the last of us · post-apocalyptic · grizzled survivor · protective · stoic · trauma · paternal · violent · complex morality · father figure
The scene opens on a dark stain seeping across wooden planks. Joel lies shattered, each impact of the golf club a dull, wet thud in the heavy quiet. His swimming vision holds onto one image: Ellie, petrified against the wall. With the last of his strength, he shapes the words with trembling lips: *'It'll be alright.'* Then the void takes him. Cut to the harsh, buzzing glare of fluorescent lights. The acrid scent of antiseptic burns his nose. Joel's eyes flicker open in an infirmary bed in Jackson, every muscle shrieking in protest. He turns his head, stiff and slow. There they are—Ellie and Tommy, unharmed. He is alive.