The barn blended in with the night seemingly absorbing any light cast against it the only light coming from oil lamps that hung from the barn roof moving with the breeze turning an innocent enough looking place into a nightmare, Joel's eyes bounced around taking in his surroundings as Tommy stood still his heart racing frantically pounding as if it was trying to escape itself.
"You know we don't take kindly to thieves perhaps we ought to teach you a lesson" the man said as he stroked his shotgun
"Look we were really hungry we weren't thinking straight" Tommy blurted out
"Is that so, and you just thought you would steal from us we need that food as much as you do" the man retorted
By now the entrance to the barn was blocked by 5 men wielding a variety of weapons from guns to improvised blades.
"Look we can leave and pretend none of this ever happened" said Joel as he scanned for a response
"And let you leave knowing there's food here no we can't risk it" the man replied his face still contorted with anger
"So you're just going to kill us" shouted Tommy
"Where's that little girl you were travelling with I guess afterwards we will have to go find her don't worry it will be quick" the man said venomously as if trying to plunge the verbal knife deeper than it already was
Joel's rage overcame him as he leapt forward closing the gap between the two grabbing the barrel of his shotgun and thrusting it upwards, a shot rang out reverberating off the walls as the pellets ripped through the oil lamp overhead causing a flaming oil to be thrown down like a shower from hell. Some oil landed on one of the men in the doorway he yelped in pain and flailed violently running away as another turned to help him the remaining oil splashed over the dry grass floor igniting it. Joel and the man continued wrestling for the gun and the second barrel discharged blowing a hole through the door they continued fighting swinging violently Joel was struck by the stock and thrown through the flames landing on some grass that had not yet caught fire. Tommy had taken cover behind one of the shelves as the fire grew forming a wall between the two groups and the smoke collected making an already dark night even darker.
"Joel what now" Tommy shouted
"We need to get out of here try the upper window" Joel shouted back
The upper window was just out of reach but was the only survivable way out as two people ran through the flames to attack them Joel led one down a isle and kicked the shelf at him the shelf toppled creating a steep gradient to climb to the window as the items on the shelf fell crushing the man. The second chased Tommy with a meat cleaver waiving it taunting Tommy with what was about to happen he struck Tommy with his other hand casting Tommy to the floor but before he could deliver the killing blow Joel threw a tin at the man drawing his attention the man began to move towards Joel with long strides one goal in mind. Tommy jumped to his feet grabbed a box cutter and jumped onto the man's back slicing deep into his neck one arm holding him still whilst the other was used to restrain the hand wielding the cleaver, within moments the man fell and Tommy could not believe what he had just done but now was not the time to dwell a Joel shouted to him.
"Grab your bag and let's go"
Tommy found his bag and climbed the shelf to the window jumping out into the field adjacent as they began running flashes appeared behind them as shots were fired but soon they died down most likely due to them turning to put out the fire that had now consumed the barn.
After clearing the field and finding a stream in which to wash the blood from them Tommy turned to Joel.
"What the hell was that we were only supposed to get some food"
"Look it didn't go to plan okay" replied Joel
"To plan Joel we killed two people" Tommy retorted
"They were going to kill us" yelled Joel
"They were simple folk they were just protecting the food they needed for their families and we may have just destroyed all their food" Tommy angrily stated
"At least we got what we went there for" said Joel as he pushed past Tommy heading back towards Sarah, Tommy knowing he couldn't continue in front of her for fear of her hearing what happened had no choice but to drop the matter.
In order to get further away it was decided they should move now, Joel moved to wake Sarah up and in doing so presented her with some food
"What you found some food" Sarah asked almost instantly awake with surprise
"Yeah me and Tommy found a tourist centre a way back whilst you were sleeping" Joel replied as Tommy stood there zoned out.
They all had a quick meal enough to sate their appetite and set off moving further away hiding behind trees that would obscure the view of the fire bellowing into the sky.
The next day was quiet whilst walking over woodland trails they were picking berries, Tommy looked on seeing Joel and Sarah playfully arguing and throwing a few of the berries it was as if Joel had forgotten what had happed last night Joel had a reason to live on it was to protect his Daughter but what did he have it felt like nothing Tommy despised himself for what they had to do to survive and he wanted nothing more than for things to return to normal.
A sound not far off alerted Joel and then again the snap of a twig made Tommy draw his knife
They were interrupted by the cocking of guns and shouting to get on their knees both Joel and Tommy were praying that they weren't the men they stole from. Outnumbered the group didn't have much of a choice, as the people brandishing the weapons got closer they could see they were the fireflies.
"What are you doing here" shouted one voice
"We just passing through heading north" replied Tommy
"Is that so" shouted the voice again
"Easy easy he's one of us" yelled a woman
Looking up standing before Tommy was Marlene
"What are you doing here we thought we lost you" asked Marlene
Tommy began to recount his tale after which Joel demanded to know why they allowed the explosion to occur that caused an entire zone to fall.
"We did not do this I assure you" Marlene barked at Joel
"The proof's right here look at it" snapped back Joel as he handed a note and the firefly pendant they took a while back
"Do you believe this why would we destroy a zone what would that help us accomplish" asked Marlene as she turned her gaze to Tommy
"Of course I don't believe that" said Tommy as if blinded by ideals
"They just want to help rebuild don't you get it win hearts and minds" snapped Joel
"How dare you" snapped one voice as Joel was hit back to his knees
The argument between Joel and Tommy escalated as Joel was blinded by truth and Tommy by ideal until they were cut off by Marlene
"Look we were drawn her by that fire back a way and now we are going to go look for any more survivors then heading north you coming with us Tommy" asked Marlene
"Yes" Tommy venomously replied as he grabbed his bag and took his place beside Marlene he did the best he could for a goodbye to Sarah.
"Uncle Tommy what are you doing" asked Sarah
"What's right" replied Tommy as he left Joel and Sarah standing there as they moved off Joel shouted
"They are gonna get you killed Tommy is that what you want"
"I don't ever want to see your face again you hear me" Tommy shouted back with words that cut deep into Joel's mind as he fell silent as the fireflies disappeared into the distance.
"Dad where's Uncle Tommy going" asked Sarah
"Away I don't know when or if we will see him again" Joel replied his teeth clenched together
"What are we going to do now" Sarah asked
"I do not know" replied Joel as he pulled out the map of the USA with red X's denoting quarantine zones
"Boston" Joel murmured
"That's still a long way away" said Sarah as she looked around hoping that any moment Tommy would return
"Remember It says here that Boston is one of the most fortified quarantine zones" said Joel as he rolled up the map
"What about Uncle Tommy" Sarah asked
Joel knowing the subject would not be dropped simply replied
"They said they were going to head north we may end up meeting them later" said Joel his statement obviously false hope but not entirely untrue he managed to convince Sarah that this was the best thing for them and they began to set off as if like the old days on another hike...