Revival - The Last Of Us

Parting Ways

The group of four walked for hours in dead silence, everyone reeling from the traumatic events that had just transpired. 

Maeve walked, more so hobbled, with the support of both Joel and Ellie, making their way far from Kansas City.

Eventually the group settled for the night at an abandoned motel, setting up camp in a room on the bottom floor. 

After the group ate their rations, Maeve, Ellie, and Sam split off into the smaller room as Joel and Henry stayed out in the living area. 

Joel decided he would tend to Maeve after she calmed down a bit, wanting to give her space to process things for afew. 

Sam and Ellie sat on the same bed reading the comic they had found earlier as Maeve sat on the one across from them, facing the window, her knees pulled up to her chest as she slowly inspected the wound on her ankle. 

It had scabbed over quickly, the cordyceps covered with the top layer of her skin once more. Her mind was reeling, confused as to what this meant. She could feel the infected were near, did her wound have anything to do with awakening them? 

Maeve remembered what Tess had said in the beginning of their journey, right after they escaped the QZ, "Now, you step on a patch of cordyceps in one place, and you can wake a dozen infected from somewhere else. Now they know where you are, now they come." The cordyceps were within her, did it somehow trigger the infected to find out where she was? If this was the case, was it safe for her to be with the group? 

She shifted uncomfortably at the thought as she ran her fingers along the gashes on her back, she would have to clean those up soon before she ran the risk of infection. 

Back out in the main area, Henry was the first to speak, "You think they'll be okay?" 

Joel was hesitant before he answered, "Yeah, I think. It's easier when your a kid anyway." He said, even though he couldn't get the burning image of Maeve on the ground, wounded and tired, out of his head. 

He continued, "You don't have anybody else relying on you. That's the hard part."

"Well, I guess we're doing a good job then." Henry said with a soft smile as he looked towards Sam and Ellie. 

Joel nodded, remembering to check up on Maeve before they went to sleep. 

"What's that comic book say? Endure and survive?" Joel questioned.

"Endure and survive." Henry affirmed. "That shits redundant." He chuckled slightly. 

"Yeah, it's not great." Joel agreed. 

After a couple beats of silence, Joel spoke up again, "Look, I don't know exactly how we're getting to Wyoming. We're probably walking. But, you know, if you want to." He was offering for them to conjoin. 

Henry immediately nodded in agreement and relief, "Yeah. I think it'd be nice for Sam to have some friends." He said in reference to Maeve and Ellie. "I'll tell him in the morning." He concluded. 

With that, Henry got up and walked into the room that hosted the kids. 

Maeve turned as Ellie stopped reading the comic. 

Henry signed that Sam needed to get some sleep. 

Maeve quickly got off the bed so Sam could sleep there as she walked out towards the bathroom attached to the main area. A dim lantern was the only source of light in the small bathroom as she gently began to tend to her wounds. 

She took some water from her canteen as she cleaned up her arm, washing away the dirt, grime, and dried blood from her skin, cleansing herself of the events she had just gone through.