The Last of Us (3)

Nonstop activity could be heard downstairs. It was really getting hard for the man to keep his eyes closed so he finally opened one. Then the other.

The man sat upright and turned off the alarm clock. He pushed the covers off and stood on the bedroom floor. He wore brown and orange pajamas and a brown night cap. He looked to be in his mid to late 20’s, although the 5-o’clock shadow might suggest otherwise if he ever let it grow further than it did.

The man collected his things, including a towel, some clothes and marched off into the shower. The scene instantly skipped ahead to the man opening the bathroom door back up, a brown towel wrapped around his lower body and a few scrapes of blood on his chin from shaving. The man was going to walk back to his bedroom but couldn’t get over the frantic activity from downstairs so he went there instead.

Past the kitchen and the hallway, the man found his brother standing, pacing back and forth in the living room with the television on.

“Today is the day, today is the day, today is the day.” He kept whispering to himself.

“You know,” the man in the towel said, “You make a hell of a lot of noise. And you need to calm down.”

The brother stopped pacing back and forth and took what the man in the towel said to heart. “I know, I’m sorry. I’m just really pumped.”

“I am, too.” The man said, gesturing to himself first and then his brother. “But there’s an appropriate way to show it… and then there’s your way.”

The brother grew sad. He was wearing an expensive and flashy white button-downed shirt with green buttons, khakis and loud green Nike shoes. His hair, which was at first sight all over the place was now combed nicely and parted all the way to the right.

The man in the towel shook his head. “You look like an idiot.”

The brother just smiled in return. “Are you going in that towel? We don’t have all day.”

The man brushed those comments past him. He looked over at the TV and noticed it was on pause. “You were watching again, weren’t you?”

The blonde nodded frantically.

“I told you,” The man in the towel went on, “there’s nothing we can do until we get approval from The Developer.”

“Yes, yes, I know.” The brother shot back. “And that’s what I’ve been doing. I’ve been watching all the old games The Developer has been in. He’s kind of sketchy, isn’t he? I mean… can we really trust him?”

The man in the towel took a moment to consider what his brother was saying. It wasn’t often he would actual listen to him, but at times the blonde kid would make sense.

The man in the towel replied. “Look, I honestly can’t tell you. But we’ve been through the footage many times, and you’ve been through it way more than I. Maybe we can’t trust him, but we definitely can’t trust the infected.”

“Or the UTA Fireflies.” The brother added.

“Yes. So the way I look at it is if we want to help, if we really want to make a difference, we have no choice.”

The brother bubbled with excitement. “Ah, yes! Dear brother, that’s what I thought too!”

The man in the towel shook his head while he tried to hold back a smile. “Look, I’m going to be about ten minutes getting ready, okay? Can you honestly just calm down until then? We will go right after this.”

The brother put all his thinking into a response. “Yes, I can do that.”

“Okay, Conor, thanks.” He said. “Ten minutes.”

The man in the towel turned away and walked back up the stairs. Meanwhile, a huge grin covered Conor’s face and he went back to pacing around the living room again, as if the exchange he just had with his brother didn’t even register. “Today is the day. Today is the day.” He kept muttering to himself, albeit a lot quieter this time but with just as much excitement.

YOUR BROTHER’S NAME IS CONOR.

GO TO #17.

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