This story takes place in the world of Naughty dogs "The last of us". Our main character is Jake Smith, he's 15 and tries to navigate through this fucked up world.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 2033.
Jake tried to sleep but the occasional shots from rifles, handguns and the hunters 50 caliber, mounted in a military truck, kept him awake. There was also the pain from old wounds he got while trying to climb up and over walls, but failed due to his broken leg.
He and his father tried to escape Pittsburgh but they had a car accident and he broke his leg there. His father was a doctor and could patch him up. Sadly, his father died a few days ago and he still couldn't get his last words out of his head: "Don't loose faith in humanity and kindness."
He could finally sleep after a while, his old watch said 04:48 when he woke up to a loud noise from the boarded up door. He took his fathers Colt Python Revolver and positioned himself at the door.
"Ellie, come on. Help me break down this door." He heard a mans voice and then he saw the boards yield under the pressure and it broke open.
He saw a man in his mid 50s, wearing an old pair of blue jeans and a brown shirt, he had a beaten up backpack on his back and had a Shotgun in his hands, with the barrel slightly aiming at him. Next to the man was a girl, she was about his age, had brown-blonde hair, wore a red shirt, together with a backpack and she was holding a flip knife.
"I'm going to put my weapon down, please don't shoot me." Jake said and put his Revolver back in his leg holster.
"Who the hell are you?" The man asked.
"My name is Jake, I'm not part of the crazy people here, trust me." Jake said
"And why should I believe that?" The man asked.
"Hey, you gonna shoot a child? These people don't have children here." Jake said.
"Joel, I think he's alright." The girl said and put her hand on the barrel.
"Yeah, I guess so." Joel said.
"Could we stay here for the night? We want to get out of here." The girl said.
"Yeah, sure. You two are the only people who didn't try to kill me at first sight. Make yourself at home." Jake said.
Joel sat down on a chair and cleaned his guns. Jake just sat on the ground, leaning against the wall. He couldn't sleep anymore, after a while the girl sat next to him.
"Sorry for that earlier, I'm Ellie." Ellie said, she had this slight smile on her face which made him feel at ease immediately.
"No problem, you two have gone through much, I can see that." Jake said.
"Yeah, we've been ambushed." Ellie said.
"By an injured man and a fucking bus?" Jake asked.
"Yeah, happened to you too?" Ellie asked.
"Yeah, it broke my damn leg, but it healed good and I'll soon be able to run again." Jake answered.
"Sorry to hear that, how old are you by the way?" Ellie asked.
"I'm 15, you?" Jake answered.
"I think I'm 14, but I'm becoming 15 soon, maybe in a few months." Ellie said.
"Cool, why are you two even here?" Jake asked.
"Joel, he smuggled me out of the Boston QZ, and we are traveling to Wyoming now to meet his brother, Tommy." Ellie explained.
"Cool, I just want to get out of this shithole." Jake said.
"How about you come with us?" Ellie suggested.
"Ellie." Joel said with a sharp tone, he was clearly against the idea.
"Joel, come on. He can help us." Ellie said.
Sigh* "Alright." Joel said.
"Thanks, I owe you two." Jake said.
"Can you run with your leg?" Joel asked.
"Yeah, but not for long." Jake answered.
"Ok, we all go slow and steady, but we need to run at times, can you do that?" Joel said.
"Yeah." Jake said.
"We go to the abandoned library tomorrow, and from there we go towards there." Joel said and pointed to a part of the town on a map.
"Are there more mattresses here?" Ellie asked.
"I don't know, there's just this beaten up couch." Jake said.
"I'll take the couch." Ellie said.
"Alright, I'll just lean or something." Joel said.
"No, no, it's alright. There are two chairs here, I'll sleep on them." Jake said.
"Alright, suit yourself." Joel said and lied down.
"Well, that went better than expected." Jake said and put his leg on the chair.
"Hey Jake, thank you." Ellie said and threw her backpack on the ground.
"No problem." Jake said.
After a few hours, it was already 7 in the morning and he didn't sleep any minute.
"You two awake?" Joel asked and put on his backpack.
"Yeah...I'm awake." Ellie said half asleep.
"I didn't sleep." Jake said and got on his feet.
"You got a rifle?" Joel asked.
"Yeah, my fathers old bolt action rifle." Jake answered.
They left the apartment and walked towards the old library, rather they were at a road, blocked by a bus.
"Get down!" Joel whispered.
"What's going on?" Ellie asked, grasping her knife.
"Hunters. Jake, can you shoot well?" Joel asked.
"Yeah." Jake answered.
"You go right, I go left. Ellie, stick close to me." Joel said.
He sneaked past a few cars and escaped the sight of the hunter who was standing on the bus. He pulled out his Revolver and shot the man in back of the head.
Joel quickly shot the two others, Ellie distracted the man on the bus, by throwing a bottle at him, and Jake shot him with his rifle in the gut.
"Good work!" Ellie cheered and put her hand up for a high five, Joel left her hanging.
"High five?" Jake asked and put up his hand.
"Thanks." Ellie said and gave him an high five.
They climbed over the bus and saw a written message on the wall: "Give us food, we're starving".
"Joel, what's that?" Ellie asked.
"Many QZ's ran out of food very quickly. I see that this one did too." Joel explained.
"Didn't they hang soldiers too?" Jake asked.
"Yeah, they did that too. It shows what people will do for food or survival." Joel said.
"Thats fucked up, man." Ellie said.
"Yeah." Jake said.
"Quick, we're at the library soon, it should be after this checkpoint." Joel said.
"You are a good shot." Ellie said.
"Thanks, my mother used to be a cop, she teached me." Jake said.
"What happened to her?" Ellie asked.
"She died, when we entered Pittsburgh." Jake said in a sad tone.
"I'm sorry to hear that." Ellie said and put her hand on his shoulder.
"Kids, get ready. I heard some people." Joel said and cocked his gun.
"Jake, can you give me a gun?" Ellie asked.
"Ellie, we talked about this." Joel said.
"Come on, I'll be a help." Ellie pleaded.
"No, Ellie. Stay quiet." Joel cut her off.
"What?" A hunter said as he saw Jake's backpack.
"Hey! There are people!" Another hunter yelled and a big gunfight ensued.
"Ellie!" Jake yelled and shot one behind her.
"Thanks!" Ellie said and ducked next to Jake behind a old table.
"Fucking shit!" He cursed and shot one in the knee.
"Are they all dead?" Jake asked after a while.
"Yeah." Joel said.
"Shit." Ellie commented the field of corpses.
"You'll get used to it.' Jake said.
"To be honest, I don't want to." Ellie said.
"But you have to." Jake said.
"I know." Ellie said.
"Come on, we wanna get out of here!" Joel shouted.
"Wow, look at these." Ellie said and held up a comic.
"Nice, I read those too once." Jake answered.
"You like 'em?" Ellie asked.
"Yeah, they're alright." Jake answered.
"Alright? They're the best!" Ellie said.
"Yeah, yeah. I get it, Savage Starlight fan." Jake said.
They walked for a bit until they arrived at a building, near the bridge. It was already late so they broke open an old apartment.
(No Sam and Henry in this story, see them as dead or alive.)
"Looks, uh...cozy?" Jake said with an unsure tone.
"It'll be enough." Joel said.
"Fuck, I'm tired after this shit today." Ellie said.
"There's a old hotel in the area, we go through this, across the bridege, through the suburbs and then we'll look for a car." Joel explained.
"Seems good." Ellie said but she wasn't really focussed.
"Man, I'm tired." Ellie said and sat next to Jake on an old couch.
"You said that multiple times already." Jake said.
"I know, but it's true." Ellie said.
"Why are you even going to Wyoming, is there a higher reason, one that I don't know about?" Jake asked.
"I...I'm immune against the fungus. Joel wants to bring me to fireflies so they can make a vaccine." Ellie explained.
"Wow, that...that is alot to take in." Jake said.
"Do you believe me?" Ellie asked.
"It's hard to, but yes. I believe you." Jake said.
"I got a bit, on my arm. It's months old by now." Ellie added.
"Damn, months?" Jake asked shocked.
"Yeah, that's the only reason Joel believed me...and..." Ellie hesitated.
"It's ok if you don't want to talk about it." Jake said.
"Thanks." Ellie said.
"Joel's already sleeping, but I ain't taking a chair today." Jake said.
"We could share the couch." Ellie suggested.
"If there's no other option, I'm fine with it." Jake said.
They both lied down and tried to sleep, after a while he felt Ellie cuddle him. He found it quite strange, because they've only known themself for a few days but it felt good and they are friends so he didn't mind.