The Last Of Us (Fanfic)

Joel Lives PT. 13

Ellie and Dina made it to the roof watching more patrols drive up to the school and they knew they had to move, fast. Ellie found an old rusted toolbox next to a similarly rusted ladder and she got the idea to use it to cross over to the apartment building.
Dina watched her place it across the railing and she hoped the balcony hadn't rotted away enough to cause it to collapse under their weight. Looking down that was all she could picture, them going splat on the ground below, but she swallowed her nerves and smiled at Ellie,

"Better than trying to make a jump for it." She said, trying to lighten the mood.

Ellie scoffed then climbed up and tried to keep her balance on the rickety ladder. Dina encouraged her while holding the ends in an attempt to keep it from sliding out from under her. When they were both safely on the other side, Ellie brought the ladder inside in an attempt to keep anyone from following them And scavenged the room for anything useful.

"Are you okay?" Ellie asked when she noticed Dina leaning against an overturned couch before the hallway. She was breathing heavily, bent over with her hands on her knees.

"Yeah, that guy just had a death grip around my neck." She laughed.

Ellie felt guilty getting Dina wrapped up in all of this, maybe she should've left her in Jackson.

Dina noticed her look and could guess what she was thinking, "Hey, I'm fine. Just a little tired." She said, but Ellie could tell it was more than that, they just didn't have the time to get into it at the moment.

"We gotta get out of here before they catch up to us." Ellie sighed and they made their way to the end of the apartment building where they took some time to get their bearings. They looked both ways down the street and figured it was clear enough for the time being to figure out their next move.

"Alright, come check this out," Ellie called and handed Dina the letter and Polaroid of Leah flashing the camera.

She whistled in appreciation.

"She's one of them."

"Well f*ck her then," Dina said.

"Read the letter."

Dina unfolded the paper and began to read it out loud:

'Jordan, Isaac's got us posted up on a two-week at the TV station. Scars spotted in the area. Here's something to hold you over.

Leah~'

Ellie laid the tourist map on a table and pointed, "TV station."

"You think she's still there?" Dina asked.

"We gotta find out, right?"

Dina looked closer, "So, it's by all these tall buildings." She noted and looked around till she found the same ones on the map, "That way."

"Okay... Let's go get Leah." She said and packed everything back up.

Dina scratched her head, "What about Jesse? We haven't heard from him for a long time."

"He's out looking for Tommy. And they could find themselves at the same place."

Dina pinched her lips into a thin line, not agreeing but knowing they couldn't exactly backtrack without putting themselves in more danger.

"They're smart, they'll be fine," Ellie said.

Dina sighed, "Okay. Let's go get Leah then."

<••••>

Tommy hadn't been in Seattle long before coming across one of the people who had taken his brother, and it took a lot of restraint to not immediately kill him. He couldn't admit it, but delaying Nick's death gave him satisfaction after what they'd done to his family. Going through this all reminded him of the early days of the outbreak, being moved between QZs due to overcrowding and seeing the worst sides of people early on. It reminded him of everything they had to do - everything Joel had to do - just to simply keep themselves alive. Tommy couldn't help feeling guilty for blaming his brother for what had to be done back then, how hard it was initially to keep him from giving up after what happened to Sarah. Tommy knew that he was no better than Joel, he had his own shame to carry when he thought it was for the greater good when he followed the fireflies just for it all to mean something. He thought about how his brother followed silently to bail him out if things got rough, which is exactly what Tommy planned to do now.

He bypassed downtown after nearly getting blown to hell by all the tripwires. He noticed that the WLF still used some of the watchtowers and made sure to keep a watchful eye through his scope for shift changes or just to make sure they were empty. Wandering upstream now he was on the back of Rosco making sure the tower up the mudslide was vacant before he went any further. The grass was tall and the flowers masked the smell of rot in the air from dead animals the infected had fed on. He passed a fresh boar not too far back that had attracted a good swarm of bottle flies and took note that he needed to be careful going forward.
He looked through his scope upwards towards the tower and waited for movement or noise while Rosco started acting more shifty than before. Could've been the flies that had followed them which annoyed the horse judging by the harsh swat of his tail, or maybe he sensed something close by. Tommy knew they had to keep moving but couldn't risk getting shot at if they stepped out of cover, but that choice was taken when the horse began to rear up.

He heard the movement in the tall grass before he saw them. Stalkers, a small group of them that were actively surrounding Tommy and now Rosco was close to bucking him off just to get away. Tommy took the reigns and pushed him forward, sending the stalkers into a frenzy, making them yell after him which attracted the attention of other infected in the area. His heart raced, bringing him back to that day at the ski lodge with that girl, Abby. He kept shifting back and forth between reality and the memories of that day, it felt so real he could feel the snow pelting his face as Rosco ran. Tommy was afraid and starting to panic more than he usually would, the fact he was losing his grip terrified him more than what was chasing him. He was slammed back to reality when Rosco reared up and threw him off his back when three clickers lunged at them. Tommy got back on his feet and watched them corner his horse under a crumbling overpass; he couldn't stop them from tearing into Rosco but that didn't stop him from trying.
He killed them, but it was too late and Tommy knew that but couldn't waste time as the infected were still trailing behind him. He grabbed what little supplies remained in the saddlebag and hopped over the cement wall while Rosco whined. It was almost as if he was begging to be put out of his mystery, but they were coming and if Rosco was dead they'd all go after Tommy and he wouldn't have a chance.

He ran uphill and heard when they got to Rosco, he looked back and saw a few of them jump the thigh-high wall and run in his direction. For a second he froze, unsure of what to do or where to go as he nearly ran into another tripwire. An alleyway was the only way out, the only problem was the mattress leaning against the iron gate, blocking the view behind. There could be more back there and he'd be walking right into them, but he had no other choice - he opened the gate and pushed back the mattress right as they came up behind him and slammed their bodies into the closed gate. Tommy pushed the mattress against it in an attempted reinforcement, nearly falling over trying to catch his breath.

"Jesus..." He breathed, looking behind him for any more signs of infected, but there were none. He hiked the rifle up on his shoulder, tightened the straps of his backpack, and walked forward; only the further he got the louder the gunshots in the distance became.

'Could be more infected,' He thought, but the screams that followed sounded different, they sounded panicked and afraid. He took a breath and went ahead towards the sound, figuring he'd find out one way or the other.