THE LAST

OF US

PART III

TRAILER 2

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to The Last of Us as they're owned by Neil Druckmann, Naughty Dog, and Sony Entertainment. Gustavo Santolalla whose music has inspired to me write is owned by him as well.

14th May 2046

It was a very dark and moonless night over the thick woods just two miles outside of the tiny town of Moose. Neon green and yellow lights hued into existence before disappearing into the darkness outside of their campsite. Bright orange light glowed from a roaring fire between Ellie and Blue. Both sat across from one another in the woods outside of Moose. Their mission, to guard the waters of Lake Jackson against the infected. Instead, Ellie boredly stared up at the vast canopy of subalpine, limber pine, various other trees, shrubs, and viny ivies the immune girl couldn't make out in the darkness. She turned her head to the silent cowboy sitting across from her. Tommy and Maria often assigned them together, the rare moments Ellie ever had patrol duty outside of Jackson. Blue was the worst worker in all of Jackson, yet whenever he left the walls of the city. Blue became in Ellie's eyes a more mysterious and fascinating individual. Blue's tanned and gruff light brown beard looked unkept, his brown Stetson hat was lying at the top of his tent fifteen feet away. Allowing his wild honeyed brown hair and sad eyes to stare at a book.

"So…" Ellie began with a knotted throat. Blue raised his eyes curiously away from his book, "Whatcha reading?"

"Blood Meridian." Replied the cowboy, while turning a page, his sapphire eyes not leaving the pages.

"Blood Meridian, huh, never heard of it. What's it about?"

"…," With a nearly quiet sigh, the cowboy closed his book and gazed into Ellie's emerald eyes with just as much curiosity, "I wouldn't reckon you have the stomach to handle it."

"I'm not a delicate flower silly boy!" Spoke Ellie, she placed her eight fingers over the warm fire, "My library of books is always in need of an update."

"It's about a kid growing up in northern Mexico and south Texas. He's forced to take up arms with a gang of vicious outlaws and murderers. He ends up being a witness and taking part in massacre after horrible massacre of Comanche and other natives… and the kid continues believing and listening to his leader The Judge. Scalpin, shootin', murderin', burnin', and he continues to follow The Judge until the very end." Explained Blue before dropping the book onto his poncho-draped lap. Ellie's heart sank as she heard the synopsis, more curious than ever.

Ellie's neck turned cold as she noticed the mysterious cowboy's eyes turn cold and distant. Her curiosity intensified as she picked up on Blue's southern drawl, "Are you from the south?"

"Yes." Replied Blue while taking a banjo lying at the opening of his tent. Strumming a few notes made his cold artic eyes warm up into a calm ocean.

"Don't do much talking do you?" Asked Ellie her eyes focusing in on the mysterious man who had caught Jackson's interest just two years ago. Blue simply strummed another note from the banjo and chuckled.

"Only when I need to." Began Blue, plucking his banjo with his fingers to the tune of Cripple Creek. Impressed, Ellie broke a bewildered smile. Ellie took out a flask of liquor and took a few long swigs, summoning up the courage to ask a question that always plagued her in regard to the mysterious newcomer.

"We have all night. The least you could do is tell me your real name. Blue is such a lame alias. I would have gone with something like Michael, Derek, or Drake. You know what suits you the most, ha-ha-ha, lazy ass." Explained Ellie causing the cowboy to emit a light chuckle.

"My name's always been Blue, Eighty." Chuckled Blue.

"Eighty?" Ellie answered back, her hands raised still above the fire only to notice Blue's eyes intently focusing on her fingers, "Bastard!"

A small gust of late spring wind blew their fire towards the east. Blue stopped his strumming of the banjo and held his left hand over his mouth, causing Ellie to listen to the darkness around them. A loud "WOOF! WOOF! WOOF!" from Blue's Labrador Retriever and loud thundering gunfire in the distance jolted Ellie to grab her Glock-17. Another wave of thundering gunshots emanated from Lake Jackson before she heard the gnarling screaming and soft eerie crying of runners. Runners were the very embodiment of the sickening depravity of the cordyceps brain infection. They had increased strength and speed. With absolutely no control of their actions, yet still possessing full consciousness.

Blue disappeared into the dark forest at breakneck speed. Ellie didn't think as she bolted after him, trying her best to catch up only for the woods to erupt in a crescendo of noise. Branches crackled and burst all around her. She ducked behind a larger timber pine with no thought or intention besides remaining still and incredibly quiet. Ellie placed her hands high, her gun held tight in her grip, the safety off. Ellie waited until numerous black shadows plowed through the woods past her position towards the lake. The gunfight was only fifty meters toward the shore.

Ellie slowly moved ten meters through the thick, overgrown, Wyoming forest. She quickly rolled five meters behind another large timber pine. She peered her head from behind the tree trying her best to make sense of how many infected were between her and the screaming echoing louder into the woods. A large flaming bottle flew fifteen meters in front of her. The runners were unaware until the bottle crashed between their legs igniting three fungus-covered beings in orange, ungodly terrible smelling, smokey burning light.

"Nam Imperium!" Shouted Blue as several more Molotov cocktails crashed further into the woods igniting several charging clickers. Their screeching guttural clicks turned into screeches of agony. Four bright flashes of light and four loud bursts of Blue's revolver and several more clickers edging close to Blue shrieked in pain as the bullets from his .357 revolver blasted from the chamber. Explosions of flesh sprayed into the air, leaving gaping holes in the colorful cordyceps membrane where the infected eyes used to be.

Ellie broke her cover and fired ten shots from her 9mm Glock in quick succession. Two stalkers and a furious foaming-at-the-mouth clicker within a foot of the immune girl fell to the ground dead.

Trees burned around her as Ellie ran past the corpses of various infected. A small herd of dead corpses led her to the very edge of the woods. Until Ellie heard a low rumbling roar and the grunting and heaving of someone swinging a blade. Fireflies illuminated to Ellies far right a woman screaming halfway up a tree, a clicker clattering its teeth hurriedly. However, just under a small bluff was Blue slicing into a Bloaters belly. His machete remained stuck into the angry stage 4 infected being. It growled, pulled out the sharp blade, crushed the machete with its foot, and charged at a defenseless Blue.

"No!" Ellie fired her gun, emptying the entire magazine into the back of the Bloater causing it to twist its body in agonizing anger. Ellie reloaded her weapon and without even having to think fired her entire magazine into the Bloater's chest. It fell to the mossy forest floor in a disgusting pool of blood and guts.

Blue was again gone into the darkness towards the shore of Lake Jackson. Ellie remained unsure searching again for that clicker only to notice both the woman and clicker were gone. Ellie ran after Blue's trail hearing shotgun blasts and quick successions of gunfire. The fishy, relaxing smell of the lake entered Ellie's nostrils as her feet sank into the sandy shores. Emerald green eyes fell upon a large shadow crying against another being.

"Please, Loraine! God no! NO!" Screamed Dave, his rifle stock keeping his recently turned wife at bay. Mrs. Porter's veins were bulging, an overload of cordyceps fungus flowing through her bloodstream. Her mouth kept foaming as she tried clawing at Dave's huge bald head.

Before Ellie could act, she heard two deafening loud shotgun blasts. Two small sprays of blood from the fallen infected gushed into the air covering Dave and Ellie nearly head to toe in dark globules of blood. Ellie turned her head behind her, noticing a now headless stalker was dead on the sandy shore. Mrs. Porter's recently infected body lay below Dave, a now messed-up heap of pellet holes and torn cartilage. The smoking barrel of Blue's sawed-off shotgun left Ellie shocked and the now grieving Dave hopeless.

Emerald eyes met sapphire blue across the sandy beach. Two unharmed children crawled out of a small fishing boat. Crying over their dead mother's corpse.

Blue only turned his head away from the sight in front of him. His face and eyes were illuminated by the now glowing sea of fireflies. He could only say with a weak voice, "Always the same. What is wrongly gained is wrongly lost."

Ellie ran toward Dave and his family to give them comfort. She looked back and saw Blue turning his back on her, he reentered the now-burning forest. Orange and bright yellow flames rose higher. Black smoke engulfed the entire Wyoming outdoors. Her Emerald eyes shined at his disappearing back as he vanished into the burning forest. Ellie's heart and soul were left again in utter disbelief.

This is a glimpse at chapter 2, which in my opinion will be far, far, far more action-packed and horrifying. To read the Last of Us Part go to the rated M section or go to my profile to find it. Again a special thanks to all readers who made it this far and I can't wait until chapter 2 is finished.