Chapter 1 - A Move

Disclaimer: The wonderful characters that are in The Last of Us do not belong to me. I do not own anything that you would recognize. Instead, they belong to their talented owners.

Prompt: Write a story where the main character has to make a decision about letting his or her loved one die.
Summary: Never having a say in it, Joel lost every single person that he ever cared for. That is, except for Ellie.
Warning: The discussion of death (although very minor), a quick scene of violence - which causes serious harm (happens later on), as well as major spoilers for the game.

I'm sorry to those who are waiting for the next chapter to 'Worth It', but you are going to have a wait a bit longer. Right now, inspiration decided to turn my attention to something else. Sorry.

Now. Guess who just finished watching The Last of Us? That's right - this girl! And lemme tell you.. the amount of tears that I cried put Niagara Falls to shame. Seriously - the game, my gosh! Who else agrees with me? It was pure awesome. I love it! (: I totally recommend it.

Unlike my other stories, this will be nothing more than a two-shot. The first part will basically be the scene where Joel wakes up in the lab, but after that - the second part - it will venture off to my interpretation of what he thinks as he walks through the lab. (If that makes sense) So, if you haven't played the game or at least watched any of the walk-through, then I don't recommend reading on until then; that is, unless you don't care if the game gets spoiled for you. (What little there is here) Otherwise, I hope that you enjoy and I'll see you at the end!

Happy reading, friends!

Upon opening his eyes, it only takes a few, short seconds for his body to be working at full speed again. He blinks rapidly, briefly pondering on how soft the bed was. He wants to continue lying there; the room that he is in is warm, clean, and not full of the infected. It has four walls that are colored a dark grey, and aligned with cabinets that are full to the brim with objects both big and small. And he almost does stay, until he remembers.

He did not start in a room. And he had not been completely alone either.

Where was she? Joel's heart starts to race and he can suddenly feel himself grow panicked. To his left, he cannot see any other bed - or the fact that one would be able to fit, since the wall was only a few feet from his pale face. Where was Ellie? Why was she not -

He turns around, and proceeds to sit up on the bed. Only to stop once his eyes land on the other occupant in the room, which was not so empty anymore.

"Welcome to the Fireflies." It is Marlene. She gestures to the side of his head, her voice soft as she continues. "Sorry about the..."

Joel, however, did not answer the dark-brunette right away. Instead, he continues to look about the room; hoping to find the answer to his overworked mind. His blank expression quickly becomes angered as he stares at the gun-wielding officer that stood at the foot of the bed.

And her eyes follow, to which she says, "They didn't know who you were."

But none of that mattered to him. Joel did not care much about the bump that was taking its time to form on the side of his head, that was the least of his worries; after all, he had sustained worse. All he cared about was the little girl who, what seemed so long ago, he had been forced to take care of.

Joel reaches out to Marlene, who was sitting comfortably in a chair next to him. "And Ellie?" He asks hurriedly.

She quickly settles his growing fears; "She's alright. They brought her back."

With that, his head falls on the forest-green sheets with a soft thump. Relief overshadows him as her words sink in and he can't help but let a small smile split his already-chapped lips. She was alright. Ellie was safe, they had brought her back and she was breathing-

Marlene stares at him with a faint expression of disbelief. "You came all this way." She trails off, and shakes her head; becoming more stern. "How'd you do it?"

A laugh almost escapes his throat, but he settles with a quick shake of his head as well. "It was her." He answers, clearing his throat a beat later. "She fought like hell to get here." Getting to this place, the lab, had nothing to do with him; it had all been Ellie's doing. He had only tagged along because he could not bear with the thought of leaving a child all alone and defenseless out there with those things.

"Maybe it was meant to be." Joel say and sits up in the bed; the faint sound of ruffling sheets echoing off of the smooth walls. As he did so, his muscles screamed at him - especially his stomach - in protest towards the movement. Still, he grit he teeth and shakily pushed himself up until he was sitting fully erect. Seeing the change in his façade, Marlene got up from his cross-legged position on the small chair.

She sends the soldier a quick look. "I lost most of my crew, crossing the country." Marlene tells Joel, and paces the room. She faces away from the two men and wipes at her nose, before turning back around. "I pretty much lost everything." Her facial features wrinkle as she sends the injured man, Joel, a calculating look. "And then you show up and somehow we find you just in time to save her."

Marlene's voice softens as she nods in agreement, the meaning behind the small phrase bringing back old memories. "Maybe it was meant to be."

Joel shakes his head - finally, something that they had agreed on without yelling. "Take me to her." He shifts his weight so that he started to slowly roll off the hospital bed. So he was in the actually hospital end of the testing facility. Out of the corner of his eye, Joel could see the gruff-looking soldier move his way closer. He suddenly became rigid with confusion, why was he-

"You don't have to worry about her anymore." Marlene offered, and crosses her arms. This was not going to be easy. "We'll take care of-"

Joel cuts her off with a second wave of his hand. "I worry." He sits at the edge of the bed, gripping the worn mattress tightly. "Just let me see her. Please."

"You can't." Marlene holds her breath. "She's being prepped for surgery." Her heart clenches painfully at the look that he gives her. She knew, just by the way that he spoke - in the few, short seconds - how strong the bond was between those two. After all, even she could tell; Ellie, in some ways, was a lot like Sarah. And she hated having to do this to him; to tell Joel what was going to happen, to yet another person that he cared about.

But he should have expected this, right? Joel should have known what was going to happen, not be giving her a look of utter confusion. Her assumption was proved ever more wrong when he asked her, "The hell you mean 'surgery'?"

Noticing that he was advancing on her, Marlene begins to explain; "The doctors tell me that the cordyceps, the growth inside her, has somehow mutated." Her raised hand falls back to her side. As the soldier appears just behind Joel, she immediately becomes calmer. But it does nothing to silence the whispers of guilt that were rising. "It's why she's immune. And once they remove it, they'll be able to reverse engineer a vaccine." A smile crosses her face as she repeats it, hoping to arose a lighter reaction in Joel. Tears of relief fill her eyes. "A vaccine."

But the smile never appears on his face. The only thing that happens is his eyebrows furrow together as the gears in his brain start to work, to put the pieces together. "But it grows all over the brain." Joel tells her, and sends her a look.

To which she hesitantly returns, with her voice a bit heavy. "It does."

As the gears in his brain suddenly screeched to a stop, the look on his face hardened when the answer became clear. "Find someone else." He growled lowly.

"There is no one else." Marlene simply replied.

Joel took small, yet firm, steps towards the tan-skinned woman. He waved a finger at her, his voice still laced with anger; "Listen, you are gonna show me where-" Only to be abruptly cut off when he felt a hand grasp his wrist, which was quickly followed up by a swift knee in the back. He grunted in pain as he fell to the floor.

Seeing as a gun was being raised, Marlene approached the soldier. "Stop." She ordered, looking back down at Joel with a frown. "I get it. But whatever it is you think you're going through right now is nothing to what I have been through. I knew her since I was born." Her voice became shaky as the depressing memories came forth for a second time that day. "I promised her mother that I would look after her."

Joel looked over his shoulder at the armed woman. He did not understand. "Then why are you letting this happen?"

"Because this isn't about me. Or even her," she gestured to the far wall and what lay beyond it. "There is no other choice here."

Joel swallowed and shook his head, for what seemed like the umpteenth time in a matter of minutes. He sat with his back against the small, cushioned chair, a small wave of disbelief hitting the words that he spoke, "Yeah, you keep telling yourself that bullshit." He glared up at her.

The two adults do not alter gazes for a while. The room was enveloped in a silence so heavy, it could be cut with a knife. That is, it was, until Marlene provided the soldier that stood on her right with a new objective. "March him outta here. He tries anything, shoot him."

The soldier gives Joel a look that took on an edge of pleasure, as if the man was more than happy to do it if given a proper excuse; though it was ignored. Marlene blinked, not taking her eyes off of Joel for a moment; even though her expression softened. "Don't waste this gift, Joel." And with that, she left the room; leaving the door ajar.

Waiting a moment or two after Marlene had left, the soldier took a step forward. "Get up." When Joel did not make a move, he continued, "I said, get up."

With a sigh, Joel pushed himself to his feet. The gruff commands of the soldier going in one ear, and out the other; "Go on. Move." Sending a sharp, and rather irritated, look at the other man, Joel shuffled through the stained and peeling door.

Apparently, he had not been moving fast enough. So, Joel was met with a rough shove; the thick, round barrel of the gun meeting the bare spot between his two shoulder blades. He nearly growled, but was cut short when he response was a smug look. "Gimme an excuse."

Oh, he was going to make a move. It was only a matter of when, and how.

In his mind, he sighed. On the outside, though, he uttered a simple, two-worded question, "Which way?" When he was given a jerk of the gun towards the left, Joel obeyed - for one of the few times in his life.

He was definitely going to make a move. And as they slowly walked towards the building's exit, Joel made a promise. He was not going to leave this place without her. Not without Ellie. But how?

A/N: I know, it's a bit slow. Sorry 'bout that. But it had to done! Or.. at least, I think so.

Anyways, unlike all the other times, the second part will be uploaded in the same day! Promise! So, you can put those tomatoes, and other objects, back down! Unless I get a call from family about my Grandmother, who was recently discharged from the hospital last night, I will continue writing it in the same day.

You just have to be patient. Unlike Joel.

I hope that you guys enjoyed this and I'm going to leave with a quick thanks to all the people who've reviewed on my other works. And maybe this one as well, if I have any takers? If so, just click that little button down there!

Until next time, ¡Adiós!