The Last Of Us

The Interception

        "Wheezie I'm fine. You don't need to come with me." I said as I stocked my bag full of supplies.

        "But what if they're out there? What if you don't come back? How am I going to survive?" Wheezie questioned as she grabbed the hem of my top, pulling it in desperation.

        "Wheeze, how many times have I left the bunker?" I lowered myself to her height and made eye contact with her.

        "A bunch." She muttered. Her face slowly turned up to look at me and I could see the tears threatening to fall. I gently wiped them before making her meet my eyes.

         "And how many times have I came back?" I wiped another stray tear before brushing a piece of her hair behind her ear.

        "Every time." She sniffled before she released my shirt and I could tell that she was calming down.

        "Exactly. I'm always going to come back for you, Wheeze. You know I'll always be here to take care of you." I raised back up and finished packing my bag before closing it.

I took Wheezie's hand before we made our way out of my bedroom and through our underground compound. I made it to the door before stopping and giving Wheezie a hug goodbye. It took everything in me to walk away from those sad eyes but our meat supply was running low and I needed to collect from our traps. I gave her one last smile before pushing up the steel door. I climbed the short ladder and made my way to the top, savoring the smell of fresh air and nature. I closed the door behind me and started my trek, thinking about how I'd made it this far.
       
Wheezie was like a little sister to me. She had been orphaned not long after she was born, she was only a few months old when it happened. Both of her parents were scavengers and they were out emptying the traps when they had been attacked. It's been six years and it's still unknown as to what happened. All that was left was her mother's head. Nothing of her father was ever found but he'd never made it back to the compound so we came to our own conclusions. I'd been seventeen at the time but I took her under my wing along with our leader, Christian. There weren't many of us here, less than fifty at this point, so help was scarce and I felt like it was my duty considering I was also an orphan.

        I had never known my parents, I was told that they found a baby crying in the woods near the bunker and someone had heard me and brought me in. It haunts me every day. Not knowing where I came from and what happened to them. Despite my situation, I was taken in like I was one of them. I had a normal childhood just like everyone else and when it was my time to provide, I was given a job.

        Our ancestors built this shelter soon after the first alarms went off about an uprising. The turmoil between species had been rumored to be rocky for years due to discrimination and the policing of the supernatural species. We had lived in peace since the beginning of times but not much was known about them. They kept to themselves for the most part. Not much was known about their history, their traditions, and how they lived. It wasn't until the attack before we learned just how naive we had been. How naive we were to believe that things could be peaceful.

        We believed that the two species were civil towards one another but chose to not meddle in the other's business due to how different they lived. We hadn't realized that they had joined together to accomplish their mission until that dreadful day.

        I shook myself out of my thoughts as the clearing that I had become so acquainted with came into view. I made it to the familiar berry bush before I popped a few into my mouth. They weren't as sweet as last years but they nourished our people just the same. I grabbed one of the jars from my bag and started filling it to the top. I placed it back in my bag before grabbing a new one and headed towards a bush a little farther out. This time I grabbed some tomatoes and mushrooms and did the same. Our gardening staff had their own food that they grew near our bunker but after nearly 200 years our plants didn't taste the same. I'm still clueless to how some plants survived The End but nonetheless, I'm thankful. Nothing beat the natural plants that grew here.