A young man pries open a loose part in a chain-link fence, before motioning the young girl beside him through. The girl quickly darts through the opening, and then holds the fence to allow her brother through the opening. He crawls through the opening as fast as he can, while making sure no one sees him. Once through he fixes the fence so that no one knows that people have been entering and leaving the city through this weak part in the fence. Crouched before the chain-link fence, the two press themselves into the shadows when a light floods the area. The girl squeezes her eyes shut, while the man watches cautiously to see how close the light would come to them. After a couple more minutes, the light recedes from the area and the two slowly creep out of their hiding spot.
"You ready," the man questions, his baby blue eyes looking into another pair of eyes as blue as his.
"Yeah," she responds, shifting the bag on her back to a more comfortable position.
He nods and stands up, before offering his hand to help his sister to her feet. "Then let's go."
The two set off away from the quarantined city, known as Minneapolis. Both watching and listening for any sign of infected. So far there hadn't been any sign of them, and hopefully they would make it to the meeting point without running into any of them.
...
The two had traveled for a little over an hour and were taking a break in one of the many office buildings that filled the abandoned part of the city. Silence permeated the area, amplifying every little noise. As they were sitting inside one of the many rooms in the building, the man stood beside a busted out window watching the empty streets while his sister ate a quick meal, which consisted of a sandwich and a bottle of water. The two were about thirty minutes away from their destination.
"I'm ready," his sister's quiet voice whispered, breaking the silence.
But he ignored her words, as he stared intently down at the street swearing that he had just seen something down there. Narrowing his eyes, he searched the shadows for anything that he could have seen.
"Pierce," she whispered, her voice coming out meek and frightened at the older man's continued silence.
Forcing his self to look at the girl with him, he raised an eyebrow in answer to his whispered name.
"I'm ready," she repeated.
Pierce nodded and stepped away from the window. "Alright, let's go then."
Another flash of movement from out on the street caught his attention again and he stopped in his tracks, staring out from his spot at the dark street down below. The girl with him didn't notice his sudden stop and continued walking towards the door. She'd almost walked out of the room when her foot kicked a can lying by the door. The can skittered out into the hallway a couple of feet before falling down a hole in the floor, making noise that sounded like thunder to the two's ears until it came to an abrupt stop.
Turning back to the man with her, she sent a sheepish look in his direction trying to convey her embarrassment without saying anything. Pierce glared at her, his eyes telling her to be more careful, when a loud a shriek followed by clicking sounds filled the air. His baby blue eyes narrowed automatically and his partner's widened in fear. Slowly turning on his heel, he walked closer to the windows in the room to see if they could make a quick escape out of them. As he neared them a creature hoisted itself up over the windowsill and launched itself at him. Pierce swore as he grappled with the creature, which happened to be a Stalker.
"Pierce!" His name being shouted distracted him for a few seconds, as his gaze darted away from the Stalker trying to bite him to the girl on the other side of the room.
She was struggling and losing with a Clicker. Her back pressed up against a wall. The Clicker snapped its mouth at her as it tried to take a chunk out of her neck and she brought up an arm trying to push it away from her. At that point Pierce was forced to turn his gaze back to the Stalker trying to take a chunk out of him.
"Izzy," Pierce shouted as he heard her scream, elbowing the Stalker he was wrestling with before jamming a shiv in its neck.
Izzy had managed to keep the Clicker from biting her from what Pierce could see as he rushed to her aid. Pierce jumped on the Clicker's back as he pulled out another shiv. Expertly holding the shiv, Pierce stuck the makeshift blade into the creature's neck and broke off the blade in its neck. The Clicker died instantly and dropped to the floor dead. Taking a deep breath, Pierce stepped over the dead body between them and took in Izzy's shaken form. She was pushing her sleeves down to cover her arms and shaking lightly.
"Are you okay," he asked, grabbing her upper arms lightly. "Isabelle?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," she responded, her voice sounding wobbly to her own ears.
His keen blue eyes looked her over one last time, before he stepped back. "Okay. Let's get going then."
Walking over to the door Pierce checks the area, before telling Isabelle to follow him. She follows behind him more cautiously this time, not wanting another replay of what just happened. The memory of what just happened causes her to flinch and rub her right arm. Isabelle could feel the indentations on her arm and the warm liquid seeping through her sleeve telling her that she wasn't going to make it back with her brother to the city. Not this time.
Pierce kept a pipe that he had fixed, by duct taping a pair of scissor to the end of it, in his hands as he stealthily made his way out of the building and back on to the street. He could hear the soft crunch of Izzy's footsteps as she followed after him. They quietly traveled down the streets, until they reached a piece of the road that was flooded. Stepping forwards cautiously, Pierce tested to see how deep the water was. Finding that the water only reached up to his knees, he trudged on through the water with his weapon at the ready. The sound of sloshing water from every step the pair made drowned out any other noise that they could have heard.
So, when Pierce's foot caught on something under the water causing him to trip and plunge under the water, he didn't hear the croaks and shrieks of the infected until he resurfaced above the water coughing and sputtering. He quickly pushed his self back onto his feet and forced his self to run through the water the rest of the way. Izzy following along a couple steps behind him. The splashing of water now louder as a group of infected chased after them through the water.
Soon they were both running on pavement again, which Pierce was thankful for, with their wet clothes slightly weighing them down. He could finally see their destination up ahead and put on another burst of speed, forcing Izzy to do the same. Pierce swore he could hear his heart beating in his ears as he ran for all that he was worth. His legs had begun to burn a bit ago, but he refused to let that slow him down. Looking over at his sister he saw that she was beginning to fall behind. Pierce quickly grasped her hand and forced her to keep going, unwilling to let her die here.
Just as he thought they were about to be surrounded and killed by the infected, they reached their destination. Both of them raced into the building and slammed the door shut behind them, as well as sliding the deadbolt home. With something between them and the infected, the pair took a deep breath to try and calm their racing heartbeats. After a few deep breathes, Pierce walked away from the door over to his sister sitting on the floor, who was clutching her right arm to her chest. He pulled a flashlight out of his backpack so that he could see his sister more clearly in the dark room that was barely illuminated from the light of the full moon. With the flashlight in hand, he turned the light from it onto Izzy. And what he saw stopped him in his tracks. The sleeve covering her right arm was stained dark red with blood.
Izzy looked up at her brother, her short brown hair falling onto her face. Her baby blue eyes were open wide with fear and brimming with tears. And all Pierce could hear was the pounding of his heart as plain as day in his ears.
"Shit," he said, seeing as it was all he could seem to say at the moment.
She cast her eyes down to the floor, not wanting to see the look on her brother's face. Izzy knew he wasn't mad at her but his self, but that didn't change the fact she still didn't like seeing him angry.
"When did it happen," Pierce asked, after his initial shock had passed. "Isabelle, answer me, damn it!"
Izzy flinched at the anger in his voice. "It happened back at that office building."
"Fuck," he groaned, dropping down onto his knees beside his sister and pulling her into his arms.
As he held her small petite form in his arms, rocking them back and forth, all he could think was that this wasn't supposed to happen. It especially wasn't supposed to happen to his sister most of all. All he could think was that it should be him right now that was bitten. Not her. With these thoughts swirling in his head, he kept rocking them back and forth at a steady pace with his face buried in her hair.
After what felt like hours to him, he heard Izzy whisper sleepily to him, "I'm tired, Pierce."
"Go to sleep, Izzy. Everything will be okay," he mumbled soothingly, never ceasing his rocking.
After he had told her to go to sleep, she had practically fallen right to sleep in his arms. Once he was sure that she was asleep, he laid her gently down on the ground before pushing his self back onto his feet. Walking a couple steps away from her sleeping form, Pierce knelt down and pulled the backpack off of his back and began to rummage through it until his hands found the handgun at the bottom of his bag. He hated to remember what he'd done with this gun, no matter how necessary it had been. The weight of the revolver was familiar to him as he checked how many shots he had left in it. There was only one bullet, which meant only one shot. Taking a deep breath, he clicked the safety off and turned back to the sleeping girl in the room with him.
Aiming the gun at her head, he felt his hands begin to shake as he tried to keep them steady. Staring at his sister's sleeping form, all that he could see was the little girl that he had taken care of for ten years. He remembered her carefree smiles and her outgoing attitude that was still intact even after all that she'd seen and been through. His hands were now freely shaking as he continued to stare at her. Trying to steady his hands, he caught sight of a tear slipping down her face and was forced to come to terms with the fact that he just couldn't do it. Cursing his self, he clicked the safety back on before tossing the gun on top of his bag. Pierce swiftly got to his feet and walked out of the room and into a bathroom that was down a hall a little ways away from where Izzy was sleeping.
Walking into the public restroom labeled men's Pierce walked over to one of the many sinks lining the wall and braced his self against the counter. Pierce stared at his reflection in the dirty mirror and grimaced. He hated how much he looked like his father. From his wavy blond hair to his height and broad shoulders, everything about his appearance was a reminder of the man that had helped bring him into this world. Everything except his eyes that is. His eyes were the only thing about him that was like his mother.
He could still remember the brute that was his father, even though the man had been dead for ten years now. And he wished that he could forget about his father. But even though he couldn't forget, he was glad that Izzy didn't remember their father.
Looking at his reflection again, Pierce growled low in his throat as he stared back at a man that was practically a replica of a sadistic bastard. Snarling, Pierce smashed the mirror with his fist. The jagged edges of the shattered mirror cut his knuckles up and brought muttered curse from his mouth as he shook his hand lightly, blood from the cuts splattering the floor. A tired sigh escapes his mouth as he inspects the damage to his hand. The cuts were shallow, nothing to worry about. But that didn't mean that it didn't hurt like hell.
Grumbling under his breath, he exited the bathroom and walked back out to the room were Izzy was fast asleep. Pierce stood by her sleeping form as he shrugged out of his jacket and draped it over her. Satisfied with that he left her side to sit in a corner of the room with his backpack. With the revolver in hand, Pierce sat where he was listening to the infected croak and groan outside the building. The sounds from the infected where slowly becoming quieter and quieter as they either went to sleep or ambled off somewhere else, making it harder for Pierce to stay awake. He knew he had to stay awake or else he'd be attacked by his sister once the infection finally took over. But he was struggling with what he would have to do. Would he even be able to kill her when he had to? Or would he let her kill him? Did he even care if she killed him anyways? It wasn't like he had anything left to live for once she was gone.
Pierce groaned in irritation and gripped his gun tighter. He didn't know what he was going to do. And even knowing that didn't help his irritation. With his mind swirling these troubling questions, he didn't notice when he'd drifted off to sleep.
Pierce awoke in pain as the butt of a gun slammed into the left side of his head, sending him reeling to the ground. Clenching his teeth in pain, Pierce forced his eyes open to see a large man standing over him. The man was large and very muscular with a scar running from his right temple and barely missing his right eye to his lip, where it distorted that side of his mouth into a permanent scowl. Hard brown eyes glared down at him, while tanned fingers reflexively tightened their hold on an assault shotgun.
"Now, now, Albert," a deep baritone placated from the other side of the room, "I believe there's no need to do that again."
Albert shifted his dark gaze over to the other voice and grunted in annoyance as he back away from Pierce, but his hold on the shotgun never relaxing. Pierce pushed his self off the ground and back to his seated position from before. Rubbing his tender head, Pierce glared at the brute that had rudely awakened him.
"Well I'm glad you've finally decided to join the living," the voice from before said, drawing Pierce's attention, "Pierce."
"How do you know my name," Pierce questioned, his blue eyes narrowing in suspicion.
The man stepped over to the left to reveal Izzy tied up and gagged behind him with a woman kneeling beside her. "She had screamed your name quite nicely a few times, but you slept right through that. We almost thought that you were dead, so I had Albert see if you were truly dead."
Pierce snarled and pushed his self to his feet about to attack the people in the room, when he heard the sound a gun cocking and the woman beside his sister quickly placing a knife at his sister's throat. Stilling his self, Pierce stayed where he was with his arms raised in surrendering gesture.
"Who are you and what do you want," Pierce questioned, his voice coming out low and menacing.
"Oh my, where are my manners? I'm Jared, the leader of the Fireflies," Jared introduced. "That's Beth, and well you already know Albert. And what I want is for you to do a job for me."
"Why should I," Pierce asked.
"Well if you don't, we'll just kill her right now," Jared replied flippantly.
Beth slowly pressed the blade of the knife into his sister's skin bringing forth a whimper from her lips as blood beaded up under the blade.
"Stop," Pierce cried out in panic.
Jared brought up a hand in a stop gesture, ceasing Beth's movements.
"What do you want me to do," Pierce asked, resigned.
"I figured you see our way," Jared said, his lips curled up into a nasty smirk. "What I need you to do is collect something for us. I need you to bring us a woman named Ellie."
Pierce snorted. "And how do you expect me to find some woman named Ellie? You do realize there are probably thousands of women named Ellie."
"Oh, don't you worry we know pretty much her exact location. You just have to find her and bring her back to our headquarters in Seattle, Washington. She's at Jackson County, Wyoming," Jared informed him.
"Alright," Pierce said, mentally picturing how far away Wyoming was from Minnesota. "I'll do it, so you can let Isabella go now."
"No, I think we'll take her with us to ensure that you follow through on your part," Jared said, his gray eyes glinting in the pour light filtering through the boarded up windows.
"You bastard," Pierce snarled, moving to attack Jared as the man turned away from him.
Jared just waved a hand over his shoulder. "We'll meet again, Pierce. Albert."
Pierce barely had time to look in Albert's direction before the butt of the shotgun smashed into the side of his head again. The hit sent him to the floor with his eyes closing against his will. His baby blue eyes squinted in an attempt to stay awake, allowing him to see Izzy being carted out of the room on Albert's shoulder before he was consumed by unconsciousness.
Pierce awoke a couple hours later to the afternoon sunlight streaming into the room and his head throbbing viciously. Groaning softly, he pushed his self into a sitting position. His eyes quickly darted around the room as soon as he remembered what had happened before he had passed out. Pierce softly cursed under his breath as he stared at the empty room he was sitting in. Sitting there he realized that his sister hadn't turned. She had still been herself when he'd last seen her, meaning she was immune to the virus. He couldn't help but feel a bit elated at this revelation.
A piece of paper by him caught his attention and he grabbed it. The paper had the address to the Fireflies' headquarters on it. Rage washed over him and he crumpled the paper in his hand. He was going to kill those bastards as soon as he saw them again, but first he would go find this Ellie chick. They may be forcing his hand right now, but soon they would have no leverage over him. And when that time came, they were as good as dead.
A/N: Hey, everyone! I know this is different from my usual Bleach stories, but I wanted to write a story about The Last of Us. The game is seriously awesome in my opinion. Okay, this story takes place ten years after the original story. So, do be confused by any of the characters being older or the new Fireflies' leader. What did you all think of it so far? Anyways, reviews and all that good stuff greatly appreciated!