Plot: After a series of tragic loss Joel Miller travels far and wide surviving on his wits and experience. Always moving forward despite the unforgiving environment he encounters because a quest keeps him going in his journey.

Note: From the game The Last of Us and the live action TV series.

THE LAST JOURNEY

CHAPTER 1

I struggled for a long time with survivin',

and no matter what, you keep finding something to fight for.

―Joel Miller

"Oh holy fu…!" The woman holds the broken handle up. Similar to a cleaver, she has been using the small blade for twenty years. She bought the small cleaver from one of those small stalls in the mall when things were still normal. She liked it much better than the long knives she had in her kitchen. It has a wooden handle that has endured a lot of use and washes. And now it cracked at the slight pressure, the wooden handle has turned brittle. A quick repair of several tight wrappings of precious scotch tape had fixed the break temporarily. The important thing was that it is usable again until... "Oh shit!" Smoke starts filling the room. "Shit!" she took a rag, roughly folds it. She quickly lowers the cast iron pan on another pan near the window. The smoke from the burning toast blew out of the wide window. "So, liquid breakfast today." She grumbles as she places the kettle on the stove.

"Knock-knock! Are you up there?"

"Yeah!" she scraped off the burned bread to a pail just as footsteps thump on the creaky stairs.

"What are you burning?" A curly haired young woman steps into view, a little out of breath.

"Food."

The woman waves her over. "No time for that. Let's go. He's asking for you."

The other woman made a face. "What is it this time?"

"He asked someone to tell me to tell you…"

"I get it!" She made sure the stove's off before she took her bag from a shelf and a shotgun from another hook on the wall. "And he wants me to be there yesterday, right?" The young woman waits by the top of the stairs while the other woman hooks a lock on the door.

"You know him." she points at a door up the stairs. "Still no neighbors?"

The older woman quickly secures the main gate. "What for?" They quickly walk up the streets nodding to people they meet.

"To help you with security, gathering supplies, cleaning…"

"I might dump them to the hole if they're noisy and annoying."

"No, you wouldn't."

"Yes, I would. I'd rather get a dog."

"I thought you like cats."

"I can have them but that means feeding them both. So, no."

"What about getting a…" The young woman winks.

"A what?"

"A man?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." The woman frowns. She stops at the intersection of the village. "So where is he?" the woman looks back to the A-frame building by the park.

"He's up there." The younger woman points beyond the perimeter wall two blocks away.

"Why are they there?" The older woman looks up at the building looming up just beyond the wall that surrounds and protects the village.

"No one told me." The curly haired woman pouted and focused her irritation at the same structure.

They pass through the first guard house where the sentries wave them through. The second guard post let them enter the building after the two women crossed the parking area. The building they entered into used to be one of the active shopping malls in the city. It wasn't a big mall but its location was convenient for the bustling community on that side of the avenue. It was the first shopping mall in that immediate area and people were excited when it was completed.

"Take the stairs, then on to the cinema." One of the guards gestures. He's almost the same age as the young woman but he has an 'old person' countenance from being forced to grow up fast.

"Cinema?"

"But that's where the…"

"That's what I'm told, ma'am." The guard shrugs.

"You're lucky you were told." The young man grins with her. The older woman pulls on the curly haired woman's arm. "Let's go. I've lots of things to do today."

"What do you think this is about?" the young woman looks up at the atrium. She remembers that it was covered in glass and colorful objects would hang from the ceiling. Sunlight would stream down to the ground floor below but now it's been covered up with steel plates and rebars to reinforce the structure. When her parents were still married they used to have lunch or dinner here every weekend. When she was much younger she'd play for hours in one of those play areas at the second floor. She looks down at the mall where men guard and patrol every floor with heavy artillery.

"Beats me. Maybe he just wants to argue again."

The young woman laughs. "You're not together anymore but…"

"He's weird. He loves to argue when he gets bored." The girl snorts. They stop at another gate at the 'cinema' because it truly used to be the cinema but it has since been repurposed.

"That took a while." One of the men steps away from a group of heavily armed men.

The older woman raised both brows. "Oh, sorry. I was cooking breakfast when you called, your majesty."

"Kinda too late for breakfast?"

"Hey, dad." The curly haired woman stepped in quickly. If she didn't a word war would begin and it would be hard to get between those two. She gave the curly haired man a quick hug.

"Hey, egg." The young woman was kissed on the head by the man in baseball hat.

"Is Kai inside?"

"Yeah, go on in." the man thumbs the area towards the cinema 2.

"Hey, I'll leave you two alone but don't fight so much, okay?"

"We don't fight, egg."

"Just adult discussion."

"Yeah, right." The woman smirks and left with a laugh, curly hair bouncing in every step.

"So, what do you want?"

"Follow me."

"Where?" The woman frowns, hesitating.

"Maya, I said…"

"Tell me what it is first." Her whole appearance look so out of place standing just by the entrance of the former bustling gaming area outside the cinema. Her outfit, her weapons...she didn't used to be like this. The man had a small twitch in his heart but then….the man came back seeing her touch the handle of her machete. He sighs. "It's fine. She's not here. There's someone looking for you."

"Looking for me? Who?"

"I'll explain inside. Are you scared of being alone with me?"

"Don't flatter yourself. If that bitch hear you say that you're gonna get in real trouble." The woman called Maya stops again. "Who's looking for me, man or woman?"

"So you don't know?"

"No clue. Would you stop being so mysterious? I hate it." Maya shrugs both shoulders.

"He says he knows you."

"He?" Maya stops before the door he opens to her.

"And he sounds as if he's known you his whole life. New lover?"

"Excuse me?" The woman called Maya laughed out loud. It echoes in the high ceiling of the cinema. "New? Never even one. I don't need one."

"So who's this guy?"

"Lee, just show me the goddamn person, okay? I hate speculations."

"He's there."

Maya hesitated again, kind of stunned. "You put the guy in one of the cells? Is he …?"

"Just for precaution." Maya nods in understanding.

"You're Maya." A voice from inside the cells.

Maya turns around, "Where?" she frowns at one of the cells Lee points at. "Yes?" The man who's inside the cell stood up when Maya stops outside the door, "How do you know me?" The man seemed a little surprised; giving her a sweeping look from head to toe.

"I know Rick."

"Rick?" The woman frowns. She tilts her head, trying to remember. "I don't know any Rick."

"He's your friend."

"From where?"

"When you were in New York city." The man in the cell turns and his face became more visible in the harsh light. The man sports a thick beard and hair that is begging to be trimmed and shaved correctly. "He's African-American, bald…"

"New York…?" Maya looks up. "Oh my God! That's a long time ago!"

"So you know this Rick?" Lee asks.

"I remember now but we didn't keep in touch…we met in a coffee bar and we started talking. We had the same hobby." Maya touches her forehead. "Wow, that was almost…I don't know…almost twenty years?" she stops and looks at the man. "What's your name?"

"I'm Joel. Joel Miller." The man moves closer to the bars.

"I'm Maya and that's Lee." Maya also gave the man a full visual inspection. "So why are you here, Joel?"

"Rick mentioned you very fondly…you did him a kindness," the woman smiles a little. "Look, there was nothing for me back in my country and he said this is a good place."

"You are from America?" Lee asks.

"Yeah."

"What happened?"

"No more America." Joel shook his head.

"My God." Maya whispers and looks up the other man.

"It all went down into chaos two years after the infection started." Joel took a deep breath and hunched his shoulders.

"Did you mean you traveled all the way from the US?" Lee crosses his arms and leans back in the opposite cell.

"Not directly, no." The man sat back in the cell's shelf bed. "Sometimes by car, by bike, by horse, boat, ship….any." Maya and the man were silent. "I've been travelling a long time."

Lee sighs. Maya's jaw clenches. "Lee, let me talk to you?" Lee had a sinking feeling when he recognizes the look she gave him. "Excuse us." She address Joel then walks at a distance. Maya asks when Lee follows her. "So we are accepting him?"

"Yeah. We need people. He's strong. He's capable."

"That's good….and what?"

"The guys are afraid of him."

Maya looks aside at the man in the cell. "Why?" Lee just shrugs. "Is he infected?"

"No, he's clean. We did the test." Lee rubs the back of his neck.

"What happened?"

"The guys called me last night. Midnight. He was asking to be let in and gave your name. I went there. I told him he can enter but there's an inspection. There was some scuffle…"

"Scuffle?"

"He refused to be patted down. They tried to subdue him but he resisted and took down five of the sentries…and shot one of them."

"What? Who?"

"Jerry. In the leg." Lee pointed to his own leg.

"My God! Is he okay?"

"Yeah. He'll live. He's gonna be out of action for maybe a month. Can you take him?"

"Who? Jerry?"

"No." Lee tilts his head.

Maya went wide-eyed in surprise. "Take...him? Why me? Why not let him stay with the other guys at their dorm?"

"Didn't you hear what I said? He just beat five!" Lee holds up an open hand, "Five! And shot one. I have never seen anyone do that. So, do you want to add more to that?"

"So my own life is less valuable than your men, huh?"

"He asked for you. You think he's come all the way just to off you? Besides you have lots of extra rooms in that house. The man promised to help you out in any way as his penance."

"Oh, great! You have already decided on the matter without consulting me. As always! That's my house! I have a say on what happens there! Not you!"

"That property is near the wall and it's badly unprotected. You insist on living there…"

"Do you know why I want that place? Why do you think I want to be as far away as possible? Why do you think we are what we are right now?"

"Fucking…"

Lee and Maya stand apart glaring at each other, breathing heavy. Joel looks on as the man, Lee, removes his baseball cap and begins pacing in a wide space.

"He's a total stranger, Lee!"

"He said he knows your friend from New York."

"What if he killed my friend?"

"I did not kill him." They turn to Joel who's leaning on the bars.

"You speak the language?"

"You used English. You often do that, remember?" Lee said. "There, if you take him in you'll have someone to talk to in your precious English!

"I didn't hurt your friend. I actually asked Rick to come with me."

"Why didn't he?"

"He couldn't walk. He has a bone disease, on his back. I forgot the fucking name. He didn't wanna be a burden but he needed help. He has a lot of pride. He gave me a roof over my head and a bed to sleep. I won't be a burden for you. I've a lot of skills. I'm sorry about the men I hurt. I will also try to make some compensation for them. I thought they were bandits or worse cannibals…"

"I heard." Maya eyes her ex-husband angry at putting her in this spot but there's something about the man's voice. "Rick's dead, isn't he?" her voice broke.

"Yeah."

"How?"

"I found him at the last stages of his disease. He offered me shelter and in exchange I protected him from the cannibals." The woman Maya tore up. "I was with him when he died. I burned his body like he asked me."

"How did you survive the cannibals?" Lee asks the man.

"I killed them all."

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