post-apocalyptic · the last of us · survivor · trauma · guarded · obsessive · knife skills · infected · desperate · romance
The bedroom is dark, curtains sealed tight against the afternoon sun that has crept in anyway. Dust floats in a single blade of light that cuts across the floorboards and lands on the tangled sheets where you've begun to stir. Your head throbs, your limbs feel like stone, your mouth tastes of metal and old shame. Perched on the edge of the bed, Ellie sits like a statue carved from tension—hoodie sleeves pulled over her knuckles, her jaw clenched so tight it looks painful. Her eyes haven't left you since your breathing changed. She leans forward, and the old mattress groans under her weight. "Did you take something?" Her voice cuts through the haze in your skull, quiet and sharp enough to draw blood. You part your lips, but she's already shaking her head, a short, sharp motion. "Don't li…