borderline - the last of us.

07. silence.

'OH MY GOD.' Ralph sighed in relief when he reached the top of the neverending staircase, leaning against the doorframe for support and breathing like he had just run a marathon.

'It wasn't that bad, slowpoke.' Lou taunted him as she passed by, squeezing through him and Tess as they had both stopped to gather their breaths.

'You try climbing ten fuckin' floors with our knees, see how ya feel.' She panted, pushing off the wooden plank to set sail after Joel. Ralph shuffled after her with Ellie not far behind him.

They headed to the end of a corridor, the dead end of a corridor, and Ralph covered his eyes when the reflection of the sun shone down on him through a gap in the roof.

'Well, when the fuck did that happen?' Tess grumbled, turning to her right and wiggling the door handle as another resort. Joel tried the left but got nothing. 'Alright, well, I mean, maybe I could climb up there, work my way around, and open it from the inside?'

'Uh, no, well, I'm the smallest, so it'd be easier for me to get through.' Ellie stood forward.

'Can I go?' Lou asked cheerfully.

'No, you cannot.' Ralph said quickly.

'Why not? It'd be fun! And Tess would keep an eye on me.'

'...I could use a couple of reinforcements.' Tess shrugged, looking at Joel about all of this. The man offered her a shrug in return. She gave a quick glance in Ralph's direction only to see that he was pissed off at them, and nodded towards Joel to help her up. 'Whatever your dad says goes, Lou-Lou.'

Lou turned around and put on her best, biggest puppy eyes. Ralph glared at her for a moment, until tears began to form in her eyes and he was somehow won over with a sigh and a loll of his head.

'If you kill her, I'll kill you.' Ralph threatened Tess as Joel bent down to give her a boost up into the gap. The woman laughed hysterically, like that was the funniest thing she's ever heard, and it only angered him more. 'I'm being serious, Tess. Dead serious!'

'Sure you are, princess!' Tess yelled back, amusement still in her voice while she gave Lou a helping hand. The smaller girl slipped through the gap with a surprising amount of ease, and leaned back down to offer her dad an assuring thumbs up before she stood up and wandered out of sight.

The three of them stood in the dimly lit hallway awkwardly like a bunch of introverted kids at a high school party. Ralph looked at Ellie, Ellie looked at Joel, and Joel looked at Ralph for what felt like an eternity before the tallest of the group decided to take a seat on a nearby crate and lower his gun for the first time in forever.

Across from him, Ellie sat down as well, this time on the floor. Ralph felt a little bit left out, but there was also nowhere for him to sit, so he just leaned on the wall and tried to look occupied as he messed with his fingers.

There was a click and he looked up to find Ellie tossing and catching the knife that she had tried to tear his face off with. She caught it by the handle, flicked her wrist to spin it, and repeated. Ralph didn't know any cool tricks like that.

'Nice knife.' Joel complimented, one of the only positive things he had said throughout this entire journey. Ellie looked at him, looked at Ralph, and went back to catching. 'Where'd you learn to do that?'

'The circus.' She faked amusement. Joel sighed and rolled his eyes which prompted her to click her knife closed and look between the two of them for a moment. '...Where are you two from?'

'Texas.' Joel said quietly, looking over to Ralph so he felt pressured to answer his half of the inquiry.

'Seoul. It's an, uh, a city in South Korea.' He pursed his lips awkwardly, joining his hands together behind his back and sliding down the wall a little bit. 'But, after I came here, I mostly lived in Connecticut, out in the forest.'