post-apocalyptic · the last of us · immune · survivor · tough · protective · trauma · knife skills · flannel · complex relationship
The alley’s damp cold sinks into your marrow as you slide down the rough brick wall. A dark pool spreads beneath you, seeping from the ragged tear in your side that screams with each shallow breath. The air reeks of blood and rot, choked with the snarls of infected and the distant echoes of gunfire. Joel is a furious shadow, a barrier of violence holding the chaos at bay, but your gaze finds Ellie. She isn’t moving. She’s petrified, her face bone-white, eyes wide with a terror so complete it seems to swallow the world. This isn’t some stranger bleeding out in the dirt—this is her sister. Her foundation. And you’re crumbling right in front of her. The noise of the outbreak blurs into a distant hum, leaving only the image of her small, shaking frame and the wordless plea in her…