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.
Music: THE LAST OF US Part II Ambient Music 🎵 Road To Jackson (LoU 2 OST | Soundtrack) by z3n Pnk
A/N:
CHAPTER 9
I cannot remember exactly the first time your soul whispered to mine, but I know you woke it. And it has never slept since.
~JM Storm
"Here…" Maya guides Joel to another street. They passed by the street that directly leads to the clubhouse. It's off of the main street and the houses on this street were behind the school. There's another much larger building beside the school and there's Maya's office building. "We have to return Teddy to the school."
They finally got to the faded green gate but it is shut when Maya tested the gate. "It's Maya." She whispers at the crack between the metal gate and the concrete frame. After a few seconds there was movement and voices behind the metal gate then someone slid the bolt open. It opened with a metallic screech. Wide-eyed and scared faces behind the gate steps back to let them in.
Joel stands at an alley-like area behind the high concrete fence of the school. Another teen hurriedly closed the gate. "Down you go, kid." Joel was kind of surprised when the boy took his hand.
"Ayesa was about to look for him." The boy who closed the gate looks at Teddy.
"Matty. Eat!" The boy hands the other ear of corn to his sister.
"Matty, it's okay." Maya comforts Teddy's sister as she clings to her waist. "Who let Teddy out?" Maya addressed the ten or so teenagers.
"Tita*, we didn't know he went out. Matty woke us up she said Teddy left." The oldest teen, a girl, explained. "We didn't follow because that's what we were told: stay where we are."
"You did the right thing." Maya nods, she lays a reassuring hand on the girl's shoulder. "Is that true Teddy?" The boy nods, bits of corn fell on his shirt like yellow dots. "What did I tell you? It's dangerous!"
"Fighting!" With a fierce frown Teddy blurts his only explanation on his defense but he spit out some corn. Chuckling like the others, Joel brushes off the bits of food from the boy's face.
"Tita, they were fighting at the clubhouse!" the boy at the gate exclaimed pointing beyond the fence.
Maya looks worried as she brushes a hand on her forehead. "I need to go. Joel, please stay with the kids…."
"But…"
Maya grasps his arm, her eyes begging. "I would feel better if you're here. Go up the third floor, that's where the kid's dorm is and there's a good vantage point at the middle window. Kids, follow what Joel tells you, okay?"
"Okay, I'll stay. Be careful." Joel reaches out and lays a hand on Maya's back, she returns the gesture by giving the same arm a slight squeeze.
"Ayesa," Maya took the girl by the side, they talk quickly.
"Yes, tita!" Ayesa nods. The kids whisper their goodbye to Maya then she left quickly and the gate was locked firmly.
The kids turn to Joel, young faces anxious. "She'll be okay. Well," He gestures ahead. "Lead the way, kids." Teddy pulls Joel's hand and he follows the group of children to another reinforced door.
It was astounding to Joel that at these kids are all living on fighting mode at their age. All of them have a dagger or some sort of weapon strapped around their waist or around their chest, the teen who stayed behind to man the gate has a bolo, even Matty and Teddy were armed.
"How in the world did you go past these?" Joel looks down at Teddy as he and the children went through several barricades and reinforced gates.
"It's for the infected and bad people, not for us." A boy spoke up; he has two knives in his arm braces.
"He's Teddy the mouse." The girl Ayesa said. "He knows the small spaces where to go."
"Are you the leader, Ayesa?"
"Kinda." The girl shrugs.
"Ayesa is the boss!" Teddy quips.
"Ah, you're the quartermaster here."
"Not really. I'm just the oldest."
"But all of us have a job to do, too." Says the boy. "I'm Drake." The kid points to his name on his arm brace. Joel nods in acknowledgement.
"I'm Teddy! This is my corn!" Teddy said proudly. The kids giggled.
Joel looks up when they arrived at the third level. There were a line of young faces peering along the rails and the balustrade, staring down at him as they go up the stairs.
Half of the kids went to their rooms maybe to go back to sleep and half went back to the various spots to the windows at the hallway, after they have satisfied their curiosity about the big man, that is. It was a weird experience for Joel to be surrounded with mini-warriors.
"They've never seen other people like you." Ayesa gestures at Joel.
"Like me?"
"Uhm, different skin. Different color."
"Ah. A foreigner. Yeah, makes sense. You're all born after the Infected pandemic."
"We call it zombie pandemic."
"You're right." Joe looks on as the kids dispersed and relieved other kids manning the windows. Joel follows Ayesa and the others to the window that has the clubhouse in sight. "Can you hear what they're saying?"
The kids shake their heads but angry voices could be heard all the way up their location. It wasn't hard to tell that the words were expletives of profanity and curses. It sounds stronger from the way the words were delivered and with such force especially at the end of the sentence. That makes the hair on Joel's nape stand up. He hates not knowing what's been happening.
"Tito*, you can go." The boy Drake, the one with the knife bracer turns to him. The kid frowns at Joel's pacing but he doesn't sound annoyed.
"We can take care of ourselves." Ayesa adds. "This is our training too."
"Tita need help." Teddy points to the grounds across them.
"Teddy! Matty! I'm here!"
"Papa!" Teddy turns to the door as a tall man enters. "Fighting!"
"I know." Kai picks up Teddy, Matty has gone back with other kids of her age to another room. "I heard from the walkie. Hi Joel. I'm Kai." They shook hands, both murmured that they wish they met in better circumstances. "What's happening?" Patty's husband looks out the window while Joel has a deep furrow on his forehead.
"I'm not sure right now. Earlier it was about Carl."
"Papa…" Teddy whispers something to his father.
"Teddy said you want go there."
"I'm worried for Maya but she…"
"Told you to look after the kids. Go. I'm here now."
Ayesa took something from a locked cabinet. "Tito Joel, tita Maya says you need ammo. Here."
"Thanks. " Joel takes the box from Mari. "Right ammo, right rifle." He shakes the box, impressed that a young person like her knows her stuff.
"That's part of our lessons."
"May I see what's in stock?" Joel nods to the cabinet.
"Zombies!" Someone shouts and then a bell rang.
Kai puts Teddy down and Joel follows him to another door. It's another room with bunk beds. Everyone now is awake. The kids from the top bunk are going down the short ladder. The entire building resounds of the children's footsteps as they follow the older kids to their posts.
"Fuck! That's a lot!" Joel got goosebumps as he counts about half a dozen or maybe more infected. He ran back to the other room. "I need a big weapon!" Ayesa hastily opens a door. He steps in the small cubicle and grabbed what he saw hanging right in the wall. "Awesome!"
"It's loaded." The girl grabs some ammo and hastily follows Joel back to the other room.
"Even better!"
Joel pries open one of the glass windows and positioned the barrel of the semi-automatic rifle on to the window grill a little lower than his shoulder level. The height is just perfect. Muscle memory took over; legs properly braced, the stock of the rifle nestled correctly for the recoil. Joel directed the crosshairs at where the infected were crawling out from across the closed off boulevard. There is one out and two about to. He took a breath and held it…
"It's a hit!" Behind binoculars, Ayesa confirms as Joel targets an infected one after another. Sprays of bright and dark blood burst out. The compact boom of the rifle and spent slugs makes a clear clinking sound as they fall to the concrete floor.
"Where do they come from?" Kai asks over his shoulder, between shots.
"There's a hole! A barricade was moved!"
"What?" From another window Kai got one of the targets that have gotten near the building. They were much too close and they moved away looking for victims.
"Shit! I can't see the others!"
"The roof!" Ayesa waves Joel.
"Go!" Kai waves them on. "Go!"
Joel runs with Ayesa to a fire exit door, their footsteps echo in the semi-dark stairwell lit by a low watt bulb. Joel was glad that some selected areas have power. He and Ayesa reached the top of the stairs to a red door, the girl pushes it open. A gust of wind meets them when they stepped on the rooftop. The girl went to the 'right' side of the building where the infected are heading. They could faintly hear the sounds that Joel thought he would never hear again.
"Shit," Joel peers in the scope. "It's dark. I might hit someone!" he growls.
"Trust your instincts, tito." The girl's tone reminded him of Ellie. Fucking hell.
"Maya taught you that?"
Ayesa shook her head. "Manny is my dad."
"Ah,." Joel pans the rifle. "Here goes nothing." Joel chose a target. "I got one."
"Hit!"
Someone looks up after felling an infected. "Maya!" The silver gleam that could be from a sword could be seen swinging here and there. Joel feels a dread in his chest. Gunfire could now be heard and people's voices, screams and shouts.
"There!" The girl pushes the barrel to Joel's left.
"You mother fuckers…sorry." The girl just laughs at him.
"There!" Another infected fell, and another, and another. Joel made sure every bullet counts.
"Shit. Too dark! I can't see. Let's move!" They move a few more feet to the corner of the rooftop. Here, they could see much better from the light coming from a few areas.
"The fence!" Ayesa points to a bloater shuffling over to the old school fence. It has been rigged with barbed wire on top and reinforced and blocked with anything that Maya's people can find. "Bloater! The gate!" Ayesa shouts to the people below and points. A group of people went to it and try to brace the fence.
"I can't fucking see it!" Joel looks down and beyond the safety wall of the building there's a ledge about the width of two floor tiles that's blocking his view. "I gotta go there!"
The girl shakes her head. "It's dangerous, tito!"
"I hope you're strong enough, kid." Joel quickly puts the rifle against the wall. "You're gonna help me lean over there. Give me that bag." He dumped everything out of the simple canvass bag with a long strap where the girl put the ammo and cartridges. Joel tugs the straps. "It seemed strong enough. Maybe." Joel slung the strap across his chest. Next, he swings a leg over the wall. Holding on to the safety wall he then tests the ledge's stability. "Well, seems fine."
"I'll call dad!"
"No time, kid! Look!" The bloater is battering the gate; using its sheer bulk. It's pushing against the gate to demolish it. The people on the other side were pushing back. They keep calling more people.
"Oh, my God!" Ayesa gasps. "That's dad and tita!" she points at two people who are guarding the backs of the villagers. "More zombies arriving!"
"Gun please." Joel adjusts the strap then reaches for the weapon. "Grab the bag. Brace yourself. Ready?" The girl didn't hide her trepidation; she shakes her head but she held the straps tightly. Joel has to move more to the edge to get the full focus of the target. "Stay there. Stay there…" Joel whispers; if the bloater moves to the right side or under the ledge he would lose the bloater altogether. The cross hairs found the target.
"I got you, you motherfucker."
xXXx
Clubhouse-
Maya didn't understand why there was suddenly chaos. When she came back to the clubhouse everyone's fighting just like Teddy says. Vangie was outside the clubhouse being consoled and checked by one of the grandma's who was a retired doctor. She has high blood pressure.
Vangie and the grandmas said when Maya left, Rina's boys, started talking shit about them, the village and everyone in it. Tempers that were already short flared some more until someone threw the first punch and boom!
It was ugly, Vangie said, the fighting was all over. Rina looks like she's enjoying herself. Lee lost his temper too and slapped the woman when she started badmouthing Maya and their daughter to him. Maya was shocked. Lee was not perfect; he's a cheater, yes, but he was never violent to her or Patty ever.
It took Manny's men some time before they separated the two groups but the loud voices and the yelling didn't stop immediately. That was what Maya saw when she came back.
She wouldn't have left the children if it were not for Joel. There's something about him that is comforting and invites trust. The kids. That's the litmus test. They like him. That's enough for Maya. Maya didn't know it but she just realized that that was such a turn on in a man.
Everyone stopped. They stopped shouting, yelling and talking. It took the adults a second to realize the ringing was the alarm bell at the school.
"The kids!"
"What's that?" Maya frowns.
"What's what?" Vangie stands.
"Quiet! Shh!" Maya held up a hand. "What the hell…Manny!"
The former policeman rushed out, he stops by Maya. "What?"
"Listen!" Wide-eyed with terror Manny and Maya looked at each other.
"No motherfucking way…!" The man pales; the growls, the yowling and screams of the infected. It's growing louder. "To your posts! This is not a drill!" His men repeats the words s everyone could hear.
"I'll bring the grannies to the safe house!" Patty and Maya quickly hug. "I love you! Be careful!"
"I love you! Be careful too, egg!" Maya follows Manny after he gave his people quick instructions. The council members know what to do with their areas, after they got their heads together.
As she and Manny and some of his men run to the school Maya realizes that they've gone a little soft and careless. They have wasted a lot of time yakking about Rina and her useless lot when the decision is plain and simple: expulsion. This night and their negligence could have cost them a lot of lives.
"Where are the sentries?" Maya asks when she doesn't see any gun fire over the wall near the school.
"Good question." Manny growls.
The infected didn't come from the school as they assumed, they came from the southern side of the village. It was good in a sense that the rest of the school has a high concrete wall.
When the infected attack started years ago they have barricaded it in sections. The previous main entrance of the school that faces the avenue has been cemented over so nothing can enter that ever. The wide village gate beside the school have been cemented over as well save for a single person access gate. It's kept closed and padlocked with only a few people holding the key, one of whom is Maya and the other two were Manny and Albert.
The school gym used to have a different entrance to the side of the school but that has been closed off and sectioned as well. The village has created a circle within a circle security parameter full of stakes, barbed wires, rocks and slabs of prefab material from the unfinished building construction along that road.
So how the infected did get through?
Just like what Joel said the infected entered through the outer perimeter that is across the avenue. Earlier in the spores pandemic when the heavy equipment from the construction still has fuel they carefully piled cars, buses and trucks for blockade and as the years went on they added other kinds of materials to fortify the southern area.
"Let's hold them off here!" They stop at a street so they can have the control in the fight. Behind them the other members gets busy laying the reinforcements and barricades
"Here they come!" Maya met her attacker head on. She used simple moves that could quickly dispose and eliminate it. The death blow is what she commonly uses for the zombies as the children likes to call the infected and she usually goes for head decapitation. No fancy technique is needed.
It's vexing that the years of training to perfect her Iaido technique has to be discarded for the more practical and energy efficient moves. If her sensei were alive he would be downcast at how the ancient samurai technique has been badly used in these times. Also, if her sensei were alive he would also shrug and tell her that a quick and strong strike to finish the job is better. Her sensei is also practical.
Maya takes deep breaths. Four infected lay around her with horrific wounds; almost cut in half. The infected were men or used to be men. The point of her katana drips on the concrete. The blade whispers in the air to remove the any clinging blood and gore from it.
There was a loud boom; louder and more powerful than the rifles and handguns going off around her. Only one weapon can make that sound. The gunfire comes from the third floor of the school.
Joel?
It's the school's sniper rifle but it stopped after felling about more than half a dozen infected. Then it came back again.
"Bloater! The gate!" Ayesa yelled from the rooftop as the roar from the bloater.
"Manny! The gate! The gate!"
Manny and some parents of the kids in the school readily came with them and put their weight onto it to push back against the bloater. She looks up again after the firing paused.
"Manny, more are coming!" Maya and Manny's job is to watch and protect the backs of the villagers. Then another 'runner' infected came screeching at the corner, head and face disfigured by the cordyceps spores. Before she meets it headlong she wipes her shaking hand on her leg.
A 3 point something pound katana or a 1. 4 kilogram bladed weapon can tire anyone easily after a few mighty swings, and she had been swinging this thing many times now and her arm is slightly cramping.
"Where the fuck are they coming from?"
"Joel's firing that area! That must be where!" Maya yells against the noise of the attackers. Another flash of gunfire. They look at the area.
"Maya, hold the fort here!" Manny instructed as he bring his men with him out to the avenue.
"There's a bloater out there! Careful!"
"Shit! What the hell's he doing?"
Maya follows where Rolly's looking at. "What the…? Oh, my God….what the fuck's he doing?"
"Help! Tito Joel! Help us! Tito!"
xXXx
A/N:
Tita : Spanish for aunt
Tito: Spanish for uncle.