[IC] The Last of Us: A New Hope

[Daisuke]

It had been a couple of months since Ellie and Joel returned to Tommy's settlement in Jackson County. The settlement had become richer thanks to the electricity coming from the dam located nearby and families were growing in size. A giant wall with barbed wire on the top surrounded the entire settlement, thus trapping the inhabitants like animals and keeping any infected out. No signs of infected had been reported since Ellie and Joel's return and everyone would love to crowd around them and listen to their adventures. None of them, however, were told about how Ellie's condition could amount to a cure. If they knew that, they would force her to return to the hospital and sacrifice her life for a cure. Of course, Ellie didn't know that either thanks to Joel.

One of the inhabitants that listened to their stories was a young woman in her early twenties named Jessica. Jessica could not remember a life before the infected, but from what both Joel and Tommy said about it, it sounded like heaven. Hearing that Ellie was immune, however, struck a cord for her. She too was immune from both the infected and from any spores. Jessica too had a bite from the infected on her right ankle that she received before coming to the settlement and yet, she never turned. She too was special like Ellie. She could help the world by being a cure for this inhumane disease. She didn't dare tell anyone, however. Having two immune girls could cause even more problems. Instead, she kept it a secret and would plan to eventually leave the settlement to find the hospital where Ellie and Joel were.

That morning was quite foggy and chilly, which kept everyone in their homes instead of heading outside. Jessica, however, was sitting on the steps to a storage house where extra supplies were being kept. A small group of dogs were sitting by her feet and Jessica would take turns rubbing behind their ears, "How come those damn infected go after us, but not you dogs? It's unfair, I tell yah." Jessica mumbled as she continued to pet and scratch the dogs.

[sparklepenguin]

Another inhabitant of the settlement, Nellie was her name, has been living there happily for awhile. The ageing woman was in her mid forties, she couldn't believe how time has passed so quickly ever since that first day. It was a heaven for her, there was a little library for her to go to and read in peace, away from the other inhabitants. Nellie was a huge book worm. On her travels she'd always try to pick up a few books from any abandoned buildings. Any genre of book would make her happy. She loved most of the other inhabitants as if they were family, they've all been surviving together, keeping each other safe & secure; that just made it easier to get along with everyone, but she did need her alone time.

Her eyesight was poor enough when she wore her glasses, but this foggy weather just made if a hell of a lot worse. The right lens of her glasses was cracked down the middle. Got cracked during a little fight with a few clickers, nothing she couldn't handle. Before she made a new home in the settlement, she had a husband who had survived with her for the first five years of the outbreak. His death came by when they'd run out of food, he didn't want to die. He wanted to survive, so he'd quickly turned to cannibalism, tried to cut her up while she slept. Got a few scars from that experience, but she was able to overpower him. She always had a feeling about him, it boggled her as to why she married him in the first place or why she didn't just abandon him during the outbreak.

Nellie shook her head, there was no need to dwell on the past. Her eyes were set on the floor as she walked down a little path throughout the settlement, taking her little morning walks, the weather wasn't going to stop her. A group of dogs came into view on the side of the path, near the storage house, she saw a young woman sitting on the steps. It was Jessica. Nellie smiled slightly at her. Now she was only a few feet away from the young woman and the group of dogs "I didn't think anyone else woulda been out here, considering the crappy weather and all."Nellie said as she knelt down to smooth one of the dog's soft head.

[Daisuke]

The dogs averted their attention away from Jessica and immediately padded over towards Nellie. They were licking her hands and shoving each other in order to get a chance to be rubbed. Jessica laughed at the dogs and she looked down at her feet. One dog, a spotted mutt of some kind, had remained at her side and was laying across her feet. Smiling, she began to scratch the dog's neck, "It's not raining, so why wouldn't I be out? It's foggy, yeah, but it's not unbearable." She said casually as she looked around. The settlement was oddly empty that morning. Even if it was foggy, there would still be people out. Tommy and his crew were always out doing some sort of work to keep the settlement in tip top shape. It wasn't too early, so it wasn't like they were sleeping in. Maybe the weather really was too much for them. That confused Jessica, but she didn't dwell on it for too long. At least she had someone to talk to.

Jessica wasn't too friendly with Nellie, but she didn't hate her. They simply didn't talk much. Jessica spent most of her time helping the women who had small children, as they always feared that Clickers would invade the settlement despite how much security there was, "Why are you out when nobody is? The immune kid isn't out telling her stories and neither is her dad. They're all the folks around here talk about and it's starting to get kind of old. I hope it'll die down eventually." Jessica muttered, moving her hand from the dog's neck towards its head.

[sparklepenguin]

All but one of the dogs excitedly ran over to her, frantically trying to lick her face. She giggled as she tried to pet them all. She looked over to Jessica "I guess some people just don't like the fog, I certainly don't mind it." The settlement was quieter than usual, odd. Some people usually did stay in the houses when it was foggy, but there were usually at least a few more people outside that she'd see on her morning walks. She just shrugged it off, maybe she was just overthinking a little.

Dogs were still trying to lick her face and climb over her, they got excited so easily. They didn't have to fear the infected outside the walls, the most they had to fear was not being played with by any one. Although she saw most inhabitants of the settlement as family, she really hadn't talked to Jessica much. Seemed like a nice enough girl, but she just hadn't seen much of her around. Maybe they could get to know each other a bit more now. She listened to Jessica talking about the immune girl, Ellie and that handsome looking guy, Joel. They seemed friendly, but the stories were getting old now and Ellie was starting to walk around the settlement like she was some sort of celebrity.

"Oh um, this is one of my morning walks. I take the same route every day and you just happen to be here while I'm taking my walk. Keeps me fit. The immune girl, Ellie, she's been walkin' round here like she's something special. We're all just survivors." she said as she was now lying on the floor with the dogs overpowering her.

[Daisuke]

Jessica looked up at the foggy sky. The sun was completely invisible and the air was both muggy and disgusting. It was the end of summer and yet, it was somehow extremely humid outside. She really didn't like the hot weather and much preferred the cold, but she wasn't in the position to complain. At least she was living somewhere safe. "I'll take fog to a clicker any day." she joked, though her voice was quiet when she spoke. The last time she saw a clicker was when she got bitten and vivid memories still swam around in her brain. Though she shouldn't complain about the clickers seeing as everyone at the settlement was suffering, she still had nightmares about them and she still feared that her bite would end up turning her into one of those monsters. Jessica told herself that the minute she felt herself turn, she would kill herself. It took a lot of thought to come to that conclusion, but that is what she had to do to protect the other people and their families living in the settlement.

She couldn't help but laugh when the dogs began to climb over Nellie and were even laying on her. The smaller ones were crowding by her face and giving her slobbish licks, "If that immune kid thinks she's invincible, then she's got another thing coming. She wouldn't even be here if Tommy wasn't Joel's baby brother," Jessica retorted. She, like the others, had respect for Tommy and his wife, Maria. They were the ones who created and ran the settlement and they ensured that no clickers would kill the people living within the settlement. They were trying so hard to rebuild humanity and there was no way that Jessica could hate them. If they had not taken her in, she would've been killed off by the clickers. "Speaking of Joel, don't you find him to be a little handsome? He's probably around your age or a little bit older. I think he's single, so you might have a chance with him." she joked.