The Last Of Us: Part I - Darker Days (Male Reader)

Chapter 27 - Winter's Wrath: Part 1

A/N: Chapter was so big I had to cut into two parts!

The night passed by without interruption, only the whistling sound of the cold winter wind to comfort them and snow that piled the roof up high, offering a secured blanket of serenity.

But as the night faded away, the daylight soon reared its head and rays of sun soon thawed through the cracks of the rundown basement, beckoning them awake from their tight slumber.

Y/N was the first to break from sleep, his heavy eyelids slow to open as pain soon set in, soreness spreading throughout his face and body. Bruises and welts were apparent, with different shades of blue and yellow that greeted him in the light,

"Fuck..."

He rolled over and met the eyes of Ellie staring at him, fresh from sleep and lazily bringing herself up to speed. She focused on his bruised appearance, his echo of pain that spread upon the room like a heavy tension in the air.

"Morning." Ellie yawned, pulling herself up from the floor, she rolled her shoulders, the kinks in her body painfully showing. Sleeping on the floor was not exactly pleasant, "Tough sleep?"

Y/N rubbed at his eyes, groaning as he pulled himself together, "Something like that," He muttered, forcing his legs to move, he found his feet sure enough and stood, stretching as he did.

"Well--"

Stopping in her tracks, Ellie turned around, her own stretching disturbed as the sounds of footsteps and disturbed snow reached her ears. Followed by hushed voices she could barely make out, Y/N heard them too, as Ellie she rushed to the window having climbed the washing machine and pulled the curtain.

Out in the middle of the snow covered street, three men in ragged winter clothing milled about, as more seemed to be coming up the end of the street, half a dozen at least.

"Oh fuck," Ellie climbed down, hands wringing at her side as she looked to Y/N. "They tracked us."

"Shit." Y/N muttered, grabbing Ellie's bag he threw it to her, and turned to his own and hefted it up, "They must've followed the horses' tracks in the night."

Ellie bit at her lip nervously as she caught her bag and placed it on, "We need to draw them away." She watched Y/N check on Joel, shaking his head as he did. "We'll come back for him. Okay? We run and we—"

"No."

Stopping in her pace, Ellie stared at him with a look of bewilderment, "No? The fuck do you mean, no?"

"I'm done running, Ellie." Y/N brought his rifle into his hands and gestured to the stairs, "You go, take Callus with you and try to circle back around. Lose them in the snow."

"I..." Ellie stumbled in her words, and shook her head in disbelief, "What about you?" She was greeted by silence, her friend more focused on his bag. "Y/N?"

Y/N finally looked up and met her eyes, a certain acceptance and willingness in them that was lost before, instead of pushing to run, he was going to hold his ground.

For her and Joel both.

"I'll head to the next house over and cover you when shit hits the fan." Y/N moved to the stairs, and with each step he took pain rocketed through his body, battered and bruised from the day before.

"You don't have to—"

Turning her way, he cut her off, his voice hushed and quiet, "Yes, I do." His eyes drifted to Joel's slumbering body, still unconscious and in a dire state, but slowly recovering. "I need to do this." He looked to Ellie, mouth twitching as he bit at his tongue in a fit of nervousness, "For the both of you."