THE UNEXPECTED

39

It had been too long, far too long and myself and Maria began to get antsy as for Joel and Tommy were yet to return. Jesse had no too long ago left to take over petrol which should've meant that they would've arrived back to Jackson by now. My heart already lurched in my chest and my stomach sinking as I already thought of the worst possible scenario. Either infected or hunters were holding them up.

"Maria - I should go meet Jesse, he should need back up incase the boys are hurt." I say to the blonde beside me, she glances at me momentarily before her eyes drop to my stomach knowingly. "I'll be fine, I need to do this."

"And your sure?" She says wearily, and I nod furiously.

"Positive." I confirm. I know these patrols inside and out and I could get to the boys quickly if need be and on the way I would hopefully run into Jesse or even Ellie and Dina. I would hope that Ellie would be willing to help if she knew that Joel was in danger.

"Okay, be safe, both of you." My lips curve into a small smile before loading up with weapons and a horse before leaving the entrance gates. Glancing back at Maria one last time, I nod at her and we have some sort of mutual understanding - I need to bring our men home.

After quite some time I was still trotting along in the snow, deep in the forest. I'd yet to encounter any infected or any people for that matter, Joel and Tommy were nowhere to be seen and neither Jesse. I had a bad feeling about this.

Alas, I continued forward knowing that there was shelter near by that I'd seen on a previous patrol and perhaps they'd pitched there momentarily from the storm or something. I tried to keep optimistic but nerves seemed to gnaw at my belly and I'm certain that this stress wasn't good for me.

"Mo - Emily?" My head snaps in the direction of the familiar voice and my nerves immediately lessen at the sight of Ellie. She looks pretty disheveled and panicked as she nears me and the horse, but I'm glad she's okay. I sigh out in relief, "You know where Joel is? Tommy?" She asks breathlessly.

I frown, I was about to ask the same thing, "No...was hoping you, Jesse or Dina would've known." Ellie shakes her head and begins to tell me that Jesse ran to find them saying that Joel and Tommy hadn't shown up in over an hour which quickly brought my nerves back into overdrive.

"Okay, hop on. Horseback is faster than feet. Let's go." There's no time to argue or have strained conversations as Ellie quickly hauls herself onto the horse behind me and grips on tight as we gallop through the snow.

"Please be okay, you're okay Joel." I hear her mutter to herself over and over like some sort of mantra. It's comforting that she still cares, recently it's been...strange between us. Ellie never forgave me but she's always more open with me and we spoke occasionally, definitely more so than Joel and her. I think she knew that it was mainly Joel at that hospital but at the same time I did have a part to play in it.

Swallowing back the guilt, I tried to focus on the task at hand of locating Joel and Tommy. I prayed to myself that they were okay. I need Joel to be okay.

"Here, here!" Ellie gestures to what looks like an old lodge of sorts and immediately I know we're in the right place. It's eerily quiet as we tie up the horse but ultimately we don't want to draw attention to ourselves if there are hunters about, "Joel!? Tommy!" Ellie clearly doesn't get the memo.

"Shhh!" I hiss, and quickly, she shuts up.

We duck under a gap in the wooden fencing and scope out the area, there seems to be an open sliding door by one of the bedrooms. Gesturing for Ellie to follow my move, we're quiet as we enter the lodge. The place is massive, it's actually overwhelming but still, it's quiet. Or so I thought.