The Last Of Us: Part I - Darker Days (Male Reader)

Chapter 23 - One Step Closer

A/N: Thank you guys for 80K views! When I first started this book I never thought it would get this far. Thank you all for the support, and I hope you enjoy the chapter!

Down the narrow hallway that was no way intended for animals this size, the horses were soon spooked. Callus, bringing up the lead, reined back, scared of whatever laid ahead.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa... What is it boy?" Joel asked the horse gently, soothing the poor thing as Y/N noticed his own buckle slightly underneath him.

"Sounds like runners." Ellie said, gesturing to the area ahead past the gate.

Y/N had his hand on his holster, fingers grasped against the steel of his pistol, as he made out of the sounds of the infected cries not far from them.

Joel stepped up beside the gate, before turning to the two kids, "Stay with the horses. I'll check it out."

"You sure?" Y/N asked, despite everything, he had grown to trust each of them, and was willing to help out, as always.

"Yes, I don't want them runnin' off. I'll be right back."

True to his word, Joel quickly opened the gate and proceeded through, the gate closing behind as it shut from the lack of force.

Y/N and Ellie waited patiently, each of them with their weapons at the ready should anything go amiss. But luckily for them, Joel quickly dispatched the infected that remained ahead of their path. When the last cry of the infected silence, and the gunfire stopped, only then did the two guide their horses in.

"Hey, I was thinking..." Ellie called out as they reached Joel in the middle of the larger room. "I would've wanted to be an astronaut."

"That a fact?" Joel said, taking in the room, he noticed a shutter gate with power lines running through, along with a control box of sorts upon the wall, and a note beside it.

"Yeah. Can you imagine being up there all by yourself?" Ellie asked to them both, wonder in her voice at the concept alone. Up there in space, with nothing but the stars around you.

Y/N pulled up alongside her, hands threading through the reins of his horse, as he noticed Joel pull the switch to the gate, and open it up.

"I can."

"Yeah?" Ellie gazed off to the side, her green eyes penetrating through some rotten wooden walls. "Would've been cool, is all I'm sayin'." Her greens then turned to her friend, as Joel climbed back on Callus. "What about you, Y/N?"

"Me?" Y/N asked, as they exited the building, "I don't know... ain't ever really thought about it?"

"Seriously?" Ellie scoffed humourlessly, shaking her head as Joel guided them forward. "C'mon, there's gotta be something you wanted to be growing up. How about an artist?"

"Ehhh..."

"Oh come on, you like drawing. Plus you're good at it. Really good.." Ellie turned to Joel, hand shaking at his shoulder. "You have seen his stuff right, Joel?"

"I haven't, believe it or not."

"It's just a hobby." Y/N defended himself, feeling his cheeks burn as her teasing face stared his way. "Nothing I'd wanna... professionalize?"

Ellie chuckled, hand to her mouth as she tried to stern it. "Professionalize? That's a big word coming from you."

"Shut up, princess."

"That's Astronaut-Princess to you."

Y/N groaned, and picked any old idea that sprung to his mind, "Fine, I'd be a... Cop."