The Last Of Us (Fan-Fic)

Fall- Chapter Three- Part 2 Under Attack

"False alarm. They're friendlies" Maria calls out once we are inside. "We've been dealing with raids. Lot of bandits in this area" Explains Maria. "It's been quiet for a few days" Tommy adds. "What the hell are you doing here? I thought I'd find you in Jackson" I say to my brother. "Been trying to bring the plant back to life" He replies, "We had it working before, but one of the turbines went south".

"We have electricity, Joel... Had. We'll get it running again" Tommy says, knowing that I would be impressed. "No way" Ellie says as we walk towards some horses. "You guys have horses" She says as she runs over to one. "We got a whole lot of 'em" Tommy tells her. "Hey, Tommy, give me a hand with this" Says a guy who was cleaning a horse's hooves. "Can I?" Ellie asks the lady who was grooming the horse, "Yeah of course. He likes it when you pet his ears" The woman tells her. Ellie reaches up and strokes the horse. "You ever ride one?" Maria asks. "I actually have".

This shocks me, "When have you ridden a horse?" I question. "Whinston, this soldier back in the zone. He gave me lessons". "You know, if you want, we can take him riding later" Maria says as I pat the side of the horse, "That's be awesome" Ellie says, smiling. Once Tommy is done helping the man, we continue the tour. "Earl?" Maria asks the man who was leaning against a wall. "Yeah?" He replies. "Why are you here? Weren't you supposed to head back this morning" Maria says. "Still waiting on Houser and the rest of the boys to relieve me". 

"We'll be fine. Just... Go home to your family" Maria insists, "It's just a couple more hours. I'll tough it out" He replies. "Alright, well take it easy". Maria leads us up some steps and takes us inside the large building. When we're all inside we can hear a radio say, "Maria". Maria takes the radio off of her trouser belt and holds it up to her mouth, "Yeah, go ahead" She speaks. "We're in the control room. Steve's about to start it back up. Do you wanna come check it out?". Maria rolls her eyes. "I'd rather eat with Ellie" She says to Tommy. "It's my turn anyway. I'll go" He says, walking over to the door.

"I'll come with you" I say to Tommy, "Go with Maria and put some food in you" I add to Ellie. "Joel?" She murmurs. "C'mon, Ellie. Let's give the boys some space". Ellie looks at me once again before I leave the room, "I'm sending Tommy over. Stand by" Maria says.

In the room there were various bunk beds dotted around the room, only a few were occupied with sleeping people though. "This'll be the sixth time of them trying to get the turbines back on-line. We've been here just a week, but it feels like forever" Tommy says as he leads me over to a space between two beds. "Uh... I got something for you" He says looking in a bag. "Last year I went back to Texas - back home. Most of our stuff was long gone. Most of it". He took something out of the bag and handed it to me, "Here". I looked at it, it was a picture of me and Sarah after she had won a match of soccer, "It's a little faded but it still looks pretty good". I look at it for a second, I knew that I should be remembering the good times, but looking at the picture, all that I could think of was Sarah's death.

"I'm good" I say, giving it back to him. "You sure? I mean...", "I said I'm good" I reply sternly. "Okay. Well, I'll hold on to it for you" He says, putting it back. "Tommy, I... I need to talk to you. Privately" I say, looking up at the sleeping men. "Yeah, okay. Let me just check on my guys real quick. C'mon". 

I follow Tommy up two flights of stairs and onto a balcony and lastly a door to a floor that was outside. "I don't know what you heard, but you should see the town. We're over twenty families strong now" Tommy says proudly, "It was Maria and her father. They set up this place with the idea of being self-sustained. We got crops and livestock. Remember how we thought no one could live like this? We, we're doing it" He adds.

"What do you do for protection?" I ask, "The adults take turns guarding the perimeter. We even got an electrified fence -- when the plant's up and running" He replies as we keep walking forwards. "You still gotta deal with infected though, right?" I remind him, "Who doesn't? But it's the world we live in".