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

Chapter 4 - A Prudent Dilemma

"Let's go."

Joel let out a disgruntled sigh as he led the two younger kids. They climbed up the ladder that the previous guy had used, and walked into another room.

They quickly grabbed anything of use before exiting into a larger hall, with what looked like foyer a below, the railing and off to the side. Y/N tagging along behind them, watching out for anything that moved.

Ellie noticed Y/N's watchable gaze. "Pretty sure they're all dead." She said in a slight comical tone, acting as if she hadn't just blown a guy's brains out less than a minute ago.

"Can't be too careful." Y/N said in a huff, stepping up to the rusted railing and looking down into the lower section of the room. He liked to keep himself busy, and he was right, never knowing what's around the next corner.

So, in his mind, you always had to watch out, to never drop your guard. It was how he was brought up to be, but as the years passed, that simple habit only got more secure in his head, and it just came normal for him to spend so long watching, observing, for anything in sight.

It's how he stayed alive.

The boy shook his head and looked to his right to see Joel maneuvering himself across the broken and heavily destroyed floor. His back against the wall as he tread carefully across. "Wait there, okay." He warned them, as if the rest of the flooring could collapse any minute.

Y/N doubted as much.

If the place could last this long, it could last another minute of three warm bodies crossing it. But against his better judgment, he waited.

"Sure, Joel." Ellie responded in a clipped tone.

She had rolled her eyes, that much Y/N could tell as her voice dragged his curiosity. She was pissed, and he couldn't blame her. Ellie had saved Joel's life and he was acting as if she had stolen his last roll of toilet paper.

'Ah, toilet paper....' A muffled sigh left his
lips, having to use ripped up cloth and leaves weren't as good as the early days of the end of the world.

Soon the two teenagers followed across, one before the other. They walked until they reached the end of the room and grabbed any more supplies in the area, which was accompanied by a bar and a sitting area.

Y/N finished picking up some spare scrap, before he noticed a comic book off to the side. He went over and picked it up, he glossed over it before sighing slightly at the content of it. It was the same stupid collection that Rachel had-

"You keeping that?" Ellie's voice startled him. It was something he definitely had to get used to. With not being in a group for so long, he had almost forgotten what it was like.

But since he was only tagging along for the rest of the ride, it simply wouldn't last long.

It never did.

Y/N lifted up his eyes from the comic and looked at hers. They were considerably brighter than they had been when she took her first human life, not the same dull and misty ones.

He knew them all too well.

He had shared the same look as her when he killed his first, of many, people. Granted, it was self defence and the guy was a complete asshole. But, he was still human.

He thought about keeping it. For only a second, he had no need for a comic book, but she did.

Y/N never really liked listening to the cliche good guy - bad guy story. He felt them to be bland, in comparison to his everyday life.

There was nothing like that in the real world.

There were only people. People who were either killers or stupid. No good, no bad. Sure some were worse than others, but in the end people tend to be all the same when it comes to survival. When they're at their last rope, that's when people show their true colours, and Y/N knew best.