Last of Us- Ch. 2
We've been driving on this road for god knows how long, if god even exists anymore with the hell he has put upon us. I had been reading the note from our now dead father over and over again. Hoping that he'd some how come back even with the situation that he's put us in.
As I come back to the realization that things are not going to change, that what we have, is all we're going to have; and that this is here to stay. I look on the road, at what looks like specks, but I know it to be more. Its people; living, breathing people… and them. The people, the normal ones, are fighting the walkers; and not doing very well, may I add. As we are nearing closer to the group of good and bad, I silently pray that my brother would drive by, and help them; but then again I hope he doesn't. I don't dare to say a word.
Closer, and closer we get; I notice that Caleb is really going by to help them, not necessarily a bad thing. As we near closer, the faces become clearer, and I slowly begin to realize who it is. Christina, her mom Tori, Will, and her brother Four. And lastly, Lauren, Four's girlfriend.
He pulls up beside them, rolling the windows. Pulling the gun that was previously perched against his hip, he fires twice, launching the bullets into each of the walkers' skulls. "Get in!" he yells towards them, signaling towards the bed of the truck, and they promptly get in, tossing their bags in first. Luckily, being from Texas, we used to go to the shooting range on a daily basis; needless to say my brother and I are a pretty good shot.
Caleb drives for another ten, to twenty minutes silently. I suppose we're all processing the current predicament, so to speak, and it'd be safe to assume, that some process slower than others. We finally pull into a little shop, the sign fallen and torn to shreds. He pulls around back, as an attempt to stay hidden; scanning the area, before placing his feet onto the black asphalt, that seems to sizzle under the recent summer sun.
As he gets out, I follow hastily along with the 5 tag-alongs in the back; the only remaining in the truck would be Adrian considering she's asleep. Caleb takes a seat atop the bed of the truck, and I take a spot next time him, the others gathered in front. "Alright, listen up," my brother begins, and I suddenly feel the butterflies of importance arrive in the pit of my stomach, "this is an amo shop, weaponry… Someone needs to stay out here, with Adrian and Lauren, considering neither of them can use a weapon; the others come with Six and myself, preferably whoever's familiar with a gun" he explains the plan, and I see Tori speak up, "I'd be willing to stay." You can feel the hesitation within my brother, wary of who, and who not to leave our little sister with; he eventually agrees.
Christina, Will, Four, Caleb and I all load up with the minimal amount of weaponry that we have, but it's enough. "Tori… I want you, and the girls to stay in the truck, do not move, talk or even breath heavily, and stay hidden. Do you understand?" he speaks sternly, because he knows he has to. Considering the mere inches of distance between the two, she only nods silently, before climbing in along with Lauren.
I stare for another moment or two, before turning on my heeling to take post next to the back door. Over the passed time, we came up with a plan. Discovering that the walker's are attracted to sound, before we go in, we will attempt to drawl any of them that are inside, out. Two, eventually three, of them come out of the building, and one by one we jam the knife into their skulls, effectively killing them if not dead already.
After the few that came out, are pulled out of the doorway, we go in. Someone pushing a door open, and three others surrounding the door to check and kill walkers. Surprisingly enough, the building seems miles long despite it looking like just a tiny corner shack on the side of a highway. We finally find what would be the main room, with many things all around the walls. Caleb signals for us to split up, and quietly tells us to collect anything that'd be of use.
Searching the side that was not already taken, as I walk back behind the counter, I gasp, loudly I suppose. "Oh my god…" I mutter, and on the floor I see what used to be Caleb and Four's old friend, Uriah. "Caleb" I holler out, barely above a whisper; he looks toward me, but before I wave him over, I decide against it. There is already too much going through our minds, his mind, and alarming him with the death of his best friend couldn't possibly help the situation so I decide to keep it quiet. There was now way I could place the guilt upon him. Maybe we didn't get here in time, and that was the cause of his death; or maybe that had nothing to do with it. I couldn't give those impossible questions to someone that'd go to extreme lengths to get the impossible answers.
Only shaking my head as a response, I turn back towards Uriah's body. Though I never exactly knew him, so I never found out his age, but he couldn't have been older than twenty, not even the legal drinking age; he had his entire life in front of him, but didn't, and for what? I feel an incredible wave of grief and guilt wash over me, how can I be like this for someone I hardly even knew? I can't. The question contains my inevitable answer, I didn't know him, therefore I should feel no grief, and no guilt; so why do I?
Despite every fiber inside of me telling myself to stop, my hand drawls closer to the boys' body. I reach inside the pocket of his jeans, silently, pulling out a wallet. Opening the old piece of leather, I reach inside; I don't pull out money, as most vandalists would desire, no; I pull out the photo inside of it, coincidentally a photograph of Uriah, Caleb, and Four at a park on my sisters birthday, back when they all used to be friends. Oh so many things have changed.
Shoving the photograph into my back pocket, I close the wallet, placing it back onto Uriah's chest before closing both of his hands together over his heart. I relish over the body, like a bit of a funeral that he'd deserve as I convince myself that I'm doing the right thing. This is what he'd want, leave Caleb to take care of him and Adrian, I convince myself, but then again, I wouldn't know what he'd want. The guilt steadily climbs itself through my chest, as I attempt to push it back down, to put it away; struggling to catch my breath through the fight.
I turn away for the last time and I quickly gather the items I'd need like amo, knife and guns, shoving them one by one into the army green cargo bag, making up for the lost time that I spent in my abyss. As I scan the wall, my eyes come across a cross bow, I pick it off the wall, slinging it over my shoulder, agreeing to myself that it'd be my weapon of choice, as I'd fallen in love with it years ago. Along with that, I push an 18" dagger into the holster placed on my hip, the black leather handle brushing the side of my stomach with each step I take.
As I finish gathering everything on my side, I turn to see the others talking, and I silently thank the world for not bringing them over to help me. "Damn Tris" my brother speaks, he was never fond of the nickname that I sometimes go by, Six. "Planning on participating in a massacre anytime soon" he jokes, as he places a smile on his lips. I only let a small laugh slip through, and can't resist letting the smile find mine too.
We promptly leave the building after gathering everything we could find. We quickly ease outside, one by one and as I exit the building I see a screaming Lauren, and the truck surrounded. Surrounded by walkers.
I sling the crossbow that was once on my shoulder, now the scope in front of my eye, as I shoot, aiming for the temple of their skulls, and hitting as many as I could when my hands are shaking with fear. As I aim at another one, and shoot, all I hear is a click; I realize I'm out of arrows, but the truck still has maybe six or seven of them surrounding it.
Peering inside through the window, I see Adrian just staring outside the window intently, and Tori attempting to settle down a screaming Lauren. Before I know what's actually happening, the door creaks open, and I see the little seven year old girl climb out; I watch my sister climb out. I decide that I cannot just stand here and watch, pulling the crossbow back across my shoulder; I yank the knife from its holster. Walking toward the last few walkers, I hear the calls of protest behind me as they stopped firing, in fear of hitting either Adrian or myself, but they're screams sound like a mile away, and it only calls the walkers closer.
The knife in my hand, suddenly finds its way into its skull, causing it to collapse. Before continuing onto the others next time, I immediately go to the one nearly on top of Adrian, as she falls to the ground crawling back. And for the first time, she screams. This seems to ignite something in me, and I jam the knife in before twisting.
Everything else at the moment appears to be gone, the other walker's, my brother, everyone. I fall to the ground along with the most recent kill, as I finally notice that I have blood splatters on my hands, arms and face. Not stopping me from continuing my current venture, I kneel next to the walkers. This woman… she would've been beautiful. I shove the knife into her forehead, once, twice, countless times, releasing the grief, guilt, pain, and sadness that I've felt within the last twelve hours. By the time someone pulls me of, the woman's face is no longer distinct, but almost gone.
Tears, streaming down my face, as the events play over me; over and over again. I look up from my own curled ball of self, to see Caleb scolding Adrian, whilst at the same time cradling her, praying to god that she'd never do that again. I stand only to be pushed back again by Four.
"The hell is wrong with you Beatrice!?" he screeches. I assume that he is referring to throwing myself out into the open, for the sake of my sister who'd put herself in danger by her own free will.
I only shrug before getting into the bed of the truck and taking a seat; we have to get going soon. Four, Lauren, Will, and Christina all get in the back with me, as Adrian stays up front, Tori and Caleb switching off to drive.
As we go down the road, the same road we've been on for what seems like hours. I stare at my hands, the same hands that are now dyed with crimson red blood. I sit with my back towards the cab of the truck, as Will and Christina lay against one another, sleeping; and Four and Lauren sit next to each other, talking, and stealing kisses when they believe I'm not looking, or maybe they know I'm looking, and they just don't care; I'd be willing to bet on that, considering our past.
Unholstering the knife from my side, I look at the blood on it, that woman's blood. I slowly slide the blade across my jeans, the only thing on my body that isn't covered with it; while humming an old folks tale song that my father taught me. I look around me to see Lauren scrunch her nose in a cringe. "Can you stop that?" she sneers conceitedly, and this only pisses me off, considering she hasn't lost anyone in this mess; with no right to be telling me what I can or cannot do, considering we saved her sorry ass.
"Can you piss off?" I retort. There's no reply, and I take that as a good thing. My eyes flicker up for a split second, crossing Four's to see him watching me intently, as I continue to wipe the knife off along with my hands, and hum the tale as the sunsets.
Are you, are you?
Coming to the tree?
Wear a necklace of rope,
Side by side with me.
Strange things did happen here
No stranger would it be
If we met at midnight
In the hanging tree.`
A/n- so, pretty intense hm? Yea, so um not much to say, I do apologize for the length between updates, I just have to put a lot of work into these chapters, and I want them to be perfect along with my other stories, so I hope it pays off. Anyway, please review if you want anything specific to happen? I'm pretty open to any suggestions, the plan I have for this story is a bit vague. So anyway, ten reviews til next chapter please! That'd be amazing, thanks for reading! Until next time, bye~