A boy who's after one thing, his girlfriend. But along his journey, he meets a girl who's been through events most people didn't even know were possible. She's been living in a bus on the dangerous surface with her dog while everyone else was hiding...
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Focus
They were walking for what felt like hours, or at least for Joel. Clyde and Minnow had been walking for a while so they got used to it and Rosemary has been running from monsters for seven years, so she's gotten into pretty good shape. They got up to a huge cliff and Boy, Minnow, Clyde and Rosemary were way ahead of Joel. Clyde was looking over the cliff with binoculars, Boy was laying down, trying to get some rest and Minnow was using lip gloss to paint a target on a cactus. Rosemary took her bow off her back and an arrow. She got her arrow ready and she was waiting for Minnow to finish. Joel finally got up to them and collapsed. "That's good, uh...good little workout."
Joel looked up and saw Minnow standing by Rosemary who was aiming her arrow right at the cactus target. Rosemary let the arrow go and it hit the bullseye. Rosemary had a confident smile on her face. "I never miss." Minnow high fived her. Rosemary slung her bow back over her and Minnow decided to help Joel now. Rosemary took the arrow out of the cactus and walked back to Minnow and Joel all while Joel and Clyde were having their own little conversation.
"A girl, huh?"
"Yeah." Minnow pushed Joel's head down and grabbed his crossbow from his bag.
"You left a nice, safe colony to travel all the way to the ocean for a girl you ain't seen since you were, what, seventeen?"
"No, I know what you're thinking." Joel said as Minnow started to load up his crossbow. "I know how it sounds. It's crazy. But...I don't know. If you knew our connection, you'd probably feel differently." Rosemary rolled her eyes. She's always thought that the concept of love and connections was a bunch of fairytale bullshit.
"We actually just got back in touch over the radio a few weeks ago. And it's still there. It's just magical and so sweet. She loves me too, so a pick up where we left off kind of thing. It's still there."
Minnow finished loading up his crossbow and handed it to him as Clyde said, "You ever hear the term fool's errand?"
"Alright, so what?" Joel stood up with his crossbow in hand. "I'm a fool because I believe in true love?"
"No, you're a fool because you're out here with Mary who knows what she's doing, but now she has to protect not just herself, but you as well." Joel looked over at Rosemary as he said that and Rosemary just looked down at her shoes.
"You don't know a thing about survival." Joel aimed at the cactus and shot his crossbow which landed on the ground in front of him. "You shoot for shit." Minnow started loading up his crossbow again. "Yet you got an attitude like you're some kind of noble warrior floating on the wings of love. Doesn't work like that."
Joel then mumbled under his breath. "Okay. Super encouraging speech."
Joel shot his crossbow again, but this time, the arrow went over the cactus. "Damn it."
"You're braining out."
Joel looked down at Minnow with confusion written all over his face. "Huh?"
"Braining out. Thinking too much. I always clear my mind and say to myself, 'a needle through water'."
"A needle through water?"
"Just trust me. My dad was the best archer in my colony."
"Oh, really?" Joel looked over at Clyde, thinking he was Minnow's dad. "Then how come he's not the one giving me the lessons, huh?"
"'Cause I'm not her dad." Oops. Minnow started to explain who her dad really was. "Yeah, my dad got killed. Back when we lived in the subway station. Along with Elliott." Minnow looked over at Clyde as she said that. Rosemary knew that everyone had lost people, but she was just a sensitive person who had a hard time hiding her feelings. Rosemary walked over to Boy and kneeled down next to him. He could sense when she was upset and he started nuzzling into her pets. Joel saw that she was upset, but figured she wouldn't want to talk about it, so he questioned Clyde instead. "Who's Elliott?"
"My son."
"Oh, I'm sorry."
"No need to be sorry. We all have stories like that. Don't we?"
Joel nodded. He aimed his crossbow again and whispered, "Needle through water...Needle through water..." He shot the arrow and it landed in the cactus, just away from the bullseye. He was happy about it though. "Hey, that was pretty close!"
"It was better."
Rosemary stood up and walked next to Joel. "Could I show you something?"
"Yeah." Joel loaded his crossbow and aimed it again. Rosemary put her hands on his. She adjusted his hands and moved where he was holding it slightly. She took her hands off his and took a few steps away. "Try now." Joel shot the arrow and it landed in the cactus just underneath the target. Joel smiled and let out a small laugh. "That was good! I did it! Or close enough!"
Rosemary smiled and Clyde was impressed by how much Rosemary knew. "Not bad, kid. You know your stuff." Rosemary nodded. "Tell you what, the other one, you gonna hang with us, you need to know stuff." That was more directed at Joel since Rosemary knew enough to survive.
"First lesson: Always survey from high ground when possible." Minnow was sort of hyping up Clyde. "Always."
"Always. Helps you spot the big ones in advance."
Joel thought he could be comforted, but oh boy, was he wrong. "It's nice to know that thing's not following us anymore."
"No, no, it's definitely still following us. Just saw it."
"What..."
"Yeah. Chumbler." Clyde looked over at Minnow who was grabbing Joel's arrows. "I knew it!"
"Big son of a bitch too."
"Big sumanabitch." Rosemary looked at Minnow with shock when she swore. She's eight for crying out loud! To be fair, the world is ending so...fuck it.
"Got your scent too, man."
"Wait, both of us?"
"Yup. It's gonna be hard to shake."
"Then why are we still standing here?" Since neither Minnow or Clyde were being comforting, Rosemary decided to take that role. "Don't worry. Chumbler's are big, but they're also slow."
"We gotta keep moving."
Joel looked over the cliff and saw the Chumbler walking in their direction. He froze for a second until he felt Rosemary gently grab his hand and give him a little tug.
"Comin'?!" Clyde yelled from a bit farther away. The two of them jogged to keep up with Minnow and Clyde with Boy trailing next to them. Joel hadn't thought much about how often Rosemary had saved him. She saved him from the Chumbler, she got him through the night, she helped get him out of the pit and she helped him with his aim. But most importantly, she was keeping him calm and focused.
