Set Me Free ▪︎ Joel Miller ▪︎

▪︎○ Forty ○▪︎

"It's more creative than Tempest."

"But my name is fitting for him. He's like an unpredictable windy storm, one minute he's gentle with us, the next he is huffing and resisting us. Besides, it's a pretty name." Olivia defends with folded arms, huffing in a manner that causes Joel to laugh as he returns to the two with a new flamethrower attached to his pack and a hand reaching out to caress Tempest.

"I like it, you two make a good pairing." he says through a smile.

"Kinda like you two then?" Ellie speaks up, flicking her gaze between the two adults thoughtfully, "I mean, you two calm each other down and you're kinda cute together... sometimes." she shrugs.

"I thought our new relationship disgusted you," Olivia smirked with an arched brow.

"Can't it be so cute that it becomes gross?"

"Touchè."

Joel shook his head at the two while smiling discreetly to himself. Their days were never boring, nor were their conversations ever lacking in random points that often left him amused and confused all at once. Truth be told, he appreciated every moment he spent with the two because his heart and soul continued to open up and heal when with them. Slowly but surely they were bringing him back to life and giving it a purpose it had been lacking all these years.

"Scootch," he told Ellie as he stepped up to Callus, climbing atop him once more and hopping over a barbed wired barrier.

Ellie unexpectedly laughed at the simple action, commenting with a wide smile on her young face. "That was fun,"

Olivia smiled at the teen whilst following behind the pair at a steady pace, keeping her gaze dancing around them in continuous search of the mirror building she had only seen photos of previously. They pushed deeper into the school grounds, slowing to a stop just beside a building that had a huge hole blown in the side of it.

"Hey, over there." Ellie said whilst pointing off in the distance towards a large glass building Olivia immediately recognised. "Is that it?"

"Yeah, looks like it." the woman confirms with a nod.

"Huh, it does look like a giant mirror." Joel mumbles whilst scratching his salt and pepper beard, causing Olivia to smirk.

"Told you so,"

The trio decide rather quickly to cut through the building with the gaping hole in it after having noticed that it was their quickest route to the science building they needed to get to. So, again, with Joel leading on Callus and Olivia following on Tempest, they moved into the building.

"How many people you think are there? Fireflies, I mean."

"Reckon it takes quite the crew to run that operation," Joel drawled as they passed a few rooms and took a short right around a corner.

"You think they'll be other people my age?"

"Maybe, we'll just have to see." Olivia told her with a small smile, hopeful that the very thing she was currently dreading would meet all of Ellie's high expectations.

The truth was that she was anxious about meeting up with the fireflies. She had this awful pit in her stomach that she couldn't shift; like something bad was coming sooner rather than later. It was eating her up relentlessly. She just wanted to turn back and return to Jackson with the pair to her left, to build a life with them without all the nonsense of a cure.

But then she looked at Ellie and heard the excitement and hope in her voice that matched that which reflected heavily in her soft green eyes and she realised something. Ellie needed her immunity to mean something. She needed something to hold on to, something to make the death of those they'd lost along the way worth it in some way. She needed to see this through, not only for those depending on her but also for herself and somehow that was enough to push Olivia forward on their journey.