F
THE LAST
OF US
PART III
(Recommended music to listen to)
Cover art by Sky_walker_123
Chapter 1: Prologue
(Beyond Desolation by Gustavo Santaolalla)
Ellie walked back with thoughts of utter despair. Joel's bloody crushed dead body appeared in her mind with almost every step as she walked along Highway 189. The road itself felt like a death sentence as she continued on from the road through a honey-yellow-grained field. Grey sickly clouds were overhead like a fleet of bombers ready to level the entire world. Those very grey clouds grew darker as she saw hundreds of buildings in the distance. Crackling Thunder rumbled across the green Wyoming mountains surrounding the outskirts of the sentinel city of Jackson. Ellie could barely stand let alone go on as she made her way over to Tommy who sat on a boulder overlooking one of the last refuges of humanity left on the planet. Light raindrops tattered the ground and a roaring fire beside Tommy hissed.
"Heard you're finally back." Began Tommy turning his only working eye towards Ellie. The usual grumbling younger brother of Joel cracked half a smile, "And you chose to see your ol' Uncle Tommy first!"
"Well… ugh… I ugh…" Ellie stood along the bluff of the mountain her ability to speak gone. Her left-hand aching and her bottom two bandaged fingers were nearly dead. Abby flashed briefly in Ellie's mind. The memory of Abby biting half her Pinky and ring fingers off and spitting her own body and flesh into the Pacific ocean preceded Ellie shouting, "She's dead!"
She held Abby below the growing shoreline of the California coast, leaving Abby thrashing into the icy cold Pacific terror and sorrow flashing from her burning eyes. Ellie had her life in her hands, but she let her go.
Tommy shot from the boulder and stared into Ellie's emerald green eyes before uttering, "All this time I thought you were dead and you show up months later out of the blue… just what exactly happened?"
"For so long I've had trouble eating and even getting out of bed in the morning. Even with Dina and JJ at my side, the hardest thing was to put down what Abby did to Joel." Tommy's eyes narrowed in at Ellie's every word his smile gone. The roaring fire hissed and snapped as Ellie continued, "Every day I was gone, I slept thinking it would finally soon be over. I encountered a group of slavers in Santa Barbara known as the Rattlers. I was caught dangling from a tree... thinking only of the end. After getting freed and killing every single Rattler or unfortunate soul that got in my way I found her tied to a pole on the beach along with a young boy. After everything she did to me… to us! I still gave her an even fight."
Rain clattered against the ground as Tommy's eyes widened and his face turned into a grimace, "You-You didn't actually…"
"Tommy I-I almost killed a little boy! I could have let them go, but the next thing I know all I see is red. No matter what she did I didn't want to stop. Abby was in my hands." Began Ellie remembering Abby's eyes fading below the icy cold water.
Abby's invincibility vanished as she remembered her actions. No other person brought as much terror and sorrow into Ellie's life. No clicker, no shambler, or any savage raider out in the decaying world could rip her heart and soul out. Joel would have done it. He would have roamed until the end of the Earth to avenge her, especially if she was beaten to death in front of Joel. After everything Abby put her through she weakly let the half-dead monster go. Ellie looked at Tommy's understanding eyes, realizing she was still Joel's daughter.
"Tommy, I strangled her. Abby isn't ever coming back." Ellie looked at the ground with teary eyes as she barely let out, "When will this finally be over?"
"I ask that question every day." Said Tommy while wrapping an arm around Ellie, noticing her new disfigurement. A sense of guilt overcame the old Texan before shaking his head with a light smile. Joel's daughter was still alive, and Joel could rest in peace knowing he had finally been avenged. Tommy led his niece over toward his horse, "I could lie, saying that you had to do what you had to do to survive." Ellie shifted in her Uncle's embrace at the thought of surviving any longer.
"You act like surviving is easy Uncle Tommy. I can barely remember the good times and when I do.. I remember what Abby did to Joel, all the people I killed, and everything bad I've done. I just want to stop remembering." Ellie's pleading words sounded awfully worrisome to Tommy's ears.
He could only look Ellie in the eyes and say, "Ellie, listen, there's no point focusing on the past. After all, you can't put your arms around a memory."
(End of Song)
Chapter 1: So Alone
6 Years Later
Morning fog drifted into an abandoned gas station over by the squatters' quarters just beside the old Ranch Inn as they called it back in the day. A rusted-up sign overlooked the various degenerates, refugees, and newcomers trying to settle in Jackson. Even the people deemed to have lost their way at least in the eyes of the town took refuge within the humming metal gates of the Squatter Quarter. In the eyes of those from simpler times, they would have been disgusted at the state of the area. Today the squatters' quarter was simply a well-designed paradise for those running from FEDRA or even infected. Even if the lower-class hovel was a paradise to some, Ellie knew the squatters' quarter was Maria's way of trying to control the near-constant influx of settlers from around the world.
Emerald green orbs reflected back to Ellie from the mirror sadness, desolation, weariness, and disgust. Ellie was now 27 her beauty still was there, but she had carried the look of someone twice her age in her eyes. It had been only two months since the Jackson Communal council removed her from her teaching position and being further away from JJ just didn't seem to help her outlook on life as she muttered into the grimy gas station mirror, "You can't put your arms around a memory."
The sun began to rise over the peaks of the rocky mountains as Ellie walked out of the gas station bathroom past several squatters passed out below the now neon glowing Ranch House sign. It was put up after the War of 43' by a man named Nickolas, a former electrician before the outbreak. Everyone treated the squatters of Jackson as lesser than those who had settled in Jackson almost a decade back. Ellie always wondered more and more these days if she was considered as one of the squatters. Empty needles and empty moonshine bottles were always obstacles on Ellie's way to work.
"Good morning, Ellie!" Spoke Eddie, a Shoshone sheep herder before the outbreak. He stood before the immune girl herding a small flock of sheep down a muddy walkway in front of the Ranch House, "I heard the harvest went well! Are you off to teach?"
"I wish," began Ellie with a sigh. As much as she respected the elderly they often liked bringing up touchy subjects like her past vocation, "I was let go because of well… they want teachers that teach Jackson's next generation that we're a beacon of hope in the world and everything's going to be rainbows and sunshine."
Eddie croaked a nasty old smoker's laugh his white hair fluttering and his face more alive with life, which made Ellie smile just a bit, "Ha-ha-ha, this is a mighty fine beacon of hope!" Eddie then twirled his herding cane around the well-built and semi-dilapidated squatters' quarters. He then chased after his herd while yelling out, "But they sure are wrong about the rainbows and sunshine!"
Ellie walked past renovated saloons, gambling dens, blacksmith shops, trading bazaars with people selling junk from their risky adventures, and past travels across the former United States. Jackson grew from 2034 to a small sprawling city of 2,500 people by the year 2039. It now was close to a total population of over 5,000 people according to Maria. The original walled town had grown into a triple-walled city with the original city, suburbs, stables, and town square possessing the tallest walls (20 feet high) and the tallest watch towers. Many of the newcomers called it the old city, with the new city protected by only 10-foot walls and the squatters' quarters with an electric fence and the patrol. Not that there were many threats to Jackson since the Hunters began dwindling down in 2040 and after the War of 43' any sightings of Hunters roaming around Wyoming became rare. However many traders passing through the Republic claimed there were newer groups and threats coming from the south, east, and west.
Not that Ellie would know what was true among drunken passerbyers telling their tales.
Ellie made her way over to what used to be a 7/11 gas station but now served as a checkpoint between squatters and access into the New and Old Cities. Sandbags over sandbags stood around the station as barriers from gunfire. A Tall fifteen-foot snipers tower was built over the roof with a tired patrolman snoring at his post. His sunglasses gazed out over the valley and mountains where Ellie spoke to Tommy many years back after her return from Santa Barbara. Wires from electric poles hummed into the electric fence separating the new city from Squatters Quarter. A giant archway made of deer antlers and electric wire stood at the entrance to the only bridgehead that went over flathead creek for four miles. Patrolman carrying old .308 hunting rifles, semiautomatic Rugers, Kalashnikovs, AR-15s, and even some who had scoped out lever actions were milling around outside the desolate walkway. They never checked IDs or harassed travelers like FEDRA did in their QZs. Ellie couldn't remember a time she didn't see them gossiping, drinking, joking, and playing cards. Ellie tried her best to make it past the 7/11 checkpoint only to be stopped by a giant.
"Ellie!" Yelled Dave Porter, he was the biggest and most brawny guard in charge of the security within the squatters' quarters. He was in his forties and possessed the baldest bright red head in all of Jackson, which he always covered up with a red fox-furred Ushanka with the ear flaps pulled up.
Ellie stopped by the former police officer with a slight frown knowing what he was going to say, "You up nice and early must have gotten the message? I hope you remembered?"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Got the note from Maria last night about meeting her at dawn by the stables." Replied Ellie with an annoyed tone of voice, "You don't need to keep reading letters addressed to me."
Several guards chuckled causing Dave to frown and narrow his eyes, but that only made Ellie smirk before he said with a low chilling tone, "She wanted us to tell you she had a change of plans on her way outta town."
"Change of plans?" Began Ellie.
Dave flicked a hand and left Ellie confused on the foggy road.
"Maria rode on by earlier to go and check up on Teton. Said something about you meeting Tommy over by the Post Office." Spoke up another guard whose bright red cheeks blushed as he said, "He said to come armed. Sounded kinda agitated… and ugh sorry about Dave he hasn't really been happy since his wife."
"It's okay…" Uttered Ellie before walking across the bridge into the New City. The image of his wife turning rabid early last spring was still on her mind. The brisk cold morning only intensified the memory of Dave's wife screaming trying to claw her husband's throat as he cried to god for mercy. Her bright soulless eyes and cordyceps veins bulged from under her skin almost ready to burst. Ellie was briefly taken out of that terrible encounter by the loud shouts of the people emerging from their homes.
Children running to school zoomed past Ellie as she continued on. Men on horseback huffed and hollered across busy streets. Lumber workers pulled large horse-drawn buggies along the roads and hustled on past. While others finally awakening grumbled outside with cups of tea and coffee. The fresh smell of horse shit, and shovelers groaning at constant piles of horse dung flopping from passing steeds. Dozens of adults were clustered near the church probably to hear a sermon from the dog preacher or to get an early morning drink. Cowboys, ranchers, brewers, workers, and young adults were leaning against wooden posts smoking cigarettes. Ellie moved past the crowd yelling, "Excuse me", as she spotted the town square, hundreds of Christmas lights hung overhead attached from rooftops like spider webs. For a foggy morning, there was enough life and beauty that Ellie couldn't help but remember Joel, yet there was no need to ponder those thoughts as she ran happily towards the post office.
"We haven't spoken to each other in two months." Ellie thought, hoping Tommy had a job that didn't require her delivering mail or patroling the Squatters' Quarters.
The Post Office
Tommy sat further back in the one and only comfortable chair in the entire post office. He had a fresh cup of coffee half-filled to the brim with Tullamore Dew. He nearly spilled his coffee after he threw down the recent report from Outpost Teton. There was a sighting of fire and smoke trailing the sky last night heading north of Teton. Then there was the more concerning news of a large horde heading southwest from Yellow Stone. Maria was gone and now he of all people had to face Ellie. For a man of 55, he had many regrets, yet his greatest regret turned out to be the greatest pain in his ass.
"Always me having to talk down that little psycho." Grumbled Tommy with slight worry. Partly since Ellie's encounter with Abby. Maria tried her best to keep Ellie safe from venturing out of the borders of Jackson. Maria had gotten to the point of occasionally sending patrols to make sure the woman stayed within the borders of Jackson. Not that it would have stopped the girl from venturing out to Salt Lake City half a year back. Tommy tried his best to calm Maria down, but all hell broke loose when Ellie had a panic attack during an elementary school class. The incident should have been swept under the carpet, yet there were too many witnesses to what had happened among them her entire traumatized class. Here he was. Waiting to be grilled by his niece.
"Sir you need anything?" Asked a young dark-skinned and extremely upbeat worker, "I heard you mumbling about a psycho?"
"Erik. Lemme ask you something?" Said Tommy sitting up with a weak smile. His one remaining eye beamed with happiness as he continued, "How would you characterize Ellie?"
"Joel's daughter! I remember her and Dina beating me and my friends with snowballs." Erik answered with slight terror.
"Exactly! Violent and psychotic!"
Not even a moment passed when out of the shadows of the doorway appeared Ellie who slowly walked into the room. Ellie's auburn hair now came down to her lower back which she kept in a very well-braided ponytail. Her emerald green eyes glistened in anger and her freckled cheeks flared up as she yelled, "Little Psycho huh, don't expect me to forget that Uncle Tommy."
"Could you excuse us please?"
"Oh, okay! Good luck Mr. Miller!" Replied Erik while excusing himself from the room. Ellie thought she heard running as the old wooden steps of the stairwell creaked and echoed from outside the door.
"So that letter Maria sent me was just smoke and mirrors. Gotta respect that woman of yours," Began Ellie while inspecting her right hand. Tommy shrugged his shoulders in defeat noticing how rugged his niece looked. She wore tattered torn jeans that showed her right knee and her left thigh, and that bloody stained green jacket of hers. Besides the usual white tank top she looked not much different than when she returned back from killing Abby six years ago. Except she was a little taller, and fitter, yet had an aged and almost dead expression or as he often joked with Joel. A DON'T FUCKING MESS WITH ME AURA. Ellie simply continued, "So what exactly did you need of me? Cleaning the gutters? Oh, maybe delivering more packages!"
"Those are good jobs!" Countered Tommy.
"Maybe for a high schooler. I get it. You and Maria care a lot for me, but I haven't left Jackson in almost half a year. You have control of the patrols! Give me something that'll be worth it!"
"Ellie I failed you if Joel was still around… and he saw that you only had eight fingers instead of ten. If he was here for what happened on September 11th, he'd have both our heads. Failing you again…" Began Tommy unable to continue as his niece's emerald green eyes softened.
"Uncle Tommy you're all I have left, I don't have Joel, Dina, and even JJ. All my old friends are either dead or married living on ranches outside the city. Teaching kids and helping them grow made me happy for a time, but I don't have that either." Finished Ellie her honest words influencing Tommy. He knew he couldn't keep Ellie contained much longer in the city, which was partly why he put this conversation on hold until today.
"Look, Maria has been going through a crisis all women go through in their lives when they get old," began Tommy only to be met with a frowning Ellie who smacked her forehead at her uncle's description of menopause, "However my angry wife is gone for the time being and I doubt I can keep you caged up like a canary for much longer. There's an important letter I need you to deliver to Yellowstone. Not the world's most exciting job, but I don't expect you to be back until a week from now. I want you back before the Thanksgiving Festival, Maria planned on making the holiday special for you, which is why you're perfect for the job."
Ellie's eyes lit up at the job, "I accept!"
"Good but here's the deal, I need you to hit the town of Moose before sundown and Colter by tomorrow. Been hearing news of snowfall in less than three days and there are reports from various patrols of a large horde that'll hopefully go around the Jackson Republic."
"A horde?" Remarked Ellie with some curiosity it was November 10th and signs of a horde never occurred until after New Year's Day.
"Yes and do not and I mean do NOT take any chances. Snow and hordes might be the least of your worries if what's going on at Outpost Teton is any concern. Maria thought of just the perfect person to help accompany you." Started Tommy before taking another sip of his spiked coffee. He would have chosen anyone else to go with Ellie, but Maria always claimed they worked well together. Tommy barely could utter the words, "You remember Blue?"
"That weird cowboy? Of course, half of Jackson knows about that lazy bastard and his antics!" Remarked Ellie the thought of her traveling almost a hundred miles with that poncho-wearing cowboy sounded like a punishment, but better him than Dave. The few times Ellie had worked with Blue weren't at all exciting crowd-pleasing stories compared to her past patrols with Jesse and Dina. She'd usually order the lazy cowboy around while doing most of the work keeping the walls and perimeter of Jackson safe. Blue would rarely talk or say a word unless he had some smart-ass comment to throw out to the world. He was only a few years older than her, yet unlike most of the newcomers to Jackson and its surrounding territories. She knew he was more capable than he let on. Having seen him pick off half a dozen clickers on patrol back when Dave's family was attacked last summer being one. However, for a tall, strong, and handsome man, no one in Ellie's life hated working half as much as Blue.
"Been kinda wary of him, I want you to keep your eyes and ears on him at all times. Just report anything strange."
"Such as?"
"Maria and the council have had their suspicions, especially after the war of forty-three. Since that cowboy arrived a few years back he's been caught sneaking out of Jackson without permission two times. I know Zhukov treats Blue like a son…" Tommy finished looking at Ellie his one remaining eye showing so much emotion that Ellie couldn't put her fingers around it, "I know what men like him are capable of."
"Men like him?" Laughed Ellie.
"Men like Joel." Uttered Tommy with a grimace causing Ellie's eyebrows to raise in both curiosity and surprise. Uncle Tommy rarely talked about his brother even to Ellie, the fact someone like Blue would ever remind her uncle Tommy of Joel made her angry. Tommy continued, "He might be the laziest man in Jackson but if a man like Zhukov fears, respects, and loves someone like Blue. Tsk, the last thing I need on my plate is Mari worrying about a civil war. Just bring Blue along with you!"
"Oh shit! It's almost nine," Ellie said after glancing at an old grandfather cloth behind Tommy's desk, "Need to leave. Know where I can find Blue?"
"He's probably at the church still!" Yelled Tommy, turning his swivel chair to see the crowd of Jacksonites cluttering outside the church within the thick fog.
The Chapel
The old chapel had been converted into a bar almost fifteen years ago. Once a place of worship was now a cigarette and drinking lounge where the town teenagers and young adults often flocked to. Not to pray, but to dance and hopefully meet a partner. However, since the arrival of the dog preacher in 2044, the loony preacher went around Jackson with an old smelly fifteen-year-old boxer in his arms trying his hardest to convince the communal council to reconvert the chapel into a place of worship. Most people in the town were used to the mayhem and drama the parties, drinking, dancing, and smoking brought. And few people cared for religion in a world where humanity hung onto life by a thread. It became the best of both worlds, at least in Blue's eyes.
"Behold, I stand at the door and knock! If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me! Revelation 3:20 is a personal favorite of mine." Shouted the Dog Preacher from his pulpit. The elusive dog preacher hovered a hand over where snaking wires connected to where the DJ would start blasting music around 6 p.m. He looked at the crowd of early drinkers and some newcomers whose young children were petting his dog, "We must share our fortune. Receiving and giving are acts that we do every day to get closer to the lord, especially now!"
A smiling bald Chinese man shook his head, his Buddha pendent fluttering and his orange sifu robes stained with blood as he shouted back, "You should know the wheel of time will eventually bring us closer to a new golden age."
"Mashiach is among us, for the last of us be prepared for a new age!" Shouted Rabbi Goldstein from a corner.
Blue smirked as the head religious figures of Jackson started arguing again over their interpretation of the apocalypse. With all the great things this settlement had to offer. His favorite was listening and drinking to reality tv before his eyes. Utter drama no DVD could ever replicate. The bartender shook his head serving Blue another drink of whiskey as he had asked. The grizzled middle-aged cowboy had his back to the bartender, his Stetson cowboy hat shadowing his otherwise handsome face.
"You ever think they're right?" Whispered Blue as he took his new glass of whiskey clumsily almost too drunk to even stay seated, "Or maybe they're all wrong?"
"I just mind my own business. Let others believe what they want to believe. Yet you come and bring these religious kooks to our town. Now my bar is a circus!" Spoke the bartender with much frustration, his voice nearly breaking the Dog Preachers sermon.
Ellie pushed her way into the crowded church with much frustration and difficulty. Navigating through a crowd of half-drunk, half-enlightened Jacksonites had been a reoccurring problem long before the arrival of the Dog Preacher. Now it was utter hell and chaos as even workers and ranchers drew some fascination and interest in his weird religious debates. Pushing past several burly sheepherders with a loud, "Excuse me!" and past hard drinkers gathered around the arguing religious figures. Ellie came eye to eye with Blue.
Blue or so he called himself always wore a brown wool Stetson cowboy that covered his neatly trimmed light brown hair. He had stunning sapphire blue eyes and the muscular body of a lumberjack. Blue stood at 6 feet tall. He wore a dark green poncho that had red and white lines knitted at the bottom of it, and dark blood-stained blue jeans with large Ariat cowboy boots thumping around the floor to keep his balance in the chair. A large leather pouch and a CrossFit bag were swinging into view. They usually were never visible but with how drunk the twenty-nine-year-old man currently was, he allowed his poncho to part. Ellie shifted her weight between her heels and her cheeks turned slightly red when she saw Blue shooting her a warm toothy grin.
"Tsk, you'd think that drunk doofus would be at work." Muttered Seth noticing Ellie's presence. The old man who once called Ellie and Dina dykes broke his frown, "Haven't seen you in a good while Ellie. You still holed up in Joel's place?"
"No, I gave that up for a family of six almost five years ago," Ellie responded solemnly. She noticed Seth had grown thinner his white hair had almost fallen out. Even though she once hated his guts, it pained her to see the old man halfway into the grave.
"Oh, he was a good man. Unlike that heathen," Seth remarked, "Come visit me at my saloon sometime. If you want."
"I'll consider it, but sadly I need that heathen." Spoke Ellie moving past the dog preacher, the Buddhist priest, and the rabbi who were so busy in their arguments they comically didn't notice her making her way over a bar stool beside Blue.
"An atheist, a rabbi, a preacher, and a Buddhist monk walk into a bar!" Mumbled the drunk cowboy noticing Ellie sitting next to him, "My, aren't you a sight for sore eyes."
The chapel bells rang out. Ranchers, patrolmen, children, and even the curious onlooker shuffled out of the chapel ready for a day of work. Ellie glared daggers into Blue's glassy and emotionless eyes as people moved between them on their way to work.
"Drinking and making a fool of yourself for the whole town to see!" Shouted Ellie her cheeks flaring so red her freckles disappeared, "Don't you have any self-respect?"
"No!" Spoke blue before downing his cup of whiskey in one quick go.
"Aghhh, come on you are needed."
"I've been working the past two weeks, day and night, patrolling these walls. Harvesting lettuce… radishes, shoveling horse shit, just so I can do this!" Croaked Blue before throwing up in front of the dog preacher, who helped give Ellie a hand.
"He's holed up over at the Ranch House," Spoke the preacher, "He told me last night he had today off."
"Sorry to break your faith in him, but he's supposed to be accompanying me to Yellow Stone." Said Ellie in pure disgust and embarrassment at the vomit on the chapel floor.
"Angulimala, care to give a hand?" Spoke the Dog Preacher to the Buddhist monk who shrugged his shoulders and helped lift Blue's right side.
"Follow us dear one." Spoke the Dog Preacher whose dog followed the entourage.
Ellie followed the dog preacher and the Buddhist monk who both were grunting and groaning. They carried the passed-out cowboy almost effortlessly past the large wooden walls of the old city through the winding roads of the new city. Ellie noticed the Dog Preacher was dressed in a heavy parka over black preacher clothes. He was very tanned and had long messy white hair with black strands peppered throughout. Workers shook their heads and ranchers on horses gave the holy duo space.
It made Ellie think about the time Blue showed up not long after Jackson and Yellow Stone made peace in 2044. Blue came to Jackson from Yellow Stone accompanying the Buddhist monk, the dog preacher, and four frightened children almost all of them covered head to toe in blood. A strange band of stragglers who all looked up to Blue. Tommy and Maria thought the poncho-wearing badass was going to be an asset to the new Republic.
"More like lame ass," Thought Ellie with an amused grin.
"So, Mr. Dog Preacher, is it?" Asked Ellie.
"Names Craig Jackson." Said the priest as they neared off of Broadway past a storage building half a mile from the 7/11, "There's some irony that you wander across the US and Canada from savage hordes of infected runners and stalkers. Just to end up in a town called Jackson."
"Right irony, thought you'd say something like everything happens for a reason." Countered Ellie remembering David talking calmly over a fire.
"As a matter of fact, it can be argued that fate, destiny, or whatever you wanna call it does happen for a reason. For example, our dear friend found me at my worst… what about you? Do you believe in fate?" Asked the preacher, as they passed through the checkpoint earning laughs and looks from patrolmen of all ages from the state of Blue.
"The last man who told me everything happens for a reason. I chopped his arm in half and scrambled his brain with a machete." Remarked Ellie with a near chill. Dog preacher and Angulimala remained quiet until they marched an unconscious Blue into room 304 where he was housed. Ellie watched the sprawled half-dead cowboy get thrown onto his bed. His brown Stetson hat lying on the floor.
"WOOF! WOOF! WOOF!" Barked a large red Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever. The dog ran around the room between Ellie's legs giving her a few licks on her face before jumping on the bed to try and wake up his master. Only for Blue to yell, "Good night Red!"
The dog obeyed and curled up at the foot of the bed causing Ellie to smile.
(The Wings by Gustavo Santaolalla)
"As much as I don't want to wait around for Blue. We were supposed to be leaving an hour ago. We have to deliver letters and packages to Yellowstone." Said an exasperated Ellie as she sat on a wooden chair overlooking Blue's filthy bed. There wasn't much in his apartment besides a half-full bookshelf, the chair she was sitting on, and an open dresser full of rugged jackets and flannel shirts Joel would wear while herding sheep. The thought made Ellie smile. The image of Joel hugging her after a tough day of school, patrolling, and ranching. Ellie's smile turned back into a frown when she saw multiple boxes of ammo under his bed and what appeared to be a large duffle bag. Blue's desk was littered with empty liquor bottles and an open journal. Remembering her mission she would have taken a look had the priests not stood in the room like carrion birds guarding a treasure. Her curiosity was broken with a loud "WOOF!"
"Just great now I have to wait for him to wake up and just pray he's sober."
"We'll make sure to keep you both in our prayers." Laughed the priest before leaving into foggy Wyoming outdoors.
"Ellie, Right?" Angulimala softly said before getting a nod from Ellie, "He may be many things in your eyes, but he saved my life. Treat him well, there are few people out there like him."
"What makes him so special?" Countered Ellie, unable to fathom how there could be anything in the world that made Blue the town drunk, the lazy cowboy, and the guy that was possibly putting lives on the line for their tardiness anything more than a pest. A disgusting nuisance that reminded her of how low Tommy thought of her in the grand scheme of things for always assigning them together on Patrol or work duty.
"He left me by the lake covered in blood from head to toe." Ellie thought remembering the time he transformed in front of her eyes into a psycho, a remorseless, undead zombie destroying everything around him. Nothing about him was special!
"Well, what makes Blue Special?" Asked Ellie with cold narrowing eyes her knuckles forming fists.
"I see a lot more of him in you than you think. Someone who is broken, someone who is alone, but through that facade of pain and loneliness is someone who's searching for a purpose. Someone who's worth saving! Are you Ellie anymore worth saving?" The Buddhist monk said with curious narrowed eyes.
"No," Spoke Ellie feeling alone between the passed-out Blue and Angulimala as she finally finished, "If I could sacrifice myself to keep humanity alive I would do it!"
"Humanity is dying. This city is a refuge for now… for how much longer I don't know. When the outbreak first happened I was supposed to board a plane heading back home to see my family in Taiwan. Los Anglos, Albuquerque QZ, Seattle QZ, Vancouver, settlement after settlement. Everywhere I've been to was beyond desolation. The only thing keeping some of us old-timers kicking is our memory. Protect those you love, Ellie. If not hold onto their memory." Angulimala said before leaving her in Blue's apartment her face in near turmoil.
Ellie left Blue's door unlocked as she ran across the hall to her room. Tears welled up in Ellie's eyes remembering her father. The man who chose to save her rather than the world. Suppressed memories of Joel's bloody body and her actions. All the lives she took. Entering apartment 308, Ellie rushed over to her dresser. She opened the door looking at a picture of her standing by Joel, a giant dinosaur roaring behind them. Below was another picture of Joel wearing his leather jacket and blue denim t-shirt while standing in front of the Rocky Mountain overlooking Jackson. He had a guitar in his left hand and he was holding onto the Velcro strap of his hunting rifle in his right. Joel smiled full of life when the picture was taken shortly after her fifteenth birthday all those years back.
Below the pictures hung a tattered leather jacket with Joel's blue denim shirt hung by a nailed hanger. Ellie fixed the picture of Joel holding his gun and grabbed Joel's old clothes. She held her head to the clothes and tried to smell his foresty and coffee-scented aroma. However, she couldn't smell a thing the last remnants of her father were gone. Ellie neatly placed Joel's clothes back on the nail and began crying. Ellie's hand lingered on his leather jacket as she said, "Joel, I swear…"
A/N: So this concludes both the prologue and chapter 1 for The Last of Us Part 3. I'm in such a generous mood that Chapter 2 is already in production. Writing this story wasn't just fun but an amazing thrill for someone who loves both of The Last of Us games. I can't praise Neil Druckmann the writer of The Last of Us, Gustavo Santaolalla the composer of both games including The Last of Us tv show, and most of all I can't praise all the readers who've made it this far enough. You deserve to pat yourself on the Back.
Concerning Blue: Blue looks like Clint Eastwood from the Dollars Trilogy as that is who partly inspired his character along with Joel from The Last Of Us.
The Ending of this chapter was partly based on the ending of Brokeback Mountain, which was also scored by Gustavo Santaolalla and he based most of the music from The Last of Us Part 1&2 on the gritty Americana music in Brokeback Mountain. Other than that and maybe describing the growth of Jackson into a Republic in this chapter. The next few chapters will explore the world of the Jackson Republic before launching into the full story. Blue and Ellie will be central characters to this story as I wanted to write a character like Joel, but also new and fascinating. So please stick along, follow and favorite this story, and please write a review.
Adios,
Darthwizard
