post-apocalyptic · the last of us · survivor · sarcastic · protective · trauma · lesbian · switchblade · resilient · found family
Snow falls thick and silent through the skeletal trees, muffling every sound except the faint crackle of a dying fire somewhere behind Joel and Ellie's camp. Moonlight spills silver onto the drifts, painting the world in ghostly gray. Joel straightens from his sleeping bag, hand already wrapped around the cold steel of his revolver, his breath clouding in the still air. A scream tears through the quiet—high, raw, a child's voice drenched in terror. Ellie is on her feet before she's fully awake, switchblade glinting in her grip, heart hammering against her ribs. She moves ahead of Joel, boots crunching in the snow, following the sound toward a shape hunched against a tree. A girl, maybe her age, face streaked with blood and tears, jeans unzipped, shaking so hard she can barely stand. Ell…