The Last Of Us: A Forsaken Son

Not Too Far

Joel finally got the garage door open, it was a very tense and dangerous moment, as the loud noise immediately attracted a whole horde of Runners towards them.

They were all running towards the building ready to attack, and everyone quickly escape into the garage. There they found the safest place they could and a place to take a little rest and breathe before carrying on.

Caleb was sitting down on the ground as he let himself rest. He couldn't help but listen attentively as Tess and Ellie discussed her bite mark. He heard Tess say that Marlene thinks Ellie's immune, but what exactly does that mean?

"Through here, I found a door" Joel said

By the way the room was set up, it seemed they came upon an art room of some sort. There was a few paintings that was laid out on tables; paintbrushes, desks. Things you'd only see in a place where things are meticulously crafted.

Another room they went through contained sculptures. Carefully crafted ones at that.

"What is this place?" Ellie asked

"An old museum" Tess told her "some of this stuff is hundreds of years old"

"Wow"

Caleb always heard Sharlene tell Emily about them. How she and David would go sometimes to, "keep in touch with their history", whatever the hell that meant. But seeing these creations, he wondered how it would've looked back then.

They soon approached an opening they had to crawl through. Joel lifted the planks of wood that blocked the hole from being a sizable one.

Tess and Ellie went through and as soon as Caleb's head went under, the planks of wood started to creak then fell down as it suddenly collapsed.

Caleb just barely managed to pull back in time. Him and Joel now on the opposite side of the collapsed planks.

"Joel!" Tess shouted

"I'm alive." Joel said as he grunted from the sudden collapse "we'll... go around..."

"Caleb, are you alright?" Ellie asked next, but Caleb's response was cut short as they started to hear clicking and growling.

"Run!" Tess told Ellie before they ran off.

"Shit." Joel said "come on, kid"

Caleb followed Joel through an alternative hole into a big hallway with many doors. Clicking sounds coming from each one.

"Shit..." Joel whispered "we're gonna have to make a run for it."

Caleb nodded as he felt himself slowly sinking deep into vexation. But he tried to work up the courage to stay centered and follow Joel.

"Go"

They both ran down the hallway, their loud footsteps causing the clickers to let out a loud screech while chasing after them.

His jeans were too long as they hanged past his ankles and covered about half of his shoes. His footing was off as he stepped onto the bottom of his jeans.

Once he fell to the ground it almost felt like a death sentence, but he felt Joel's firm grip on his arm pull him right back onto his feet.

They reached the end of the hallway and turned left through a white door. The door was shut by Joel. Luckily, these zombies didn't have the intelligence to use the door knob.

"Come on"

Caleb followed Joel up the stairs to the top floor. They saw a runner banging on a door before it turned its head and saw them both standing there.

To see the runner come towards them let Caleb know that these particular zombies can see unlike the clickers. Joel used his pistol to shoot the zombie until it fell.

Tess voice was heard through the door, telling Ellie to stay back. Joel didn't hesitate to kick down the door. Tess was pushing a runner off of her then hit it in the head with a 2x4 piece of wood.

"I'm fine" Tess told them

"Guys!" Ellie shouted "I need your help!"

They all sprinted into a room with sculptures and antiques behind glasses. Ellie was holding off a runner from biting her. Joel and Tess instantly took care of it, but that wasn't the only one they'd have to deal with.

"Run!" Joel yelled at Caleb.

Caleb saw a runner coming towards his direction, he tried to run but ended up falling again due to his jeans. The runner that chased him got put out of its misery by Tess. Then he felt someone helping him onto his feet.

"Come on" Ellie said "this way"

They both ran away from the last few infected while Joel and Tess took care of them. That was two times he almost could've signed his death sentence.

Every last runner had fallen at the hands of Tess and Joel. Caleb could breathe a little easier knowing that.

"You okay?" Ellie asked

"I don't know..." Caleb responded

Tess stood at an open window letting out wearily exhales.

"This way" she said "it'll get us to the roof"

After going up the fire escape stairs, they reached the roof where Caleb tried to catch a few breathes. He saw Joel coming towards him and straightened his posture a bit, not knowing what he was gonna say.

There wasn't a word that left his lips as he squatted down and began to mess with the bottom of his jeans. To do what? Who knows. But Caleb stood there in a state of uncertainty.

"You alright?" He suddenly asked, his head faced down towards Caleb's shoes.

"...yeah, I think so" Caleb responded

Once Joel stood and walked away from Caleb, he saw the bottom of his pants were now rolled up in cuffs. They rested right at the tongue of his shoe.

"We gotta find a way across" Tess said

"Got it" Joel carried a large plank and sat it on the the railing, connecting it to the roof across from them.

Caleb went first and crossed to the other building. His eyes couldn't stop looking at the pink and orange hue the sky had.

"We're almost there" he heard Ellie voice beside him. "You excited?"

Caleb rubbed his hand against his pocket, feeling the outline of the crumbled paper.

"C'mon" Tess said "This way"

Caleb stood there for a moment, he let out a soft exhale before he whispered to himself. "Almost there dad..."

To be continued