The Last Of Us (Fanfic)

Joel Lives PT7

Joel Lives, PT7
[Fan-Fiction]

They'd been home for a while now, and done what most of them had agreed to do. Issac now had Joel, and even if it wasn't the top priority, he let Abby work with him to get as much information out of him as possible to have a backup plan. They were only given a day to settle back in before having to get back to work, already having assignments less than twelve hours after arriving. Nick was concerned about how at odds his group was these last couple of weeks, how they just seemed to walk around each other like they were strangers. What bothered him more was how Nora had been treating him since they got back; she'd been avoiding him at all cost, and giving him the silent treatment if he tried to initiate a conversation. After years of being inseparable, he now had to face the fact that there was never going to be anything more than those nights they spent together. He thought it was supposed to be the woman who got attached, now he's lying in bed thinking about her more than anyone or anything else. He sat up in bed, feeling the aches pop in his body from a rough night of little to no sleep. He had gotten used to the silence of being on the road, he missed how it was before joining the WLF when the fireflies hid and traveled from city to city and never staying in one place too long. He just couldn't admit that to the others, especially not now. He didn't think anyone would understand that he was tired of fighting someone else's war, with people he couldn't give a sh*t about, over land he didn't want. Part of him thought about leaving but he could never do that; he needed the familiarity of the people he knew before, he needed that over the freedom of the road. This was the bed he'd made, and now he had to s*ck it up and lie in it.

A knock on his door made him groan into his hands, just wanting a little more time to try to sleep.

"Nick, Assignment." He heard the familiar voice, accompanied by another knock.

Ge grabbed a dirty shirt from his Bannister and put it on. He glanced over at his roommate who slept with headphones so he didn't have to hear the banging on the door. Nick was told he'd have repair duty all this week for the vehicles and boats Issac kept bringing in, though no one seemed to know why. On the other side of the door was Fiona, an older enlistee who was tasked with handing out assignments at the base instead of having to go out anymore. Nick glanced down at her makeshift prosthetic leg as she tapped her pen against the clipboard she was holding, impatiently.

"Good morning, Nick." She said monotonely.

"Fiona," Nick replied, wiping the lack of sleep from his eye.

"You didn't show up to breakfast so they made come to you," She said unhappily.

"I have repair all this week, didn't think I needed to show up on time." He replied.

"You do, this is an add-on assignment for you and a couple others."

Nick was confused, if there was more to his assignment they'd usually tell him upfront.

"You, Smith, Rocco, Joey, and Lee are all heading out to the Serevena today. It's a couple-hour commute to that part of town, especially with the main road getting washed out last week. You should get ready to head out." She said, turning around to leave.

"Wait, why the Serevena?"

She sighed, "Why do you think? We need more gas for all the sh*t that's getting fixed up. Now get ready to go, you have less than an hour to get packed up, eat, and head out.

He sighed in frustration, shutting the door behind him and heading down the steps to his bed. He looked outside and saw all the people already doing their daily tasks, and it was barely sunrise. The dogs were being walked and trained, the animals were maintained, and the smoke from the grills was already rising. He silently hoped for something other than burritos to be sent off with today, he craved a chicken sandwich with lettuce and tomato. With the vegetable gardens finally producing, and nearly ripe - Nick was almost willing to trade some of his stuff with the cooks in order to make that happen. He packed his bag and put his toboggan back on, knowing he didn't have enough time to shower today.