Silver ||Joel Miller||

'Laura Richards On How to Dominate the Investment Market'

JOEL

two and a half months later

Two and a half months... Joel could hardly believe he was alive after walking for that long.

And the journey still wasn't complete.

If they kept going at the pace they'd been moving, he'd hopefully find clues to his brother's whereabouts in two weeks time. Wyoming felt so close, and yet still so far away.

"Can you tell me another story from the QZ?" Ellie asked as she and Laura sat around the fire in the mineshaft they'd found. They'd gone in as far as possible, to make sure no one would find them. If needed they should be able to slip through a gap in the collapsed wall behind them that would hide them completely. Well, Ellie would definitely fit through that gap, but he wasn't so sure he'd be able to.

"I think I'm fresh out, kiddo." Laura replied before she had a mouthful of freshly cooked rabbit.

"Really?" Ellie asked, a disappointed tenor on her voice. "Do you have any you want to share, Joel?"

"No." He answered simply. It had been enough listening to Laura tell her stories to the kid, some were familiar to him and some weren't. Others answered questions he'd always had, like what happened to the leader of the QZ before the one currently in power. Apparently that poor bastard had threatened to expose Laura as a Firefly if she didn't bend to his every whim... his mistake was thinking she'd comply and not get rid of him as an obstacle.

"You still suck then," Ellie said. He just shrugged his shoulders and took a bite of his own bit of rabbit. With a little friendly competition between him and Laura, they hadn't gone hungry. The rabbit they were currently eating never stood a chance against her arrows, and it brought her two kills behind him. He'd have to step up his hunting game. "Well, what else are we going to talk about all night?"

"How about you get some sleep instead?" Laura said, a smile on her face. Between her and Ellie there had scarcely been a moment of peace. Only when they slept did he have time to think without either of them speaking louder than his own thoughts.

"Do I get to do a watch tonight?" Ellie really didn't want to let that idea go.

"No-"

"You promised that I could if we found somewhere safe for my first one. We're literally in a mine shaft where no one can see us, it's about as safe as it's ever going to get. Don't you want a little extra sleep?" Ellie asked. God, what wouldn't he give for a couple extra hours?

"She does have a point, Texas." Laura looked up at him with her damned hazel eyes and he buckled. As he'd kept doing over the last few months.

"Okay, but you can do the middle shift so Laura and I are on either side. And only for an hour or two." He agreed, even though it put him through mild panic at the thought of leaving the girl to her own devices—at the thought of leaving his life in the hands of that girl.

"Really?" Ellie didn't seem to believe he'd agreed to it, but he guessed he couldn't really believe it either.

"That means you actually have to sleep once you finish eating." Laura pointed out, and the girl nodded.

"Okay." Ellie agreed before she attempted once again to put off sleep. "So neither of you have a story you want to tell? Nothing you want to get off your chests?" This kid was relentless. The plan had been to let the kid do a watch so he and Laura could get more rest, so training her to be ready for that meant she'd stayed awake with them for short periods of time to learn the ropes of it. Whenever he'd been stuck alone with the kid while Laura slept, Ellie liked to interrogate him over and over with the same questions. Did you love Laura? Will you two stay in contact after this? Do you still like her? He'd never given her an answer.