Fandom Tale of Two Survivors { The Last of Us 1x1 with icedthemoon }

[icedthemoon]

Nathaniel Matthews and Emmett Adler
Former Firefly| 21, 24 | Current location ;; Wyoming

Without even thinking, Nate answered, “Nathaniel Evan Matthews but you can call me Na-“ That was when everything was really starting to process. Cameron. Cameron. Cam? What? He looked at the man, but these glasses were really struggling. He couldn’t take them off with the masks on. But wait. If he knew who he was then- “Cameron of California and had the world’s crankiest older brother Cameron? Huh. Well, that is something anyway?” He grinned. “Sure wish I could see you. How did you find yourself way out here? Wait, don’t answer that. We don’t have time. I can hear him moving.” Emmett turned his attention to the door as well. “Then we better get ready.” He reloaded the pistol. “Does anyone have anything that can produce fire?”
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[EquineGurl23]

Alexander Brennan and Cameron Harris
Former Seraphite, Former Firefly | 19, 23 | Current location ;; Wyoming

Cameron hadn't been expecting to run into his friend from back in San Francisco but apparently that was how things were going today. "Yes! It's nice to see you again." He said before both him and Alex heard movement. "I have a molotov in my pack." Alex said as Cameron checked his own pack. "I have two molotovs and a nail bomb." Cameron replied as he looked at the other two. "We'll certainly catch up on the ride back." Cameron said as the room shook, the loud roaring of a bloater echoing in the halls as the bloater headed this way.​

 

[icedthemoon]

Nathaniel Matthews and Emmett Adler
Former Firefly| 21, 24 | Current location ;; Wyoming

“We have an explos-“ Nate stopped, eyes wide as the rest of his words fell away. The realization of how untrue those words were hit him like the bloater that he could hear moving towards them. He froze there in place as everything else kept moving around him. Emmett was pulling out supplies that he was hoping could make another nail bomb if they were lucky. “Okay, yeah, we’ve got two nail bombs and three molotovs. That’s good. We can do this.” The bloater was close now. “Nice to meet you. Let’s kill a big guy.”
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[EquineGurl23]

Alexander Brennan and Cameron Harris
Former Seraphite, Former Firefly | 19, 23 | Current location ;; Wyoming

Alex heard Nate start to speak before his words stopped. He knew what he was going to say and it made him pause a moment too, before he heard the bloater drawing closer and closer. Cameron looked at the others before he took out his molotov. "We need someone shooting any infected that come out, and some one else to toss the molotovs." Cameron said as he looked at the three of them. Alex thought about Kaleb, and the last big guy they faced. "I'll do it." Alex volunteered, putting a hand out for the molotov that Cameron held, and he nodded, handing it to Alex as the bloater crashed through into the lounge. "Here we go!" Alex called as he readied and threw the first molotov, breaking it over the bloater's head, the fire crashing over his head as it roared loudly.​

 

[icedthemoon]

Nathaniel Matthews and Emmett Adler
Former Firefly| 21, 24 | Current location ;; Wyoming

In this kind of moment, all Nate could think of was how they did this with Carlos and Kaleb. Kaleb throwing them. Carlos taking out all those runners and clickers in the middle of the fray. How were they supposed to do this without them? They had Cameron and Emmett, but he didn’t even know who they were. Not really. At least, not now. It had been years since he had seen Cam, and he had never known Emmett. Or at least he didn’t think that he had. Nate watched as the bloater came crashing in, fire tracing his outline, and he was still frozen. Utterly useless. Emmett ran forward and around the bloater to see if there were any infected coming that way as well. There were a couple. “I’ll be at this door to grab any before they get by!” He slammed one with the pipe and shot another while it was still away.
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[EquineGurl23]

Alexander Brennan and Cameron Harris
Former Seraphite, Former Firefly | 19, 23 | Current location ;; Wyoming

Alex saw Nate freeze and he bit his lip. "Nathaniel! Pay attention!" He screamed as Cameron backed up, using his pistol to cover them. "Focus!" He yelled, sending another molotov on top of the bloater while Cameron moved, firing at a clicker that was running for Nate. Alex moved until he was close to his partner. He nudged his shoulder and sighed. "Come on! You've got this, pretend we're with them again, anything. Just focus." Alex said as Cameron protected them from another runner. The third molotov was thrown onto the bloater then.​

 

[icedthemoon]

Nathaniel Matthews and Emmett Adler
Former Firefly| 21, 24 | Current location ;; Wyoming

His name felt like someone was yelling it from another room. He only barely felt as something touched his shoulder. Alex. Pretend. “I can’t.” His eyes turned to the bloater, but it seemed like it was somewhere else too. And the runners. And the clickers. All of it was somewhere else. Kaleb and Carlos. Max and Ben. His mama. Everything was somewhere else. Emmett shot another runner moving towards them, but there were a lot more that he had not been prepared for. “I can’t,” Nate repeated. “Behind you!” Emmett yelled. Nate barely turned as something grabbed at his hand, yanking him around. A terrible pop. His whole arm felt like it was on fire. Emmett shot the clicker from there, thankful that he didn’t hit anyone else. “Okay, someone kill this guy now, please?” Emmett asked.
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[EquineGurl23]

Alexander Brennan and Cameron Harris
Former Seraphite, Former Firefly | 19, 23 | Current location ;; Wyoming

Alex sighed, hearing that. Cameron was busy firing at a few runners that had joined the party when he heard Emmett's yell but he didn't get a chance to anything as Emmett fired at it and he heard the question. Right. Alex tossed the nail bomb at the bloater as it exploded and died in a loud roar. "Back up!" He yelled as the thing exploded. Panting heavily, Cameron finished off the rest of the infected before they all turned to Nate. Alex looked at his partner. "Are you okay?"​

 

[icedthemoon]

Nathaniel Matthews and Emmett Adler
Former Firefly| 21, 24 | Current location ;; Wyoming

Nate did back up just a little. Not from backing up but from staggering. From the sudden raging pain in his arm. Arm? He stared down at it as he tripped over a body of something – infected probably- and curiously looked at his arm. Hand. Wrist? Too big of a bulge. It didn’t look right. And the pain. Now that was something else. That was a significant, bad pain. He might have yelled out in the pain if his voice hadn’t completely disappeared. Are you okay? No, no he didn’t think he was okay. Emmett stood by Cameron as he tried to catch his breath but turned to Nate as he fell.
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[EquineGurl23]

Alexander Brennan and Cameron Harris
Former Seraphite, Former Firefly | 19, 23 | Current location ;; Wyoming

Alex moved with Nate, dropping beside him as he fell, looking at his arm. "Nate. Talk to me. Come on beautiful." Alex said, wrapping an arm around him. "Nate.." He tried again, fear and panic gripping at his pores. Cameron stood beside Emmett confused at the moment. "We need to get him to Jacob." Cameron said as he looked at Emmett. Alex looked at Cameron, hearing him. "Can this Jacob help him?" Alex asked, worry in his voice. He didn't see any bite marks, but he also didn't see how the infected grabbed him. "How do we get to this Jacob?"​

 

[icedthemoon]

Nathaniel Matthews and Emmett Adler
Former Firefly| 21, 24 | Current location ;; Wyoming

He needed to breathe. Breathe Nate. It was so hard to concentrate, but he knew this. He needed to breathe. So he did. He breathed. He worked on breathing. They were saying words around him, but it was so difficult to make them out. He decided to ignore them and breathe. If he could tell the rest of his body to calm down enough, he might be able to tell what was wrong. Emmett was nodding. “We need to take him back to Jackson. Jacob’s our medic.” Nate looked up at the words. Emmett kept going. “If we can get him there, he can help. I don’t have a lot of medical knowledge so I don’t know what’s wrong.” Nate was working on that. Trying to move his arm. At his shoulder was fine. His elbow was angry but no. Not the elbow. The nerves? Hand? Oh definitely hand. He was having a hard time seeing. “My wrist.” His words were soft and shallow. “It’s… my wrist.” With closed eyes, he tried to move his other hand to that one. Running over until he found the strange bump. Mound really. It hurt so much to touch. “It’s broken.”
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[EquineGurl23]

Alexander Brennan and Cameron Harris
Former Seraphite, Former Firefly | 19, 23 | Current location ;; Wyoming

Alex listened to Emmett, his hands still on Nate. He nodded, hearing him and then he felt motion below him. Oh. He watched Nate and then heard his soft and shallow words. His wrist, it was broken. "Okay beautiful. Let's get you to your feet okay?" Alex said, moving to stand them both up. "You two lead the way." Alex told Cameron and Emmett. "Okay, let's get moving then. The sooner we get him to Jacob, the sooner we can get that wrist looked at properly." Cam said, moving towards the hotel where they could get back the way they came.​

 

[icedthemoon]

Nathaniel Matthews and Emmett Adler
Former Firefly| 21, 24 | Current location ;; Wyoming

They were saying a lot of things like feet and two and moving and sooner and properly. Properly? No, he could properly tell that it was his wrist. Nate had broken things before. He knew he had to… to… what was he doing? He was moving. Up. Up? His head felt dizzy. He wanted to sit back down so that he could focus on… something. Focus. Focus, Nate. His mama would never allow this. “Broken. Not fractured. Broken. My hand…” Oh. Oh no. His hand. His wrist. If it was broken… “Alex. Alex?” He needed to keep it together. Be the doctor you always wanted to be, Nate. Emmett was moving behind him to make sure that Nate didnt fall again, which he was threatening to do. “Alex… my hand…”
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[EquineGurl23]

Alexander Brennan and Cameron Harris
Former Seraphite, Former Firefly | 19, 23 | Current location ;; Wyoming

This wasn’t working, Nate seemed to be shutting down or something, was that shock? Something wasn’t right. “I’m here baby. I know your wrist is broken. We’ve got help.” He said, looked at Emmett behind Nate. “Alright, here’s what we’re going to do.” Alex said, lifting Nate up and into his arms. “I’m going to carry you, we’re going to follow these men, and then we’re going to find our farmhouse.” Alex said, gesturing for Cameron and Emmett to followed the way. “Stay with me baby, remember the farmhouse? Our horses, bread, Ireland? We just need to travel a little longer, find this medic to help you.” Alex added, his fear and concern flowing through him. He didn’t like this one bit. Cameron looked at Emmett and nodded, turning and leading them out into the hotel. From there they could make their way out.​

 

[icedthemoon]

Nathaniel Matthews and Emmett Adler
Former Firefly| 21, 24 | Current location ;; Wyoming

Up? Up. The world was so hazy like it was full of mist. Or fog. Or clouds. He was looking through clouds. Or bad glasses. He wanted to move the mask and get to the glasses, but everything hurt. Everything like his hand. It was broken. Broken somewhere. He couldn’t feel where. If he concentrated hard enough, could he feel the broken pieces swimming around? Not pieces. Pieces? He couldn’t tell, because it hurt. It hurt a lot. “Alex… I can’t… my hand…” oh that was strange. That wasn’t how it was supposed to be. He tried to shake it. Shake it. Shake it. “Alex. Alex, I can’t- I can’t-“ His breathing became rapid as he realized that something was very, very wrong. Because it was broken. It was supposed to be broken. He couldn’t feel that. But now. Now. Now? “I can’t feel my hand.”

Emmett moved ahead of them alongside Cameron. He looked back at Alex as he carried Nate. He had heard stories of Nate from before. He and Cam were pretty good friends it sounded like. He wished that they could have met under better circumstances. He pushed through the exterior door that they came through and held it open for Alex. “Can you ride a horse?” He asked Alex. Not everyone could. “Because moving him faster will be better. But if you can’t… I don’t mind taking him or Cam if you don’t mind.” Not presumptions with him. He met a lot of people in this world.
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[EquineGurl23]

Alexander Brennan and Cameron Harris
Former Seraphite, Former Firefly | 19, 23 | Current location ;; Wyoming

Alex heard Nate, heard his rapid breathing and his own breath caught in his throat. “Shh. I know baby I know. It’s okay, it’s all going to be okay. Now don’t think of your hand, think of fields and bread, the sun. Deep breaths for me baby come on you can do it. I know you can.” Alex said softly, his free hand caressing Nate’s cheek. Meanwhile Cameron was moving with Emmett and while he was happy to see his old friend, he wasn’t expecting this. These were not perfect circumstances. Alex looked at Emmett as they made it outside. “I can ride a horse.” He said, pulling Nate’s mask off then his own. Perhaps fresh air would help. “Hold him so I can get on and then I’ll take him?” Alex said, looking at Emmett. Once he transferred Nate to the other man, he mounted the horse and quickly brought his arms down to collect Nate again in his arms.​

 

[icedthemoon]

Nathaniel Matthews and Emmett Adler
Former Firefly| 21, 24 | Current location ;; Wyoming

Emmett took Nate and held him as Alex got onto the horse. He was careful not to do touch Nate’s hand which was not too hard since he really wasn’t moving all that much. He wasn’t moving much at all. Instead, he was just kind of staring and occasionally looking down at probably his hand. Finally, Emmett helped Alex take Nate and then moved to the other horse with Cam. “You follow us okay? And if anything is going wrong, we need to stop or something, we can do that.” Nate, now somewhere up higher, felt the familiar warmth of Alex again. Alex was away. Briefly for an eternity. It hurt like his hand should have. But he was thinking about bread and horses named Ireland. Thinking about the sun and how it was just the world asking to be painted. And how the trees were taller in Washington. And how his hand should- not his hand- really hurt. His hand didn’t hurt. It was like the pain just stopped somewhere near his elbow? He couldn’t tell. He tried to move his fingers and it should have hurt but it didn’t. But it did.
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[EquineGurl23]

Alexander Brennan and Cameron Harris
Former Seraphite, Former Firefly | 19, 23 | Current location ;; Wyoming

Alex was concerned with how quiet Nate was. But he held onto him like a lifeline. “Got it. After you.” Alex said as Cam mounted the horse, and once Emmett was on, both men urged their horses forward. “How far is it to Jackson?” Alex asked as he used one hand to cradle Amare to his chest and the other to guide the horse. “About ten minutes at a canter.” Cameron replied. “Then let’s do that.” Alex said. Cameron gave him a look then looked back at Emmett. “Okay..” he replied, urging the horse faster as did Alex. He needed to get Nate to Jacob and that was the only thing on his mind. While they rode, Cameron sighed. “Emmett, can we get these two through the gate?”​

 

[icedthemoon]

Nathaniel Matthews and Emmett Adler
Former Firefly| 21, 24 | Current location ;; Wyoming

Emmett held onto Cameron as they rode as fast as they could back to Jackson. This may have been a problem for them, but only because Jackson was very particular about who they brought into its walls. They did not take kindly to just any stranger who thought they could use them. “We can if everyone’s particularly kind today. Our word is good, and we can let the dogs sniff them first. But who’s going to deny someone innocent who needs medical attention. And someone who used to be your friend. someone like you and me and someone like Tommy.” He looked back behind them to see check on Alex and Nate. Nate looked like he was thinking about taking a nap, which wasn’t exactly great for the rest of them. His head hung a little as he rested against Alex’s chest. Nate was trying to focus on things like farmhouses and bread. Trying. He was lucky if he could remember Alex. “Alex?” His voice was so small. “Alex I can’t… can we go home now?” Not that he knew where that was.
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[EquineGurl23]

Alexander Brennan and Cameron Harris
Former Seraphite, Former Firefly | 19, 23 | Current location ;; Wyoming

Cameron could only hope that they had a few good ones there at the gate. “Right. That sounds like as a good a plan as any we could come up with.” Cam said as they rode faster. Alex heard Nate and he tried to talk while he rode. “Hey, baby. That’s right. We’re going home. Our new home. We’re going to see a magical medic then we’re going to our farmhouse. But you gotta stay awake for me beautiful. Stay with me.” Alex said, riding faster. As they crested the hill, Jackson spread out below them. “It’s beautiful baby. Our new home.” He said as they rode down towards it.​

 

[icedthemoon]

Nathaniel Matthews and Emmett Adler
Former Firefly| 21, 24 | Current location ;; Wyoming

Nate couldn’t really see anything other than the blurry form of Alex as they rode. Beautiful. He wanted to see something beautiful. It would probably be better than whatever was going on with his hand. His hand that he could feel and not feel at the same time. Could he feel anything else? He still had toes he thought but they were so far away. So far. “Home.” He wanted to fall asleep, because it would be easier that way. No sleep. Alex told him to stay awake. He could be awake. He could. Emmett smiled back at them. “We’re really close now. Salvation is nigh!” He waved at the people watching over them in the hopes that this was enough for now. They could explain when they got inside.
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[EquineGurl23]

Alexander Brennan and Cameron Harris
Former Seraphite, Former Firefly | 19, 23 | Current location ;; Wyoming

Alex breathed out slowly as they road towards the gate, and he heard Nate's comment. "Home." Alex replied as he saw Emmett wave and Cameron did as well. The gates opened and allowed the four inside, and someone walked up to Cameron and Emmett. "Who are they?" He asked, and Cam sighed. "Hank, this is Alex and Nate. Nate has a very bad broken wrist and they saved our lives. Nate was a firefly with me, and they saved us from a bloater and horde." Cameron explained. Hank grumbled before he nodded. "Okay, but talk to Maria once you get him taken care of." Hank said as Cameron nodded. "Alright, Emmett, can you help Nate and Alex? I'll bring the horses to the stables and meet you there after."​

 

[icedthemoon]

Nathaniel Matthews and Emmett Adler
Former Firefly| 21, 24 | Current location ;; Wyoming

Emmett gave a curt nod to Hank and a more gentle one for Cameron. “Thank you, Hank! We really appreciate this.” He looked to Alex and Nate. Nate was not looking so great. The second they got him off the horse, he nearly toppled over. “Hey, it’s okay. We have a great medic here. He may be kind of new, and don’t tell anyone else, but I think he’s way better than the people we had before. He used to be a real nurse in the old world, which I think is nifty.” Nate did not understand the majority of those words, because his mind was not listening to them. He was staring off somewhere else. Emmett trusted Alex to keep him moving and led the way.
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[EquineGurl23]

Alexander Brennan, Cameron Harris and Kaiden Lachlan (And the Smith Clan)
Former Seraphite, Former Firefly, Former WLF | 19, 23, 26 | Current location ;; Wyoming

Cameron waited and once the three were off, he took the horses to the stables. Alex meanwhile was taking deep breaths, his heart pounding in his chest. He'd only seen Nate this bad when they lost Carlos and Kaleb. Alex looked at Emmett and tilted his head, the name sounded familiar but in his fear, he couldn't think. "Come on baby, hold onto me, we're heading to someone who can help you. He'll make you feel all better." Alex said as he followed Emmett, not sure where they were going. Cameron was headed towards the medical tent a few moments after he brought the horses in and got them settled. He made it there first, at a dead run, and interrupted Jacob. The older medic had just finished up Kaiden's back massage when Cam burst through the door. "Broken wrist, pretty bad shock response." Cam said as Jacob nodded, and gestured for Kai to help him. He was the only other one there. Kaiden nodded and set to work getting things ready for Nate.​

 

[icedthemoon]

Nathaniel Matthews and Emmett Adler
Former Firefly| 21, 24 | Current location ;; Wyoming

Their journey was slower than Cameron’s since they were having to move dead weight to their medical tent. Not that he was dead. Not that he was dying. Emmett sometimes looked back at him to make sure that wasn’t the case. You didn’t die from a broken wrist, right? Nate was certainly acting like it was less than survivable. That was the shock. Probably. Definitely! Okay, this was fine. Some day they were having. This was why he did not patrol. Nate laid his head against Alex’s chest, trying not to remember. Remember what? The pain, lack there of pain, abundant pain, shot through him and then he did. He remembered again, and his insides were screaming. He was yelling at the top of his lungs while laying against Alex’s chest without moving. Without talking except for the occasional, “It hurts,” and “Broken.” Finally, Emmett was opening up the way for them and announcing, “Jacob, we are in need- Oh good, Cameron already told you. Well, here he is.”
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