Chapter One:

Joel's breathing came in short, shallow gasps. He was sweaty and his gray plaid button-down shirt clung to his back and chest. He was pretty sure he'd pulled a muscle in his left leg, and somewhere along the way he's cut his forearm badly. Blood was leaking down over his right hand.

Joel leaned his head back against the trunk of the tree he was leaning on and stared up at the dark night sky. The stars were shining, the moon was full. A cool breeze rustled the branches of the surrounding trees. If it weren't for their current situation, Joel would have found it peaceful.

Instead, all he felt was loss. In his mind, he could still hear the gunfire, he could see the corpses of so many of Jackson's steadily-growing community. He could smell the blood, and gunpowder, and smoke. It had all happened so fast, too fast. All Joel knew was that Jackson had been attacked by an extremely large group of people. And now they were out in the open.

With a loud grunt, Joel climbed to his feet. His knees cracked loudly. White-hot pain shot through his stomach and he barely kept himself from groaning. It was the wound he'd gotten after falling on a piece of rebar. It still bothered him from time to time.

He climbed the tree he'd been leaning against and sat on one of the upper branches. Using the scope of his rifle, he scanned the area around his current position. In the distance to the east, he could see Jackson, now going up in smoke. Figures were milling around the city's walls. However they were too far away for Joel to make out what it was they were doing, exactly.

Once he was sure there was no immediate threat in the general vicinity of where he was, Joel grabbed the radio from his belt, tuned it in to the right frequency and brought it to his lips.

"Ellie, you still there?"

There was a moment of silence, long enough for Joel to wonder if something had happened to her, before she answered.

"Oh, thank god," he heard her say. "You're alive!"

Joel let out a deep sigh, and felt a heavy weight lifted from his shoulders. "Yeah, I made it out alright. What about you? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, I made it out on one of the horses," she said.

"Alright," he said. "Listen to me, Ellie. Head on to the ranch house, the one you ran off to last fall. I'll meet you there as soon as I can."

"What are you gonna' do?"

"I'm gonna' go and get Tommy."

"Then I'll meet you at the dam and we can—"

"No, Elle," Joel said. "Just do as I said, alright? Please, just listen to me. Get over to that ranch house. I will be there as soon as I find Tommy."

It took several more minutes to convince Ellie to listen. Once he was sure she was on her way to the ranch house, Joel clipped the radio to his belt, slung his rifle over his shoulder and climbed back down to the ground.

It took time for Joel to reach the dam. The sun was just beginning its decent in the sky when he came within sight of the place. He stopped when he could see the dam's walls and picked a tree and climbed up into it.

He used the scope of his rifle to watch the dam.

it didn't take long for Joel to discover that they had lost the dam as well.

"Son of a bitch," he muttered through clenched teeth.

The people who had taken the dam were moving around, dragging bodies and dumping them outside of the walls in large piles. Joel tried to get a look at the corpses, see if Tommy was among their number. He couldn't make out the faces of the bodies well enough to ID them, however.

He stayed up in the tree for a minute more, then climbed back down. Once on the ground, Joel stood with the rifle in his hands. Should he try to get closer? Joel wasn't too comfortable with that idea. He wasn't comfortable with leaving without Tommy, either—

The sudden crackling of the underbrush, the rustling of leaves. Joel's entire body tensed. He spun around, bringing the rifle up.

And there was Tommy, aiming his own weapon at him.

"Holy shit," Joel said.

"Joel," Tommy said, coming over and pulling him into a quick embrace.

"C'mon, we gotta' get out of here," Joel said. He grabbed Tommy by the arm and turned him around.

The two made their way to the ranch house. And during the trip there, all Joel could think about was whether or not Tommy had any idea about Maria. And if not, how was he going to tell him?


That night, campfires were made and tents were erected inside of the dam's walls. Luther made his way through the camp, one hand on the strap of his rifle. His back was sore and his wrists were still raw from the rope he'd used on Maria the past morning.

In a small office near the center of the dam, Luther found their leader.

Anton didn't seem like leadership material at first glance. He wasn't tall, or built all that well. His long hair was pulled back in a thick ponytail. His face was mostly clean-shaven; Luther was sure Anton was physically incapable of growing facial hair.

But he was intelligent. A great tactician. Luther respected him.

Whrn Luther came into the office, he found Anton sitting on a desk that was pushed back into a corner of the room. Moonlight filtered through the window and illuminated the small office. Anton looked up from a sheet of paper he was inspecting.

"What can I do for ya' Luther," he asked.

Luther closed the office door. "I'm going out, tomorrow at dawn," he said.

"Oh, really?" Anton said.

"Yes."

"And why are you going out at dawn?"

"I'm going hunting."

"Hunting."

"Yes. There were several people who survived our attack. I want to find them."

"And kill them?"

"Yes."

Anton sighed, and pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger.

"I'm not sure that's the best idea," he said.

"Why not?"

"Because it's not necessary."

"It's absolutely necessary."

"Luther—" Anton clenched his eyes shut and sighed again. "Do you seriously think hunting down a few stragglers is that important?"

"Yes," Luther said.

"Fine. You can go out hunting. But I'm going to ask that you make this trip more worthwhile. You'd better bring back stuff we can use."

"No problem," Luther said, and slipped out of the office.


A/N: And that is chapter one. Sorry it took so long, being a father is a full time job. Let me know what you think.

~Exangellion