sunshine // joel miller

ELEVEN

"People." He answered shortly.

"Are we okay in here?" Ellie asked, more worried for the woman sat on the table who still seemed to be in her own little world.

"For a little bit, maybe," He answered, "Looks like they're checkin' out apartment buildings first. But they'll be coming through these places soon enough."

He moved away from the window, finally looking to Fran and sighing as he went down for his bag, opening it up as Ellie looked out for herself.

"There's a really tall building, like, four blocks away," She commented, knowing the strategy of getting to a high place to check for a route.

"Yeah. Saw it," Joel said, grabbing a spare bandage, water, and a rag, walking in front of Fran. The woman didn't look at him for a moment, still focused on the wall.

"So that's the one?" Ellie asked him.

"As soon as I sort Fran out, and we don't hear a truck, we move." He answered as Fran looked at him, eye level from where she sat, "Fast as we can."

Ellie seemed satisfied with that, taking a seat opposite of where the two were.

"Lemme see it," Joel said to Fran quietly, the woman moving her shirt down so her shoulder was on display. Joel got a little bit of water, and wet the rag he had, carefully applying pressure on her shoulder.

Fran hissed at the feeling, flinching back slightly as Joel started to wipe the blood off.

"I know," he whispered, trying to comfort in any way he could. She just closed her eyes, letting him work as quickly as he could. When the blood was gone and the graze could be seen, a little dent in her shoulder was visible. Only a couple millimetres to the left and it would've gone straight through her shoulder, probably shattered a bone.

He wrapped her shoulder tightly in the bandage, before covering her shoulder once more, and taking a seat to her left.

He was exhausted from the fight, the near death, the night of no sleep... the fear on both of the girls faces was enough to make him feel completely insane.

Ellie, noticing the tired look, spoke up, "Are you okay?"

"I'm all right. Are you all right?" He asked back, the question coming out hesitantly.

"Yeah," Ellie nodded. While she was more focused on how she was physically, Joel's head was hurting from the idea of a child having to shoot someone to save him. He couldn't imagine Sarah having to even hold a gun, let alone use one on another kid.

"Thing is, is I didn't hear that guy comin', and I was so focused on what was wrong with Fran- and... you shouldn't have had to... you know?" Joel tried to talk, still pausing every once in a while: he wasn't good at comforting unless it was bold statements.

"Well, you're glad I did, right?" Ellie said to him with a sad smile, Joel shaking his head

"You're just a kid. You shouldn't know what it means to..." Joel just couldn't think of the right words.

"You didn't kill him," Fran spoke for the first time, both Ellie and Joel looking at her, she just sent a sad smile Ellie's way, "You need to know that, okay? Not your fault."