Endure & Survive ~ The Last of Us Fanfiction

Those Effing Clickers

Not even twenty feet in and it already gets difficult to see easily. We keep trudging cautiously on, despite the fact that I'd really rather not. I could punch Joel right now for not letting us go back, but then I'd be the one that has to drag his body through the tunnel. Believe me, that is NOT something you'd want to have to do. He weighs more than double of my weight.

Now about thirty feet in, Joel turns on his flashlight and the tunnel gains an eerie yellow tint. Though, it only reaches about ten feet. I can tell because it doesn't hit any of the walls, just things in somewhat close proximity to it.

He just picks up on this, swearing under his breath and smacking the torch against his palm.

"Shit, Joel! Now what? We'll be lucky if we get through this thing with the bulb still working!"

"Ellie, you're not really brightening the mood here." He says calmly, still whacking the light on his hand.

"Neither is that flashlight..." I mumble. I silently pray he didn't hear me through the mask.

He shoots me a look, but it's hard to see it through the orange tint of his mask. I still get the point.

We keep moving forward, darkness becoming a more lethal enemy with every footstep. Joel still has trouble believing that his torch was so unreliable as he checks the batteries and the bulb inside. Within a few minutes, the place where we came in has become a mouth of light only about six inches wide, and I hate knowing that.

A high pitched screeching that the both of us know too well makes my ears perk up when I hear it. It's become an instinct.

"Joel..." I whisper, but I guess he can't hear me through the mask. When I look his way, he's still fiddling with the torch. I stealthily, slowly make my way to his side, avoiding the shattered glass from windshields and anything else that makes a racket. I grab onto his arm and jolt it.

"Clickers." I whisper. He probably still can't hear me, but he read my lips. In an instant, he shoves the torch into the side pocket on his bag and snatches a bomb made from shivs. I don't quite recall what their names are, but he takes out his newly discovered crossbow and holds it in his dominant hand. I pull the string back as far as I can on my bow, keeping it low and by my waist. Joel and I continue walking, our eyes a bit more alert than before.

One foot forward, another right behind. After about ten minutes of walking with our bodies and mind tense and ready, the hand that I have on the string and arrow has begun to cramp, and my eyes are beginning to feel strained from staring through the autumn colored plastic and into pitch darkness. I have to keep my guard up, though, so I just deal and grit my teeth.

Another few seconds pass before I hear the screaming Clickers again. Joel must hear it now, too, because his eyes get narrow and his breathing gets calm.

His eyes dart to and fro, following a moving figure that I now come to see. After pacing for quite some time, the shadowy, humanoid creature screeches, charging us. It sets its sights on Joel.

"Shit!" I bellow, and the sound bounces from wall to wall. I use my only loaded arrow to give a head shot. The freaking Clicker keeps screeching, but after a few seconds of our hearts in our throats, it falls to the ground in a sudden manner. After about a minute of high-pitch moaning from it, the tunnel finally becomes silent once more. Creepy and threatening, but silent.

"Well," Joel says, breathing rapid and unsteady, "We ought to get out of here before some more start stirring."

I nod, trying to not have a heart attack at fourteen, and push my foot forward. It's like controlling a puppet. I have to think about every move that I make and plan it out before it can be executed, because even if I'm mentally over the attack, the adrenaline is only now catching up to me.