The Last of Us

by D B Bray

  “Time to get up, Toby,” he said, prodding him with his foot.

  “Five minutes, Jack, five more minutes,” Toby muttered.

  Toby was always the one who slept in. Jack stared at him for a few moments and chuckled.

  He never had much drive.

  Most of his life, Toby had been catered to. The Rector always went easier on him, and Jack kept him out of trouble by completing his tasks. He watched Toby sleep a few more minutes, then nudged him again.

  “Up and at ‘em, brother,” Jack said again, shouldering the pack.

  Jack led the horse outside and relieved himself in the bushes. Toby walked into the early morning light with a yawn and stretched.

  “We got a long way to go today, Tob,” Jack said.

  “How far?” Toby asked, stifling a yawn.

  “Through this valley and over the next hilltop.”

  “How are we going to get more food?” Toby asked.

  “We have enough to trade with. Once we get into the cemetery, I’m taking everything out of the casket,” Jack said.

  “How many bullets do we have?” Toby asked.

  “Down to six, but we’ll be fine. I promise.”

  Jack led his horse down the path. They got to the next hilltop a few hours later as the sun was directly overhead.

  “It’s hot,” Toby complained.

  “Yea, I—-.”

  “Oh, oh look, Jack, what is that?” Toby asked.

  Down in the next valley were the remnants of the city of Philadelphia. The ten-foot corrugated metal fence blocked the city from wild animal attacks. They walked down the trail and reached the road entering the city.

  A thin guard watched them approach. “What’s your business in the greatest city in the world?” he asked.

  “We’re here to trade for supplies, and then we will be on our way,” Jack said.

  “I see, and what have you got to trade?” the guard asked, examining the saddlebag.

  “Not much. Oh yeah, something called a bible, and we got attacked by wolves on the bridge,” Toby admitted.

  “Quiet Toby,” Jack hissed.

  “Is that a fact?” the guard asked, approaching them.

  “Please, sir, we just want to trade. I promise we won’t be any trouble,” Jack said, sliding in front of the saddle to block the guard’s stare.

  “Leave them boys be, Johnny,” said another guard, resting against the wall.

  “Come on through boys,” he said, waving them in.

  Jack nodded and led their horse through the gate and into the bustling city. He glanced at Toby, sitting in the saddle.

  “Don’t tell people our business, Tob,” he hissed.

  “Why not?” Toby asked.

  Jack sighed. “Cause not all people are good. City Dwellers don’t like us very much,” he said.

  “The Rector always said——.”

  “That we’re the rays of hope. Yeah, I remember, but the Rector is gone, and we remain. Just do what I say,” Jack said.

  “Okay.”

  They went a little further down the road, passing by merchants selling food and clothing. The sun was beginning to drop below the horizon, as was the temperature. They entered a large square as the streets darkened, casting a charcoal shadow over the buildings. A few lanterns hung from the balconies above them, giving them what little light they could.

  City Dwellers were not hygienic, not in the slightest. Their water wasn’t fit for washing, let alone drinking. The streets were overrun with trash and sewage, and those who couldn’t afford tents slept in the road with the rats and roaches.

  The vultures and other carrion birds flying above them were always on the lookout for their next meal. A few of the birds sensing impending death were brazen enough to swoop onto their meals as they crossed the street.

  “Jack, it smells horrible. Do the City Dwellers bathe?” Toby asked, wrinkling his nose.

  “Rector Wallace told me City Dwellers have lived like this for a long time,” Jack said, stepping over some sewage.

  “Can they read or write?” Toby asked.

  “Rector Wallace said most couldn’t. He told me Scavengers like us were the people who left the cities after the bombs destroyed the planet to harvest resources. But soon after they left, they split into tribes and fought each other for control of what was left. And that’s how our tribe came to be,” Jack said, looking at a sign hanging overhead.

  “A sunny place for shady people?” Jack said, trying to look through the bars attached to the window of the shop they stood in front of.

  A voice from behind spooked them. “Aye, it’s always sunny in Philadelphia. Name’s Edward French.” He stuck out his deformed hand. “I’m a book collector and teacher, well was a teacher. I run the only bookshop in the city. Where are my manners? Please come in,” he said, opening the door.

  Jack and Toby made eye contact before glancing into the dark. The interior of the room resembled a dark dungeon. Toby slid away from the door, shook his head and mouthed “No.”

  “Don’t be scared, lads. Nothing in there will hurt you. In fact…” He lit a torch hanging at the door and went inside.

  “This doesn’t look right,” Toby whispered.

  “We need to trade the book we found, and I’m hungry. Got any other ideas?” Jack asked in a hushed tone.

  Toby shook his head. They followed Edward into the room and watched him close the door behind them. He walked over to the table and sat down, his long black beard touching his silver belt buckle. He lit a candle, the flames dancing across his face.

  “Now, what brings you, boys, to Philadelphia?” he asked.

  “We… we need to trade,” Jack said, his eyes darting around the room.

  “What do you have?” Edward asked, raising an eyebrow.

  Jack reached into his knapsack and pulled out the bible. He held it for a moment and said, “What do you have to trade?”

  Edward looked at it, his forehead scrunching. “Depends on what it is and what you want?”

  “We need food, ammunition, and other supplies,” Jack said.

  Toby piped up. “And chocolate!”

  “Haven’t got any chocolate. You have to be richer than I am.” Edward tapped his finger against his chin and nodded. “Fine, I’ll trade food and ammunition. Now what gem do you have?” he asked.

  “It’s called the Bible. You interested?” Jack asked.

  Edward stared at it, nodded, never taking his eyes from it. Jack could hear Edward’s breathing accelerate. Jack watched him tap his fingers on the table and thought he heard him tapping his foot.

  I wonder what this book is about, thought Jack.

  “Give me what you have in trade, and I’ll leave the book on the table,” Jack said, sliding it back into his bag.

  Edward got up from the table, walked to the back of the room, and then opened a door. A tiny ray of light snuck by his massive frame.

  “Toby, stay here,” Jack said.

  “Jack, don’t.”

  “I’ll be ok,” Jack said, handing him the bag. “Don’t lose this, knapsack,” he said, pulling the book out to take with him.

  He followed Edward into the back. As he crossed into the back room, his eyes bulged at the enormity of the supplies.

  “So, are we in business?” Edward asked.

  “We are.”

  “Take whatever you want then,” Edward said.

  Edward had been trading for a long time. The sheer number of supplies on the shelves and the floor were too much for Jack to take in, his senses overloaded. As he perused, there was a loud knock at the front of the shop.

  Jack heard the door crack open. “That’s the boy, get him!”

  Edward grabbed Jack from behind. He kicked the leg on a chair nearby, and a door in the wall swung open. Jack screamed, but Edward’s giant hand covered his mouth.

  “Quiet boy or they’ll catch us too.”

  The secret door slid shut as men rushed into the room. “I know that giant is in here
somewhere. I haven’t forgotten the past. He’s bought his last book on the black market,” said a man dressed in a bright red shirt and dirty blue jeans.

  “What do you want to do with the boy, sir?” asked one of his men.

  “Johnny said they had something called a bible,” said the man in red.

  They searched the room, knocking over and smashing items that got in their way. Jack could feel Edward’s muscles tighten.

  “Where could he have gone?” the man in red asked his men.

  “Hey, Red,” said the man behind him. “Johnny said he saw two kids with Edward. We got one of them, and the other brat probably ran off,” his second in command said.

  Red felt along the wall and walked past their hiding spot, his fingers gliding over the trap door. He searched for several more feet, then looked around the room. Jack sucked in his breath and held it.

  “Look, the window.” His men gave it a quick glance. “They must have escaped through it. Bring Johnny to the church for questioning,” Red said.

  Without another word, he stormed from the room. A few minutes ticked by until Edward finally let Jack go. Jack shoved the secret door open and bee-lined to the front of the store.

  Edward grabbed him by the back of the neck, lifted him up, and said, “Boy, if you run after them, they will capture you and sell you to the slavers or worse.”

  “I have to get Toby!” he shouted.

  “Use your head boy,” Edward said, lightly touching Jack’s temple. “They want this book and nothing else,” he said, holding up the bible.

  “Why? What’s so important about the book?” Jack asked, trying to wiggle away.

  Edward let him go and snatched the bible out of his hand. He pushed Jack down into a chair. Opening the delicate gold gilded pages, he gave Jack a slow, sad smile.

  “I’ve seen pictures of these books. They were all supposed to have been burned after the war. The bible is the story of man,” Edward said, turning it in his large hands.

  “I don’t care about that. I just want my brother back!” Jack shouted, trying to get up.

  “You’ll never get to him. They’re holding him in the Cathedral Basilica of St. Peter and Paul,” Edward sighed, running his fingers through his matted hair.

  “Where is that?” Jack asked.

  “Clear across town. It has a big dome on top with pillars out front. Listen, Jack, me boy, if they took your brother there, he’s lost,” Edward said quietly.

  “Not yet, he’s not. Forget the supplies. I’ll trade you the book for your help to get him back,” he said.

  Edward eyed his feet. “I’m sorry, I can’t help you, they’ll kill me if I do.”

  “Then give me the supplies I need, and I’ll go get him myself,” Jack snapped.

  Edward stepped out of his way, picked up a clip of bullets on the table, and tossed them to him. Jack shoved them in a pouch on the table and found the rest of the ammunition. Searching the shelves, he found enough dried food for a month. Edward sat down on the edge of the table and watched him pack.

  “So, why the journey anyway, boy?” Edward asked.

  Jack lowered his head, trying to hide his quivering lip. “Our fort was destroyed, and everyone was killed by The Takers, a Scavenger tribe near Zone Ten where we’re from. My father sent me and my brother Toby on a mission, a pointless mission,” he spat.

  “Jack me, boy, if your father sent you, it has to be worth something. I don’t think he would send you into the darkness without light. All things happen for a reason even though we don’t understand it at the time. Now, this mission, what’s it about?” Edward asked.

  Jack turned to face him. “I need to find a grave in Christ Church cemetery.”

  Edward stopped picking dirt from under his fingernails and raised an eyebrow. “And what do you need in there, laddie?”

  “Since you’re not helping me find my brother, it’s no concern of yours,” he said.

  Edward stood up and walked over to him and took a knee. “Boy, what is the mission?”

  Jack sat in silence for a moment and rubbed his eyes, clearing the tears away. “We’re trying to find this thing called a Constitution. When we find all the pieces, it will help us unite the tribes,” Jack said.

  “What’s the Constitution?” Edward asked.

  “Don’t know, some piece of paper. Why?” Jack asked.

  Edward stuttered. “No reason, just wondered what was so important that you would travel to one of the most dangerous cities in the zones,” Edward said.

  “No choice. It was where we were sent,” Jack said, picking up the pouch.

  Edward picked the bible up off the table and said, “Good luck, Jack. I pray you find what you're looking for, and I hope this Constitution is worth all the trouble you’ll go through to get it.”

  Jack nodded and walked out without saying anything, his only thought, rescuing Toby.

  Chapter 4

  Later that night, Jack peered between the mix of re-bar and broken pieces of concrete. It had taken him the better part of a day to sneak to where he now lay in the slimy dark underside of the concrete. As the hours went by, roaches scurried across his skin, leaving him with a feeling of disgust.

  He scanned the horizon and saw the scorched remnants of the mighty Cathedral Basilica of St. Peter and Paul. The only recognizable feature was the crumbling aqua oxidized-copper dome that was partially caved in. The four cracked Palladian columns resembled little of the majestic glory they once held. Spray painted on each of them was Zone Three. Amid the rubble were machine-gun nests, two mounted on the roof, and one at each corner of the building.

  How do they have machine guns?

  He watched the guards drag several dirty men tied to a rusted chain through the rubble. The bodies skidded along the gravel to a cage next to the cathedral. Jack looked at the cage for a while, but at the current distance, it was too far to see anyone's face.

  Gotta get closer.

  Jack inched his way across the landscape for hours, hand over fist, slowly making his way through the maze of rubble. Fires raged from blue fifty-gallon drums situated around him. He stopped several times as the men patrolling around him almost stepped on him as he closed in on the cage.

  At one point, he glanced up at the steeple of the church and saw the two guards who questioned them when they came into Philadelphia. They swung at the end of a taut rope, a look of agony frozen on their features.

  Damn...

  Slithering in the darkness, he finally pulled himself behind a pile of concrete near the cage. Again, he stared at the faces cramped in the tiny cage and finally saw Toby. The pace of his breathing quickened when he saw his brother, and if a guard hadn’t walked by him, he would have shouted Toby’s name out and given away his position.

  One of the guards near the cage whipped the slaves handing each other concrete slabs on the chain gang. The slaves passed the blocks to one another until they reached a stone wall being built around the perimeter. Jack worked his way around the rubble, cutting himself several times on the re-bar. He finally reached the cage as the first rays of sun punched through the darkness.

  “Toby!” Jack hissed.

  Toby opened one eye and winced. Jack could see his face was swollen; his eyes blackened. “Toby, can you hear me?” he asked again.

  A young woman close to Jack’s age stirred and then fell back asleep on Toby’s shoulder. On his hands and knees, Jack crawled to the cage door and found it padlocked with a thick chain.

  Damn, just my luck.

  Jack muttered under his breath as he rotated the dial in the darkness. He snuck peeks over his shoulder as he tried to open it.

  How do I get him out of here?

  Two guards walked near him and warmed their hands by the fire. He held his breath and slithered back into the shadows. After the guards walked away, he slid out from his hiding place and poked Toby through the bars. Toby stirred, looked around, and then lowered his head again.

  “Toby, wake up!” Jack said,
a little louder.

  Toby stirred again, waking the young woman next to him. He blinked a few times, his eyes barely opening.

  With his lips cracked and bleeding, he asked, “Jack, is that you?”

  “Hey Tob, yeah, it’s me. You ready to go?” Jack asked.

  “I’m not sure I can walk. They wanted to know where you were. I didn’t say anything,” said Toby, lifting his bruised chin.

  Jack smiled. “I’m sorry I didn’t stop them, Tob, but now we have to get you out of here. Do you know the combination for this lock?”

  Toby winced and shook his head. Jack pressed himself to the ground and watched another guard walk by. The guard stopped, looked in their direction, and then walked over to the cage. The guard peered amongst the prisoner's faces.

  Jack slid away, found a fist-sized rock, and then cracked the man over the head. He dragged him behind the rubble and stripped him bare. Jack switched clothes and then pulled the guard further up the hill and waited.

  The guard's helmet was loose, the pants baggy. The clothes smelled like they hadn’t been washed in months. The cover he pulled on had a razor-thin visor that partially covered his features.

  He made his way back to the cage. As he worked, a guard saw him kneel and ran over to stop him. He snatched Jack’s shoulder and spun him around. The guard ripped Jack’s collar as he threw him a few feet away. Standing over him, the guard pushed down on his chest with his grungy boot.

  “I found an intruder,” he shouted to one of the other guards.

  The other guards rushed over to him as the siren on top of the cathedral roared to life, waking everyone in the compound. Men rushed from every direction with their torches held high. Red ran up to them, attempting to button his shirt. “Did you find the other boy?” he asked.

  “I did,” said the guard, kicking Jack.

  “What do you think, Red?” asked one of his many guardsmen. “Want to hang him from the wall by his toes?”

  Red held his hand up and ended the conversation. He knelt, looked at Jack, and then pulled his gun and pointed it at his head. “So, you’re the other boy!” Red said, pulling the hammer back.