The Last Of Us: A Forsaken Son

Pittsburgh - Part 2

"You dropped this"

     The green cover journal hanged in her palm. Those were the first couple of words that's been spoken since the incident.

"I still have your gas mask by the way."

     No words could escape his mouth. He just stood there with his dejected figure.

     But Ellie continued to talk. Trying her best to get a reply out of him.

"What do you think this place was like before everything?"

     How should he know? His eyes couldn't even break away from the cuffs in his jeans. Daunting questions looming at every minute.

     Why did a part of him feel relieved? What did this feeling mean? Does this make him a bad person?

     Though his conflicting feelings were evident to him. He couldn't waste time thinking about it. After he did what he did, they caught their breathes only for a second before moving along.

     At least now he could sit in retrospect until Joel finished figuring out a way forward. But with his cognitive dissonance, there was no way he had the comprehension to answer them himself.

     But Ellie's voice kept interrupting. If he could, he would just mute the questions in his brain, the questions Ellie kept asking, and just let himself be free from everything he was surrounded by.

     Only if he could've.

"..I'm gonna go check on Joel."

Caleb's silence must've left her vexed since her mitigating proved unsuccessful. She could see the pensive look his eyes carried as he stared down at his shoes.

Joel was carrying the ladder towards the broken handrail on the busted staircase.

"Hey Joel" Ellie took a glance back at Caleb – his head still slightly hanging down "I don't think Caleb's okay"

Once he propped the ladder against the broken handrail he looked at Ellie — then glanced at Caleb.

"Just leave him be for now"

"Could you at least say something to him?"

"Say something like what?"

"I don't know. Something encouraging at least. He did save our asses"

"He'll be fine, Ellie. Now we gotta keep going"

Ellie gave Caleb another sympathetic glance before going up the ladder.

"Hey Caleb, come on now"

As Caleb climbed up the ladder — Joel's grey eyes locked onto his face. Silence returned to them as they went up the remaining stairs. Until, Ellie started to read jokes from her book called "No Pun Intended" claiming it would lighten the mood.

After climbing through an open window onto a rooftop area — medium tone voices nearby.

"Fuckin' hunters" Joel let out a sharp whisper.

     Already, Caleb's body was concocted to the hyper-vigilance exuded from the sound of those voices. It wasn't as potent as other times — this one steady; tamable. Was he becoming accustomed to it? Or was it his mind accentuating that following Joel was the better priority?

     Going back into the hotel, so many light footsteps sounded on top of each other. Something you could hear only if you listened attentively as Caleb did.

    Each hunter seemingly walked between the corridor, going in and out of rooms randomly. It seemed like they were lurking around every turn they'd make.