The Last of Us

Chapter 1: Where it all began

(Caroline's POV)

"DAD, come on I'm going to be late!!! LET'S GO!!!!" I screamed as I stood by the front door while I waited for my very slow father to finish fixing his tie. "Alright, alright I'm coming! Jeez, sometimes I wonder who the parent is around here," my dad snapped back.

You could say that my relationship with my dad is more like the best friend type. This is good because before mom died my dad and I didn't talk much, but now I tell him everything. "Don't forget we have to pick up Cassidy on the way to school," I told my dad. I climbed into the car and waited for my dad to start it. "Okay. Oh, and by the way, I'm not going to be home for dinner tonight. I have to work late at the lab."

That's the one thing I can't stand about my dad; work always comes first with him. For some reason the past couple of weeks he's been coming home from work later and later it seems, whenever I try to ask him about it he just changes the subject, but whatever it is it's definitely taking a toll on him.

As I sat there silently in the car on our way to school, my dad began to pester me about myself defense lessons. "Don't forget that you have kick-boxing tonight. You missed last week and it's really important that you take the classes." I just sat there and rolled my eyes. "I don't understand why it's such a big deal that I take these stupid classes. Why did you put me in them anyways?" I shot back at him. My dad's hands began to tighten around the steering wheel. "You need to be able to protect yourself."

~Later that night~

 I walked up to the front steps of my house and opened the door. I'm not going to be able to feel my arm for a week! I looked around my kitchen for something to eat. I grabbed an apple from the fridge and walked to my room. A couple of hours later, my dad came home. He was quieter than usual. "How was work?" I asked him. No answer; he just ignored me and went down to the basement, or his office, as he likes to call it. I followed him downstairs and tried to open the door but it was locked, just like always.

(Caroline's dad's POV)

I opened the small black box and stared at the two syringes filled with purple liquid. How am I going to tell her...? I heard a knock from the basement door and quickly closed the black box and hid it. "Dad, is everything okay?" Caroline called from outside the door. "Yeah, every things fine I'll be out in a minute."

A couple of minutes later I came out of my office and walked into the kitchen. Caroline was sitting at the table. "Hey bud," I started the conversation. "How was practice?" I sat down at the table across from her. "It was good I guess, but I still don't understand why I have to take lessons," she told me, obviously wanting me to take her out of the class. I sat there quietly for a second trying to think of something to say to her. "I just need you to be able to take care of yourself if anything ever happens." I answered her after a while. Caroline just sat there with a blank look on her face; she's always been a smart girl, so she can easily tell if I'm lying to her.

"Does this have something to do with what you're working on at the lab?" she questioned me. My palms began to get clammy. I can't tell her yet, it's not time. I quickly thought of something to distract her from this conversation. "Are you hungry, 'cause I'm starving?" I got up from the table and walked over to the fridge. "I'm not really hungry; I'm just going to go to sleep. Goodnight." Caroline got up from the table, walked to her room and closed the door. I sat back down at the table and put my head down. What am I going to do...? I can't keep lying to her like this.

~1 days before the outbreak~

(Caroline's POV)