The air was cold, temperatures close to the point of freezing. Decaying buildings and roads were covered completely with frost; there was no life within them whatsoever. In fact, the whole area was completely dead. Everything was silent, completely abandoned. This was the fate of traumatic event that had happened throughout the world, caused by the Cordyceps Brain infection that killed off most of the human and animal population.
However, footsteps began to echo, gradually becoming louder with each step. Eventually, two figures appeared on the road within the distance. They were Survivors, humans who have battled through the Post-apocalyptic world that has become that state of living. The leading figure was fairly tall and buffed, showing that he had experience in taking care of himself and surviving through crucial conditions. He had dark, rugged hair on both his head and face; however, several patches began to turn white as it showed he was within his late 40's. He wore fairly tattered, yet warm clothing that prevented him from freezing to death in the current winter territories. He had journeyed long distances and survived through deadly oppositions in order to reach his goal. His name: Joel.
Behind him was a smaller, younger figure who had accompanied him throughout the entirety of his journey, experiencing the harsh reality throughout the journey even though she has lived through it all her life. She had auburn hair and fair skin, showing her youth. Having been born 14 years ago within the Post-apocalyptic Earth, she has no experience of the world before the Outbreak. She had lost her family through this world, and has only Joel left to keep her from being completely alone. She protects him, just as he protects her. Her name: Ellie.
The two were completely silent, Joel struggling to bring up a conversation with Ellie, whilst Ellie could not speak at all. It wasn't always like this with them however, as they were always communicating with each other throughout their journey. But the recent event they had been though within the past 2 weeks of winter has caused a fatal traumatic effect on Ellie. Her fight against a Cannibal Leader known as David had emotionally scarred her to the point that she had trouble speaking and keeping a calm mind. Joel had been hearing her during sleepless nights screaming and weeping in agony and terror. He had tried his absolute hardest to bring her back to her old, strong-willed self; but nothing had been successful so far.
They continued their trek on the road through the dead, cold wasteland; knowing that they were drawing closer to Salt Lake City, their goal of the journey. Joel noticed that Ellie was shaking, not of the cold but long-term fear. He then drew in a deep breath, wondering what he could do to lighten up her spirits.
Just then, Ellie stopped in her tracks, breathing heavily and eyes completely lowered towards the floor. Joel halted his movements and turned towards her, wondering why she stopped.
"Joel, could we … stop for the night?" Ellie silently spoke, her voice cracking as her words struggled to escape her mouth.
"Yeah, I don't see why not." Joel nodded, giving out a small, sweet smile. "Let's walk up a little further, see if we can find a place worth staying tonight."
The two continued on with their trek, passing the various abandoned housing and not looking back. Joel began to realise that the Sun was setting in fairly soon and so began to glance around, wondering where to take shelter. Thankfully, no infected beings were within the area, meaning the place was mostly free from any sort of danger. However, Joel was still careful just in case this was a lie or enemy survivors were lurking. As light began to dusk, Joel noticed a small, cosy villa to the left side of the road. Like the rest of the buildings in the wasteland-like area, it was completely abandoned. Joel then took a small glace behind to check up on Ellie, making sure she was following him safely. Although hiding her emotions away, Ellie continued to follow him. She was still silent, struggling to show any positive emotion. As Joel turned back, his eyes locked onto the front door of the villa.
As he reached the building he grasped onto the door knob, however he did not open it just then. He carefully listened in through the crack of the door, hoping that there wasn't any movement on the other side. He could hear small scratches in the distance, but no sound confirming that there were signs of Infected or opposing Survivors. Just in case, he took out a small handgun, grasping onto the grip of the gun firmly. Ellie snapped out of his trance and took out her own from her pocket, eyes locked on Joel with caution as to what he was about to do.
Finally, Joel turned the doorknob and stepped inside the villa, being cautious on where and how he placed his footing. Ellie kept close behind him, concentrating on the area that was currently surrounding her. Upon entering the villa, both Joel and Ellie examined the surrounding area. Walls were significantly rotten and worn through, allowing for holes and large mould to appear through cracks. The ceiling was fairly damaged itself with large floorboards crumbling and splitting apart. The carpet on the floor was completely torn and eerily damp. The furniture was almost in pieces, torn up and worn to the frame. Objects such as tables, chairs, and other furniture wear damaged to the point of unusable. This was the typical state of society since the outbreak. Joel crept tough the first room, always checking every direction possible. Ellie kept close to Joel's back to constantly cover the rear just in case an infected would attack them unexpectedly. Suddenly, Joel halted his movement, causing Ellie to knock herself against him slightly. It was at that point, clicking and wheezing began to echo across the open villa rooms. A Clicker was camped within the villa.
Joel swiftly yet silently stepped over to a toppled over table that had been close enough to him. Ellie followed and hid on the other end of the table, both checking round above for signs of the vermin. To their acknowledgement, they caught sight of the Clicker in the farthest room, slowly stepping through the rooms' openings. Joel ushered Ellie to stay put with a small hand gesture, refusing to speak. Ellie nodded without any hesitation and stuck to her place. Joel used the opportunity to edge closer to the Clicker, slowly and silently grasping hold of a shiv from his belt, a temporary weapon that he had created earlier during the day. As he crept closer, still completely crouched down and eyes locked onto the creature, he began to slow down his own breathing to the point of it almost not being there at all. With both gun and shiv in hand, he was prepared for the execution. Taking a step closer, he was now only a few feet from the Clicker, who began to twitch. In an instant, Joel leapt into action. He struck the shiv into the Clicker's eye-socket, or where it should have been, and threw the creature to the group. The Clicker screeched as it fell, throwing its arms and legs about wildly as it tried to fight back. Joel then felt the movement gradually lessen to the point of dead silence, knowing that the Clicker was no more. He both heard and felt a crack within the shiv had made, rendering it useless. He threw the scrap of the shiv away and gradually rose back to his feet. Suddenly, he felt a sharp sting from his abdomen. He knew his wound was still in the healing process, causing him to press his palm against it to sooth. He turned towards Ellie's, nodding to signal that the Clicker was subdued.
"Its all fine now, Ellie." Joel called out, taking in deep breaths as he soothed his abdomen.
However, this didn't mean that the whole villa was free from infected. All of a sudden, Joel was thrown to the floor with a screeching noise close to his ear. Another Clicker had leapt from the shadows and thrown him completely by surprise. Joel had struck his freehand into the neck of the Clicker, struggling to keep the creature away from biting him. He began to grit his teeth as the Clicker edged closer to him, realising that he had dropped his gun. Abruptly, Ellie hastily lunged onto the back of Clicker, instantly stabbing it with her small army knife she had been carrying. The Clicker screeched as it rolled off of Joel, fighting with Ellie. Joel took this moment to grab his gun and shoot the Clicker with a sudden bullet to the head, putting it out of its misery. Lying on the floor, there was a moment of complete silence as both Joel and Ellie took their time to recover from the sudden assault. As they did this, they kept their hearing open towards the whole surroundings. There was no sound of any other movements within the villa, only rustling of the wind from outside. Joel carefully lifted to his feet, keeping silent as he stood. He then stepped over to help Ellie to her feet, keeping eyes and ears on the lookout.
During the next hour, the both of them had split up to search the rest of the villa. They had inspected every room, nook and cranny for signs of infected. However, to their relief, the villa was free from hostile movement. They then gathered around a small fireplace, using spare wood they had found in the garden of the villa. Joel set the fire going as Ellie took out rations from their bags. It did not take long for night to emerge due to the winter season. In fact, just as it struck dust, Joel and Ellie had already begun to eat and set out cloth to use for the night. Joel had dragged up to worn but stable sofa chairs from the other rooms and set them close to the fire for him and Ellie. They continued to nibble on their rations in silence, taking in the peaceful yet somewhat sorrowful atmosphere of the small fire. Joel glanced over towards Ellie, wondering as to how she currently felt. Trying his best to cheer her up, he hastily tried to think up a way to start a conversation. It was a long shot, but he gave it a go.
"Y'know, I should really get myself a switchblade like yours." Joel began, giving a calm smile as he spoke. "Using shivs are good for the short runs, but they don't last long enough for me whatsoever."
Ellie silently nodded, taking out her switchblade from her pocket underneath the blanket and began to examine it. Joel watched her in silence, giving out a sigh and leaning back on his sofa chair.
"… Especially when you need to use them for opening busted doors, heh heh…" Ellie silently chuckled, giving off a small smile as she continued to examine the blade. "You're always close to raging when you can't open one of them."
Joel's eyes shifted towards Ellie's direction with a subtle surprised look, but then smiled in return, continuing the conversation.
"Tch, yeah … tell me about it." Joel spoke as he leaned his head back against the head rest of the sofa chair. "And I bet there were a decent amount of supplies behind some of those damned doors."
After a small chuckle between the two, they returned to their silence. Ellie placed back her switchblade and sat silently in her sofa chair. The fire continued to flicker peacefully in the fireplace, giving a warm glow around the whole of the room. Joel gazed towards the ceiling, closely drifting to sleep as his mind began to clear. However, on the corner of his eye, Joel caught sight of Ellie taking out another object. From his view, it seemed to be a photo of some sort; however this was too far away from him to examine it in detail.
"What've you got there, Ellie?" Joel questioned casually, squinting his eyes slightly.
"Hm? … Oh! Nothing!" Ellie hastily responded, slipping the photo under the sheets.
Joel's eyebrow rose curiously, wondering as to why she acted like that so suddenly. However, feeling it was none of his business; he shrugged and returned to drifting off to sleep.
The hours slipped by as both Ellie and Joel were completely adrift in sleep, feeling as though nothing would interrupt them. The flame in the fireplace had been put out during the night by Joel, who had woken up briefly to realise it was still flickering. As the time struck 4:15am, no sound could be heard between the two of them; only small, frosty breaths appearing from their mouths. However, this did not seem to last. Ellie began to rustle around uncomfortably underneath her blanket. Gripping the armrest of the seat, she began to sweat out and hasten her breathing.
"N-no…" she murmured out, gritting her teeth anxiously as she slept. "G-get … the fuck back … from me."
Just then, she began to kick out, causing the sheet to fall to the floor. As she continued on, her body moved up on the sofa chair like she was struggling in a corner. The movement was subtle, but one could tell something was not right. And then … she screamed out. She shrieked and screamed as she moved about hastily in the chair. Joel, woken up instantly by the scream, leapt up and aimed his gun. His eyes darted around; trying to spot what caused her to shriek. However, within seconds, he noticed that there wasn't anything physically harming her … It was just another one of her horrified nightmares. Swiftly, he slipped his gun back into his pocket and leapt round to wake her from the nightmare. He knelt and placed his hands on her shoulders, gently keeping her in place.
"Ellie … Ellie! Wake up!" Joel shook her lightly, giving a concerned expression.
"N-NO! GET AWAY!" Ellie shrieked with her eyes still closed and in the dream, kicking out and pushing herself away.
"Damn it, Girl! You're having another nightmare!" Joel then bellowed out, giving a tough voice.
Abruptly, Ellie opened her eyes, bewildered by the situation. She jumped up as she saw Joel, wild-like eyes and completely out of breath. Joel sighed and stood back up, closing his eyes and tilting his head towards the ceiling as he began to think. Ellie hesitated for a moment as she adjusts to her surroundings once again, showing signs of relief as her body slid back into the seat. She wiped away the many tears that slid down her cheeks from the eyes and the sweat from her forehead and neck.
"Great … now we're both going to struggle to get any more sleep tonight." Joel breathed out, pacing around the dormant fireplace.
"I-I'm sorry …" Ellie muttered, trying to hold back her emotions. "It was just …"
"Don't worry; I know what you're going through." Joel shook his head, eyes locked onto her with sorrowful expressions. "And by the looks of things, it's going to happen for a while longer."
There was a moment of silence between them, Joel placed a hand over his mouth and took time to think. He then stepped over towards the fireplace and began to light it up again, taking out a flint from his bag. Ellie rose up from her seat and stepped forward to overlook Joel, watching him silently set the fire going. With one spark, the fire began to burn strong. Joel stood up and turned, catching sight of Ellie standing behind him instantly. He could see in her eyes that she was terrified of going through such a scenario once again.
"Sit back down, I'll hand you a snack to nibble on and cool you off." Joel assured her, placing a hand on her shoulder as he began to rummage through his bag.
Silently, Ellie placed herself back on the seat, leaning back as she took in a few deep breaths.
"Here, catch." Joel called out, throwing a piece of shortbread towards her direction.
In a snap, she caught it perfectly as if it was nothing. She then snapped a piece and began to chew down, taking her time. Joel sat back on his own seat, rubbing his tired bloodshot eyes. He began to think calmly about what to do next, guessing that Ellie wouldn't speak another word for a while. However, this had not been the case, as he had been caught off by what she was about to ask him.
"Hey, Joel?" Ellie began to ask out, still nibbling slowly on her shortbread.
"Hm..?" Joel murmured back, his mind curious.
"Could you … tell me a story?" She requested to him, her eyes gazing completely blank. "Y'know … a story from your life before the outbreak began."
Joel thought about it silently, finding it surprising that she wanted to know about the past at this moment in time.
"Sure, I don't see why not." Joel accepted, giving a small, calm smile. "What do you want to hear about? Let me guess; something gritty?"
"Yeah, that would be cool. Or even better, how you became a badass." Ellie nodded back towards him, her expressions becoming livelier. "To be honest though … I would like to hear more about Sarah."
Joel's body slightly jolted with hesitation on his seat the moment he heard that name. To bring up something so personal to him, especially about his daughter, caused him to feel anxious. He didn't know how to approach this, should he accept this or go onto something else?
"Ah! I-I'm sorry, Joel. I didn't mean to tread on thin ice." Ellie hastily stated, realising she was in a cautious subject. "I know it's a personal subject for you, I just wanted to know about her."
Joel gave out a large sigh, clearing his mind.
"No, you're fine; I think it's time for me to open up." Joel finally admitted; his eyes closed as he put his mind straight. "However, this story is something I wouldn't normally chat about to people. In fact, it was something I wish I had forgotten."
Ellie looked at him oddly, wondering as to what this story would be about.
"What do you mean, Joel?" she asked cautiously, giving a concerned expression.
After I final deep breath, he answered with a strong yet cautious tone. "This is the story of my 'first' kill, a whole 2 years before the outbreak began. Sarah was only 10 at the time … and she had witnessed the whole event."