Henry and Sam weren't what he was expecting.

Not at all.

The two brotherly duo seemed alright by some comparison to the three of them.

With Joel being the disgruntled protector, Ellie the ever curious buzzing bee, and Y/N, the kid that was slowly cracking under the pressure of so many people.

The prolonged loneliness had affected for so long, and now, it just felt awkward for him.

The awkward, dysfunctional kid.

Between the occasional snarkiness, the odd looks and the murdering rage of a bull.

It just felt like a right diagnosis of their characters.

"So, is it just you and your kids then?" Henry asked Joel.

"We're not related." Ellie spoke out quickly. "We're like um..."

"Friends?" Henry offered.

"Try acquaintances." Y/N said to the man as he crossed his arms over.

"I promised someone I'd look after her." Joel explained.

"Yeah, I can appreciate that." Henry nodded. "What about you?" He questioned the boy.

"I'm just a tag along." Y/N told him. "Just passing through on my way out of this city, nothing more."

"Not if I have anything to say about it."

Ellie jumped at the chance at convincing the boy she had grown to like despite his hardness and unpredictability in what could be considered a shifted personality. Though she did like the easy banter, and god knows she couldn't get with Joel.

"We'll see." Is all Y/N said.

Moving onwards from the apartment building, they walked down a set of stairs before their inside corridor led them to a toy store connected to the very same building.

Kid toys, costumes and trinkets laid bare, and Y/N couldn't help but feel a large dread of discomfort that washed him over, as he examined the scene.

"We collect toys for the little ones. Anything we can find."

Y/N trailed his gaze around the place, before it settled on a rocking horse in the corner.

"It's a little piece of heaven for them in a dark world. You find anything you like, you can take it. Nobody will mind."

He remembered that day, he had picked up a yo-yo, as dumb as it was, he enjoyed using, despite the odd looks he got from the older guys who wondered why a twelve year old would play with such a thing.

"You'll really love the place, I know you will."

Shaking his head, Y/N shook the woman's voice away and turned to look at the others as Henry crouched low against the window with Sam. Only to hold his hand out seconds later, gesturing for them to stop.

"Wait, wait. Everyone be quiet." The man shushed them, and Joel, Ellie and Y/N did as told, "Get away from the window." As the sound of a motor could be heard, no doubt the truck. They crouched low before stained and dusted windows, waiting for it to pass.

As soon as the vehicle pulled away from the scene, they all breathed a little easier.

"Alright, they're gone." Henry said with a sense of relief around him as the others did the same, "Man... That fucking truck. It's been hounding us ever since we got into this damn--" The man turned back to notice his younger brother grabbing what looked like a toy. "Sam, what're you doing?"

"Nothing." Sam said, holding what looked like a transformer toy in his hand. Clearly, he wanted to take it with him, and for a moment Y/N almost felt sorry for the kid, and that he should take it.

Until something Henry said clicked in his brain, like a switch was pulled, bringing him back to the very shitty reality.

"What's the rule about takin' stuff?" Henry questioned his younger brother as he pointed at him with his finger, almost harshly, if not a bit dramatic.

Despite agreeing with him, it was one object, but Y/N knew it wouldn't just stop with one, he knew that.

"We're not allowed nice things."

Someone had once told him, and he had hated it. Still, he kept to his drawings, that was one thing he was never giving up.

"We only take what we have to" Sam answered in a dejected tone, dull and repetitive like he had said it countless times again before, and just a little, little bit of sympathy filled Y/N with the boy's plight.

You spend so long trying to survive, that you never really take the chance to start living your life.

"That's right." As if scolding a toddler, Henry continued before gesturing to the others.

"Now, come on."

"How much further?" Joel asked as the two brothers proceeded out of the store, him following after them.

The rest was drowned out, as Y/N took another moment to look around the room, and immediately, he was hit with a memory from a long time ago as his eyes shut in an automatic response.

"We collect toys for the little ones. Anything we can find."

The woman's voice called out again, causing Y/N to open up again, and to find himself back here.

Again.

"Why?"

Y/N found himself asking as his younger self peered around the room with a childlike innocent that couldn't be possible considering what had happened days ago. His right hand acting on instinct as he scratched at his left, the wrist covered by a bandage, which in turn was covered by his new long grey sleeve t-shirt.

The woman smiled, her hazel brunette hair cut short behind her ear, her over half moped over in a slight curve that Y/N found himself looking at more and more as the woman's haircut begged him to ask why she cared for it... different, particular.

"It's a little piece of heaven for them in a dark world. You find anything you like, you can take it. Nobody will mind."

She had smiled, it had almost made him too. Except all he allowed was a slight curl of his lips that just backed out, and formed a grimace.

It was a nursery room.

Toys covered every inch of the room as evident of children younger than him had occupied it not too long a time before he had entered.

With the woman showing him a good gesture of their home. A school, a home, a place to grow and live a life.

She wanted to offer him that, but he didn't know what to think of it. He was a kid, he was twelve back then. Young and afraid, he still was, if he could only admit it.

"Really?"

He had asked, that childlike enthusiasm in him that would've looked strange from someone of such age, but he hadn't cared, nor noticed. Except the woman had, and she had given out a rather sweet smile, only reserved for the sweetest kids.

He guessed he was one of them.

"Of course."

She nodded, and despite being the same height, she went down to her knee and placed a hand on his shoulder, gently and loving, something only a mother could offer.

"You need anything else, you come to me, okay?"

In turn, he had nodded. Still overpowered by her presence, and the school itself. And the people, all of the people. It had made him nauseous at first, still did, but he quickly learned to stuff it down for his own good.

"I don't know if I'll fit in here..."

He hadn't meant it to sound so pathetic, he always knew he had to be strong. And sounding weak wouldn't do him any good. He had to be tough, like his father had told him.

"Because of the bad that happened, right?"

Rachel had asked him gently, her eyes showing nothing but sympathy.

And Y/N had loved it more than anything. Most of the adults had stared at him like he was broken, damaged and felt the need to pity him. But Rachel hadn't. She hadn't seen that, what she saw was a young kid that was strong, strong enough to go through hell, and now needed a little push to get going again.

She was going to help him, without the judging eyes and pitied stares, and Y/N was alright with that.

"You'll really love the place, I know you will."

His eyes had narrowed with a sense of uncertainness and hesitation that had caused her to reassure him.

Y/N had found her words comforting him nevertheless, and hoped in time, it could be a home.

A place he could grow to love.

"Thank you, Rachel."

The woman in question smiled bashfully, and gave him a pat on the shoulder, and stood up. She moved out of the way to reveal the isles and spaces of toys. Objects for the mind, and simply fun devices.

A rocking horse stood in the area, plush toys, blankets and even a sketching pad, and pencils (he had pocketed that later, after Rachel had helped him into it) and then a yo-yo caught his eye.

Something he had grown to enjoy at stressful times.

Scratching at his wrist yet again as the sensation of discomfort rolled over him, he went over, and picked it up. Feeling it over in his hand as he began playing with it, all while Rachel watched, her head nodding in approval.

For a moment, everything felt alright.

But like a yo-yo, everything that goes up, must come down.

"You fazed out again."

Y/N had expected her words to ring in his ear, but he wasn't expecting the soft, gentleness of her hand atop his shoulder. It was enough for him to jerk back in surprise. Not of the account of her scaring him, at making him jump, but quite the opposite.

The curve of her hand, the carefulness of her movement and soft skin that had just almost penetrated his jacket's defences, that's what had him moving.

Or else he would find himself comforted by the girl that (despite only knowing for less than a day) had managed to open him up a little inside, and now.

The price he was paying was his fazing in and out; the constant array of question that nagged at him with force like no other.

The touch had scared him, and he didn't know why.

"Y-yeah."

Y/N actually stuttered, and Ellie noticed, she tried to hide the small smile that her lips wanted to form, but couldn't. As he turned to face her, he saw her eyes shining brightly at his, and he tried his best not to follow through.

Her smile was contagious, yet all that caused was a curl of his lips that seemed to deepen every time, until he stopped it with his struggling gaze that crept away from her.

"We should go."

Y/N cut the moment short, was there even a moment? He felt like there was something there in that scene, but he found himself moving on before anything could happen.

Though as he exited the toy store, he saw just barely, out of the corner of his eye, was Ellie.

The girl herself picked up the toy transformer that Sam had dropped, the one thing he had wanted that his brother detested him having, and Y/N came to the conclusion that she was hanging on to it for him, to give the younger kid his little piece of heaven in a dark world.

He couldn't stop the small smile that time.

--

After exiting the store, the group came upon a loading bay that led out into the back area. Covered by a long rusted gate that surrounded the area filled with cars and a truck.

Though, that wasn't the only thing.

More bandits, three to be precise, were huddled together, as the group gathered behind a minivan, bracing against it for cover as they figured out the best way to take them all out.

But, it seemed Joel had it all sorted out as he man lit and threw a molotov before Y/N even had the time to blink.

The fiery explosive lit them up, burning and enveloping the three enemies in a fiery death, and nothing but the anguished screaming could be heard, until it was finally snuffed out.

"Nice work." Y/N was the first to speak out, as they all exited from their cover. Joel himself offered a grunt and it seemed Henry was inclined to agree.

"Agreed. Not bad, old timer."

The group began moving again. Y/N and Ellie following behind the two adults with Sam in tow. Huffing, Y/N climbed up on a stationary car, and then climbed up onto yet another vehicle, a truck, enough to support them as they maneuvered up onto a building.

Air ducts and machinery stationed above the gravel roofing.

"Oh shit! More guys up there."

As if to prove his point, the bandits across the street on the next building immediately opened fire on them as the group took cover.

Y/N and Ellie beside each other as the boy took out his rifle, and Ellie her pistol, ready to deal some damage. As Joel peered off to the right, his shotgun primed, and Henry and Sam stuck together like glue.

Y/N propped his rifle up against the air duct he was currently using as cover, as bullets bounced off his cover. Flinching away from shots that almost hit him, he turned to Ellie.

"I need you to give me some suppressing fire."

"Some what?" Ellie asked as she ducked, that time a rifle bullet nearly took her head off, as they noticed Joel take one down with his shotgun that got too close.

Y/N rolled his eyes, and checked his rifle over. "I need you to distract them, take pot shots at them so I can take them down."

"Oh." Ellie almost sounded embarrassed. "No, yeah, I got you."

'I hope so.'

"On three." Y/N nodded and readied his rifle scope to where the enemy were shooting at them, and turned to her. "One... Two... Three!"

Immediately Ellie popped up and began shooting at the bandits, mostly hitting their cover, but actually managed to clip one in the shoulder. Most of the bandits ducked, but some remained firing.

Seeing his window of opportunity, Y/N lifted himself out of cover and took aim at the nearest bandit, and breathed in slowly, before taking a shot. Blowing one of their brains out, and shot another in the chest, killing two of them.

Before he shot at the ones in cover to help Joel out as the older man moved up and gunned the rest down.

Trying his best to control his breathing, Y/N looked out across the building and scanned for more, it seemed most of them were dead, wait, no.

He spotted another bandit retreating, his shoulder bloodied, possibly the one Ellie had shot. He moved up and made way to aim at the guy but was disappointed when somebody stole his shot.

The guy collapsed to the ground with two gunshots in his back. Y/N clicked his tongue, and looked over to see Ellie with her pistol in hand, reloading after her shots.

"Alright it's safe, come out." Joel called out as the two teenagers exited their cover, and came up close to the others.

"We make a pretty good team." Ellie smirked as she placed her gun away and caught up with Y/N who had just placed his rifle away, letting the strap dangle from his chest.

"Yeah..." Y/N let out an uncomfortable cough. "Not too bad, princess."

"Princess?" Sam questioned as they all regrouped and began pushing ahead.

"It's a long story." Ellie immediately shut it down and pushed ahead, minding past Y/N who resisted the urge to grin.

"It's a rather short story." Y/N murmured to himself as the group entered an office building.

The place like any other, offices trashed, walls degraded and the end of the world vibe.

Same shit different day.

"Through this door." Henry gestured as the group entered through the building via a wooden plank and a massive hole in the building wall.

Eying up the double doors, Y/N couldn't help but be wary, and it seemed Joel was the same.

"Are you sure it's safe, being so close to them?"

"I'm the only one with the key, man." Henry replied as he unlocked the door, and entered in, followed by the rest of them.

"And where'd you get that?"

"I killed one of them." Henry shrugged. "He won't miss it now..."

"Clearly." Y/N muttered (out of earshot of Henry) with a shake of his head as he followed them. "I'm sure his friends won't mind either."

"Oh lighten up, grumpy." Ellie grinned cheekily. "I'm sure they won't mind us taking their spot. Besides, what are they gonna do?"

"You mean other than kill us, maim us, or use us as target practise? No, I can't think of any reason whatsoever." Y/N rolled his eyes as Sam chuckled, and Henry laughed, only Joel offered a sigh.

"Smartass." Ellie grumbled as proceeded ahead.

"Now look who's being grumpy." Y/N said more to himself as Ellie slouched.

It really seemed like Y/N was opening up, and he wasn't sure what was causing it. He laid it out on being surrounded by people again. Yet the fact that he hardly spoke to the others, it seemed Ellie was the only one that really got him talking, and he didn't know how to feel about that.

"So, how old are you?" Sam asked innocently as they entered into a room, which looked more like a boardroom, a place for meetings, perhaps.

"Me?" Ellie asked, like a deer caught in a headlight. She shrugged, and offered a response. "Fourteen."

"Could've sworn it was actually four." He couldn't help the grin that time, as Ellie reached over and punched him in the shoulder.

But as quickly as the grin came, it vanished as Sam turned his way.

"You?"

"...Sixteen." Y/N said with a shrug.

"Old and grumpy fits the bill." Ellie cheekily said, and Y/N almost had the thought to deck her over, but thought bad of it. "How about you?" She asked Sam as they neared their destination.

"So, you're fourteen? I'm real close." Sam said only to get interrupted by Henry chuckling at his expense.

It didn't take them long to arrive at their point of interest, if Henry's response was anything to go by.

"Alright, we're here." Henry unlocked the door via the key and opened the door, allowing the others to follow him in, and shut the door behind him. "Welcome to my office."

The room revealed a big office room, and then another larger room that housed a room with a table and chairs, a meeting room, and a storage cupboard.

"So how long have you guys been hold up here?" Ellie asked curiously as she looked around the place.

"A few days." Sam answered as Y/N checked out the place carefully, his cautious and paranoid mind checking for any intruders, and then to the windows, to spot anything bad. "We found a bit of food though. Here."

It might've been nothing, but as Y/N watched Sam show Ellie around the place, seeing that smile on her face as the boy showed her the blueberries they had found.

Y/N couldn't help but feel a little jealous.

But like Joel, he decided to still stake the place out.

"Blueberries." Henry chuckled. "Found a whole stash of them. You want some?"

"No." The two males answered in unison, causing Henry to chuckle again and look between the two.

"You sure you two aren't related?"

"I'm sure." The two said, only for Joel to grumble under his breath and Y/N to sigh as he looked over at Ellie, to see her throwing a blueberry up and popping it into her mouth as she laughed.

Y/N almost smiled at her, the scene was cute, and he wanted to join them, but he knew he couldn't. What he did do was perch himself near the window as he looked outside. He drowned out the laughter and the conversation as he watched outside, to see a wall and gate covering a bridge.

A way out.

He curled himself up closer as he watched the outside, as rain began to pour down the window, and listened to it's soothing sound.

He faintly heard Joel and Henry talk, something about fireflies, yet he wasn't interested. He would be long gone after the bridge.

He was sure of it.

A/N: Make sure to check out Chapter 8!