The Last Of Us.
Chapter 1
"Could you be the last of us?" he asked.
My hands clammed up but I quickly wiped the sweat onto my shirt, trying to avoid the stains. Some of it was dirt, most of it was blood. None of it was mine.
"Why do you keep asking me that?" I replied.
He clutched the revolver tighter with his right hand and cocked its rusty hammer back with his left before veering around the corner.
"Keep hoping that someday you'll give me an answer." He whispered.
I wiped my hands down one more time before picking up the fire-axe I left leaning against the wall.
"Whatever you say, man. What's the situation?"
He looked back at me, beads of sweat forming on his forehead.
"Looks clear."
I nodded to him and walked around the corner into the hallway, he followed closely.
As we walked through the abandoned apartment complex I noticed that each of the rooms we pass by has had its door smashed in.
"Looks like this place has been ransacked a couple of times." I said, stopping to look into one of the rooms.
"If every place we pass through has already been looted, I'll feel a lot safer. It's the nice places you need to worry about." He replied.
"I hear that, but I'd kill for a hot shower and a clean bed."
Joe chuckled.
"We're not that lucky."
I put my hand on his shoulder.
"Have some faith, brother. Our luck's bound to change."
He nodded at me and continued walking down the hall.
The sunlight that seeped through the cracks in the ceiling made by the dense foliage of trees showed clearly how nature had won. The once impervious metal and concrete was left ramshackle and distorted by the intertwining of roots and vines.
"Check these rooms for anything we can use, I'll scout ahead and signal if I find anything."
I nodded to Joe as he cautiously made his way around the corner and out of sight.
The first room I decided to check was a room with a green door. I walked over the threshold which led directly into what was once a kitchen, immediately I was struck by the heat, magnified by the large, still intact window.
"What a view." I said to myself, walking toward the glass and wiping my brow in the process.
I could see most of the city. More like a jungle at this stage, but it's still eerily beautiful. It showed the epic battle between mankind and the rest of the world. A grim reminder of how vulnerable we are. Looking down at the thick canopy below made me feel safe knowing I was in a tall building. I know what lurks in the shadows now.
I rested the axe against my shoulder and looked around the room. There were dusty family photos on the walls. I looked into each of the cupboards and drawers only to find that they had been looted totally. If ever there was anything useful here, it wasn't anymore.
I walked out the door and proceeded toward the room opposite before being interrupted by a noise. It was a bird whistle. That was the signal.
I didn't waste any time in running down the hall to catch up. When I turned one of the corners I saw him, resting his ear against a door. His revolver was cocked.
I leaned my shoulder against the door, next to him.
"What's up?" I whispered.
He put his finger to his lips and signalled me to place my ear against the flaking paint of the only intact door on this floor. So I did.
From the other side I could hear noises. It sounded like a person.
"Survivor?" I said.
"I'll cover you." he replied.
I walked over and grabbed hold of the handle. I took a deep breath.
"When I say go. 3… 2… 1…"
As soon as I said go, I burst through the door and charged forward with Joe at my shoulder. We were both ready to fight whoever, or whatever was in this room.
But we could only see one person.
She sat on the floor, head down, back to the window showing the sun setting. Her face was covered for the most part by dark, brown hair. It was unclean at best, slightly matted in parts and greasy in others, its cut was rough and messy, like it had chopped up with a knife. The parts of her skin that were visible were dirty with stains that looked old and dry. The open wounds on her arms were clear to be seen because of the red string top she was wearing.
Joe scouted out the apartment as I walked toward the girl.
"Miss…"
She didn't answer.
"Miss, are you alright?"
She failed to answer again. Not a good sign.
"Dammit." I said, raising my axe.
I took a deep breath and prepared to strike at her, but before I could…
"Now." She whispered.
Her head rose up and she looked me straight in the eyes. She was beautiful. She looked no older than we were but her face still showed the scars of battle, an old cut on her cheek, a split bottom lip just barely healed, and a fresh black eye. That black eye meant only one thing.
"Drop the axe."
I felt the cold steel of a rifle barrel press against the back of my neck.
"Shit…"
I dropped my axe to the floor. The woman stood up and pushed the hair out of her face just as I saw Joe get pushed onto his knees in front of me.
"Fuck…"
Joe glared at me.
"We're never that lucky."
As soon as he said this, I felt the rifle butt bash against the back of my head, knocking me to my knees.
"Shut up!" shouted the man behind me.
After a few seconds of recovery time, I looked up to see four other men, two of them were holding pistols, one had a crowbar and one was holding Joe's revolver.
"Hands on your heads!" he shouted again.
We did as he demanded.
"What are you waiting for? Take their backpacks!"
The girl hesitated. The volume of the man's voice froze her.
"If I have to tell you twice, girl you'll spend another night with Roscoe!"
She touched her bruised eye with a shaking hand and glanced over at the smiling man who was holding Joe's revolver. He blew her a kiss. She quickly looked away and without wasting any more time she vigorously pulled at the straps of Joe's backpack to get it off, eventually getting it. She threw it at the feet of the smiling man and raced over to remove mine. In her haste, she tripped over some loose flooring and crashed down in front of me. None of the others tried to help her, they just laughed.
"Do you wanna die, girl?!" he screamed, pointing his rifle in at her.
These words caused the tearing girl to look up at me. Our eyes met. And then she looked through me and her eyes widened.
I turned my head to see what she was staring at and out of the corner of my eye I saw one. An infected. It stood in the doorway, right behind the man who was holding me at gun-point.
Its skin was dark, dirty and decomposed. Random streaks of dry blood peppered its torso , while black, lifeless eyes stared at the man's head. Its mouth salivated heavily.
"Oh shit!" screamed one of the men and began shooting.
The others noticed this and themselves shot at the infected. The shots caused it to go crazy and attack the man behind me. While they were all distracted, I picked up my axe and without a second thought, lashed at the man's leg, slicing it off at the knee.
The loss of his lower leg made the struggle with the infected a lost battle. It knocked him to the ground and when it had him it went for the jugular, his throat, which it ripped out with its teeth. The infected and I stood up simultaneously. Its red, dripping mouth and the gurgling sound of the man drowning on his own blood sent shivers up my spine. In a reflex action I spun my axe around and swung the point at its head, digging it into the infected skull. When I removed the axe the infected collapsed, and I turned around.
All this happened in seconds. One of the men noticed what I had done. He pointed his pistol in my direction but before he could take a shot, Joe tackled him to the ground. As they struggled for control of the weapon, more infected could be heard tearing through the complex.
"Fuck this!" screamed the man with Joe's revolver running out the door.
The girl sat in the middle of the floor watching Joe overpower the man, and wrestle the pistol from his grasp. When he gained control of it, Joe stood up and shot the man in the chest. Just once.
Immediately after this, the rest of them sprinted from the room, the girl tried to go with them but her foot was trapped in the flooring.
She grabbed hold of their clothes and pleaded for them not to leave her.
"You can't just leave! Please, help me! I have to come with you!" she begged.
They didn't listen to a word. They fought free of her grip, and despite her pleas, they just left her there.
Their screams could be heard almost as soon as they left the room. Joe and I stared at one another intensely before I broke the eye contact, slammed the door shut and bolted it.
"Help me barricade the door!" I shouted.
Joe ran toward the tattered remains of a couch and pushed it to the door. I pulled over an armchair and threw it atop the couch.
"That won't hold them long."
I nodded at this and scoured the room for a way out.
"If we break that window we can climb down to the room underneath this one." I stated.
"Probably a fuck load of infected down there too." Added Joe.
"Die here now or die there later?"
There is a moment's silence.
"Good point."
I picked up a loose brick from a wall in the kitchen and launched it at the window. It caused a crack but didn't shatter it.
"Son of a bitch!" I yelled.
Joe picked up the rifle from next to the survivor's lifeless body and shot the window with several rounds. It shattered after the fourth bullet connected.
"Come on!" he yelled throwing the rifle to the ground.
We ran toward the opening. Fortunately, the glass window in the apartment below had already been broken by the roots of a tree growing from the side of the building.
I sat down over the edge, preparing to lower myself down before being interrupted.
"Hey! You can't just leave me here!" She implored.
The scratching and clawing of the infected could easily be heard from the other side of the door. They pounded against it vigorously trying to get in. The sound of their groaning and screeching got louder and louder as more and more of them gathered outside the door.
"Please!"
Joe walked toward her, shaking his head.
"Are you serious!? Two minutes ago you were perfectly happy seeing us get killed!" he screamed.
I stood up quickly and sped toward them.
"But they'll kill me!" she screamed back.
There was a long pause.
The only sound we could hear was the infected, smashing the door and screeching. They were getting through.
I took a breath.
"She's right. Leaving her here is as bad as killing her." I said quietly.
Joe turned around and ran his hands through his hair.
"I guess I'd feel guilty about that too, like I don't have enough things to feel guilty about." He grunted, turning to face me.
I knelt down next to the girl and freed her foot from the floorboards.
"Come on. Let's go." I said, helping her to her feet.
We ran toward the opening. I threw the two backpacks into the room and sat down over the edge once again, I dropped my axe onto the floor underneath and Joe lowered me down into the empty room. I let go of his hand and crashed onto the floor below. There were no infected down here yet.
"Okay, now lower her down!" I yelled.
She sat over the edge and Joe eased her down. When she was low enough for me to pull her in, I noticed how tightly her eyes were shut, and how firm her grip was on Joe's hand.
"Just let go! I'll catch you!"
She looked down at the ground below, almost invisible in the dark of night.
"No way! You'll drop me!"
The sound of wood cracking from the floor above meant they were almost through.
"Trust me!"
A strong gust went by causing the girl's hair to blow in the wind. She looked at me.
"I can't!"
I heard a crash as the door was ripped off its hinges and the makeshift barricade was knocked to one side. The sound of their screeching and footsteps racing across the floor raised some of the hairs on the back of my neck.
"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, SHIT!" Joe shouted, jumping over the edge to avoid them.
As he flailed over, he lost his handle on the girl.
I tightly grabbed her hand and threw her into the apartment. As soon as she hit the floor, I grasped Joe's arm with one fist and his shirt with the other. But when his weight, combined with the force of gravity pulled me down, I lost my wrench on his shirt and my body was slammed to the floor. He dangled over the edge. I knew I could hold him there, but I couldn't pull him up with one hand. I slid forward slowly so I wrapped my other hand around a piece of broken pipe that was sticking out of the wall to ensure I didn't get dragged out of the building.
"Fuck!" I could feel shards of glass raking at my chest.
Joe looked up to see some of the infected fling themselves over the edge seconds after he jumped. I watched as they did so and with each one that plummeted, I felt safer. As the last one fell, I looked down at Joe and he looked up at me.
"Thought I'd just hang around!" He groaned.
I squeezed his hand and the pipe as tightly as I could, but I still couldn't stop myself from slowly sliding forward.
"That was terrible! Now help me pull your ass up!" I replied, feeling the strain in my arm.
He smiled up at me.
"Hey! Maybe now you'll answer my question!" he added loudly.
I turned my head back to the girl. She was lying on the floor, she hadn't moved since. After realising this I turned back to Joe.
"You know I hate you, right!?"
He smiled again. The shards dug deeper into my chest with every centimetre I slid.
"Could you…"
I felt him loosen his grip on my hand slightly. I squeezed tighter to try and compensate.
"Be…"
His grip loosened even more.
That's when I figured out what he was trying to do.
"The last of us?"
He let go of my hand completely and slipped from my grip.
"NO!" I screamed.
I lunged forward and grabbed his shirt with both hands. His weight dragged me down. I felt the shards claw down my chest and my stomach, there was a split-second of weightlessness where everything seemed to go into slow motion. I saw Joe's smile fade to a stern, serious look. The stress pains in my arm stopped. I never thought this was how we would go. Survived the apocalypse, survived the gangs, the infection, the infected, only to die by falling off a building. I thought it was a little ironic. Just as I had come to terms with this being our end, I felt something grasping the ends of my trousers.
"Pull him up!" she yelled, wrenching her hands around my ankles.
Suddenly time went back to normal.
She tugged ferociously at my legs. It took me a second to realise what had just happened.
I didn't say a word. I just pulled up as hard and fast as I could to get him over the edge. When his body hit the floor, we all breathed a collective sigh of relief.
There were a few moments of silence where the only sounds that could be heard were of our heavy breathing.
We stood up simultaneously and when we were both on our feet, I punched Joe in the face. The force knocked him back to the ground.
"That's for being a hero!" I shouted.
I put my out to him.
"You'd do the same and you know it." He smiled, grabbing my hand.
I smirked at him and nodded my head.
"In a heartbeat." I replied, pulling him up.
I turned to see the girl staring anxiously at the closed door.
"So, what do we do now?" asked Joe.
I looked around the room for a few seconds, and then picked up my axe.
"We stay here for the night, figure out the rest in the morning." I instructed.
"Sounds good." Joe stretched.
He pushed the large, brown, leather sofa against the door to barricade it and pushed the wooden coffee table against that to bolster its strength. Joe then sat on one of the chairs in the kitchen.
I scouted out the apartment, room by room, to ensure it was free of the infected.
With this done I went over to the girl, who was standing alone in the centre of the room.
"So, I checked the bedroom, double bed, clean sheets if you don't mind some dust, and its own bathroom. Joe and I will sleep out here." I said softly.
She took a step back.
"Thanks." She stuttered, avoiding my eyes.
I smiled at her.
"What's your name?" I asked.
She stood in silence, arms crossed, looking down at her feet. Her long hair covered her bruised eye well but I could still see it.
"Not in a talking mood? I get that. I'm John, and the big guy over there is Joe. You'll be safe with us, I promise." I smiled.
She looked at Joe, and then hastily walked toward the bedroom.
"We saved your life, you know!" I said quickly before she left the room.
She stopped at the doorway.
"Adrien." She whispered without looking at me, and closed the door behind her.
This made me smirk to myself.
After a few seconds, I walked over and sat down next to Joe. He was counting the remaining bullets for the pistol.
"Interesting night." He sighed.
"Tell me about it." I replied, resting my axe on the table.
"How are those cuts?" he gestured toward my chest.
"I'll live. I think?" I smirked.
"What do you think of her?" he asked, gesturing toward the bedroom.
"You first." I countered, laying my head down on the cool surface.
"Well, she seems nice, other than the fact that pretty recently she seemed okay with letting us get killed." He said sarcastically.
"She did save our lives." I added.
"Only because she needs us."
"Maybe."
"Either way, it' not safe to keep her around, not where we're going. Plus, her buddies might be lookin' for her."
"What do you recommend?"
"I say we take her north, to the safe-zone. It'll take a couple of days, but it's the safest place for her. And we'll be able to get back to the job as soon as possible."
I pondered this for a moment.
"Alright then."
I walked over to one of the recliners and sat down. Joe lied across the sofa on the other side of the room.
"Night, man." He yawned.
I looked over at the man who had become like a brother to me over the past few years.
"See ya in the morning, brother." I replied, looking at the bedroom door before closing my eyes.
Chapter 2