Better Alone (Maggie Greene FanFiction)

The Last of Us

I ran into an old convenience store after my older sister Hanna, who held her knife close to her side up and ready to use in case one of the creeps managed to sneak in behind us. As soon as I was far enough into the old store Hanna slammed the door shut and pushed the nearest shelf down in front of it.

"What about dad?" I asked frantically. "We can't leave him out there!" I went to move the shelf but Hanna pulled me away. "Hanna!" I yelled at her.

"Justice, I'm right here." a voice came out from behind me.

I turned around. "Dad!" I ran up and wrapped my arms around him. "I thought you were trapped out there."

"I'm safe." He said with his arms wrapped around me. "I'll always be safe.. We'll always be safe."

"You sure about that?" Hanna asked.

I looked over at her, confused. "We're safe now."

"Are we?" She looked at dad which caused him to let go of me, "Are we truly safe in this space with you, with those creeps locking us up in this small space?"

"You're scaring me Hanna.." I said softly.

"This place is safer than anywhere out there in the woods." dad said.

I put my hand over Hanna's. "You don't have to be scared anymore."

She ran her fingers through my blonde hair and drew a smile across her face before looking up at our father. "I know I'm safe here with you, Justice."

"Dad to." I looked back and forth between the two of them. "Did dad get bit?"

"No, sweetie. Why don't you go find something to add to your collection? I'm sure this store has some things." he said towards me.

I nodded and walked off into the aisle closest to us. One shelf had been pushed up against the entrance by Hanna but the other shelves stood upright. The shelves barely had anything on them. Others probably came through and looted through the place already. That's the worst part about the apocalypse.. never being able to get anything unless the place it was in was locked up or unable to be entered. It's like the creepers weren't already bad enough.

I kept on walking through the aisle, the poor lighting of the sun shining through the dirtied up windows barely revealing the blood stained prints on the tile below my feet, until I saw something hanging off one of the rusty hooks on a wall. I got closer to it until I was able to reach out and touch it with my fingertips. The sunlight was shining on it enough for me to see the small tag dangling from the arm of the stuffed bear, a little bit of blood had been stained the corner of the foot. I unhooked the bear and hugged it. Still plump. The way I always loved my stuffed animals. "I'm going to name you Kenny." I smiled as I hugged the stuffed animal.

"Dad!" I heard from the front of the store where I left Hanna and dad. I ran over to them, stopping as I reached the end of the aisle. I looked over at dads face to see him staring in shock. A bloody wound was in the chest of my older sister. "Hanna!" I screamed out. I ran over to her just as her body fell towards the ground and wrapped my arms around her. "Hanna, wake up!"

A tear fell down my cheek. "We were safe here, Hanna. We were safe here."

"It's never safe anymore." Hanna choked out.

"Hanna." I felt a tear slip down my cheek. "Please tell me you're alright."

She had a small smile growing across her face, "Promise me you won't become weak."

"I won't become weak." I said through my tears, "I have you."

"Promise me." she said back. The hand she used to pressure the blood was becoming a deeper shade of red. I placed my hand on top of hers to help with the pressure, "I promise."

"I love you." She said to me. She let go of her wound, lifting my hand off, and ran her fingers through my golden blonde hair, "Don't you ever forget that I love you."

"I will never forget that." I crossed my heart, "Ever."

"Good." She slowly closed her eyes. "I'm tired."

"No!" I shouted. I tried to hold her eyelids open. "Wake up Hanna, wake up!" I felt more tears swell up in my eyes. "Wake up." Dad tried to pull me away but I fought until I was able to wrap my arms around Hanna's lifeless body.

"Justice." Dad wrapped his arms around me and pulled me away from Hanna, "Justice, she's dead."

"She can't be. She just can't." I tried to break away from him but he held me close. "We were safe, dad. We were safe in here. A creeper couldn't come in.. Hanna made sure of it."

"A creeper couldn't use a gun either. Justice we aren't safe here."

"I would listen to your father, honey." a man said coming out of the shadow with a gun in his hand. "Or at least to your sister.. I mean she flat-out told you that it's not safe anymore but you just went back to saying that it was safe here."

"Who are you?" Dad asked the man.

"Did you kill Hanna?" I asked.

"Did you kill Hanna?" he mocked me, "Do you see anyone else with a gun here?"

I looked up at my dad and back at the man. "My dad has one.. but he'd never kill Hanna."

"Are you slow, young lady?" He asked me.

"Don't talk to my daughter like that!?" Dad raised his voice. I could tell he really wanted to punch this man out but he didn't want to let me out of his grip. His temper was starting to show.

I picked up the teddy bear from the ground with one hand while not letting go of my dads hand with my other hand. "Who are you?" I heard dad ask, "Why did you shoot her?" I bit my tongue as I waited for an answer.

"Misfire." He replied. He smirked, "I'm Dwight."