A/N: Hey guys. So bad news. I'm leaving the LOU fandom for a while. I'll come back one day, maybe after LOU 2, but for now, there will not be Last Of Us fanfiction. Unless I get a really good idea or something. I'm moving on to TMNT, so if anyone likes Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, I'll be writing about those dorks for the time being.

No it's not just for kids shut up.

Remnants: a surviving trace.

It was another half-empty house. They savaged, raided, and looted for everything they could. Sometimes Joel would accidentally grab something that didn't matter, like a box of Corn Flakes that had gone to the bugs years ago, because he was in such a hurry to move on. They couldn't stop, the infected rules this town, more than he could ever count. If they heard or saw him, the pair were trapped from all sides.

Joel waded through a sea of clothes and nicknacks to get to the closet. He noted the winter jackets at his feet.

"Ellie," he called quietly as he collected the useful items. She has at his side in a instant.

"Get some clothes for you. It's getting cold again, and I doubt any of your old ones will fit."

She nodded and knelt to sort through the pile. Joel picked up a can full of buttons and other clothing ends.

"Joel, what's this?" Ellie said, a tad louder than he would've. He gave a withering glare.

Ellie was holding an old cellphone. Not one like they had right Before but one from the late 1990's. A gray, cracked Nokia. Damn, those things lasted forever. Joel missed those.

"It used to be way to communicate," Joel started, and glanced out the window. Clickers were turning towards the house. He shook his head at Ellie. They met each other's gaze and held a silent conversation.

'What?' Ellie non-verbally asked, raising an eyebrow.

'Be quieter.' Joel glared.

'Sorry, I get excited.'

'I noticed.'

'Jerk.'

He rolled his eyes as he turned back to the closet. It was mostly empty, except for a shiny, metallic object in the left corner. Curiosity overtook him. Joel bent to pick it up.

Ah, a key chain. The things you bought but never really got around to putting them on your keys. He remembered Sarah asking him for one when they went somewhere, even though she had no place to put it. This one, he mused as he turned it over, read Tyron in sparkling, red letters.

Joel's expert ears picked up something entering the house. Shooting a pointed look at Ellie, who was in the halfway through taking off a purple jacket, he hurriedly crept to the edge of the stairs. Sure enough, a clicker was standing in the parlor and staggered out of sight.

'Damn' he cursed internally. Time to go.

He slipped back into the bedroom. Joel tapped Ellie's shoulder (a signal they'd created), then motioned to the shattered window. It was completely out. They squeezed through and landed with a very quite thump on the roof.

"Where are we going with this?" Ellie murmured to him. He shrugged.

"I'll figure it out," Joel replied, his voice no louder than a fly fart on the noise scale. Giving him a look, Ellie sneaked around the edge of the roof.

"Haystack," she whispered. He cautiously leaned over.

There was a conveniently placed haystack just a few feet from edge. The clickers were scattered fifty feet away from it. They might just be able to make it.

Ellie stood.

"If we make this jump, you are so telling me what you picked up in that closet." She leapt off the roof and tumbled into the hay. Joel waited for her head to pop out, then jumped himself.

He tried to orient himself in the hay, but found it nearly impossible. Finally, a hand grabbed the sleeve of his tattered sweater. He was pulled out of the accursed pile. Ellie looked amused as he tried to get the hay out of his jeans. They looked at one another.

'Shut up.'

'I didn't say a word.'

'You are irritating.'

'I'm fucking adorable.'

Back home, Joel and Ellie unloaded their packs onto the kitchen table. They began to sort through it.

"Two bottles of disinfectant," Ellie said as she tossed him the bottles. He caught then deftly without looking up from separating various nuts and bolts.

"Twelve medium bolts and eight nuts. Didn't you pick up some soup?"

Ellie rummaged. "Yeah, five alarm chili or something like that. You think it'll be good?"

"Dunno. I hate hot stuff."

"No shit, I couldn't tell by the way you gagged on that sandwich and salsa combo last week. Who's fucking dumb idea was it to do that?" Ellie snorted.

"Tommy," Joel answered, sound annoyed, "thought my sandwich was too dry."

"Remind me to thank him. Funniest damn thing I've seen in weeks," Ellie teased.

"Hey, I didn't laugh when you fell off your horse."

"Yeah because I fell on you. You make a nice cushion. I should fall on you more often."

"For or on?" Joel murmured smirking. It was an ongoing joke between the two that most people thought they were a couple, though he could not figure why.

"Smartassery is my job. Now tell me about all this shit we picked up back there."

Joel, scratching the back of his head, scanned the table of contents.

He picked up the Nokia. "Doubt this'll work but, it's a phone."

"A radio?" Ellie clarified. He shook his as he fiddled with the smudged buttons. Some were stuck and the pound key was missing; overall it was in relatively good shape. There was no way the battery still worked though.

"It's like that but different. Radios don't work out of a certain distance. Phones can call anywhere in the world."

"That's the only difference?" She asked, looking over his shoulder. He punched the power button. The cracked screen lit up with the telltale logo.

"Well I'll be damned."

"Whoa, this thing fucking still works?" Ellie peered wide eyes at the phone.

"Didn't think it would but I guess someone charged it not long ago," Joel said. (Because fuck logic.) "These kind of phones had a record for being almost indestructible."

"Holy fuck. That's fucking awesome. Lemme try," said Ellie excitedly. Ellie reached around to pluck it from his fingertips when the screen went black. She glared up at him.

"Hey, what'd you do that for?"

Joel placed the phone on the counter. "I didn't do nothing. The battery ran out."

"Aw what? That sucks." Ellie looked longingly at the phone.

"Relax, I'll find a charger for it sooner or later."

Ellie perked up considerably, beaming at her partner. He turned to pick up the keychain.

"Keychain, right?" Joel nodded.

"Yeah, amazing how some things survived after all that."

(A/N yes that is a dumb ending shut up.)