Silent Death - The Last Of Us

- MARCH 2016 -

"Holy shit!" He shouted,
"Hey!" Jaden's father scolded, Jaden immediately apologized.
"How'd you find this!" He insisted, running up to the massive wheel. His father had found an old carnival. Of which housed several abandoned rides. Obviously none of them really functioned, mechanically that is.

The boy ran up to the Ferris wheel, touching the cold and rusty metal with a curious hand. His dad didn't tell him but he had tested all the rides himself to see if they're safe. If they can support a thirty-five year old they can surely support an eleven year old. Right?

Jaden excitedly climbed the wheel, completely ignoring all sorts of things that screamed bad idea. Loose bolts. Rusted chunks that had faded away made the wheel unstable. However he didn't care, he climbed it like a tree and took a happy seat in one of the moss coated compartments.

His father was shouting all sorts of warnings and grievances, but eventually gave up and scaled the wheel with his son. Joining him in the compartment,
"Y'know your mom and I met at a carnival?" Jaden's father said, looking out at the remnants of a joyful time.
"No, how old were you?" Jaden asked.
"Young. Not to much older than you. I thought your mom was the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen."
"Was?"
"Still is."

—————

We arrive back on land to find Ellie holding a large toad.
"Look at the size of this thing!" She laughs, holding the amphibian to her eye as she looked at its big eyes and bumpy back. The little guy managed to slip out of her grasp, where it promptly hopped into a stream of water. "Slippery little shit." She laughed.

We decide to make some ground towards a shelter for the night. There's a few buildings around here, coffee shops, convenience stores, antique stores. Everything a normal town would need.
"What about there?" Joel asks, pointing to a store called Smith's Antiques.
"Sure. It's getting late." I say, wandering towards the shop.

Wood has been placed inside, someone must've barricaded themselves inside at one point. Usually the wood would be a problem, but I have an axe for once. I motion for the two to back up as Joel and Ellie stand behind me.

I hurl the axe at the plywood, denting it. I swing again, breaking through to the other side. I swing once more, splitting the board in half. Then with my harshest throw I knock the board off the window and it falls inside "C'mon." I say.

Smells old, the place looks untouched. A thick layer of dust and cobwebs coat the entire store. It's like an attic of a store, full of hundreds of unrelated and bizarre dusty things. I wonder what this place looked like when it was up and running?

I walk in, running my hands across dusty shelves, admiring the strange items. They ranged from small stuffed bears, all the way to meat grinders. I wander around, as do Ellie and Joel. Admiring and looking.

I find a glass counter, inside three shelves holding knifes. Old knifes. I kneel on the floor behind the counter, sliding the wooden door open. It breaks in my hands as I do. Then I look at each knife happily.

None of them really interested me. Cold War era Bowie knifes, of which I already have. My hunting knife. Pocket knifes with small blades. I wonder what they were ever used for before the outbreak. Opening mail?

But one knife did catch my eye, a switchblade. Much like Ellie's, but bigger. And longer. A deep black handle with shiny silver metal for the blade and hilt. I hold it in my hands, it's heavier than I would've thought.

Curiously I push the button, the blade shoots out. Making a click as the blade snaps into position. FRANK B - ITALY is engraved at the base of the blade. I wonder who Frank B is. Whoever it is, they sure know how to make a good knife.

I close the blade and stuff it into my back pocket. It should come in handy.
"Woah!" Ellie shouts from the other side of the store, I wander over and she's ogling a toy spaceship. It's big enough she has to hold it with two hands. It is pretty cool.
"You like space or something?" I ask,
"Yeah I guess so. I mean just imagine," she smiles, "blasting off into space."
"Sounds scary." I mumble. Can't imagine how terrifying the emptiness of space must be.
"I'm starting to think I'm more manly than you."
"Yeah. You probably are."

I wander around some more, this time finding Joel happily examining a coffee mug. I glance at it, in big red letters it reads, #1 DAD. He's smiling just barely as he looks at it.
"Can we talk for a moment?" I ask, leaning against a shelf of porcelain dolls.
"What's it about this time?" He asks, bitterly.
"Look. I'm sorry. It's just... Why can't you talk to me?"
"I just... can't. Alright?"

It's not alright. We've been together for a decade and he still doesn't feel comfortable speaking to me about some things. But I can't change him. If he wants to tell me something he will. And while I'm hurt he doesn't trust me, I can't make him talk.

"I... You trust me... Don't you?" I ask,
"Of course I do. I just don't wanna talk 'bout it 's all." I'm starting to wonder if he's loosing that love for me. He feels... distant, and cold.
"You still love me right?" I ask, barely holding myself together. Joel frowned, then swooped in and kissed me.

I was immediately relieved, kissing him back as he pulled me up onto a counter. My hands ran up Joel's back while he started to grind against me. "I'll take that as a yes." I moan, Joel kissed me deeper.
"Ahem." Ellie said, immediately pulling Joel and I out of the moment, Joel embarrassingly held his hands in front of his pants. Hiding his erection as I did the same.
"Y-yes..?" Joel chokes out, Ellie smirks.
"I don't want to hear you two humping tonight, so I'm gonna go to that coffee shop across the street alright?"

I almost want to say that's a bad idea but who the hell am I to tell her what to do.
"Yeah, just uh... Take the shotgun." Joel said, pointing to the gun. Ellie looked at me with a raised brow, then grabbed the gun and left.

However just as she made it halfway across the street, she's shot. A loud yelp echoed out before Ellie fell to the floor and crouched behind a rusty car.
"Shit!" I shout, grabbing my knife and Joel's bow. Sneaking outside through the front door. Thankfully the grass was so overgrown I could crawl through it and be pretty much invisible.

I make it over to Ellie, joining her behind the car as I look for the bullet wound.
"Where were you shot?" I ask, she waves me off.
"My arm I'm fine, kill these fuckers!" She shouts, running out of cover with her shotgun as she blows a hole into a man's torso.
"Ethan!" A woman cries out as I shoot an arrow into her head.
"Mariah? Ethan?" Another stranger calls out, I peak above the grass. There were at least ten more of these bastards. However the woman was at least ten feet away from us. "They're dead! We're being ambush-" Ellie managed to get behind the woman. I didn't even see her crawl over there. And with one swift stab to the neck the woman was out.

In the coffee shop Ellie was going to take refuge in, now had two men using it as cover.
"Where'd they go! Search this entire place!" The men called out. I kept my cover, sneaking around the shop before I climbed in through a window behind them. Silently as I avoided the glass all over the floor.

With my knife in one hand, and the bow in the other I sneak behind the men. Carefully I pull the bow back, letting go and sending an arrow into the man on the left's head. Unfortunately for me that was my last arrow. So I grab the other man's head, pulling it back by his hair before shoving it back down onto the window seal.

I pull his head back again, repeatedly bashing his face into the edge until his jaw laid hanging from his face. Teeth and blood all around. I let go of the man as he gurgled and coughed, squirming on the floor while I use my shirt to wipe the blood off my face.

As I stumble out of the shop I find Ellie and Joel waiting for me. Both on horseback.
"Nice horses. Where'd they come from?" I ask, jumping up and holding onto Joel's waist,
"Well they were these guys's," Ellie points to a dead body,"but I don't think they'll be using them anymore." I giggle a bit.
"Are you okay?" Joel flips around, holding my face with worry. I don't know what's got into him. This is far from the first time he's seen me covered in blood.
"Yeah. It's not my blood."