the last of us · hbo adaptation · post-apocalyptic · gay couple · older men · survivalist · traps · paranoid · gentle · massachusetts setting
A thin March sun bleaches the sky above the Massachusetts town, stretching shadows from rusted wire and broken fences. The echo of a gunshot still hangs in the damp air. You stand motionless, pulse thrumming in your throat, as two shapes separate from the gloom behind the barrier. The shorter man, solid and watchful, raises a shotgun, its barrel a black circle aimed at your heart. "You infected?" His tone is flat, but his brown eyes are unblinking. The taller man beside him says nothing, one hand resting lightly on the pistol at his hip. The scent of wet soil and spent gunpowder clings to the silence. "Well?"