KILL THE TRUTH | 𝐽𝑜𝑒𝑙 𝑀𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑟 (This Story Is Going Through Corrections)

𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟 81.- the end.

5 days later

Maria was never someone to take patrols. She mostly guarded Jackson from inside it's walls, keeping an eye on everything and everyone, doing exactly what she was good at. But this time Makayla was the one she had to keep an eye on. Especially during these times. At some point, Maria was always like a mother to her.

Joel still wasn't waking up although his body recovering quickly.

And even if he was stable and alive, Makayla was still heavily affected by it.

She played it strong and casual in front of Sofia, but the adults could see right through her. She's been talking less, eating less, as if trying to punish herself for all that went down. Again.

It was a bad habit and she knew it.

She's been visiting Joel pretty much every night, hoping she'd come and she'd finally see his eyes.

She tried being patient.. hearing from every side,, "Just give him time"

But not having him by her side felt odd. And empty.

The town's been impatiently waiting for Joel to wake up too. Having hundreds of questions which stressed her out even more.

They were now deep in the woods, making sure no bandits or infected are getting close to the gates. It was a simple and basic patrol routine. Maria didn't want Makayla to have too much on her shoulders. It was her first patrol ever since they came back from Seattle.

Meanwhile Dina, Sierra and Tommy were taking care of the kids.

"She misses him so much." Makayla breathed, referring to Sofia and Joel.

Seeing Sofia so broken without her dad was tearing Makayla's heart apart.

"I know. We all do. But all we can do now is to wait." Maria replied, but when she saw how Makayla's face fell, she decided to change the subject.

"It's crazy how the world has changed." Maria said, looking around. It was obvious she hasn't left Jackson in a while the way she was watching everything.

Makayla just glanced at her and Maria continued to talk,

"At least I got to see the world before all this. I wish you had the chance to see it too."

"Maybe it's a good thing I didn't. Can't miss it now." She simply answered, scanning their surroundings for any movement or sound.

Something rustled in the bushes, and Makayla streched her bow, ready to shoot when a small rabbit ran out, and Makayla's arrow penetrated his little heart on the spot.

Maria smiled at Makayla, "Good job, I'm taking it with us." Maria walked up to it, and Makayla watched her grab the rabbit by his long legs and pin him to her belt.

"Alright. That's our last stop." Maria pointed at the small cabin in front of them where they were supposed to sign their names and go back.

Makayla frowned, "What's the point of having seedlings out in the open?"

"So that we know someone came through." Maria checked it but it was untouched.

That was when Makayla had the time to notice the door to the cabin wasn't closed. It was slightly open. It just needed a little push..

"Fuck! Kayla!" Maria screamed when she saw Makayla had blasted a shot from her shotgun right in between the eyes of an infected who was inside the cabin.

Runner.

It happened so fast, Makayla had no time to react differently.

She was standing on her feet, the body of the infected was right under her and it's blood was splattered on her cheek.