What If Things Were Different

What If Joel and Ellie Found You?

Your lungs feel like they are about to collapse. Taking in sharp breaths.

"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck." You yell out, falling to your knees. You cup your head in your hands. Tears pouring out onto your blood-stained fingertips. How could this happen. Everything was going perfectly fine. The group hadn't encountered an infected for months. Fucking months. Then someone comes back from a hunting trip, infected and doesn't tell anyone? 

Pissed, your hands now closed into fists, hit the ground. You yell as loud as your lungs will allow you, not caring what or who will hear you. You're tired of this shitty world. We'll all die eventually you think. 

Your knees are weak from running, as you try to stand up. Water, you need to find water. You're thirsty and have blood everywhere. You stay standing up, you look up towards the sky, its pinkish purple, its sunrise. It's already 75 degrees outside. You start walking. Not a clue where you're going, just hoping to find water.

After walking for what felt like hours you finally spot a bridge. A bridge means water must be near. You walk a little faster. A little bit of hope bounces inside you. You hear it. Running water, maybe a creek, maybe a river. Running now. You finally make it to the bridge. There's a river running beneath it. You almost trip over a log trying to race down to the river. 

Throwing your backpack and jacket off you jump into the river. It's cold against your skin, you think about jumping out but let the coldness consume you. You scrub off the dried blood. You cup some of the water and drink it. You didn't realize how dry your mouth was until you drank from the river. 

Floating in the shallow river you start to daydream about how the world could have been if it didn't go to shit. You were only 10 when it started. Who knows maybe we would have had self-driving cars by now. Oh, how we never thought the world would end. We had plans, doesn't matter your age, everyone had plans. You wanted to be a doctor, an astronaut, a model. Before you had any more time to daydream you heard something sloshing around in the water near you. You jump to your feet to see a herd of deer, drinking the cold water. They looked so peaceful. You think about shooting one of them for some source of meat but can't make yourself reach for your gun. You shake your head and start slowly making your way back to you jacket and backpack.  

"How am I supposed to live in a world where everything wants to kill me?" You mumble to yourself, not like the deer are going to respond. When you throw your jacket and backpack on you start heading west across the riverbank. While walking through the water you look over at the deer expecting to see them peacefully drinking the water only to see them running the opposite direction. You quickly look to the side and see Runners. The way they quickly run gives them this title. You jump down into the water; you don't care about getting anything wet as long as it means you will survive. You slide your hand down the side of your pants reaching for your pistol. You grasp the pistol grip and wrap your finger around the trigger. You have come this far, there is no way you are letting fucking Runners take you out. You slow your breathing as to not draw any attention to yourself. Your efforts to lessen the attention failed. A runner spots you, it doesn't move right away instead moves it heads like a broken animatronic. You stand up not thinking. You start running across the riverbank and you hear the Runners behind you, closing the gap between you. 

"Fuck. Fuck. FUCK. FUCK." You yell. You take a quick glimpse behind you to see how close they are. The gap is so much smaller now. You lose your footing and start tumbling down a hillside. You know this means you are most likely dead. You try to stop from tumbling with little success. You finally stop falling and you instantly grab your pistol. You aim for the Runners. You shoot one in the head, if only it was a video game, and you could get extra points for that shot. Counting that shot you only have 5 rounds left. There's too many Runners compared to bullets, so you make a split decision. You gun it. You run to the roadway behind you and pray that there is something you can do to further your life. Upon reaching the roadway a Runner catches up to you. You scream and shoot your gun towards it, almost missing.