𝑵𝒐 𝑻𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝑻𝒐 𝑫𝒊𝒆

iii. 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐃𝐚𝐲

The following day nears as the sun rises over the mountains and into the horizon shining brightly in the sky as we walk along the street I glance down at the ground kicking a few rocks in the process before glancing up still seeing Joel looking down at the ground as well his face mixed with rage and sadness before glancing behind himself double checking if we're still following closely behind him as I give him a small smile while he does the same before looking back to the front of the street.

Glancing to the side I notice Ellie looking at me with a hint of sadness in her eyes as she moves her gaze away from me the moment I caught her staring "I could feeling you staring you know." I giggled as she looked back at me with a small smile on her face "sorry." She mumbled "it's okay. You don't have to apologize." I giggled as she nodded at me "look, I-uh-I'm really sorry about Tess." She whispered "I-uh-it's fine. You-uh-you don't have to apologize it wasn't your fault." I replied "well, I feel like it is. For some reason. I-uh-I know that he feels like it is." She mumbled pointing to Joel walking a few feet in front of us.

"No he doesn't. It's just-they had a special connection with each other and he's just lost in his own mind but, when it comes to getting the job done. He's the perfect person for that." I replied as she nodded at me "hey! Keep up! I can't have you two fallin' behind." Joel exclaimed as he turned to look at us while we walked ahead with him behind us so he could keep an eye on us rather than not be able to see us.

"So, how did you wind up with Joel?" Ellie asked "uh--it was the day the outbreak started. I was taking a nap after school and I woke to this crashing sound from downstairs so, I went down to the living room but I didn't see anything so I made my way to the kitchen and I found my parents being ripped apart by one of the Infected. I--uh--I didn't know what to do so I ran outside and onto the street of my neighborhood. I was almost run over by Joel and his brother Tommy. They saved me." I said as I looked over at her.

"How-how old were you when it happened?" She asked me "I was thirteen." I replied with a hint of sadness in my voice "I'm so sorry that happened to you." She sympathetically muttered "nah, it's okay. I barely even remember them." I muttered while looking down at the ground feeling the tears begin to brim my eyes before looking back up at her "hey! Keep up. I can't watch you two from back there." Joel snapped once again as we both glanced at each other giggling softly before walking up to the front once again.

"So, how did the infection start?" Ellie asked as she glanced up at Joel then at me "no one knows for sure, but, best guess...Cordyceps mutated. And some of it got into the food supply. Probably a basic ingredient like flour or sugar. There were certain brands of food that were sold everywhere, all across the country, across the world. Bread, cereal...pancake mix. You eat enough of it, it'll get you infected. So the tainted food all hits the store shelves around the same time, Thursday. People bought it, ate some Thursday night or Friday morning. Day goes on...they started to get sick. Afternoon, evening, they got worse. Then they started bitin'. Friday night, September 26, 2003. And by Monday, everything was gone." Joel explained.

"That was the same night my parents died." I muttered while glancing up at Joel with a hint of sadness in my eyes "it makes more sense than monkeys. Thanks." Ellie replied "sure." Joel said as he nodded at us while I started to walk ahead but, before I could he put his hand out in front of me stopping me in my tracks "what?" I asked him "we'll cut across the woods here." He said "isn't the road easier?" Ellie asked him "yeah, it's just-there's stuff up there you shouldn't see." He muttered "well, now we have to see." I giggled "I don't want you to. I'm serious. Maddie!" He snapped as I began walking ahead of him "can it hurt us?" Ellie asked him as she followed closely behind me.