Just a Last Of Us fanfic

Extinguished

Jerry: It's intertwined with the brain. There's no other option

Marlene: There has to be some other way

Jerry: There's no way to remove the specimens without destroying the hosts

Marlene: The host? Ellie and Blake are human beings. Not some petri dishes

Jerry: You think I don't know that? I'm aware of the situation

Marlene: And you're ok with killing them?

Jerry: No. But I'm ok with developing medicines that will save millions of lives. How many fireflies have died for less?

Marlene: That was their choice. Are you asking me or telling me how it's gonna be?

Jerry: I am begging you to buy in

Marlene: And what if one of these kids were Abby?

Jerry: Look. Everything that we've been fighting for, all the sacrifices, all the horrific acts, all of that is justified with this one act

Marlene: If this were your daughter, what would you do?

(Jerry crosses his arm and looks down, seemingly refusing to answer, but then Abby walks in with a plate of food)

Jerry/Marlene: Abby?

Abby: I brought you some dinner

Jerry: Thank you, sweetheart. Marlene?

Marlene: ... Do it

Jerry: Thank you

Marlene: I'm gonna go tell Joel

Jerry: Why?

Marlene: He travelled across the country with her. He has a right to know. Good luck with your surgery

(Marlene walks out of the room)

Abby: You're doing the right thing. If it was me... I'd want you to do the surgery

(Jerry looks at Abby and hugs her silently)

(Marlene walks down the hall and into a hospital room where Joel is waking up in a hospital bed)

(A couple of firefly guards are watching them)

Marlene: Welcome to the fireflies. Sorry about the... knockout. They didn't know who you were

Joel: And Ellie?

Marlene: She's alright. They brought her back. You three came all this way... How did you do it?

Joel: Teamwork. We all fought like hell to get here. Soldiers, infected, bandits, cannibals... Maybe it was meant to be

Marlene: I lost most of my crew crossing the country. I pretty much lost everything. And then you two show up and somehow we find her just in time to save her. Maybe it was meant to be

Joel: Where's Blake?

Marlene: In another hospital bed

Joel: Take me to them

Marlene: You won't have to worry about her anymore. We'll take care of-

Joel: I worry. Just please, let me see them

Marlene: You can't. Ellie's being prepped for surgery

Joel: The hell you mean surgery?

Marlene: The doctors told me that the cordyceps, the growth inside her has somehow mutated. It's why she's immune. Once they remove it, they'll be able to reverse engineer a vaccine. Blake's abilities are shown to be quite extraordinary as well. Blake isn't immune, but if we perform surgery on the cordyceps strain in Blake's brain, then we may be able to create a steroid that can enhance our soldier's abilities to help combat the infected