Gail's Winter - The Last Of Us

Chapter One

"Come on, we have to find a place to stay before it gets too dark." I grab Lance's hand and lead him through the thick snow. "We don't want to end up like the others."

I bend down in front of Lance and grab his shoulders. "We'll eat some food when we get where we need to be."

"Okay."

After an hour of dragging our leather-wrapped sneakers, we find a line of chairlifts. Broken chairs scatter the hardened snow. If you look a few meters up the ski hill, you could see a small shed for the controls.

Lance looks up to me and points toward our find. "Is this where we are going to stay?"

I swallow to stop the freezing dryness in my throat. "If there's no spores."

We let our hands go and taking out my backpack, I give Lance a hunting knife. "I want you to be careful this time. We can't shoot because of the sound it makes."

My brother nods in return, his breath turning the air into a cloud of vapor.

We both make our way to the lift. When we get there, a clicker had been frozen over on the wooden steps to the shed. I stab it's face for precaution. I ask Lance to look through the windows.

"Gail," he tells me. "There's this man inside. He's standing but I can't tell if he's infected."

I walk up to where Lance was standing. There really was a man standing in the dark. But to say that he's not infected is worrying. There were papers strewn all over the place, a fallen mug that shattered by the door, and then the man standing more or less in the middle.

The only good sign from this mess is that its not filled with spores. I let out sigh. We need to make a plan. If the guy was infected, killing it would work if we brought it outside. If he wasn't, then the chances of him being aggressive is pretty high at this point.

I look over at Lance, who was playing in the snow with a stick. There's so much that he should learn in school, but two years without much learning has gotten him a little behind. I wipe the cold off my face and stand up from my seat.

"Okay, Lance, let's go inside." I get my knife out and knock the door.

After some shuffling, the man speaks. "Who is it."

He says this in a deep and dry voice. Not like a question but more like a statement. I hear a click of a gun from the other side of the door. I ask Lance to back away from the door.

"We're kids. We need a place to stay for the night." I put my knife away and cock a pistol at the door.

I hear more shuffling and then the nob jangles. Seconds later the door shifts open and the man's eye comes through the crack, with a chain covering his brow. I hide my gun from view.

He looks at me and my brother, blinks once and closes the door. After hearing the slide of the lock being undone, the door opens again, this time more than halfway open.

"Come in." The man drops his shotgun on a coffee table. "Close and lock the door, will you?"

I close the door while Lance latches the chain back on. We stand in front of the door. I push Lance to stand behind me.

As my eyes adjust to the dark room, I can see the rough wrinkles of his skin and scars of all sizes lining his hands. The man was wearing a fur cap and had a graying beard covering most of his chin and jaw. The smell of cigarettes comes strong in the room. I try to hold my breath as long as possible to block the smell.

The old man takes off his fur cap, leaving his thick but graying hair behind. "So," he says. "What are you kids doing up here on the ski hill?"

I smile nervously. "We crossed the river since it froze over." Lance tightens his grip on my jacket. "It took us a whole day to get up here while avoiding infected."

"So why here? Why just the two of you? Why not anyone else?"

I try to stand my ground. "It is just the two of us. We've been alone since the outbreak." I can feel tears coming up to my eyes. "We've been alone since our parents left."

The man raises his arms in defense. "Hey, I didn't mean to get you kids all sad." He points an arm toward an old ski bench. "Sit down for a sec. I think there's some hot chocolate somewhere here."

"My name's Nicholas, but you kids can call me Nick. I'm wonder'n what you kid's names are too if that's no bother."

"Gail." I bring Lance out from behind me. "This is Lance, my brother."

"Well great." Nick starts up a gas stove and heats up some water. "I guess it's the three of us now."

Chapter One END