Survival Upon Arrival

"C'mon! We gotta get outta here!"

"I… I can't… I'm Exhausted…"

"C'mon Mom! We're almost there! Just to the door!"

"Son… just go… I can't… I can't last much longer…."

"No- No, C'mon mom! You can do it! C'mon, just lean on me and just-"

An 11 year old boy and a 32 year old woman crash through a pair of metal kitchen doors, as they fall over the boy rushes and slams the door shut, he looks round looking for anything to barricade the door with. He comes across an old, rusty lead pipe, he quickly picks it up and slides it in-between the bars of the kitchen door handles.

'Ok… gotta think… that isn't gonna hold…' the boy thought, he looked around more, all he could see was rusty barrels and broken shelves, maybe a few broken crates. Then he noticed that there was an old, chipped and beaten up wardrobe against the other side of the room.

He runs and tries to push the wardrobe with everything he had, but it only moved at a very lethargic pace.

'Fuck this…' The boy run to his mom and tries to pick her up.

"C'mon mom! We can't stay here! We gotta move!" He said as he tries to pull his mother to her feet, but the no avail.

"I can't… go any further hun… I'm… I'm too weak…" She slouches against a wooden crate as she coughed up some more blood; her son looked in horror as the events unfolded in front of his eyes.

"Mom, it's gonna be ok. We're gonna get out of here… we just gotta…" The boy tries to not break down in front of his mother, but try as he might he couldn't keep it bottled. His mother looks at him with a gentle smile.

"Don't worry honey; you can get through this without me. You have to go, before…. It's too late…"

The boy looked at his mother with shock and disbelief, she'd never given up before… so why…

"Mom no! I can't leave you! I don't wanna lose you!"

"It's ok, find somewhere safe and don't be afraid. Never be afraid…" She coughs again, resulting in more blood being extracted from her body.

The boy was going to continue this argument, but as he tried the door banged and slammed. Walkers…

"GO! You don't… Have much time…"

"But-"

"GO!"

As he took one last look at the door, the boy hugged his mother for the last time and then ran towards one of the open windows, jumping through and landing into safety….

4 years later…

Joel and Ellie had been walking for about 4 hours straight, after what happened in the Hospital and the situation with the fireflies, they hadn't really change their outlook on each other, sure there was arguments but there was also happy and peaceful moments where Joel told stories of his past life and Ellie told Joel her dreams that she had. She didn't know what they meant but most consisted of flying or swimming in an empty ocean with Joel.

As they walked through the deserted city of Chicago, they looked around the shops and the old convenient stores that were around. There were a lot of tram carts that were around Chicago and to be fair it still looked like it was liveable. There wasn't a lot to do but it seemed safe, and honestly there wasn't a lot of Walkers around.

"Joel! I found something!" Ellie shouted with an excited tone in her voice.

Joel jogged to her to investigate what she had found, Ellie had a knack for finding interesting and helpful things on their travels together; they had a chemistry that could be explained.

"What you got girl?" Joel said, looking in the direction Ellie was looking.

"Look! It's a bunch of old comics! They look kind of different too."

Joel looked at a box full of comics, he picked it up and walked into the store that they had found it in. Joel walked up to the front counter and placed the cardboard box on the side of the counter. He picked one out and read the title out.

"Black Lagoon… Huh… that sounds familiar"

"You've read it?!"

"Well… I haven't but I remember Sarah having a collection of these, what did she call them….. It was a Japanese thing… Manga!"

"Manga?" Ellie looked at Joel like he was insane; she had never heard this word before and didn't even know what it meant!

"Ummm… They're like Comics but they're black and white, they're similar, I think the only difference was that the stories were aimed at adults instead of kids…" Joel's face went Annoyed when he remembered Sarah going on and on about this one Manga called 'death Note' ;She had a crush on one of the characters and she never kept quiet about it…

"Wow…. They sure are different… What the hell is a baka…?"

"Fuck if I know…. Grab a few you want, I'm gonna go in the back and see if there's any supplies."

" 'Kay, I'll just…wait out here then." Ellie started looking for more of the manga book, it seemed like a while since Joel and Ellie had had a chilled out conversation, mainly due to the night at the hospital…

After about 15 minutes of rummaging through the comics and manga book, Ellie and Joel set off again, It wasn't long after they went down an abandoned town with empty shops and broken down cars that they came to an old rooked house, Minus a few bricks missing and some of the roof missing the thing looked pretty stable for the night, it was getting close to sun set anyway….

Ellie and Joel looked round the living room, Two three seated sofas and a Lazy boy recliner; as well as the Red wall paper and a TV set; That still looked intact, and draws full of family stuff.

Joel looked up the stairs and was wondering whether it was safe to spend the night here or somewhere else.

"Want me to come up too?" Ellie said looking up the stairs too, then back at Joel.

"No, I need you to look for supplies down here, see if you can find any food too. We're running a bit low." Joel said, Hoping Ellie would just do it instead of complain like she usually does, Ellie sighed but she did as she was told; it was better than 'You stay here, I don't want you in the way.' But they hadn't really stepped on each other's' toes after they got into the town, After Joel promised she seemed more respected and trust worthy and vice versa for Joel.

Ellie looked through the draws in the kitchen, there wasn't much but there were some things they could use in combat; mainly Nails, scissors and a few flammable substances. As she went through them Ellie heard the door slam, she froze…

'Shit! Have I been caught?! Please tell me I haven't been caught…' Ellie Thought in her head as she worried.

But as Ellie did turn she saw a boy; roughly her age, he was wearing camo trousers and had a Black Shirt that had two fists together with the knuckles having the words 'Str8 Edge' on them. His hair was very dark with a hint of brown and had a small amount of stubble below his cheeks that curved to his chin with a goatee that only just branched off of his chin and his chin only. He wore dirty navy Converses and had his hands roughly taped from his knuckles to halfway down his forearms.

Then she noticed something that wasn't very good… He was bleeding from his forehead…quite a lot… it had covered his entire forehead and was running down his cheeks. He looked up and acknowledged Ellie, who froze again after he noticed her. He looked at her for only a few second; which to Ellie felt like hours, then he just continued what he come in for. Ellie felt awkward and just stood there, not knowing what to do. He was calm and didn't really have any actions of hostility, but then again neither did David… This boy started rummaging through the cupboards for something, after about a minute going through every cupboard he came across a bat; which he snatched and started looking for something else… he pulled out some nails that he found and a hammer, he started to bang away at the nails as they sunk into the bat and came out the other way

When he was done he was about to leave when Joel came rushing down the stairs to see him next to Ellie, Joel acted on what he saw and pulled out his .45 Pistol; pointing the barrel straight in face of the kid.

"Get away from her!" Joel shouted, the boy looked from the barrel and then to Joel, He did move, but towards Joel and pressed his cut open forehead on the tip of the barrel and just glared at him with a bitter, sour look.

"Pull the trigger…." The boy said in a surprisingly low voice "Not like you haven't done it before…." He said in Bitter and Foul mood. Joel Just looked at him for another 30 seconds, Joel looked over at Ellie to see worry on her face, regret overwhelmed Joel and lowered his gun.

"I'm sorry… We just came here to-"

"Save it! Get what you want and get the fuck out…" He Stepped passed Joel and took his bat with him. Ellie looked at the boy in shock, they were getting kicked out?! Then she made a decision that she was scared to do but did it anyway.

"Hey! Scruffy cheeks!" Ellie said, getting passed Joel and near the door where this kid was standing at. He turned and looked at her with a mono face, no angry or bitterness on his face at all. "Please let us stay, even for just one night! We need sleep and there nowhere else to go… Please…?" Ellie said, almost begging.

The boy was about to answer when a line of bullets shot through the boarded up windows, the glass on the other side shattered, the boy, Joel and Ellie all took cover. Joel was beside the door and the Teenager was on the other side, Ellie was under the window that had been shot through.

"YOU FUCKING RUNT! WE'RE GONNA KILL YOU!" Shouted a man from the other side of the small street. Joel took a look and saw there were at least 7 men out there with guns; ready to kill this one kid. They fired some shots, as they did the boy ran up the stairs and disappeared from Joel and Ellie's view.

"Where are you going?!" Ellie shout, He didn't respond.

"Ellie! Get to some cover!" Joel said in worry as he shot his pistol 3 times as covering fire.

This wet on for two more minutes until a loud crashing shot was fired, as one of the bandits fell dead. Joel and Ellie looked outside and saw another man fall as another shot was fired. Eventually all the men were dead and the shots stopped. Ellie looked up the stairs and saw that the boy was coming down them.

"Where did you go?!" Joel shouted, "We were down here shooting these guys while you decide to go play dolls upstairs! Just because you get cold feet-"

The teen just threw a Sniper Rifle at Joel and walked passed him, Joel looked over the Rifle and felt the barrel, Joel's hand reflected from the barrel straight away, it was red hot and had burnt his hand from just a simple touch. It had been recently fired.

Ellie Looked over to the boy and saw he was picking up all the supplies the bandits had and bashing them all in the head with the bat he had in his hand. He came back with all their guns and threw them on the Lazy boy. He looked at them and pointed to the sofa.

"Sit" he said bluntly, Joel wasn't one for following orders and to be honest neither was Ellie, he never thought he'd see the day when she actually listened to someone. She sat down and got comfy on the sofa, she wasn't cocky but she wasn't all miss goody-two-shoes ether. Joel just followed suit and sat with his hands on his knees.

They both looked at this kid who was still bleeding from his forehead. As they sat he went passed then to the kitchen; coming back after a minute and threw them both a can of Pepsi and one for himself. They were kind of warm but they weren't flat surprisingly. He sat on the edge of the arm of the lazy boy; seeing as the rifles were taking the seat, and opened his can, he took a sip and looked at them while leaning his elbows on his knees, so did Joel.

"This is how it's gonna go…" The boy said putting his can on the coffee table, "You two can stay here, but there are gonna be rules. Nothing too strict, just so we don't end up dead…"

Joel and Ellie were surprised by the offer and were glad to hear it. They sat on the edge of their seats waiting for the rules.

"Number one: Don't go out after sunset… as much fun as playing hide and seek in the dark outside world sounds, I'd rather keep the skin of my neck…." Ellie smiled for a second at the boy's dark humour, she was always entertained by dark humour mainly because of Joel.

"Two: If you do get bitten tell me, I'm not gonna freak out… We can take care of it in a less dramatic way which is fine for all of us."

"Third: You two can sleep in the spare bedrooms, there are two beds there and there are extra covers and sheets for both of you." Joel sighed in relief that he wasn't gonna spend the night on the couch.

"Forth: No Stealing… You can take whatever you want from the kitchen and anywhere else, except my room, which is in the attic. Apart from that you can do what the fuck you two feel like. Any questions?" Ellie put her hand up and smirked as a mock towards the boy.

"What?" he said in a mono tone

"What's your name?" She said, in a childish tone

"James bond….." He said in his annoyed mono tone, as Ellie shinkered and took another drink of her can. "My name is Phil Azuma." He said standing up and taking his can to the kitchen as he chugged the last mouthful.

"So your Japanese?" Joel asked, standing up from his seat and heading to the kitchen

"No, I'm American. Just that my Grandpa was Japanese and I just had his last name." Phil walked over to the guns and grabbed them, he then went up to his room and didn't come down after that.

Ellie threw her can from a far and aimed for the bin; which it missed…

"Fuck… I can never do that…" She said picking up the can and putting it in the bin

"So what do you think?" Joel asked

"I think he's a bit pissed at you for aiming a gun at him but I think he's a cool guy, seems alright." Ellie shrugged, Joel's face went to a mono frown.

"I was talking about the house…."

"oh…" Ellie blushed a little, Joel laughed a bit and walked over to the sofa; Sitting down and relaxing.

"I'm gonna… have a look around…" Ellie said, walking up the stairs.

Ellie looked around each room, there was a bathroom which had a decent toilet, two bedroom with one king size bedroom in. Ellie saw a pair of handcuffs on the metal frame of the bed and Blushed at the sight of them. She moved onto the bedside draws and looked inside them; all she found was about 4 packets of condoms and a bottle of KY jell.

"Do these people do anything apart from fuck?!" She whispered in annoyance as she slammed the draws shut. She walked out of the room and saw that the ladder to the attic was down and the hatch was open. She took a step up the ladder and another, ever so slowly as she made her way up to the top. There she found 'Scruffy Cheeks' as she called him from before; he just sat there on the floor, leaning against the wall, cleaning the barrels of each of the rifles he took from the bandits.

Ellie walked over to him as the floor boards squeaked at her every step. He looked at her; making eye contact with her emerald green eyes. Phil looked at her as he sat the rifle down and picked up another, he started cleaning it as he broke away from her look.

"Hey uhhh, Thanks for letting us stay. Not a lot of people trust each other nowadays." Ellie said, rubbing her arm and smiling a little.

"Well… to be honest I was thinking of just kicking you two out after you asked… So don't be too pleased with me…" he said in a cold yet soft voice

"What made you change your mind?" Ellie asked leaning a little to the left to look at him more from the front.

"Honestly… I don't have a fucking clue…." Phil and Ellie smirked; Phil looked at Ellie again at her soft and gleaming eyes as the shone in the moon light.

"Sorry about Joel by the way… He's a bit protective over me when it comes to my safety, even after I saved his life…" Ellie said, rolling her eyes.

"Shit happens, he seems alright… despite him pointing a gun at my face but…. Meh…" he said shrugging his shoulders and looking up at the moon for a second, then back at Ellie, she seemed a bit uncomfortable just standing there and she looked cold too in just her long sleeved shirt.

"You never did tell me your name." Phil said

"It's Ellie" she said shyly

"Well, if you're planning on staying then you might as well sit down." Phil said with a smirk on his face, Ellie nodded and sat next to him, not too close though.

"You cold?" Phil asked, Ellie nodded again, but more gently this time. Phil stood up and walked over to his closet, he grabbed a hoodie with four Chicago style stars on the sleeve , a logo that had the letters 'GTS' on the front with a lightning bolt under them and Writing on the back saying 'Best in the World', He threw it to Ellie, who took off her backpack and put it on; zipping it up in the process. The sleeves had two slits in them where Ellie put her thumbs through. The hoodie looked a little big for Ellie and it showed as Phil flicked the hood over her head and it covered almost her entire face.

"Hey! That's not nice!" Ellie said, in a mockery pout as she punched Phil in the arm.

"Well I'm not a never nice person, so ner!" Ellie stuck her tongue out at him and her smirked, While Phil carried on with modifying the rifles and taking them apart, Ellie grabbed her back pack and pulled out one of the manga books she had grabbed, it looked like a Comedy called 'Watamote'. Ellie read the first few pages and then after another two minutes she spotted from the mirror of Phil's closet that he was reading along too. She ignored him for a minute before hitting him over the head with it lightly and then continued reading, basically telling him 'piss off'

"I read that Manga before." Phil said, as he placed a sight on one of the rifles.

"Really?!" Now he had her attention!

"It's really funny, not gonna spoil it though…" He said looking to his side as he smirked

"You suck, you know that?" Ellie said, pouting and continuing to read.

"I'm not a girl, so I don't do fellatio…" He said as another smirk crept on his face. Ellie blushed and hit him with the book again.

"You take that back!" She giggled

"Fraid not."

"Fraid so!"

"Friad not."

"Ahhhh! Your such a-"

"Oh relax woman! I'm kidding! Would it make you feel better if I gave you a hug?"

"I don't want your hugs! I hate them!"

"Oh my poor heart is shattered!" He said, mockingly holding his chest and falling to his side.

Ellie started to giggle, and dove on him with all her might. Phil just sat there as Ellie pinned him down.

"Ha! I trapped you!" Ellie said, giggling.

"You look natural riding on my hips." Phil said, Ellie just blushed and moved as soon as the word registered in her head.

"Screw you!" Then Ellie mentally slapped herself for saying that, Phil just shook his head as he sat back up.

"You should probably go to bed; it's about mid night now."

"I guess so… I'll go get Joel and then get to sleep."

"Ok, Have a good night Ellie."

"Night!"

As Ellie stood up and walked down the ladder, as she approached Joel and heard him snore, she shook her head and grabbed something to cover him with. She gave him a cover and went off to bed.

As she went off to bed, she heard something come from Phil's room, sniffing and heavy breathing, Ellie was confused, she slowly walked ladder, step by step. When she got to the top she saw Phil hugging his legs and his head buried in his knees, he was making those sniffing and heavy breathing noises… like he was crying…

"Phil… Phil are you ok?"

As she asked she didn't get a response, as she looked at his she noticed some shattered glass on the floor and a photo frame. Ellie walked over and crotched near the frame, stepping on the glass with her shoes no, making sure not to kneel on the glass directly with her knees. As she looked at the photo she noticed a younger version of Phil with shorter hair, along with a Male; who looked roughly forty years old and a woman who looked like she was in her early thirties. But what really go Ellie's attention was the woman… it was Tess…. She had Phil on her knee and she sat with Phil on her knee.

"Phil…. W-who is the woman?"

"That's…. my mom…"

To be continued…

For those who are my Follower (Not fans, I don't have fan's, you are all my fello readers. I am your equal), I'd like to say a big sorry to all of you for my other story being on hold, I will be finishing it and there will be a sequel at the end of my High school year (Sometime in May I think, I don't really know) I Haven't forgotten any of you, I love you all. If you would like to go to my Twitter then go to Kuzon98 and follow all my stuff, I will be placing the clothes that Phil was wearing and the Hoodie which yes was another wrestling reference but FUCK IT I LOVE THEM!

For those who are reading this and are new, then please Review because even if your just gonna call me a dick then I'd really appreciate it (as weird as that may sound… but I like hearing people opinions and any ideas they might have)

Thanks for reading and have a very good day! ^.^