Left Forsaken: A The Last Of Us Story

Cambridge City

We walked the remaining miles to Cambridge City. The tall decaying skyscrapers loomed over us like pillars holding up the sky. If it wasn't for the mess of cars on the road and the thick ivy climbing up the buildings, I would have doubted the world was a complete disaster. Unlike the other cities we've crossed, this one did not even have a single place that indicated a bomb had gone off.

"Is it me, or did the military completely forgot this place from their bomb mission?"

"There are no quarantine zones close by, so there was no need to bother," Tina replied.

"Besides, most infected are--" A distant screech interrupted Charles' words and our heads alamrly whipped towards its origin. The figure of an infected came into view on a knocked over truck, then more infected climbed up and over. A horde was coming our way, their unsynchronized screeching and snarls announcing them as they quickly charged towards us. Smith took no time in taking out his shotgun and start blowing the holes into the first wave of infected.

"Run! Run!" He yelled. I took off along Tina and Charles, completely ignoring my legs protests.

"Where to?" Tina breathed as she sprinted ahead of me.

"Here!" I heard Charles call us and we turned to see him trying to lift a aluminum garage door.; we rushed to his aid.

"No, cover us." Tina said through clenched teeth as she tried to lift the gate with Charles. I stood up and took out my 9mm out of its holster, it wasn't the best gun at the moment, but it was the one I was the most experienced with. Smith and Albert were sprinting towards us with the horde right at their heels. I took aim of the closest infected and pulled the trigger. My nerves betroyed me, the shot hit the runner's shoulder instead of its head. The runner's shoulder whipped back and he slowed down, but quickly recovered and picked up the pace once again. Taking a deep breath, I shot again this time piercing its head, I could tell by the way its head whipped back and the infected fell limp on the ground. The rest tripped on it causing a chain of chaos. The others continued chasing their prey. I took more infected out, but they still charged towards us. I heard the rumbling of the gate as it was lifted up, I saw Tina and Charles managed to lift it a small gap. "Hurry!" Charles groaned and Tina crawled through the gap and lifted the gate from the other side. Finally, Albert and Smith reached us.

Albert stood right beside me, his hunting rifle equipped, and already shooting down some infected. "Go!" He ordered me. With no time to waste in arguing, I squeezed through the gap along Smith. As soon as Albert was on our side of the garage sheet, Charles dropped it. The infected that were outside banged against the aluminum curtain. The five of us backed away from it, fearing the infected might barge through.

"Holy shit! We're ok!" Charles panted, resting his hands on his knees. I was left light-headed after that sprint; I struggled to catch my breath, trying my best to not pass out.

"They should add infected-proof to the description of this garage door." Albert joked, which Charles and I awarded with a chuckle.

"Let's get out of here. I can't stand that sound any longer." There were times where I wondered if Smith was even human...

We walked out of the room and immediately found ourselves amoung rows of shoe boxes leading up to the roof. The small room smelled of rubber and dust. I am surprised no one has rummaged through here. I heard some rattling ahead, I walked out of the small room and saw shoes stacked on the walls for the display. The once shiny and glowing footlocker logo now dull and barely holding onto the wall. Smith was trying to pry open the grill that covered the entrance of the store, but it gave no sign it would budge. I glanced at the cash register, not even opened.

"It's almost as if everyone completely disregarded this place," I told Tina.

"It's strange," she plainly replied. "Normally, stores would be a complete mess. Specifically a mall."

"They had more important things to steal, I guess," like food. No one would've have stolen shoes on an empty stomach.

Smith, Charles and Albert were crouched trying to open the grid, they moaned softly until the metal fence gave in and whirled up. The space between the floor and the fence was not much, but enough for the shape of a crouched Smith. Tina and I went through first, sweeping away the bits of glass from our way as we groveled through. Once outside the store, the rest of the stores dully shoned, we saw three figures through the dusty air. While pulling out my assault rifle, I tapped Tina on the shoulder. I was already aiming at one person's head when Tina pulled out her gun.

"Stand your ground!" Tina yelled pinning them under the barrel of her gun. I could see the guys out of the corner of my eye in mid-crawl pulling out their weapons. I was nervous, I didn't want to kill someone again. I could see the woman amoung two more men pull out their guns as well. Their dusty and greasy faces, torn clothes. These people seem to have gone through hell. "Drop your guns!"

"Drop yours," the woman challenged .

"That isn't going to happen," Tina answered.

"Drop your gun, Tina." Smith ordered, he stood up and wiped the bits of dust off his clothing. His gun wasn't withdrawn. "They are on our side." Tina stopped aiming her gun at them, but still didn't unequip it. I ,on the other hand, placed the assault rifle back to its place.

"Smith?" The woman asked, she walked closer and I could see her face more clearly now, the dirt that coated her face contrasted with her pale neck. She ran and hugged Smith, "God, I thought I wouldn't see you again, bloody bastard." She pulled away and tugged her gun into her jeans.

"This is your crew?" Smith asked.

"What's left of them," she sighed. "Lost most of them when we ran into a horde of infected. I hate those things."

I guess that was why they looked so screwed over. "I almost thought we weren't going to make it in time." Smith said.

"You arrived just in time."
That's why he was in such a hurry, we had to meet up with this group of the Fireflies. The other two men, besides having a worned out appearance they seemed young and scared.

Her name was Deborah, and the other two were Ian and John. According to Smith, she was a firefly and a smuggler from Toledo, far north from Dayton, close to the Canadian border. They arranged to meet here, so they'd travel together to Colorado.

"It's a complete mess, I tell you, even with the frozen lake between us, I always stumble amoung a few people crossing the border. The soldiers shoot anyone attempting to cross." She said.

"Why does the military waste time on shooting down trespassers?"

"Dead people don't get infected." She shrugged. That excuse seemed to justify everything these days. It's stupid.

"The Canadians are nice people, not even a guard post on the other side of the border. I smuggled a couple of things there and not even a warning."

"Will the Fireflies go there next?" John wondered.

"No, the biting cold of Canada is unbearable, not to mention the experiments might get messed up. Remember: we lack electricity." The winters were unbearable even in Dayton QZ, I remember our first winter after the outbreak. Without electricity to power up a heater, we had to burn newspaper, books, and wood inside a thrash can, and wear many layers of clothing to keep warm. I can only imagine how Canada had it.

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