GLOWING (Joel Miller)

16 | The Chef

After another long stretch of driving, I decided it was time to pull over for the night. Joel was asleep in the passenger seat, his head leaning against the window, and Ellie was stretched out in the back, reading a comic book, with a subtle smile on her face.

"What's going on?" She asked, closing the book. "Is something wrong?"

"No." I shook my head, looking up at her in the rearview mirror, before returning my gaze to the dirt trail I had just turned onto. "I think we're done for today." I flipped on the headlights as we entered the dense forest. "I'm getting tired and it's getting late. We'll camp here for the night."

Ellie nodded, unbuckling her seatbelt as I put the car into park. "Great. I'm starving."

I chuckled. "Yeah, me too."

Ellie scooted over to the car door and opened it, letting in the cold air. She grabbed her backpack and jumped out onto the forest floor, running to the back of the truck and pulling out the things we'd need; sleeping bags and supplies.

"Joel?" I leaned over and gently shook the sleeping man's shoulder, lightly squeezing it, so as not to startle him. "It's time to get up." I waited a second, as Joel's tired brown eyes opened, groggily flitting around until they landed on me. I shot him a smile. "Ready for dinner?"

He blinked slowly, nodding as he pushed himself into a sitting position. "Yeah." He looked up in the rearview mirror. "Where's Ellie?"

"She's just outside," I assured him, glancing out the window and locating Ellie in the dark. "She's  over there." I turned back to Joel, who let out a wide yawn, trying to cover his mouth with his hand. I tried to suppress a smile at how cute it was, but even as I bit my bottom lip, it still showed. "When was the last time you actually slept, Joel?"

Joel shrugged, unbuckling his seatbelt and running a hand down the side of his face. "A few days, maybe." I shot him a stern look and he just chuckled. "It's fine. I'm good now." He leaned past me to look out at Ellie. She was a few metres away, laying out the two sleeping bags and setting up the portable hot plate. "Did she sleep at all?"

"No," I replied quietly, following his gaze to watch the younger girl. She was sitting on the ground, rifling through her backpack, before pulling out a small book. My eyes softened as her face lit up with a bright smile as she read. She let out a rich laugh, her eyes creasing at the edges. "She'll sleep well tonight."

Joel hummed in agreement. "Good." He opened the passenger door and swung his legs out, onto the ground. "I'll start making dinner." He stepped out and turned around, ducking his head to look at me through the door. "I can take the first watch, too."

I nodded. "Okay." Unbuckling my seatbelt, I also opened my door. "I'll secure the perimeter."

***

As Joel sat on the forest floor, stirring some unappetising brown sludge in a pot, I opted to take a look around. "Hey, Ellie?" I called out, startling the girl out of her book. "You wanna come with?"

Ellie nodded, closing the book she was reading and shoving it into her backpack. "Sure."

"Come on." I picked up my shotgun and slung it over my shoulder. Ellie eyed me curiously as I reloaded my handgun, making sure the safety was on when I placed it in its holster. I glanced up at her, noticing her staring. "It's just in case," I assured her, looking over at Joel, who was watching us. "I doubt there'll be any infected out here, but you never know."

Ellie nodded. "Okay." I tilted my head towards the dark trees and Ellie started following me towards them. "Why did I agree to go into the scary forest?" I chuckled as she hurried to catch up to me. "It's fucking dark."