Secrets And Hope {The Last Of Us Fanfiction}

III

By mid-afternoon the place seemed quiet. Everyone in the town going about their daily chores, the men and women making their way down to the gate for the shift change on watch patrol. Joel gave them a nod and a slight smile as they passed. He made his way further into the building towards Tommy's office, letting out a deep chuckle as Buckley greeted him with a bark and a wag of his tail.

"Hey buddy."

Tommy smiled at the sight of his brother, rising from his chair as Joel closed the door behind him.

"Hey Joel, everything okay in the warehouse?"

"Yeah it's all done. You seen Ellie around?"

"Left her back at the house with Maria and Nora. The girls are having lunch before they go out looking for work for Nora. She seems nice."

"Yeah she is."

A moment of silence sat between the two brothers as Tommy sat back down. He hesitated for a second before looking back at Joel.

"Alright I'll bite. Why'd you bring her here Joel?"

"It was actually Ellie's idea to bring her along. But while we were searching for supplies, we ended up in Hunter territory and she thought I was one of em. She attacked me and-"

"Hold on a sec, she attacked you and bring her back here?"

"No you got it all wrong Tommy. She's...different and tough as hell too, you should've seen her. Took out four infected on the way back with no gun, no nothing!"

Tommy chuckled as he sat back in his chair.

"I reckon you got a thing for this girl of yours."

Joel scoffed.

"What?"

"Tell me I'm wrong."

"You're wrong."

"Course' I am. All I'm sayin' is I know that look, hell I've seen that look before!"

Joel crossed his arms and scowled at his younger brother.

"It ain't nothing like that!"

"Sure it ain't!"

Tommy smirked at Joel and Joel couldn't help but smile back. They hadn't bickered like this since they were teenagers, talking about the girls in their class. Joel took a step forward as he let out a sigh.

"Listen Tommy-"

The static from Tommy's radio interrupted the conversation as Maria's voice echoed in the office.

"Tommy! We're under attack, we need help on the bridge."

The sound of gunshots broke through as Joel and Tommy glanced at each other.

"Oh shit, they're coming! Ellie get down! Nora look out on your left! Tommy get down here!"

"Okay we're coming!"

"Fucking Bandits!"

Tommy quickly grabbed his rifle and raced out the door with Joel following closely behind. Emerging out into the open Joel ducked as a bullet flew passed him hitting the concrete behind him. Reacting Joel shot the bandit without much effort before moving forward beside Tommy.

"We gotta get to the girls, bridge is just up ahead but I don't know how many bandits managed to break in."

"It don't matter Tommy, just keep going. I got your back, just be careful."

The two continued to move forward, easily taking out any bandits that got in their way. When they finally reached the bridge Joel searched desperately for Ellie, letting out a sigh of relief when he spotted her hiding behind some crates. She took out the odd bandit with her pistol before they managed to get to close to anyone. Tommy raced to his wife's side as he killed the bandit that forcefully took hold of her. Joel stood in a fist fight with another once his ammunition had run out, delivering one final blow to his face with his boot before standing back. A sudden gunshot echoed as Joel flinched, he looked down to see the body of a bandit that had attempted to charge at him. Looking for the shooter he glanced at Nora as she stood with a smoking gun in her hand. Joel paused for a second as he watched Nora move on to the other intruders killing each and every one with a single shot to the head.