Her eyes fluttered open and the realization of what happened yesterday hit her like a truck.
"Get dressed we gotta move." She heard Joel say as he threw one of his shirts at her.
She sat up, already feeling the pain between her thighs as she did so.
She looked at Joel. He was already dressed up.
It was pretty cold as she grabbed her backpack, searching for the only pair of underwear she had left and put it on while Joel didn't look at her once, gathering his things.
She got dressed and stood up. His shirt was quite big on her but it was better then freezing to death.
He turned around and their eyes met.
"You good?" He asked, looking up and down.
"Yeah." She muttered and watched him put on his backpack as he started walking. She followed him in silence.
They were walking through the woods, making their way to the power plant. None of them said a word so Makayla decided to speak up, "So are we gonna talk about yesterday?"
She heard him sigh heavily, "Let's just get to Tommy's now." He shrugged.
Makayla frowned but decided to listen to him. It was obvious he didn't wanna hear a thing about it.
They managed to cross the hydropower plant, getting on the other side of the river.
In front of them was a tall wall. It looked like a checkpoint. All they had to do was get past it.
They kept walking by the wall until it lead them to the gate.
Makayla was in the lead when she saw a woman standing in front of the gate looking around. Joel was gathering some things he found laying on the ground and meanwhile Makayla noticed some armed man at the top of the wall so she sneaked closer to her, grabbing her from behind and the woman screamed out.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Joel ran there and saw armed men aiming at them from behind the wall.
"Let go of me or we shoot." The woman warned them, stuggling in Makayla's grasp.
"Makayla. Do as the lady says." Joel ordered and Makayla let go of her.
The woman immediately turned around so she was facing them.
"Please tell me you're lost." The short blonde haired woman spoke.
"We didn't know the place was occupied we're just tryna make our way through."
"Through to where?" She asked when suddenly they heard a male voice spoke up, "They're alright."
"What, you know these people?"
"I know him." The man said and walked out of the gate, "That's my goddamn brother."
"Tommy." Joel said as soon as he saw him and Tommy walked up to him and pulled Joel into a brotherly hug.
Joel patted his back with a low chuckle, "How you doin' baby brother?"
"Goddamn. Let me look at you." Tommy took a step back placing a hand on Joel's shoulder, "You got fuckin' old."
"Easy- it's gonna happen to you too." Joel pushed his hand off and Makayla noticed Joel was noticeably taller then Tommy.
Tommy laughed and looked at the blonde woman, "This is Maria. Be nice to her. She sorta runs things around here."
"Ma'am, thanks for not blowin' my head off." Joel stated making her crack a smile, "Would be embarrassing, considering you're my brother in law."
Joel looked at Tommy with a suprised expression on his face.
"We all gotta get wrankled up at some point." Tommy smiled and looked at Maria. She smiled too and turned to Makayla.
"I should thank someone too for not killing me." Maria said and continued, "Makayla right?"
"Yeah." Makayla nodded.
"What brings you through here?" Maria asked her and Makayla's eyes shifted to look at Joel before looking back at Maria, "That's kind of a long story."
"Why don't we bring them inside?" Tommy asked.
"Yeah. Come in. You guys are hungry?" Maria asked and they pushed the gate open, walking in.
"Starving." Makayla answered and noticed horses as soon as they stepped in.
There was one woman and one man taking care of them. And one man was just leaning against the fence and they weren't even inside the building yet. Looks like they had it packed over here.
They walked inside.
"Maria. We're in the control room, we're about to get it started. You wanna come check it out?"
They heard Maria's transmitter as she grabbed it and looked at the three, "I'd rather go eat with Makayla."
"I'll go. It's my turn anyway." Tommy said and opened some door.
"I'll come with you." Joel said and went to walk after when in front of the door he turned to look at Makayla,
"Go with Maria and get some food in you." After saying that he turned around and dissapeared in the door.
"C'mon Makayla. Let's give the boys some space."
"I'm sending Tommy over. Stand by." She suddenly said into the transmitter before making her way to the cafeteria while Makayla followed her.
"So, any relatives?" Maria asked her as they were walking down hallway.
"No. It's just me."
Maria just looked at her and nodded, "So how long have you been travelling with Joel?"
"It's been about 2 months I think." Makayla frowned at how the time quickly went by.
"We're here." Maria opened a door revealing a small empty cafeteria but the smell of food immediately entered Makayla's nostrils.
Maria went to grab the food and placed it on a table before they sat down.
"Tommy has told me a lot about him. It's crazy what happened to Sarah. He must still grieve." Maria's face dropped and Makayla's eyebrows furrowed in confusion,
