Eternal Mind | The Last Of Us

17

After hours of being cooped up in the car, the trio made a short pitstop at an old gas station. Joel had hoped he could get some fuel out of one of the numerous cars that littered the road.

Ellie stared into the dirty mirror with a stern look on her face. She pointed the gun up and made sound effects as she pretended to shoot it. "Pew, pew, pew".

On an occasion, she wondered what it would be like to use a weapon. In FEDRA school they never taught them how to handle weapons, it was more learning about how to be obedient.

As she went to clock the gun she glanced in the mirror for a second. There was a figure behind her. The sudden startle made her drop the bullets. A sigh of relief was let out when she realized it wasn't a crazed infected.

"You scared the shit outta me", Ellie stated as she picked up the bullets off the floor. Prim stood there looking at what Ellie had in her hand. Ellie noticed, "I found it in the house, you won't tell Joel right he'll go all lecture mode".

Prim did not respond so she decided to change the subject. "You know back there when you like talked to the dead guy, do you do that all the time"?

Prim's eyes wandered around the dingy bathroom. "It never stops. I hear their cries, screams, pleads, begs for mercy". With that, the tension in the room intensified. Ellie was not sure how to respond. The girl had said those words like they were talking over afternoon tea.

"Um, we should go back, check on Joel, make sure he didn't have a heart attack or anything". Ellie stuffed the gun back in her bag. As she was she could feel eyes on her.

When she looked up Prim was making full eye contact. "Are we good"? Her eyes furrowed in confusion. "What I said earlier about not wanting to save the world, or whatever the fireflies have in mind".

Ellie slung her backpack across her arm. "It's fine, not everybody wants to be a hero". She walked past Prim who stood there taking in her words.

When the two got back outside, Joe was crouched over a gas tank. "Do we have to do this every hour", Ellie asked.

"Gas breaks down every time. This stuff is almost water. Back in the day, we'd drive ten, twelve hours on one tank. You could go anywhere".

"Where'd you go"?

"Pretty much nowhere", he responded as he blew into the tube.

"Nice, how does that work?".

"It's a-".

Prim cut him off. "Siphon", The man nodded. "Yeah, it's when liquid travels against gravity because uh pressure".

Ellie smirked, "You don't know, do you".

Joel smacked his teeth. "I know how it works". Ellie started to walk off. "No wandering".

"Ok, this is your fault", the girl replied as she got out a book. Prim hopped up onto the hood of the car she stood by. "It doesn't matter how much you push the envelope, it'll still be stationary". Joel kept the same static face.

"What did the mermaid wear to her math class"? There was a silence to build up tension.

"An alge bra". Ellie laughed as if she told the world's funniest joke and Prim looked at her as if she was the world's funniest comedian.

"I stayed up all night-"

"No". Joel cut in. Despite his protest, Ellie continued.

"Wondering where the sun went, then it dawned on me". As the two bickered over dad jokes, Prim's smile slowly faded. She never stayed in one place too long. All this time she thought about doing the thing she did best, run away.

Getting captured by the fireflies was the last thing she expected to happen to her. She had met many people. How come these two were so different she couldn't get herself to leave?

Instead of running away, she was getting close to her destination. It wasn't because she wanted to help the fireflies. It was quite the opposite. She had no intention of going along with their plan. Quite frankly she could not understand how Ellie was so happy to contribute.

Why did she have to be the savior of humanity due to something she never asked for? Out of all the people in the world, why did she have to be different?

Why did she have to be such a monstrosity?