Don't let go: Joel Miller x OC

Strangers beyond the wall

Trigger warning: Very small reference to S/A in this chapter.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Although what needed to be said had been, there was still an element of awkwardness that lingered in the air around them. The pair spent the majority of the night in silence with very minimal conversation in between. It was clear that Joel wasn't in the mood for sharing stories and Ava wasn't going to push her luck, although she couldn't help but wonder about his past. He'd never mentioned this other daughter previously... If she was her age then she was considerably older than Ellie. How old was he?

Even when he did give her the background of how he got to Jackson, she felt that there was more to the story than what he was willing to give.

She understood though, not everyone is happy to openly discuss what they'd been through. Ava herself hadn't divulged into the details of her journey to him but as she said earlier that night, they still barely knew each other.

The heavy silence was soon broken by shrill screams in the distance, the kind that would have your heart thumping and mind racing. The sound coming from within the trees was somewhat chilling, alerting them both instantly and sending their blood icy cold. The screech of active stalkers echoed in their ears. Both individuals sprung into action, guns poised and ready. Their eyes rapidly scanning the tree line for any signs of movement.

It was only a matter of minutes before the edge of the tree line was breached. The blood curdling screams getting louder the closer they got. Ava watched as Joel went to take aim, the barrel of his shot gun balanced on the railing, his stance preparing to pull the trigger.

Ava swung her arm out in front of his chest, signalling for him to hold fire "Wait a second" she hushed.

He cocked an eyebrow at her. Why in the name of  hell would she want to wait?

She squinted slightly, leaning forward and focused her hearing. The bar of the railing pressing into her middle as she strained her ears. "Listen"

The petrified words 'Please help us' drifted distantly into the shells of their ears, swirling around their drums over and over again. Ava hastily snatched the pair of binoculars away from Joel to allow her to take a look for herself. A less than impressed expression adorned his face at the sharpness of her actions, not that she gave a rats ass.

"There's two women." She stated as she stared intensely through the lens and spotted the females sprinting hand in hand away from the stalkers that chased after them.

She turned to the man next to her, her tone urgent as she pulled the small transmitter from her belt loop, "Get the infected. I'll alert the patrol to get over there asap."

He didn't particularly enjoy being dictated too but he figured that now wasn't the time to make a scene over it. With a deep inhalation of air, Joel began to gun down the small horde that scrambled after the untainted blood that lead the way, leaving the blonde frantically attempting to reach the ground team.

"Disturbance in the east, do you read?" Her agitated tone voiced into the device. She was met with static silence "Hello! Do you read? Hello? Hello?" She continued to press as time became more and more critical.

"Shitty piece of shit" She muttered aggressively as she smacked the device a couple of times against the hard Wall. She held it to her ear once more but to no avail, not even the sound of static crackling through the speakers.

She looked up at Joel who had now stopped shooting, his stance still set for if anything else in the distance so much as twitches.

A soft palm dragged down her slightly less vibrant face, sounding grave as she spoke. "I can't get through to them, we're going to have to go down there"