People! Hullo again! Thanks so much for the patience! Here is Chapter 4, as promised! :)
Beware! The feels train is here TTTT_TTTT
Sometime later…
"Melanie? Mel?" I wake up with small hands shaking my shoulder. I'm lying on my right side and I can feel debris under my weight. Grunting, I prop my elbows on the ground, careful not to cut myself on the shattered glass beneath me.
"Ah, shit!" I say after grabbing onto Dad's car seat, which is leaning on its side like the rest of the car and its contents. Sharp pains hurt everything when I move, or try to at least. I have to blink several times to make sense of the scenario I am in.
When I finally manage to sit up, I find the truck's left back door above me, shielding me from the dangers of the outside; but not for long. "Oh, Sarah. Thank God." I say to her with relief. Looking around, I now see the destruction that the impact has caused.
The truck's roof is to my right, a dent pushed in from the top. I'm sitting on the right back door of the truck, the glass underneath threatening to give me deep cuts in my skin. The car seats we were sitting on are now to my right, being used by Sarah as a weight support. I choose this time to analyze the condition I am currently in.
I find my backpack lying next to where my head was before we were knocked out. I carefully pick up my bag and drag it over to where I am. I can see Dad's limp body lying on his right arm on the front right door window, hopefully he isn't dead. The cuts on him are telling me otherwise. He has them all over his face, his arms. Is he dead? I don't know.
"Daddy?" Sarah finally notices Dad's limp body in front of us. "Hey. Hey!" she says to him after shaking him awake.
He's awake. Thank God. I am just about to climb over to him to help him to help him out, but he says to Sarah, "Get back, baby. Get back."
I finally look at the outside from the car's front window. Now I wish I hadn't. Sparks are flying everywhere from one of the street lamps nearby. People are still running wherever they can. I can see an Infected patient devouring a passenger in the car that crashed into us. His blood is painting the car's windows, but he's still alive. I gasp in horror and try not to empty the contents of my stomach in the car.
Holding on to the truck's roof, Dad kicks at the front window, attempting to escape. To window's is pushed out, shattering the glass as it lands on the ground. Dad climbs out and stands up, getting ready to offer me a hand. Just when I reach for him, an Infected man pushes Dad against the truck. "Dad!" I yell to him. He's pushing the man just as hard as the man is pushing him. His strangled roars and screams are pushing me back into the car in fear.
Just when he's about to take a chunk of flesh out of Dad, Uncle Tommy hits the man's head with a brick, causing his blood to spray the road and him to land on the ground. Uncle Tommy gives me a reassuring look as I witness the following event. "Dad?" Sarah calls out.
"I'm here, baby. I'm here. Mel, gimme your hand. I'll be right with you Sarah, just hold on." I reach out for Dad's hand, careful not to put too much of my weight onto the glass. I crouch to help Dad pull Sarah out of the truck. When we manage to get her out, she starts limping. "What is it?" I ask her, holding her steady.
"My leg hurts" she tells us, with a pained expression on her face. "How bad?" Dad asks.
"Pretty bad."
Uncle Tommy backing up towards us, tilts his head halfway and tells us shaking his head, "We're gonna need to run."
Dad, worrying about what will happen to us, hands his revolver over to Uncle Tommy. "You keep us safe!" he tells him.
Turning to me, he asks, "Do you still have the 9mm I got you last year?" I immediately take it out of my backpack and show it to him. "OK then honey, I'm gonna need you to use it, OK?" I nod slowly and swallow hard.
"You've already practiced plenty of times, so I'm pretty sure you can aim right." I look at the 9mm and back at Dad. "Hey, it's going to be OK, honey. Now like I said to your Uncle Tommy just now, you keep us safe, alright?" he says to me quickly. I grip it firmly in my hand and turn off the safety trigger.
Dad looks around and back at Sarah. Grunting, he lifts her up and tells her, "Come on, baby. Now hold on tight!"
"Okay" she replies.
We start running down the street, trying not to crash into other running people. I'm not even looking where I'm going, I'm just aimlessly and mindlessly running, doing as I'm told. "Daddy, I'm scared" Sarah whimpers.
"Mel- Watch out!" Uncle Tommy tells me, snapping me back to reality. The person running in front of me gets jumped by an Infected, and topples on the ground. The Infected man roars at him, and then begins his human meal.
"Just keep your eyes closed, honey." I hear Dad saying to Sarah, attempting to reassure her.
Uncle Tommy tells me to follow him and I do. We start running ahead of Sarah and Dad, guns in hand, ready to shoot. "Oh my- Oh my God." I hear Sarah whimpering. We and the people in front of us cower as we witness a car crash into the petrol station to our left, the ignited flame spreading like a virus.
We immediately turn right towards the alternate escape route. "Keep running!" Uncle Tommy tells us. Dad's heavy footsteps thud on the ground as Sarah clings onto his neck. Several buildings are caught on fire, and so are the people nearby.
"Those people are on fire." Sarah says to us in horror. The buildings' flames, now engulfing the people inside, are now also advancing towards the people around it. I slow down and run beside them, telling Sarah, "Don't look, Sarah."
"Just keep looking at me, baby." Dad tells her, before I run back towards where Uncle Tommy is.
We run past an abandoned fire truck and other burning buildings. People are running, running, and running. Cars keep on colliding with each other, drivers confused upon which direction to go. "Over there!" Uncle Tommy points for us.
"We're gonna get out of this, girls. I promise." I turn to Dad as he reassures me, not that I believe him. The Infected are everywhere, each of them roaring and chasing after their next victim. People are shoving us, everyone running from an approaching threat.
We keep running straight just before another fire is started in front of the Armadillo Theatre, obstructing our path once again. The people affected by the crash are feasted upon by the Infected, there are too many for me to even count, not that I wanted to.
"Ah, shit! Where do we go?!" I ask with a panicked voice.
"There's too many of them! This way! Through the alley!" says Uncle Tommy to us, pointing towards an alley close by.
I keep following Uncle Tommy as he pushes the alley door. "Go!" he tells us. We run past a trashcan in the alley just before we come across an Infected man. We've just interrupted his meal. He immediately stops chewing on his victim's guts and lunges towards Dad. He pushes against the man's collarbone as he starts to flail around from behind Dad's free arm. Sarah starts to whimper and clings harder onto Dad's neck. I kick at the man's knee, knocking him off balance. Just when I am about to shoot him, Uncle Tommy comes to the rescue and shoots the man's head. "Jesus!" Dad exclaims, adjusting Sarah's position in his arms.
"We're almost there, baby. We're almost there." Dad is continuously reassuring Sarah like all this will stop. Each time he does, I resist the urge to tell him to stop. We run past several more garbage canisters as we run towards a pub. A fence nearby is being pushed against by several Infected, hoping to get to us.
"Shit! They're getting through the fence!" I yell to Dad and Uncle Tommy.
"Keep goin'! Find us a way outta here!" Dad yells to uncle Tommy as he runs ahead of us.
"Come on, Mel! Keep up!" he tells me. "C'mon! Inside!" as he pushes open the pub door. Infected are climbing over a nearby wall, coming towards us. Snarling, and desperate for their latest meal.
I sprint inside so that I don't end up becoming one of them or into their dinner. As Dad staggers inside, the Infected that managed to keep up start to push against the door, forcing me and Uncle Tommy to push against the door, not that any of my weight is helping.
"Get to the highway!" he tells us.
"What?" Dad says in disbelief.
"Go! You've got the kids! I can outrun 'em!" he replies.
"Uncle Tommy!" Sarah and I yell to him in unison.
"I will meet you there!" Dad says to him finally.
"Hurry! Get out of here! Go! Go!" he tells us.
"Mel, pass me your gun. You're gonna carry Sarah now, okay? You run faster than me, so I want you to carry her." I obey him immediately and him over my gun, carefully but quickly placing her on my back, piggyback position.
"Ready?" Dad asks me. Nodding, I kick open the door, causing Sarah to scream.
"Sorry, Sarah. Just hold on, okay?" I tell her.
"Daddy, we can't leave him!" Sarah says to dad tearfully.
"He's gonna be fine, honey." Dad says to her as we start to run. My heart sinks after I see the amount of Infected outside.
"Get off road! We're going off road, okay, Mel?" I grip Sarah's legs harder and jump off the meter high ledge separating the pub's parking lot and the outside.
"He's gonna be fine, honey." Dad tells Sarah. We run several more meters into the outside. That's when I hear snarls and growls getting louder by the second. I ignore them at first but eventually I start to get paranoid of one of them taking a bite out of me.
"They're getting' closer" Sarah says to me, barely audible enough to be counted as a whisper. Their footsteps are getting louder, they're getting closer. I can see their shadows from the bright beacon provided by the military.
Sarah's weight is starting to drag me down. I may be able to run fast, but not with a weight on my back. "Ugh! For God's sake, Sarah! Why are you so friggin' heavy?!" I yell as my back begins to fail me from her undeniably heavy weight.
"Do YOU wanna try having a broken leg?" she asks in return, causing me to turn and glare at her. I start to sprint because I don't want them to keep up, but they are; I'm gonna have to keep running to the highway if I'm gonna get out of here.
I turn my head briefly to see how many there are, three of them, but they all are running in almost the same pace as me and Dad. "Shit! Why the hell are these things still chasing us?!" I yell to Dad. My legs are starting to burn and I can't breathe. I want to cry, I want to break down. I can't take it anymore; this pain is just too much for me to bear.
"Just keep running! Whatever you do, don't turn back and don't stop!" he yells in reply.
We see a hill in front of us with a fallen ambulance van at the foot of it. Just when we're about to run up, we see another Infected crawl right towards us. "Oh, fuck! Dad!" I yell to him, panicking.
"Move to the right! Keep running, Melanie! Keep running!" I can feel their breath on the back of my neck when we finish running up the hill.
By the time we reach the top, I start to stagger and am about to fall. When I manage to get back up, I immediately turn away expecting the inevitable. Several shots are fired from an assault rifle, but not at us. I hear Sarah give a small scream just before I see the Infected's limp bodies slide down the hill. Sighing with relief, I hand Sarah over to Dad. "It's okay, baby. We're safe. We're safe." Dad tells her. He discreetly stuffs the gun in my bag.
Turning towards the soldier who shot the Infected, Dad hollers to him, "Hey! We need help! Please. It's my daughter; I think her leg's broken."
The soldier is motioning for us to stay where we are and yells to us, "Stop right there!"
Backing away, Dad says in a vulnerable tone to him, "Look… We're not sick."
"Got a few civilians in the outer perimeter. Please advise." I see the soldier say into his communicator.
"Daddy, what about Uncle Tommy?" Sarah asks Dad.
"Sarah, your leg-" I start, attempting to reason with her.
"We're gonna get you to safety and then go back for him, okay?" Dad says.
The soldier continues to speak through the communicator. "Sir, there are kids here. But- Yes, sir."
"Oh shit. Dad, is he actually going to-?" I ask Dad as I start to hyperventilate. Judging by the look on Dad's face, he's guessed the same thing.
"Listen, buddy. We've just been through hell. Okay. We just need-" Dad stops midway, when I turn to the soldier. He's aiming his rifle right at us.
"No, no, no." I say repeatedly shaking my head. I feel like our backs are against the wall and that there isn't anything we can do about it. It's because there isn't.
"Oh, shit." Dad mutters finally. The soldier starts firing and as I back away, I end up rolling down the hill, landing hard on my back, causing me to cough out all the breath I have left in my lungs. I hear Sarah and Dad scream as they land on the hard, dusty ground.
The footsteps of the soldier are approaching, closer and closer towards us. I lift my head up and see the soldier aiming at Dad, ready to shoot. "Please, don't." Dad whimpers to him, one hand holding his side which he landed on and shaking his head. I am about to shut my eyes, preparing for the worst when I see blood spraying out of the soldier's head. I turn to see Uncle Tommy approaching us, revolver in his hands with both arms extended.
I am just about to thank him until he lowers his gun and utters the words, "Oh no." His gaze is focused on Sarah. Dad and I immediately turn to her, Dad desperately crawls towards her. I force myself to move every limb that I possibly can and drag myself as quickly as I can to where Sarah is.
Her hands are covering her abdomen, where the bullet holes are. Her blood loss will eventually kill her, seeing how much of it has spread across her shirt. I've never seen her like this, in such a vulnerable position. "Move your hands, baby" says Dad to her. Her hands are shaking as they move, desperately trying to find someone to hold on to. Her gaze meets mine as she shakily attempts to hold on to my arms; her blood coated hands find my cheek, sweeping it with a moist deep crimson.
I pull her small hands off of my face and bring them to my lap, which is to her left. Her bleats of pain are forcing tears of regret to pour out of my eyes like a waterfall. Dad is applying pressure on the bullet wound to stop the blood flowing any more than it already is. Her blood is continuously spreading, over Dad's hands, her shirt.
"I know this hurts, baby. I know, I know. You're gonna be okay, baby. Stay with me."
He's choking back his tears, I'm bawling my eyes out and I can't think straight any more. Sarah's blood coated hands are being held in mine, so tightly that the only color that can be seen is red from the blood covering her hands.
"Alright, honey. I'm gonna pick you up. I know, baby. I know it hurts."
Sarah continues her bleating as Dad attempts to lift her up. She's crying just as much as I am; maybe even more, besides I'm not the one with bullets inside me. "Just hold on, Sarah. Just hold on." I tell her, my tears making my words hard to understand. There was no point in even telling her. She's as good as dead.
She goes stiff as a solitary tear slides down her cheek. I freeze and release her hands, carefully placing them back on her abdomen again. Uncle Tommy walks over to us slowly, attempting to comfort Dad. "Sarah..! Baby..!"
Dad's shaking and rocking back and forth as he holds Sarah's cold, lifeless body. "Don't do this to me, baby. Don't do this to me, baby girl. Come on…" Dad's lip starts to quiver. "No, no…" He lifts her up and holds her close to his chest, her eyes remain unblinking; her lips half open, not responding to Dad's pleas.
"Oh, no, no, no… Please." Dad's crying is making me break down, and I do.
I cover my face with one hand as I lie on my side, crying my eyes out until all my tears have dried up, but they haven't. I'm still crying. This isn't real, I tell myself. But it is. It is. This is real. Sarah's timid smiles have been erased, out of my memory. Her laugh whenever I'd pick her up and over my shoulder, despite her unbelievably heavy weight. Nothing happy comes to mind, and it might be a while until it does. My only sister, the light of my life, the source of my happiness, is gone. Dead to the world, dead to us.
"Oh, God… Please, please, don't do this." The tears keep coming and I don't think they ever plan on stopping. "Please, God…" Dad says finally, allowing his tears to finish the job. How long will we continue to mourn? Who knows? Only God does.
God help us all.
There we go, folks! Chapter 4, the final chapter of Section 1, the intro of The Last of Us! Thank you all so very much for sticking with me this far, despite how much time I take to write these! I'll try to make each chapter at least 2-3,000 words from now on! BTW, did you cry after watching the intro of TLOU? I SURE AS HELL DID! I'M HUMAN! But, for now… Toodle pip and cheerio, have a lovely day all :)