Pause everything! Because my Joel autograph finally came In today! I can’t believe that I actually own this. It’s so surreal to me, how he just read everything I said to him to thousands of people and, how I now have it in my hands. When I took it out of the package I saw that it had Troy’s fingerprints on it! ♀️ so excited to share this with you all, knowing how this fan base is so huge and diverse all over the country. Troy and the cast are some really down to earth and determined people. I teared when I first saw the “I would do it all over again” Joel, we love you forever. ❤️
Totally freaking out because earlier today something INSANE happened. Troy freaking Baker signed an autograph for my brother and I during his LIVE on Instagram and I will not recover from this anytime soon!! it was so personal for me and, I had no clue he was going to read out loud to everyone what I told him. Joel being the greatest father figure in the history of gaming, how powerful and loved his character was and STILL is, how the game was personal to my brother and I with not having a present father figure. He then began to write and said: “as Joel said “i would do it all over again”. This meant a lot, and this is purely wild! The sweetest ever, Troy you’re a freaking legend. Going to go cry now.
I have about 15 different subjects waiting in my art queue, but then I saw this image from the Talk Easy podcast and couldn’t help myself. What a breathtaking smile!
“Yeah, I just know what it’s like to be in that headspace. It’s not the best place to be.” I say memories filling my mind.
“You wanted to kill yourself?” Ellie asks, looking at me, her head turned to the side, an unreadable expression on her face.
“Yeah, it was a long time ago.” I say walking up the stairs to look for supplies.
“Why?” She asks softly.
I take a breath pushing down the emotions that want to bubble up in my throat whenever I think about that night.
“Umm, I… I took a life that I shouldn’t have.” I say scratching the back of my neck.
“Oh…”
I nod at her statement and move into a nearby bedroom. Pulling open draws and rummaging through closest I try not to think about the past, try not to think about anything really.
“Did you mean to do it?” Ellie asks after a while of silence.
“No. I don’t remember doing it. I snapped and just started shooting. Kill or be killed I guess…”
“Why? What happened?”
“Find anything?” Joel’s rough voice fills the room, making me jump and turn to face him.
I was happy I didn’t have to answer her questions, not wanting to tell her what happened. Not wanting her to look at me differently after she found out the truth.
“What’s going on?” Joel asks, looking at me, his face deadly serious.
I knew why he asked it. My face was hot and my eyes burning my tears on the verge of spilling over.
“Nothing.” I shrug, acting like I’m fine.
He lifts an eyebrow at me, I know it’s his secret way of asking me if i’m alright.
“I’m fine. Are we ready to go?” I ask him, earning a nod.
“Bill’s getting antsy being this far from home.”
“Yeah well Bill has agoraphobia.” I say earning a confused look from Ellie making me chuckle. Glad for the change of pace.
“I’ll tell you later.” I say, Joel shaking his head at me as we headed down stairs.
“You and them two dollar words.” He mumbles under his breath.
I giggle and it quickly cuts off when we reach the bottom of the steps. Bill scowled at me.
I make a face back at him wondering why that man doesn’t like me.
He doesn’t say anything and just leaves the house, us following after him.
“What’s his problem?” I whisper to Joel.
“Not now Trish.” He says back.
Sighing I nod my head as we walk once again towards the school.
Halfway there we make a stop at Bill’s cellar to get supplies.
“You picked a hell of a place to hole up, didn’t ya?” Joel as we go through a large iron gate as Bill turns around to lock it behind us.
“You know, as bad as those things are. At least they’re predictable. It’s the normal people that scare me.” Bill says as Joel checks the little wooden shack.
“You of all people should understand that.”
“What does that mean?” Ellie says her standing on the steps making me look up at her.
“Nothin’.” Joel says heading towards the steps.
Ellie looks at me expecting an answer. I shake my head telling her she doesn’t want to know it.
“You sure that gates gonna hold ‘em?” Joel asks as I follow behind him.
“Well I locked it. They don’t have a key.” Bill says, making me crack a smile.
I couldn’t tell if he was making a joke or was serious, making me want to laugh just the same.
Joel doesn’t answer him as we reach the top of the steps. It looked like a fenced off back yard to a church or something.
“So which way?” Joel asks.
“We’re here. It’s in the cellar.” Bill says, making us all head towards it.
“Alright down here.” Bill says heading down the steps.
“Well here we are.” He says turning back to look at us.
“You don’t touch anything.” He says to Ellie.
“And you close the door.” He says, looking at me.
I stop and turn around to grab the cellar door.
“I got it.” Joel says, placing his hand next to mine.
I smile and nod at him moving out of the way.
As he closes the door the cellar falls into darkness only for it to be relit by an oil lamp.
“Let’s gear up.” Bill says.
“Uh- uh.” Joel says to Ellie as she tries to grab a gun.
“What? I need a gun.” She says looking up at him.
“No you don’t.” He says looking back at her.
“Joel. I can handle myself.” She whispers, her looking over at me as if asking for help.
“No.” Joel says sternly before I can open my mouth.
“Just… stay here.” He says walking over towards Bill.
“Fine. I’ll just wait around for you two to get me killed.” She says holding her arms up.
“Sorry.” I say to her softly as I look through Bill’s weapons.
“It’s fine, just go make sure he grabs something worth using.” She says sitting on the floor and gesturing to Joel.
“Okay.” I say smiling at her and walking over towards the men.
“It’s up there.” Joel says to Bill as I approach not knowing what they were talking about.
“How in the hell is Tess okay with this suicide mission?” Bill asks, walking over to look inside a chest.
“Especially with her. From what I hear she’s more of a headache than she’s worth.” Bill says, gesturing to me making me realize why he doesn’t like me. Tess must have told him something about me.
“It was actually her idea. And Trish has her advantages.” Joel says not looking at either one of us.
“Thank you.” I say glaring at Bill as if to prove a point.
“Really? Well the broad is not as smart as I thought she was. But.. fuck her.” Bill says, making my stomach tighten.
I watch Joel tense but he moves over to the table Bill is standing at him putting a bucket on a table.
“Seriously, you gotta take that kid back to where ya found her.
“Bill, I can’t just take her back.” Joel says sitting on the end of the table.
“Then send her packing and let her find her own way. Send smartasses with her.” He says, jerking his head in my direction.
“What the heck?” I ask, holding my hand up and moving away from them tired of being insulted but still in ear shot. I was nosey and wanted to know what they were talking about.
“Let me tell you a story.” Bill says, grabbing my interest.
“Once upon a time I had somebody that I cared about. It was a partner.. Somebody I had to look after.” He says loading his shotgun, then setting it down to walk around the table.
“In this world that sort of shit is good for one thing. Gettin’ ya killed. So ya know what I did?” He asks, coming back around the table with another weapon.
“I wisened the fuck up. I realized it’s gotta be just me”
“Bill, it… it ain’t like that. It’s…” Joel says, trying to find the words.
“Bullshit. It’s just like that.”
“Hey!.” Bill yells, making me jump.
Looking at him I expect his eyes on me for eavesdropping but I find him looking at Ellie here digging through his stuff.
“What did I say to you when we walked down the steps? What did I say?” Bill asks madly.
“I’m just trying to fix your stupis pile.” Ellie says, stepping away from his stuff holding her hands up.
“Don’t touch!” Bill says plainly.
She sighs and flips him off.
Joel turns to look at me, making me sigh.
“I’ll get her.” I say walking over to her.
“Sorry.” She says looking up at me.
“It’s fine. I should probably be grabbing stuff instead of listening anyways.”
“What were they talking about?”
“Nothing.” I say not wanting to tell her Bill was trying to convince Joel to get rid of the both of us.
“Something about me right?” She asks, reminding me Ellie was a smart kid.
“It was about me too.” I say shrugging and grabbing some bandages and first aid supplies.
“Bill doesn’t like us huh?”
“Nope, not one bit. But Tess didn’t like me so she made Bill not like me I guess.”
“Why didn’t Tess like you?”
“I knew Joel first.” I say looking over at her is as simple as that.
“That’s it?”
“Well not exactly.” I say adding some bullets to my gun.
“Well what happened?”
“It’s kinda complicated.”
“Well, can I know?”
Sighing I look back at her then back at Joel him talking to Bill about some can bomb.
“You know how me and Joel met right?” I ask looking over at her.
She smiles and nods eagerly. Showing her age.
Smiling, I led her over to the wall, where she originally sat down at my backpack full enough and not wanting to get into any more trouble I sat down. Her, joining me.
“We were together for years. Not romantically just two people trying to keep each other alive. Finally we made it to a city. Joel was hurt, I was exhausted. Both of us were too tired to fight. So we came inside. Got help. When it came time to work, to pay for all their help the price was higher than we could reach.” I say laying my head back on the wall.
“Joel left one day and was gone for… two weeks I think. I didn’t know what happened. I tried looking for him everywhere. No luck. I will admit I was starting to get scared. I had no one and no way to reach the demands of the city and no way to get out of the city. Then just like he never left he shows up.” I say looking over at Ellie. Her hanging off of every word I say.
“He had Tess with him. They went on a job together. It was clear to me that they had something between them but I didn’t say anything. I didn’t have to. Tess hated me the moment she saw how Joel treated me.”
“What did Joel do?” Ellie asks softly. She looked over at him hoping he could hear our conversation.
“He brought me my favorite candy bar. Apparently he risked his life to get them. According to Tess, I doubted it but I wasn’t there.”
“He just gave you candy?”
“Pretty much. But it was enough for Tess. Anytime he would touch, talk, interact with me at all if she was around I got daggers dug into my side.”
“What changed? She didn’t seem that bad.” Ellie asks softly.
“I don’t know if Joel ever said anything to her but I think whatever they had got ended. I never asked didn’t want to know honestly.”
“Because you like Joel?” She asks, grinning at me.
Chuckling, I shake my head.
“No, because it was none of my business. But she got locked up by some men who wanted something from her that she didn’t have. I picked the lock and got her out. I still remember her asking me multiple times after that what Joel gave me to help her. He didn’t give me anything, he just asked for my help. Once she realized I was telling the truth. That I was useful and loyal things changed between us slightly. But she never left me and Joel alone if she could help it.”
“Wow… That kinda makes sense now.” She says nodding to herself.
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!
Summary -As a woman who is pregnant you are doing anything if it means survival. Even so you found yourself in the wrong place at the wrong time, or was it the other way around? Now you are in the community of Jackson and you can’t help but attract a certain pair of hazel eyes.
Summary-Being closeted in a normal world is hard, but being closeted in a fungal apocalypse is even harder. Ellie was your form of escape and you loved her more then words can describe. A year later your relationship seems to be on the rocks and when Ellie lets your secret slip someone with an affinity for tattoos comes to your rescue.
Summary:A beautiful lazy day in the Jackson Settlement turns into an even more beautiful surprise. Kisses and gentle caresses and giggles between two lovers. What more could either of you want?
