Malevolent. The Walking Dead

[ 003 ] silent language breeds fire

"We're in San Jose now. I guess your leap into the water saved us a few hours of walking," he breathed, crumbling up the map and throwing it to the ground. The city's streets were desolate, as most places were, but it still made goosebumps crawl all over Joey's arms. She felt vulnerable, even then, and even with Bill by her side. It was almost as though someone was going to jump out at them any second. He was still a few feet in front of her, seeming to be limping from the shot to his leg he got when they were on the bridge. Joey felt her heart soar, even though she wasn't sure why ━ but it was evident she was empathetic, despite popular belief. Or, just Bill.

"The map said it was in Downtown San Jose. We should be right around there now . . . c'mon," he waved her forward, and Joey studied his leg. "Should we stop and patch up? Maybe find some dry clothes?" she asked, and he shook his head. "I'll be fine, we'll be fine, we're almost there," he seemed to up his step a bit, and Joey noticed how the further they went into the city, the emptier it was. They had encounters with a few rotters, and had to scramble to find their knives in their bags before driving them through their skulls. It seemed empty of rotters, for a city, which gave Joey the slightest bit of hope that perhaps, maybe, the soldiers running this safe zone were able to take out a majority of the city. But, as they approached certain parts, Joey could see the charred remnants of a burnt building ━ some, if not all buildings, had been burnt down to crisp or nearly half the building had been ruined. "What happened here?" she asked, the familiar knotting in her stomach returning. Bill looked back and felt himself wavering at her expression. His mind flashed back to Ellie for a moment before he snapped out of it. Vulnerability got you killed.

"It's what has happened in every other city - government bombed all the major epicenters. LA. San Francisco. Now, San Jose ━ they thought maybe it would detonate the virus," he answered swiftly, avoiding eye contact with her. Joey didn't notice, nor care. Ever since they were back in Los Banos he had been acting like this. It gave her a bad taste in her mouth, but nearly everything he did did that. It was just a matter of keeping count. "Well that obviously didn't work," she teased, trying to diffuse the tension, but Bill didn't let the pressure rise off of his shoulders. They were heading toward Downtown, and yet they hadn't seen a single sign or person. Joey was beginning to grow nervous.

"I guess they want to be . . . undercover?" she suggested, and glanced around the empty streets. Nothing. You could even hear a pin drop ━ not even the window rustled the trees. "Yeah, I thought we'd see someone by now . . ." he mumbled, hand ghosting over his gun. By the time they had reached the designated safe zone, the tents weren't intact. Big gates that surrounded the area were toppled down. Joey felt her heart sink. "No . . . no . . ." she murmured, ignoring the tightness in her legs and running towards the broken gate, limping. Bill sighed heavily, not even wanting to advance, and watched as she struggled to make her way over there. She scrambled into the tent and took down the few walkers that were in there, though it was apparent most of the soldiers that were in there had taken their own lives before they could turn. Joey fell to her knees and scrambled to search the corpses that littered the ground.

"What are you doing?" Bill narrowed his eyes, pulling at her shoulder. "This is over, Jo, we gotta leave,"

She shook her head, and tried to flip the bodies around and search them for more things. No luck. "Jo ━"

"No! We can't leave, maybe they left something - to tell us where to go, where the next place ━" her breathing started to grow erratic, and Bill tried to pry her off of the bodies. She felt as though she had been stabbed repeatedly in the side, and she began to cry. She didn't even notice until the tears began to scatter on the soldiers dead faces. "There's nothing here for us, we need to leave," Bill began to grow emotional too, just by the sight of her. Two people who had lost everything, lost more. Neither could bear the feeling, but it was one they had to endure. Joey wasn't ready to revel in the idea of being the only ones left ━ it only made her more angry than sad. She continued to fight against Bill's grasp until she was left to crumble into her own, hands placed over her face. She cried, but not for long until Bill pulled her up off the ground. "Let's search around, look for what we can scavenge," he ordered, and she looked at him, eyebrows furrowed. "Can you give me one second to breathe?"