apocalyptic stuff that came out that year, followed only by Telltale's The Walking Dead.
This story is a sequel. It's going to be Ellie-and-company centric and not going to focus on Joel as much. I was inspired by that concept art of TLoU 2 drawn by Marek Okon: a somber picture of an older Ellie, strumming a guitar with armored soldiers closing in through the mist. This story is part discovery. As you read, you're discovering the characters as I discover them. Also, I'm reflecting on some of the deeper lessons I learned in college as an isolated kid who had to face disillusionment with society. I want to take on writing full-time and this is going to be practice.
People often say that their passions slip away as life goes forward. I'm going to adhere to a piece of advice given to Ellie by her friend, and first love: We fight for every second we get to spend with each other. It goes for passions as well as people. And I'm here to fight for my passions.
Anyway, enough boring you with my soliloquizing. Take a gander at this tale, and let me show you what a sequel could look like.
Chapter 1: The Straggler
"It's not enough just to get by."
- Connor
The Woods, Jackson
The arrow flew right through the can and into the tree, nudging itself between breaks in the bark.
"Ooh yeah! Right on point. Look at that!" she exclaimed, pumping a fist into the air. "Right in that swishy circle."
Connor had his arms crossed, but she could tell he was squinting at the target, his mouth curved upwards as to be impressed. The arrowhead ripped a hole right into the Pepsi logo. From thirty yards it wasn't too bad.
"Is that you denying your surprise?" Ellie asked. "Or are you just having trouble seeing that target from this far away?"
"Yep, this is me getting my ass handed to me by a girl," he nodded. "I'm still processing it."
"Well, now we know if there are any runners about, it'll be me saving you."
He rolled his eyes as they began walking towards the soda can. Birds could be heard echoing their chirps through the forest, cutting through the background static caused by the nearby river. It was always eerily quiet in the forest. Ellie used to romanticize it all but after spending several years walking the area outside her home in Jackson, she concluded that nature could be a bitch sometimes. Couldn't always predict when something bad would turn up, and nature wasn't the type to grant any favors.
"Fine with me. I've always wanted to be rescued by a dashing hero," Connor told her, his gaze lightly hovering on her. "I guess a cute little tomboy will have to do."
She shoved him. "Who are you calling tomboy? I do girlie stuff too."
He chuckled. "Do you?"
"Yeah. Name some girlie stuff. I probably do it."
"You gossip."
Ellie gasped and shoved him again. "I do not. That's so typical. And fucking sexist, by the way."
"You certainly enjoy talking it up, though."
They came closer to the tree stump that the can had been sitting on.
He snapped, coming up with a different answer. "You dance."
"Yeah, sure. You've never seen me dance."
Images of Riley flashed through her head. It was a memory she hadn't recalled in awhile. The thought seemed so far away, like a bad dream from a different life. She supposed that's what happened to people when things changed. The things you remember don't quite have the same potency as they used to. But she never forgot, and that was all that mattered. Ellie was living for many others whose lives were trimmed too soon.
"Ah, key word—never seen. You secretly dance when you're bored. You don't think you're good enough yet so you do it in front of the mirror."
"Wrong…"
Ellie went up to the massive tree trunk that had fallen over, yanking the arrow that had been buried into the musty, dry wood.
"…I dance in the living room when Joel isn't home," she corrected. "It is you who dances in front of the mirror."
He shook his head. "Wrong."
She removed the rusty can they'd found by the side of the road and examined the practice arrowhead, making sure it hadn't been ruined. They began walking back to their horses, nestled in the shade and out of sight. Nightfall was but a few hours away, judging by the orange rays penetrating the trees and the thinness of the air. It was getting colder.
"I used to dance in front of the mirror."
"Is this one of those 'back in the Commonwealth' things?" she asked.
Connor's mouth went sideways. "Ah, yeah. The Commonwealth."
There was a pause in their rhythm. She understood too well that there are some things that people couldn't speak about.
"Oh," was all she could muster in the moment.
Ellie hadn't known Connor very long. Apparently, he had been on the outer skirts of the Jackson settlement for about a year now. The town had grown from twenty families to nearly a hundred as communities were established and districts were drawn. He moved here with his younger cousin from California. Since he had been a scavenger back home, it made sense to join up with the rangers, who patrolled the woodlands and the national park territories. This particular quarter had been nice since they were paired together. He was entertaining to be around, to say the least. And he was pretty handsome at that.
"I suppose you vaguely pass for a girlie girl," he said, changing the subject.
"Yeah?"
They were going to pack up and continue waiting for the rangers-in-training, who were off running drills with Carlton, one of the older guys. Connor's cousin was in that group.
"The rest is easy. You brush your hair, put on makeup better than most girls I've met, wear clothes that are body-conscious…"
It wasn't really the most romantic thing ever said, but she was exhausted of the whole tomboy shtick that stuck with her ever since people found out she ran with Joel. Ellie wasn't used to being hit on by guys, not since military school. It seemed different somehow. Maybe because she was older? She played along just fine, but really, she didn't know how to properly react.
"And the rest of it is in the step."
"The step?"
"You walk like everyone's watching you, but you're the only one there."
How was she honestly supposed to react to that?
"You make me sound like a rampant narcissist."
She looked at him and saw the gleam in his eyes, but the moment was cut short.
"Ahoy!"
The husky, booming voice came from across the dirt road, accompanied by light chatter that was enough to disturb clickers from a hundred yards away. Thankfully, the ground here was well trodden and they weren't doing any serious work today. Ellie brushed away some of her hair and greeted Carlton with a wave.
"Back already?" Connor shouted to Carlton, checking his watch. "Thought you weren't done beating these young'uns into shape!"
"Ah, so young, and so strongly shaped by the wretched uncivilized beasts who came before you," Carlton said, stroking his beard thoughtfully. "Violence initiated is violence deferred, young Padawan."
"Pada-what? Is that something you use for your boat?" Connor asked.
"That's a paddle," Ellie said.
"That's it. I'm fucking offended."
They both shared a laugh. As the rest of the rangers came together, Carlton removed his hat and took some time to stretch. He was a lot like a company commander, and had lived in Jackson since the beginning; a middle-aged, hearty man with a contagious laugh and enough patience to soften the most stubborn of folk. There was a hidden wisdom in his ways somewhere that Ellie had trouble deciphering. Maybe it was because he was just old and it seemed like he was wiser than most people she knew.
"You two are as deprived as can be," the older man said.
She took a look at the recruits. "Lot of hiking today, huh?"
They were mostly young, the youngest being sixteen and the oldest being around twenty-two, just around her age (it was Connor's cousin). Joel selected them to lead the recruits alongside the older folk. Something about leading them and bonding and whatnot—the Joelisms escaped her at the moment. He was a completely different man than whom she originally came to know. The man she knew now might have been Sarah's father, the one who drew compassion from his bonds, able to love openly from his heart. He was probably going over some of the construction plans back at the house with Rachel, his wife.
"Tired, guys?"
The majority of them nodded.
"So when we gonna head home? I'm cold as a motherfucker," Reid said, shivering in his jacket.
"Ah, please folks! The best part is here," Carlton said. "We're going to be wrapping this up with some target practice."
He then glanced at his watch.
"Now, if only Renard would get his ass back in time, he could show you guys how to shoot."
Ellie looked at Connor.
"Your cousin is a shooter, too? Why didn't you say so?"
He grunted impatiently. "Where the hell is this guy? I told him not to screw around. Of all days, too. For fucks sakes."
She nudged him with her shoulder. "Don't worry about it. You should've seen me back in my day. I was the biggest screw-arounder."
"Mmm," he murmured off-handedly.
Ellie wondered why, since it was uncharacteristic of Connor to be so openly stressed out at the thought of his cousin being alone on his own. The kid was around the same age as her, too, so why would it be so bad for him to be alone? She didn't want to ask since it would be a little too intrusive for her tastes.
The students took a break and rested for a minute, but that minute soon turned into five, which turned into ten. The air was getting cold and the sun had nearly gone past the trees. Some of them were firing at makeshift targets, going on ahead without Connor's cousin. It pained her to watch Carlton slowly turn from nervous to worried.
But after the fifteenth minute passed, a faint sound of crunching branches brought together everyone's attention. Through the brush emerged a young man, relatively average in stature with a stockier build than the rest. Renard Silva was certainly built to be a soldier, but hardly moved like one. Instead, he moved with grace, barely making any sound as he approached them with five dead creatures in tow: two rabbits, a squirrel, and two pheasants.
"Pheasants!" Ellie nearly shouted, excited. Anything rare harvested from a hunt was exciting. Better than the usual, at least.
Renard gave her a muted smirk as he came up to his group, handing over the animals.
"Oh, there you are, young master," Carlton greeted. "Hey, I was starting to think you were eaten by bears or something, kid."
"Glad to disappoint you," he shrugged. "This is for everyone else. Sorry I took so long."
One of the girls, Priscilla, squatted down to inspect the animals. "Wow…you hunted all these by yourself?"
"Damn, that's awesome, dude!" Reid chimed in.
He then glanced over to Connor, who had already approached him while Ellie fawned over his harvest.
"Where the hell have you been, Ren?" Connor asked.
Renard blinked. He pinged the vibes off the group, feeling their reactions to the pointed question. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, why did you break off from the group? You could have seriously been hurt."
"But I'm not."
It only made Connor angrier. "That's not the point, man. I promised to look out for you. You don't have any experience outside those walls, so I expect you to have a little common sense and not be a complete idiot."
Ellie tilted her head a bit. Dude looked like he was doing just fine for some kid who apparently has never been outside before. She could relate.
"Connor…"
"Hold on, Ellie," he waved a hand at her. "Look, all it takes is just one fuckup, and you're done, alright?"
Renard's eyebrows furrowed as he stared off elsewhere, divorcing his emotions from the situation. His lips trembled in a flash of anger and he nodded at Carlton.
"Enjoy it," he said, referring to the hunt. "I'm going back home."
"W-wait. We're still going to camp out here. You don't want to learn how to start a fire or anything?" the ranger leader asked. "We're also going to cook these."
He shook his head. "I'm not hungry anymore."
"Ren, don't be stupid," Connor said. "It's getting dark soon."
No reply. The hunter turned around and walked off. The group was silent. Ellie glared at Connor with expectation, somewhat annoyed with the fact that he seemed to be surprised with his own behavior. Kind of reminded her of Joel's overprotectiveness. However, it wasn't going to help if Renard was just going to get lost.
"What's wrong with that guy? Oversensitive or something?" Reid muttered.
They'd been following him for more than forty minutes now.
Connor was quick to regret his actions. That was so stupid, he thought to himself. Why on earth did Renard wander off like that? If his cousin hadn't done that then he wouldn't have gone into a fit like that. As Connor moved along the path in the woods with Ellie at his side, flashlights beaming through the trees, he thought about their decision to leave the Commonwealth, as well as the promise he'd made to Renard's mom after she died. Renard was all the family he had left in this world.
"It's okay," Ellie said. "You got angry. He'll get over it."
He'd forgotten that she was still traveling with him. The chatter between them had halted for five minutes now, a brief interlude that seemed an eternity. Connor quickly composed himself.
"Oh, yeah. I know. He's…"
They continued down the dark path.
"He's just different."
Ellie looked down at her feet. "Why?"
"Things work differently in the Commonwealth," Connor said. "He lived a sheltered life."
He didn't want to tell her too much. It was a place he would have rather just left behind in the past. That was the way Connor preferred to go about his life. It was the sole reason why they were able to leave.
"What's it like?" she asked.
Connor sighed and shook his head. "It's a terrible place. I thought I knew a lot about it, but I really don't."
They were approaching a fork in the road, signifying that they'd been walking for a couple of miles. Even though they were armed, it was still highly dangerous for them to walk in the night like this. Looking up at the sky, he could still see faded remnants of sunlight sloped to the west. It was about to be pitch black soon.
"All you need to know about it is that it's a really shitty place, ran by shitty people. That's why we left."
"I lived in Boston," Ellie said.
"I heard about places like that," he acknowledged. "Must have been hard."
He could see that she was in the middle of dwelling on a painful memory. "It was. But you do what you have to to survive."
"I don't believe that. If you wanted to survive, you'd still be living on government rations. It's not enough just to get by."
Those words hung in the air for a lengthy beat.
"He's probably back in town by now," Ellie said.
But before Connor could respond, she gasped.
"Hey, look."
She pointed her flashlight to the side of the path and noted small tracks. They could have easily been mistaken for deer, but upon closer inspection, it was far more shocking than that.
"What…?'
It was about six, eight inches long. A human foot, the size of a child's. Ellie's eyes widened with surprise.
"Tracks."
"They're fresh," she replied. "There's a kid wandering around here."
The thought sent chills down his spine. "Could be infected."
Ellie was a bit taken aback by the remark.
"We gotta follow them."
"But what about Ren?"
She took a moment to think about it. "I think he'll be okay. He's heading back into town."
"Ellie, what if these tracks turn up nothing?"
Their flashlights highlighted the long, solitary tracks that continued down the right path among the several other tracks left behind by older folk. In truth, Renard could have gone anywhere, but the town was in the opposite direction of where the child's tracks were going.
"There's a kid out there, Connor."
"I don't want you going out there and finding out that this kid is infected."
She seemed undeterred, which was awfully strange. Was this girl really foolish enough to risk being infected for this lead that could end up being cold?
"Then come with me," she suggested. They were better off together anyway.
Connor took a long breath.
"Fuck. Alright. Let's go, but we're going to find Renard after this, okay?"
Ellie nodded. "I swear."
As they took a seemingly fateful left turn, he reached into his backpack for his ranger-issued pistol, an old 9mm handgun that chambered fifteen rounds. The thing was so old he wasn't even sure it fired correctly anymore. Connor preferred revolvers though, just because they wouldn't jam, but this was better than nothing.
"You think the kid's from town?"
She shook her head, readying her pistol as well. "Not sure. The tracks just appear from the woods, from the west, too."
"Great. Two fools wandering on their own in the darkest shit ever with no clear direction where they're going."
"You talking about them or us?" she asked jokingly.
Connor cracked a smirk.
"See? It's better to smile isn't it? Now stop being such a Private Pessimistic and let's move faster."
"Right away, sir."
After following the tracks for a few minutes, Connor noticed a secondary, more pronounced trail that seemed to curve from one side of the road to the other. It was evident that two of the footprints eventually converged, one adult and one child. He held an arm out to halt Ellie for a second.
"See that?"
She bent over and inspected the footprint. "Recent."
He noticed the freshness of the print, the way it crushed the damp pine needles and bark, and tried to pinpoint a time. Was it an hour ago? Forty minutes? Connor looked up ahead, following the direction of the tracks as they disappeared into the forest. He noticed something flickering from between the trees.
"Lights off," he said, clicking off his flashlight.
Ellie was still fixated on the prints. He nudged her.
"Look."
She flipped the switch on her light hanging from her shoulder strap and peered into the direction he was pointing at. The light was concealed between the tree trunks, but those reflections were unmistakable. A campfire. It was going to be close to impossible to get there without startling anyone. They kept their footsteps firmly planted as they stalked the campsite, weapons gripped in their palms. The light grew more intense as they snuck past the trees. A soft chill tickled the back of Connor's neck. His breathing slowed, nearly stopped.
The campfire was too large. If anyone were trying to keep warm without alerting nearby travelers, they were failing at doing so. He noticed a small figure with its back turned, sitting down on a broken stump holding hands out to the flames.
They looked at each other. Ellie's eyes questioned whether they should approach or not, but Connor had already decided. He was wrong. This was a survivor, stranded out in the wilderness, vulnerable to the elements and infected. Whatever hunch she'd had earlier was justified.
He stood up and turned on his light, his foot crushing some dead pinecones that had fallen from the trees. The boy turned around and faced the blinding light that suddenly appeared, stunting his movement entirely. His eyes were wide and petrified, his skin dark and oily, with not much more than a t-shirt and shorts to help him brave the cold night. He was awfully skinny, a baby fawn lost in the dark woods.
"Hold it, kid," Connor assuaged. "We're not going to hurt you."
Ellie was surprised by his riskiness. She flipped on her light, as well, and stepped out into the opening with him. No tents, no bed sheets.
"What are you doing out here?" she asked.
The boy's breath hastened, cortisol flushing his system. Fight or flight. He looked too malnourished for the former. It didn't look like the kid was going to talk anytime soon.
Before they could act, a small rock knocked against one of the trees to their left, causing all of them to startle. Connor aimed his gun into the shadows while Ellie tried to get her light fixated on the culprit. This had completely worked against them, however, since they'd fallen into a cheap trap.
A pistol hammer clicked from the left and a familiar voice commanded, "Don't move."
Connor's spine froze solid. He held both his hands in the air, his pistol hanging from his finger and resting in his palm. Ellie followed suit after cursing herself.
They expected him to force them to drop their guns, but were only met with genuine surprise.
"Connor? What are you guys doing out here?"
The both of them turned to face their prowler.
"Did you follow me?" Renard asked, putting his gun away.
Ellie scoffed and put her hands down. "Holy fuck. Don't scare us like that!"
"You guys just about made me shit my pants too."
Connor thanked the stars and put his gun back into its holster. "Where did you get that gun?"
His cousin looked down at the rusty semiauto and nodded in the direction of the emaciated child. "He had it."
"The safety's on, you know."
"I…I knew it was you," Renard replied self-consciously, unclicking the safety. "I'm glad you're okay too."
Ellie chuckled at his last statement, face-saving as it was. "What are you guys doing out here? I thought you were back in town already."
His cousin shrugged as they closed in on the campfire. "I came this way and noticed some tracks. Kind of reminded me of looking for blacktail back home."
Renard slung his bow off his shoulder and grasped for a small Ziploc bag full of berries in one of his jacket pockets. He must have been scavenging for a bit.
"Do you have any food?" he asked them, kneeling down to meet the child eye-to-eye. "The only thing I could've shot, I spooked."
He handed the boy the bag and patted him on the head. The kid was shy, but seemed to trust him enough. Ellie joined them and searched her backpack for any food she may have had on her. Connor circled around to the other side of the campfire and observed the child. There was something that rubbed him the wrong way. Maybe it was the way the child's hair was frizzled, like it had just been left to grow.
"I've got some protein rations," he told his cousin. "But we should get back and find out what happened to this kid."
"Not after he's eaten."
"It's getting dark," he told them, taking out some chocolate protein bars that were made back in town. "Where is he from?"
No answer.
"Hey, kid," Connor persisted, provoking a glare from his younger cousin. "Where did you come from?"
He looked at the child's wrist and noticed a faded tattoo.
"Connor, can we just…"
"Let me see that kid's wrist," he suddenly demanded.
Ellie found a half-eaten bar in her pack, but was surprised by the sudden questioning. "What's going on?"
"Check the back of his head."
Connor stood up and walked over to the kid, shoving his cousin aside just slightly. The boy was panicked and struggled a bit, but was too weak to resist Connor's strength.
"Hey—come on," Renard protested.
He flipped the straggler's wrists over and spotted a sheep symbol tattooed just below his left palm.
"Ellie, is there a tattoo on the back of his head?" he asked.
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"Is there a tattoo or not?"
She gently pressed her hands up against the back of the kid's head, smoothing her fingers through his unkempt hair. There seemed to be markings that had been faded out.
"What does this mean?" she asked.
"Where are you from?" he asked the boy.
The boy was frozen in place, his shoulders high and tight.
"I'm not going to hurt you, kid. Where did you come from?"
The boy gestured to him with his hand, signaling for his ear. Connor obliged him and leaned in to listen.
The Gilded Valley.
He nearly jolted back.
"What did he say?" Ellie asked.
The Gilded Valley was what the privileged like to call it—that area just above San Francisco, where the capitol of California used to be. It was a place of golden hills, right next to the woods where Connor grew up.
"He's from the Commonwealth. He's a slave," Renard answered, revealing that he had already known beforehand.
"He's…a what?"
Connor patted the kid on the shoulder and stood up, sighing to himself.
"We need to get back into town. This kid didn't travel alone," he said, handing his protein bars over to the kid, who was shy to accept them.
Ellie seemed confused. "So there are others?"
He nodded. "If they made it this far out here, they can't be far. But it's too dark."
"Do you think they were followed?" Renard posited innocently.
A flash of concern suddenly appeared on Ellie's face.
"The fuck does that mean?"
"We need to see Tommy and Maria," he said, giving his cousin the cue to pack up. Renard agreed and began putting his things away.
Ellie was still a bit lost, but Connor didn't have time to explain at the moment. They'd have to search in the morning. He wondered just how the people of the town would take this news. No one liked having this kind of situation dumped onto their lap.
"Okay. They should still be up by the time we get back to camp," she said. "Come on, kid. Let's go."
She offered a hand to the survivor, who was already devouring the protein bars they had given to him. He mumbled something indistinct, prompting her to lean in closer.
"What did you say?"
"Don't let them take me," the kid silently pleaded. "Don't let them."
A/N - Did you enjoy that? Haha. I've got a couple of special things planned for this story that I haven't tried in any other story I've written before. It's been a long time since I actually sat down to pen something, so some things may not flow as well.
I'm working on the second chapter this very moment. If you enjoyed this chapter, please leave a review! A writer is not nearly as driven by anything else but recognition and feedback. Drop a comment, anything. If you have guesses and questions, I have replies. Thanks again, and see you next time.
