KILL THE TRUTH | 𝐽𝑜𝑒𝑙 𝑀𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑟

𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟 51.

"And don't you dare lie to me Joel or I swear to God I'll-" she stopped herself, looking directly at him while his head was hanging low, his eyes shut and forehead creased.

"Tell me!" She screamed, her voice breaking and Joel finally looked up, but it took him some time to collect his thoughts before he spoke up,

"Making a vaccine would have killed you. So I stopped them." His voice was low and Makayla just stood looking at him blankly. She knew. She knew that very well. But he didn't need to know.

Her fists shook as she gritten her teeth.

"The world once took everything from me. So I took everything from the world." He stated in a deep voice and her eyes narrowed.

She was the everything.

"That's pretty fucking selfish."

"I know." He nodded.

Tears were now uncontrollably falling down her face. The vaccine was her chance to proof herself she's good for something. It was her chance to save people, and help them survive.

And he took that from her.

"That wasn't your choice to make you hear me?!" She rasped while crying and stumbled back to sit down on a pile of wood since her legs already gave out.

Joel took an unsure step closer, trying to touch her but she slapped his hand away,

"Just go Joel! Fucking go..." her voice was now weaker as she hid her face in her palms.

And although he didn't want to do it, he respected her and that she needed to be alone right now.

So he got on his horse, leaving her with a heavy heart, hoping she'd come back home as soon as possible and forgive him.

...
3 hours later

It was hard to come back to Jackson. She wasn't ready to face Joel. Before she got on her horse she was walking back and forth while crying, wondering what to do.

Now she was walking through the main gate, looking lifeless...

Joel and Tommy stood near the checkpoint, to make sure she comes back but she didn't even look their way.

Tommy looked at Joel, firmly placing his palm on his shoulder, giving it a squeeze.

"About what happened, I can't say I would've done different that day." He tried to reassure him and Joel just firmly nodded, too tired to even respond as he watched Makayla walk to their house.

She shut the door behind her, leaning against them and closing her eyes before taking a deep breath.

The only person who could comfort her broke her trust.

She fell asleep on the couch, too exhausted to keep her eyes open when she suddenly heard the door click open.

She recognized those steps right away but decided to keep her eyes closed.

"Can I talk to you?" Joel's voice was low but clear. He knew she wasn't really sleeping.

She slowly opened her eyes, making eye contact with him.

He seemed like he was trying to be careful and when he was about to open his mouth to say something Makayla stopped him,

"Joel-" she said and paused before continuing, "I'm taking tomorrow's patrol with Tommy."

Joel stood looking at her but after a few seconds he nodded, "I understand." And slowly moved upstairs.

He wasn't going to pressure her into talking to him. He knew she was stubborn and probably had all the right to be.

...
The next morning

"Are you with me?" Tommy's voice made her snap from her thoughts.

"Yeah.." she answered and continued following him.

"So- you talked to Joel yet?"

Tommy asked, holding onto his rifle and Makayla just gave him a side eye,

"He told you?" Makayla asked and the fact that he remained silent said enough.

"He's worried about you. I know my brother damn well. He only wanted to prote-"

"Tommy let's just change the subject." She spoke firmly, and he nodded, his mouth creating a straight line.

"So- where are we now? Haven't been in this part like ever." She looked around. It was like an abandoned village full of houses. If not even bigger than Jackson but most of those houses were burn.

"This Village used to be full of people. During the outbreak people burned it to the ground to get rid of a horde. Hordes like to move through this area in winter."

"They do the same routes every year?" She asked, looking around. It was winter so the first thought went there.

"It's like a migration or somethin'."

She frowned, "What's that about?"

"Well...when the barometric pressure reaches a certain...temperature..shit I don't fuckin' know." He cursed, making Makayla snort.

It was weird how even now he was able to make her smile. Even if it was only for a second.

"Alright, we should split and get all the supplies all the passers-by left here, possibly kill a few infected. You fine with that?"

"Sure." Makayla shrugged and went to a different direction.

She went through a few houses, finding some supplies. Her and Tommy were now quite far from each other and she froze when she heard stomps not so far from her.

She took out her gun, ready to kill the infected she was about to see but before she could strike from behind the wall she was stopped by something.

"How many girls did they get?"

"Enough to satisfy David. He's gon' be real happy with us."

"We should get back now."

She slapped her hand over her mouth to keep quiet.

David...

She wanted to run away. To alert Tommy, hell maybe just stay hidden...

But her instincts kicked in as she jumped out, now standing in front of two men, she would say she recognized, with her gun out.

"Don't you fucking move."