Hello friends and fans! Sorry for the extra long delay between chapters, but got caught up in a bit of stuff like life and other distractions. Anyway, her is Chapter 2 of "Sins of the Father." The family unit of Joel, Sarah (who survived being shot from the games opening moments and is now high school age), and Tommy have been scratching and surviving in the Boston QZ for a few years. But when Sarah comes home one night, the course of all three of their lives will be changed forever...

Sins of the Father: Chapter 2

6 years later...

17-year-old Sarah Miller made her way home among the remnants of the safe zones and buildings of the Boston QZ after her last week of finals. It wasn't really a school in the traditional sense, if "traditional" had existed anymore, at least. But she was content.

Well, almost.

Over the last few years, her and her father had grown distant. Her uncle Tommy chalked it up to her becoming a young woman, hormones, maybe the onset of her "rebellious teen years," or so she'd overheard. Neither of them discussed with her exactly what they did for a living in great detail, but whatever it was, it was causing a rift between her father and uncle.

Only weeks ago, Sarah got chills when she found her father pinning her uncle against a wall and speaking to him in hushed threatening tones with grit teeth and a mad look in his eye. She remembered that look on his face, but it was gone in a split second when he looked at her walking in on them. Tommy grunted something of a "hello" to his neice, said he was just leaving, and that was pretty much that. Sarah and Joel ate dinner that night in silence, neither of them wanting to bring it up. Whenever she broached the subject, though, he just kept eating, or told her in a firm tone that they would "Talk about it later."

But they never did.

She could see the apparent strain that these hard years were taking on her father and uncle. Everyone had had it hard since the early days of the outbreak, herself included. Her hand absently went to her abdomen.

Old wounds. It was all healed of course, but the doctors told her father, who later told her when she was old enough, they she would never be able to have children of her own. The news broke her heart, as she had always wanted kids. But thinking plainly, she didn't really know anyone who would want to bring children into a world like this one.

She circled the block a few times, wondering whether she should go home right away at all.

Knowing Dad, would he even be there? His activity got more suspicious each week, coming home with bruises and deep cuts, and sometimes he was away for days at a time, with her sitting up wondering where he was, and also her uncle.

She'd had a much more optimistic relationship with Tommy than with Joel. Her uncle was fair, not nearly as pragmatic, gruff, or harsh as her father could be. But the strain between them was becoming alarming.

She looked up and noticed the sun was going down, casting the buildings nearby in a offset red-orange kind of glow. She admired the view for a minute before rounding the corner once more, then as the curfew announcement was made, she went up the steps to her building.

She was in the hallway when she heard it. Her father and brother practically screaming at eachother. The she heard crashing and struggling. Her heart racing in her chest she ran to the entrance door and bound into the small apartment.

What she saw then made shocked her. Her father was practically strangling her uncle!

"Dad!" she screamed. Sarah ran over to him and grabbed his arm. "Stop! Dad, stop it!"

Joel released his chokehold on Tommy and walked a few steps away to the window as his brother fell in a heap to the ground, coughing and choking, with Sarah kneeling next to him. "Oh my god...Uncle Tommy are you okay?"

Tommy nodded, then let Sarah help him get to his feet.

Joel turned around and crossed his arms. "All those years with us, and you're just gonna leave this behind? Huh?"

Sarah looked back at her father. "What are you talking about?"

Tommy looked at Sarah for a few seconds. "You deserve to know. What your father and I really do for a living. Sarah...there's no easy way to say this, but...we're smugglers. Sometimes when we have to, we...well,\we kill."

Sarah wasn't really surprised. But her expression shocked Tommy anyway. "So that's the big secret you've been keeping from me all these years?" She turned to her father, who had a stone cold expression on his face. She walked over to him with her arms folded in a defiant pose as she spoke through grit teeth. "Anything else you feel like sharing, Dad?"

Joel's expression softened. "We do what we do to survive. I wouldn't expect you to understand-"

"Oh, I get it," Sarah said, still defiantly. "You wanna give me any more details than that? Should I be caring that what you do involves personal risk, or am I just gonna play the 'willowy damsel' living with the 'he-man' uncle and brother. cooking your meals, washing your clothes. Is that gonna be my role in all this?

"Sarah, we're doing this for you!" Joel said.

Tommy spoke next. "At least until tonight. Brother, you know how much this is killing me to say this...but I don't even recognize you anymore. It's like there is no line with you. You've almost crossed every damn one since we've been here, and I can't...I can't go down that road, man! Not anymore. I wanted to believe that you were better than this, but I don't know anymore."

"Dont you even-" Joel started to say.

"Sarah, he killed a kid," Tommy muttered. "didn't even hesitate. Boy couln't have been any older than you, and he shot him."

Sarah's hand went to her mouth and her eyes turned toward her father. "Oh, my god..."

Joel wouldn't budge. "He was coming up behind you with a molotov and I saw an opening to save your sorry ass...maybe I shoulda let him throw it, huh?"

Tommy shouted back, "Do you even know who you are anymore, Joel? Who we're becoming? This is wrong! It's not fair to me or her, and I'm sick, Joel! I am fucking sick of lying to my own flesh and blood!"

"We're survivors, Tommy! That's what we are, that's what we're gonna be until the world ends or we do!" Joel shouted.

Tommy's gaze didn't waver. "And someday you'll pay for your mistakes. And just like everything else, that'll be on you too!"

"You fuckin' ungrateful son of a-!" Joels snapped and lunged at his brother.

Sarah did what she could to try and break them up as they struggled around the room. "Stop it! You're brothers, for Chrissakes, stop! STOP!"

During the chaotic struggle, reflexively Joel's arm lashed out and caught Sarah on the side of the head. She feel down to her knees, holding her cheek.

When Joel saw the trickle of blood leaking from her nose, he let go of Tommy.

His brother was at her side immediately, but she shrugged him off, getting to her feet. "I'm fine," she said quietly.

"Sarah, just let me see-" Tommy pleaded.

"I said I'm fine!" she screamed at him, storming off to the bathroom and slamming the door shut.

Tommy looked at Joel, still on the ground, breathing heavily, his head hanging low. He shook his head and walked past him, heading for the door.

"You go out that door little brother, your ass better not come back," Joel said bitterly.

"Fine by me," he said gently. "I don't ever want to see your goddamned face again!"

Tommy walked out slamming the door shut behind him, leaving Joel alone with his regret.

Sarah heard the last exchange between them as she was in the bathroom. she dabbed her face with a wet cloth, wincing from the sting. The side of her face hurt like crazy, but it was nothing compared to the turmoil in her heart over seeing the final nail in the coffin of her father's and uncle's relationship. She was angry and hurt. More angry at her father for his behavior though. There was a knock at the door, then.

"Sarah?" her father's muffled voice was calm. "You alright in there?"

She didnt answer.

"Sarah, come on now," he intoned. "Talk to me, huh?"

Sarah couldn't keep it in anymore, she let the tears fall. "Go away," she whispered.

"Sarah, I just wanna talk to you baby girl," Joel said. "I'm sorry, alright?

Sarah opened the door to the bathroom and walked quickly past him, crossing the living area and slamming the room to her door shut behind her.

Joel could hear her crying. He wanted badly to console her, but kept that part of his heart locked away. He raised his hand to knock at her door, but upon hearing her sobs, he cast his head down, and slowly walked away to the couch.

Both of them would remember this night as one of the worst nights of their lives, right behind the night of the outbreak in Texas with his daughter nearly losing her life.

The sun was streaming through the windows the next morning, when Joel awoke on the ratty couch. He noticed Sarah's door was ajar, so he knocked and went inside.

It was empty. He figured she'd gone to school early, but he noticed a note she left on her pillow. He looked around the room. Some of her stuff was gone...

He snatched up the note and read:

Dad,

Uncle Tommy and I had a long talk last night. He's joining up with the Fireflies, and I'm going with him. This world's changed you in ways that scare me half to death, and I just can't stand being around it any longer. You were the world to me at one point in my life, but that time has long since passed, and last night was proof that I have to find my own way in this world, fucked up and shitty as it is, without you.

I hope you regain whatever little humanity you have left in your heart.
I love you and I always will, Daddy.

Regards,

Sarah.

Joel was stunned! His chest heaved and he was having trouble standing on his own two feet. He looked around the room helplessly, then his knees gave out from under him as he slumped down into the matress on the floor. He crumpled the letter in his fist and pressed both hands against his temple.

Oh, God, please no...please no...

He let the tears come down his cheeks. He wiped them away and jsut sat there, staring at the letter for a good long hour.

He'd lost her.

He'd lost them both.

-

Real heartbreaker, huh? I've got a few good directions in which to take this story, and there are also some original characters with in-game characters on the way! Stay frosty, and I hope you enjoy the next few chapters!
Also, I saw the trailer for The Last Of Us Part II! It looks unbelievably beautiful!
comments greatly appreciated, and thanks for checking this out!