The Last Of Us: A Forsaken Son

The Final Gallop

Winter Season.

With the click of a button, the motor harboring inside the cassette player let out a high pitched whine. Every few seconds after the mans voice spoke the recurrent sentence he would click the button again.

William tried to convince me that it'll be worth it. Saving the world.

He replayed it one more time.

Even though the house kept him from being out in the snowy weather, he could still feel slight zephyrs brush against his skin from the basement windows that was ajar.

His eyes had finally looked away from the tape recorder resting in his hoarse, ashy hand.

Joel was laying in the middle of the garage with a blanket over top of his chest. His anemic skin was becoming akin to the grayness of his facial hair. He was suffering from the wound he received at the university. Once they got away from the campus, Joel fell off Callus, and it nearly gave Caleb a scare when they received no response.

Together, he and Ellie helped Joel as much as they could. Running into a mall to rummage through whatever scarcity of substances left to tend to his wound.

Without Joel's presence, it left them both quailing and dreading of what would happen next. But to their surprise, they were splendid enough to keep themselves alive for this duration.

     Those course of events led them to this house within a cabin resort. Ellie went out to hunt for food using Joel's bow and arrow while Caleb stayed behind to protect him.

     It was a difficult decision to adhere to. Ellie was always the one to establish some sort of plan on their movements. In Caleb's eyes, they've gotten this far because of her. How was she able to withstand this kind of stuff? After his analogy of Joel and Ellie's resilience, it left him with jaundicing clarity that overshadowed his own good doings.

     But he was helping. Just not in the way he pictured. His mind couldn't handle the thought of anyone else of familiarity dying. While sitting here with Joel was a bit relieving, at the back of his mind he wondered how Ellie was doing out there.

     He scooted closely to Joel. His arms wrapped around his legs as they were pressed against his chest.

    Then suddenly, his lips began moving.

"I hope we find them" he said, the silence that followed was vaguely consoling, making his words come out effortlessly.

"I just wish they didn't leave me, is all." He continued. "I don't really remember much about them. Though, I only been with Davi-" images of David and his family's fate resurfaced to his mind, leaving him speechless for a moment.

"I... only been with David and his family for a good amount of days. I think. I started to lose count after the third week." He continued, "I miss them, too... So many people have died... and I just... I hope that they're still out there... They have to be..."

⸻

     Jogging footsteps came down the steps. Caleb raised his head from his journal and saw Ellie going straight towards Joel.

"How did it go?" Caleb asked, "did you find anything?"

"I only managed to get a little bit of food" her eyes didn't rise to meet Caleb's once. She dug into her bag and took out some syringes. "But I was able to get this."

"What is it?"

"Medicine. For Joel" she pulled the blanket from over his chest and raise the bottom of his shirt, just enough to see the scar that was bandaged up.