The Last Of Us 2: My Prologue

If Naughty Dog do decide to make a sequel to The Last Of Us (and I believe they will) then there are myriad possibilities. The world they created is vast and complex with factions and personalities ripe for the taking, but what I present here is my own personal synopsis of a possible prologue:

Scene 1:

The camera is zoomed in on a TV. A reporter is speaking hurriedly and nervously into a mike, describing as best he can the mayhem that is taking place around him. The TV flickers and turns off. The camera slowly moves back from the TV revealing three people huddled around it, lit only by a a flickering log fire: A young boy (12 with long black hair), and his two young parents. The mother comforts the young boy but is clearly fearful herself.

The father stands and paces the room, contemplating the next move. The mother and son are now clinging desperately onto each other, racked with fear. Angry at the sight of this, the father rushes over and grabbing both by their arm, pulls them up from their seats. He barks orders at them to gather necessary belongings and tells them they must leave. The mother protests, suggesting the whole thing might blow over. This angers the father more and he slaps her hard. The son looks on with empty eyes (he's seen this before)

Pulling herself together, the mother tells the son that the father is right and they all begin to gather what they need. The father rushes to the kitchen to grab food, the mother and son run up stairs to gather clothing and bedding. They come down just in time to see the father putting a kitchen knife into his backpack. This drives it home just how serious the situation is and how much more serious it could get. As they leave we see a log roll off the fire and onto a newspaper with the headlines we saw in Joel's bathroom.

Scene 2:

They leave, and hit the road. Their car is in for repair, revealed in a conversation as they make the journey along the road. The father didn't think it was necessary to put it in for repair but the mother insisted because she felt the breaks were faulty and she worried every time the father drove her son to school.

They carry on down the road towards the freeway still looking up and down the road in the hope of catching a lift. All feels lost as they walk along the darkened road until suddenly they see headlights and then a car speeding their way. The father urges them all to make as much noise as possible, standing into the road himself and waving frantically. The car appears to slow a little and for a brief moment it looks as if they have their lift, but just at the last minute it increases speed and zooms on by.

The Father curses and the mother takes the son by the hand. The boy looks after the car, his eyes piercing the darkness. There on the back seat and looking back at them is a young girl ...

Scene 3:

Finally they reach the freeway but it's clear there's something wrong. The traffic jam stretches on ahead for miles. As they near they see the scene unfold: People running in all directions, pursued by the infected. Some are trying to make a stand but are outnumbered and buried beneath waves of crazed humans. Others are just running for their lives and shouting into the darkness for help that will never come.

To the right is a hospital. Infected patience are streaming from it's open doors and heading straight for the noise thrown up by the panic. The family move into the undergrowth on the right hand side of the road and creep ever closer, the sounds of pain growing louder as they near the hospital. The father sees an ambulance, the driver pulled from the drivers seat and ripped to shreds. This was their only chance. They cautiously approach the ambulance hoping against all hope that the keys would be in the ambulance or in the drivers pockets. But they were in his right hand, or what was left of it.

The father orders the mother and son to climb into the ambulance and quickly taking the drivers seat, inserts the key to see if it starts. It does and for the first time since the beginning of the scene we see relief in the mothers eyes. They head back the way they came, passing their home, The son looks at where he once lived, the building now ablaze and wonders where their next home would be.

I'm sure you can see why I think this prologue would work well. ;)

[armogangsta]

O_O Oh man, the family that Ellie wanted to stop by and help, but Joel said no. Oh god, that would actually be pretty interesting!

[GribbleGrunger]

... That fled the house they drove passed that was on fire. :)

And the hospital is the hospital they had to stop at where the occupant of a car got attacked, forcing them to back up. There are two ambulances parked there.

[PeaSFor]

to be honest, i want to see more of the story between joel and Tommy, the part where they say

Tommy: "Took care? Thats what you call it? I got nothing but nightmares from those years.
Joel: "You survived because of me!
Tommy: "It wasnt worth it."

this dialogue made me VERY curious about their past in Boston.

[ZoyosJD]

*Sarah* not Ellie

Still, I don't care what the setting for their next game is. I have full faith in them to make something that will be worth every penny, regardless.

[armogangsta]

Wow, *facepalm* Shows how well Ellie and Sarah are alike. I completely forgot it was Sarah, not Ellie in the back of the car.

[DigitalRaptor]

Haha. the parallels are meant to be drawn, so it's forgivable.

Shows how affecting this game really is.

[McScroggz]

I'm of the mindset that I don't want a sequel (as I love the story exactly as is), but I'd pre-order the sequel at the drop of a hat.

[MightyNoX]

I know how you feel. You and are like Schrodinger's Customer. We don't want a sequel but we'll buy it. So many conflicting emotions.

[McScroggz]

That is a scary concept o.0

[MightyNoX]

Good build up. :)

[DigitalRaptor]

Nice write-up Gribble.

But I feel that his kind of tie-in is best kept to the imagination, not introduced as canon.

[GribbleGrunger]

I know what you mean, but imagine the emotion you'd feel as a gamer when that car passes and you see the girl looking from the back window. I bet a huge amount of people actually DID look out the back window to see the people they passed. I know I did. The only thing I'm not sure about is the newspaper. Now I've had time to think about it, I reckon it could give the game away a little too early and lessen the revelation of realising it was Joel that just drove passed.

[Pillsbury1]

There are so many stories to tell in this universe, I believe that what comes next won't be a direct sequel but of other survivors. Whatever comes next I can't wait to see it in HD on ps4.

[BitbyDeath]

Probably too much work but it'd be great if they went a 'Walking Dead' like route where you could gain a small army to work with you.

Having everyone fight in realtime and potentially be killed (cause they get too weak) would add a whole other dimension to the gameplay.

Oh and nice write-up gribble, the opening scene of LoU will be hard to top.

[GribbleGrunger]

I've taken it much further but didn't want the post to be too long. The father is a harsh man. Frustrated by his wife's frailty in the face of adversity, he has often hit her. The scene following the prologue are five years later where we see the son now driving the ambulance, which they've been using as their home. The father isn't there.

In the next three stops we get flachbacks of what took place after the prologue. In the first stop they are looking for fuel and we flash back to the families first hands on encounter with the infected.

The second stop is for the mother. She's struggling to cope and looks drawn, weakened by the events leading up to the present day. We flash back again but this time they're entering a settlement. This is where we see how the humans are just as bad as the infected, and we also get yet another glimpse of the father's brutality and cowardice. He strikes a deal with the faction running the settlement, and that deal leaves both the son and the mother devastated: sex for food.

The third stop Is because the ambulance breaks down and they have to now make their way on foot. We flashback to events just following the settlement. They get attacked by the infected but during the escape the father gets caught and killed. The revelation is that the son could have helped but he just looks on with those same dead eyes, wishing his father dead. The son feels shame, anger and frustration. This stop ends with the son raising his hand to his mother ...

So the story is then set up as a journey of forgiveness for the son and finding strength for the mother. I feel there are plenty of opportunities to explore human nature in this scenario, which is clearly something ND want to explore.

[FogLight]

*Slow claps* Bravo, just bravo!

I would really love to hear more of that story after the prologue you made, especially with the son since he slowly becoming like his father as you said "set us as a journey of forgiveness for the son". That is the most interesting development in my opinion. I would also love to see the mother's character development but I prefer to see the son's.

Again, great blog man :)

[GribbleGrunger]

Well, the idea was to create an opening structure that echoed the last game, not to write the full flaming story lol. Some of the actions of the father would mirror Joel quite well but his motives would be completely different. He was already a brutal man while Joel became brutal because of the world he found himself in. The prologue and events leading up to the revelation of how the father died would have to be at least a third of the game, otherwise it would lack impact and we wouldn't have had time to forge a close relationship with the boy. There's just so much meat in this set up for drama.

But I have to disagree that the boy's story would be the most interesting. I would build the mother's part slowly so that the player begins to 'feel' her strength growing. Of course there HAS to come time when it's her turn to save the son, AND risk her own life in the process.

[hardcorehippiez]

so far gribble i like your style as it weaves back and forth form the original in a believable manner .shove a patent on your idea and try contact ND. while they may or may not use it, it would be nice to know they might even be influenced a bit by it or you never know you might strike it lucky.

[FogLight]

Ok that is agreeable, and very good thinking of a writer. I presume you are interested in writing fictional works if possible?

Everyone has their own opinion I guess since I want to know how the son would be after his father's death, especially that he let it happen and slapped his mother. I just like how there would be a round character who would turn into a person he hated/disliked. It is all my subjective opinion though ;)

EDIT: Well damn I didn't post in Reply section

[GribbleGrunger]

I used to write fiction a lot and even managed to get a couple of short stories published in a small London mag, but it's been 20 years since I've written and I'm pretty damned rusty. lol.

The son doesn't slap his mother, he raises his hand to slap her. That is a very important distinction. If he HAD slapped her he would be the same as his father, which would still be interesting, but the internal struggle isn't served quite as well. Having doubts about whether he could become his father creates a 'time bomb' which not only ticks in the boy's head but in the players. In my story he doesn't become the villain of the piece but the potential is always there, making him and the player edgy.

For this reason, it's important that the boy doesn't apologise to the mother but simply turns away.

[Austin48]

Well done man when do you think they will announce the sequel to The last of us? cant get enough of The last of us

[GribbleGrunger]

In won't be for at least another year in my opinion. The hype for TLOU2 would be so huge it would bury the hype for every other game coming out before it.

Don't forget Valentines day!

[Austin48]

yea thats true hopefully we get TLOU2 by 2016 and once again great article. oh and if you remember naughty dog usally realeses a new uncharted game every 2 years lets just hope in 2 years we get TLOU2