Chapter Summary: Lost and without Ellie, you and Joel travers the city only to encounter some new faces.
Pairing:Joel Miller x Reader
Warnings:Blood, gore, typical cannon violence, swearing, anxiety attacks, my grammar. (Let me know if I missed anything!)
Word Count: 9.2k ( So, I got a little carried away… )
Author’s Note: Merry Christmas! I planned this all along! In this chapter, we’re finally leaving the city behind. I’m excited to get into the nitty-gritty of the game. After this point, things start to get interesting and I live for it! I hope you guys like this one! I worked super hard to get everything to connect with my slight changes. Enjoy!
The room was surrounded by windows. It let gusts of wind through. Maneuvering around the dead, I almost lost what I had last eaten. I gazed out the window. We had been left on the top floor of an old skyscraper.
Summer 2033
I almost let out a loud gasp. Before I could, I pressed a hand to my mouth. I looked for Joel. he had found his place next to me. I examined the line his lips formed while he gave a hard stare out the window. Turning to me, Joel tilted his head back inside.
Across the room, the door to the stairs stood wide open. Of course, it couldn’t be made easy for us. The room was littered with infected in all stages. Two bloaters seemed to be asleep while clickers and runners staggered across the space.
We had nothing to take them down. We had virtually no way of getting out of this damned building. That’s when I noticed Joel looking around.
It clicked. We’re in a building with desks that are most likely to have office supplies. A shiv wouldn’t be impossible to put together. I followed Joel’s example.
My hope returned when I found several pairs of scissors and a huge roll of packing tape. They were tucked into a filing cabinet. I snatched each item and presented all that I had found to Joel. I got an appreciative smile from him.
As he got to work, I made sure to cover him. I noticed how all the runners had been taken down. I suppose they had gotten a little too close for Joel’s liking.
Getting a tap on the shoulder, I peered back to see Joel hand me the homemade weapons. Before I could make my plan of attack, my attention was drawn back to Joel. He quietly held up a single medkit.
Without another word, the man was getting the medkit ready. He motioned for me to remove my shirt from the wound. I hesitated. He gave me a pointed look and I relented. With warmth spreading across my face, I carefully lifted my shirt.
Joel was careful with my shoulder. His eyes didn’t move away from the bullet wound. Actually, his gaze was glued to the wound as if he was trying not to look anywhere else. I smiled at that. If I didn’t know him, I would have thought he was quite the gentleman.
When I was patched up, I looked at the shivs that were handed to me. I had three. Sneakily, I walked up to one clicker and sunk a shiv in its neck. Rinse and repeat. All the clickers went down.
An unexpected and cold hand wrapped itself around my elbow. I held in a yelp. Joel pointed to our exits that were guarded by the stationary bloaters.
It took time and a lot of holding our breath but we made it past the two creatures. The elevator stood at the end with its doors closed. However, beside them, was the exit. I took the lead and slipped down the stairs. Getting to a considerable amount of floors down, we took a moment to loosen up.
“Holy shit… holy shit, holy shit, holy shit!” I whisper-yelled.
A chuckle came from beside me. Joel was leaning his back on the concrete wall. His head leaned against the concrete. Joel’s gaze pointed in my direction which allowed for me to see the rare, lighthearted expression painted across his features.
“I see where Ellie gets her, uh… colorful language from.”
“I know. I taught her well.” I shared a smile with the man.
“Alright, we ain’t out of the woods yet. Let’s go.”
Pushing off the wall, Joel continued down the stairs. Thankfully, we didn’t have to stay low to the ground as we descended. I only made sure to be mindful of how much noise we were making. Every floor we passed, I could hear moans and groans. As much as I wanted to see all that was left here, I really didn’t want to tackle any large groups of infected. Not until we had Ellie and our stuff back.
I walked up to Joel. “How exactly are we going to find our stuff?”
“I figure we find someone who knows.:”
“Okay. I’m gonna warn you. This is the first time I’ve ever done shit like this. I usually stayed away from cities. The last time I was in a city was back when I was with-” I stopped myself from mentioning Tess. “Back in the early days.”
A frown found a way to Joel’s face. Shaking it off, Joel looked at me. “I’ve got this. You don’t have to worry. Plus, you might learn a thing or two.”
I snorted. “Okay.”
After our little conversation, we carried on. I kept an eye on the floor number as we passed it. It calmed me in a way. It showed me that we were actually getting out of this place and closer to Ellie.
“Hold up.”
I looked up. There, in front of Joel was a massive wall of rubble. Gazing at the ceiling, I noticed a hole that was the size of a wall of rubble.
“Great.” I let out a sigh.
Joel motioned to the giant 9 painted in bright yellow paint. “It could be worse.” Pausing, He nodded to the floor’s door. “C’mon, let’s go. We’re almost out of here.”
I started getting flashbacks from a week ago. This office building wasn’t too far off the one we were trapped in with Tess. The pang in my heart was still present when I thought of her. However, the tears had stopped welling in my eyes. I wasn’t quite out of the grieving process yet.
Snapping out of it, I watched as Joel took down two runners. I didn’t even realize that there was infected around. I flashed Joel an apologetic smile. He raised an eyebrow as if to ask if I was okay. Shaking my head, I pushed forward.
It didn’t take me too long to find a solution to our problem. I laughed. In my head, it sounded delusional. It was the type of laugh that would raise concern. Joel’s face told me that was exactly how it sounded.
“Of all the fucking paths we could have found, it had to be another one of these.” I simply looked out the window.
Joel stopped right next to me. He peered out to see what I meant. Right outside the window stood one of those stupid window washing carriages. Exactly like the one we used in Boston.
I heard a grumble beside me. “I really hate this.”
“You’re telling me. This bullshit is getting tiring.”
With all the strength that I could muster, I used a chair to smash the glass. It didn’t work the first time. I managed to make a huge crack. On my second go, it finally exploded. Glass went everywhere. I looked away at the last moment. I wasn’t quite akin to going blind just yet.
Throwing the chair away, I carefully climbed onto the carriage. When I successfully climbed in, I gripped the closest cable. I nodded to Joel so he’d join me. I had no clue if this would hold the two of us but I needed another pair of eyes to look for the next step.
“Down there.” Joel pointed to the floor below us. “Use this.” He picked up a rope and threw it at me.
With the rope in hand, I tied it to the damn carriage. I double-checked it to see if it would hold. I threw the other end over the side. I sucked in a shaky breath. If I fall, I’m dead.
“Oh, shit. Oh, fuck. I don’t know if I can do this, Joel.”
“It’s okay. It’s okay.” Joel tried to calm down my hyperventilating. “Gimme the rope. I’ll do it.”
I vigorously shook my head. Tears welled in my eyes. “N-no! If you fall, I’ll be left up here with no way down!”
“Hey,” Joel took my hand that had a death grip on the rope. “I’ll be fine.” With a squeeze to my hand, he took the rope.
I watched as he took a deep and shaky breath too. He carefully lowered himself down. His knuckles turned white as his grip tightened around the rope. I didn’t release the breath I was holding until he had made it to the next floor.
With the rope in hand, he walked into the room. He didn’t appear back for a while. When he did, the rope wasn’t in his hands anymore. He must’ve tied it to something.
‘I want you to ride down the rope like a zip line.”
More like a zipline of death. I nodded at him and pulled out an old shirt from my backpack. I slung the shirt over the rope and took a deep breath. With a leap, I was heading towards Joel.
The sinking feeling in my stomach made me want to throw up. I squeezed my eyes shut in fear. It wasn’t until I felt Joel’s hands on my waist that I opened them.
“Fuck.” I let out shakily.
We moved around the room. There wasn’t much in the room. Come to think of it, the place was pretty empty and quiet. There were some clicks and groans but they were mostly coming from the upper level. I guess the infected had migrated.
I came to a stop in the middle of the room. An enormous chasm occupied the floor before me. It had to reach at least two, maybe three, floors down. The fall was enough to kill a man.
‘Well, fuck me. This thing is huge!” I exclaimed.
I, momentarily, forgot where I was. I had forgotten I was in an area with potential threats. However, It wasn’t until the aggressive clicking began that realization had set in.
The clicker barged into the room. This wouldn’t have been an issue if three runners hadn’t joined. The three runners spotted Joel and took after him.
“Y/N!”
I could hear Joel shout but it didn’t register. I could only focus on the clicker ahead of me. It ran towards me with the rage of a pissed-off herd.
I was in shock. I stood there frozen. I could only brace myself as the clicker latched onto me and nipped at my face.
That was when I came to it. Instantly, I held the clicker as far away from my face as possible. It chomped at me still filled with its wrathful hunger. Slowly, the clicker began to push me towards the gargantuan crater.
I had no way of preventing my fall. This was how I was gonna go. I wasn’t ever going to see my daughter again. I only hoped that Joel would find her and give her a good life.
Then I slipped off the edge. The clicker disappeared. My brain ran a hundred miles an hour. My eyes finally found the clicker. Its body splattered all over the ground below.
For some reason, I wasn’t falling towards it. I looked around me and everything stayed in place. My body was hanging off the edge of the gorge. Screaming I flailed around.
“Y/N! Calm down. I’m trying to pull you back up. Now give me your other hand.”
I lifted my head to see Joel gripping onto my right arm for dear life. Half his body hung off the edge. The man must have dived toward the chasm to catch me.
Pulled up by my arm, I was pressed to a chest. Joel. I cling to him for my life. I could feel my heels slightly hanging over the edge of the opening. My breath mingled with Joel’s. We panted as we took in what just happened.
My arms tightened around Joel. He responded by shoving his face into my hair. That was when I heard his whispering.
I couldn’t tell if he meant it for me or for himself. I tried shuffling closer to him. My heels dangling over the edge had started to freak me out. He must’ve felt it because he shuffled back still clutching me to his chest.
We stayed that way for a few minutes and we caught our breath. I found myself not wanting to let go. It felt nice. I have never had this. My main priority had always been Ellie and thus my love life never moved past a second date.
Clearing his throat, Joel slowly let me go. I followed suit. With an awkward glance at each other, we distanced ourselves. I took a deep breath.
Bracing myself, I lean over to look down the huge hole in the ground. To the left, the clicker lay with its blood splatter around it. I scrunched up my nose. A flash of panic came and went. That could have been me.
“Okay, let’s get out of here.” Joel was standing on a broken piece of ceiling.
From where Joel stood, I could see a path of rubble that would safely lead us to safe, non-crumbled ground. I nodded at Joel and followed him down the path.
It didn’t take much longer to get out of the damned building. The chasm led us to the sixth floor. From there on, we found the doors to the stairs which led us to freedom.
Fresh air spilled into my lungs. I happily drank in the sunlight and enjoyed the precious air. My relief was short-lived when I was yanked to the ground.
The massive truck from outside the hotel drove past the two of us. Once it drove around the corner, I got up. Beside me, I noticed Joel looking towards the sky.
“Um, what’s going on? You looking for aliens or something?”
“We can’t be too far from where we were attacked.”
“Wh-”
“Look at the time of day it is. That’s a sunset, not a sunrise. It’s still the same day Ellie was taken. That bein’ said I think we’re near Ellie.”
“Now all we gotta do is find a few hunters and kindly ask them where the hell they took her.”
Joel let out a dark chuckle. “Cute.”
I let him take the lead this time. I had no idea where we would even begin. I figured that we could walk in any direction and find hunters. This place ran rampant with them.
Cutting around corners, we walked through some really sketchy alleyways. Each of us was almost bitten. Fortunately for us, we made it back to the hotel. That’s when we split off. I assumed we would meet up and figure out if either of us had found something.
Prowling through the area, I came across two hunters. I was about ten feet away from them. A rancid smell attacked my nose. The only thing that I thought could be the cause of the smell was the men in front of me. I knew that bathing was rare in the apocalypse but there were several bodies of water around here. Did it really hurt to take care of yourself every once in a while?
“Y/N” Joel whispered to me after appearing out of nowhere.
“Hey.” I nodded towards the men ahead of me. “Look what I found.”
“Looks like we got ourselves some candidates for questioning.”
Without another word, the two of us made our move. Joel pressed a gun to the hunter’s head while I simply restrained the other one.
“What did you do with the girl?”
The hunter in Joel’s arms squirmed. “I don’t know nothin’”
Joel scoffed, “Sure you don’t.” He pressed the gun further into the hunter’s head.
“Okay, okay! We’ll tell you. Just let us go.” The hunter in my arms begged.
“Talk.” I voiced through my teeth.
“It-it’s about two miles from here.”
“In that direction.” the other hunter nodded his head to the left.
I leaned towards the hunter’s ear. “How do I know you’re not lying?”
“I ain’t lyin’! Tell ‘em, Bud!” The hunter in my arms nodded to his buddy.
“He isn’t! I swear!”
“We believe you.” Joel paused to think. “Alright we’ll let you go but I’ve got one last thing to ask you. Where’s our stuff? We know you stowed it away.”
Bud struggled in Joel’s hold. “We can’t tell you that! They’ll kill us!”
“How will they know that it was you who told us?” I interjected.
“It’s stuffed in some storage around here. It’s in the bank a few streets down. We keep a lot of stuff there. Your things should be there. It’s the closest place we could have put it.”
I put on a sickly sweet smile. “Thank you,” I said with a sickeningly sweet voice.
I looked at Joel to see him nod at me. I could see what he was saying in his eyes.
In an instant, I used all my strength to choke the man in my arms. It took a minute but the man stopped squirming. For good measure, I slit his throat. I didn’t want to chance anything. I looked up to see that Joel had done the same.
“Well, we got our…” Joel trailed off when he realized that I wasn’t where he saw me last.
“Yes, let’s go.” I waved him on already a few feet ahead of him.
Our stuff just so happened to be on the way to Ellie. There isn’t anything stopping me from getting her and getting out of this damned place.
We came upon the bank. The building was well kept. There were a few walls that had collapsed. It was intact for the most part.
Hiding behind a large sprinter van, the two of us scoped out the area. A few hunters guarded the entrance. Squinting through the window, I could catch movement from inside. This place was well guarded which made sense. I was only hoping they were idiots and kept the scouts to a minimum.
“Okay, What’s the plan here?”
“Well…” Joel sighed. “There’s no way that we’re getting in through the front.”
“So…”
“We’re gonna have to sneak through the back.”
“As I suspected.”
It was rough. Sneaking to the back, we ran into several hunter-shaped problems. It wasn’t hard taking them down. As we approached the back entrance, We came upon a few issues. The door was blocked and the garage entrance was cracked to where I could just barely fit.
“I ain’t gonna fit in there.” Joel sighed.
With a groan, I stepped up to the crack. “I’ll figure out how to get you in.” I sighed. “I fucking hate this.”
The area was dark. You could tell that the idiot hunters didn’t think that the back entrance wasn’t an issue. I rolled my eyes.
The normal entrance had a bunch of shit in the way. It would make too much noise if I attempted to move it. I let out a huff. Things like this are always oddly convenient. One day I’m gonna be able to waltz my way in and I won’t have any problems. Unfortunately, today is not that day.
It was at this moment that I realized that I was gonna have to crouch through this whole place. I groaned mentally. R.I.P. my calves.
walking up to the crack I snuck through, I spoke to Joel. “The door’s blocked with too much crap. We’re gonna have to find another way for you.” A thought popped into my head and I grinned. “Or you could try to squeeze your huge grumpy ass through the opening.”
“Cute. That’s not gonna happen.”
“Okay, I was just giving you some options. I’ll see if I can’t get the front entrance cleared for ya.”
I didn’t even wait for his response. I crept away from the door moving into the mysterious bank.
This place was creepy. I had somehow found myself in a sectioned-off part of the building. The hunters must’ve had a reason why they closed this place off. It wasn’t until I started snooping that I realized that this area was filled with supplies.
The cabinets were organized. Paper, tape, scissors, etc. Some even had spare bullets stashed inside. I made sure to grab what I could and stuff it into my pockets. I couldn’t wait to get my pack back. I was gonna fill it to the brim.
It took me a few minutes to sneak around until I found an exit. The place was too dark and it didn’t help that I crouched through the whole place. I let out a quiet sigh when I escaped the gloomy domain.
The windows were the only source of light. It was slowly dying as time passed but I could see a faint glow in the far distance. The hunters must be lighting up the trash cans. It’s almost a trademark of theirs.
I crept up to an area that was particularly bursting with hunters. By bursting, I meant there were like four hunters. Nothing that I couldn’t handle if I was sneaky.
The dumbasses were too concerned about what was going on in their heads to notice me picking them off one by one.
The first guy was easy. His back was too me and all I had to do was jump him and force my dagger into his neck. The next was a little trickier but I managed. The man moved around. His eyes watching all of his surroundings. I thankfully caught him at the right time and pounced. The third man. A precious thing. He was wiping off some muck on his shoe and ended up losing it. To put him out of his misery, I sliced his neck open. I gagged at the noise. Finally, the fourth one, unfortunately, had a blindside. I took advantage of that. I waited until an opportune moment and bludgeoned him with a bat that I took from a previous hunter.
I viewed my surroundings and found that I wasn’t too far away from the entrance. I looked up to find that there were actually only a few people guarding the area. I guess it was dinner time or something.
With my newfound courage, I ran straight into the fray. Sort of. I took a glass bottle I found laying on the ground and threw it in the opposite direction. When the men had chased after the sound, I took out whoever was left. With the last guy down, Joel came strutting in. He was covered in blood. I assumed he had helped me with the others who had runoff.
Following the signs in the place, It wasn’t long until we found the massive safe that supposedly kept our stuff. The door was left wide open. With caution, I joined Joel in the vault.
The inside expanded a few feet ahead. Little boxes where people used to keep their precious positions lined the walls. Smack dab in the middle of the vault lived a large table of some sort. It had drawers where the bank probably kept bank stuff. Whatever the hell that was.
I looted the area. The place, as I assumed, didn’t just keep our stuff, it held everything. I grabbed any sort of food, ammo, and other supplies. On the other hand, Joel looked around for our bags.
Once I finished looting, I eyed the man. He was bent down and shuffling on the ground. After a minute, Joel stood back up and held our packs in each hand. I let out some sort of laugh-gasp and ran over to him.
I took my bag back. Immediately, I started stuffing the thing with the new supplies I found. I was fully stocked. While my face was close to the pile of what looked like other people’s bags, I saw yet another familiar one. That bright purple keychain wasn’t hard to miss. It was Ellie’s.
I grabbed the bag and held it up for Joel. He took it from my hands and started looking through it. There might have been some way to find her in it.
When he had finished going through it, Joel gave me a shake of his head and a frown. He didn’t find anything. At least we have what the hunter told us. After finding our stuff, I’d say our info was reliable.
“So, Ellie?”
Joel nodded at me. “Ellie.”
We somehow managed to get out unseen. It’s no shocker that hunters ran rampant in this place. I guess I was more frustrated than anything. I needed to get my daughter. The unknown was killing me.
Finally out of the damn area, I looked at the sky to see that the sun was starting to go down. We maybe had a few more hours of sunlight left. I know Joel said she couldn’t be too far but I was still worried.
My breathing started coming out in quick spurts. I had to stop myself before I went into a full-on panic attack. It was hard because of the racing thoughts in my head but I shut them down. Glancing over at Joel, I could see him eyeing me.
“Ya good?”
“Yes, I’m just worried. You know how it goes.”
Clearing his throat, Jole let out a scratchy, “yeah.”
“What direction are we going in?” I quickly moved on. I know the man clammed up when anyone got anywhere close to the subject of his daughter.
“It’s just down here. About a mile or so. I figure we’ll know when we see more hunters.”
I nodded at him and took the lead. The area we were in had to be closer to our bridge. If I peeked around a few bridges, I could see the damn thing. It wasn’t as close as I’d like but we were significantly closer than we were earlier. We’ve at least made progress. If only we could get to Ellie quicker.
As we traversed the city, we came upon dilapidated buildings, overgrown greenery, and a shit ton of trash. I wished I had a camera. This broken city gave me so much inspiration. Before the world went to shit, I loved this aesthetic. It gave a triumphant story of nature. Man destroyed the world but there was one day the planet had enough. The earth snapped; it took itself back and became the one in charge.
This world, where the earth is in charge, was the start of my heroine’s story. I become my own hero. I was an insignificant chubby little girl who wanted nothing more than society to fall. The apocalyptic world created that space for her. This shit is terrifying. However, I’m free.
“Joel?” I spoke up.
“Yes, ma’am?” I took a deep breath and thought over what I was going to say. For a little while now, I have been mulling over talking to him about his past. Tess had put a bug in my ear and it was slowly eating away at me. I felt the need to tell him that I knew.
“I-Tess… She told me a few things and I… Gosh.” I paused. “I know about your daughter. Now-”
“Y/N.”
“Just listen. I don’t mean to bring any memories up or anything, really. I just wanted to let you know that I know about her.”
A scoff came from the man. “Alright then.” He cleared his throat.
We didn’t speak for a good five minutes. It was awkward and I had somehow made things tense. It was just as bad as it was in the beginning. I had just started beating myself up about it when Joel spoke up.
“She was twelve when it happened.”
“Oh, wow.” She was only two years younger than me. “That couldn’t have been easy.”
“Tommy had to drag us away. I stayed there with her for what felt like days. In reality, it was only that night.”
A few moments passed until I spoke up. “I’m guessing she wasn’t anything like you. All broody and stuff.” I tried directing his attention to something less dark.
Joel chuckled. “Nah, she was a spitfire, that one. In some ways, she was like me. Or who I was back then. She kept me on my toes.”
“I’m betting that she and Ellie would’ve gotten along.”
“Yeah…”
I bumped into the man. He smiled down at me. In his eyes, I could get a tiny glimpse of the man from before. This young man and his daughter. I was right about him being relatively young. Joel couldn’t be older than his late forties and his girl would’ve been thirty-two. Our conversation had ended. I felt better knowing that Joel knew that I knew. With my newfound peace, I thought about the day-to-day interactions that man would’ve had with his little girl. It was cute.
It didn’t take us a whole lot of time to maneuver across the mess. Mostly because we didn’t talk much. Also, We rarely stopped to loot. I figured we found plenty of supplies while in the hunter’s stache and there wasn’t much room left for more.
Joel reached out and squeezed my shoulder. I moved my attention to him. Pointing to the large building ahead of us, he gestured to a broken window. I nodded to him.
Without a sound, the two of us found our way into the building. However, something was off. There wasn’t anyone around and it didn’t sound like anyone was in the building. I drew my brows together and frowned. Joel simply motioned for me to keep quiet.
Pointing to himself, Joel motioned to the left. Pointing to me, he motioned to the right. My brows went from being furrowed to raised. He did not want us to split up. I only got a hard stare from the man.
Letting out a quiet huff, I rolled my eyes and went along with it. My view lingered on the man as he went into his designated area. When he went out of view, I turned the other way and scouted the territory.
The building was just like any other building. There wasn’t much happening. That is until I found the first dead hunter. More and more deceased hunters popped up. The body made a morbid crumb trail to a room on the top floor. The room was basic. I could tell that this was where they held Ellie. The dead giveaway was the little cut marks left on a few of the hunters. Ellie’s little knife could be the only thing that made those marks.
I have a feeling that there wasn’t anyone here. I stood up from my crouched position and began my search for Joel. It didn’t take me too long to find him. He was going through bags that I assumed belonged to the fallen hunters.
“She was here. Ellie was here. The hunters on the top floor were covered in little knife cuts.”
Joel looked up at me. “A few of ‘em here have a few cuts like that. Was there anything that could tell us where she went?”
“Not that I saw. What are you thinking?” I leaned my weight on one foot as I watched Joel get up.
“I’m thinkin’ we need to get out there and look for her. She couldn’t have gotten far. These wounds look fresh.”
I looked outside the building. There were a few bodies that trailed around back. The girl took an alleyway which means she’s got cover.
Right as I was about to step out, I heard a shout from the entrance. Thankfully, Joel and I were tucked in the back of the building. We could get out without raising any suspicion.
I felt a tap on my shoulder. I looked next to me to see Joel motioning to the exit. Without another word, we were walking out. The two of us quickly slipped out of view.
“So, we find Ellie. What’s our next plan of action?” I glanced at Joel.
The man shrugged. “Still the same as it’s always been. We’re not too far from the bridge. Assuming that we find her nearby, it shouldn’t be an issue getting out.”
“Let’s hope that we find her before dark then.”
We weaved through the alleyways. The trail went cold after following it for a few minutes. I began to worry, border lining on panic. Joel, however, was cool as a cucumber. He didn’t seem bothered, which was the only thing keeping me from going berserk. I know I need to stay level-headed but it’s hard when your fight or flight mode kicks in.
As we turned a corner, I was jerked to the ground. I glared at the man in question but he pointed to the road. I heard it before I saw it. The massive truck from before appeared.
Since we were a lot closer, I could see the military-grade gun the hunters had somehow welded to the top of the tank. The whole truck sounded like it wanted to combust. I suppose the thing wasn’t built to hold all the new weight. It was a miracle that the thing moved through the city.
Joel pointed to the other side of the road. “When that thing isn’t lookin’ we’re gonna run, okay?”
“Okay, is there a plan if it sees us?”
“Yeah, run.”
“Alright.”
With our little pep talk, the two of us waited. I jumped up as soon as the coast was clear. I didn’t wait to see if the hunters in the truck saw us. I simply shot up and raced to the other side.
With the loud noises, I assumed the hunters had caught us. I watched as Joel darted into an alleyway. I followed him in hopes that he knew where he was going. I highly doubted he knew anything but he had gotten us this far.
We escaped to another building. There was no way that the hunters had enough time to scramble out of the truck and follow us into the place. I took a needed breath before I moved on. Joel was scoping the area.
There wasn’t anything important or threatening around. Picking myself up, I followed Joel to our new trajectory. After clambering over several fire escapes and crossing some conveniently placed wood planks, we came to an open window. The building looked to be an apartment complex. I hoped that there was something of use here. Just as we stepped foot into the apartment, Joel got attacked.
“Joel? Mom?”
I whipped my head up. There, by the door, stood my little girl. I shot up and took my first step towards her. Only for a barrel of a shotgun to be shoved in my face.
“Henry, stop! They’re good. That’s my mom.”
The dark-skinned man in front of me lowered his gun. With the gun gone, I took the opportunity to grab Ellie into my arms. I squeezed and rocked her. Tears freely flowed from my eyes as I held her. She was alive. She was in my arms. She was safe.
“Oh, my baby girl. I got you. You’re here. Momma’s got you.”
“Mom, I was so scared. I woke up in that dingy room and neither of you were there. I didn’t know what to do!”
“It’s okay now. We’re here. I’m never letting you out of my sight again.”
Behind me, I heard Joel clear his throat. “You two mind introducing yourselves?”
“I’m Henry, this is my little brother, Sam. We were making our way through the city when we found your girl. She was making quite a dent in the hunters before we showed up. You should be proud. She helped a lot.” After Henry finished speaking, he nodded to Ellie.
“Thanks. I was just doing what I learned from these two.” Ellie motioned to me and then Joel.
Joel cleared his throat. “So, what’re you two doin’ in these parts?”
“I, uh. Hold on to that thought. I think we should move to a more secure area.”
“And where do you suppose that is?”
“We’ve got a little place close by,” Sam interjected only to get a playful shove from his brother.
After shoving his brother, Henry turned around to us. “We fought a few hunters and we ended up settling up in their hideout. It’s safe there and we can chat as long as we need to.”
I nodded and looked towards Joel. He nodded with me. I watched as the men made their way out of the apartment.
Before I left, I made sure to give Ellie her backpack. As soon as it was in her hands, she instantly looked at her pins and keychains. Her face relaxed when she saw that Gus was still attached to his chain.
Moving on, the five of us walked out of the apartment. Most of the stairs were blocked off and the other living spaces were sealed shut. Even if they were open, there wasn’t much room for more supplies.
“So, where are you guys from?” I asked as I followed Henry.
Henry glanced back at me. “Hartford.”
“Really? We,” Ellie motioned between her and me. “heard there’s some pretty bad stuff going on there.”
“Yeah, Henry said that the military abandoned the zone.”
The older brother nodded in confirmation. “The place probably looks like this now. I don’t even wanna think about what happened after we left. I grabbed Sam and got the hell out of there.”
As We talked, the five of us walked through the halls of the apartment complex. Joel found a few goodies but inevitably ended up giving them to Ellie. As stated before, his pack was just as full as mine.
Henry looked back at all of us. “Okay, we gotta be careful. We’re right next to one of their lookout areas.”
“Noted,” Ellie said to Henry.
There was a long pause of silence. Our original group stopped looting but Henery would occasionally stop to look for things. It wasn’t until we reached a flight of stairs that someone spoke up.
“So, it’s just you, your wife, and daughter?”
I had just taken a drink of water when Henry spoke up. I choked on it which caused me to cough. Joel and Ellie stopped to check on me. I got a concerned glance from Joel but Ellie actually came up to me and patted my back.
“You good?”
I coughed once more. “Yeah, that just caught me off guard.”
Still unsure, Joel slowly turned towards Henry. He didn’t take his eyes off me until he was fully turned. “To answer your question, no, uh… we’re not married. I promised someone I’d look after them.”
“Ah, I can appreciate that.”
Finally reaching the end of the stairs, we came across a toy store. The place looked picked over. There were a few toys that remained on the shelf but quite a few of them had found their way to the floor. The symbolism here… the sight made my heart hurt.
“Wait, Wait. Everyone be quiet.” Henry extended an arm. Then a familiar rumble bounced off the windows. “Get away from the windows.”
The five of us crouched down and pushed away from the windows. I watched as the infuriating weaponized truck drove past the store. Once we couldn’t hear or see it anymore, we all stood up.
“Man, that fuckin’ truck. It’s been hounding us ever since we got in this damn-” Henry stopped mid-sentence when he saw what Sam was doing.
I guess Sam had been looking at a toy while Henry was talking. The boy seemed quite enamored with the plastic robot. He was about to put it into his bag right as Henry turned to him.
“Sam, what are you doin’?”
Poor Sam flinched at Henry’s tone. “Nothing.”
“Get rid of it.”
“But my backpack is practically empty.”
“What’s the rule about takin’ stuff?”
“It weighs like nothing.”
“The rule- What is it?” By now, Henry had walked up to his little brother.
The poor kid just wanted the toy. I looked toward Ellie to see her watching the whole thing transpire. Her eyebrows were drawn. Her eyes kept switching from the toy, to Sam, to Henry.
Sam sighed and weakly let out, “We only take what we have to.” He then proceeded to throw the robot on the ground.
“That’s right. Now, c’mon.” Henry concluded his parenting spiel.
“How far is this place?” Joel questioned after he cleared his throat.
“We’re close. Real close.”
Leading us to the back door, the group followed after Henry. The door led to an open courtyard of some sort. I assumed, back in the day, this is where a truck full of shipments would get dropped off.
There were a few hunters in the area. However, our group made quick work of them. It was nice having the numbers to take a few bad guys out. It made life a whole lot easier.
“Just through this door,” Henry informed us.
After taking out the hunters, we came upon an old business building. A giant hole in the wall allowed entry into the massive structure. The inside looked like it would have been nice. Marble floors and pretty artwork on the walls indicated that much.
I warily looked at the door next to Henry. We weren’t exactly hidden, anyone could come in and we’d be screwed.
“You sure it’s safe, being so close to them?” I asked, still looking at Henry with a questioning gaze.
“I’m the only one with the key, man.”
“And where’d you get that?’” Joel came to stand next to me.
“I killed one of ‘em. He won’t miss it now.” the man briskly dropped the topic. “Alright, everybody through.”
As the two men chatted I kept my eye on Ellie. She had a smile on her face as she talked with Sam. I’m glad the girl had someone around her age to talk to. The last time she had someone like that… Well, it was Riley. She needed this.
Sam eyed Ellie. “So, how old are you?”
I let out a quiet chuckle. Joel must’ve heard it because he looked my way. I shook my head at him. It was cute. Sam had no idea what he was in for.
“Me? Fourteen.” Ellie looked back at Sam. “How old are you?”
“Uh… The same.”
“Oh, you’re fourteen, huh?” Henry glanced back at Sam. He then looked at me. We share the same look. He and I both knew.
Ever so slightly, Sam puffed out his chest. “I’m close.”
“Alright.” Henry chuckled. I did as well.
‘I am.” Sam made sure to, not only, look at Henry but at me as well. I guess the kid really wanted to prove a point.
Once we were all inside the office, Henry locked the door behind us. I took everything in. The building looked a little messy but it looked like it had been left alone for the most part. People’s pictures were still on their desks. Along with paperwork that was halfway complete. It was an image of the world before.
“Here we are.” Henry motioned to another locked door. Opening it, he grinned at Joel and me. “Welcome to my office.”
The room was as you’d expect it to be. It was huge so this must have been someone important to the company. A large wooden desk was a few feet away from a large window. The last noticeable thing was the obscene amount of seating in the room. Plush couches and chairs resided close to each other.
Ellie turned to Sam. “How long have you guys been holed up in here?”
“A few days. We found a bit of food. Here.” Sam motioned to the expensive-looking couch.
The two sat down and Sam grabbed a burlap sack from his bag. I watched as the two divided what must have been blueberries. They talked quietly to each other as they snacked.
“Blueberries,” Henry confirmed my suspicions. “We found a whole stash of them. You want some?’
“No.” Joel said in his gruff “I mean business” voice.
I shook my head. “I’m good.”
“Hey, man. Relax. We’re safe.” Henry eyed Joel.
Joel, who was looking out the window, turned to Henry. He held a little sneer. Joel dropped it and nodded at the other man. A pause filled the room as the two stared at each other. I rolled my eyes. I walked between them to sit on the desk.
“So, why haven’t you left?” Joel was first to break the silence.
Shrugging, Henry looked at both of us. “Been waiting for the right opportunity.” A small nod accompanied his shrug.
“And?” I asked.
Henry stopped for a moment. He was thinking. Abruptly, he motioned to the window next to the desk. Finally, they were ending their dick-measuring contest. If they hadn’t stopped, the two would’ve caused me to start choking on the testosterone in the room.
“Here.” Henry pointed out the window. “Check this out.”
Following Joel, I stood and looked through to the outside. There was a gate that led straight to the bridge we’d been trying to cross. We were so close. Unfortunately for us, there was a large guard post in the way. I let out a quiet huff.
“Every day, they congregate down there. Guarding that damn bridge.” Henry smirked at the two of us. “Come night time, it’s down to a skeleton crew. After sunset, that’s our window. Most of ‘em gone, sneak right past them.”
Joel thought for a moment. He nodded as he said, “That could work.”
“Oh, it’ll work. It’ll definitely work.” Henry let out a little chuckle.
Out of nowhere, I could hear the two kids giggle. Turning around, I was blessed with a heart-warming sight. Sam and Ellie were laughing as they played games with the blueberries. I watched as Sam threw a blueberry. Ellie attempted to catch it in her mouth but the blueberry ended up landing in her eye.
“Ow…” Ellie exclaimed immediately afterward.
With a giggle, Sam poked fun at Ellie. “A blueberry hurt you?” They both continued to laugh.
“Look at that,” A massive smile found its way to my face. “I haven’t seen her happy like this in a long while.”
“Same here. It’s been a while since that boy even cracked a smile.” Henry cracked a smile himself. “She doesn’t seem bothered by all this.” Henry looked at me.
“We’ve been through a lot.” I pressed my lips together at the thought. “But that’s for some other time.” I caught Joel’s eyes. I sat back down.
“So, where were you headin’?” Joel sat in a chair next to the desk I sat on. He briefly looked up at me. We shared a small smile.
Henry rushed to sit at the desk. “Heard the Fireflies are based out west somewhere. We’re gonna join up with them.”
Joel and I shared a look. A small smirk landed on Joel’s face. Of course, they were looking for the Fireflies. Who isn’t?
I supposed that Henry took our shared look as a threat. He was eyeing the two of us. His eyes never left Joel as he frowned.
“Yeah…” Joel let out a breath.
Henry rested his arms on his knees. He was still looking at Joel. “Something funny?”
We both shrugged.
“Seems like there’s a lot of people putting their stock on the Fireflies these days.” Joel turned back to Henry.
“Yeah, maybe there’s a reason for that.” Henry suddenly turned cold. His words sliced through the air.
For a moment there, I thought Joel was going to clear the misunderstanding. No, he decided to dig into him some more. I couldn’t help but roll my eyes again.
Ellie must have caught it because she looked at me. Her eyes were filled with concern. I shook my head. She still didn’t look away. I mouthed the word “men” and that’s when she caught on. She rolled her eyes. Poor Sam looked confused in all of that. Chuckling, I turned back to the men.
I turned around just to see Henry move a little closer to get in Joel’s face.
“How ‘bout I worry about my brother. You worry about your girl.” Henry was now glaring at the man.
Joel nodded up to Henry. “Easy. We’re lookin’ for the Fireflies too.”
Henry let out some sort of scoff-laugh. Relaxing, the man pulled out a map. He pointed to it.
“This is us.” He pointed to a giant circle on the map. “There’s an abandoned military radio station just outside the city. Any survivors from our group they’re supposed to meet us there—tomorrow.” Henry paused to let it sink in. “You three wanna join us… It goes down tonight.”
Joel, who had at some point leaned on his knees, sat back up. He looked at me for confirmation. I turned towards Henry.
“I guess we should get some rest then.” I flashed Henry a little smile.
Night had fallen. I walked over to Joel and shook him awake. He sprung up with a sharp intake of air. He looked around until he found the group. He relaxed a little.
“It’s time to go,” I said. Joel nodded.
With all our stuff packed up, I met the boys at the door. Ellie and Joel were right behind me. Everyone was ready. Henry opened the door and led us out.
The guard post was just outside the building that we were in. The Hunters outside had found some clickers and took care of them. That just made things a little easier.
Looking around, there were just enough of us with guns that we could take out the whole group. In an instant, we all took our shots and the men fell.
We moved up. The next obstacle was the gate. The doors were heavy and it took all us adults to open the damn thing. Just as we opened the gate, the fucking truck came out of nowhere. It started shooting at us. We quickly shut the doors and ran through the opened gate.
“C’mon everyone.” Henry pointed towards a semi-truck with a ladder attached to it. “Keep your eyes open. We ain’t out of this mess yet.”
“Alright, let’s go.” Joel tucked himself against the truck. He motioned for Sam to come over.
Henry was the next one up. Then Ellie, then me. On my way up, I must’ve kicked the ladder because it came crashing down. Joel dodged it in enough time.
As we were trying to figure out how to get Joel up, we all got startled by a crash. The gate was being smashed open by that damned truck. The fuckers really wanted to get to us.
Everyone was yelling things and I couldn’t quite discern what each of them was saying. Joel was yelling at me, Ellie was yelling at Henry and Sam, and those two were shouting at each other.
The one thing I picked up was Henry’s voice. With one last, “I’m sorry” the man grabbed his brother and took off. I let out a frustrated growl. Ellie looked at me and I motioned for her to jump down. We weren’t going to leave Joel alone.
“We stick together.” I nodded at the man. I got a nod back.
A garage door happened to be next to us. Joel and I picked it up which allowed Ellie to go in first. Before moving through the door, I made sure Joel had a good grip. Gripping it from the other side, I held it open for Joel. Ellie helped. Both of us shouted for Joel to crawl in.
When the door was shut, the three of us flinched as we heard several bullets thrum against the other side.
“Oh, fuck.” Ellie groaned. “How the fuck do we get outta here?”
“It looks like there’s a way through here.” I pointed to the only door.
We exited the back room only to be bombarded with more hunters. We all collectively let out a groan. Each hunter went down one by one. It wasn’t long until we were making our way out of this place.
We took a few steps only for the gate to crash open. The massive truck was on our heels as the three of us ran through the empty vehicles.
Suddenly, Joel fell. I was right behind him. Ellie shouted for us both to catch up. I ran up to the man and helped him up. He shrugged me off as soon as he was up. Quickly, We caught up with Ellie.
When the three of us vaulted over the last cinder block, we came to a horrifying realization. The bridge was blown out. With the truck behind us, there was no way any of us would have enough time to climb across the metal bars to the other side.
“Oh, fuck!” Ellie shouted again.
“Oh, shit!” Joel exclaimed at the same time.
I chuckled at the irony. “Of fucking course!”
“How many bullets do you have left?” Joel began walking towards the murderous truck.
“They’re gonna kill us!”
“What the fuck do you think bullets are gonna do to an armored truck?” I shouted at the man.
Joel threw his arms in the air. “What other choice do we have?”
Motioning to the water below, Ellie said, “We jump.”
“There is no way we’re doing that.” I shook my head at the girl.
Joel shook his head as well. “No, it’s too high and you can’t swim. I’ll boost you up: You run past ‘em.”
A loud whirr came from behind us and the truck came barreling in. It crashed into a school bus. I watched how the impact caused a chain reaction. A car that was hanging on the edge was officially pushed off. After a few seconds, I could hear the splash of the vehicle.
Joel let out an, “Oh, shit.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I watched as Ellie whipped around to look at us.
“You’ll keep me afloat.”
“Ellie,” I said, giving her a warning glare. This was not up for debate.
“No time to argue.” The girl spun around and leaped off the bridge.
I tried grasping for her but all I did was brush her arm. Without a second thought, I was jumping in after her.
“Damnit!” Joel shouted from above us.
As soon as I hit the water, I clutched onto Ellie. I tried to keep her head above the waves. A splash behind me indicated that Joel had followed. A few seconds later, Joel had his arms around the both of us.
Swimming was impossible. I tried as hard as I could but the current of the river was too powerful. There wasn’t anything to do besides hope that we reached land without injury.
My eyes were blurred from all the water that was splashing around. I tried looking for a way out of this mess. All I could see was the obscure gray sky and sea.
Behind me, I heard Joel shout something but I couldn’t understand what he said. Right as I was about to ask, pain sprouted through the back of my head and then things went dark.
Chapter Summary: You and Joel make your way out of the basement and back to where Ellie is.
Pairing:Joel Miller x Reader (eventually)
Warnings:Blood, gore, swearing, violence, mentions of eating disorders, implications of rape (the reader is held down and restrained) Please skip the part after the kitchen. I will add when it starts and when it ends. If you find any more be sure to let me know!
Word Count: 6.9k
Author’s Note: Here it is! I’m surprised that I actually got it out in time. Anyway, this is where things start to veer off from the plot. I’m excited to see what y'all will think of the next part! Anyway, I hope that you enjoy this chapter!
Also, I wanted to reiterate that the next chapter won’t be out until finals. Until then, I will be writing the next few (hopefully) chapters so I’m ahead of the game. While it’s also relevant, I want to wish everyone getting ready for finals good luck! Yes, it’s a few weeks away but I’m starting to feel the stress creeping in. Nevertheless, good luck to you all! ❤️❤️
I gave one last glance at Ellie. I lifted my hand and shaped it to say “I love you” in sign language. I waited for her to sign back to me before I followed after Joel.
Summer 2033
The place was dark. Joel had already turned on his flashlight and started inspecting the place. I quickly followed suit and examined the area. I was surprised to see all the supplies down here. I guess it made sense. No one really thinks to check the basements of places; they’re typically written down as the most infected areas.
“Grab what you can and let’s get out of here.”
“You don’t have to tell me twice. I want out as much as you. I just want Ellie to be safe.”
“She was safe enough in Boston.”
“I’m going to pretend that you didn’t just say that. I hope you do realize Boston is the place where she got that lovely scar on her arm.”
The only thing I got out of him was a grunt. He clearly didn’t like my retort. Serves him right for trying to tell me what was better for my daughter. Yeah, it’s not ideal for us to travel across the country but it would all be worth it. If we can actually get a cure, we can end the hell we live in.
There weren’t too many creepy encounters down in this hell hole. That’s if you didn’t count the obscene amount of rats that had taken residence here. The little disease-carrying bastards swam through broken bits of the ceiling. As we avoided them, we encountered spores. The two of us whipped out our masks and ventured on.
A few minutes in, I came upon what could be our salvation out of here. Unfortunately, it needed power and a key card. I let out a frustrated sigh.
“Calm down. We’ll get out of here.” Joel remarked.
“Excuse me if I start to panic. I really don’t like the odds that are stacked against us.”
“We’ve made it this far, haven’t we?”
“Yes, but the stakes are higher this time. Joel, we’re in deep shit. For all we know, Ellie could be backed into a c0rner by hunters. We have no way of knowing what’s going on up there or what lies ahead. We could get eaten and Ellie wouldn’t ever know.”
My breathing picked up. I had no control over it and I was struggling to get ahold of myself. Images of the possibilities flash in my head and all I can think about are those images. It wasn’t until Joel rested a hand on my shoulder that it was dampened.
“I’m gonna need you to breathe. You need to focus on getting out of here instead of those ‘what ifs’. They’re not doing ya any good an’ I need you to focus. I need your help and you can’t help me if you’re stuck in a panic attack.”
Taking a moment for myself, I breathed in a couple of deep breaths and got my shit together. Slowly, the images went away.
When I thought I was good, I looked to Joel who looked at me expectantly. I gave him a nod. He nodded back.
“Alright, I figure we can make quick work of this. I vote we split up. You wander off looking for the key card and I’ll look for the power generator. We’ll regroup back at this door.”
So, I’m gonna reblog this seeing how its not showing up in any of my tags. I hope that this works. Also, I’m almost done with finals which means I can focus on the next chapters!
Chapter Summary: You and Joel make your way out of the basement and back to where Ellie is.
Pairing:Joel Miller x Reader (eventually)
Warnings:Blood, gore, swearing, violence, mentions of eating disorders, implications of rape (the reader is held down and restrained) Please skip the part after the kitchen. I will add when it starts and when it ends. If you find any more be sure to let me know!
Word Count: 6.9k
Author’s Note: Here it is! I’m surprised that I actually got it out in time. Anyway, this is where things start to veer off from the plot. I’m excited to see what y'all will think of the next part! Anyway, I hope that you enjoy this chapter!
Also, I wanted to reiterate that the next chapter won’t be out until finals. Until then, I will be writing the next few (hopefully) chapters so I’m ahead of the game. While it’s also relevant, I want to wish everyone getting ready for finals good luck! Yes, it’s a few weeks away but I’m starting to feel the stress creeping in. Nevertheless, good luck to you all! ❤️❤️
I gave one last glance at Ellie. I lifted my hand and shaped it to say “I love you” in sign language. I waited for her to sign back to me before I followed after Joel.
Summer 2033
The place was dark. Joel had already turned on his flashlight and started inspecting the place. I quickly followed suit and examined the area. I was surprised to see all the supplies down here. I guess it made sense. No one really thinks to check the basements of places; they’re typically written down as the most infected areas.
“Grab what you can and let’s get out of here.”
“You don’t have to tell me twice. I want out as much as you. I just want Ellie to be safe.”
“She was safe enough in Boston.”
“I’m going to pretend that you didn’t just say that. I hope you do realize Boston is the place where she got that lovely scar on her arm.”
The only thing I got out of him was a grunt. He clearly didn’t like my retort. Serves him right for trying to tell me what was better for my daughter. Yeah, it’s not ideal for us to travel across the country but it would all be worth it. If we can actually get a cure, we can end the hell we live in.
There weren’t too many creepy encounters down in this hell hole. That’s if you didn’t count the obscene amount of rats that had taken residence here. The little disease-carrying bastards swam through broken bits of the ceiling. As we avoided them, we encountered spores. The two of us whipped out our masks and ventured on.
A few minutes in, I came upon what could be our salvation out of here. Unfortunately, it needed power and a key card. I let out a frustrated sigh.
“Calm down. We’ll get out of here.” Joel remarked.
“Excuse me if I start to panic. I really don’t like the odds that are stacked against us.”
“We’ve made it this far, haven’t we?”
“Yes, but the stakes are higher this time. Joel, we’re in deep shit. For all we know, Ellie could be backed into a c0rner by hunters. We have no way of knowing what’s going on up there or what lies ahead. We could get eaten and Ellie wouldn’t ever know.”
My breathing picked up. I had no control over it and I was struggling to get ahold of myself. Images of the possibilities flash in my head and all I can think about are those images. It wasn’t until Joel rested a hand on my shoulder that it was dampened.
“I’m gonna need you to breathe. You need to focus on getting out of here instead of those ‘what ifs’. They’re not doing ya any good an’ I need you to focus. I need your help and you can’t help me if you’re stuck in a panic attack.”
Taking a moment for myself, I breathed in a couple of deep breaths and got my shit together. Slowly, the images went away.
When I thought I was good, I looked to Joel who looked at me expectantly. I gave him a nod. He nodded back.
“Alright, I figure we can make quick work of this. I vote we split up. You wander off looking for the key card and I’ll look for the power generator. We’ll regroup back at this door.”
“That sounds like a plan. How long do we wait for each other?”
“Ten minutes. No more, no less. That should be plenty of time. If the other isn’t back, they’re probably dead.”
“Okay, I guess I’ll see you soon… I hope.”
As soon as we were done talking, we split. I was already on what looked to be the upper floor. I decided that it would be a good idea to start here. It didn’t look like there would be an area where a key card would be hiding.
It took me five minutes to find a security office.
“Now that looks like a place where I could get a key card,” I whispered to myself.
Upon entering, I came face to face with a dead infected. A stalker to be exact. At the sight, my stomach dropped. If there were anymore around, I was fucked. Royally fucked.
My eyes rapidly scanned the office desk for the key card. Relief spread through me. It, however, was short-lived when I heard groans from outside. More fear crept into my body as I came to recognize those exact groans.
I was correct in believing that there were more stalkers around. I looked out into the hallway to see if I could get a glimpse of one. In a flash, I watched as one scampered across the hall on all fours. These things were like animals. They’re aggressive and I didn’t want to deal with them for longer than I had to. I wanted this shitty situation to be over with as quickly as possible.
I was spooked out of my thoughts when I heard a shout and a gun go off below me. I guess Joel had found our wonderful hosts.
It took me a split second to decide if I was going to go find him. I made the first few steps forward when a stalker jumped out of the dark. Its teeth nearly sunk into my face. Thankfully, I caught its jaw in my hand. I pushed its mouth away from me.
Planting my hand on the creature’s chest, I used all my strength to push it away from me. The thing stumbled a few steps. It only took the stalker a few seconds to right itself but it gave me enough time to whip out my shotgun. I shot two shots at the thing and it fell to the ground.
Taking a moment to catch a few breaths, I focused on the task at hand. As Joel said, I couldn’t let my mind wander and cause another panic attack to hit me.
There were a few stalkers on the upper floor but none of them seemed bothered enough to attack. I didn’t think anything of it. Upon entering a room, I saw that there was a ramp that leads to the lower floor where Joel was most likely fighting for his life.
What do ya know, I was right, As I made my way down I could hear a bunch of grunts that sounded like a struggle. The damn creatures really like to jump and latch on to you.
“Fuckers.” I mumbled under my breath.
I went around a corner only to find Joel fighting off three of the little shits. I ran up to one of them and rammed the butt of my gun into one’s skull. The stalker went down and I made sure to blow its brains out.
Joel and I made quick work of the stalkers. By the end of it, I was low on shotgun ammo but high on adrenaline. Both of us were breathing heavily. I rested my hands on my knees while I caught my breath. Gazing up at Joel, I saw that he was staring at me. His mouth had morphed into a line and his eyes were unwavering. Oh, he was mad.
“I thought I told you to meet me at the door.”
I scoffed and rolled my eyes. Standing back up I said, “I heard you struggling and I figured that I would come help. I’m sorry that I helped. I’ll let you struggle and die next time.”
I could hear him grumble something under his breath but I really didn’t care to hear what he said. It was probably about how stupid he thought that I was.
I moved to the door and didn’t give a care in the world for the man. If he wants me to meet him there, I’ll meet him there. He can take care of the generator. On my way out, I found it to be in the room with the ramp.
As I made my way up, I could hear him finally moving into the generator room. I was about halfway up the ramp when I heard a loud sigh come from the man. There was more grumbling.
“Where the hell are you going?” He stood in the middle of the room with his hands on his hips.
“I’m going to meet you at the door. Like you wanted me to.”
“Get over here and watch my back. I don’t need your attitude right now.” With that, Joel was making his way to the generator.
I let out my own frustrated sigh but smirked when the realization hit me. The bastard knew he needed my help. Ha! That’s gotta be a blow to the pride.
I walked over to where he was. It took the man a few times to get the rusty thing to go. When it did, that’s when all hell broke loose.
The clicking started just as all the lights came on. I sucked in a breath and looked at Joel. His muscles were just as tense as mine. He gripped onto his own shotgun. Looking at each other, we both understood that neither of us wasn’t quite out of the woods yet.
I took the first steps towards the ramp. As we reached the top, a clicker came out of nowhere. Without hesitation, Joel shot it and its body crashed to the ground. More infected popped out of nowhere as we maneuvered through the basement.
My ammo dwindled with each shot. I knew I should save what little ammo I had but I couldn’t quite seem to stop. I had too many close calls where I almost got bitten. With every turn, there was infected.
We finally made it to the end. A little spark of hope alighted in me. We were gonna make it! My hope was crushed when a behemoth of a bloater stepped out of nowhere.
“No!” I whined.
That was when I noticed that the door was right behind him. If we could get around the bloater, then we could get to the door and make it to salvation. Glancing behind me, I could see that Joel examined how much ammo he had left.
“Joel!” I had to dodge a pustule that was thrown my way. When the spores dissipated, he looked at me expectantly. “The door is behind him. We need to get him over here so the two of us can get over on his end.”
Letting out a frustrated grunt, Joel swiftly opened his bag. “I got an idea but you’re not gonna like it.”
“Do whatever you have to do. We can lick our wounds once we’re behind that door.” I fired a few shots at the beast in front of me.
Joel pulled out a molotov and lit it. It hit the bloater. The fire didn’t make the beast any happier. Right when I thought that the monster wasn’t going to do anything, he charged straight towards Joel. Dodging it, Joel gripped my arm and hauled ass.
I looked back to see that bloater getting back up after ramming into the wall. He shook off the force of the impact.
What dragged me back into the present was Joel who was shouting my name and pointing to the key slot next to the door. In three quick movements, I pulled out the key card, swiped it, and hit the button. The little light on the key slot went from red to green. As soon as the light changed color, Joel was opening the door and pulling me through it. The door slammed behind him.
Joel’s face was hardened when it came into my view. “What the hell was that?”
“I-I don’t know. I couldn’t tell you.”
“Don’t let it happen again.” For a split second, his face softened. As fast as it appeared, it went right back to its usual hardened expression. “C’mon we got to get back to Ellie.”
I pushed off the wall. I passed Joel going up the stairs. I needed to get my act together. I have been surviving like this for years. I have no idea why I’m acting this way.
“You didn’t have a kid back then…” I murmured to myself.
It was rough when I wandered alone outside the quarantine zone but it was easier to navigate when it was just me. Now, I have a daughter that I am constantly worried about. It doesn’t help that I have feelings for this dumbass who’s guiding us around this dump. Add those together and I’m always under stress. I’m perpetually checking if both people in the party are safe. I supposed that I need to lighten up. Ellie will forever and always be my first priority but I do need to make sure that I’m also taking care of myself. Especially in those situations. It won’t do Ellie any good if I’m dead.
I finished searching the room that I was in and moved back into the hallway. Right as I stepped towards the other room, Joel appeared.
“Gimme your guns.” He insisted.
I raised an eyebrow. “Um, may I ask why?”
“I found a table that looked to be used for weapon upgrades.”
Without another word, I gave him my guns. He disappeared and spent some time in that little room. I moved to sit on the ground. Before I knew it, my guns were back in my hands. They didn’t look any different. So that meant no new scope. I was really hoping for one. Still, I was excited to see if my shotgun was any easier to load.
We both moved to the door that was at the end of the hall. Thankfully, it wasn’t locked and we walked right through it. I immediately recognized the new area to be the hotel’s kitchen. Pushing further into the kitchen, I stopped in my tracks.
A clicker twitched a few feet away from me. I extended my arm out to prevent Joel from alerting it. He shot me a frown at first, but he looked up and realized why I stopped him. We both crouched behind a fallen freezer.
Suddenly, there was a crashing noise. Glancing over the freezer, I watched as two hunters walked into the room. They took a few shots at the clicker and it went down.
“It’s down! Finish it!”
I rolled my eyes at the dumbasses. The damn thing was already dead. Nevertheless, the hunter landed a few more rounds in the dead carcass. I shook my head. That was such a waste of bullets.
“I got it!” A hunter shouted.
“Nicely done.” The other guy amended his friend. “You bit?”
“Not today. You?” the first hunter turned to look at his partner.
The partner shook his head. “Not today. Alright, spread out and make sure we didn’t miss any more of these fuckers.”
Joel and I watched as the two hunters shuffled around looking for any more infected. This was prime time for us to move. I knew I didn’t even have to look at Joel for a plan of action. He knew that I would take one man and he would take the other.
Still crouched, I crept my way over the idiot who wasted his bullets. Before he could watch as Joel left the kitchen, I grabbed him from behind and slit his throat with my dagger. I stood up when the coast was clear. Wiping the blood off my weapon, I made my way to where Joel was.
His attention was on the new obstacle in our way. The doorway out of here was closed. I assumed that he had already tried that so the only other option was up. The wall in front of us had eroded away.
“Alright, come ‘ere.” Crouching again, he laced his finger together.
I walked up and stepped in his hands. Placing my other foot on his shoulder, I use the leverage to get me above the demolished wall. I took a minute to adjust myself before I reached down for Joel. Before I could pull him up, I had a searing pain rush through my head and I was falling to the ground.
The pain in my head had disoriented me to where I didn’t have enough time to realize what was going on. More pain spread through me as I hit the ground. The sound my body made sickened me. I was pretty sure I had broken or at least sprained something. This is just what I needed.
**Implications of rape start here**
When I came to it, I was suddenly shoved to the ground. Let out a frustrated grunt. Of course, I wasn’t going to get a break. With my face smashed into the ground, I could look out of the corner of my eye to see it was in fact a hunter on top of me. He had grabbed my arms and bound them together.
I couldn’t see Joel because the hunter on top of me was blocking my view. I struggled for a minute. It wasn’t until I felt cold metal rest on my cheek that I stopped. The hunter had pulled out a knife.
“Now this is going to be fun.” The hunter had leaned down to speak in my ear.
I shook with disgust. The sensation in my ear, the hunter’s horrid breath, and the sounds of a struggling behind me were too much. It all had triggered the beginnings of a sensory overload. I couldn’t have an episode right now. I went still. Focusing on my breathing, I tried coming up with a plan.
Fortunately for me, it didn’t take too long. As I was laying on the ground, I heard a shatter and the man on top of me fell to the ground with a grunt. I picked myself up to see that Ellie had come out of nowhere and threw a bottle at my assailant.
**Implications stop here**
With no time wasted, I pulled out my gun and shot the hunter. As I attacked, I heard another shot go off where Ellie was. Looking up, noticed that she had shot at the hunter on top of Joel.
Joel whipped back and peered up at Ellie. His body relaxed at the sight of her.
“Man… I shot the hell outta that guy, huh?” Realizing that she was safe, Ellie let her arms drop.
I made my way towards the two. I watched as Ellie sat on a nearby crate. Walked over to her, I thought about giving her a hug. However, with her heavy breathing and wide eyes, I concluded that she needed some space.
“Yeah, you sure did.” Joel’s gravelly voice strained as he pulled himself up.
Ellie rested her hands on her lap. It was then that I realized that she had a gun. I guess I didn’t register that she had one. I sure hope that she had found it on the ground somewhere and not by taking down one of these creeps.
“Ugh, I feel sick.”
I watched as Ellie’s eyes never left the weapon in her hands. This was her first time taking a human life. My heart hurt for her. I wanted nothing more than to take her in my arms and squeeze the memory out of her. This was the main reason why I didn’t want her to have a gun. I wanted to shelter her as much as possible. Seeing her like this was tearing me up inside.
Joel walked up to Ellie and ripped the gun from her hands. “Why didn’t you just hang back like we told you to.” Reaching out, he handed me the pistol. I took it from him.
“Well, you’re glad I didn’t, right?”
“I’m glad I didn’t get my head blown off by a goddamn kid.” Joel glared at the girl.
I looked at him with eyes wide and mouth hanging open. “Are you seriously gonna start that right now?” I wanted to slap the man. I almost did but I didn’t want anything to get any worse. I couldn’t handle being alone out here with Ellie. I couldn’t handle the emotional breakdown either.
”If she had stayed back, we wouldn’t have to worry about this.” He pointed to Ellie.
I was about to speak up when Ellie did for me. “You know what? No. How about, ‘Hey Ellie, I know it wasn’t easy but it was either him or me. Thanks for saving my ass’? You got anything like that for me, Joel?” By the time Ellie was done speaking, she was standing pretty close to Joel. She clearly had enough of Joel’s bullshit just as I had.
Looking away from her, Joel shook his head. “We gotta get goin’.” Just like that, he was fixing the ladder and climbing it.
Ellie scoffed. She threw her arms up and looked at me for help. I sighed and patted her back. As much as I wanted to dig into him, we really needed to get out of this city.
“Mom,” Ellie whined from behind.
“Look, I want to give the asshole a piece of my mind too. But look at the situation we’re stuck in. If he does it again, I’ll speak my mind. Let’s just get out of here first.” After speaking, I could tell that Ellie didn’t like that answer. However, she didn’t say anything.
I waited until Ellie had made her way up before continuing on. We entered the room Joel was in and I couldn’t help but notice him standing in front of a whiteboard. The board had a not-so-sweet message on it.
“Take Dexter and Neville to your mom’s-”
“DON’T WORRY WE TAKE GOOD CARE OF HER…”
I Ignored it and turned to Ellie. “You don’t need to read that.” I pushed Ellie forward while motioning Joel to move.
The new room opened up to a large area that seemed to have a lot of items of importance. I took it upon me to scour the area.
“Wait there, okay.”
Ellie scoffed. “Sure Joel. Not going anywhere.”
I looked up to see that Joel was walking towards me while Ellie sat on some tables. She had pulled out her knife and messed around with it. I could tell she was carving something into the table.
‘You know, you’re an asshole.” I whispered once Joel was in range.
He scoffed. “Never said I was anything more.”
“She’s right though. As much as I hate the idea of her moving around this place alone, she did us a huge favor.”
”I know. I wasn’t thinking right-” he lifted his hand up to stop me from saying anything. “I know that’s no excuse, but it came out that way.” Joel sighed.
“I think you should say something to her. Apologize.”
I heard a scoff. “Cute.”
I scoffed back at him and flipped him the bird. Motherfucker had pissed me off and he admits to being a dumbass. His damn pride has gotten in the way. I really can’t stand people like him…. Then why the hell was there fluttering in my stomach? Especially, when he brushes up against me?
Shaking out of my thoughts, I caught back up with Ellie. I could see that she was carving some sort of butterfly creature. I mentally snorted at the irony. I must have made a noise because Ellie gave me a frown.
“What?”
“Oh, nothing.” I waved the question away.
That’s when Joel popped out of nowhere. “You ladies ready?”
Rolling her eyes, Ellie pushed off the table she was sitting on. She, without another word, walked ahead of us. I snickered at her behavior. Joel really pissed her off. I felt the same way towards the man but I didn’t act indifferently toward him. I tried to be the peacemaker between us all. Or I would be until we got out of here.
“Teenagers.” I heard Joel huff beside me.
Moving through the hotel, it looked as it always had. Overgrown, dilapidated, and moldy. As pretty as it looked, the scenery was getting old. I was tired of seeing the same colored walls with splashes of green and yellow or black.
“We need to get back out. Find that bridge.” I registered Joel speaking but I didn’t really hear him. I was lost in my own thoughts.
I could only handle so much of the cities before they got old. I start to feel trapped and all I want is the open road or… outside. Roads weren’t exactly well kept these days.
“Just tell me where to go.” Ellie had that annoying lilt that every angsty teenager has. The comment made it hard not to laugh at Joel who was clearly not having it.
“I hate this crap.” Joel commented to himself.
At his comment, I had to cover up a laugh with a cough. I got a glare in response. I hid my amused smirk.
We came upon a new room that I assumed was a ballroom or theater. The room’s ceiling reached far above me. To my left, there was a sizable stage. A piano sat smack dab in the middle of it. The thing looked like it had seen better days.
In the middle of the room were a shit load of tables and chairs. No doubt for whatever was going on stage. At the back, there was a large backdrop with an old camera set up.
I walked towards the backdrop. The sight of it had a flood of memories wash over me. Memories of family photos and birthday photos caused a few tears to well up in my eyes. I never heard from my parents after the outbreak.
”Wow, look at that.”
Looking to my right, I watched as Ellie gazed at the backdrop. Flicking from one detail to another, her eyes finally lifted to look at me. She was about to speak up again when Joel interjected.
“That’s a uh…” Joel trailed off trying to remember a word. “Backdrop. People would take their pictures in front of it.”
Crossing her arms, Ellie diverted her gaze to Joel. “Yeah, I know what it is.”
A scoff came from Joel. “Okay, then. Something on your mind, Ellie?”
Was He really that blind? He chewed her out over something he really should have thanked her for and then acts as if everything is fine? What an asshole. I scoffed at the thought. This made Joel take a short glance at me.
Groaning, Ellie uncrossed her arms and let them fling at her sides. “I wasn’t trying to disobey you back there.” Maintaining eye contact with Joel, she scratched the back of her neck. “You two were taking a really long time and I thought, maybe they’ve gotten into trouble.”
“It don’t matter what you thought. I need you to listen to me and your mom.”
“I do. It’s just that…” Ellie let out a big sigh. “Whatever, Joel.”
“Here’s what I have to say, I don’t think Ellie is in the wrong here. I’m not mad at you.” I looked at Ellie. “I was a little worried because I hate the thought of you walking around here alone but I am grateful you made it safe and in enough time to save us. Now,” I turned to Joel. “I understand your point of view. I get that, in your own way, you were worried for her. Yes, you were worried that she could’ve killed you but you have to admit that, as she said, it was either you or the hunter.”
There was a look in his eyes when he stared at me. His chin pointed upward and his eyes didn’t leave mine. The man was insufferable. He was so full of himself and was so unwilling to admit he was in the wrong. Maybe I could move on from him. He was being a real pain in the ass right now and all I really wanted to do was to punch him in his stupid face.
With a grunt, Joel looked away and move towards the stage. I huffed at him.
Now on the stage, Joel walked up to the ol’ piano. He played a few notes and then dragged his fingers across all the keys. It sounded awful. It’s not surprising; pianos needed a lot of upkeep.
“We might be able to get up with this.” Nodding to the instrument, I looked at my comrades.
The other two in the group looked at me in confusion. I simply pointed to yet another wall and had been destroyed. Their frowns disappeared when what I said finally clicked. The original exit, unsurprisingly, was blocked off by a bunch of debris. The piano was the only other option.
I moved to push the thing against the wall. It barely budged an inch. I blew out a puff of air. Ellie and Joel just stood there staring. Joel had his arms resting on his hips and Ellie had her arms crossed. They were avoiding eye contact with each other. I rolled my eyes.
“Um, hello? Could I get some help here?”
At my annoyed tone, the two rushed to help me. It didn’t take much force with everyone else to get the piano against the wall. I motioned for Ellie to climb up. I clambered up after her.
“Was that so hard?” I asked looking back at the two. Ellie had fallen behind me once I was up.
“I’m surprised that Joel even trusted me with that.”
“Ellie…” Joel trailed off.
“Oh my gosh! Would the two of you knock it off? Ellie, it happened. Let it go. And Joel, you’re acting like a child.” I turned back around without another glace at either member of the party.
We enter into another dining area. The room was small but it did hold our way to freedom. We’ll finally be getting out of this damn hotel and possibly out of this city.
The door led out to a balcony. Attached to the balcony, was scaffolding. The three of us threw ourselves onto the scaffolding and come face to face with a courtyard.
The courtyard consisted of an open seating area. It was mostly made out of concrete and overgrown shrubbery. Surrounding the seating area were several businesses. A few shops littered the area as well. Back in the day, this would have been a cute little area to have your lunch break.
Beside me, Joel had found a dead man holding an old hunting rifle. Grabbing it, he checked to see if it was loaded.
“Oh shit!” He whisper-yelled out of nowhere. As quickly as he exclaimed, Joel crouched out of view.
I crouched as well but peered to where his line of sight directed. Seemingly out of nowhere, a group of hunters popped out. It was either that or I got caught up in my daydreaming to recognize the men were there.
“What the hell is taking ‘em so long?”
“I don’t know. They went to check on ‘em.”
“For now, we wait.”
Their little conversation had to be about the others in the hotel. I knew this was bad news because Joel motioned for Ellie to move closer to us. I looked out to the courtyard with a hardened face.
“Alright now… Your mom and I are gonna jump down there and we’re gonna clear us a path.”
“What about Ellie?”
“She’ll stay here.”
Ellie let out a scoff. “This is so stupid. We’d have more of a fucking chance if you’d let me help.”
“I am.” Joel’s voice raised a bit. I raised my eyebrows at him and tipped my head to the courtyard. Lowering his voice, he continued. “Now you seem to know your way around a gun.” Joel offered the rifle to Ellie. “You reckon you can handle that?”
Looking at Joel, I could see that he was looking at me for approval. I nodded to him. I flicked my eyes to Ellie to see that she too was eyeing me. Her eyes lit up at my permission.
“Well,… I sorta shot a rifle before.” Ellie’s comment caught my attention. “But it was at rats.”
“Rats?” Joel and I echoed each other.
“With BB’s.”
I let out a little sigh. I was worried that Riley had somehow given Ellie lessons with one. It’s good to know that it was just a BB rifle.
“Well,” Joel sighed. “It’s the same basic concept. Lift it up.” He motioned to the bolt handle. “Alright now. You’re gonna lean right into that stock. ‘Cause, it is gonna kick a hell of a lot more than any BB rifle.”
I sat there watching as Joel instructed Ellie on how to use the weapon. I was still annoyed with the dumb man, but the sight was cute as hell. I wished that I could have given Ellie this. Instead, she got a bunch of egotistical military men. I did what I could but I still wished that things were different.
It would have, had Tommy not left the fireflies. Things most definitely would have gone differently. However, I can’t change the past. I’m proud to have gotten her where she is.
“Listen to me- if we get into trouble down there, you make every. Shot. Count. Yeah?”
Ellie gave a small nod. “I got this.”
Joel paused. He looked at her. Matched her gaze. “Alright.”
With that, Joel made his way to the edge of the scaffolding. I walked to Ellie and kissed her forehead.
“Be careful.” I gave her a pointed look.
“I will. You too.”
I squeezed her shoulder before joining Joel at the edge. He paused again. I watched as he stared at Elle. He seemed to be contemplating something.
“And just so we’re clear about back there… It was either him or me.”
Joel jumped off the scaffolding as soon as he got that off his chest. I let out a sigh of contentment. Looking at Ellie, I could see that she was smiling. Happily, I jumped down to join Joel.
Once on the ground, Joel and I split up. I took one side of the courtyard while he took the other. I watched as he took his first victim quickly and shuffled to another. I went my own route taking down each hunter as quietly as possible.
I couldn’t tell you how long it took. It didn’t last too long seeing how Joel and I kept out of sight. Ellie took care of anyone who got too close. The whole mission went smoothly.
“Alright, come one down!” Joel was all the way to the end of the courtyard when all the hunters had been taken care of.
It was unspoken but the three of us met in the middle. I eyed Ellie as she descended. Reaching the ground, she took cautious steps towards us. I noticed that her little knuckles were white around the rifle. The poor baby had already been through a lot today.
Joel crouched down to a dead hunter that happened to be right in front of us. He patted the body down and snatched a pistol. Joel stood up once Ellie had reached us.
With a sigh, Joel walked up and took the gun from Ellie’s hands. She loosened her grip and peered up at Joel.
Ellie’s face held so much emotion when she asked, “How’d I do?”
Nodding, Joel set down the rifle. He let out another long, drawn-out sigh. He took the pistol he got from the deceased hunter and offered it to her.
“How ‘bout something a… little more your size.” Before Ellie could grab it, he pulled back a little. Hesitation was written all over his face. “It’s for emergencies only.”
“Okay.” With the upturn of her lips and a little nod, Ellie grabbed the gun from Joel.
“N-Now the safety’s on. uh… “ Joel let out a breath, “D-Do you know how to switch it off?”
“I do.”
“Okay, you just… You gotta respect it. This is not a-”
“Joel. I’ll be careful.”
“Okay.”
I could hide the smile I got from their interaction just now. I felt a rare but familiar warmth spread through me. I let out a sigh which caught Joel and Ellie’s attention.
The two flashed me a quizzical expression and I waved them off. I watched as Ellie shrugged and went on to scavenge stuff we might have missed. Joel however, was still confused.
“You did a good job.”
Joel scoffed and rolled his eyes. Yet, I caught sight of a tiny smile. I smirked at the man.
Out of nowhere, I was on the ground. There was suddenly a ringing in my ears.
Turning to Joel, I saw his little smile was gone and it was replaced with a hardened expression. He was down on the ground with me. He pressed a hand to my shoulder. My breath escaped me when he added pressure. I glanced down to see dark red splattered everywhere on my right shoulder. That was when I noticed a drop or two warmed my cheek. Crying out, I felt more pressure being applied.
Finally, the ringing faded and I could hear Joel shouting. “Ellie! I need you over here. You need to watch your mom before-”
A hunter came from the bushes and slammed a gun into Joel’s head. Instantly, he was out cold. I heard his head crack on the pavement. I hoped that he was okay.
Grabbing my attention, I whipped my head to see a hunter removing Ellie’s gun from her hand. Another man came up behind her and forcefully gripped her upper arms.
With all the energy I had, I pulled myself up. I hastily pushed myself towards my daughter. I got about halfway when another pain burst through the back of my head. My vision blurred. The last thing I saw before things went black was the hunters dragging my little girl away from me.
I woke up to someone shaking me awake. I shot up, ready to fight. Only to let my guard down when I realized that it was Joel who woke me.
My breaths came out short and quick. I couldn’t stop. My mind reeled with what was going to happen to Ellie.
Ellie. Her getting dragged away to who knows where haunted me. Those disgusting hunters. What’re they doing with my little girl?
“Oh, my-” My breathing had picked up quite a bit, “Ellie. Joel, we have-” I shot up. I started pacing. Pressing my hands on my chest began to spiral through all the possibilities.
“Hey, hey, hey.” Both Joel appeared and cupped my face with his hands. “Breath with me.” Never breaking eye contact, Joel took deep breaths in and out. I followed after him.
I found a normal breathing pace and felt myself loosen a little. Closing my eyes, I rested my forehead on Joel’s. There was a moment of silence. All that could be heard were my labored breaths and the occasional sniffle. When I felt like I could move on, I lifted my head.
Joel, still holding my head, wiped away a few stray tears with his thumbs. It wasn’t until then that I noticed how gross I had become that I pushed away. I wiped my snot-covered face. My sleeve was covered in snot and blood but I didn’t care. I needed to get out of here. I needed to find my baby girl.
“We have to find her.” My voice broke.
“Y/N-”
“No, Joel. We have to go get her!”
“We will. We just have to get our bearings and find out where they took her. You also need stitches.” Joel reached up to lightly brush my shoulder, “Now, start looking for an exit.”
“Joel they have our stuff. Wha-”
“That’ll be something that we’ll figure out later. Remember what I said in the hotel?”
I let out a sigh. “Yeah, sorry.”
I walked along the walls to see if I could feel any drafts. I was hoping from a secret door or maybe a weak point in the wall. When I came up with nothing, I turned to Joel. He had been working on the one and only door while I looked elsewhere.
That’s when I heard a crack. Joel used his foot to kick at the hinges. Another crack sounded and the door started to break down. I guess the metal had been eaten away by the rust.
“Y/N, c’mere.”
I rushed to him and helped add pressure to the weakened metal. The stuff flaked off in chunks. Before we knew it, the whole door was falling towards us. Catching the door, we quietly placed the plank on the ground.
I peered out the door. In the distance, I watched as a shape stumbled around. It wasn’t until I heard the clicks and groans that I knew what it was.
“Shit.”
“Fuck.”
Joel and I looked at each other. This wasn’t going to be easy. I knew if they were alerted to our presence, we were dead. With a deep breath in and out, I made the first step towards the demons in our path.
The place, surprisingly, wasn’t filled to the brim with spores. I thought this was interesting when we were literally confined to a windowless building. I came to eat my words once we got to the open space. I suppose it was just the section of the building we were in.
The room was surrounded by windows. It let gusts of wind through. Maneuvering around the dead, I almost lost what I had previously eaten. I gazed out the window. We had been left on the top floor of an old skyscraper.
Chapter Summary: Now stuck in Pittsburgh, your merry band make their way through in hopes of escaping.
Pairing:Joel Miller x Reader (eventually)
Warnings:Blood, gore, swearing, violence, mentions of eating disorders, my grammar. If you find any more be sure to let me know!
Word Count: 7.6k
Author’s Note: I finally had time to work on this! It’s here! This chapter is one of my best, in my opinion. I worked hard on it and I hope you like it! If you find any mistakes let me know. Also, make sure to like and comment! I really appreciate the feedback!
“Hey, Ellie! Slow Down. Wait for us.” Joel yelled after her. He shook his head as he looked at me. I cracked a smile. I got a scoff in return.
Summer 2033
Following Ellie over the railing, we jumped down and hit the ground with a thud. The new scenery gave me a good idea of what happened to this QZ. things were strewn about and car doors were open. It almost gave the idea that they weren’t voluntarily opened.
Breaking me out of my thoughts, Ellie sassed Joel. “I’m right here.”
“How ‘bout you let your mom and I go first. And keep your voice down.” Joel spoke the last bit through his teeth.
“What he’s trying to say, Ellie,” I glared at the man. “Is that we don’t know who the hell is out here, and we’d like it if you would stay beside us for your safety.”
Ellie blew out a breath and rolled her eyes, “Okay.”
We looked around for more supplies; like we always did. And as usual, there were a few things here and there, but nothing worth it. I sighed. I was already tired of this long-ass journey.
Passing a few cars, I could hear whistling in the distance. It came out unsure at first, but once I heard the gasp; I knew what was going on.
“I’m whistling!” Ellie whistled again for Joel and me to hear.
“Oh, good. Something else you can annoy me with.” Joel let out with a sigh.
“That’s awesome.” Ellie completely ignored Joel’s comment and kept on whistling. I giggled at the two. I got one glare and one blinding smile.
I watched as Joel entered an old bus. His footsteps were loud as he scrambled around in it. Seconds later, Joel called out to Ellie. Frowning, I moved closer to see what he wanted.
“Ellie found another one of them comics!”
“Alright!” She smiled as Joel handed it to her.
Glad to see the two getting along, I smiled at them. Their backs were facing me, so they didn’t see the enormous grin on my face as they walked on. I hoped by the end of this they weren’t arguing as much. I could finally get some peace.
“What happened here?” Ellie had stopped in front of a car. There was a skeleton that would’ve been dragged out of the vehicle. Ellie turned to Joel. “Your fellow hunters do this?” Once Ellie finished, I scoffed and slapped her arm.
Joel scoffed as well, “Cute, and no. My money’s on the military.”
“Why would they mow down all these people?” Ellie’s face scrunched up.
“Well, you can’t let everyone in.”
This time, Ellie scoffed, “So they killed them?”
“Dead people can’t get infected. Sacrifice the few to save the many.” I interjected.
“That’s kinda shitty.”
“Yeah, it is.” I gave Ellie a shrug, “But it was a choice many people made in the early days. Nothing we can do about it now.”
“It still sucks.”
“I know, honey.” I pulled Ellie to my side and rubbed her arm lovingly.
Joel, who had watched the interaction between us, held a softness in his gaze. Glancing up at me, Joel held eye contact. There was a sense of familiarity in his eyes.
Breaking our eye contact, Joel walked toward what looked like a gate to a quarantine zone. Someone must have parked the massive bus to block the way in. The only way through would be to climb the blockade and hope no one was waiting for us on the other side.
As we approached the area, I heard a shot ring out. Joel crouched down and motioned for us to follow. Following his direction, I watched as more hunters climbed on top of the bus. One, two, three of them plopped down from the bus roof. They were chatting with each other.
“Where did you learn to shoot?” One man chuckled as he spoke.
“Man… screw you.”
“Well, you had an entire flock and you hit nothing.” The man from before kept teasing the poor-shot. “I’m about to hit you.”
All three of them clambered down the bus. The two men were still talking.
“Wow… yeah, you’re really upset. Well, if you want some lessons, I’m more than willing to help you out.”
“Yeah, whatever.”
I watched as each of them lazily surveyed the area. Joel, Ellie, and I weren’t hidden very well. If they had actually searched the place, they could’ve easily found us.
The other man who had been quiet the whole time finally spoke up. He questioned where their other buddies had gone. I assumed that they were talking about the ones we just killed. The next man spoke up and confirmed my suspicions. He rattled on some more but I didn’t care what he said and zoned it out.
Finally, they all figured something was up and walked down the way we had just come from. I knew we had to hurry or we would run into them shortly. Joel stood up as soon as they were out of sight.
“I think they’re gone,” I announced. Standing up, I saw they were nowhere to be seen.
Ellie stood at the bottom of the bus as Joel and I climbed up.
“Ugh, those guys creep me out! Is this city full of these guys?”
Joel reached down to help Ellie up. “Looks like it.” As they spoke, Joel hauled Ellie on the bus roof.
After a few minutes of walking around, no one said anything. I knew Joel wasn’t the most talkative, but I also didn’t like how quiet it was. It triggered something in me.
“Okay, we need to lighten the mood.” Ellie pulled something out of her bag. “It doesn’t matter how much you push the envelope. It’ll still be stationery.” Ellie watched our reactions.
I snorted at the pun. Ah, she would pull this book out whenever either of us was having a bad day. I had gotten it for her on her tenth birthday. This book, however, was a different one. I wonder how she found it.
“What is that?” Joel sounded very confused.
“It’s a joke book. No Pun Intended: Volume Too by Will Livingston.”
Joel let out a deep sigh. He shook his head before speaking, “Let’s keep going.”
“What did the Confederate soldiers use to eat off of? Civil ware.”
“Uh-huh.” Joel’s reaction caused a laugh to escape me.
“What did they use to drink with? Cups.” I raised my eyebrow at the girl. A grin spread across her lips. “Dixie cups.”
An even deeper sigh came from the man beside me. I full-on belly laughed at this. This grown-ass man was listening to the worst puns ever from a little girl. His grumpy reactions made it absolutely hilarious.
“So, I walked into my sister’s room and tripped on a bra. It was a booby-trap.”
“Okay, that one was bad,” I said while looking at Ellie with my face scrunched up.
“A book just fell on my head. I only have myself to blame. Oh, wait. I said it wrong.” At her mistake, Ellie bent over laughing. I smiled at her. “Hold on, Let me read it again. A book just fell on my head… I only have my shelf to blame.” She let out a weak giggle. “I ruined it.” She frowned and moved on, “What is the leading cause of divorce in long-term marriages?”
Joel groaned. I cringed. This sounds like a touchy subject.
“A stalemate.” I could see Ellie smiling even if she didn’t get it.
“That’s awful,” Joel said with a scoff.
“You’re awful.”
“Do you even understand what that means?”
“Nope. Doesn’t matter.” There was an awkward pause. “Okay, that’s it. That’s all I got.” Ellie put her book back into her bag and Joel walked on.
We walked through the city. Nothing too terrible had happened, yet. It almost made me forget that this place was a hellhole. Ellie and Joel had thoroughly impressed me with how well they were getting along. Neither of them made a jab at the other. I suspected something was about to happen.
Clambering over yet another truck, we came upon an enormous gate that encompassed a building inside. On the gate, a sign was holding onto the rungs for dear life. It hung with one side broken off. A small gust of wind would be all it took for the whole thing to rip right off.
Ellie walked closer to the sign. “We stayed at a place like this.” She looked back at me. Joel glanced between the two of us. Ellie saw Joel’s look and elaborated. “Back in the Boston QZ.”
Joel read the sign. “Military preparatory school.”
I snorted. “Nice way of saying orphanage”
“I wonder what happened to all these kids.” Moving closer to the gate, Ellie tried to get a better look inside.
“This place has been out for a good stretch. They ain’t kids no more.”
Joel’s words hit me hard. These kids had to be the men we were trying to avoid. I thought over what could have happened in the Boston QZ. If whatever happened here, happened there… What would have happened if Ellie was still a baby?
I shook my head. It didn’t happen. I don’t have to think about it. Plus, these people could have gotten out of this place and away from these horrors. Therefore, we could have too.
“Meaning they’re either hunters trying to kill us, or they’re dead.” Ellie eyed Joel.
Joel shook his head. “Or they got away” He voiced that in a smug tone.
“Do you really believe that?” Ellie raised her eyebrow and leaned on one foot while resting a hand on her hip.
Joel sighed and I Interjected, “I believe in getting out of this city. Let’s go.” I jerked my head in the opposite direction.
We didn’t get far until Ellie was speaking up again. We had maybe walked a few feet towards some other buildings; We had veered off our path to look for supplies. Ellie had noticed a giant poster on the side of a building.
“There is another one.” Ellie moved closer to get a better look. “These posters are everywhere…”
Joel leaned back to watch Ellie make her way to his side. He followed her gaze to the massive “Dawn of the Wolf” poster. A small smile grew on his face.
“I saw this right before the outbreak.”
I laughed, “You’re kidding?”
“Nope.”
“I already had my vampire and werewolf phase by this time. I was all about the Avengers or when the new season of Sherlockwould get out.”
Joel snickered. I furrowed my brows and turned to Joel.
With a shrug, he said, “That’s something you would be interested in. Seein’ how your daughter is really into them comic books. Like mother, like daughter.”
“Anyway,” interrupted Ellie, “Does he totally gut her by the end?”
Scoffing, Joel shook his head and waved her question away. “Nobody gets gutted. It’s a dumb teen movie.”
“Who dragged you to see it then?” Ellie shrugged, letting her hands hit the sides of her thighs.
With a deep sigh, Joel reached up to scratch at his beard. “I don’t know. Let’s just stay focused, alright?” Gone was the tiny smile. It was replaced by the deep-set frown Joel always wore.
“Alright,” Ellie replied to Joel and blew out a long-drawn sigh.
Joel took the lead while Ellie and I followed after him. I thought of his daughter. She couldn’t have been that much younger than me. Maybe two or three years? Was he older than I thought? I placed him in his late forties. But if he had a kid that was eleven or twelve… I don’t know. The man could have been younger for all I know. I just feel sorry for the man. Even after all these years, he’s still being haunted by his past.
We walked down an alleyway that led straight to an abandoned quarantine Zone. The concrete walls were spray-painted all over. A particular one stood out. “Stop Feeding us LIES! GIVE US OUR RATIONS!”
“Whoa.” Speaking up, Ellie had me turning around to face her, “It’s strange seeing a checkpoint with no soldiers.”
“Well, this is what most zones look like. This place has been abandoned for a while now.” Joel informed both of us.
I knew there were a few QZ’s that nobody had lived in for quite a while, but there were still a few that stood strong. This was clearly not one of them.
Tess and I never really hit any of the bigger cities. We figured that staying as far away from them was what’s best. So, I never learned about the abandoned QZ’s.
“Give us our rations.” Ellie’s face got all scrunched up. “Why wouldn’t they give them their food?” She turned to Joel and me.
Joel flashed me a look. He was offering me the chance to explain but I just nodded in his direction. He sighed as he turned to Ellie.
“Sometimes they ran out. Most times they just held onto it.”
Ellie scoffed. “That never happened in Boston.”
“It happened all the time. I just so happened to be working with the military which gave us a few privileges.” I watched as Ellie looked at me with wide eyes. She had learned quite a bit on this journey but she still was sheltered from a lot of things.
Ellie looked like she was lost in her head. From where I stood, I could see the gears turning in her head. I guess that nugget of reality connected a few dots.
After that, the conversation died. We took a few minutes to loot before we were moving again. That’s when We came upon a metal revolving door. Ellie had taken the lead which prompted her to open the door. I didn’t think it would budge. The poor door was weathered and the rust made it hard for the fourteen-year-old to open.
“Ugh, Joel! The stupid door won’t move.”
“Alright, I got it.” Joel stepped from behind me to join Ellie.
Even with the two of them, the door still wouldn’t budge. I rolled my eyes and stepped in. It took a little bit of strength, but with us three, we got the door to move. And move it did. Joel had to catch Ellie before she fell over. I, on the other hand, ended up tripping. I fell to my knees but caught myself before my face could make friends with the ground.
With a groan, I dragged myself off the ground. Ellie looked at me silently asking if I was okay. I gave her a simple nod and motioned for us to catch up with Joel.
The man in question had already moved on and was surveying a room. A few buildings stood ahead of us. One of these buildings had its doors wide open. Joel had taken advantage of this.
There wasn’t much in the room Joel was in. Quite underwhelming for all the effort we used. The walls had their usual chipping paint, the wood floor was rotted, but the sad thing was that there was nothing else in the room. It was completely bare. Except for a door leading to the outside world.
Joel cleared his throat. I looked up to see that he was eyeing me. I raised an eyebrow and he nodded towards the door. I guess it was time to go. Thinking, I realized how pushy he can be at times. I understand we want to get out of this place but taking a moment to ourselves isn’t such a bad idea.
“Well, that was a bust. Remind me why we did that?” Ellie looked at me.
“To keep moving. We need to find a decent place to hole up for the night so we can get out of the city tomorrow morning.”
That’s when Joel jumped in. “And what makes you think that we’re not gonna make it out today?”
“Um,” I placed my hands on my hips and leaned on my right leg, “How about the fact that there are only so many hours of daylight left? I assume you don’t want to run around this place while it’s dark.”
“I wanted to get out of here by sundown. It is getting dark and, though it would be a good idea to lay low, I don’t want to risk getting ambushed.” Joel flashed me a pointed stare.
“I guess we’ll have to see how it all plays out then.”
Joel rolled his eyes and sighed while moving on. I looked back at Ellie. The girl had crossed her arms and leaned on one leg. Looking up at her face, I could see that she was smirking.
“What?” I asked
Uncrossing her arms, she started walking toward Joel. “Oh, nothing.” She waved her hand in the air as she passed me.
I also knew that glint in her eye. She was definitely up to something. Shaking my head at the girl’s antics, I watched her closely. I would find out what she was planning.
Walking outside we found a new road. It led to yet another QZ blockade. Upon walking through it, we immediately recognized the presence of hunters. Joel motioned for Ellie and me to crouch down. Thankfully, there were tarps, vehicles, and small buildings that kept us out of sight.
In front of us, there was some sort of courtyard in which three hunters were guarding. They each exchanged idle chatter while we maneuvered around them.
At some point, the three men broke away from each other and went their separate ways. Once Joel and I realized this, we pounced on the opportunity. Joel motioned for me to follow behind one of the men. I nodded and motioned for Ellie to stick with Joel. Once I got a nod from her, I moved to approach the hunter.
Right behind the guy, I jumped up and grabbed him. With my dagger in hand. I slid it across his neck. As I pulled the weapon out, it made a squelching noise. Blood spewed out of his open wound. I made sure to wipe the blade on my jacket.
After puncturing the hunter’s cervix, I slowly guided his body to the ground. He made a few quiet gurgles and grunts. Thankfully, It wasn’t enough to grab anyone’s attention.
Just as I stood up a hunter came around the corner. Instantly, he saw me and alerted the rest of the group. Shouts from within a nearby library echoed from where I stood. My eyes flicked to the hunter’s hands to see that he had raised his gun. Right as he was about to shoot, Joel came out of nowhere and grabbed the man.
With the gun falling out of the hunter’s hands, the man tried bartering for his life. Without a second thought, Joel snapped his neck and let the body drop. It fell with a muffled thud. Right after, Ellie and Joel made their way to me.
“I didn’t see him. I thought I was in the clear. I-”
“Are you hurt?” Joel stopped me before I could say anymore.
“No, I’m fine.”
“Okay, let’s get through this.”
“But-”
“We would’ve grabbed their attention anyway. I would have liked to do this quietly but what’s done is done. No need to feel sorry about it.” Once Joel finished speaking the conversation had ended.
The three of us moved into the library. We made quick work of the lower level. Upon entering the upper floor, Joel and I decided to split up again. This time I would try to be more attuned to my surroundings.
Several hunters were left. With my dagger in hand, I took out two of the men. I watched as Joel took out the last guy. Moving my gaze from Joel to Ellie, I found her hiding behind a bookshelf. Once she saw that everything was good, she crawled out.
“That was intense.” Ellie blew out some air.
“Get used to it kid. This kinda stuff happens all the time.” Joel spoke up as he headed towards the exit.
“Oh, boy.” Ellie sighed. After a few seconds, she spoke up again. “Look at all these books. I wish I had more room in my backpack.” The girl flashed me a sad smile. Smiling back, I gave her a shrug.
“Oh, so you’re a reader, huh?”
“Well, when I’m not running away from hunters and infected, yeah. I read all the time.” Once Ellie finished speaking, Joel let out a little chuckle.
“I’m a little offended that you think that my child wouldn’t read. It may be the apocalypse but it’s never a bad thing to exercise your brain. I instilled that early on. I’m quite proud of my daughter’s accomplishments.” I winked at Ellie and she gave me a bright smile in response.
“I just assumed that kids aren’t into that stuff these days. It’s all about survival now. Kids train with guns more than they play with toys. I’m sorta impressed that you got her into reading.”
Ellie stopped where she was. Her eyes were fixed on the man in the group. An incredulous look on her face. “Why wouldn’t I?” Throwing her arms up, Ellie let out a shocked breath. “Books are filled with information from the world before. I get a little peek into what you guys used to live. Plus, Books were the only real adventure I got to go on while in Boston. Of course, I’d be interested in them.”
“Well, there ya go. Color me impressed. Alright, let’s get going.” Yet again, Joel was taking the lead.
As we moved, Ellie pulled out her joke book. “Ready for a joke?” Ellie didn’t even check to see if we answered and started reading. A backwards poet writes inverse.”
“Do you even get that?” Joel glanced back at Ellie.
“Of course not.” Ellie moved on, “I used to be addicted to soap, but I’m clean now.” Ellie giggled. Joel and I joined her with a little chuckle.
“Alright, I actually never heard that one.”
“That one wasn’t that bad.” I agreed.
Ellie read a few more. I admit there were some pretty funny jokes in there. Surprisingly, she got a few chuckles out of Joel.
A thought hit me once Ellie put her book away. Moments like these were becoming more frequent. A warm, happy feeling overcame me and it felt good. Not to say Boston wasn’t sufficient. It was. We had food, shelter, and safety. Yet I can’t help but feel like we lacked something. Now, I realized what that missing piece was. He was right in front of me. Yet, he only wanted to collect a payment.
I knew I shouldn’t allow myself to get attached. Nothing would become of it. Once we reached the Fireflies, it would all fall apart. It would burn. At the same time, I really couldn’t care less. Call me selfish, but it has been fourteen years, alone, raising a child. Just this once, in this pocket in time, I would allow myself to feel and get attached. I fucking deserved it.
x_x
Behind the library, several FEDRA soldiers were strung up to a street light. The sight didn’t shock me seeing how I used to run into this stuff back in the early days. Ellie was another story.
“Man, you’d gotta be crazy to string up soldiers.” Ellie voiced as she came to stand between Joel and me.
In front of us, a cute little message was left on the wall. ‘ANOTHER 3 SOLDIERS DEAD—WHAT’S IT GOING TO TAKE? GIVE UP!’ This kind of thing was scary to witness. It brings back old memories. And on one hand, I’m kind of glad we left Boston. Fights broke out every day. It wasn’t long before this would happen. It was nice to have access to food and shelter. However, it wouldn’t have lasted.
“Well,” Joel’s started in his gravelly voice. “You get people desperate enough, they’ll do just about anything.”
Ellie didn’t waver from the bodies as she said, “And the people that rose up—they’re the ones we’ve been fighting here?”
“That’s what I’d guess,” I said while patting her shoulder. Looking at Joel, I nodded my head toward the alleyway ahead of us. “Let’s see where this leads.” I didn’t start moving until I got a nod from Joel.
It didn’t take us long to get through the alleyway. There was a blockade in the way and just as I was about to vault myself over it, Joel pulled me down. A few hunters were walking across a board over a large body of water. They took the board and moved it so no one else could walk across it. Joel and I watched as the two men entered a hotel.
“Alright, I don’t think they saw us.” Joel voiced as he stood up.
“Whew. There’s our bridge.” Ellie’s eyes darted to the large yellow structure. I was so focused on the hunters that I didn’t see it. “We’re a little closer. I think.”
“If we keep going, dare I say Joel might get his wish of leaving this place by tonight.” My comment earned me a scoff from Joel. I flicked my eyes to him to see that he was shaking his head.
“This girl is so skinny.” Our little exchange was interrupted by Ellie.
I moved my line of sight in her direction. She stood in front of an old poster. The poster was an old ad for a clothing company. Moving to stand next to her, I watched as she stepped closer to the advertisement.
“I thought you guys had plenty of food in your time.”
“We did,” Joel answered her.
“Then what’s with this?” Ellie pointed toward the picture and looked at the two of us.
Joel shrugged. “Some just chose not to eat.”
“Why the hell not?”
“For looks,” I interjected. “It was a standard held up by society back in the day.”
“Psssh, that’s stupid.” There was a pregnant pause. Ellie had that far-off look in her eyes. When she came back to it, she looked at me. “Did you ever do that?”
I sucked in a breath. “Well,” I breathed out. “I not really. When I was your age, I struggled with being overweight. However, I felt inadequate because I thought I wasn’t small like that.”
Ellie’s face said it all. Her mouth was opened and her eyebrows were all scrunched up. “That’s dumb. Your society was fucked up.“
“You’re telling me, kid.”
The two of us were interrupted by Joel clearing his throat. Ellie and I turned toward him.
“As interesting as this little history lesson is, I believe we should keep moving. That way my ‘wish of leaving tonight’ can come true.” When Joel threw a smirk my way.,I rolled my eyes and Ellie let out a little chuckle.
The man was moving fast. I took maybe three steps and he was already running into the water ahead. I scrunched up my face at the sight. I was really getting tired of being waterlogged.
Joel was eyeing the DIY bridge the hunters had created. Without the board, the gap was too big. No one could jump that. Joel said exactly that before looking at us. I gave him a shrug.
“Maybe find something for Ellie to ride on. She could pull herself up and grab that board.” “Alright, I’ll go out and look for somethin’ you stay here with her.”
“What happened to you not telling me what to do?”
“Are you seriously gonna pull this shit now?”
“Yeah, I am. I’m coming with you. Ellie, stay there.” With a huff, I follow Joel into the unnatural lake. Joel simply rolls his eyes and grumbles under his breath.
We swam out until we got close to a wooden pallet. Before we could inform Ellie that we found something, we were interrupted by a loud rumble. The rumbling belonged to a massive truck that drove across the bridge ahead of us.
Suddenly the truck sped up. It drove past the bridge only for the tires to screech a little ways away.
“The hell?” We both said at the same time.
I looked at Joel with an eyebrow raised. He flashed me the same look. Only a few seconds later did it rapidly change. It went from a light bewildered look to something darker. A knowing glint gleamed in Joel’s eyes.
In that short time, There was a group of people screaming. It sounded as though they were caught off guard. Then the shots started going off. I knew exactly what was going through Joel’s mind. My eyes flicked to Ellie. She innocently stood at the edge of the water examining her surroundings.
“Oh, this place is bad.” A grumble came from beside me.
I grabbed the pallet and started pulling it toward Ellie. Joel took the other side and helped propel it forward. Approaching the teen, I could hear a grumble from ahead of me. I could tell that Ellie despised this little gimmick.
“Get on,” Joel said as soon as the wood smacked into the car roof Ellie hopped on. “We’re cuttin’ through the hotel.”
“Did something happen back there?” The teen questioned.
“Ellie.” Joel was 100% done with the girl.
“What? I was just asking a simple-”
I stopped Ellie from annoying Joel any further. “Just drop it. We just need to get out of here.”
“Okay.” Shock and a little fear washer over Ellie’s features. It quickly went away as she raised her hands in defense. As Ellie jumped onto the pallet, she grumbled some more. I roll my eyes at her angst.
Pulled the mass of wood back, Joel propelled forward. One whole side of the pallet was submerged into the water. My eyes locked on Ellie to make sure she kept her balance. I held my breath as we swam.
“Be careful.”
“Whoa, easy.” Ellie and I said it at the same time.
I got an eye-roll and a stern look from Joel. “Don’t worry. I ain’t gonna drop her.” Turning to Ellie, he gave her the same fixed look.
As soon as the pallet smacked into the man-made bridge, Ellie started clambering up it. Little grunts and groans could be heard from her as she pulled herself up. I waded in the water close by. Her falling into the water was something none of us needed today.
Once she was up, I allowed myself to focus elsewhere. When I turned around, I could see that Joel hadn’t moved either. The thought warmed my heart. And he said he didn’t care. This sight had me calling that bullshit.
Taking the lead, I swam through the back of what used to be a supply truck. Then it hit me. The smell of putrid, rotting wood flooded my nose. I coughed as I exited the truck. With my face scrunched up, I looked over to Joel to see his reaction. It made me laugh which caused me to breathe in more foul-smelling air.
Joel just rolled his eyes at my antics and swam on. Following him, I quickly realized we had entered a coffee shop.
“Aw! This place stinks!” At Ellie’s exclamation, I burst out laughing. Looking at Joel I could see a slight smile on his face.
“Yeah, the wood’s all rotten,” Joel said while scavenging.
I stood by the exit while looking at the counter. I could see all the machines. If I focused enough, I could get a whiff of a faint coffee smell. It reminded me of my dad who always had coffee in the mornings.
“Did you guys go to coffee shops a lot?” Ellie looked between Joel and me.
Joel smiled. “I did. All the time.”
“I was too young. My mom said I could start drinking coffee when I was an adult. 14 was a bit too young for her tastes. I’d like to think that I would have loved coffee. I tried to sneak some of my dad’s coffee occasionally.” I smiled at the thought. It would have been interesting to see how little things like that played out.
“Of course she would think that,” Ellie switched her gaze to Joel. “What would you get?”
“Just… Just coffee.”
“You seem like the kind of guy that would,” I smirked at the man.
“And what’s that supposed to mean?”
“I don’t know. You just seem like the kind of guy to like it.”
All I received in response is a grunt. We waited for a few minutes while Joel scrounged around for more supplies. Ellie and I were burnt out with all the scavenging and we decided to take a little break. Joel could scavenge till his heart’s content.
“What kind of coffee do you think you would get if you had the chance.”
With a sigh, I thought back on what could be my options. Ellie sat there eager to hear my answer.
“Well, I know for sure that black coffee wasn’t my style. I questioned how my dad could fathom it. I think I’d get some of what your grandma would call “frou-frou coffee”. I’d probably get some sort of latte which is coffee, milk, and some flavored syrup.” I watched as Ellie scrunched up her face. “Hey, don’t knock it until you try it!”
Before she could say anything, Joel walked up to us. “You ladies ready to get back to it?”
“Yes, finally!” Pulling herself up from her sitting position, Ellie led the way to the hotel. “Do you think those hunters are gone?”
“Well, we’re about to find out,” I said as I motioned for her to jump on the window ledge.
My breath was stolen from my lungs. Inside, marble surrounded me. The artwork was well kept and greenery had grown to cover the area. It made the place look amazing. I see why the hunters occupied this space. I couldn’t imagine how expensive it would be to book this place before the outbreak.
“It’s clear Ellie! Come on down.” Joel’s booming voice shook me out of my thoughts.
“Whoa… this is fancy! Ever stay at a place like this? Before it all went to shit I mean.”
“No.” Joel chuckled. “No, this is too rich for my blood.”
I then had two pairs of eyes looking at me. I realized the two were expecting an answer from me. I let out an awkward chuckle.
“Personally? No. My dad went on a lot of business trips though. He stayed at a lot of places like this. However, it was work money. I doubt we could afford something this nice. It turned out a six-person family was a lot harder to house than your average four.”
“Oh, okay. I bet it was nice though.”
“Alright, y’all know the deal. Find what ya can.”
Ellie groaned as Joel walked off to practice our usual routine. Chuckling, I watched as she shuffled about, splashing the water with her feet. She’d occasionally kick a random piece of rubble.”
I moved on from the teenage angst to venture towards the quiet grumbling of our male companion. I found Joel tucked away in the far side of the hotel. There was another bar of some sort. A shelving unit was behind the counter which had occupied Joel’s attention. He pulled a green bottle of what looked like to be some sort of alcoholic beverage.
Just as I was about to say something, Joel moved on to a large rusted machine. “Ah, I really miss coffee.” I giggled at his comment and startled the poor man. He turned to me. “Do you make it a regular habit to sneak up on people?”
“Yes,” Ellie swaggered in with a smirk. I gaped at her. “I’m just kidding! She is super quiet though.”
“You’re forgetting I got stuck out here, alone. Sneaking around was all that I did.”
“Just announce yourself next time.” With a sigh, Joel moved on.
Joining Joel, Ellie and I looked around for more supplies. We went from one side of the lobby to the other. This place was unsurprisingly empty. I figured it would be that way. There’s a large number of hunters in this city and it takes a lot of supplies to maintain those numbers. It was obvious that there’d be nothing left.
Brought out of my thoughts, I turned to see Ellie giving me a mischievous grin. I raised my eyebrows. She only nodded towards the old check-in counter. Joel was standing on the other side of it.
Ellie leaned on the counter and spread her hands on top of it. “Oh, I’ll be checking in for one night and I’d like your finest suite please.”
With a frown on his face, Joel shot up. He eyed Ellie who just stared up at him. She had one of those sickeningly sweet expressions on her face. It’s the kind of look with a smile that you know is so fake but you just kind of ignore it and move on.
“What the hell are you doin’?” Joel’s perplexed face made Ellie break character for a split second.
“Why, yes,” She began with a gasp, “You can take my luggage upstairs.”
“You are a weird kid.” Joel chuckled a bit at her antics. I laughed along with the man. He made eye contact with me and it allowed me to see his upturned lips. I gave him a smile.
After smiling. I broke eye contact. “Okay then, let’s get a move on.”
We trekked on. When we made it to the upper floors, Joel and I heard the muffled lilt of hunters. He and I looked at each other. We shared a knowing glance.
Maneuvering around the place wasn’t hard. Joel mostly took the lead but I would branch off and go my own way when there was more than one hunter in the area. However, this place did make it harder to stay quiet. There was trash all over the floors. I guess the hunters didn’t find the garbage to be an issue.
We didn’t stop until we came upon a gruesome sight. Passing through a massive hole in the wall, we entered a bathroom. It was what was in the bathtub that stopped us.
Skeletal figures were submerged in a putrid-smelling pool of blood mixed with what probably was body fluids. The smell hadn’t become noticeable until I got a glimpse of the bathtub. I covered my nose while gagging.
“Oh, creepy.” Ellie walked up to it. I was in awe at how she didn’t react to the stench. “I guess they took the easy way out, huh?”
“It ain’t easy — for many it was better than letting a clicker or a hunter do it for them. Trust me. It ain’t easy.” Joel elaborated.
I walked up to Ellie and pulled her to me. I rested my chin on her head. I rubbed her back. This sort of stuff made my mind race. Before letting Ellie go, I gave her one last squeeze. I need the reassurance that she was real and that life wasn’t as bad as the scene before us.
Leaving the grim sight, we walked through the now empty halls of the hotel. We came to a flight of stairs. As we walked up to them, I kept an eye out for any surprise encounters. I played quite a few video games in my time. Situations, in-game, had trained me to be cautious. Nothing happened as we made it to the top.
In the new environment, I realized that all the hallways were blocked off. Dressers, tv stands, random mattresses piled together to create a makeshift blockade. I was ready to pick it apart. When I noticed no one was coming to help me, I looked back.
Turning all the way around, Joel eyed me. I motioned my head towards the blockades. He just shook his head. He pointed to the elevator. The doors were ever so slightly cracked open.
“Are you really gonna try the elevator?”
“You got a better idea?” Joel looked back at me with narrowed eyes.
Motioning to the barricade, I proposed, “This shit shouldn’t be a huge hassle to move.”
A sigh, “That would make too much noise. We’ve already had enough trouble.” Joel continued towards the elevator doors.
I stepped towards him, “And opening a rusty elevator door isn’t gonna make a loud noise?” I failed my arms in the air while glaring at him.
Joel nodded to the door, “Well, it’s a better shot than what’s behind that rubble.”
“Okay, whatever. What do I know?” I threw my hands up while rolling my eyes.
When I turned around Joel was standing by the door. He still had his eyes on me. His mouth hung open and his eyes were blank. When I raised my eyebrows at him he let out a scoff.
“Are you finished?”
My anger flared up at his comment. However, I decided to be the better person and closed my eyes. I took a deep breath, and let it out. When I opened my eyes again, Joel was already working on the door.
With a few grunts and groans, the door opened. Without hesitation, we all crowded into the elevator. There happened to be a ladder that led up to the elevator shaft.
Before climbing the ladder, Joel said, “Let’s see where this goes.”
I had Ellie follow after him. I wanted to make sure that she’d be safe between us. I didn’t want anyone sneaking behind us. I don’t know how sneaky the hunters were but I didn’t want to risk anything.
Ellie followed Joel. It didn’t take us long to get ourselves pulled up on the elevator. Once up, I surveyed our surroundings. Right in front of us, stood a wall of some sort of metal fence. There was a little opening that would allow for the three of us to squish through. There we could hop off a ledge and on a new elevator that had a doorway above it. I assumed that led to the opposite side of the hotel.
I motioned Joel to go first. Right as he was about to reach the opening, we heard a loud slam from behind. I whipped around and pulled my gun out. A sheepish grimace plastered on Ellie’s face when she realized she had scared me shitless.
“Sorry! Sorry… “ Ellie waved at the roof door, “Just in case.”
I let out a breath I didn’t know that I was holding. When I had calmed down, I put away my gun.
Joel, after collecting himself, pressed himself against the wall. “It’s gonna be a tight fit but come on.”
I let Ellie go ahead of me yet again. When I saw that she reached halfway across the ledge, I started making my way through. My eyes stayed on Ellie as she jumped onto the sketchy elevator. I was aware that these things were carefully crafted so they wouldn’t fall, but I’ve seen how, with time, they waste away.
I wanted to wait until Ellie made it to safety before I made my way over to them. Call me paranoid, but too much weight and we all could be falling to our deaths.
Joel vaulted Ellie up to the door opening. When I was satisfied with that, I hopped down. The elevator made a few sounds of protest but steadied after a few seconds. It wasn’t until I got closer to Joel that I became uneasy.
Joel had just grabbed my hand when more creaking echoed off the walls. It was then that I became weightless and a falling sensation hit me. My gut dropped and it took me a split second to realize that I was actually falling.
“Mom!” Elie screamed as I hit the ground. No, it was water.
Pushing off the floor, I broke through the surface. I took a gulp of air. I splashed around trying to look for Joel who, I was pretty sure, fell with me. I only calmed down when I felt him grasp my shoulder.
“Oh my gosh, you’re okay!” I grabbed onto his shoulder.
“Yeah, you?”
“Yeah, I’m good.”
That’s when Ellie’s screaming reached us. “Mom? Joel? Anyone!”
Pulling away, Joel looked up at Ellie. “We’re alright!”
“Just a little disoriented and bruised!” I shouted. I knew she wouldn’t appreciate my humor but it’s how I keep myself from having a full-on episode.
Looking up, I could barely see Ellie. She had to lean out of the doorway to see Joel and me from where we swam. Her eyes were wide and I could guess that she was breathing hard.
“Are you okay?” I blurted out.
“No! You scared the shit out of me!” Ellie’s voice echoed off the walls.
Taking my eyes off Ellie for a second, I watched as Joel tried to find a way back up or just simply an exit. He swam a few feet away from me but it looked like there wasn’t much to find.
“I’m… I’m gonna climb down there, okay?”
“No!” Joel and I mimicked each other.
“Stay up there.” Joel looked to have found a way out. He motioned for me to come closer. “We’ll make our way up to you.” With that, Jole entered what I guessed was the hotel basement.
I gave one last glance at Ellie. I lifted my hand and shaped it to the “I love you” sign. I waited for her to sign back to me before I followed after Joel.
Chapter Summary: The three of of you get up to shenanigans while in the truck yet a series of unfortunate events cause the fun and games to end.
Pairing:Joel Miller x Reader (Eventually)
Warnings:Blood, gore, violence, swearing, my grammar.
Word Count: 4.3k
Author’s Note: This sucker is short. I didn’t get to writing it until Friday and then Sunday was a busy day. I tired to get it a little longer and I am content with the mere 4k words. I don’t know when the next one will be uploaded. As I said before, my internet is down and I can’t really do much. I am using my hotspot for this. That’s how I’m able to write, go to class, etc. Anyway, I hope you enjoy! Please comment and tell me what you guys think!
It was quiet at first. The only noises were the thunder in the background and the thrum of the truck. I kept my gaze on the trees while they blurred as we passed them. This reminded me of some nostalgic memories of old family road trips. I smiled.
“Well, this is exciting.” Ellie said after thirty minutes in the car.
I leaned back to glance at her, “You can put your headphones on. It makes things go by quicker.”
“How long is it gonna take?”
Joel let out a laugh. “It’ll be a couple of days. Might be more dependin’ on how crowded the roads are.”
“Uuuugh!”
“We can do stuff while we wait.” I voiced.
“Like what?”
“Well, I know a certain someone who has missed three weeks worth of school.”
Ellie let out a loud groan and flopped on the back seat. I knew she detested me right now. I couldn’t help it. I was a teacher. It’s in my nature. She needs to know this stuff, anyway.
“Are we going to do anything that’ll bring me any entertainment?”
“I have a few road trip games we can annoy Joel with.”
This time it was Joel’s turn to groan. “Please don’t.”
“We’ll see.”
I looked back at Ellie with a grin. She grinned back at me. After a few minutes, Ellie pulled out her Walkman and zoned everything out. The car filled with silence again.
I had no idea where we were going. Knowing it was going to take a few days, my guess was that Tommy lived somewhere on the west coast. It took a day’s trip to get from where I lived in Iowa, to Florida. So, where we were going must be clear on the opposite side of the country.
“Where is it we’re going exactly?” I asked.
Joel glanced at me. “Last I heard, Tommy was holed up somewhere in Jackson City.”
“Wyoming?”
“Yeah…”
“Well, damn. Okay. If, uh.. If you need a break from driving, I can drive while you rest. I know this shit can get tiring.” I flashed a reassuring smile to Joel. He nodded in response.
There was a moment of silence. “You said you taught Ellie how to drive?” Joel’s eyes glanced at me as I gave him a nod, “How d'you even learn to drive? You said you were fourteen when the world went to shit.”
“Oh, Um. Tess… uh, Tess taught me. It was the year I turned sixteen; I was bitching about how I wouldn’t get the chance to learn.” A lump formed in my throat and a few tears burned in my eyes. “So, uh… “ I cleared my throat, “She hot-wired a vehicle and taught me. Not that it was important. I didn’t really drive after that. Marlene had me drive once. And it was only to transport some supplies.”
Joel only nodded. “You said you knew Tommy?”
“Oh, boy.” I laughed as I wiped a few stray tears, “That’s a story.” I took a moment to gather my thoughts. “I guess Marlene thought we were decent watch partners because we always ended up paired together. Whenever she needed someone to help with scavenging, she would team me up with your brother. We shared so many dumbass stories. I know quite a bit about you and your exciting upbringing. You, sir, got into so much trouble.”
Joel let out a laugh, “Did he tell you about the one time our daddy’s truck ended up in the lake?” A small smile planted itself on Joel’s lips.
“Yes!” We shared a laugh, “Sounds like you had fun as a teen.”
The smile on his face grew. I watched as his eyes quickly flicked to his watch and back to the road. A few seconds passed and his smile slowly turned into a frown, ending our conversation.
x_x
“So, imagine that you’re this Roman soldier just casually guarding the Ebro when a rumbling starts. It shakes the earth. There are horns being blown, but they’re not like any horns you’ve ever heard. Out in the distance, a massive beast appears. It has tusks and a long trunk. A basket sits atop its back and there they are, the Carthaginians. What do the Romans do? They drop their little pointy sticks and run away. Thus, the start of the second Punic War.” I chuckled as I finished speaking.
“You’re joking?” Ellie asked with wide eyes and a grin plastered on her face.
“Nope.” I looked over at Ellie shaking her head. “What? I would run too. If I saw an elephant for the first time and it was charging straight toward me, I’d run away.”
“Pssh, I could take ’em”
“Sure, you could.” Joel chuckled.
“Uh, yeah I could.”
“Needless to say, Hannibal didn’t play around.”
Smiling, Ellie said, “Awesome.”
“Okay kiddo,” I shifted in my seat. “I’m all historied out.”
“Okay, I’m gonna try to get-” Ellie yawned, “Some sleep.”
“‘Kay.” I craned my head back to give her a smile.
A few minutes passed. I looked in the rear-view mirror to see that Ellie had laid down in the back seat. She was all curled up and her body moved with her gentle breaths. That was fast. Moving my gaze to Joel, I watched as he kept his eyes on the road. He still had a small smile on his face. Glad I could amuse the unamusable.
“What?” Joel glanced at me.
“Nothing. You look tired. You want me to take over?”
He shook his head. “No.”
“Ya sure? It’s no big deal.” I didn’t want to press too hard, but I knew he needed the sleep.
“Y/N, I got it. You should get some sleep.”
“You need it more than me.” I argued.
“Will you let it go?”
“I’m just looking out for you.”
“You don’t have to do that.” Joel shook his head.
“Well, you are the one who’s taking us across the country which is crawling with infected, hunters, and who know what else. I say I should make sure our guide is nice and rested just in case we were to be thrown into some deep shit. We kinda want you awake enough for that.”
A sight left Joel, “If I let you drive, will you leave it?”
“Yes.”
Joel grumbled under his breath as he pulled over. Leaving the car in park, we both got out and switched spots. I put the car into drive and we were off. It wasn’t five minutes later that I saw that Joel had passed out.
His eyes were closed. His head rested on his arm which he had pressed against the window. Joel looked peaceful. As do most people when they sleep.
I drove for what felt like an hour. Joel would make a few sounds in his sleep. There were even a few words I picked up on a lot of “No, don’ts” and “I’m sorrys”. What I wasn’t expecting from him was the occasionally calling out of Ellie’s name.
Suddenly, I jumped in the air. My knuckles gripped the steering wheel as I whipped my head back.
Ellie had exclaimed with an “Awe, man!”. Now she was sitting up with her head buried in a comic book.
Beside me, Joel ha jumped awake. His eyes were blown wide as he shouted something unintelligible. I looked towards at him and we made eye contact. Moving our attention to Ellie, we watched as she dropped her comic.
“What happened to sleepin’?” Joel said, annoyed that she interrupted his sleep.
Ellie scoffs, “Okay, I know it doesn’t look like it, but this here is not a bad read.” She lifted a comic that had SAVAGE STARLIGHT written on the cover. “Only one problem. Right there.” She pointed to the back cover, “To. Be. Continued! Ugh, I hate cliffhangers…”
Joel’s brows drew together, “Where did you get that?”
I laughed and he looked at me funny. I couldn’t look at him for too long; seeing how I had to switch back and forth between the road and whoever was talking.
“Uh… Back at Bills. I mean, all this stuff was just lying there.”
Joel let out a deep sigh, “What else did ya get?”
Ellie grinned when Joel didn’t lecture her. He looked at me and gave me a “really” face. I just shrugged with a chuckle.
“Well…” Ellie drew in Joel’s attention while I looked back at the road. “Here. Does this make you all nostalgic?”
I laughed when I saw a cassette tape in Ellie’s grasp. I didn’t think Joel was that old. He couldn’t be any older than his late forties.
“Y’know that was actually before my time.” Joel shook his head while taking it. He then chuckled, “That is a winner though.” Joel reached down and inserted the cassette tape into the radio.
An old country song played. I groaned. Country was one of the few genres I rarely listened to. Well… back when I had music to listen to.
“Oh, man…” Joel groaned.
I guess he didn’t like this sort of stuff. I would have thought coming from Texas, he’d enjoy country music. However, he did grow up in the eighties/nineties. He could be really into grunge, punk, and alternative. I hoped so. That shit was the good stuff.
“Well, it’s better than nothing.”
“Why don’t we try one of the tapes Joel found?” I looked in the rearview mirror at Ellie.
“Psssh, no! Those are sacred! They will only play in my Walkman.”
“Okay, okay. I was just asking.”
There was a moment of silence. Joel had laid his head back down. It rested on the headrest as he stared through the windshield. I switched my focus back on the road. That’s when Ellie thought to break the silence.
“Oh, I bet ‘your friend’ will be missing this tonight.” I could hear her shuffle through her bag. “It’s light on the reading, but it’s got some interesting photos.”
At that odd comment, Joel and I looked back at Ellie. I freaked out when I saw what she held. I didn’t see her grab that one!
“Now, Ellie, that ain’t for kids.”
“Ellie, give that to Joel. You don’t need to be looking at that!”
“Whoa! How… how the hell would he even walk around with that thing?” She showed a picture to Joel.
“Joel!” I shouted.
Joel reached back at Ellie, “Get rid of that! Just-”
“Hold your horses, I want to see what all the fuss is about.” She pulled back the magazine.
“Ellie Williams, you will get rid of that thing right now!”
“Oh, why are these all stuck together?” The truck went silent for a moment.
“Uh…”
“Oh, my gosh! Joel grab it from her!”
“I’m just fucking with you two!” Ellie rolled down her window and threw out the magazine. “Bye, bye dude!”
I took a deep sigh. That horrified me, and I was still trying to wrap my head around what just happened. What the actual hell? Whatever. It was done and over with. I couldn’t really do anything about it. Parenting was hard.
“Y’know what?” Ellie popped her head above the center console and listened to the music. “This isn’t that bad.” She reached through and turned up the music. What happened to her seat belt?
Scoffing, Joel voiced, “Why don’t you try to get some sleep, alright?”
“Pffft, I’m not even tired.” Ellie leaned back into the back seat.
x_x
Another half hour had passed and Ellie was passed out. I looked back at her occasionally in the rearview mirror. She was curled up facing the seat. I could see her body move as she took little breaths. I smiled at the sight.
Joel was still awake. I guess that little cat nap was just enough sleep for him. He stared straight ahead beside me. He was frowning but I just figured that was his resting bitch face.
“Did you get enough sleep?” I watched as he turned to face me.
“Don’t know. I just can’t fall asleep.”
“Okay… You wanna take over then? It’ll give you something to do.”
“If that’s what ya want.”
“Okay,”
I pulled over and we switched. Joel pulled back onto the road and I laid my head on the widow. A few minutes passed and my eyelids dropped. I was out like a light.
x_x
The truck slowly woke me up. We had entered a city. There weren’t any signs around to see which one. I didn’t think we had gotten any farther than Ohio. That would be impossible. Unless I had been asleep for that long. I doubt it though.
“Oh, no no no no.” Joel looked at the road ahead of us. Cars blocked the street.
The highway veered off into another direction, but it looked suspicious. Back when I was alone, I quickly learned what this could mean. The red flags were there. I met Joel’s gaze. He knew it too. We had to decide what to do next.
“Well, perfect.” Joel said, motioning to the mess in front of us.
“What are you thinking?”
“We could turn off here but it could be something we don’t want to run into.”
“That’s what I was thinking. You’re the one who knows this route. I say we turn around and go the other way.”
“But that would set us off another day.”
“I know, but at least we’d be safe.”
Joel blew air out of his nose. He looked back. Joel’s line of sight lingered there. He was thinking long and hard about what to do next. Looking back to me, we both stared at each other.
Behind us, Elie had woken up. With a yawn, she said, “Now what?”
I sighed and nodded at Joel. My eyes never left his.
Taking another deep breath, Joel said, “Screw it.”
Putting the car in reverse, he backed up until we were far enough to turn down the exit. I felt my muscles tense up. I was unsure of this, but I knew that if we got into trouble we could get out of it. I just needed to be ready.
Looking over at Joel, I could see that his knuckles had turned white. The muscles in his arm flexed as he drove. He felt the same way I did.
We drove for a few minutes. The downtown area here wasn’t as bad as Boston’s. The buildings here were still somewhat intact and the road looked less eroded. Looking back at Ellie, I watched as she examined the buildings we passed.
Suddenly, I was thrown forward. My seat belt thankfully kept me from hitting my head on the dashboard.
I glared at Joel. “Easy.”
“Please help!” A man holding his gut and walked a few feet ahead of us.
The “hurt” man didn’t seem like he was hurt. His clothes weren’t covered in blood, he was limping but it looked fake, his face didn’t even convey the right emotions. This man wasn’t hurt. This was a trap. I knew this shit was going to happen. Dammit Joel!
“Holy shit…” Ellie looked concerned. “Are we gonna help him?” She looked to me.
This wasn’t how I wanted her to find out. I knew that school didn’t teach those kids anything useful. Ellie had no clue what people were like outside the quarantine zone. I really wished this wasn’t how she found out.
Joel’s face got real dark. He glared at the man. I looked from Joel to Ellie.
“Put your seatbelt on, Ellie.” She flashed me a confused face.
“What about the guy?” Ellie’s seatbelt clicked once she had finished talking.
“Oh, he ain’t even hurt.” Joel wrapped both hands around the steering wheel. His eyes focused on the man.
I knew exactly what he was going to do. I gripped on to the door and the armrest. I felt fear sprout in my chest. Oh, here we go.
As Joel pressed on the gas pedal, the truck spurred forward. The velocity had my head smacking against the headrest. Ellie made a sound. I hoped she grabbed onto something.
“Oh, fuck! Go! Go! Go!” The man that feigned being hurt pulled out a gun. He shot a few rounds but they went straight through the windshield and out the back window. The three of us bent down to avoid the bullets.
A few more men had appeared. Some shot at us while the other chased after the truck. The man who was in front of us didn’t move as we headed straight for him. The hood collided with his body. He hit the windshield and then slid off the truck. I didn’t pay attention to where he landed because I was hyper-focused on where Joel was taking us.
“Jesus!” Joel shouted as he concentrated on the road ahead of him.
Some men popped out of nowhere and threw bricks at our windows. They shattered upon impact. I bent down to avoid the bricks that flew through the window.
A shriek came from the tires as Joel swerved to steer clear of the new arrivals. It wasn’t until we reached a four-way stop that we met something unavoidable. The men, hunters, led a massive bus down a hill. It came racing down right into my side of the truck. I shielded my face with my arms just before impact.
“Oh, not good!” Ellie shouted.
We skirted across the road with the force of the bus’s impact. Joel still had the wheel held tightly in his hands. He maneuvered us as best he could. We ended up crashing into what used to be a convenient store.
I groaned. Then Ellie crossed my mind. I was jumping up to look back at her. “Ellie?”
“I’m okay. I’m okay.”
I heard Joel groan beside me. I turned to him, “You good?”
“Yeah, you?” Joel groaned again.
My reply came out as a breathy, “Yes.”
“Then get out quick.”
As I undid my seatbelt, the door beside me opened. A hunter came out of nowhere and grabbed me. I struggled in his hold. My foot hooked onto the armrest which kept him from pulling me out of the truck. Joel tried reaching for me but another man came up and grabbed a hold of him. They dragged him out of my sight.
“Ellie! Grab Joel’s pipe!” Joel still had the pipe he found at Bill’s place. With the scissors still taped onto it, it would make a good enough weapon to fend off the motherfuckers.
“Let go of her, you chickenshit!” Ellie leaped out of the truck and buried the pipe into the hunter’s shoulder.
With the man distracted, I could get a hold of him. I dug my finger into his fresh wound. The hunter howled. Right as I was about to throw him to the ground, I heard Ellie scream.
While the hunter distracted me, I hadn’t noticed that another hunter had come up and snatched Ellie. He had dragged her to the front of the store. She was too far away for me to reach, and I was also being held down by my own personal attacker.
My head suddenly slammed into the floor. My forehead made an unpleasant crack. My sight became blurry and I experienced some vertigo. The room spun. It wasn’t until the man was flung off me that I snapped out of my daze. Joel, at some point, saved Ellie and moved to subdue my attacker.
“C’mon, catch your breath. We’re leavin’.” Joel tossed me my bag once I stood up.
I slipped it on right as a bullet zipped past me. I crouched down. Five more hunters hurtled over the bus that had previously crashed into us. I scoffed. How many of these shits were in the area?
Joel and I picked them off one by one. Ellie hung back and blended into the background. Taking down the last hunter, Joel cleaned off his shiv.
“Alright, I think that’s the last of ‘em. You okay?” Looking at Ellie, Joel scanned her for any wounds.
“Yeah, I guess so.”
Joel nodded at Ellie. He then walked over to me. I watched as he eyed my temple. With a frown, Joel pulled out a cloth. He poured some alcohol on it. With one hand carefully holding my head, the other reached up and dabbed the cloth on my forehead. It stung a bit.
The stinging quickly became the last of my concerns when I lost my balance. I got woozy and the room spun again. I think it was safe to say that I at least had a mild concussion.
“Whoa.” Joel steadied me. “You good?”
“I’m breathing. That’s what’s important.”
“Okay…” Joel’s voice came out unsure as he eyed me. “Alright, we need to get the hell out of here. You know the drill. Look around. See if there’s anything we can use.” Finally releasing me, Joel’s hands fell limp at his sides.
“Roger that.” Sighed Ellie.
We searched high and low. Finding smaller things here and there, we slowly migrated out of the convenient store. Joel walked over to the next building while I looked for an exit.
It didn’t take me long. On the far left was an old garage door. This typically meant that we’d find an exit through here. I can imagine this would be the way out.
“Joel, I found the way out.”
“M’kay, gimme just a second.”
Ellie made her way to me. She was fiddling with something. I looked over to see that she was holding another comic book. It looked to be the same series she had stolen from Bill’s.
“What ya got there, girlfriend?”
“Oh, Joel found it. I’ve been flipping through it and it looks awesome.”
I smiled at her, “Okay, note to self: be on the lookout for those comics. That shouldn’t be too hard since we sneak through a shit ton of shops and houses.”
“Ready to go, ladies?” Joel questioned, interrupting our conversation.
“Yes, I want to get out of here!” Ellie groaned while looking up at the sky.
Joel struggled to get the door up, I stepped up and helped him lift it. Joel urged Ellie to go through and find something to hold the door open for us. Even with the two of us, the metal door’s weight was too heavy for us to hold up.
“Um, there’s some pretty gnarly stuff in here.”
“Ellie!” Joel and I shouted.
“Right.”
There was some shuffling around before a metal table with wheels pushed through the gap. Joel and I dropped the door. I paused to make sure it would hold. Joel had already dropped down and shuffled through the opening. When I was sure it was alright, I crouched and snuck through.
The door we entered was utterly disgusting. There were two tables that displayed rotting corpses. Piles of clothing were strewn about the room. The smell was the worst part. I gagged.
“Fuckin’ hunters. See, this could’ve been us.”
“Man, that’s a lot of people that didn’t make it.” As she spoke, Ellie lifted a shoe from a pile.
I shook my head as I looked away from her. I let out a deep sigh as I turned to Joel, “I told you to turn the damn truck around.”
“I know that, dammit.” Joel hissed at me through his teeth.
Trying to break up whatever was about to start, Ellie chimed in. “At least we lived.”
“Barely.” I interjected.
Joel sighed as he walked past me, “C’mon, let’s get out of here.”
Opening a door on the far wall, Joel nudged his head towards the opening. Ellie followed him. I was right behind her.
As always, there was another fight of stairs. However, it looked like we didn’t have too many to climb. There was at least one good thing in this complete mess.
“How did you know?” Ellie suddenly asked.
Looking back at her, Joel raised an eyebrow. “‘Bout what?”
“About the ambush?”
“I’ve been on both sides.” Joel sighed.
“Oh,”
So my suspicions were correct. I knew he must have done some kind of shit. What Bill had said only made me wonder. This just confirmed it. Joel was a hunter.
I knew that Tommy said he had done some shit as well. He never went into too much detail, but I’m pretty sure he was with Joel while he was a hunter. That only made me believe that Tess was one too.
Man, shit when down for her. Not that what we were doing was any better. Aimlessly wandering the country with nowhere to go isn’t exactly my kind of paradise. It was better than this, though. I wonder what Tess would have thought. I frowned.
We made it to the top of the stairs. Joel opened another door, which led to a hallway. In that hallway, another room contained beds and cots. This was where these guys slept. There were quite a few supplies here and Joel swiped them up. He passed me a few things.
“So, ah… you kill a lot of innocent people?” Ellie sounded unsure. I knew she didn’t want to push the man. He wasn’t very “sharing is caring” about his past.
Joel only grunted. I held back a chuckle. I knew he wasn’t going to be too keen about Ellie’s question. So, in Joel fashion, he only answered with a grunt.
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
“Take it however you want.”
There was a brief pause as Ellie examined the room. Her eyes lingered on the mattresses that lay on the ground.
“I guess this is where the assholes sleep. I mean slept.”
Moving on outside, the sight of a burning pile of bodies welcomed us. It stank of burnt flesh. I thought the smell of blood was bad, this smell had the other one beat. This time my gag reflex came at my with full force. I actually had to prevent myself from throwing up.
This wasn’t something I saw or smelt regularly. It was mostly new to me as it was Ellie. I felt as if Joel was judging me. But I would slap him upside the head if he said anything.
Ellie shielded her eyes from the sun as she groaned. “I don’t think these guys were infected.”
“It don’t matter. Let’s keep moving.”
Leading the way, Joel walked up some more stairs. We were right around roof level. Out in the distance, we could see a yellow bridge. Joel pointed to it.
“Alright, there’s the bridge: that’s our way out of here.”
Ellie didn’t even stop to look, she was vaulting herself over the railing. She landed on a roof below us.
“Hey, Ellie! Slow down. Wait for us.” Joel yelled after her. He shook his head as he looked at me. I cracked a smile. I got a scoff in return.
The works I’ve written for Joel are getting considerably longer, so I think it’s time that he deserves his very own masterlist 18+ content. No minors please. All Digital Art Credit Goes to @maysdigitalarts
If you are into Joel Miller, as i am, these stories are incredible!!! you can hear his voice so clearly!! sexy as hell are some of the scenes and the rest is just bloody good storytelling from the very talented Chloe.
Notes: That’s the end! Thank you so much for reading this story. Your words have meant so much to me and have inspired me to continue writing. I have another fic planned, but I’d love to hear from you guys! What do you want to see next? If you want to see anything at all lol. I’m open to ideas or requests! Thanks for sticking around to see how this ends. Hope you’re satisfied. <3
March 2, 2038
The weather in Jackson is less than desirable. The air is cool and frosty, and the grounds are covered in a sparkling, white blanket of snow. The scenery is gorgeous. Everything looks magical underneath the early morning lights. But it’s wet and cold, and Bay’s nose is all red from the freezing winds.
Pictures do not belong to me! And I apologise for the quality.
Pairing: Joel Miller x F!Reader (Y/N insert)
WC:10k
Summary:18+. No Minors!! Love at first sight between characters. Smut. Unprotected PIV. Oral (both F & M receiving) Semi-public sex. The Last Of Us AU. Ellie isn’t present but Sarah is. Young single father Joel (twenty one years old).
AN: Wow! I really didn’t mean for this to be a big oneshot. Just had this one particular scene in my head and wrote everything else around it. I hope you enjoy this one, my loves. It feels nice to be writing for our man Joel again.
A two week vacation was needed in Joel’s life; he longed for a break with his family.
One year after the thought had popped into his mind one night when reading a story book to his young daughter Sarah, he had gotten that break with his family, but with one small problem. His younger brother Tommy is the replacement for his ex-girlfriends absence.
Marianne had left Joel just eight weeks before they were due to fly out, and instead of cancelling the holiday like he wanted to, Tommy suggested that he step in and take her place instead. The vacation has been booked for six months, but Joel has prepared, planned and saved up money for a lot longer than that, and the younger Miller was not about to watch his only brother let it go because of the sudden separation. Joel needs this break now more than ever, Tommy is just the helping hand that the single father may want or need during his time on the Sanibel Islands of Florida.
Slouched back into his cushioned chair with the table too far to reach with the weight of his three year old daughter in his arms, Joel winces each time he shifts his position, daring not to wake his little baby girl as she sleeps peacefully. It’s been a long day, a few long days actually, and Sarah has been struggling to come to terms with the recent separation of her parents. Her sleep schedule, as well as Joel’s, has been affected by this, so the man simply didn’t want to wake her up and possibly cause a temper tantrum - something she has mastered to do lately.
Slouched back into his cushioned chair with the table too far to reach with the weight of his three year old daughter in his arms, Joel winces each time he shifts his position, daring not to wake his little baby girl as she sleeps peacefully. It’s been a long day, a few long days actually, and Sarah has been struggling to come to terms with the recent separation of her parents. Her sleep schedule, as well as Joel’s, has been affected by this, so the man simply didn’t want to wake her up and possibly cause a temper tantrum - something she has mastered to do lately.
Accepting defeat, he gave up trying to reach for his cup of Joe and looked down to his daughters resting face. She needed this more than he needed a gulp of his favourite hot beverage. Barely sleeping a wink last night, Sarah stayed up late to ask the same endless amount of questions about why her mommy didn’t love her daddy anymore. How could anyone explain that to a three year old child? Joel struggled to answer it, and so did Marianne eight weeks ago when he asked her.
Undisturbed sleep was a blessing as of late, so Joel cherished how peaceful his daughter was in this moment… until a good Samaritan appeared - the helping hand Joel may want or need. “Hey.” She whispers - she, not Tommy. “I don’t want to intrude, but I saw you trying to reach for your coffee and thought I could help out.”
Joel just stared at her.
He stared at the kindness in her eyes, at the warm smile on her lips and he zoned out on the sincerity in her voice, unbelieving of her offering. She is beautiful, like an angel sent down from above and he couldn’t believe a girl his age with her beauty was even sparing a moment of her time with him. Looking like a deer seeing headlights, he heard everything she said but couldn’t quite muster up an answer. She was actually offering her help? With my child?
The looks he had from people on this vacation thus far were of disgust and judgment, especially when Sarah would have a screaming match over something minor. Some express a look of empathy, as if they understand what he is going through being a young single parent, others look at him suspiciously, like a man can’t be a father.
As more time passed during his silence, he realized that he had to say something, he can’t just keep looking at this woman like she had just said something crazy. “Um… Okay?” He managed to utter between nervous chuckles. “Sure.”
The lady’s smile grew wider and with a curt nod of her head, she took a seat on the chair beside him. “She must have had a fun day in the sun, huh?” The woman asked, gesturing to Sarah as she leaned forward to grab Joel’s cup of coffee for him.
“Um, yeah, she did.” Joel nodded timidly, still infatuated by her smile. Gently taking the cup from her, his fingers brushing against her soft hands as she slowly helped him hold a tight grip on the handle, he finally snapped out of his shyness and spoke confidently. “Thank you for helping me, kind stranger.” Her giggles were cute, the sound delectable to his ears that bloomed a warmth across his chest. How can laughter sound so sweet? He asks himself.
“Sorry, I didn’t introduce myself, did I?” Extending her hand with an apology, she then quickly pulled it back when releasing he can’t shake it. “I’m Y/F/N.”
“Joel Miller.” They laughed together at her mistake before he looked down at his daughter. “This is my Sarah. It’s really nice to meet you Y/N.”
“Hm, likewise.” She smiled again while brushing a piece of hair behind her ear, which Joel focused on more than what he should have. Y/N is beautiful, he took note of that immediately, however there are many beautiful women on this island and many of them that look at him funny, or don’t look at him at all. Her simple gesture had affected him deeply, in ways he didn’t think would. And he doesn’t want that feeling to go away either. Keep the conversation going, don’t be awkward. Joel cleared his throat, diminishing his inner monologue before asking. “So how are you liking it here? On the island?”
“Oh, I love it!” Y/N beamed. Looking around herself and gesturing to everything with her hands before, she looked back at Joel. “They have all kinds of things to do here, it’s just endless amounts of fun everyday.”
As she went on to speak about all of the activities that the island has to offer, Joel noticed how she made the effort to suggest some family activities for Sarah too. Another small, probably meaningless gesture, but he took it to heart, appreciating the fact that she included his sleeping daughter into the conversation rather than overlooking her.
Joel is a young man, only twenty one years old, and he loves his daughter very much. She was a surprise baby, unplanned but a blessing in his life that had changed his attitude massively. He wouldn’t be able to act foolishly and get wasted on the weekends, but he didn’t mind that. He walked into parenthood ready for all of the obstacles, but being a single parent was the hard obstacle and while all of those many pretty women he sees on the island - around his age - give him funny looks, he is appreciative of Y/N being the only one who didn’t.
“Gosh! Listen to me talking away about myself.” Y/N laughed, shaking her head. “I’m sorry. What about you? How have you and your family been enjoying your vacation so far? I saw you checking in with another man.” Oh, she’s seen me around? That piqued Joel’s interest.
“That’s my younger brother, Tommy, who’s in bed sleeping right now.” He chuckled, thinking about how much Tommy had to drink last night in the room. “I suppose we’re still settling in. We’ve been here two days now and I haven’t taken Sarah outside of the hotel yet. She’s just enjoying the pool a lot.”
“Ah, I see.” Y/N nodded through his words. “If you wanted to I could sho-” Just as she was about to suggest something, the waiter interrupted by bringing out the food that Joel ordered. Two burgers with fries and a small portion of onion rings.
Thanking the waiter, Joel reluctantly pulled himself up to properly sit straight in his seat, cradling the back of Sarah’s head as he expressed a thin lipped smile to Y/N. “I’m gonna have to wake her up. I don’t really want to but she hasn’t eaten anything since breakfast.”
“Of course.” Y/N nodded. Pulling back from her seat, she didn’t want to intrude any more than what she had and stood with a reassuring smile. “I’ll leave you both to eat. Bye Joel, it was nice chatting with you.”
“You too.” He replied, hoping to see her again at some point during his stay here. “Thanks again for helping me out.”
“It’s my pleasure.” She said as she left, leaving Joel wanting more. The man has missed having a connection with someone; something that he has lacked in his intimate life with his ex-girlfriend for a long time now. The encounter was brief, but he already knew he would be thinking about it for the rest of the day. Hell, probably the rest of this vacation.
Turning his attention back to Sarah, he was just about to gently call her name before Tommy finally decided to make an appearance. “Hey, Joel.” He walked across the floor, weaving in and out of the tables, rubbing his tired sunken eyes. “Sorry bro, you should have woken me up.”
“And you should have taken a shower.” Joel retorted, scrunching his nose with the smell of alcohol lingering around Tommy still. “Don’t worry about it. You needed your sleep.”
“Looks like someone else does too.” Tommy sat down, expressing a sympathetic look towards Sarah. “How is she doing?”
Tommy is close with his brother, he knows the troubles that they’ve been through, hears the cries late in the night from Sarah about their parents and he hoped this vacation would be the break that the little one needed just as much as his older brother did.
“She’s good. Really good actually and she’s had a lot of fun this morning.” Joel looked down at her, preparing to wake her up with a gentle shake. “Hey baby, wake up. Your foods ‘waitin here for ‘yer.”
Slowly peeling her eyes open, her face recoiled with annoyance for being woken up and Joel began to sway gently while whispering. “Oh but Tommy is going to eat all of your lunch and we don’t want that do we?” He gasped exaggeratedly to the child and pointed to his brother. “Oh my. Look, he’s stealing your French fries.”
Sarah turned her head to see her uncle reaching for her plate, a menacing smile on his face that she mirrored before shooting her hand out with a stern voice. “No! My French fries.”
“Ok!” Quickly tossing his hands up in the air, he held one hand over his heart and apologized. “I’m sorry. You were sleeping, so I thought I could take one sneakily.”
The brothers smiled to each other as they watched Sarah shift her position to sit on Joel’s knee and pull her plate closer to eat. These gamesome tactics were always a hit or miss, but this time using childish voices and pretending that Tommy was a food thief worked to get her awake and eating without the screaming match. Joel didn’t mind, nor did his brother, as long as it meant she was happy and content.
“Here.” Joel offered, pushing his plate to the middle of the table and pointing to the plate of onion rings. “You’ll be starving, Tommy. We’ll share.”
“You can share with me, daddy.” Sarah offered. Looking up to her dad and bringing a fry up to his lips, he smiled brightly and opened his mouth to take a bite. “Mmm, thank you, babygirl.”
“Daddy?” She asked just as Joel was about to talk to Tommy. Pulling his attention back, he looked down again with another smile. ”Yes, baby?”
“Who is Y/N?” That question took him by surprise, he didn’t think Sarah could hear their conversation but he had no problem telling the story to his child about how a kind woman named Y/N helped him out, a story that even Tommy was intrigued to hear but was smiling like a goof the whole way through, a smirking smile that Joel knew the meaning behind.
“Stop that.” Joel laughed, his cheeks filling a crimson peak in color. “It was nothing. She just helped me grab my coffee.”
“Mhm.” Tommy hummed, still smiling. “Keep telling yer’self that brother.”
Joel didn’t reply to that comment, because he knows it was true. Telling himself that it was nothing is a lie, it meant everything to him and he wished that he could have another five minutes chatting with Y/N, wherever she may be.
-
The hope of seeing Y/N again slowly began to dwindle as the days rolled by without an appearance, but Joel did end up taking Sarah outside of the hotel and he took her to one of the places that Y/N suggested, the zoo way up in the mountains.
The fun that his daughter had was everything he wanted for her and the pictures they now have would serve a life long term of memories, stories to tell when she is older and may not remember the time a monkey was sitting on her shoulder, or when her little hands reached over the railings to rub an elephant’s trunk, or even the look on her face when she saw the giraffes up close, leaning down and taking food from the palm of her hand. These moments would live in Joel’s mind forever, and Tommy’s too, but the photos were for his daughter, for when she is older.
Joel would love to make copies to send to Sarah’s mother too, however he doesn’t know where she is. The last time he saw Marianne was the day she dropped Sarah off, five days before their vacation. Unanswered calls and texts is all he has had so far, and he now fears the worst when even her parents can’t answer the question on where she is. Sharing this information to Tommy, the man sort of acts like Joel’s personal diary as of late, a shoulder to lean on, someone to vent to, he doesn’t mind and Joel is thankful that he has his brother during this time.
Their parents are too old to be running around after a child, they’re eight years into retirement now and happily living in Waco Texas, not too far at all, just an hour and half drive in the car but Tommy is two houses down from Joel, which provides as a huge help when he has errands to run or if he has a late shift at work and Sarah needs picking up from preschool. The man is now thinking about all of these things because what he fears the most is that Marianne won’t ever come back.
These are all the thoughts that burdens his mind during their taxi drive back to the hotel, Sarah laying in Tommy’s arms fast asleep and Joel looking down to his phone, at the last text message he received from her mother the night before they flew out here to Florida. ‘Have lots of fun and take care of your babygirl.’ Shouldn’t she say ourbabygirl?
How could have I missed that?
Snapping his phone shut, Joel sighs heavily and looks out the window, watching cars pass by to take his mind off things as his leg begins to tap with worry. The hotel isn’t too far away, he remembers passing some of these stores on the way out and all he wants now is to take a long soak under the shower, to wash away the day’s sweat and stress. “Hey.” Tommy called out, noticing his brother’s anxious state. “You want me to take Sarah for the evening, so you can have a rest?”
“No, Sarah’s okay.” Joel replied in a grumble. “It’s her fucking mom that’s getting on my nerves.”
As the car stopped at an intersection, the sound of Tommy’s voice suggesting to take Sarah to watch the nightly entertainment that the hotel provides was drowned out. Joel couldn’t focus on him, he wouldn’t focus at all as he saw Y/N walking along the sidewalk, struggling to carry two heavy bags in each hand. “Yeah. Actually, yeah.” Joel unclips his seatbelt and opens the door. “I’m going to walk back to the hotel, will you be ok?”
“Yes. Yes. Of course.” Tommy practically shooed him out the door but called out to Joel, pulling his attention back to the rolled down window. “Wait, tell me something. Is that Y/N over there?”
Joel only smiled before he dug into his pocket, pulling out a small bundle of bills and passing them to his brother. “For the cab and anything you or Sarah want. I’ll see you at the entertainment tonight.”
“No you won’t.” Tommy winked. Pocketing the fold of bills, he waved his brother goodbye just as the light turned green and the car started to move again. Joel turned and broke out into a light jog to catch up to Y/N, before slowing down again as he approached. “Hey. Need a hand?”
“Oh god!” She jumped. Turning quickly and dropping two of the bags to hold a hand across her chest, Joel cringed for startling her but she laughed. “You scared me… Um, yeah sure. I’d like that, thanks Joel.”
“You heading towards the hotel?” He asked while bending down to grab the bags. When he stood, he reached out for the other two in her other hand, noticing that her knuckles were turning white from the weight, but she refused. “Yes I am and it’s okay. I’ll carry these.” Joel would have insisted, but she cocked her head for him to follow, leaving him no choice.
“So, where have you been today?” She questioned, striking up a conversation to talk about while they walked, which he had great pleasure in answering. “The zoo. Up in the mountains.”
Joel was delighted by watching her beam once again, seeing her face light up with joy upon telling her how he and his brother had taken Sarah to the zoo, and about how much fun she had. “I have pictures, if you’d like to see them?”
“Oh yes, please. I’d love to.” She nodded. Walking briskly with excitement in each step as the hotel was nearing, Joel chuckled and picked up his pace to stay close by. “We can look at them together over a coffee.”
The man’s breath was snatched from his lungs as he watched her eyes gleam, biting her bottom lip with the suggestion. “Ok. That sounds great.”
Joel is a good looking young man and he knows he possesses the gentlemen charm to be able to woo a lady over, but seeing that Y/N looks smitten over him brought an onslaught of mixed emotions. Suppose he could say that it was in that moment that it really struck him of the situation he was in.
Fresh out of a relationship and a single father raising his young child, he hasn’t really thought about the future of his dating life, so it’s a scary exciting experience sharing a coffee with Y/N. It’s just a coffee though, not a date. Although, he can’t help but feel like it’s a date.
Arriving at the front entrance of the hotel, he kept trying to tell himself to not look too much into things, to not let his emotions get in the way of making a friend as they walked into the cafeteria together. Y/N handed her two bags to Joel and insisted that she pay for the drinks. “Would you mind finding a table and setting my bags down?”
“Sure, but I’d like to pa-” he tried to protest but she only smiled and shook her head. “M-hm, nope. I got this one.”
Once again, Joel’s breath was snatched from his lungs as exhaled a shaky ‘okay’ to Y/N before walking off to find a table. It’s been a while since he has felt special, for someone else to sweep him off his feet. His dating skills must be rusty because now he is having a hard time with identifying the signals, he definitely can’t tell whether this is a date or not. She said ‘this one’. Does that imply there would be more coffee dates? The man hopes it does as he finds himself wishing for more and more time to spend with her.
Taking a seat at the table, Joel quickly fixes his hair, straightens out his shirt - ignoring the ice cream stain from earlier - and checks his breath while watching Y/N talking to one of the barmen, ordering two white fluffy coffees. Though, he felt a tingle in his crotch as his gaze lowered to the back of her legs.
Toned and tanned, they shimmered under the light as her flowery white dress flowed loosely over her figure. Joel seriously downplayed how pretty Y/N was, the woman was elegant. Literally glowing, she is a goddess and her smile was piercing his heart as she turned to face him. Instantly mirroring her expression, his face relaxed as his shoulders sank before he stood, pulling a chair out for her to which she thanked him for the gesture before he took a seat again.
“Here we go.” Joel muttered as he pulled his phone out and opened up the camera roll of pictures. “I have better ones on a Nikon camera but I also took pictures on my phone. Just cycle through them if you’d like.”
“Okay.” Y/N leaned in close, holding the phone out so Joel could look at the pictures too, which he liked, even though he took them, he appreciated that she wanted him to look at them with her.
Her giggles were music to his ears when seeing the first picture of Tommy and Sarah pulling funny faces in the back seat of a cab. Joel really documented every moment of the day they spent out at the zoo as Y/N felt like she was there with them through the pictures.
The waiter came over with the two coffees and set them down on the table, and Joel reached for his while Y/N continued looking through the pictures. She watched the adventure unfold as Joel’s family arrived at the zoo, walked through the exhibits and took many photos with all of the animals. Her face would light up more and more each time she saw Sarah getting excited with each and every animal, but Joel noticed how her brows furrowed slightly before she asked. “Did you not get in any of the photos? Or were you the cameraman all day?”
“Yeah, there’s a few here.” He leaned in close, placing his elbows to the table and pointing to the phone screen. “You’ll see some of them. Tommy used the Nikon camera and I used my phone. He has the best pictures with better quality group photos that we took.”
“Oh that’s sweet.” She says, turning her head to look in his eyes. “I’d love to see those too.”
Joel gulped in that moment of proximity, her face an inch away from his own, he could feel her breath blowing against his face and he watched her eyes dart down to his lips before she turned to look at the phone again, erupting into a fit of giggles when the pictures of the zoo had finished and she moved onto a candid picture of the man fast asleep with make-up on his face. Sarah’s handy work last week at home in Texas.
“Ah, shit.” He blushed, palming a hand across his face to hide his embarrassment. Though, Y/N still laughed sweetly at the sight before gently nudging his side to reassure. “You look beautiful Joel, so very handsome.”
That seemed to make him blush even more. Running his hand around to the scruff of his neck, he rubbed at the skin awkwardly while chuckling to Y/N, who was transfixed on the photo. Joel watched as her eyes drank in the image, roaming every inch of the screen to picture the moment they shared. “Joel.” She whispered, finally tearing her eyes away to look at him again. “Can I be rude and ask a personal question?”
He sighed softly. “Where’s her mama?” When she nodded, expressing a sympathetic smile, he huffed dryly and shrugged. “Right now, I don’t know exactly. The last time I saw her was ten days ago, and the last text was the night before I flew out here.”
“I’m sorry.” She blurted. Whether or not she understood the weight and severity of the situation, Y/N wanted to express how terrible she felt for asking. “I shouldn’t have… It’s not my business Joel, and I understand if you don’t want to tell me these things.”
“It’s okay. I get it.” He reassured, rolling his lips together. “People get curious.”
“But you should know,” She added quickly before he could say anything else. “I only ask because you seem like a great guy and a wonderful father. I found it hard to imagine you not having a pretty lady at your side-” cutting herself off with a shy laugh, she covered her face before admitting. “I actually thought your brother was your partner at first.”
Joel now erupted into a fit of laughter, the sound coming deep from his stomach as he shook his head. “Oh wow. You didn’t?”
“Yes.” She cowered, closing her eyes and shaking her head too before laughing with him. “I really did and I’m sorry.”
Joel took a moment to reply. He thought carefully, hoping that he wasn’t overstepping as he asked. “I’d forgive you if you let me take you out for a drink?”
“I can’t.” Ouch.He cringed with the rejection. I definitely missed the signals, damn Joel, you ass. Scratching the back of his head as he began to apologize, Y/N cut him off by placing her hand to his arm. “Joel? Are you blind?”
Seeing her brows furrowed with an amused look on her face made the man confused, he was at a loss for what she was talking about until she leaned back and began pulling the fabric tight over her round tummy. “I can’t drink alcohol, Joel, but maybe we could do something else?”
“Oh.”He breathed deeply. The tension started loosening in his shoulders again as he realized that Y/N is pregnant. “I guess I am blind.” He laughed with relief, looking up into her eyes again before holding his hand out. “May I?”
When she nodded, giving him permission to touch her stomach, Joel had the pleasure of watching her eyes close with the touch of his hand gently laying across her tummy. Round and firm to the touch, he felt a pang of nostalgia for the baby bump days, missing the months he spent getting prepared for the arrival of Sarah. “How far along?” He asked, reluctantly pulling his hand back. Joel wanted to caress her bump but that would be too much, too weird.
“Nearly six months now.” Opening her eyes with a smile, she held two hands across her stomach and shared. “My um… My partner passed away five months ago. A week later I found out I was pregnant.”
Joel’s heart sank with that. A pain stabbed his gut and he instantly reached out for her hand, to which she took and keened at the touch of his fingers caressing her knuckles. “I am so sorry, Y/N. Truly. I can’t imagine what you’re going through.”
“Thank you, Joel.” She smiled, although her eyes screamed agony before giving his hand a quick squeeze to let go. “I’m okay. I’m working through it and getting ready for my little girl to get here. This is just a little break for me, my last vacation for a long while.”
“I understand.” He nodded, then smiled. “A little girl though, huh?” He looked down to her small baby bump then back to her eyes again. “No wonder I couldn’t tell. I’ve heard boys like to take up extra room.”
“Hm.” She laughed, agreeing. “Me too.”
“Would you like to join me and my family tonight? We’re going to watch the show they’re putting on for the kids?” Joel asked, wanting a re-do of asking her out on a date. His chest swelled with pride when she nodded, replying with a clear ‘yes’.
After finishing up their coffees and leaving a tip for the waiter, Y/N stood and reached for her bags but Joel acted quickly, grabbing all four of them for her and cocking his head for her to lead the way. “No buts. I’ll carry them for you.”
“Ooh, you let me carry them before though.” She joked, shaking her head. “Hm, shame on you Joel. Leaving a pregnant woman to carry two heavy bags on her own.”
He defended himself as they walked towards the elevator. “Well, I wouldn’t have if I had known you were pregnant, darlin’.” She smiled at the term of endearment. Joel saw how her cheeks bloomed a rosy red as she brushed a piece of hair behind her ear.
“What floor?” he asked as they both stepped inside and she answered by pressing number two. “That’s not too bad. We’re on the tenth, far too high for my liking when Sarah goes out onto the balcony.”
“I get that. I can barely go out on mine.” She laughed, telling Joel how she has a fear of heights. When the elevator dinged and the doors opened, he followed her out down the hallway until she stopped at room 101. “So, what time would you like me to meet you downstairs?”
“Um, well I need a shower and some food so lets say 7pm?” He suggested to which she agreed. Opening up her door and taking the bags from Joel, she thanked him for helping her out but he was taken by surprise when she leaned up on the tips of her toes to kiss his cheek. Sparks flew as he felt her lips grazing against the stubble on his cheeks and the temptation to steal a kiss on her lips was strong, but he held back, wanting Y/N to direct the pace. If his dating skills weren’t so rusty, misreading her signals, and she wasn’t pregnant, he would be more dominant and steal that kiss on her lips.
“I’ll see you later, darlin’.” Joel pulled back, knowing that if he stayed close any longer he would have struggled to say goodbye. Y/N’s natural perfume was intoxicating, he could feel the warmth radiating off her and he wanted to hold her close, bury his nose into her hair and inhale deeply before brushing the strands out of the way to pepper kisses along her neck.
Quickly walking away with a waving goodbye, he held a hand over his crotch to hide his semi-growing erection. Joel’s heart was thumping in his ears with shame. It’s been a while since he’s had a raging uncontrollable boner from such little touch. From a kiss, a simple kiss to his cheek has rendered the man weak in his knees and the quicker he gets to his room the better, he needs a cold shower to rid himself of the crude thoughts that he’d like to do to her.
How can he lie to himself or Tommy that the simple gesture from Y/N helping him out with his coffee meant nothing when he is clearly head over heels for this woman? Especially after their coffee date and the kiss on his cheek moments ago.
But, the most important thing is, would Sarah like her company too?
-
Seven o’clock on the dot, Joel sat in his seat beside Tommy and Sarah, glancing at the doors every few minutes hoping to see Y/N walking through. Music was playing through the two large speakers on the stage and the entertainers were behind the curtains, getting dressed to put on a show for the kids.
Joel needed a drink to calm his nerves. His leg was tapping again, not from annoyance, but from anxiety. Dating was one thing but dating as a father was something else. Sarah knows that a friend will be joining them tonight and she didn’t say anything about it, didn’t object or approve, just simply shrugged and went back to playing with her dolls while he plaited her hair.
He hopes this isn’t too soon, for him or his daughter. Bringing another woman into the equation, whether it be a long term thing or short term fling can be very confusing for Sarah at her age. The man just hopes he isn’t doing anything wrong, that he is still being a good father while possibly pursuing something with Y/N.
After some time had passed staring into oblivion with his overwhelming thoughts, he didn’t hear the woman calling his name until she approached and placed a hand to his shoulder, startling him. “Oh.” She gasped, placing a hand over her mouth to stifle her laughter before leaning in to speak into his ear over the music. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“It’s okay.” He chuckled. Lifting a hand off the table to hold her arms, he pecked her cheek quickly and said. “Let’s say it payback for scaring you today, huh?”
Rolling her eyes as she pulled back, she looked at Tommy and Sarah with a bright smile. Tommy stood, extending a hand and leaned in to greet her. “Hey. I’m Tommy. It’s nice to meet the gal my brother won’t shut up about.”
“Y/N.” She laughed as her cheeks blushed for a second time today. Pulling away, she walked around the table before kneeling to the floor to greet Sarah. “Hi Sarah. My name is Y/N, it’s nice to finally meet you. Your dad has told me a lot of great things about you.”
Seeing the young girl lower her head, a melancholic look on her face as she fidgeted with her fingers was a saddening sight to see, for everyone present at the table, Joel especially, however Y/N had an idea to gently ease her way into the greeting. “Hey, what do you say about us going to get a front row seat at the stage? I heard that Goofy is going to be on tonight.”
Sarah perked up with that, nodding her head excitedly with a smile, Y/N reached for her hand, which she took, and helped her off the seat before beckoning Joel and Tommy to follow. “C’mon.”
The men stood and followed without question, weaving in and out of the tables, but Y/N didn’t like how tight it was to walk with Sarah so she picked her up to carry instead.
The sight brought an overjoyed smile to Joel’s face, seeing his daughter perched on Y/N’s hip as she wrapped her arms around her back and even Tommy shared a look of surprise, happy to see that his niece seemed at ease with Y/N’s presence.
When they reached the only available table at the front, discarding the piece of paper that had reserved written on it, Y/N asked Sarah where she would like everyone to sit, leaving her to decide what she feels is most comfortable.
Opting to sit in between her dad and uncle, Y/N took position beside Joel. His daughter cuddled into his side, wrapping an arm across his stomach and waited patiently for the show to start. Joel rested his hand on her back before bringing his other up and over Y/N’s shoulder as he whispered into her ear. “Thank you.”
Y/N looked down to see Sarah’s smiling face looking back up at her as she replied to the man. “It’s my pleasure, Joel. Your daughter is beautiful.” Their attention was drawn to the music quieting and the lights being dimmed as the show began.
“Won’t someone come over and complain about us taking this table?” Joel worried, but Y/N eased his thoughts by telling him that she was the one who reserved the table. “After you left me earlier, I called down to the front desk. I saw that Sarah has a goofy backpack so I thought she’d like to see him up close.”
“Damn, I didn’t even think about that. Thank you, darlin’.” Kissing her cheek once more, this time he drew it out longer, dragging his bearded lip across the skin, sparking a trail of goose bumps. Joel did that purposely, he knew what sort of reaction she would feel, and he saw it for himself, seeing her body shiver with the sensation as she leaned into his touch.
The characters came out on stage, jumping around enthusiastically and all of the kids in the room screamed or clapped with joy, but Joel and Y/N didn’t watch much of the show, they both glued their eyes to Sarah, seeing her so happy and thrilled was the show they watched. Occasionally they would look at Tommy and laugh at seeing the young man besotted with the characters on stage, just like the children,
“Oh.” Y/N jolted on her seat, eliciting Joel to ask if she was okay. “Yeah.” She replied, holding a hand across her stomach before whispering into his ear. “My baby’s kicking the shit out of me right now.”
Y/N watched as Joel looked down, his eyes expanding in awe at seeing her stomach move around. She leaned forward in her chair, draping his arm around her waist so his hand could rest on the left side of her tummy. “Right here. Give her a second, she’ll kick your hand I bet.”
Looking down to her stomach at the touch of a small hand, Y/N smiled at the sight of Sarah caressing her baby bump gently. She was leaning over Joel’s lap to reach, the action catching Tommy’s attention also and he looked over to see Joel lifting her up to sit in between him and Y/N.
Sarah looked up at her with inquisitive eyes, asking all of the questions her curious little mind came up with, but left the question of how the baby gets out for Joel to answer. Moments passed before the baby kicked again, catching both Joel’s and Sarah’s attention. The man was getting baby fever in those moments, feeling Y/N’s baby pushing against his hand while watching his daughter squeal and giggle at the sensation.
Pushing his thoughts to one side, he couldn’t allow himself to get emotionally attached already and distracted himself by turning to talk to Tommy while Sarah chatted with Y/N.
“I’ve seen that look before, bro.” Tommy jibed, nudging his shoulder.
“What look? I don’t have a look.” Joel retorted, lying to himself.
“Yeah you do. I saw it the day you found out you were having a baby, and the day Sarah was born.” Tommy talked quietly, careful to not let Y/N hear. “You really like her and her baby, don’t you?”
“Don’t Tommy.” Shaking his head, Joel didn’t want to hear his brother confirm what he was already feeling. “I can’t Tommy. I’ve known her for all of five minutes, it’s impossible to feel that way about someone so soon.”
“Ever heard of love at first sight, brother?” The younger Miller winked, giving Joel the reassuring push that he needed. “Go for her man. What’s so wrong with finding someone you like, who also likes you and your ugly face?”
“Shut up.” He chuckled, returning a playful nudge to his shoulder before leaning back into his seat and laying an arm across Y/N’s shoulder again.
As the night progressed, Y/N leaned into Joel more, with Sarah snuggling up between them both. The entertainers on stage were funny at times, adding adult humour into their acts that the kids thankfully wouldn’t understand and the magic show wasn’t too bad either, some of the tricks they did were actually good, but at some point during the dance off, Sarah had fallen asleep nestled into Y/N’s side.
Carefully standing, Joel picked her up and wrapped her legs around his waist, securing the back of her head with his hand as he walked out the entertainment room with Tommy and Y/N. The ride up the elevator was a short trip as they stopped on the second floor, but Joel told his brother to head up while he walked Y/N to her room. “I’ll be up in a minute.”
The man wiggled his brows, eliciting Joel to slap him near the crotch before walking away and following Y/N down the hallway, still holding Sarah in his arms. “You didn’t have to walk me to my door, you know. I’m okay. You should take Sarah up to bed.”
“I know, but I wanted to.” Joel leaned against the doorframe as he slotted the key into the lock. “I’ll take her to bed, I promise. Just as soon as I know you’re back in your room safely.”
“Oh, ever the gentleman aren’t you?” She giggled. Reaching her hand out to brush her deft fingers under his chin, Y/N let her hand linger on his chest while she tilted her head to the side. “Thank you, Joel. I had fun tonight and your family is wonderful.”
“It’s my pleasure.” He leaned in. Freeing a hand from holding Sarah to rest it on her hip, he ducked his head down and kissed her cheek but stopped halfway when pulling back, hesitating on the decision to kiss her lips. She’s right there, just do it. He licked his lips with temptation, he felt her breath shudder across his face and he closed his eyes, ready to lean in before Sarah stirred, moving her position in his arms.
“Take her to bed, Joel. She is exhausted.” Y/N whispered before placing a chaste kiss to the corner of his mouth. “I’d like to see you tomorrow, if you’re okay with that?” Oh I am more than okay with it, sweetheart. Joel nodded, pulling back and re-adjusting his hold on Sarah to make sure she didn’t slip.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, darlin’.” He said before turning around to walk back towards the elevator. Once again, the man found himself in a position of finding it hard to say goodbye. He would have stayed or offered her to come up to his room, not wanting the night to come to an end already. She feels right, like she fits perfectly into the missing puzzle piece in his life.
Y/N is what he has been missing, what he has desired for so long in a partner.
Shaking his head all the way up to the tenth floor, the words his brother spoke kept circling in his mind. ‘Love at first sight’. Could it actually be possible? To have a love at first sight experience? Why did it feel awful to be apart from Y/N but perfect when he was with her?
Joel knew the answers, but he didn’t want to answer them, he didn’t want to get way in over his head about it. Carrying Sarah to his room, he unlocked the door and the noise had caught his brother’s attention as he quickly opened his door from across the hall. “Hey. How’s it going? I thought you would have stayed with Y/N for a little while.”
“Nah, baby bro. It’s late, I need to sleep too.” Joel replied. The man wasn’t tired, in fact, he will probably lay in bed for a while, wide awake and regretting that he didn’t just kiss Y/N. Opening up his door to enter, Tommy stopped him and demanded. “Let me take Sarah for the night.”
“It’s okay, Tommy. I’m tired anyways.” Lying wasn’t good, but Joel didn’t want to impose. It felt like a sin to go and do something as simple as seeing Y/N for another hour or so while Tommy watched his child. Yet, his brother wouldn’t budge, holding his arms out for Sarah as he persisted. “Please go, I will call you the moment I need you. I promise.”
Joel opened his mouth to protest but Tommy stopped him. “B-b-but no. Give me Sarah and go get your lady. Jesus man, you need to loosen up a little too, you know.”
Taking Sarah from his arms, Joel pleased a kiss to her head and nodded to Tommy, sharing a look that his brother knows is of gratitude and appreciation for his help. “Text me Tommy.” He warned sternly as he walked down the hallway. “Anything at all, you text me right away.”
“You got it brother. Go have fun, I’ll see you later.” Tommy called out before turning and walking into his rooms with Sarah.
Pressing the button for the elevator, Joel entered and fixed his hair as he rode it down to the second floor, hoping that Y/N was still awake and wouldn’t mind the disturbance. He wanted that kiss, desperately.
When the doors opened, he walked out with haste and bumped into her accidently. “Shit!” He panicked, holding her sides. “Sorry, I wasn’t watching where I was going. Are you okay? Did I hurt yo-”
Y/N cut him off with a kiss on his lips. Leaning up on the tips of her toes and pulling his hands around her lower back, she pushed them down to her ass while shaking her head with a mumbling sentence. “No. You hurt me by taking too long to get back down here.”
Joel gripped bruising handfuls of her ass, walking backwards while parting his lips to deepen the kiss and she hummed eagerly when he slid his tongue inside her mouth. When they reached her hotel room, he pressed her against the door and slipped his thigh between her legs, groaning when he felt her grinding her core against him. Fumbling hands slid between him as she tried to locate her keys and unlock the door.
“Joel.” She whimpered. Breaking the kiss and turning around, she struggled to slot the key inside as he grabbed her sides and rolled his hips into her behind, pressing his erection between her cheeks while nipping at her neck. The sensations were too much, too powerful as her eyes rolled to the back of her head and her hands abandoned the lock for a moment to reach up and thread her fingers through his hair, pulling him in closer.
The straps of her dress began to slip down her shoulders, threatening to expose her breasts and Joel finished it off by yanking the fabric down. He pressed a hand to the door, holding himself steady as he kept rocking his hips into her ass, breathing heavily and getting himself off from the fraction it caused in his pants. His other hand began to snake up her thigh, finding her panties damp and her folds slick, he slid a finger into her entrance with ease and growled when she made the softest noise from the intrusion.
“J-Joel please.” Y/N begged. Trying to focus on the lock again, she needed him, all of him, fully nude and bare in her bed with privacy. He was humping her and fingering her pussy in the hallway of the hotel, anyone could see if they just looked out their door to see what all the noise was. “Shh. It’s okay. Just unlock the door.” He whispered deeply against the shell of her ear, sliding his finger knuckle deep into her cunt before adding another and she moaned loudly, followed by worryingly trying to open the door.
It was shameful. Utterly shameful that Y/N found it so arousing being pleasured publicly, feeling his hardness pressing into her behind as he impatiently tried to make love to her was sexy. Joel was feral, unleashing what felt like years of pent up sexual frustrations and she quivered at the thought of what he was going to do once she gets the door open.
*Click*
Joel practically kicked it open and ushered Y/N inside before closing it with his foot. The man bypassed the bed and walked her straight to the balcony, sliding the glass door open, the night air hitting the tops of her breasts, eliciting a cold shiver to pass through her body as he placed her hands outwards to the railings. There were dividers between each balcony and they were high up, Joel wasn’t worried about anyone seeing as he pulled the straps of her bra down, exposing her pert nipples to the dark skies above.
Discarding her dress and underwear, Y/N was fully nude and her body was hardening Joel’s cock more than he ever could have imagined. Her desire glistened on his fingers, he could see it oozing out of her pussy too and the man dropped to his knees, gently placing his hands to the back of her thighs before burying his mouth and chin in her folds. “Joel!” She craned her back with a mewl of his name slipping past her lips.
Spreading her legs to give him more access, Y/N slipped her hand down her body to rub nameless shapes on her clit and pushed her hips back onto Joel’s tongue as it twisted around her entrance, slurping up her juices. She could physically hear how wet she was, the noise echoed off the walls of the balcony, no doubt the neighbours would hear it too.
Y/N looked down her body at the sounds of metal clinking. Finding Joel unbuckling his belt and loosening up the opening to bury his hand inside his pants with a deep vibrating groan as he took himself in hand, made her legs quiver. She was close, her pussy was pulsing faster each second with the need to cum and feeling the vibration of Joel grunting into her lips got her there.
“I’m c-cu..” She could barely get the words out as she reached her climax. White static erupted behind her eyes as her legs began to close and buckle beneath her, but Joel held her up. Burying his tongue deep and fisting his cock vigorously mixed with gentle sweeps of his thumb across the tip, pebbles of pre-cum leaked out and Y/N licked her lips, wanting to taste him.
“Please, Joel let me.” She pulled away from him. Turning around and carefully lowering to her knees, the man stood and gripped the railings behind her head, tossing his head back with a guttural groan when she wasted no time taking him whole in her mouth, right down to the base. “I’m really close, darlin’.” He warned. Planting his feet firm onto the ground, he fought the urge to roll his hips forward when she released him with soft pop. He missed the heat of her mouth wrapped around him and he inhaled sharply when she cradled his balls while running her tongue up the vein on the underside of his cock.
Taking him back into her mouth, he looked down and blew out a heavy wonton breath of air upon seeing her eyes looking up at him. Beautiful, glazed with lust and watery with tears as she gagged on cock, burying her nose into the hair of his mound. She hummed, rolling her eyes shut with the taste of salt on her tongue and prepared for the load he was about to release in her throat.
“Goddamn!” His knuckles were turning white from how hard he gripped the railings. Sucking his cock with skill, his balls began to tighten in her hand as he spilled into her tongue. “Oh fuck. Darlin, I’m cumming.” Hearing his voice break, the sound desperate and needy to her ears, made her pussy clench around nothing. She gulped back each spurting load of his seed, feeling him twitch in her mouth and his balls relax in her hand as he came down from his high. Yet, she didn’t release him right away.
Carefully sucking his oversensitive tip, she swirled her tongue around while looking up into his eyes, seeing a look of fire and adoration in the warm brown irises. “Shit. Too much, baby.” Joel’s brows pulled together as he sucked in a sharp breath of air, spilling another drop of cum onto her tongue. His thighs tensed with aftershocks and she finally released him with a satisfied smile of drawing it out of him.
They spent a moment looking at each other, trying to understand what came over the both of them. Joel leaned down to help her up, but upon feeling her legs wobble, he wrapped an arm around her waist, pressing his semi-hard member into her thigh before leaning in to kiss her lips and tasting the remnants of his own desire on her tongue. “Got any more in you, big boy?” She asked, then giggled at her own remark. Wrapping her arms around his neck, he walked backwards into the room, nodding into the kiss. “Plenty for you, darlin’.”
Carefully lowering Y/N onto the bed, he broke off the kiss and removed his clothes fully while smiling at her. She moved to the middle of the bed, grabbing the pillows to place under head and get comfy. Smirking at him as her eyes danced their way up his muscled torso, he looked really good naked and the moonlight shimmered behind him, casting a beautiful shadow across the room.
“Know how much I’ve thought about this in the last few days?” She whispered, leaning up and beckoning him to join her already and the bed dipped when placing his knee into the mattress, climbing up her body with his teasing reply. “Can’t be more than me, baby.”
“Oh, I beg to differ.” Clashing her lips onto his, the sounds of their kisses and heavy breathing could be heard as Joel positioned himself between her legs. His cock lay hard and heavy against her thigh, ready for more and she wasted no time lining him up at her entrance, a soft gasp slipping past her lips with the sheer size of his tip breaching her. “It’s been a while.” She cringed, bringing her legs around his back and interlocking them. “Go easy on me, handsome.”
“Of course, darlin’.” Joel cooed. Kissing her deeply and caressing her thighs softly, creating a blissful distraction as he eased himself inside, she bit his bottom lip with the stretch and he groaned with how tight she is. Her desire acting as a natural lube worked Y/N open each time he rolled his hips back and forth.
“Oh fuck.” She blurted. Digging her nails into the skin on his back, Y/N rested her cheek to his shoulder and closed her eyes with pleasure. “You’re huge, Joel.”
Resting his forearm above her head, he held onto the underside of her ass with his other hand, languidly thrusting himself inside her warmth. Joel shuddered with all the soft sweet noises she made, the goose bumps rippled down his back as she squeezed him and threw her head back with a mewl. “I’m going to cum.”
Her voice was hoarse, cracked from the deep inhales and loud exhaling moans. Joel could live in this moment forever, the image of her plush body beneath him, her face beautiful and eyes deep with passion, this image would be burned in his mind forever. “Cum for me, darlin.” He growled. Ducking his head to kiss her neck, he pushed himself deep, careful and slow, burying himself to the hilt with each stroke. “I’ll cum with you, baby.”
“J-Joel.” She whimpered. Tightening her legs and pulling him in deep, her body began to shake as she leaned up for a kiss. Their lips connecting just in time with their peaks, Joel let go of her ass to hold both hands above her head, bunching up the sheets between his fists while grinding into her heat. Hot white ropes of his seed coated her pulsing walls, milking him of every last drop that made the man gasp into her mouth. He’s never felt this way before, like two becoming one, their souls connecting in the most passionate way, Joel felt the prickle sting his eyes. Something that he definitely hasn’t experienced before. An emotional orgasm.
“Hey, handsome.” Y/N soothed upon feeling a tear drop falling down onto her cheek. She could see that his under eyes were wet, but Joel wouldn’t actually open his eyes. Rubbing her hands up and down his arms softly, Y/N knew that he just needed to come back down to earth, to come back down from his powerful high, but when she tried to move, he held her tight with a plea in his voice. “Stay. Please… Just stay here with me.”
Burying his head into her neck with a subtle sniffle, Y/N herself began to choke up. She kissed his shoulder, still running her hands up and down his shoulder, and accompanied her actions with words. “I don’t plan on going anywhere, handsome. Not unless you want me to.”
“That’s the problem, sweetheart.” Joel wiped his eyes before pulling his head back to look at her. “I don’t want you to go at all.”
Y/N smiled. That same warm and alluring smile that Joel fell in love with, but she didn’t believe him. It’s just a post-coital haze, one that he would break out of soon. “Joel.” She tilted her head, still smiling at the man as she laughed. “It’s not just me though, I’m a two person package.”
“Doesn’t change my mind, darlin’.” Joel whispered, clearly. Looking down to her tummy, he held a hand across her bump before looking back up into her eyes. “Ask me tomorrow if I still feel the same way, then the next day and the day after that.”
“Oh yeah?” She questioned, blinking her eyes rapidly to stop the oncoming wave of tears. It was in his voice, the way he said it, sounding so sure and certain that he would take her and her baby. When he nodded with a serious look in eyes, she smiled again and brought her hands up to caress his bearded chin. “Ok, Joel. I’ll ask you tomorrow, the day after and the day after that.”
Pulling apart momentarily, Joel and Y/N repositioned themselves to lay under the covers, holding each other closely. At some point, she had fallen asleep first and she looked angelic in his arms, like it was where she was supposed to be. Snuggling closer and wrapping his arms across her stomach, he caressed her baby bump until he too fell asleep.
Joel dreamt of the future they would have together.
10 years later.
Joel opened his eyes and blinked back the glare from the sun shimmering through his curtains. Turning over, he was met with Y/N’s smiling face looking at him. “Hmhm.” He chuckled, closing his eyes again and snuggling close. “Morning darlin’.”
“Morning handsome.” She whispered before leaning in and placing a chaste kiss to his lips. As the silent moments passed, the man nearly slipped back into his slumber before she began to move around and rub her fingers across his bearded chin. He could feel her eyes on him, the action making him smile deeply as he asked. “What’s on your mind?”
“Do you still feel the same way?” She answered almost immediately between giggles and Joel laughed too, knowing exactly what she meant even after ten years. “Yes, I do feel the same way.” He says, pressing his lips to hers in a soft passionate kiss, the moment was short lived as their two girls came bursting into the bedroom, jumping on the bed with excitement.
“Mom! Dad! Wake up!” Sarah and Hailee screamed simultaneously. “We don’t have all day, c’mon!” As the girls jumped off the bed again, they both ran out of the room, still yelling, and made their way downstairs together.
Joel held his hand out, to which Y/N took, and looked down to the engagement ring on her finger with a smile before looking back in her eyes again. “Ready to seal the deal, babe? To get married and grow old together?”
“Ask me that tomorrow.” Biting her lip with a teasing look in her eyes, she kissed Joel once on the lips before pulling herself out of bed to join her two excited girls waiting downstairs for her. Today was going to be a long day, but the morning is theirs to enjoy. Just Joel, Y/N, Sarah and Hailee eating breakfast like one happy family, like they do everyday, before other family members arrived and split them up to get dressed.
Joel can’t wait. Can’t wait to see his daughters and fiancé dressed beautifully, can’t wait to see the look on her face, and most importantly, he can’t wait to tell her at the airport that he had booked to back to Sanibel Islands for their honeymoon - the ten year anniversary of when his angel from above came over to help him reach for his coffee.
