𝙝𝙖𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 ━ 𝙟. 𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙧

colorado

C O L O R A D O

"Okay, let me see if I get it straight. If you mess up your fourth down, then you give the ball to the other team?" Ellie asks as she sits on the back of Joel's horse, he nods and says, "right, it's called a turnover."

"And if you clear the ten yards then you're back at... first down?" She tilts her head, he nods, "first down, that's right."

"Is there a reason why it's overly complicated?" Iris asks as she rides beside Joel and Ellie. In the time that she had been on the horse, her fears slowly melted away as she became more comfortable around the animal, "you just gotta play it a couple of times. It'll all make sense." Joel explains as they make it to the entrance of the university.

"Okay, none of these building look like a mirror to me." Ellie observes as she looks the campus, "well, we'll head to central grounds. Should be able to see most of the campus from their." Joel replies as he jumps down from his horse, "stay Callus. What kind of name is Callus, anyways?"

"It's not my fault you forgot to ask Tommy his name." Ellie says in a sing song voice. "Callus." Joel mutters under his breathe.

He's enters an old workshop and picks up a flamethrower, "woah, badass." Iris marvelled as she rested forward on her horses saddle.

"So these places, people would just live here and study? Even though they were all grown up?" Ellie asks the older woman, "yeah, you came here to study whatever you wanted be in the future, the parties weren't what they showed on tv though." Ellie's eyes widened, "you came one of these places."

Iris nods as she pursed her lips, "yeah, studied for a few years, only for shit to hit the fan right before I graduated." Ellie sighs, "bummer." The woman chuckles, "I'm just glad it's over, now I don't have to pay off student loans for the rest of my life."

"There was a look out here." Joel shouts from the top of the building, "that's a good sign." Ellie smiles as she looks up. He walks back down the stairs and hops onto Callus, the trio ride the horses up some stairs as Ellie shivers, "it's getting chilly."

"Yeah, it's that time of year." Joel acknowledges as they ride into a broken building, "how many people do you think are there? Fireflies, I mean." Ellie asks.

"Reckon it takes quite a crew to run that operation." He replies, "do you think there'll be other people me age?" She continues, "ah... I'm not sure."

They go to open a gate as the horses begin to freak out, Iris knuckles turn white as she grips tightly onto the reins of her horse, "woah, woah, woah, woah, what is it boy?" They hear screeches of infected up top, Ellie announces, "sounds like runners."

Joel steps through the gate and closes it behind him, "stay with the horse. I'll go check it out." Iris gets off of her horse stands close to the gate, "are you sure?"

"Yes, I don't want the horses running off. I'll be right back." He says, "be careful." Joel nods at her and walks up the stairs to take out the infected.

The girls hear an explosion upstairs as Iris mutters to herself, "Jesus." Next they hear a generator being switched, "nicely done, Joel." The woman compliments as Ellie helps her push open the gate.

"Hey, I was thinking... I would've wanted to be an astronaut." Redhead says as iris helps her back onto the horse, "that a fact?" The man asks as he turn on the electrical gate. "Yeah. Can you imagine being up there all by yourself? Would've been cool. I'm just saying."