𝐀𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐅𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐬 : 𝐉𝐨𝐞𝐥 𝐌𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫

-Escape-

Pittsburgh, 2033

Joel and Henry left the minute the moon hung in the sky. I sat on the couch with my legs straightened out in front of me, my gun resting underneath my right hand. Ellie was sprawled out on the empty space on the couch beside me. Sam, willingly, took the floor despite Ellie's protests. But he said it was the gentlemanly thing to do.

The three of us talked a while before they fell asleep. Ellie showed Sam her Savage Starlight comic. He mentioned that he'd seen some of them lying around the city. Ellie made me promise to keep an extra eye out for them. I said I would. Somehow, the Fireflies got mentioned. The young girl bragged that her mom was one of the founders and was best friends with Queen Firefly herself. Sam thought that was cool.

The boy asked if that meant I was one too. I was quick to answer no and explained that someone had to be around to take care of Ellie. Naturally, it raised the question of what happened to her mom. Why wasn't she here?

"She died," Ellie told him. Straight to the point and the Fireflies weren't brought up again for the rest of the night.

Now, I sat in silence – listening. Every creak, every moan of the building, my head twitched. I would wait for a second and when nothing concerning would follow, I'd relax. It's been a couple of hours and I'm starting to get worried. It shouldn't be taking Joel and Henry this long. My mind started conjuring up worse-case scenarios. What if the hunters caught them? What about the truck? What if they're hurt and need help? And if any that was true, there was nothing I could do.

I let my eyelids fall closed, and I told myself not to fall asleep. I was just going to rest my eyes until they got back. But that was an empty promise. Eventually, I drifted off into a deep sleep.

•·················•·················•

Joel, Henry, and I spent most of the day in front of a map on the floor. We must have gone over the route one thousand times. Making sure that we knew it inside and out. Nothing could go wrong – right?

Joel checked my stitches and switched out my bandages. It was uncomfortable, but I could stand on it. Running could prove to be an issue, but if everything goes the way it's supposed to, we'll be sneaking out of the city and walking to the radio tower.

Three days but feels like we've been going for a month. My leg is doing alright. It could be a lot worse. Joel says within the week, I should be back to normal. Somewhat.

I'll admit, even I was a little skeptical about going with Henry and Sam. But, so far, it's been good. Ellie and I have eaten better in the last twenty-four hours than we have in a long time. Ellie has someone her age to be around. I love seeing her smile and hearing her laugh.

Joel is still on edge, but for the right reasons. I swear, every time I look at him, he's staring out one of those windows. Something about that made me feel – safe. To know he was constantly keeping an eye out.

"Ruth," Joel calls out softly. I raise my eyes. "Let's do this."

I take a deep breath as I close my journal. The pages were wrinkled and the writing was smeared. If we keep going through the water the way we were, this old thing will be toast. I sling my backpack onto my shoulders and hobbled over to join the group.

"Y'all, ready?" Henry asked, his eyes scanning over the three of us individually.

"Yeah," Joel answered.

Henry nodded. "Okay. Alright, y'all stay close, okay?" There was a slight tremble in his voice and I noted the bounce in his step. He was nervous, and in turn, that made me nervous. More so than I already was.