Thread: Last of Us: A Story of Two Souls (BMD x EldritheWhisperwind)

Mariah Crawford was holed up in an old casino, forcing herself to remain silent. The warm night air carried with it the smell of decay and the sounds of the infected. Croaking from the stalkers one floor below kept her on edge, oh how much she hated those sounds they became a constant reminder that death was always around the corner. She often found herself closing her eyes willing for them to just go away so that she could get some rest. Everything is going to be ok Mariah, we can get through this. She whispers to herself while rocking back and forth on the cold red tiled floor, thinking about the events that she had to endure recently. Mariah is a drifter who had become accustomed to being alone, she felt that it was better that way she repeatedly told herself you cant feel the burden of loss if you have nobody to care for. Regardless of how she felt, deep down she secretly craved the ability to interact with another human and to become useful to whatever was left of humanity. Several days ago she stumbled upon a camp of survivors. Instead of interacting with the survivors she kept her distance, watching and listening. They looked like a good enough group, but one can never tell in a world where things were always uncertain. She hid her 54 frame behind a patch of tall grass and a large chunk of rubble that had sharp rusted metal rods protruding from it. Being careful as to not cut herself on the rusted objects, she peered around the left edge of the dull gray stone and tried her best to hear what they were saying. For the next two days she followed them, making sure to keep her distance. She learned that they were on their way to find a civilization in Chicago called the Guardians, rumors had spread that they were continuing the Fireflies goal of discovering a cure. On the third day she had decided that she wanted to reveal herself and join the group to find the Guardians, but her actions became short lived when a group of people riding in an armored jeep quickly surrounded the survivors and slaughtered every last one of them. Mariah couldnt believe what she had just witnessed. How can people be so cruel? Is there any humanity left? What could possess someone to kill another living person when our numbers were so few? Lost in her thoughts she felt sick and disoriented. Pulling herself together she noticed that the group of murderers were spreading out to see if there were any surviving stragglers. She knew that she had to quickly get away and ran to the nearest building. Back on the casino floor she could hear a man yell, ALL CLEAR! The stalkers and clickers that were in the building had also heard the yell and went into a frenzy of clicks and croaks. Mariah quickly covered her ears and shut her eyes tight. After what felt like hours, the frenzy finally died down. Mariah slowly removed her hands from her ears and found that opening her eyes was a challenge. Without realizing it, she nodded off into a nightmarish sleep where her dreams would continue to haunt her. The next morning she was awaken by a stream of bright light hitting her emerald green eyes. Forcing herself to sit up, she felt every achy muscle and bone pop. Once she stretched out all the aches and pains she was able to look around the room for the first time and see all the fine detail of what was left of the casino. She saw rusted abandoned gambling machines and disheveled tables and chairs covered in black velvet. Mosaics stretched across from one wall to the other depicting images of men and women playing poker and partying. Mariah couldnt believe that the world used to be that fun and carefree, when all she saw was death and destruction. She was only seven years-old when the mutated Cordyceps fungus started spreading and killing everybody she had ever known so she remembered very little of the life that felt like a dream. Twenty years had passed since then. Now twenty-seven, she couldnt help but envy the past and how she wished that she was one of those women in the mosaics. Feeling silly, Mariah quickly packed up all of her things and made her way out of the casino but not before visiting the hotel that was attached to the casino and grabbing a map. As she silently made her way to the skywalk that led to the hotel, she ran into a few stalkers and dispatched them as quietly as possible. Once reaching the main floor of the hotel she frantically searched for a map that wasnt destroyed by the elements. After several minutes of searching she found the perfect map and emitted a small squeal of delight. As she calmed herself down she heard a noise behind her, she grabbed the crowbar that was nestled on her belt and whirled around. She was too slow. A runner had snuck up behind her during her noisy search and immediately attacked its arms grabbing her in mid turn knocking her to the ground. In a panic Mariah screamed. As the runner was bending down to take a bite out of her left shoulder she jabbed the crowbar into its right eye, gelatinous white goo poured out of the now empty socket onto her cheek and messy hair. The runner died instantly and went limp on top of her body. Once Mariah realized that it was dead, she scrambled out from beneath the body as fast as she could. Gaining her bearings and checking for any injuries, she picked up her things and quickly left before any more infected could catch her. Once on the road she looked at the map and found the fastest rout to Chicago, while avoiding all the places that she thought would be dangerous. 35 days later she was standing outside the main gates leading to the Guardians. She was shocked to see so many people standing in a line , slowly filtering through the checkpoint rumors must have spread fast. As she approached the gates she realized that they were testing people for the infection before letting them in. Once it was her turn to be checked she pushed back a loose strand of red hair behind her ear in anticipation. A man dressed in black pressed a scanner on the back of her neck and waited for it to beep the results. It was clear. Once they revealed the results they ushered Mariah through the checkpoint where she would begin her new life.