Judge Haney's an interesting fellow. Gotta say, there's easier ways to justify becoming a highwayman than creating some quasi-fascist might makes right narrativem about the strong surviving.

Another stray observation about this story: it casts Joel and Tommy's Jackson reunion in a different light.

"Remember how people said we couldn't live like this anymore? Well we're doing it."

In the context of your story, "people" is a very obvious and unsubtle reference to Joel. Tommy is essentially telling him to his face that he was wrong, and I suspect Joel knows and is somewhat chastened by that fact.

Damn...Judge's line about names not meaning anything is some pretty ominous unintended foreshadowing for Joel's ultimate fate.

Damn this was so good! I have so many emotions going through me and I want to write a review about it but i just cant put it to words. I need to sleep on it and then I write a proper review. For now I just want to say a huge THANK YOU to the author. This meant a lot to me and I hope you continue writing because you are great at it! Thank you for writing this! Thank you!

I found this story on reddit a few months ago I've only just got round to reading as I've been really busy these past few months but I'm really glad I started reading I'm only on chapter 3 and I am hooked already you have done an amazing job so far and I can't wait to read the rest.

really cool

Really good read! Loved this, had to go on a long trip and discovered this jewel. This is truly one of the best The Last of Us fanfics out there.

I want to say thank you for this amazing story, and I will chime in with those who have said this is effectively canon to them. This whole story has moved me in the same ways that the main game and now the show did again, and I am better off for having stumbled over this story. I hope you are still around to read this, considering it's been a decade since the game first launched. I will now dive into your other work, and I hope to read plenty more Last of Us stories :)

This is awesome, thank you so much for writing it!

This story is phenomenal. It’s my head canon for what happened in the 20 year time jump, your writing is amazing and I really like how you developed the characters, Tommy especially. He’s one of the characters I wish we got to spend a. Little more time with in the games and I think this makes his character even more interesting.

Your OC’s were great too. Troy was one of my favourites and I think my favourite arc was Baltimore. The shootout on Christmas Eve with Breslen was one of my favourite parts of the story.

I got into reading this because it was recommended to me by the TLOU discord where this fanfic is always talked about with the highest praise and I must say I was not disappointed. I am very much enjoying it.

I've got a question. In the part that starts with "December 12, 2016, Morning" Tommy later writes "Dec. 16, 2016" into Haney's planner. Was that just a typo and you meant to write 12 there, or was this some story breadcrumb that will be explained in some later chapter?

I have sent this story to two English professors and suggested that they teach a course on it. It's literally that good.

I don't know why nobody had written a review on this chapter, but it was everything I was hoping for when I imagined Joel and Tommy's split. Raw, emotional, pure rage and years of built of anger finally coming out in a nasty brawl that ended in those biting words. "I don't ever want to see your goddamn face again."

Troy's death still throws me for a loop, even if I knew he wasn't gonna make it to the end. He was an amazing character, my favorite in the story for sure. You won't find many like him anymore.

Also, I really hope the Bloater at UEC wasn't the same Joe that Tommy knew, considering it was also named Joe with Firefly pendant, but that's likely the case.

Either way, this was an amazing chapter, and an amazing story overall.

bro please make a last of us 2 remake story with same characters...that way i could say that it had a better ending

Astern i'm currently at chapter 18 and i just want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. The last of us is my favorite story and in particular Joel and Tommy's characters. After finishing part 2 i was left very disappointed in how they didn't do the story and in particular the characters we love justice. I've dreamt of a prequal as the one you've written ever since finishing the first game and you've just done it so right. I love how it's from Tommy's perspective and seeing Joel from the outside gives so much context into how others see him and why they ended up becoming estranged. Neil and the other Last of us 2 writers should be ashamed because this fan fiction is heaps better then what they wrote.