The Last of Us: Endure and Survive

Chapter 38: The Hunt

"Shit," Matt said, looking at Joel's wound as Ellie was sat next to him, "Smell that?"

Ellie sniffed at the air and then cringed as the smell hit her nostrils, "Ugh, that stinks!" She complained, moving away, "Does that mean its infected?"

Matt nodded, "Yep," He said, popping the 'p', "He needs some anti-biotics,"

"I thought you cleaned it," Ellie asked, wondering how it could've got infected.

Matt pulled down Joel's shirt and tightly placed the blankets around him again, "He got impaled by a nasty piece of rebar," He explained, "It was probably going to happen anyway,"

Ellie gulped, "Fuck ..." She breathed out, now another thing they had to worry about. Why couldn't Joel just recover? "Any ideas where we could get some?"

Matt hummed, closing his eyes as he thought about the area they were in, trying to picture places of importance. One of his hands came up to his face and scratched at his beard while he thought, "We'd need ... A pharmacy or hospital ..." He said, opening his eyes with a frown plaguing his lips, "I don't remember there being any nearby ..."

"So now we have to find some medicine ..." Ellie sighed, things were going to get a lot harder now.

Matt patted her on the back, "I'm sure we'll find some, don't worry," he said, "Wanna go hunting? Can search some houses to see if we find anything as well!"

Ellie nodded, "Can I use the bow?"

"Sure," Matt agreed, but then clicked his fingers, "How about you call the shots today? It'd be good experience,"

Ellie smiled, excited that she'll be able to call the shots for today, "Fuck yeah!" She said, standing up and walking over to Joel's backpack, taking the bow and arrows from it, "Let's go hunting!"

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"Easy does it now," Matt said, crouching by the side of Ellie, who was currently aiming her bow at a rabbit, "Nice steady breaths,"

Ellie listened, calming her breathing down as she focused in on her target. As much as she'd prefer to let the poor rabbit live, they need some fresh meat, especially for Joel.

The duo had decided to go hunting together, Matt using it as an opportunity to see what Ellie could do with the bow, but also to teach her the main aspects of hunting. They had found a nice clearing in a forest and the horse was able to do some grazing in areas that had managed to avoid the snow.

Ellie released the arrow, sending it flying through the air and piercing the rabbit through the chest, killing it instantly and painting the snow around it a dark red, "Good work," Matt smiled, patting her on the back as they stood up and moved over to the rabbit, "Clean kill, that's the important thing about hunting,"

Ellie nodded as she watched Matt pick up the rabbit, removing the arrow and handing it back to her, "What's the plan now?" She asked, "Think we can carry anything else?"

Matt hummed as he walked over to Callus and tied the rabbit to the saddle, "We can look around some more," He answered, "Couldn't hurt to pick up another rabbit or two,"

"Matt! Look!" Ellie whispered yelled, pointing to a deer in the distance.

Matt nodded, "Wanna try and go after it?" He asked, leaving the decision to Ellie.

Ellie gave a look of surprise for a moment since Matt was giving her the choice on whether they could try and kill it or not, "Er, fuck yeah we do," She smiled, walking up to the horse and petting it, "You stay here boy," She said before adding, "You'll just scare it,"