21 years ago…

"Be careful!"

"I am!"

"You're gonna scare it away!"

"No I'm not!"

An elderly man opened the door to a bedroom after hearing these words, he saw two young boys sitting next to each other upon intrusion, sitting upright and out of their beds despite the hour of the night. They both turned and had a shy yet guilty look on their faces as they realized the sudden appearance of the man who was responsible for them.

"Tofer…Vincent…You boys know that it's a little late, right?"

The elder of the two was of a darker skin tone, he seemed to be Native American, whilst the younger seemed to be a semi-blonde Caucasian child. The eldest boy spoke up as he tried to explain himself "Sorry Mr Wentworth, Tofer and I were just playing a new game." but the younger, afraid of lying, told a different story as he said "We found a Firefly, but its wings are broken." as he picked up the small creature and presented it to the man. After having it gently placed onto his palm, the caretaker examined the creature further and pitied the small insect.

Wentworth:"Oh…well it's a good thing you two found him, but you should inform me first next time, it is late but I can absolutely help this little guy."

Tofer:"Can you fix his wings?"

Wentworth:"Better, I can give him a place to relax and eat while they heal on their own…but for now, do as I told you two and get some rest."

"Okay!" The elder child said as his younger roommate rushed into bed and tried to fall asleep almost immediately. But not even a few minutes after the lights were turned off, the older child turned on his nightlight and snuck over to the younger brother's bed as he whispered him awake.

"Tofer?" he quietly said "Tofer, get up, C'mon, I gotta show you something super cool!"

"But Vince, what about our bedtime?" Tofer questioned, but the older child explained "Don't worry, it's just gonna be a real quick show, then we'll be back for bed." as he began to grab a backpack and some small playable cards from the popular Japanese game series "Tin-O-Mon", including a CD with a new song from his latest favorite band as he then waited for Tofer to get up and join him. By that time, Tofer was already getting dressed and asked "Why are you bringing your cards?" as Vincent then explained "So I can stash 'em where no one will find 'em. Grab your BRIX people, we can store them there too!" gesturing to the tiny rectangular figurine people that Tofer kept on his nightstand. The younger child then pocketed them and joined Vincent, who already began to open a nearby vent and crawl through it.

As they made their way through the vents, Tofer kept whispering to Vincent about what this place was and how they were going to reach it, but the elder of the two simply reassured him "Just wait until we get there." as they continued to crawl their way to the roof. Upon reaching the vent that led to the top, Vincent gently pushed it out of the way and crawled out as he stood up and saw the night sky. Tofer joined him shortly after and was curious how his friend found this place, but before he could even ask him anything, Vincent called for Tofer to follow him as he then led him across rooftops to the place he wanted to initially share.

Tofer then saw an old Water Tower, it was old and rusted, but no water leaked from it and it wasn't until Vincent brought him inside that he was truly amazed. The Water Tower was hollowed out some time ago, but Vince managed to redecorate it and add lights to the interior so it would act as an inner city "tree" house. It had many luxurious things, from a small monitor sized Television, to a cooler full of drinks and canned foods.

"Wow…" Tofer said as his eyes gazed all over the place, Vincent smiled as he then walked over to a small pair of hammocks he had hanged against the wall and proceeded to place the cards in a small locked box underneath his Hammock. Tofer was curious about the second Hammock and asked "Who's the second one for?" as Vincent then said "You, Dummy! We're gonna be coming here a lot! It's gonna be cool, just wait until we get a minifridge in here." as he began to move around and share this secluded location with his best friend.

After 20 minutes of playing and laughter, the boys relaxed as they drank some semi-cold beverages from the cooler. But as Tofer saw the time, he reminded Vince of his promise and stated "We should go to bed soon…" as Vince then nodded and explained "Yeah, but tomorrow, we're gonna hang out ALL day here and plan all sorts of things for this place." which caused the younger child to smile and nod as he agreed "Yeah! It's gonna be awesome!" but their positive moods were dampened by the distant sounds of gunshots and cursing, reminding them of the harsh world they lived in. Without saying a word, the brothers shut off the lights, left the Water Tower, then re-entered the vents they used to reach this place.

Later, as they crawled through the vents to return to their rooms, Tofer began to ask Vincent some questions about the vents, the most important one being "How'd you learn about these vents?" and then was answered with "Played a game where we snuck around in them, it was kinda cool really." as they continued to crawl. Vince then stated "I can actually go anywhere in these things, they're all over the place…wanna see what Mr Wentworth is doing right now?" as Tofer was immediately interested and followed Vince through the cramped spaces. After crawling for a few more minutes, Vince and Tofer find the main lobby area and see that Mr Wentworth and a few other of the caretakers were conversing with each other.

The first one asked "Hey, Luis, what's with the dead firefly on the window still?" as Mr Wentworth then explained "It's not dead, Tofer and Vincent found it and I told them I'd take care of it." which then prompted the very one who questioned him to state "That explains the small bit of sugar you laid next to it…those kids are weird. No wonder the other orphans pick on them so much." as he was then rebutted by Wentworth stating "Yes, but they're OUR weird kids. They have good hearts and I can tell they're smarter than they let on." as the lady who was at the front desk stated "Honestly, I like them. But I do worry about Tofer." as she then explained "I don't know if he has the heart for the world out there." Wentworth agreed and said "Yeah…but at least Vincent will be there to take care of him, I know it…" one of the other caretakers chimed in as he added "Yup, sometimes that's the beauty of weirdos, they take care of each other." Wentworth then walked up to him and patted him on the back as he stated "You know it, you weirdo." which prompted everyone in the room to have a slight chuckle. But shortly after their heartfelt laughs, Wentworth stated "I'm gonna go to bed, I'm sure the firefly will be fine enough there unti-"

*Bang!*

The sound of a large bang on the door interrupted Wentworth as he and the rest of the staff stared at it, another bang caused everyone to jump a little and was accompanied by another and another. They all held their breaths as they saw a man force his way through the Red Double Doors, but he immediately shut them behind him as all he wanted was entry. Once the staff got a good look at him, they saw that he was bleeding heavily from his neck and was doing everything he could to stop the blood flow. The Lady began to panic as she shouted "Oh my God!" Wentworth and the other employee approached him and guided him to a nearby seat. Once he was settled, the elderly caretaker proceeded to lock the double doors, worried this incident was crime related and refused to risk any of the children's safety. The other employee began to question the wounded man as he asked "What happened, who did this to you?" as Wentworth left to call 911 and grab a weapon. The wounded man barely spoke, he was panicking and there were signs of seizures, which made the woman worry as she asked "Luis! You need to call 911!" but before much else was said, the wounded man grabbed and bit into the other employee's hand, causing him to scream in pain as they then wrestled to the ground.

The front lady screamed the whole time, watching helplessly as the man was barely holding his own. The Snafu continued until the employee kicked the rabid man off of him, but the rabid man seemed hardly phased as he just got back up and screamed, charging him again. But three gunshots rang out, everyone turned to see the gunman was Wentworth, holding a small revolver as he shot the rabid man dead. Everything began to settle down, but the process of recollecting their individual cools was interrupted when there were more sounds of banging at the door, but the lock kept the crowd at bay. Wentworth was just as worried as his coworkers, but kept some semblance of calmness as he then ordered "Jessica, Get Nigel to the breakroom and patch up his wound, I'm going to go check on everyone and evacuate them!" as he then rushed out of the lobby and up the stairs, while the other two employees hobbled their way to the back room.

The Boys saw everything, Tofer was crying from the mass panic and confusion while Vincent was just baffled and angry. He liked Nigel and saw him as a big brother, why would anyone bite him? But now was not the time to worry, Vincent knew that he and Tofer had to head back to their rooms and fast, he then guided the younger as they made their way back to their room. After finally reaching the vent that led to their room, they saw that Mr Wentworth had just arrived and looked around to find the boys, seeing them missing and strangely enough breathed a sigh of relief as he then said to himself "Oh Thank Christ, they're already somewhere safer." as he then saw the vent move a little, seeing the two emerge from the events. Both smiled a little as they reunited with Mr Wentworth, who was thankful to just see them unharmed, but their smiles faded as Tofer muttered "Mr Nigel?" Wentworth's eyes widened and he turned around to a lunging Nigel who already bit into his throat, infecting him with whatever disease it was that he caught. Both fell to the floor and wrestled, the boys watching helplessly as they froze with fear…but then…a large Bang rang out through the whole room as Nigel's body was limp, dead on the floor and with a hole in his head. The boys were speechless, scared about what they had just witnessed, but Wentworth…he just held the bite mark in his neck, stopping the blood the best he could. After hearing a loud crash downstairs and a cacophony of screams, Wentworth slammed the door to the bedroom shut and slid down as he tried to rest a little. Both boys rushed over to him, he was badly wounded and worried, both children began to build up with tears as they were scared of what would happen next. But Their caretaker snapped them back as he spoke his final words to them, he said in a stern yet compassionate voice "Hey, HEY! Boys-Boys-boys-boys-boys…I need you to listen to me VERY carefully…I don't know what's happening…but it's something very bad…you…you both need to leave and find somewhere safe to hide…okay? I'm…I'm going to stay here…so whatever it was that did this to me…doesn't make me do it to you…Vincent…I need you to take care of Tofer, okay? Protect him like you've been doing this past year…And Tofer…listen to Vincent, I know he's hard headed but he's just looking out for you…okay?" he repeated until the boys nodded and agreed to his last wishes…he then said "Come here." as he stopped fighting the blood flow and opened his arms for the boys to hug him, which they did as tears streamed down their faces. After their long hug, Wentworth shooed the boys off, telling them to run as they began to crawl through the vents again, all the while witnessing chaos engulf the Orphanage they lived in.

After reaching the roof again, Tofer was sobbing, scared and felt alone while Vincent felt angry, sad and depressed…but as Vincent tried to move forward and rush to their Water Tower, Tofer stood behind and continued to bawl his eyes out. Vincent then knew what he needed to do, he approached Tofer, grabbed his face and whispered "Tofer…listen to me…I know things are bad, but we need to move…I'm…I'm sad about what happened too…but know this…I've got your back…I ALWAYS got your back…we're brothers…I promise we'll take care of each other, okay?" as Vincent waited for Tofer's response, he shouted "OKAY!?" which prompted the younger to nod rapidly in agreement. Both then held hands as they rushed to the water tower, the only safe place they could find…

Author's notes:

Believe it or not, I was a HUGE fan of the Last of Us, played it back when it first came out in 2013 and I thought it was one of the most well written and interestingly told game of the 2010's…but when 2 came out, I was beyond disappointed and infuriated (and my expectations were already low and considering how much I LOVED Psychonauts 2, I know it wasn't just nostalgia, nor because it took so long, the story was just poorly paced and horrifically handled) I'm mostly writing the story about these two as an alternative sequel to the Last of Us, my way of what I think a sequel should've been. I already have 5 chapters of it finished and I plan on posting them soon enough, calling it "The Last of Us: Journey in the West" (I grew attached to the name, sue me, Lol) and I'm hoping it can be used as an example of how to tell a story without relying on previously iterated characters or forgoing a well established world full of potential. I already have a BUNCH sequel Ideas, including one that concludes the story for these two that tie into 1 AND 2, which I will call "The Last of Us, Part 3" since we know a sequel will NOT come out any time soon.

Until next time, QUACK!

-Sincerely, TheWubbzler