The Last of Us 2

Chapter 1.

"Swear to me everything you said about the fireflies was true?" Ellie sighed sadly, looking up at Joel in desperation of the truth however bitter it may be. The pair stood on top of the grassy hill, with the backdrop of greenery behind them.
    Joel stared back, his eyes piercing through the poor girls soul. He took a few steps away from her and then back towards her again hesitantly.
"I swear." he began the sentence proudly, as if he is trying to convince even himself of the lie but as he finishes the last word he becomes silent. He hated lying to her, he hated what he had did. But for him Ellie dying and him being alone again was a lot worse than living in a world with these monsters. He knew he couldn't be truthful with her, she was too headstrong and would've gone through with it no matter what, even if that meant she had to die in order to save the world. Joel knew she would never forgive him if she knew the truth, so he planned on never letting her find out. He tried his best to keep eye contact with her for as long as possible but the guilt soon took over and he couldn't bear to look any longer.
Ellie however, refused to break the gaze, but her eyes sparked wet with her tears as she came to realise that she is in not in any way special. During this long, hard journey, Ellie had come to experience something she had never felt before; hope. She had finally felt like she had a purpose, like she was the key to bringing the world back to what it once was. She was the cure, at least that's what she thought. But after Joel had told her that there were plenty more like her and the fireflies found no use for her anymore, she couldn't help but feel like she was just like everybody else. It was difficult for her not to feel disheartened at the outcome of this whole thing. Although Ellie couldn't deny that there wasn't a point in the back of her mind where she thought that Joel could be lying. But whenever her mind trailed off to that place, she would quickly wipe it away. She knew Joel would never lie to her, why would he anyway?
    She looked down at her broken and battered shoes and balanced her body on the sides of her feet, looking back at Joel. She stared for a few seconds, her Emerald glistening eyes a perfect match of the overgrown chaos of forest and trees behind her.
She sighed "Okay."

                    *     *     *

Marlene's body lay face down in a pool of her own blood in the chilly car park that Joel had killed her in. Bloody red handprints were smothered all over the elevator door to the side of Marlene and upstairs was a trail of dead bodies from Joel's brutal massacre. But amongst all these corpses was a heartbeat, one person that managed to cling on to the smallest inkling of life left inside of them. On the stairs lay a slim, hench body which shook gently every few seconds until finally the person had awoken. It was a woman, with tight, curly, red hair scraped back firmly into a long braid down her back. Blood oozed from her nose and lips, but she didn't seem to mind at all. Her features weren't traditionally beautiful but her demeanor was full of pure strength and power. She tried pulling her body up with her arms, but she winced in pain and fell to the floor grabbing her right thigh. As the woman pulled her hand away it was plain to see she was injured severely, her hands were covered in her own blood and all she could see was the colour red. She wiped the blood on her shirt and tried to pull herself up again, this time successfully but she still growled in agony. Once up, she began to inspect her gory surroundings, water filled her eyes as she saw the bodies of people she had once called her friends, her family, now all gone. She called out for any other survivors but the only reply was a deafening silence. She limped across the lab floor gripping on to her wounded leg and screwing her face together sharply at each step due to the pain. As she passed each corpse slowly, she placed her fingers on every one's neck to check for any last signs of life, but there was nothing. She began to become agitated now, growling under her breath in disappointment, sweat slowly dripped down her forehead in fury and desperation. She wouldn't let herself miss a body and once she had checked each and every one, she made her way down the elevator that Joel had previously carried Ellie's limp body down. The elevator was blanketed in blood and smelt like death, bullet holes were sprinkled across the elevator door as if it was a gruesome game of dot-to-dot. She dragged her quaint, long fingers across the bullet holes and scrunched her hands into tight, angry fists. The elevator landed with a harsh, thump and the doors slowly moved open. As it did the woman saw Marlene's body, she fell to the floor and dragged herself out of the elevator and towards Marlene.
"No!" the woman yelled, her voice cracking as she began to sob.
    She pulled Marlene's body towards her and scooped her up, embracing her. Her tears fell on her cheeks. Marlene's blood was rubbing on to her but she didn't pay any attention to that and continued squeezing her tightly.
"No! No... No! Babe, please, please. I love you. I love you." she sobbed kissing her lips, ignoring the devastating wound on Marlene's forehead that ultimately caused her bitter end.
"Babe, I promise you I am not going to let the monster who did this to you get away with it. I am going to kill him and I will find the other fireflies and get that cure no matter what. We're gonna' change the world just like you said baby. I promise. I love you." she wept, her breaths sounded more like gasps as if she couldn't find any more air in the world left to breathe. She didn't allow her tears to fall too far and quickly wiped them away and kissed Marlene one last time, before placing her gently on the floor. The woman positioned her as if the empty carpark they were in was a church and this was her funeral. Her legs straight and one hand resting on top of the other. But she couldn't get her head to stay straight without it falling to one side. She ripped of the bottom of one of her trouser legs and tried her best to wipe away the blood off Marlene's face.
"I love you Marlene, goodbye."
    She pulled out a bottle of whiskey from her backpack and took a quick sip before pulling it away from her lips. She spun her fingertips along the bottle top for a second and without hesitation, she poured the liquid all over the body being cautious not to miss any spots. When she had finished she threw the bottle to the floor, causing it to shatter into tiny, sharp shards. She pulled out a torn box of matches from her bag and slid out one of the matches. She dragged the match along the ragged side of the box igniting the flammable stick. The lady watched the flame for a few seconds until it reached her fingertips and burned her skin and then dropped it on the corpse. The body caught almost immediately and becomes engulfed in a blur of flames and smoke. She observed for a while before pulling out the small pistol in her back pocket of her jeans. She stared at the tire marks that Joel had left while speeding away with Ellie in the backseat of the car. She reloaded the gun and pulled the slide back.
She whispered to herself and stormed ahead of the car park leaving Marlene's body still burning.
"I'm gonna' find you. No matter what."