Last of Us - Joe / Sabrina / Rocky / Clara - { Solo }

Last of Us

We rebelled, but then we rebelled

The lights flickered thrice to a click, and they were off. Darkness seeped through the empty halls and desolate walls of District Thirteen. In their own room, the four lay on their beds looking up into nothingness. Clara, who is still only a young girl at the age of fifteen, sits with her older brother Rocky. The two have dark skin and are from District Eleven. His hair is shaved to a thinness, and hers has curls but she ties it into a bun for work. Sabrina lies with Joe. In times like this, places like this, it is difficult for romance not to blossom. And blossom it did, for now. The two have few to call similarities, but they have two things in common; They both despise the Capitol for what they did to their families. Sabrina's father had a terminal condition that was eventually going to kill him, and it did - and the Capitol had the chance to save him but chose to neglect him. Joe's family are one of the more prominent families in District Two, known for their common Peacekeeper provision and Career offspring. He used to be one, but he was offered this opportunity, and he was gone in a flash. What a mistake that turned out to be.

"I want to go home." Clara keeps herself warm next to Rocky, who is a large boy just a bit older than her. He collects her and protects her from the cold. "We will." He reassures her. It is true, as come the dawn they will make an attempt at escaping Thirteen and heading out to the wilderness again to fend for themselves and enter one of the Districts. "Aren't you happy none of them were reaped?" Sabrina asks Joe, laying close to him under his arm. "Yeah, but it's the fact he didn't volunteer that worries me." She can hear his heart skipping a little at the thought of it. "I don't..." She doesn't understand. "Something must have stopped him. What if the Peacekeepers found out I'd escaped?" The questions poured into their minds daily, each and every one of them. Sabrina had her little cousin to look after, who was adopted into her household. She left her knowing that her escape could weigh risk on her family - she thought she was helping by leaving. Rocky and Clara can't get back to Eleven. The walls are too high, the security is too tight. And their families would rather they were happy in the upper Districts. It was in the plan, anyway, that if they couldn't make a change, they would join another District. "We can't afford to think like that." She comforts him with words. The light is all gone, it is time to sleep.

...

Morning comes, and the usual droning alarm is sent. This time, the four do not adhere to their schedules. They do not don the uniforms, they put on their own clothes and walk together through the hallways. The kitchen is full of staff preparing breakfast, the moment they walk near it. Clara is small, though, she can sneak in. "Go, we've go your back." Joe whispers over to her, all of them by the door and around it. She crouches down with the bag in her hand, behind a counter and almost on all fours. There is a chef directly opposite, on the other side of the counter. She can here the CHOP of the knife. The DICE of the food. She takes a brave breath, grits her teeth and continues. She reaches a small cupboard that she knows will contain some fruit, or something of value. Nothing is wasted here, they will know it is missing - but she can't afford to care. None of them can. Rocky watches eagerly through the small slit-like window. The kitchen is busy, fully of steam from the cookers and she is able to collect a bag full of fruit of many kinds. She turns on her heels, still crouched. Her feet scurry over to the door again and she takes a huge breath of the fresher air as she rejoins the group. "Well done." Joe confirms. "Yeah, great job." Sabrina follows. Rocky ruffs her hair a little, smiling, he knew she could do it.

They four are actually close to the exit, but they need weapons. They are under lock down, and there is only one way to get in, and that is with a key. This is the part that could easily go wrong, and they part that they could easily be caught. Rocky knows that with Joe, they can both pull this one off. "I'll go." Sabrina says. Rocky and Joe just look at her, full of doubt. "What? You?" Joe says, again doubtful. "Yeah, me." She walks forward and opens the door quietly. The guard is sitting on a chair watching some footage of the reaping, as though maybe he has family in the districts or something. Violently, his head is thrown into a forced sleep by the back of Sabrina's elbow. Joe and Rocky stand outside in awe as she walks out with the key. She slips it into the lock nearby, and there it is - a room full of weapons. They don't take anything too valuable. In fact, Joe just takes the sword he escaped with, that was here after he had it taken from him upon entry. Rocky and Clara both have a knife each, but Rocky takes an axe that looks like it is from District Seven. Sabrina eyes something in the corner. Is it? No way. It's a fishing harpoon. What is that even doing in a place like this? They have guns and everything, but they have that too? She takes it without thought. "Right, lets get going before somebody sees us." Rocky leads them out, Sabrina quickly throws the key into the guard's room and shuts the weapon room door. The exit is just ahead.

The light blinds them. Being locked underground is difficult to adjust to, and now they have to readjust to the light.

Their figures are hidden by the low, dim dawn. The forest ahead will be their target. First to Twelve, then Eleven, four - Sabrina's stop, three and finally two - Joe, Rocky and Clara's stop.



The crack of branches and the scattering of leaves made them wary. At any moment, anything could happen. This was the unknown. Nobody ever talks about these places, and never talks about them being safe. Not in any District. In fact, they are talked about as dangerous, wild places where bears, snakes and mutts roam free. It is a possibility, which is why the gloom, fog and sun make an awful contrast to one and other. The journey will take a long time, and the four have enough food for about two thirds of the full journey. That will be enough to get Sabrina home safely, but the rest will require some kind of hunting, or supreme rationing. The cracking becomes more intense as the branches get thicker and more dead. Thickness is just a bigger sound in this forest. It is all beautiful to look at, but a lot of it is on the floor, too. The further you go, the less bombed it looks. Soon enough, they will be within seeing Distance of Twelve. And hearing distance. Nobody can block of the sound of mining.

Clara slips. She gasps and Rocky wasn't beside her to catch her like he would have liked to have been. "Oww!" She yells a little. "My ankle!" Joe glares at Rocky whilst Sabrina feels a necessity to "Shhh!" Clara. Rocky lowers himself, and Clara climbs onto his back. He is strong enough to carry her, but not the bag of fruit as well. "Here, I'll have it." Joe says, putting the strap over one shoulder. "We'll have to make camp soon, it's starting to get dark." They had been walking for quite some time, a few hours. They were tired out, but you can't just stop for no reason out here. You have to keep going. There is some camp supplies in the bag, but not many. Only enough for a few attempts at putting up a tent with a little sheet. The rest will have to be sticks and leaves, and they'll all need to curl up close. "Why don't we just do it now? We're all tired." Sabrina says reluctantly. Joe nods, turning to a stop. He puts the back on the floor and heads off in one direction. "I'll get some wood."

It took around an hour, and the sun was just coming into shore. Just in time, they were ready to sleep. The good thing about sleeping now, they'll have the most sunlight by getting up at dawn once more. They put up a fire, and it hums dimly to itself with the tent nearby, not close enough to catch fire. The stars come out, and watch on them. They could be cameras, spying on them from afar. Waiting for the right moment to pounce on them all at once, ripping and roaring like lions, throwing flesh around an arena for others to watch. Hunger Games, but surprisingly violent and real.

With that, Clara wakes first. Nightmares. They were bound to happen with the young girl. She has all of the problems right now, bad ankle and a bad head. She wakes Rocky. "When are we going again?" She asks his waking eyes. He stretches a little. "Soon, soon." That ends up waking the other two, and soon becomes now. The fire is still a little warm, so there is no need wasting it. They gather around it, the forest looking more green. The snow, thankfully, wasn't here. The cold was also beginning to ease off. The ground feels rough however, as if something was... Drills. They could hear drills. Or was it a car? They couldn't tell. Joe panics a little and pours some water onto the fire. "Come on, we've got to move." The reality is, he is anxious not to hear the drills of Twelve, because it will remind him too much of Two. The same goes for Rocky and Clara, they don't want to see the towering walls of Eleven, because they'll feel they need to go back to see their families. That, they can't do.

The journey to Four won't be as long as that of Twelve or Eleven. But it is still a while away yet. One day, and that is if Sabrina leaves the group early and ventures through the night. They walk that day, constantly. The only breaks they have are that which are needed for Rocky to regain some strength, or for Joe to take over carrying Clara. Sabrina could do it too, but not for long as they found out when she nearly dropped her the second rotation of the little router they had going. Joe, then Rocky, then Sabrina. Now, it's just Joe and Rocky. She'll be better soon enough, but it's risky. Twelve now behind them, their eyes are set elsewhere.

Not knowing they way is a major problem. It is easy when most are within sight of each other, but Eleven is not in sight of Four, not easily.

"Sabrina." Joe says to her whilst they walk, still in the forest but you would be able to tell that it was nearing the outskirts. "The only way..." She cuts him off. "I know. I'm ready." She seems tense, almost angry. She isn't angry at Joe though. She's angry at the Capitol for this whole situation. "I wish I could come with you." He tells her. "I have to go though, you might not make it otherwise. I'll eat when I'm home." The plan was for Sabrina to go now, and head to the shore and follow it to Four, swim into the docks and sneak in that way the same way she got out. That way, Joe, Rocky and Clara would have extra time and rations to make it to Two.

She leaves.

The journey from now, is silent.



[ To be completed ]