The Last of Us: The War

Thirteen

"S-Sean?" Bridget asked, not believing what she saw in front of her as well as the others.

He smiled at them, slightly limping up to the group. "Yeah..it's me."

Mark shook his head, grinning at him as they put their weapons away. "You son of a bitch."

He hugged him tightly for a few seconds, relieved he was alive. Squeezing each others shoulders, they both smiled.

"Good to have you back, buddy." Mark said. "You need help walking?"

Sean shook his head. "Nah, I'm fine. How do you think I got here on my own?"

They headed over to the others, Bridget immediately running up to him, giving him a firm hug.

"Finally, we're one big group again." She said as she pulled away. "How'd you get out?"

Sean chuckled. "I'll tell you guys later."

Just after he said that, Jackie bear hugged him, as if not wanting to let go. Immediately returning the favor, she felt tears stinging the backs of her eyes, but she held them back as she stepped away from him.

"Where's Lily?" He asked.

Mark looked behind him, feeling a little confused. "I thought she came out here."

"I think I saw her heading back inside a minute ago." Kristen said. 

Heading back inside, they helped Sean up the couple steps just in case. Seeing her sitting on the couch, she was going through her stuff when she looked up.

And when she laid eyes on Sean, she slowly stood, a look of disbelief on her face.

"He's real, Lily." Mark said gently. "We checked."

Numbly walking up to him, she scanned every inch of him, making sure there were no bites anywhere. He must have known what she was thinking, shaking his head with a smile.

"I'm not infected." He said with a smile. "I'm still me."

Grabbing her shaking hand, he held it firmly between them. "I'm also real, like they told you."

It took her a couple seconds to talk. "Sean.." She said, her voice wobbly. "It really is you."

Without a second thought, she threw her arms around him, letting it all out, tears running down her face. Ignoring the slight pain that shot through him, he held her close, not wanting to let go. Everyone smiled at them, more relieved that they're both a little happier than before. After nearly a minute, they drew away from each other, Sean not letting go of her hand.

"So..what happened back there, Sean?" Kristen asked. "How'd you get out of that?"

They followed him over to the couch, the two of them sitting down as everyone else gathered around them.

"Well..first off it wasn't easy." Sean began. "I remember hearing shouting from soldiers in the building we were in..then I blacked out again. Then after who knows how long, I woke up, realizing I wasn't in that building. I was back at the hospital." Everyone tensed up at that, remembering what happened last time. "So..it wasn't easy getting out..it was basically the same as last time when we had to get Lily out of there. I did my best to sneak around them, avoiding to kill more, but I had to do that to a few of them. Eventually I got out, but the soldiers spotted me, and started shooting at me." Lily's grip tightened on his hand, but he gave her a reassuring look. "I didn't get hit, surprisingly, I don't know how I dodged them. But I did.

"After all that, I navigated my way to you guys. Of course, I had to fight a few zombies, but again, I'm lucky I made it out alive from that. And now, here I am with you guys again."

"Did any soldiers follow you here?" Jackie asked.

"I don't think so." He said. "I would've known if they did."

"Well, good thing is is that you made it here in one piece." Mark said, patting his shoulder. "And like I said, it's good to have to back with us."

Nodding once, he let go of Lily's hand, standing up. "I think these stitches gotta get taken out."

"Let me see them." Mark said.

Sean lifted his shirt a little, revealing the stitches. The wound still looked pretty red, but it'll definitely take time to heal all the way.

"Yeah, they can get taken out." He said. "I'll do that."

He grabbed the first aid kit from the table in the kitchen area, grabbing what he needed to get them out. Sean sat back down, keeping his shirt up.

"Well, it looks better than before." Lily said, eyeing it curiously. "Guess that's a good thing."

"Yeah it is." Mark said, glancing over to her. "I'm assuming you're gonna stay here?"

She nodded. "Yeah..just out of the way so you can do that."

"Tell you what." Sean said, gazing at her. "Why don't you go talk to the girls for a little while? You can still stay in the room if you want to."

"We'll stay in here for sure." Bridget said as Lily joined them a few seconds later. "We'll leave you to it."

With that, Mark began removing the stitches as the girls sat in a little circle on the floor, talking for a while, Lily more happy than before that everybody is okay.