The Last of Us Part II

Prologue

JOEL'S P.O.V.

I wrap my hand around the neck of the guitar, standing it up on the carpet. I begin cleaning the fretboard with a cloth, gently brushing off any remaining dust or dirt. I start by carefully sweeping the material over the moth that rests on the third fret. Tommy and I are sitting in a living room of this abandoned house, situated just on the outskirts of Jackson. We just cleared this area of Infected. A window lets in some sunlight nearby, faintly outlining the space. Tommy sits across from me with his rifle across his lap, waiting for me to elaborate on his question.

"I don't know what happened," I scoff softly. "I was supposed to take her to the Fireflies and walk away. You go halfway across the country with someone..."

Ellie silently strolls beside me while we make our way through an abandoned street in the heart of Pittsburgh. The only sound we hear is the pounding of our feet against the pavement beneath them. The sun beats down as I tentatively carry my rifle, looking out for hunters, Infected, or anything of the like.

"She needed her immunity to mean somethin'. Maybe I was starting to buy into that whole... cure business... maybe I just wanted to do right by her." I paused. "And then we made it... we found the Fireflies. And because of her, they were actually gonna make a cure. The only catch... it would kill her."

I storm into the operating room to find Ellie asleep on the table with a mask over the lower half of her face. She wears a faded hospital gown, the sound of the rhythmical and steady beeping of her heart, the glistening of the surgical tools next to her...

"Sweet Jesus," I gape as I hear my heartbeat in my ears.

The doctor and two female nurses are fully dressed and ready for surgery. He quickly whips around and asks what I'm doing. He proceeds to threaten me with a scalpel, pointing it at me.

"I won't let you take her. This is our future, think about all the lives we'll save."

I lower my eyes at him.

Tommy was speechless for a few moments before speaking, "Jesus Christ, Joel. What'd you do?"

I glanced up at him as I recounted that fateful day.

"I saved her."

I unattach Ellie from the monitors, now surrounded by three bloody bodies on the glossy floor of the operating room.

"C'mon baby girl," I whisper to her as I lift the mask away from her face. "I gotcha, I gotcha."

The sound of the heart monitor now makes one monotone ring. A hospital siren wails loudly and there is a loud echo of double doors slamming nearby. I peek my head up in the direction of the sound and to hear a parade of frantic footsteps coming towards me.

I have to get out of here. I gotta get us out of here.

A male voice sternly commands nearby, "Cover the exits! Don't let him get away!"

"Oh shit," I curse, heading for the doorway with Ellie and fleeing the area. I cautiously look out into the small window of the door and head out into the hallway to escape, which pulsates with a red flashing light.

I blow a quick breath of air on a few of the frets and go back in with the cloth again.

"Goddamn. That's..." Tommy trails off. "That's a lot. What does Ellie know?"

"I told her they just ran some tests," I briefly explain. "I told her... her immunity meant nothin'."

I look in the rearview mirror to find Ellie, who is now awake but still in her hospital gown, turned over in the backseat away from me without nothing else to say.