🌲Chloe🌲

PART TWO:

You wake up from the sun shining in through the windows, you blink awake, and see the man staring at you. 

“Oh!” you jump up,  he gives you a menacing look and you shut up. 

“Sleep well?” he doesn't sound too concerned, more of a demeaning way,  you look down and nod silently. 

What happened to the man who lulled you to sleep? Was it even real? 

“H-how did you get in last night?” You ask him, your voice hoarse from all the sobbing and from what he did to you. You place your hand on your throat, the pain becoming more aware. 

He smirks, noticing your pain but you don't notice, you avoid looking at him.

“Backdoor.” he says while standing up,  you curse yourself for forgetting to barricade that door as well. 

“You sure are empty minded if you think that would've stopped anyone.” he says glancing at the tv and tv stand against the front door. 

You just stare down, "That's why, you need to stick with me.. since you dont wanna die so bad..”  

You look up at him now, why is he so eager for you to stick with him?   

“I’ll keep ya safe.” he offers a smile, it sends a weird feeling to your gut

“So? What do you say?” he asks, and you think for a moment longer, glancing away and back to him. 

“W-well it sounds like a nice offer b-but I don't want to burden you,” you gulp painfully 

“Darlin’ if it were to burden me I woulda’  just kill ya.” 

That sends chills down your spine. 

“I-Im not too sure..” you whisper, and he grunts clearly, getting annoyed. 

“How bout you come with me.. And If you wanna leave, I’ll let you go.” he says in a serious voice, like he was placing a bet on a horse.  You nod “O-okay..” unsure if you were making the right decision.  

He smiles at you, it freaks you out but you offer a smile back. 

“Atta girl, now we gotta go, so hurry up.” you glance at him and nod, grabbing your coat and bag, throwing it over your shoulder, he picks up your rifle and makes a sound of approval before handing it back to you. You reach for it and he pulls back 

“Don’t do something you will regret, girl.” 

Your eyes widen from surprise and you shake your head 

“I-I wouldnt..” you mutter and he chuckles handing it to you. 

You take it hesitantly, looking at him almost for approval. 

He grabs his bag and slings it over his shoulder, he looks back at you and nods his head once, letting you know he's leaving and he won't wait for you. 

You hurry behind him, the cold morning air waking you up, you blink a few times your eyes burning from the crying and the dry, cool  air. 

You walk alongside him, cowering slightly, he glances over to you and then ahead, 

“You got a name?”  he asks you, your breath hitches and you stay silent for a moment then answer,   “Hollie..” 

“My names Joel”  he says

“Hi Joel.” You spoke softly

“Hello Hollie.” 

You two walk for what seems like eternity, soon you reach the woods, that's where you get nervous, he can tell 

“You aren't alone anymore, it's gonna be okay.” he looks back at you and you nod 

“I know..” you nod, inching closer to him he notices but doesn't say anything.

“Theres a stream up ahead, we can rest there for a bit.” he scratches his stubble and you just nod 

following him.

 You watch him from behind, from what you have seen- felt, you can tell he's a dangerous man,  his jeans are dirty, his boots worn out,  his hands scarred, his eyes dark. 

He's seen things, you can tell.

Soon you hear the stream and you get excited, your feet are killing you. 

You and Joel approach the stream,  large rocks surrounding it. 

You set your bag against a boulder and  rest on it,  Joel on the other hand stays standing, he walks to the stream and crouches down,  putting his hands in the cool water. 

You observe him, still wary, you were scared of him. 

But he promised he’d protect you.. You don't have anything to worry about.

“We're close to Boston, the QZ, it's about a day's walk from here.” he informs you, 

“Is that where you are headed?” 

“Yep, won't make it forever on my own.” 

“I was planning on going there too, us meeting is working out well..” you say, he glances at you and subtly shakes his head.  He mutters something but you don't quite catch it.

“What did you say?” 

“Don’t give your hopes up.” 

“I didn't mean it like that..” you mutter and he ignores you

You grab your journal from your bag and begin writing, it eases your mind, makes you feel less anxious. 

November  24th  2015  I have left the town, the house, with  J  Im scared but as long as im safe,  I will feel okay.  He hurt me He said he would protect me  I trust him.  I trust him.. At least, I tell myself I do.                              Xx, Hollie 

As you were writing you would peek over your journal to observe Joel, he would catch you glancing at him, it made you feel uneasy.  

You stand up, patting your legs off, joel glances at you and you start walking into the woods, then Joel stops you by grabbing your arm and it startles you, and you gasp loudly

“Where are you going?” He asks his grip on your arm, becoming so hard that you are sure it would leave marks,  

“What are you doing?!” you ask trying to pull out of his grip

“I asked you a question.” he shot back 

“I was just going to go to the bathroom!” 

He smirks as if you were lying, and you shake your head 

“Im not lying! I will be right back! I swear!” your heart begins to race, scared he will hurt you again. 

He lets go of your arm and scoffs, turning back to the stream,  you stand there stunned for a moment, clenching your chest. You turn back towards the woods and walk a few feet away, after you are done you zip up your jeans and then freeze. You are sure you heard something, You walk backwards leaning against a tree, looking around, again you hear something, 

“Fuck” you say under your breath, you dont have anything to defend yourself with. It could be anything, infected, raiders, fireflies, anything. And that worried you. Then suddenly a hand covers your mouth, a familiar feeling, the heat of your breath reflects off of the hand onto your face and it sends goosebumps across your body.  You glance up and see Joel

“three Infected, be quiet,  on the count of three, we tackle them together.” he whispers in your ear

“Got it?” he asks, you nod and he removes his hand from your mouth.  And slides a knife into your hand, you look up to him and he nods while mouthing 

“One… Two…Three”

You both speed walk to the infected and begin taking them out. 

He's already killed one,  that moves you. So you try and kill two on your own at once, you successfully killed one but the last one, it was a challenge. 

It smacks the blade out of your hand and it runs at you,  you run backwards and bump into Joel, he pushes you back behind him and he kills the last one effortlessly, you stand there shocked and out of breath. He turns back to you, out of breath, he strides over angrily 

“Are you TRYIN’  to get yourself killed?”  He yells at you

“No!” 

“You are a dumb girl, a VERY dumb girl.” 

“I'm not- I didn't mean for that to happen!” you plead and he gets in your face

huffing with anger, his eyes dark. 

“I should've just let that infected take you out..”  

You feel his breath against your face, you stand there disappointed, you wanted Joel to praise you, to see how good of a fighter you were, but instead he's in your face degrading you. 

“I'm sorry..” you mutter, your face twitching with sadness. He laughs “Sorry? It’s like you're beggin’  to get hurt. Or worse.” He says pushing past you, hitting your shoulder as he does. 

You stand there shocked, holding back tears. 

You glance down at the infected he had just killed and you kick it. 

After a few minutes of composing yourself you walk back to the stream, Joel glances at you,  and you notice. 

“I’m leaving, if you want to stay here by all means, stay.” 

“Why would I stay? I'm coming with you.” you say while picking up your bag, he just grunts and nods his head signaling for you to follow him, you follow behind him. 

After a while the sun begins to set and you both are still walking

“Joel- earlier- I didn't mean for that to happen, I'm sorry.. I’ll be better, and once we reach the QZ, I will leave you alone.. pretend I don't know you.” 

He glances back at you and then forward, what you can't see is him smiling, knowing you did nothing wrong, he likes that you feel the need  to apologize to him for doing nothing..

“Do better, or next time there won't be any saving coming from me.” He said coolly. you stay silent, feeling bad for what you've done. 

After a few moments of agonizing silence Joel speaks up, clearing his throat before he does

“We're close to Plymouth, we can stay there tonight and we will be in Boston by noon tomorrow.” 

You stay silent, and he turns and stops, stopping you too 

“Understand?”

You look up at him confused on why he feels the need to do this, “Yeah.. I understand” 

“Good.” 

Then you both continue walking for about thirty minutes until you reach the rundown town, vehicles left on the road, weeds growing through the pavement, you can see buildings collapsing into themselves in the distance. 

It gives you an eerie feeling. 

As you enter the town you pass a town hall with a sign that reads 

“Welcome to Plymouth!”  that was slightly faded, you look around. 

You try to imagine what the town would look like if the outbreak never happened,

And what you would be doing if it never happened,  If you were still alive.

Something you never told anyone was, on the day the outbreak happened you tried to commit suicide, It almost worked, you passed out.  Your sister came home early from work and found you. 

On the way to the hospital a pile up happened due to the outbreak,  a few hours later a soldier found you and brought you to a camp.  The next morning you woke up, a woman praying over you, she smiled at you, for a second you thought it was your sister..She was telling you something like “you are lucky to be alive.”  

“Where is she?”  you mumbled looking around confused

“Where's who?  sweetie?” 

“M-my sister, where is she?!” you said sitting up, getting scared

The woman  glanced away, something shifted in her and you froze. 

“No… please.. please.. she's the only person I have left..” you sobbed

“There aren't many people left at all sweetie..”   she frowned, 

“W-what do you mean?” 

“Everything–is gone.” 

That was the very moment you stopped caring about most things.

“Im talking to you!” 

A voice snaps you back to the present, you blink away your tears and look at him, Joel. 

“What are you cryin’ for this time?”

“It's nothing.. What were you saying?” 

“You see that building up ahead?” He points to a two-story brick building, you nod

“I see it.” 

“We can stay there for the night, tomorrow mornin’ we’ll head out.” 

“Okay.” 

He glances at you and you ignore it, quickly walking towards the building, as you get closer you can read that it was once a library. You smile softly to yourself, trying to remember the last time you had been to one. 

The front door of the place was locked from the inside you look up and see a window, 

“Theres a window up there, If you think you can do it, lift me up and I'll open the door.” 

Joel nods,  “Fine-” he said with a hint of annoyance.

You both move closer to the window, joel gets behind you, 

“How do you wanna do this?” he asks in a low voice, 

You shiver and glance behind you, “However you want.” 

He moves under the window, he bends down on one knee, holding his hand out to help you get up.  

You get closer to him, “Y’ready?” He asks you and you just nod, he raises an eyebrow 

“Y-yeah, I am.” 

You say awkwardly and he cups his hand, and puts it to where you can step on it, you do and he boosts you up into the window,  he grunts softly while doing so. 

After you pull yourself through the window,  there's spores, 

“Shit.” 

You grab your mask and put it on quickly, hands trembling slightly, the stairs are directly to the left of you and you go down them,  “Joel, you there?” you yell, and you can faintly hear him telling you to be quiet.  

You shut up and move the cart that was in front of it, you open the door for him, he sees you have a mask on and sighs, grabbing his from his bag, you notice how his was much higher quality than yours. 

You wondered how he got it, He pushes past you,  you quickly shut the door and move the cart in front of  it again. The library was ginormous,  “Check rooms, make sure there ain't no infected.” Joel orders you and you nod as you walk into the actual library where there are no spores, so you take off your mask, your face flushed. You notice rooms in the back and so,

you walk towards one. 

You walk in, and don't hear anything so you think it's a good idea to at least look for supplies while you're in there, you look in a cupboard and then behind you, you hear the door close. You turn around

“What the- Joel was that you?” you hear nothing,  you walk to the door and try to open it. But it doesn't move, your heart begins to race, “Joel!?”  you wait for a response but none comes along, you put your ear to the door and hear him on the other side, breathing.

He's there,  you try to open the door again and fail, you make a panicked sound. 

“Are you panicking?” He asks calmly 

            You freeze, you stay silent. If you say yes, he will think you're weak, if you say no,  you would have to prove it to him.  You back away from the door for a few seconds, thinking of what to do, trying not to let him notice how scared you are.  You can see the shadow of Joel's feet under the door, he's testing you. You try to open the door again, harder.

Your breathing gets louder “Slow down.”  he orders you, his voice calm.   

You bite your lip, and then you stop, you step away from the door, He won't open the door until you aren't afraid.  Your hand begins shaking,   to Joel, fear is a liability.   You close your eyes and swallow the fear down.    “I’m okay.”  What you're saying is a lie. But it's the right one.       After telling Joel you're okay there's a moment of silence,   “Say it again.”     “What?”  he stays silent,  you gulp and repeat yourself.  Your throat hurts, your hands shake, you clench your fists to hide it.      Then the door opens, Joel is standing there like nothing happened. He studies you,   “Good.”   He says then walks away, you stand there stunned. Confused on what just happened.   After a moment you walk out and  see Joel setting up a makeshift bed,  He looks at you, eyes dark– different.    Something has changed in him.    

You stay silent,  you do the same, you get to your knees and pull out a sleeping bag from your bag, and lay it down  a few feet from Joel’s.    You can feel his eyes on you.  And you sigh, it comes out ragged, not calm, not harsh.    You place your bag where your head would go, then you sit down on your sleeping bag. Joel is already trying to go to sleep when you look at him, but what happened  can't escape your mind.  “Why didn't you help me sooner?” 

“You figured it out.”  Joel sighs,  you stare at him stunned.  “You didn't need me to save you, you just needed to stay calm.”  After a moment you lay down, facing away from him, holding your stomach. 

You didn't  stay calm alone, you stayed calm for him.  

Soon you hear a light snore coming from Joel, you can't sleep.  You get up and walk around the library with your flashlight.       You see a glass door and walk to it, it opens to a balcony, the cool night air hits your face, as well as a gentle breeze.  You walk towards the railing and look down into the town.   After a few moments you notice something that makes your stomach drop.   A beam of light in the distance,  It was most likely a flashlight,  you back up,  and hurry back inside.      You walk down to where your beds are and stand in front of Joel, nervous,  you bend down and tap him “Joel- Joel you have to wake up-” then he gasps, sitting up quickly, his chest rising and falling rapidly.   “What is it?”   he squinted in the darkness looking at you,  you glanced around “I couldn't sleep so I walked around, there's a balcony to this place and-” “and what?” 

“I saw someone- Well I think, I saw a flashlight..”  you say looking at him,  he sighs and rubs his eye, then he stands up, you look up at him and stand up too.   He clears his throat and picks up his “bed” . You roll up your sleeping bag and put it into your backpack. Then you grab your rifle.  Joel glances at you, you glance back confused.  He slings his bag over his shoulder and looks at you.  “Let’s go, If this doesn't take too long we can come back,  rest for a little while and go to Boston..” 

“Alright.”  you spoke softly, he walked to the door and moved the cart out of the way before opening the door, letting you go first.  Your stomach begins hurting,  you can't let him know you're scared, it's weak.   You squint your eyes, thinking you saw something moving in the distance,  “Joel did you s-”  then shots are fired,  It scares you and you duck down behind a dumpster,  “Holy shit!”  You yell accidentally, Joel swears and yells at you to close your mouth.. You huff glancing around, Joel is ready for anything, is Rifle aimed, you watch him, breathing heavily.. He's steady, calm, you see hunger in his eyes, he wants to kill.. It makes you feel… POP!   A shot gets fired next to your head and it snaps you back to reality,  “Fuck..” your voice quivers then Joel fires  and you hear a man scream.  You look up at Joel and he looks down at you,  quickly moving towards where he shot, you stand up and chase after him,  he stands still, you walk up behind him and see a man  shot on the ground..  You take in where he's shot,  right in his chest,  where it would kill him, but it would take a while.. If not helped, you glance up at Joel scared, He knew what he was doing, he wanted them to suffer.    “FUCK!!”  The man on the ground says, you stare at him, your eyes widening.   

Joel just stands and stares,  “FUCK YOU MAN!”  The man yells, then Joel stepped  closer and took out a knife,  “You wanna say that again?”   The  man on the ground stammers,  losing blood, you can tell  he's dying, your heart races.  “P-please dont kill me”  The guy on the ground begs,  Then out of nowhere Joel slits the guys throat, you gasp loudly.   And slam your eyes shut,  you are gonna throw up,  “Oh- my god..” you whine, clearly disturbed.   Joel stands there,  then you open your eyes,  blood drips down from the guy's throat onto the cement.. You hold back your tears. Joel seemed comfortable with killing somebody, maybe too comfortable.   You stare at the body before asking      “H-how many people have you killed?”  you glance at Joel,  terrified of not knowing what he's fully capable of.    “I stopped counting the dead, when they stopped slowing me down.” his voice cool,  you look back down to the body stepping closer. “Mercy gets you killed, or worse.. Infected.” He said while wiping blood off of his hands,  you watch him.   He glances down at you,      like he can read your mind, he smirks at you but doesn't say anything. He  walks back to the library without saying a word, you follow back, slowly.   When you get back, you're nervous, why hasn't he killed me yet?   You think back to when he choked you, the pain from it never fading.   If he was gonna kill you why hasn't he yet?     You huff and walk into the library room again, he's standing against a wall next to the door which startles you.     “Are you scared?”   he asks and you shake your head.   

“No- but, why? Why didn't you just take the man's gun- He didn't have to die?”   

“I told you, mercy gets you killed.  Learn from me or figure out the hard way.”  you glance at him then walk back to where your beds were, you remake it and lay down.. Trying to face away from Joel.    You fall asleep quickly, not getting much rest prior to tonight.   Joel on the other hand stays awake,   He watches you sleep,    how you sleep.  He walks over to  you and crouches down,  He reaches to do something then stops.   He can't touch you first.    He stands up and makes his bed and goes to sleep too.    The next morning you wake up,  Joel is right next to you,  your eyes widened,  “Joel!” you yell at him, he wakes up..   “What?!” He asks annoyedly,   “Why are you right next to me?  There's an entire library!? There's space everywhere!”   “It's better if we're close like this,  for many reasons.”  He says calmly,  “How so?”   “Well- for one,  If someone ever breaks in we're close to each other, we can alert the other person easier, more efficiently..  For two,  It will keep us safe, closeness of each other will make it warmer for us,  you don't wanna be cold, now do ya?”  He asks, looking at you, his head tilted.   You stay silent knowing he does have a point.

You then shake your head, “No, I don't ..." and he smiles.  “See, you gotta think girl..” 

You frown, feeling dumb.    He doesn't question you, he just stands up and stretches,  groaning loudly while doing so.        You stand up too,   “It's our last day together,  It's so strange to think about.”  you say,  Joel stays silent, packing his things back up..  In the silence your stomach growls, and you get embarrassed.. You open your bag and Joel sees all the cans in there,  you grab one out and notice him looking.   “I can take some,  I know cans get heavy, I’ll give em’  back to you once we reach the QZ, I promise.”     He says, and you believe him, he's a man of his word. 

Part One:

It was Mid-November, a cold one at that. 

The leaves have fallen in Connecticut, And  you walk alongside a road, wind whipping at your face. 

The sun was setting and the temperature was sure to drop. You could feel it, you were approaching a small town where you planned on staying for the night, you felt a pit in your stomach, the fear of how much infected was in this town, how much you had to kill all on your own. You check how much ammo you have in your rifle, not much but you could make do.   The outbreak is recent. 

You have kept track of the day the world stopped. The two-year anniversary had just passed which made you feel emptier, many people believed that everything would go back to normal eventually.. But no, things just got worse, and  they started evolving. 

Quickly,  you approached a street. All you could hear was the wind blowing which made you feel uneasy. You stop for a moment and glance around, making sure there is nobody around,  and  you keep walking. Most of the houses and buildings seem untouched which surprised you, raiders became a real big thing a few months into the outbreak.  You walk up the steps to a house quietly, and grab the front door handle, twisting it gently, it's unlocked. You crack it open and slide through. 

Once you're inside you check your surroundings, the coast is clear, but you never let your guard down. 

You drop your bag off into the living room, and walk into the kitchen, it smelt stale and the air was moist, you were surprised because it was almost winter.

You raid the cabinets and find cans of vegetables that read “best by 2016” and you smile to yourself– all of this could last you weeks, enough nights til you get to the Boston QZ. 

You grab your bag from the living room and stuff the remaining space of your bag with the cans. 

You leave an extra can of corn out and open it with a knife, you walk over to the old couch in the living room and sit on it, setting your bag down on the floor quietly. You eat the corn hungrily with two fingers. This was the most food that you have eaten in a few days, you couldn't be happier. After finishing the can it was dark outside, and you still felt that pit in your stomach. You glanced around the place  and stood up, you found an old TV and stand to go with it and shoved it in front of the door to give you time to prepare yourself for anything.  Sitting back on the couch a wave of fatigue hit you, you grabbed your jacket and covered yourself with it, hugging your knees for the extra warmth. 

You quickly fell asleep.

“Mmph!” 

You feel a rough hand covering your mouth in the cold darkness, your heart pounds from adrenaline. You could barely breathe.  Then, you feel something cold and heavy on your forehead–  you bite the hand that is covering your mouth hard, and you hear a man's voice

 “Shit!”  

You try to sit up and reach for your rifle but you don't feel it,  you're gonna die and you know it. 

You get shoved back down and a flash light turns on and beams in your face and you squint 

“Oh, she's a beauty!” 

The same voice mocks. Your eyes adjust to the light and you see a man's face, he's not too old but way older than you that's for sure.  

What you now know is a gun travels from your forehead to your temple, your chest begins to rise and fall quickly, and he just studies you. 

“W-what do you want from me?” your voice cracks and all he does is laugh in your face

“You are shakin’ like a damn leaf..” he presses the gun harder against the side of your head and you close your eyes tight.  

“I-If youre gonna kill me just make i-it quick..” 

“I Ain't gonna kill ya.” 

You look at him with furrowed eyebrows and he takes the gun off the side of your head, your whole body shaking.  The thought of you dying stays in your mind, he leans away from you and you scoot as far away from him as possible, still your thoughts frozen from fear. This is the first encounter with somebody  in a very long time.. The man glances over at you and shakes his head 

“How is someone like you still alive?” He asks you but you stay silent, staring at him with scared eyes, he scoffs 

“The girl can no longer speak? Is that it?” his voice was deep southern, it reminded you of freedom, before the outbreak.  

Suddenly, out of nowhere he grabs your face, hard and rough.  It shocks you, you whimper and stare at him

“I asked you a question,  girl.”  His voice is rough like his actions. It sends chills down your spine

“I-  dont know.” you cower  

“Yeah, yeah you do..” he grips tighter

“Youre just a little fuckin’ cheat living like theres nothing wrong with the world.” 

You are sure his grip could break your teeth, you grab at his wrist hoping he would let you go, he doesn't. 

Instead his hand slides down to your throat, keeping that same pressure. You try and  grab his wrist, you begin squirming 

“P-please-no-” 

You couldn't breathe, tears began streaming down your cheeks. 

You were young, you weren't ready to die yet. Not just yet.

“Hm?” he grips tighter, you try to scream but you can't, you start seeing spots everywhere, then suddenly  you feel a release, his hand lifted off your throat. 

You hunched over and started coughing while tears streamed down your face

You feel him  place his hand on the back of your head, then gliding slowly to your lower back, you freeze and look over at him, horrified. 

He leans in and whispers something to you

“I told you, I aint gonna kill ya..” 

You shutter, tears quietly streaming down your face, you are gonna be sick.  

You stare down, heaving. You didn't believe him.

“And y’know what..” he says while gripping your chin, you still try not to look at the man

“I’ll keep you safe.. Or you can rot here all on your own.” he continued, that same distant dark tone. The fear of dying alone settles in and you finally reach your breaking point and you vomit, all over the floor and on his hand. You cry harder, trembling from fear. 

He swears loudly and you jump, looking at him he sits there staring in disgust

“I don't want to die.” you look at him. He can tell you're afraid, he liked that, made him feel complete, if not feared then what? He needed fear, he loved it. 

“You don't have to.”  he moved his hand from your jaw to your cheek, wiping away your tears, you were mortified.  You haven't felt the touch of another human being since the day it all happened.. You felt comfort in this unknown man's touch, even from the pain he caused. You lips pucker and you begin crying again, you don't know how to feel, he lulls you like a baby, which comforts you. 

“Let it out.. It's gonna be okay.” he promises,  he hugs you and your head rests on his chest. 

He rubs the back of your head, making you feel like everything IS gonna be okay. 

It feels like an entire different person took over for him, you didn't feel scared anymore. Soon all the crying and lack of rest catches up to you and you fall asleep in his arms.