It's here! I am so excited to share this fic I've been working on with you all - not only is it the first Newtina fanfic I've written in two whole years (and the first fanfic I've officially published in a very long time), it's also one that means a lot to me.
Last June, during the quarantine of the Coronavirus pandemic, I discovered The Last of Us when it was on offer on the PlayStation store; I streamed it on my twitch and fell in love with it hard. Less than a week later, I bought the then-newly released second video game and fell even harder. I fell so hard that I now have Ellie's tattoo from the second game on my arm and continue to work my way up to grounded on both games. This fic combines two of my fandoms, and as such it is so special to me. I really hope that people enjoy it and fall in love with the story like I did with TLOU.
The cover image was made by me as a starting moodboard of sorts to inspire me - I wrote this prologue in one night and it's the most I've written in a long time. There's also a video of the opening credits which can be found on my profile, but I've explained about this below and advise watching it only AFTER reading this first chapter.
For now, I hope you enjoy!
Prologue
It was the phone ringing that woke her up.
Tina rubbed her eyes as she roused from her sleep, wondering who was calling at whatever time it was; across the room, Queenie shifted under her duvet but continued to sleep peacefully. Drowsily, Tina pushed herself out of bed and made her way to the closed bedroom door; as she opened it, she yawned and briefly wondered why on Earth one of her parents weren't getting the phone, and who was even up at this time, and didn't they know that she had school tomorrow?
The phone was still ringing when she reached it and picked it up, struggling not to yawn again into the receiver. "Hello?"
"Tina? Tina, that you?"
She frowned at the sound of her father's voice: why wasn't he home and in bed? He had been downstairs when her mother had tucked her in, and as far as she knew he didn't work this late. "Dad?"
"Tina, is your mother there? I need to talk to her real quick."
"I… I don't know. What's-?"
The line suddenly went dead. A feeling of dread settled in her stomach, all hopes of going back to sleep gone now. Why did her father sound so desperate? Why wasn't he home?
A bad feeling growing on her, she made her way down the hallway to her parents' room, expecting to see her mother asleep in bed; when she pushed the door open, however, she realized that her mother was nowhere to be found. Not only that, she had left the television in the corner of the room blaring with a news report: an attractive news reporter was standing in front of what looked like a hospital, and the ticker on the bottom read, "Infection Cases On The Rise?"
"...seem to be somehow connected to the nationwide pandemic," The reporter was saying; Tina stood for a moment and watched the television, somewhat curious. There had been reports about some new infection all week, some illness that the doctors had never seen before, but the known cases had been so far away that her parents had told her not to worry. "We've received reports that victims inflicted with the infection show increased signs of aggression, and-"
"We need to move everyone out of here right now," A voice interrupted; Tina was rooted to the spot, fascinated by what was going on. "There's, uhh, there's a gas leak…"
The reporter turned back to the camera. "There seems to be some kind of commotion-"
"Lady, get the hell out of here!"
"-and-"
Something exploded: the television turned orange and white for a split second before cutting out to static - Tina heard the explosion outside too. As she turned to the window, a second explosion went off in the nearby distance and a plume of smoke began to rise. Tina felt chills invade her body, hurriedly backing out of the bedroom and heading to the stairs of the house.
"Mom?!" She called urgently as she crept down the steps. Her only answer was a dog barking outside. "Mommy? What's going on?"
As she reached the bottom of the steps, she saw the red and blue lights of police cars flash through the window of the front room, their sirens eerie in the sudden quiet of the night. There was still no sign of her mother even as she made her way to the kitchen. As she peered out of the glass door to the backyard, however, she heard a buzzing from the kitchen countertop: her mom's phone. Even though her mother had told her it was impolite to look at her private messages, Tina hurriedly went to look at it anyway - maybe it was her father again.
As she picked up the phone, she registered that the time was 2:15 in the morning - far too late for her to be awake, for anyone to be awake. She scrolled through the notifications anxiously, hoping for some sign of where her parents were.
Missed Calls - 8
Tom
On my way
Tom
Where are you? Call me
Tom
Are the girls okay?
Tom… that was her father. Why weren't her parents together? Why didn't her mother have her phone on her? Where were they? What was going on?
Tina put the phone back down on the counter; there was one place she hadn't gone yet, and that was the study - it was seldom used but she was getting desperate and frightened now. As she passed the sliding glass door that led to the backyard, the barking that had remained in the background suddenly cut off with a yelp and whimper: the dog barked no more.
As she pushed the ajar door to the study open, the door that led outside suddenly slid open - and in rushed her mother, frantic and looking terrified. Tina felt relief flood through her.
"There you are!"
"Tina!" Her mother was panting, eyes wide as she saw her oldest daughter. "Are you okay?"
Tina wrinkled her nose in confusion as her mother turned away and began to look through the drawers of the study desk. "Yeah…"
"Has anyone come in here?"
"No… Who would come in here?"
To Tina's alarm, her mother suddenly held up a gun and began to load bullets into it - she hadn't even known that her parents owned any guns, let alone that they knew how to use one.
"Don't go near the doors," Her mother ordered. "Just stand back there."
"Mom, you're kind of freaking me out," Tina said nervously, though she took a few steps backwards as asked. "What's going on?"
"It's the Coopers… Something ain't right with them, I think they're sick."
Tina furrowed her brows. "Sick? What kind of sick?"
Before her mother could answer, something smacked into the glass door. Tina jumped in shock and felt her stomach drop when she realized it was Mr Cooper from next door - except he looked different somehow, with blood smeared across his face and a crazed look in his eyes.
"Tina, quick, get behind me!" Her mother was suddenly shielding her and holding the gun out before her. "Jimmy! Jimmy, stay back!"
Jimmy suddenly crashed through the glass and onto the floor; without hesitating, he pushed himself back onto his feet, growling and snarling like a wild animal.
"I'm warning you!" Tina's mom shouted, but he paid her no heed and charged at them; Tina let out a scream as her mother fired the gun and their neighbor dropped to the floor, dead.
She was trying not to hyperventilate and cry as her mother pulled her from the room, and then she was being forced to look at her mother's face.
"You… You shot him," Tina whispered, her voice weak.
"Tina…"
"I saw him this morning, walking his dog…"
"Tina, pumpkin, look at me." Her mother's tone was firm but laced with fear. "There's something going on, we've got to get out of here - do you understand me?"
Tina swallowed the sudden bile in her throat but managed a nod. "Yeah."
Headlights shined in from outside, and her mother looked relieved. "That's your father… thank goodness. Go and get in the car, Tina, I'm going to go and get Queenie. Go on."
Tina was still shaking as she opened the front door and hurried outside; her father was standing by the still running car, relief suddenly spreading across his face at the sight of her, and she couldn't help but feel her own relief at the sight of him too. He would protect her, she thought, of course he would.
He hugged her tightly before helping her into the backseat, instructing her to buckle up. Less than a minute later, her mother rushed down the porch steps with a half-awake Queenie in her arms, and he helped her strap their youngest child into her car seat. As their parents hurriedly got in the front and their father started to drive, Queenie looked at her older sister questionably.
"Teenie?" She mumbled sleepily. "What's going on?"
"I don't know," Tina mumbled, unable to meet her eyes. "I really don't know."
Queenie tilted her head before reaching out and taking her hand; she squeezed back tightly, trying to take comfort in the knowledge that no matter what was happening - and she really didn't know what was happening right now - at least their family were still together.
"You have any idea what's going on out there?" Their dad muttered quietly to their mom.
"I have some notion."
"You've got blood all over you."
"Not mine. Jimmy Cooper's."
"Jimmy… Poor bastard."
"Let's just get out of here, Tom. Please."
As they reversed out of the drive, their dad looked over his shoulder at the girls. "How are you both holding up?"
Queenie said nothing, still confused; Tina shrugged, trying to look braver than she felt. "Fine."
"Can we hear what's on the radio?" Queenie asked, her voice smaller than usual.
"Sure." Their father turned the knob and clicked the button - but nothing happened, not even a news report or radio commercial. He sighed. "No cellphones, no radios… Yeah, we're doing great. Minutes ago, the newsmen wouldn't shut up."
"Did they say where to go?" Their mom prompted, clearly not wanting to worry the girls.
"Well, the army's been putting up roadblocks on all the highways," He informed her uneasily. "Before the cell towers went down, I spoke to Percy and Sera; we're meeting them out by the bridge."
Percy and Sera… those were friends of her parents, Tina remembered; they were both nice, if a little intimidating, and slightly younger than her mom and dad.
As they drove, Tina started to notice more and more signs that something bad was going on; several police cars zoomed past them at an intersection, a truck was crashed into a tree with the riders nowhere to be seen, even a house or two on fire. Queenie seemed to be more alert now too, and her eyes were wide at the sight of it all.
"I want to go home," She said quietly.
Their mother sighed, reaching an arm back to pat her knee. "I know, I know. Soon."
"Did they say how many are dead?" Tina blurted, unable to help herself. Queenie looked shocked.
Their dad was silent for a moment. "Probably a lot."
That was all he said on the matter. Tina looked out the window, eyes drawn to a wrecked car. "How did this happen?"
"No clue. No one seems to have any idea." He exhaled heavily. "But we're not the only town. First they said it was just the south, then they were going on about the east coast, the west coast…"
"Are we sick?" Queenie asked innocently.
"No." His tone was sharp before he softened. "No, of course not, sweetheart."
"Well, how do you know?" Tina pressed; she didn't feel sick, but she knew that sometimes it took a while for obvious symptoms to show - like a cold or flu, she thought to herself.
Her parents shared a look. "We're not sick," Her mother repeated; Tina decided it was best not to question further.
Five minutes later, they passed a family who were walking at the side of the road; the father of the family started to wave his hands in a plea for them to stop.
"We should see what they need," Her own father said, only for her mother to stare at him.
"What do you think you're doing, Tom? Keep driving."
"They've got a kid, Ellen-"
"So? We have two!"
"We have room!" Queenie stated, clearly eager to be helpful.
But their mother put her hand on their father's knee. "Keep driving, Tom."
They sailed past the other family, leaving them shivering and yelling on the side of the road. Tina watched them out the back of the car until they were far from sight, feeling incredibly guilty for some reason.
"Dad…"
"Don't worry, girls," Their father said hurriedly. "Someone else will come along."
Queenie folded her arms and pouted. "We should have helped them."
They didn't have time to dwell any further; as they crossed a bridge and into the main part of town, they found themselves face to face with multiple police vehicles - cars, vans, helicopters - and ambulances. What was truly disheartening, however, was the sight of heavy traffic as far as the eye could see.
"This is bad," Their mother murmured anxiously. "Everyone must have had the same idea as us."
"Well…" Their father eyed the traffic thoughtfully. "I suppose we could backtrack and-"
He was cut off by sudden yelling from the vehicle in front; the driver had opened his car door and stepped out, probably to take a better look at the situation, and was now grappling with someone in a hospital gown.
"Oh dear God," Their mother whispered.
Tina watched in fascinated horror as the person in the hospital gown began beating the car driver with his bare hands, screaming and crying out in a mixture of rage and pain. Queenie huddled in her seat, eyes filled with tears at the sight.
"Turn around," Their mother urged.
The man in the hospital gown's attention turned from the driver in front to the Goldstein family's car - and then he lurched forwards at a run.
"TOM!"
Their father slammed his foot on the pedal and quickly spun the car around; the figure slammed at full force into Tina's car window but thankfully the glass did not break. As they sped away, leaving the figure behind, she felt bile pool in her stomach at the sight of blood smeared across the window.
"What the hell just happened?! Did you see that?"
"Yes, I saw it, Tom! We need to get the hell out of here!" She quickly pointed to a street corner. "Turn here!"
As they turned into the new road, however, they found half of it blocked by an abandoned fire truck, with people running towards them through the gap that was left in the road.
"Oh no," Their dad muttered, shaking his head. "No, no, no, no…"
"What are they running from?" Queenie asked, but no one answered her.
"Get us out of here," Their mother instructed, and when her husband did nothing she pushed his shoulder. "Tom, you need to drive!"
"I'm trying!"
"We can't stop here, Tom!"
"I can't fucking drive through them, Ellen!"
"Then reverse again!"
"They're behind me too!"
Neither of them had heard their parents argue like this; Queenie reached for her sister's hand again, and Tina readily gave it another squeeze.
"Look, there's an opening!"
"Okay, hold on!"
The car lurched forwards, racing up the street at top speed. Desperate to distract herself, Tina cast her eyes out the window to see if she could see anything up the street.
"Girls…"
There was a bright flash of lights - Tina had barely enough time to cry out a warning.
"LOOK OUT!"
And then there was darkness.
When Tina came to, she found herself crumpled on the ground and surrounded by screaming. Somewhere to her left, Queenie was sniffling in pain and shock. As her eyes adjusted, she realized she was still strapped into the car seat; unbuckling herself carefully, she moved forwards to rouse her parents.
"Mom? Dad?"
Her dad was nowhere to be seen but her mom was leaning back to look at the girls. She patted her oldest clumsily on the head before undoing her seatbelt and gesturing for her to move back. Tina did so, watching as her mother kicked the glass of the windshield; it took a few kicks before it gave way and shattered, and then her mother was crawling out. Once she was standing, she helped Tina out and then reached into the vehicle for her youngest.
"Queenie, sweetheart? Queenie, come on…"
Tina heard it before her mother did: an enraged yell of anguish and pain coming in their direction. Before she could react, Tina suddenly found herself being grabbed by a full grown man, who was trying to claw and bite at her. She screamed out, kicking at him as best as she could; her mother rushed to help her, leaving Queenie in the car, and pushed the man away from her daughter. This didn't perturb the man at all, for he merely lunged for the woman now with animalistic urgency.
Suddenly Tom appeared, a brick in hand that he then smashed onto the man's head - the man fell to the floor and was still. Ellen was panting, looking extremely shaken.
"You three alright?" Tom asked as Tina ran to his side, burying her face into his shirt - he smelled like home, she reflected, and it immediately made her feel far safer than seeing either of her parents with a weapon ever could.
Ellen nodded unsteadily. "Yes, I… Queenie's still in the car. I'll…"
Tina watched as her mother bent back down to the car and continued to urge her sister out. Queenie was silently crying but did as asked, allowing her mother to pull her out; it was only once she was out that Ellen all but collapsed against the overturned car, suddenly pale and exhausted. Both girls and her husband rushed to her side, but she hurriedly tried to back away from them.
"No, no… you'll have to go without me."
"Don't be ridiculous, Ellen, what are you…?"
Tina noticed it a split second before her father did: on her mother's wrist was a set of teeth marks, leaking blood and already growing what looked like a ring of cysts. Her father hurriedly pulled the two girls away, horrified.
"Oh god, Ellen…"
"Go. Take the girls and go," Their mother urged. "The bridge isn't far from here - you can still meet Percy and Sera." Her eyes flickered to their daughters. "Go with your father... I love you both so, so much."
There was no time for a proper goodbye - there were more of those things attacking people on the street now. The girls cried as their father dragged them away from their mother, who merely smiled painfully. It was only when they had turned a corner that suddenly Queenie collapsed to the floor, her leg bending at an awkward angle.
"Queenie, angel, what's wrong?"
"It's my leg, Papa," She sobbed. "I think it's broken."
He nodded, gritting his teeth together before bending and scooping her up; with her securely in his arms, he looked at Tina. "You're going to need to be fast and keep up - can you do that?"
Tina nodded seriously, her mind still whirling from the sudden loss of her mother.
"Good girl. Alright, Queenie, hold on tight."
They started to run through the streets, narrowly dodging both other people and more of those things that looked like people but weren't really - Tina only knew the difference by the rage on their faces, the crazed look in their eyes, but she didn't stop to look any closer. She had never been so scared in her whole life, and a selfish part of her wished for a moment that she had been the one to break her leg so that her dad would hold her close, so that she'd be the one safe in his arms. Queenie's face was buried in their dad's shoulder as he carried her through the city, the three of them narrowly missing explosions from buildings and avoiding the people on fire.
As they turned onto a street that was now blocked by a fallen pole, their dad hurriedly turned into a narrow alley and called for Tina to go first so that he could close the gate behind him. As she took a few steps into the alley, she didn't see the man until he was rising from the ground - from where he'd been crouched over a dead person, eating them - and was lunging for her. She yelled out and kicked him as hard as she could in the shins, toppling him over; a mere second later, her dad had rushed over and had pulled out a gun from the waistband of his trousers with one hand - both girls turned away as he pulled the trigger.
"You bit?" He asked Tina; she shook her head. "Good. We're nearly there, keep moving."
But as they made their way down the alley, more voices began to scream out; Tina realized with horror that there were more of them climbing the fence to get to them. She was briefly aware of her dad directing her towards the back entrance of the bar at the end of the path, and she raced for it as quickly as she could; she was far from the fastest girl at school, but she was fast enough to make it there without being grabbed again.
Her father rushed in behind her, kicked the door shut and then gestured to the door on the other side. "That way - we can go directly to the highway from here."
Out the front, they rushed past someone attacking a woman and slipped through an opening in the nearby brick wall; it led down to a dirt path that went to the highway, and Tina almost cried in relief at the thought of hopping into a car with Percy and Sera - that had to be safe, it just had to. She realized that there were a few of those not-quite-people beginning to follow them, gaining other distance rapidly, and tried not to panic - they were going uphill now, and it was slowing what remained of her family down. But it would be fine, she told herself desperately, she'd be safe soon, her dad and sister would be safe, they just had to be-
Her thoughts were cut off by the sudden sound of repeated gunfire and a bright light flashing in her face; behind her, her father stopped and the things chasing them dropped to the floor. Blinking at the sudden harsh light, she realized that they were now face to face with a soldier in heavy body armor and touting a large gun. She quickly retreated to her father's side, burying her face into him and willing her heart to slow down in her chest.
"It's okay, girls", Their father whispered to them. "We're safe now, we're safe." He turned to the soldier and started to make his way forwards. "Please, we need your help - it's my daughter-"
"Stop!"
"I think her leg is broken-"
"STOP RIGHT THERE!"
The soldier was pointing the gun at them; Tom halted but kept his eyes on the other man. "Okay. Listen, we're NOT sick - none of us."
The other man spoke into the device attached to his chest - some kind of walkie-talkie, Tina mused - and lowered the weapon for a moment. "Sir, got a few civilians on the outer perimeter. Please advise."
"Daddy, what about Percy and Sera?" Tina whispered.
"We'll find them," Her father promised gently, his eyes not leaving the soldier. "We've got to get you and your sister to safety first."
"But… Sir…" The soldier's voice was hesitant. "There's two little girls."
Tina's blood ran cold all of a sudden.
"But… Yes, sir." He turned away from his communication device and shifted the weight of the gun in his arms.
Tom stepped forwards pleadingly. "Listen, buddy, we've just been through hell… Okay, we just need…"
The soldier raised his gun and trained it on Tom and Queenie.
"Oh shit… TINA, DUCK!"
And suddenly the sound of gunfire was echoing in her ears as she threw herself back down the hill they had climbed, ringing through her head and hurting her brain. She heard Queenie cry out as she tumbled from their father's arms, landing mere metres away, and the sound of their father's pained grunt as he stumbled. When she managed her eyes, head pounding, she saw the soldier standing over her, the light from his torch nearly blinding her and his gun ready to fire.
I'm going to die, Tina thought and she knew she'd be dead before she could even cry about it. I don't want to die.
A shot sounded, but she felt nothing. The soldier toppled over, and as he hit the floor, she noticed that he was bleeding from the back of his head - a bullet to the brain no doubt.
Tina sat up quickly and, with relief flooding over her, saw Percival Graves standing there with a handgun. Behind him, Seraphina was reloading her own weapon. The sight of them was like a cool breath of fresh air.
"Tina," Percival breathed in relief, reaching down to check her over. "Are you okay?"
"Y-Yeah, I'm fine."
"You're not shot? Not been bit?"
"No... No, but Mommy..." She couldn't finish the sentence.
Seraphina was checking on Queenie, who was also mercifully no more injured than she was a few minutes ago; there was no blood blossoming over her pink patterned pyjamas, and though she was crying she seemed fine.
"Oh no."
Tina followed Percival's gaze and saw her father lying a few feet away; he was choking and spluttering as he shook and shuddered, red blossoming across his stomach and bubbling from his lips. Tina cried out and crawled over to him, refusing to believe it.
"Dad? Daddy, come on, get up…"
Percival was leaning down, moving the other man's hands to try and check the wound; he inhaled sharply at the sight, looking away quickly. Tina grabbed her father's hand in her own and squeezed as hard as she could.
"It's me, it's Tina, come on… You've gotta get up, come on!" His breaths were coming faster and faster now, and she felt the tears that she was trying not to shed stinging her eyes. "Get up, get up, get up!"
Seraphina had Queenie wrapped up in her arms, tears running down her face as she tried to comfort the younger girl. Percival put a hand on the older girl's shoulder, but she shook him off and all but threw herself at her father.
"Dad..."
He coughed, blood dribbling from his mouth. "Tina... Be a good girl... Look after your sister..."
"But... But... You gotta tell me what to do!" She was desperate now, desperate for him to listen to her - she needed him to help her, to guide her… with him gone, who was going to look after Queenie? She didn't know the first thing about looking after someone else. Sure, there was Percival and Seraphina, but they weren't her family, they weren't her parents... "Come on! You've gotta get up!"
Percival's hands tugged her away again, this time harsher; she let him pull her back this time, eyes watering. "Tina, he's…"
She didn't need him to say - she could see for herself. Her father wasn't choking anymore… he wasn't breathing.
Tina knew he was already gone.
"No… No, please don't do this… Wake up, please… Daddy… Please ."
As she buried her face into Percival's jacket, her anguished sobs echoed into the cold darkness of the night.
... And here is where the opening credits from the game come in, complete with the soundtrack and voice over that gives exposition about the Fireflies, who become important in the next chapter and the rest of the fic. I even edited a whole video for this fic, about a minute long, that goes with this fic but unfortunately FF will not let me link it here, so if you'd like to see it, you can see it linked on my profile! I highly recommend checking it out, if only for some background on the Fireflies.
But yeah, there we have it! This is the prologue of this new fic I've been slowly but surely writing this year, and I'm very nervous to send it off into the world, especially since I don't really write fanfiction much anymore thanks to work (and I've also been working on my original novels, which is fun!), but I'm also excited. This and the next two chapters are already posted on AO3, but I'll be posting them here soon, and I'm working on the fourth chapter as we speak!
Reviews are greatly appreciated, as always!