A/N: This is the first fanfic I've written in too long. I've really missed it, so I'm back writing for The Last of Us again.

I doubt anyone is, but the few that might remember, are probably wondering "Didn't you have another story with this name?" Answer is, yes! I did. But since then I've had a chance to play Left Behind, and gotten to know more about Riley and the TLoU world in general. So, forget about that one, and I hope you enjoy this one.

I'm going to admit, yes there are possible pairings in this story. But there will be no smut at all. I don't write it, I don't enjoy it. If it turns up in a story I'm reading, I tend to skim over it. If that is a problem, I'm sorry and I'm sure there are many great stories on here that would be more suitable for you.

That little wall of text out the way, I hope you enjoy this story.

CHAPTER ONE

Smugglers and Mallrats

The infected had claimed the lower floor. Riley's pistol was more a toy at this point. Ammo: none at all. Gone, to protect them from those things last week when they finally dared to retrieve their lost backpacks.

They were almost home free, when Riley wanted to make a detour to Fast Burger to get some food. Ellie wanted to back to Winston's tent. She was sure they had some food left over from the night they spent in the costume shop reading horror books. Food was important, sure, she knew that, but so was covering the mark that turned them both into ticking time bombs. Any second they could turn into one of those things. Riley's hand, Ellie's forearm. Two blemishes that changed them both forever.

"Come on, Ellie, it is just a couple of minutes out our way," said Riley, slipping her arms through the straps of her now mostly empty backpack. "You know Winston has enough canned food in there to last years. We can use these to carry more back."

"Alright," Ellie muttered, not so sure.

The infected presence was foreboding silent. Ellie and Riley had learned keeping quiet kept them away. Talk only when they had to, unless they were safe near the costume shop, or Winston's tent. They were careful to keep doors shut. Remain couched, and move slowly wherever they had to go, in the "infected" zones.

Everything went smoothly until Raja's Arcade. One of them had left the door open. They weren't gone that long. Had to be okay, right? No sightings in a week. Maybe the infected had gone off to another part of the mall. All the games stood there silent like relics of a lost time. Sad in its way. Someone had spent time making these games, and no one will ever see or play them again.

"Hear anything?" Riley whispered, slowly approaching the escalators. They no longer moved. As a safety precaution, they had switched the power back off.

"Nothing," Ellie replied.

No infected. Not near the carousel, into Fast Burger, while they filled their backpacks with cans of food, then through doors into the darker corridors… they stopped as if they had walked right into an invisible wall. A low moaning wail echoed down the corridor.

How had an infected gotten this far without them noticing? How long had it even been in there? Flashlights off. The girls made it half way down the shadowy frightening corridor. Both Riley and Ellie turned at the same time, realising they had forgotten to shut the doors behind them.

"Fuck! Ellie!" Riley groaned.

"Riley! Shit… behind us!" Ellie muttered.

Something had entered the corridor. Different to those runners. It was croaking. What happened next, everything was so fast, Ellie barely remembered it. They ran. Sounds of gunshots. More infected coming for them. Screaming. Slamming the doors shut behind them. Fists slamming against the door on the other side. Both of them frantically pulling the nearby boxes in front of the door. Ellie collapsed on the floor, gasping for breath, hoping the door would hold out. Riley pulled the bullet clip out of the pistol; empty.

"Empty," Riley told her.

"We are not going back in there again," said Ellie.

They had to hope the food they had held out until they turned. No ammo, no weapons, no source of food. Two backpacks of food could be enough if they rationed well. It had to.

Ellie lay on her stomach. Two of Winston's jackets draped over her for a blanket. The switchblade rested sheathed on the ground beside her. She pulled the sleeve of her shirt further down her hand. Knowing that infected bite was on her wrist made her paranoid. No one came this way who could see it. Riley didn't care. She had one of her own now. Easily hidden by a pair of gloves that the fingers could be cut off. Ellie had to wear long sleeve tops or jackets. Winston's jackets drowned her. The only thing that fit her was a shirt from a Nathan Drake costume. Could have been worse. She could have had to put on one of those vampire outfits.

She enjoyed laying on the floor reading a book behind the counter in the costume shop. A terrible book or a good book, either one suited her. Reading a good book meant she could lose herself in a new world far away from infected and an invisible ticking clock that would turn her into a mindless monster. On the other hand, a terrible book gave her something to laugh at and tell Riley just why it was so awful.

Riley rushed into the costume shop, shut the door behind her. In her haste, she forgot to lock it. She jumped over the counter. Crouched down.

"Shit! Riley… what is going on?" Ellie flung Winston's jackets off herself, with one hand grabbing hold of the switchblade in one hand, dropping the book down on the jackets with the other. For a horrible second, she thought infected had managed to get into the camp.

"Shh!" Riley hissed at her. "There are people in the mall."

"Fireflies?" Ellie whispered back.

Riley shook her head frantically. A wave of fear rippled over them, they heard the doors open.

"Unlocked," said a man. He had a slight accent. Something neither of the girls could quite place. "Only way through, unless you want to dig out that car out there?"

"Tempting," a woman replied. "But I'll pass."

"You sure this is the way?" the man replied.

"Maybe."

"You don't know, do you?"

"All I know is there is a couple of cars in here. If they work, we can pick up the fireflies' trail. Unless you want to give up, go home, forget all about our guns."

Ellie peaked over the counter.

Near the doors was a tall older looking man, black hair flecked with grey. Scruffy unkept beard. Visible wrinkles near the eyes. The woman definitely younger than him. Old enough to have known the time before. Ellie guessed she might have been older than herself or Riley when the cordyceps outbreak started. Brown hair partially tied up. A bandanna folded into a headband. Bruising around her eye.

The woman looked to the man, a slight smile on her lips. A teasing glance. The man rolled his eyes.

Ellie ducked, to stop them from seeing her.

They walked across the small shop towards the doors on the other side. Remaining crouched low, Ellie crept out from behind the counter, following them, making sure there was at least an aisle behind them. Neither of them expected to see anyone in the mall, since that solider who lived here died.

"Tess, how are we going to catch up with the fireflies?" said the man.

"Everyone knows the soldiers are driving them out, blowing them up or littering the streets with their corpses. The few fireflies left will go into hiding." The woman named Tess opened the doors. "They have our guns. That we know. If they need guns, they plan to use them. They are going to leave the QZ. If we get ahead of them, they will out run the military and run right into us."

Ellie moved to the end of the last aisle, watched them both walk out the door. She crept over to the door, looked out. Almost giving herself away, she held her hands over her mouth. Riley appeared beside her to watch the two smugglers. Tess and the man had their backs to them, looking down at the cars below.

"We ain't getting far in those," said the man.

"They could still run alright."

"Without any windows? We won't get nowhere in them. Even if we get military uniforms, they don't drive around in windowless cars."

"I know, Joel. Didn't the military use this place for rations storage, before the infected slipped through? There would be trucks or even cars in the loading bay."

"Alright," Joel replied. "We can look."

Ellie looked to Riley.

To get to the loading bay, they would have to go through that sealed off corridor with the infected.

Ellie hurried out the doors. "Don't…" was all she managed to get out.

Tess and Joel pointed a pistol at her. Ellie raised her hands to show she was unarmed. She cast a glance at her wrist to make sure the shirt hadn't rolled down. Still concealed. Riley ran out after her, pointing her gun at the two smugglers. The clip was empty, but they didn't need to know that. Her options were limited if they called her bluff.

Joel's tense posture softened at the sight of the two girls. Not enough to make him lower his gun, but still enough for him to think twice before shooting. He figured they were just a couple of kids who ran away from the orphanage. Even kids sent out by their parents to scavenge supplies from the forbidden parts of the QZ wouldn't be out this early in the morning.

"Put the gun down," Tess ordered.

"You first," Riley replied, standing her ground.

Joel lowered his gun, slipped the pistol back in the holster on his belt. He looked to Tess do the same. Still weary, Tess lowered her gun, but she did not put it away. Riley's hands fell to her waist.

"What were you trying to tell us?" Tess asked.

"Don't go to the loading bay," said Ellie. She pointed to the door they had locked. "There are infected in there. We had to block off the door."

"We can handle it," Joel muttered.

"Are you looking for the firefly hideout?" Riley asked.

"In a way," Tess replied. She guessed they had heard the entire conversation.

Riley tapped Ellie on the shoulder. "Could I have a word?"

Ellie nodded.

The girls walked away from the two smugglers. Huddled closer, whispered to each other.

"Riley, you can't go back to the fireflies. Are you forgetting our problem? If the soldiers don't kill us first, the fireflies will shoot us on sight."

"Girl, I know what I'm doing. All the fireflies will be gone by now. The last of them will have left the QZ by now. I'm not going to take them there for nothing. If we plan to live here until we turn, everything will be easier if all those infected are dead."

"Alright. But we won't tell them about us."

While this conversation was going on, Tess and Joel glanced at the kids.

"How do you wanna play this?" said Joel, in a quieter tone.

"I honestly don't know," Tess replied. "They are just kids. Shooting them isn't right. We have done some pretty shitty things, but killing kids…"

"What if they are playing us?"

"Nah. The girl said firefly hideout, not us."

Ellie and Riley returned, having come to an agreement.

Riley put their cards on the table, so to speak. "I can take you right to the firefly hideout, and in return… we want your help killing the infected in this place."

"Alright," said Tess. "What if the fireflies are gone with our guns?"

"If they are, I can tell you where they are going, and mark off everywhere on a map they will probably make camp along the way."

Joel glanced from Ellie to Riley. "If we kill all the infected, what do you get out of it?"

"We just want to live here," said Ellie. Lowering her voice, she muttered, "For as long as we can."

Riley and Ellie had to go back to their camp to get their backpacks. They returned to find Tess looking down at the floor below. Gun raised—not pointed at anyone. She held it up, so it was ready to shoot if needed. Joel had gone to the other side of the balcony, looking at the floor below at a different angle. He seemed to be pointing at something.

"What is he doing?" Ellie asked.

"Looking to see if there are any infected down there," Tess replied.

"Are there?"

"Might be," Tess replied.

Joel met with them near the locked doors. "Might be some down there."

Tess turned to the girls. "What are your names."

"I'm Ellie."

"Riley."

Tess gestured to herself. "Tess." Then to Joel. "Joel."

Joel nodded at the mention of his name.

"What weapons do you have on you?" said Tess.

Ellie opened her hand flat to reveal the sheathed switchblade she had concealed in her fist.

Riley glanced towards the gun in her hand. "But I'm out of ammo."

"Alright, Ellie, you stay on Joel's heels. Riley, you stick close to me, until we can pick up some ammo. Surprising how many of these things are armed when they turn."