Save each other // Joel Miller

Hope

Sophie's eyes were squeezed shut and her heart was banging in her ears too loud to hear anything. So it took her a while to finally realize that she did not get hit again. Instead she was being yelled at and pushed, which felt like just a pressure on her shoulder compared to the hits she just took. She opened her eyes to see the young girl looking at her dead in the face, shouting at her.

Sophie realized quickly that the girl was trying to get her up, because she was sitting on Joel, leaning her back onto the frozen window. She shook her head and tried to get up but couldn't. Her body seemed to resist everything she told it to. The girl grabbed Sophie's sweatshirt collar and pulled her forward, letting her hit the ground with a hard thud. Sophie groaned to herself and turned her head to look around. She gasp as she lay face to face with a very dead Abby, eyes open and still angry. She had been shot. She scrambled away and her hearing began coming back.

"Joel! Joel! Oh fuck, Joel? Please fucking answer me, man!" The young girl was kneeling next to Joel, pushing his shoulders down and slapping his face. Sophie looked around some more to find there were dead bodies everywhere. But what caught her attention right away was a new young women, with curly black hair, tied back, and tanned skin. Next to her was the man she pulled off the horse, Tommy? If she remembered the name correctly. They were both looking down at the young girl with pity in their eyes.

Sophie followed their gaze. 'Oh no..' she thought to herself. Her chest tightened at her idea that maybe she was too late. She began to slowly crawl toward them on the floor. The girl whipped around and held her gun up in Sophies face, finger on the trigger and blood and tears streaking her cheeks. The girl shook and the rattle of the gun was the only sound in the room. Sophie held her hands up and very slowly made her way closer to Joel, gliding on her knees, and never breaking eye contact. The girl held her eyes wide and unpredictable, like a caged beast. Sophie hoped she could see the sincerity in her look. That she was not about to cause harm.

As she let Sophie close, she lowered the gun slowly back down to the ground. She went back to mumbled pleading and hovering a hand over his face and chest. Sophie took in a sharp breath before she grabbed ahold of his arm, taking his limp wrist into her hands and feeling for a pulse. Her brother had taught her a few things before he passed and feeling for a pulse was one of the easiest tasks in the book.

Sophie held her breath as she put down gentle pressure and waited for the sign of life. She laughed out a huff of relief filled air as she felt a faint beating of blood through the artery. The girl looked at her sharply but Sophie didn't skip a beat as she leaned over Joel's broad chest to feel his neck. It's better to double check and honestly, she just wanted to feel it again. The sign of life, the proof that he was still here, with this girl who pleaded for his life hard and fought for it even harder. And Sophie felt it again. The steady, faint pulse of hope coursing through his neck.

Sophie lifted her body up, looked the girl in her eyes. She gave her a small smile  and nodded to indicate her confidence. The young girl nearly knocked Sophie over as she jumped to her feet and looked down at her.

"Are you fucking serious?" she nearly yelled to Sophie.

"Yes, but we need to fix him up fast, he's lost a lot of blood and probably has many broken bones. He's not out of the woods yet, but he's alive." Sophie spoke in a small voice, looking mostly at Joel as she did. She hasn't spoken to someone in a while and it felt awkward but somehow, looking at Joel while doing it made her feel more comfortable. Every time his chest rose she felt an electric spark of pride. She did what she could to save him and she did it. She leaned back into her heels and let her hands drop down into her lap. Smiling at the ceiling, she swore she could feel her brothers shining presence with her.

And with that, everything went black.