Set Me Free ▪︎ Joel Miller ▪︎

▪︎○ Thirty Nine ○▪︎

Fall 2023

The breeze whisked by, whipping her hair around her face with an annoying persistence that coaxed a huff from the young woman as she attempted to set up a sound trap around the camp. Her brows dipped with frustration while her hands lifted to shove her hair into a tight ponytail, willing to rid it from her face and from obscuring her vision.

"Having trouble?"

"Don't start," Olivia grumbled whilst shooting a warning look to her closest friend, causing him to chuckle and lift his hands in mock surrender.

He stepped up beside her with a rifle hung over his shoulder and a smile on his face. "It's not bad," he praised with a nod of approval whilst briefly giving the sound trap she had set up a once over.

"Yeah, it'll do." Olivia shrugged before walking alongside the Southern man in the direction of their camp just a short couple minutes walk away. "I thought you were hunting?" she mumbled after noticing the lack of potential food in the man's grasp.

"I caught a few rabbits - they're back at camp. I left 'em with Joel and Matt while they were collecting firewood." Tommy explained with an unwavering smile.

"Oh,"

"What?" Tommy tilted his head, a glint in his eye.

"Nothing," Olivia again shrugged, shaking her head in thought. "I just assumed that Matty would have driven Joel mad by now." she chuckled.

Tommy's head tilted back, laughing lightly at her comment. "My brother ain't as uptight as he would have you believe. He has a soft side," he told her while his train of thought drifted off, thinking back to the days before the infection broke out. To their long days hiking and fishing. To the days when Sarah was still with them and Joel had a purpose in life. "I just ain't seen it in a long time." he sighed out as they came upon the camp together.

Olivia nodded in understanding, allowing her gaze to drift to the man they had been discussing. Her head tilts as a smile lifts on her lips, both amused and touched by what her gaze falls on.

There Joel was, crouched beside the fire he was building with different sized logs. He nodded occasionally whilst mumbling short responses to Matt, who was currently sat beside the older Southern man and rambling on to him about the toy truck he fiddled with in his small hands.

It was clear that Joel wasn't entirely interested in what Matt was talking about but still he made an effort to appear to be so for the sake of the young excitable boy. It warmed Olivia to her core watching her brother smile wide when Joel unexpectedly turned to him and began instructing him how to build an effective campfire.

It was sweet - wholesome even.

"Matt seems to have taken a liking to him," Tommy commented whilst stepping up beside the staring younger woman and folding his muscular arms.

"Yeah, seems so." Olivia agrees without moving her attention from the pair beside the fire or even giving much away in her tone.

Her fixated gaze on Joel particularly and the glint in her eyes caused Tommy to smirk, shaking his head at her and the clear attraction she felt towards his brother. He let a chuckle slip out, garnering Olivia's attention finally as she turned her head to look him over with a confused expression.

"What's so funny?" she asked but again Tommy shook his head with a smirk, bringing his hand up to run through his hair.

"I was just thinkin', it's not just Matt who seems to have taken a liking to my brother." he looks her in the eye, wiggling his eye brows suggestively and nudging her teasingly.