Eternal Mind | The Last Of Us

5

A helicopter flew overhead. It awoke Joel. "You mumble in your sleep", Ellie commented.

The bearded man groaned. "Stop messing with that", He scolded Prim who had been fiddling with the buttons on the radio.

She gave him a look. Then turned around to go sit back against the chair.

"I've never been on the other side of the wall. Look how dark it is", Ellie remarked while looking out the window.

Joel rubbed his shoulder. "Do you guys go out a lot"?

"I guess"

"When's the last time"?

"Maybe a year, what's it matter"?

"But you know where to go right".

"Why are you asking so many questions, be more like her", he gestured towards Prim.

"That's rude man". Ellie huffed. "We're going to be ok thought right"

"Yeah". was all Joel responded with. He laid back. "So what the deal with you two anyway, are yall some bigwig's daughter or something"?

Ellie snickered. " Something like that". There was a pause. "Oh the radio came on when you were sleeping".

"What was the song"?

"He kept saying like wake me up before you go go"?

"Shit"

Prim stood up when she heard footsteps coming towards them. Ellie chuckled. "Gotcha, 80s means trouble".

Joel got up with a look of surprise on his face. "Listen-". He was unable to say what he wanted. The door opened and in walked Tess.

She put her bag down on the table. "The spot under the Lancaster looks good". "Do you guys got a jacket in your packet", she asked pointing at the girls.

"Yeah Marlene packed some", Ellie replied.

"Okay, get it, it's time to go". Ellie put on her dark green jacket. Prim struggled with putting hers on because she didn't realize it was inside out. After Ellie was done zipping hers up she went over to Prim and helped her.
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Prim dug her nails into the dirt to lift herself out of the sewer they had just used as a getaway route. Everyone stood below some shattered rocks. A light glossed over the area.

Ellie was filled with so much excitement she completely forgot that they were escaping. "Hoy shit I'm actually outside"!

"Jeuse Chisrt", Tess whispered. The big blinding light came in their direction.

The woman hastily pulled the girl down. "Okay, we're gonna take the left edge around the buffer zone, you two stay close and follow my lead".

Ellie nodded in agreement. "yeah yeah of course". Prim on the other hand was not paying attention at all. She was too busy taking in all the scenery.

"Let's go".

The smell of nature filled the girl's nose as she climbed under a bus. The yellow object was very odd to her. She had never seen anything like it. As a matter of fact, she had never even seen a normal vehicle before, only military ones.

Everyone crouched down behind busted rusty cars when a truck passed by. When it was out of sight the group resumed. Rain started to pour down. It made for great noise cancellation while everyone walked into the clunky metal tunnel.

All of them turned the corner of debris. Prim saw a man urinating on it. Feeling a presence behind him the man pivoted around.

"What the hell". He quickly attempted to yank his pants up. "Hey hey don't move". The armored dude held up his gun.

"Don't Move!" he repeated. This time it was more aggressive. Recognizing Joel, the man lifted his helmet. "You gotta be shitting me".

Joel took a few steps ahead. "Okay, let's talk this out". The guy made no measure to talk to the people who were breaking rule number one.

"Turn around, get on your fuckin knees"

"Hold on-"

"Get on your fuckin knees"! The man threatened to try to enforce his authority.

"Now hold on-"

"What did I fuckin tell you man, I said stay the fuck home. Get on your knees"!

Tess didn't need there to be any conflict that would draw more FEDRA members in their area. "Just get on your knees, just get on your knees", she told everyone.

Prim kneeled next to Ellie. She held her hand out to try to catch the rain. It didn't work.

"Listen you let us do this run we'll split the cards with you".

"Oh, will you"?

"Yeah".

"I'm so blessed, hands on your head, eyes forward". Tess kept looking at the man hoping to negotiate with him to let them go. All she got was a gun shoved in her face.

"Really, man", she remarked when he pulled out a scanner.

"Yep, we're doing this by the book". Ellie had a look of terror on her face.

"Unauthorized exist, they'll hang you for that".

Joel tried one last time to persuade him to let them go. "Fine everything off of this run and half of on all the pills".

"Half off, All of". Ellie started to get even more anxious as he moved down the line.

"Risk my job for half off, outta your fuckin mind-". Ellie didn't waste any time. The man shrieked at the impact of the switch knife being jabbed into his knee.

All of sudden a pair of hands grabbed a fist full of Prim's hair. Something rough was pressed up against her head.

"GET DOWN OR I WILL SHOOT".

"Woah Woha we can fix this", Joel said defensively.

"Get down". The man had, had enough of all this. Joel kept looking between Elie and Prim. A similar scenario flooded his mind. Nobody moved and nobody said anything.

Prim started to open her mouth. She was getting ready to attack if it came to that.

Joel's ears began to ring. His heart was pulsating rapidly and his mind was running thirty miles per hour. Not even taking a second to think he acted on instinct.

When the soldier stepped forward Joel let out a shout. He tackled the man to the ground. Prim fell to the side.

Ellie watched in awe as Joel punched the guard repeatedly. The punch was so hard you could probably hear the guy's bones breaking.

Tess grabbed Prim to move her away but when she saw a flash of red she let her go. Ellie turned to the women. "No no no I'm not sick".

Tess was not having it. "JOEL JOEL JOEL"!

Ellie tried to defend herself. "I'm not sick, Im not sick". In a panic, she lifted her sleeve to show her arm. "Look look this is three weeks old nobody last more than a day. Does this look a day old to you, you would've killed me".

"I should fucking kill you, when did it happen"?

"It doesn't matter, you have to trust me. We have to go, there gonna to catch us if we don't run"!

Joel started to snap back into reality. "Joel we gotta move, We gotta move Joel". Tess made Ellie and Prim go in front of her. The girls climbed through the busted-down fence.

While they were walking through all the destruction Prim started to click her tongue. Nobody seemed to notice.