KILL THE TRUTH | 𝐽𝑜𝑒𝑙 𝑀𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑟

𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟 41.

"Well this place takes me back." Joel called out, looking around.

"How so?" Makayla asked, looking at him.

"It was right after everything went down. I ended up in a triage just like this. Man everywhere you looked you just...saw families torn apart. The whole damn world seemed to have turned upside down in a blink."

"Was that after you lost Sarah?" Makayla approached him while he was gathering some stuff in one of the quarantine tents.

"Yeah It was."

His voice visibly softened.

"I can't imagine loosing someone you love like that. Loosing everything you know. I'm sorry Joel."

Many times she thought about how she'd love to meet Sarah.Although she'd be older than Makayla by now.

"That's okay." Joel just looked at her and continued making his way through the quarantine zone.

They've been searching the area, taking as many things they could when suddenly Makayla spoke with an unsure tone in her voice,

"Joel I...I got something for you." What she said made Joel turn around to face her.

She reached inside of her backpack and took out a photo. It was the photo of him and Sarah that Tommy tried to give Joel before.

"Maria said you rejected it so I took it for you. I hope you don't mind." She handed it to him and he took it, looking down at it for a few moments.

He exhaled heavily, "I guess no matter how hard you try. You can't escape your past. Thank you." His voice was full of pain and she just let him have his moment and decided to stay quiet and put.

...

They were making their way through a tunnel when they heard those familiar groans.

Makayla immediately stiffened and looked at Joel.

"We can get past them." He whispered and crouched down as she did the same and they slowly moved forward.

They jumped on a car and then on top of a bus before climbing down, still trying to be as quiet as possible.

She could feel her blood turn cold when she noticed two bloaters and a bunch of runners. If they were to deal with them they would loose to many resources.

They slowly made their way around without catching their attention and Makayla finally let out the breath she was holding once they got past another bus.

"You alright?" Joel asked, leading the way.

"Yeah I'm good." Makayla nodded, staying on his heels but just then she noticed the way was flooded.

The only way through was by the wall.

Joel went first.

But they didn't get far like that.

"Great." Makayla sighed when she saw another bus blocking the way.

Joel just looked at her before getting into the calm water, "C'mon. " he said before he dived in to undreswim it and she did the same.

They got on top of the bus and onto another ventils by the wall. The only difference was that they were now much higher.

"Alright, just stick to the edge!" Joel called out.

Joel saw on the other side a way inside so he jumped on top of a near car and swam to the gate.

"Is it open?" Makayla asked as she followed him but when Joel tried to open the door it stayed closed.

"It's blocked. Gimme your foot." He leaned back and Makayla did as he said.

Up there was a small opening so she jumped through just so she could open the door for him.

She took out the iron rod and opened the door, creating a loud sound.

"Can you hear them?" She looked at Joel.

"Yeah. Let's go." He said and they walked out of the only door there was.

The smell of dead filled Makayla's nostrils and she looked down only to see a dead body missing a head. It looked fresh..

"Up there." Joel pointed to a ladder as they walked up to it and climbed it but what they saw wasn't exactly what they expected. The other side of the tunnel was even more flooded and the water seemed pretty active and wild, creating waves.

"Oh boy." Makayla whined. She wasn't scared of water and she was a good swimmer. But she always thought drowning was the first kind of death.

"Just let me go ahead and you follow my lead." Joel spoke with that deep voice of his and Makayla didn't even get to respond as he already stepped onto the ventils.

From there they jumped on a truck and another, and another. Making their way through the completely flooded tunnel.

But at the end when he had to jump back on the ventils he had to make a much bigger jump.

"Okay. C'mon jump!" He stepped closer to the edge, waiting for her.

"You're gonna catch me?" Makayla asked, scared to shit at this moment.

"I got you." Joel said confidently and she was no longer scared.

She shook off the fear and jumped, landing on her feet perfectly.

"See? You didn't even need me."

Joel steadied her with a grin on his face.

"Let's get the hell off this thing." Makayla inhaled sharply and moved forward.

She had to jump on top of a bus to get to the other side and as Joel did the same the bus under them moved, she looked back at him with her eyes wide.

"Makayla- move! Move!" She did as he said and started running. As soon as she jumped on the ventils it got out of control.

The bus became loose and it made Joel fall inside.

"Joel!" Malayla screamed down and she heard Joel cuss just before the bus started rushing down the tunnel at a crazy speed.

But she managed to jump on top of it.

And as soon as the bus crushed into something, making it stop for a while she found Joel,opening the side door of the bus to get to him.

"Joel come on!" She reached inside but the bus moved again, making Joel fall back down and he knew that wasn't the end.

"Kayla! Gimme you hand before-" he shouted but it was too late. The bus got out of control, making her fall off of it right into the water.

Joel did everything to get out, swimming through to find her when he saw her not so far away from him.

He grabbed her and pulled her out of the water not even realizing they were at the end of the tunnel.

Makayla's face was pale and her eyes closed.

Joel was breathing hard, bend over her as he tried to get her to wake up.

He checked her breathing, "No...c'mon,"

With panic in his voice he started to push down onto her chest while cursing muttering and grunting under his breath but it wasn't working.

"C'mon c'mon." He whispered and grabbed her face.

"Hands in the air!" He heard a male's voice but ignored it.

"I said hands in the air!" The man called out again making Joel look up while still giving Makayla a first aid.

"She's not breathing." He groaned.

"Hands in the fucking air!" The man stepped closer.

"C'mon Kayla!" Joel pleaded looking down at her and just before he could do anything everything went black and he could only feel a pounding pain in his head. The man had hit him with his rifle, making him fall unconscious.