Death With Dignity - The Last Of Us

Chapter Eight - Dazed And Confused

Steven awoke in a daze, the first thing coming back being the harsh smell of dust and concrete. The boy gently opened his eyes and found himself in an unfamiliar and deeply unpleasant place. Surrounded by a square-shaped room without windows or any sort of well anything, the only thing of value or difference being the empty door frame leading to a deep and dark hallway.

Steven briefly considered maybe hiding in the room, to the side of the doorframe to pop out at anyone who appeared. This plan wouldn't work however considering he doesn't even know what they'll do to him.

The hallway led to a seemingly T-shaped structure with the end wall splitting in two directions, a ladder front and center. He could make it, he's almost certain he can run to the ladder and climb up.

As Steven took a deep breath he paused before running as fast as he possibly could to the ladder, he about touched it. Sadly a woman slid out in front of him with a knife that Steven ran his abdomen directly into. The sharp pain felt only like a punch at first until he tried to move and felt the blade slice deeper.
Steven screeched,
"Sorry." The woman sighed in the most insincere manner she could.

Steven looked up at the woman and the particular scent of body odor and some sort of meat was familiar. It was the same person who attacked him at the bridge, the previous events started coming back to Steven slowly. Steven then screamed when the woman removed the knife from his abdomen, blood audibly dripping to the floor.

"C'mon." The woman said as she grabbed Steven by the back of his hair and held her knife to his neck. Steven contemplated what to do but before he could she started dragging him down another hallway toward a room. He desperately tried to stop the woman's momentum by dragging his feet across the floor but Converse couldn't do much on dusty flat concrete. The only sound of his efforts was a squeak of the rubber and concrete dragging across the unflinching surfaces.

"Get your fucking hands off me!" Steven yelled as the Woman let out a soft giggle, bitch. The woman finally entered the other room shoving Steven against a wall next to the entrance. Steven couldn't even see through this woman's cold gaze and threatening blade.

She was about Steven's height, slightly shorter but still the same. Her skin was white, to the point it seemed as if she had been made from printer paper. The dark black sweater, brown plaid pants, and chunky black combat boots didn't help as the black made her look even more white as if she was a ghost. The worst part however were her sunken and soulless eyes, the pupils not being a color at all besides a dark menacing black.

Steven then heard the loud screeching sound of duct tape being stretched from its roll, he glanced just barely enough to see Joel. The older man was lying down on his side bound and gagged, the blood coming from his nose beginning to puddle. Seeing him like that filled Steven with rage even if he was mad at him, a rage he'd never felt before.

The woman finally spoke aloud as she kept her knife trained on Steven's neck,
"Who is this guy to you?" She barked.
"He's my... friend." Steven stuttered, hoping that was the right answer.
"So you regularly sleep with your friends?"
Steven's eyes widened as he wondered how the fuck she knew that, she must have been on their trail for days.
"Fuck you!" Steven yelled as the woman looked at him with a smug expression.

Steven began to breathe heavier once he got a look at what Joel was doing, he was limp on the floor as two men stood above him. Both men were about the size of Joel and were armed, with small bitchy pistols.
"Let him go." Steven spat,
"Why would I do that? He didn't do that for Charlie?" Joel while weak shuddered when he saw the woman, he knew her. Steven looked puzzled at the woman not knowing who the fuck Charlie was.

The lady caught on to his confusion and spoke aloud,
"Your little fuck buddy over here, he killed my son. Shot him directly in the head while he was looking for a goddamn packet of crayons. Charlie never did any harm to anybody but he-" the woman pointed an angry finger at Joel, "Decided that he had done something wrong and killed him. Do you know what it's like to find your child missing half his fucking Hh-head?" The woman started to tear up, Steven knew the pain well.