crossed paths | the last of us

𝓲𝓲 ; 𝓽𝓵𝓸𝓾, 𝓬𝓻𝓸𝓼𝓼𝓮𝓭 𝓹𝓪𝓽𝓱𝓼

- 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐰𝐨: 𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐥𝐬 -

JOEL MAY NOT HAVE BEEN HENRY AND SAM'S biggest fan, but he was well aware that they were his only safe ticket out of the city. And he wasn't about to lose that.

A young woman like Noor could be useful for the time being, but Joel kept his eyes on her like a hawk. Mostly because she either walked behind them a few steps back or in front of them. She didn't converse, or even introduce herself. She barely spared Ellie a glance which the young girl didn't take very well.

"Can we trust her?" Henry asked, walking behind Ellie and Sam as the two wrote to each other in order to communicate.

"No."

"Then why -"

"Listen, we were in no place to negotiate," Joel said in a hushed but stern voice, "It was either this, or me and Ellie burying you and probably getting killed ourselves."

Henry simply nodded. The silence which overtook them was usually disturbed by Ellie and Sam's little laughs from time to time. Joel couldn't help but look away from Noor even though he promised himself to watch her like his own two eyes. Even the back of her radiated something that rubbed him the wrong way.

Suddenly, Joel and Henry took a few steps forwards when they saw Ellie and Sam jog up to Noor.

"Shit, Sam..." Henry muttered.

"She won't hurt them." Joel said. But he wasn't sure of it, either.

When Noor noticed the two by her sides, she barely spared them a glance and continued walking, hoping this would be over soon.

A slight tap to her hip made her look down towards Sam and his little board and pen. With a cold look on her face, she took it from him, reading it before looking over at Ellie who simply waited.

What's your name?

If this would be a game of write and read, Noor was fine with that. She hated talking anyway.

She lifted up the paper, using the pen to write down her name before dropping it back towards Sam.
Any normal kid would run back to their big brother and say how the young woman was rude by barely glancing at them or throwing their board to them, but Sam and Ellie seemed too excited to care. As scary as she was, the two saw beyond that.

Ellie rushed to Sam's side, reading Noor's handwriting. Whipping back towards Henry and Joel with a smile, she excitedly yelled towards them, "Her name's Noor!"

Henry and Joel simply looked at each other.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Once Joel confirmed to himself that the tunnels may not be Henry's safest route, he told Ellie to take out her gun. The girl almost laughed at his shocked face when she simply pulled it out of her pocket instead of backpack. Then again, Joel should know better than to think Ellie would listen to what he says.

"You," he stared at Noor, "Get your bow and arrows ready."

As much as she despised his order, she needed to get out alive. So she obliged and got her weapon ready, the pulling of the string against the arrow echoing through the empty tunnels.
Would she have chosen this way herself? Probably not. But if it guaranteed a safe exit from the city, Noor would fight her way through it.

The group silently made their way through the tunnels, with Joel and Noor in the front, Sam and Ellie behind them and Henry guarding from behind.