･ ｡ﾟ✧: *.☽
˗ˏˋ 𝐒𝐊𝐘𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐄 'ˎ˗
⊱ ────── 𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗼𝗻𝗲. 𝗌𝗄𝗒𝗅𝗂𝗇𝖾
𝑪𝑯𝑨𝑷𝑻𝑬𝑹 𝑻𝑾𝑶 ━━ the last of us
.⋆｡⋆🌧️˚｡⋆｡˚☣˚｡⋆.
◟ ✦ We look after
each other now. ❞
"WE HAVE TO DO IT NOW."
"It's still in the development stage.You don't know what it's gonna do to her!"
"By the time it's ready, she'll be dead. The calculations say it works. Johanne, we have to do it now."
Sven looked up from his phone, hearing distant voices of his parent's arguing. He looked down at Kai on a breathing machine.
"I won't let my daughter be injected something that has'nt been researched thoroughly." Johanne's voice shook. "You think I want my daughter to die, huh?"
He kissed his little sister's head before peaking out of the patient room, softly walking toward where the voices were coming from.
"But we already know everything there is to know. We have to try."
"It might not be a mutagen; that's what you told me!"
"Are you afraid it'll kill her? She's already dying!" Sten raised his voice. "I'm the one at the facility over this whole thing. All the calculations say it works. I showed you the simulations."
"Right, simulations, Sten, not reality."
"They simulate reality! We're doing it now!"
Johanne shot up in fury, turning the corner back to the patient room. Her expression softened at the sight of her shaken son; she placed her trembling hand on his shoulder as she led them back to the room. The walk back was silent.
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
Kai jolt awake to the sound of her blaring alarm. After silencing it, she pushed her bird nest of hair back before rolling out of bed, mindlessly walking to her dresser. As she reached for it, she realized it wasn't there. She wiped her eyes and looked around in confusion before remembering what happened.
Simone, that was her name.
The teen yawned and tried to stretch her muscles. She swallowed harshly before slowly walking to the door, cracking it. Seeing no one in the hallway, she quickly grabbed her toiletries before slowly closing the door and tiptoeing down the hall in the direction that she thought the bathroom was. Finding it and checking her surroundings, she closes the door.
Kai brushed her teeth and splashed her face with water before looking at her hair supplies. She sighed; of course, it was wash day. Rolling her eyes and sucking it up, she washed her long, thick, curly hair, taking a shower while she was at it.
As she washed her hair, she wondered if Simone was a friend or foe. The blonde gave off the impression that she was sweet and caring, but she had to keep her guard up. It wasn't like her mother, and Sven was there to protect her anymore. She had to look out for herself, and if post-apocalyptic movies taught her anything, you never know who you can trust.
Kai found it hard to believe that Simone stayed there all by herself all these years; it must have been hard. Kai at least got to see the sky through the window occasionally, but Simone was down there all alone for six years.
But the question plaguing the teen survivor's mind the most about the dream she had the last night. She didn't know if it was a dream or a memory since the perspective was confusing. In the dream, she wasn't herself but someone else since she looked down at her younger self asleep in a hospital room.
Kai assumed that the person was probably Sven, but what she found confusing was what her parents were talking about. She knew she was sick when she was younger, but what else was it? Her brain struggled to fathom answers, and she knew if she wanted them... she would have to find her father.
The seventeen-year-old hadn't thought about her father in years. The day the rain fell, she tried to call him for help, but after that dreaded call with her mother, all the phone lines were down. It would be like talking to a stranger even if she had talked to him.
When Kai looked at the time, it had been an hour. She grabbed a towel, wrapped her hair in it, and walked out of the bathroom toward the kitchen.
The familiar blonde mixed her coffee before noticing her enter. "Good morning. Mus, you're up?" Simone asked, looking behind Kai as the teen raised an eyebrow.
"Mus?" Kai turned around, the towel on her head, whipping whoever was behind her in the face. "Oh, shit! I-I Sorry!" She stuttered, her mind blank at the sight of the beautiful boy wincing.
The strikingly tall boy before her looked around her age with soft blue eyes, freshly cut strawberry blonde hair, plump hips, and a cute button nose. He had a sharp jawline and a toned psyche, but his features were soft despite that. To say he was attractive was an understatement.
"Umm, Who is this... you went outside?" the boy uncomfortably laughed, looking at his sister, confused as Kai stared at him, mouth agape. He was staring too, but it was starting to get weird.
Simone looked up and wore a fake smile. "Mus, this is Kai. I found her when I went out yesterday." She explained as he glanced at Kai with confusion still riddled on his face but a sliver of hope sparkling in his eyes. Kai backed away, finally closing her mouth as she looked down shyly and noticed his underwear attire.
Rasmus blushed, moving to sit in one of the chairs at the table in an attempt to cover what he was wearing. Kai's cheeks burned as she averted her eyes, wishing for the entire encounter to be over.
Simone continued. "Anyways, Kai, this is my brother Rasmus." She introduced herself before turning to her brother and becoming very serious. The tension in the air thickened. "Rasmus...we can't stay here."
Rasmus spun his chair around and stopped, "What?"
"We're leaving tomorrow." Simone took a deep breath, gripping her mug tighter.
"W-What do you mean?" He stuttered, tilting his head. Kai decided to sit down on a stool further from them.
"Listen..." Simone started. "There's nothing out there." The sadness spilled from her voice.
Rasmus looked puzzled at why his sister was getting all worked up. "What are you talking about? You found her, didn't you?" he asked.
"Dad told me to take care of you and to protect you, but I can't protect you because there's nothing!" Simone began to tear up.
"It sucks. There's nothing out there for us. There's no one out there. Everyone's gone." She cried. "It was only a coincidence that I even found Kai and I can't protect both of you. I'm sorry, but all we can do is head for the next bunker. And then we'll be locked up down there, but that's all I can do." Rasmus shook his head. "Mus, I can't do anything. I can't... I can't do it alone."
Rasmus shook his head again, smiling at his sister before scuffing and getting up from his chair. "Look... you're not alone. I'm here, too." He took his sister's hand comfortingly. Kai felt her chest squeeze as she wiped tears she didn't know were falling. "Okay? You don't have to look after me anymore. We all look after each other now," he said, glancing at Kai.
Simone shed a tear. And then another, before Rasmus hugged his sister, the siblings embraced each other. The sweet, affectionate moment awoke something in Kai that she hadn't felt in a while.
Kai felt tears stream down her face before an intense sinking feeling overcame her. The teen almost fell off the stool as she bolted from the room, the siblings letting go of each other, looking at each other confused.
Before Simone could take off after Kai, Rasmus held her back. "I'll go talk to her." He told his sister, who hesitated before submitting. Rasmus didn't know why he wanted to be the one to do it since his sister was usually the one to comfort him when he was upset, but something told him that he should.
Kai threw open the door to her room, her leg collapsing beneath her as she slid down the wall. She fell to her knees, a dam bursting immediately within her. The teen couldn't hide how desperately she missed her brother, and at the sight of Simone and Rasmus's moment, she couldn't take it anymore. The years of suppressing her grief pilled up in an instant.
"Vennie...Why? Why did you leave me... please come back." Kai cried, and a desperate gasp escaped her lips as intense guilt came over her. She regretted telling him to go and how she was the reason he went to school that day in the first place. She killed him.
Rasmus froze with his hand on the handle at what he heard. He wondered who she was talking about and why she ran, but he opened the door at the sound of her hyperventilating. "Kai?" Rasmus asked.
Kai put her hand over her mouth in an attempt to suppress her wails. She couldn't let him see how pathetic she was being. What would he think of her?
Rasmus entered the room carefully, standing beside the shuddering teen before sliding beside her. Kai turned away from him as he wondered what he should do. Deciding to take a chance, he slowly attempted to wrap an arm around her, and to his surprise, she practically fell into his arms.
"Hey," he soothed as she seemed to cry harder. He embraced her, and after a while, they just sat there, a comforting silence consoling the teen survivors as they both fell asleep.
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
Kai's head pounded as she awoke to the sound of alarms blaring and the sight of red emergency lights. She felt someone's hand grabbing her, and through panicked breaths, she saw Rasmus dragging her and Simone toward the bunker door. Kai's lungs felt on fire as Rasmus struggled to open the door, yelling something Kai couldn't understand.
Kai forced her wobbly legs to work as she tried the datapad on the door in a mindless attempt to save themselves. Finally and surprisingly, the bunker door opened, and oxygen returned to her burning lungs. She slammed into the dirty ground, her head spinning as she gasped and looked at the sky.
Rasmus grasped the soil beneath them for the first time in years before clicking alerted the three. Armed people with gas masks seemed to form out of nowhere, advancing toward them. Kai shot up, her vision doubling from vertigo; she was not sure how many armed people there were.
The three backed away in fear. Kai could barely feel her legs as she stumbled on the ground as Simone pulled on her and her brother, trying to run back inside.
"Who are those people?" Rasmus asked his sister, not getting an answer as the armed people raised their guns.
"Stay there! Stay!" the man shouted; one of the gunned men advanced before them. "Get inside! Go back!" he persisted.
Simone whimpered. "We won't do anything!" She begged as the three backed away. Kai tripped, not stopping the shoving as she froze at a cold gun barred into her face, tears brimming in her eyes.
A hand holstered her up and pulled her into their chest as we did as the man instructed.
At that moment, Kai knew that things would change for the better. Or for worse.
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬