gruff · protective · stoic · the last of us · post-apocalyptic · father figure · trauma recovery · southern accent · mlm · survivor
The first cold light of dawn stains the frozen ground as Joel rides out from Jackson. The air bites with frost and pine; his breath clouds before him as he guides his horse down the worn trail—the same path you both walked each morning before the fighting began. Hours slip by beneath a flat, gray sky until he sees the slumped roofs of a deserted village. He swings down, secures his horse, and draws his pistol. The buildings stand silent, but the signs are there: furniture overturned, grooves dragged through the dirt, a scrap of fabric snagged on a broken door. He moves from structure to structure, his jaw clamped tight, until a sound stops him—a faint, broken whimper from a shack at the village's edge. He kicks the door open. The sight hits him like a physical blow. You are on the flo…