Just Cargo (TLOU Series)

𝕤𝕚𝕩 | 𝕔𝕚𝕥𝕪 𝕝𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕤, 𝕠𝕦𝕥

*this is half-edited, so please, if you spot a mistake I missed, let me know and i will fix it asap*

Thunder grumbled above Boston, loud and almost angry, rain poured down in thick, fat droplets. Maeve's hoodie was already soaked, and the chills crept in. With the rain came a terrible chilliness, it almost felt like a cold front. She tried to pull her sleeves tighter around her wrists.

After leaving Marlene and Jordan at their now-abandoned base, the four traveled into the QZ. Presumably to where Joel or Tess lived. And she assumed right; the adults led them to an apartment and the second or so floor. It was easy to slip past FEDRA patrols, they didn't suspect a thing. And neither did their new escorts.

And they wouldn't know.

Muffled voices echoed throughout the corridor. It was as kept up as the tenants could make it; the walls were peeling, cracking, and had water damage spots on the ceiling. Tess stopped at a door with missing numbers on it. She opened the door and gestured for the girls to enter.

"Give us a minute, all right?" She said to them and closed the door behind them.

"Hey, what the fuck?" Ellie grunted and then scoffed. She looked at Maeve, almost baffled.

Maeve made a sound, shrugging. "Let them talk."

The apartment, to her, felt cozy. Not so much homey, but it was nice. Faded yellow wallpaper with patterns of white flowers, never mind what kind of flower — she wouldn't know the name of it. They looked like sunflowers but white. The kitchen was a bit of a mess. A bucket was in the sink and there was a couple of jugs of water with a syncing hose curled around its bottom. She wondered if FEDRA even allowed the people of the QZ, the ones that weren't soldiers to have luxuries such as running water, heating, and air conditioning. She glanced around again.

The living room was connected to the kitchen and was the first room when one entered the place. There was a long couch, and two chairs — a small recliner, and the other a simple plush-cushioned chair. The simple chair was positioned by the small window. Between the simple chair and the couch was a dark wood nightstand with an alarm clock that had a modified silver antenna. Oh. Maybe they did have power. And maybe, just maybe, the military wasn't as oppressive as she thought they were.

"Check it." Ellie coughed, earning her attention. A small table, one she didn't realize was there. It reached just below her waist. Ellie scooped up a flimsy but thick phonebook. She started flipping through it when a piece of notebook paper flitted from the thin pages. "What's going on here?"

"Ellie, it's not polite to snoop." She tried scolding, but her curiosity also drove her batty and she eyes the lined paper. "Huh...that's...new?"

It seemed like codes. Like, a sequence of numbers. Or radio channels.

Just then, Joel entered the apartment, visibly annoyed. The door shut behind him. He didn't look at them.

"So, who's Bill and Frank?" They were given a stern look. "The radio's a smuggling code, right? Sixties songs, they don't have anything new, seventies, they got new stuff. What's the eighties?"

Joel ignored her, brushed past the young girl, and went to lie on the couch. His arm slung over his face, shielding his eyes from the light.

"What are you doing?" The phonebook was abandoned on the small table again, forgotten.

The man grunted. "Killing time."

"Well, what are we supposed to do?"

"I am sure you will figure that out."

What a fun guy, Maeve thought and slipped her bag off. She only knew he was being this way because he had two kids forced upon him. She understood, to an extent, his displeasure. If she was trying to survive like he was, she wouldn't want a couple of children to be dropped on her.