bullet boy • joel miller

two • empty house

Theo followed Ellie and Joel down a deserted road, feeling stronger than he had an hour before. Ellie, much to Joel's exasperation, offered him food and water as soon as she knew he was joining them. He took it with little hesitation, grateful that she was so willing to help.

Joel, on the other hand, refused to acknowledge his presence. No matter how many times he tried to engage in conversation, the older man either ignored him or told him to be quiet. With each rejection, his mind raced with questions. What happened to Joel back in Texas? Where had he been for the past twenty years? Where was his family? How did he know Ellie? And lastly, what the hell was happening?

He turned to Joel to ask him one more question when he noticed a plane crash miles off in the distance. "Woah," was all he could say, his mind reeling at the sight.

Joel glanced toward the crash yet continued to move on. Ellie, however, paused and stared at it in wonder. "Holy shit! You ever fly in one of those?"

Joel slowed his pace to stand beside her and nodded. "A few times, sure."

"So lucky."

"Didn't feel like it at the time. Get shoved into a middle seat, pay twelve bucks for a sandwich."

"Dude, you got to go up in the sky," she grinned before turning to the man standing on her other side. "What about you, Theo?"

"Hm?"

"You ever been up in the sky?"

"Ah, yeah. Bunch of times. More time than Joel, I bet," he replied, looking over to Joel who still refused to acknowledge him. The three of them continued to travel down the road.

"Really? How come?"

"Used to be in the Air Force before the world went to shit so... had my fair share of flights. Helicopters and stuff."

"No fucking way! A helicopter?! Dude, that's awesome!" She was amazed. "Wasn't the Air Force like, the military? How come you're not part of FEDRA?" 

"Left it three years before the outbreak. Just wasn't... wasn't my thing, ya'know?"

"I getcha, dude. FEDRA school feels like I'm readying myself to lay down arms and fight for my country... or whatever it is that you say. Did you have a Lieutenant Douchebag or a Captain Asshole too? Some guy that made everyone shit themselves and cry themselves to sleep? Heh, kinda sounds like Joel."

The aforementioned man scoffed but kept his head forward. "I can hear you."

Ellie grinned. "I know."

"Just wanted to make sure."

"Yeah, yeah." She let out a wistful sigh. "You guys got to go in the sky, that's so cool."

Theo let out a dry chuckle and threw his thumb back toward the crash. "Yeah, well, so did they."

"Grim."

Theo found himself closer to the others now, no longer hanging back. He wondered how long it'd been since he'd spoken to anyone other than himself, how long it'd been since he'd been around other living people. There were times when, in his solitude, he imagined stumbling across a group. That group would save him, show him kindness he knew he didn't deserve, and offer him help. No matter how many times he imagined it, though, he never thought it'd come true.

Yet it did.

"So, everything came crashing down in one day?" Ellie asked, turning to Theo and breaking him from his thoughts.

"Pretty much."

"How? I mean... no one was infected with Cordyceps, everybody's fine, eating in restaurants and flying in planes. And then, all at once? How did it even start? If you have to get bit to be infected, then who bit the first person?" She was asking the right questions, Theo thought.  "Was it a monkey? I bet it was a monkey."