The Last of Us: Joel's Story
Chapter 1: All Hope is Gone
"The Last of Us" is quite possibly one of the best games ever made. I really hope they make a sequel. But I always wondered what happened in the twenty years before Joel met Ellie. How did he become such a ruthless survivor? How did he meet Tess and Bill? I thought I would write this story to serve as what I think could be a potential prequel to the game. I hope you enjoy!
It had been two weeks since Sarah had died. Joel couldn't understand how he had the strength to go on. She was his life, his pride and joy. Now she was gone forever.
He and Tommy had buried her in a shallow grave on the outskirts of Austin, Texas. It wasn't anything special, just a simple burial with a rock as a tombstone, and a few parting words said.
Joel thought she deserved much better. But Tommy kept telling him that they had to move on. Since her death, Joel had been living with Tommy in Dallas. Tommy had a friend named Chuck who had been living in a quarantine zone for the past few weeks.
He invited Tommy and Joel to come and stay with him. These days, Joel didn't do much except sit around in Chuck's apartment and think of Sarah. Meanwhile, Tommy and Chuck took the liberty of searching the city for supplies they could use.
It wasn't easy, both men had had several near fatal encounters with the infected, and it was getting harder and harder to sneak out of the zone without being detected. The security was getting tighter every day.
One afternoon, while Tommy and Chuck were out downtown looking for supplies, Joel laid on his bed looking at the ceiling. He thought of Sarah, and wondered if she was in a better place.
Sarah had always believed in God, and that when a person dies, they go to heaven. Joel never had the heart to tell her he didn't believe in such things. "There's no use in putting your faith in something you can't see or hear," he used to say. But Sarah believed, and that alright with him.
Everyday Joel heard story after story of more and more people getting infected and killed. When was the carnage going to stop? And as he laid on his bed thinking about Sarah and the possibility of the existence of heaven, Joel decided that he couldn't stand living in this world anymore. He had lost his daughter, his wife, everything that was dear to him. Heaven or not, he was getting out of this world once and for all.
He walked into Tommy's room and looked around. The 9mm pistol that Tommy had was still lying on top of the dresser. Shortly before they left Austin, Tommy had taken it off of a solider he had killed with Joel's .38 caliber revolver. "The more guns they had, the better," he said.
Joel walked over to the dresser and picked it up. It still had five rounds left, but he only needed one to get the job done. Taking the safety off, he raised the barrel of the gun to his mouth and gently rested it on his lips. Before he could wrap his finger around the trigger, he heard Tommy yell.
"Joel! What the fuck do you think you're doing? He said, grabbing the gun from Joel's hand.
"Tommy, don't interfere with this," Joel growled.
"You're damn right I'm interfering with it. Why are you trying to kill yourself?"
"Tommy, there's no point in living anymore. Sarah is dead, almost the entire population of earth is infected, and I'm living like a fucking bum." So just give me the damn gun!"
"No," Tommy stated firmly. "I'm not going to let you do this, Joel. Do you think Sarah would want you to?"
"Sarah ain't anymore, Tommy. Now give me the fucking gun!
Joel jumped on top of his brother and the two began to wrestle around the room. Tommy pushed the gun to the other side of the room so Joel couldn't reach it. In the meantime, he held his weight down on Joel's back, making sure that he couldn't move. But Tommy didn't stand a chance, Joel was the stronger one, and he quickly threw Tommy off of him. But before Joel could retrieve the gun Tommy grabbed it and put it in his holster. Now Joel knew he wouldn't get the gun back.
"Fine. Maybe suicide isn't the answer," Joel said.
"You're damn right it's not!" Tommy cried.
"Joel, I know life is grim, and I know it seems like it's a lost cause. But you've got to keep fighting. We're going to find a cure for this, I know it."
Joel snickered. "You always were the optimistic type."
"I'm serious, Joel," Tommy continued. "There's already been quite a bit of talk about it. Scientists may be conducting experiments as we know it. Plus I've been thinking that we should join the Fireflies. We might stand a better chance with them."
Joel snickered again, this time louder. "You are fucking unbelievable, you know that?"
"Well, what do you want me to say? That were fucked! That we should all kill ourselves!"
"At least then you would be talking sense."
"Don't be a fucking wimp, Joel. You're much stronger than that. I'm going back out to help Chuck bring in the supplies. We found a truck full of fruits and vegetables. Looks like we'll be eating healthy for awhile. When we're done, we'll talk some more if you want."
Joel walked up to his brother to look him dead in the eye.
"Just fuck off," Joel simply stated.
Tommy knew that it was hopeless. No matter what he said, he couldn't convince his brother to stay.
"Fine. But I want you out of this apartment by morning. I'm not going to watch you kill yourself. I'll give you a backpack with supplies that should last you for a couple of weeks. After that, it's all up to you. And I never want to see your goddamn face again."
Tommy left the room and Joel was left alone with his thoughts. Godamn his brother. He never could understand him. Even when they were kids he was fucking weird. But what if he was right? What if they were developing a cure? If so, he was going to be the first to see it for himself. Early the next morning just before the crack of dawn, Joel grabbed the backpack and the 9mm Tommy had left for him and left without saying goodbye.
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