Silver ||Joel Miller||

I'll only judge if it's bad

JOEL

There were plenty of things Joel knew he'd taken for granted before the pandemic. Flying in an airplane hadn't been one of them, but the look on Ellie's face had fixed that for him. Even as he recounted how shitty flying in economy had been, the kid was still fascinated, and Laura had gone even more quiet.

While he was sure that Laura hardly spoke because of her head, he couldn't help but feel like something else weighed down on her. Maybe it was because he'd shut her down completely when they'd found his stash.

Or maybe it wasn't.

Either way, he could deal with it later. For now, he had to worry about one thing, and that was the fact the flowers out the front of Bill and Frank's house had wilted. Just like Laura's quietness was out of character, the garden being unkempt was something to worry about, so he took his gun out of its holster.

"Stay here," he told Ellie and, in a roundabout way, Laura. He didn't expect either of them to listen, but it was worth a try.

He opened the unlocked door and took in the scene inside the house. Everything looked to be in place, although covered in a light layer of dust. That was until he saw the old, rotted food left on the table. There was also an opened bottle of wine next to the plates and glasses, left unfinished... fuck.

Something was wrong.

He heard Laura and Ellie walk into the house behind him, so he moved down the hallway towards their bedroom. The door was closed, which wasn't unusual, but... he knocked on it. If they were in there, they would give him an answer—they had to.

But there wasn't even a sound.

He tried to open the door then, but it wouldn't budge. It was locked. They were dead. Jesus Christ, they were dead. What if whoever killed them was close? He had to do something; he had to...

He stopped his panicked walking when he saw Ellie on a dining chair with a piece of paper in hand. Laura stood behind the girl with a sombre look on her face, a car key spinning around her finger by the ring. He dropped his bag next to the dining table, realising exactly what this all pointed to.

Joel listened as Ellie read the letter out loud, but he couldn't focus. Not entirely. Everyone he knew was either dead or fucked, and he was supposed to take care of these two? He was supposed to keep this girl alive?

"Men like you and me exist because we have a job to do, and God help any motherfuckers who stand in our way." Ellie read, and Joel risked a look towards Laura who still absent-mindedly played with the car key.

"I leave you all of my weapons and equipment. Use them to keep..." Ellie trailed off, and Laura finally looked up at him. He took the letter from Ellie and read the rest for himself, but it didn't help anything.

Use them to keep Tess safe.

What the fuck was he supposed to do now? Tess was fucking gone, and he had nowhere to go from here. All he'd really been aiming for when coming here was an idea of what to do next, maybe to get some supplies that Bill and Frank might be able to spare for him, but this...

He had to get some air.

"Stay here." His voice nearly broke as he voiced the quiet request.

He rushed outside and read over the letter from start to finish. Fuck. He was alone. He was so fucking alone. The few people he trusted were gone, and now... he scrunched the letter up in his hand. He was alone.

"Hey..." Laura's quiet voice echoed through to his core, but he couldn't look at her. "I know this is hard, but..."

"But what?" He asked her, maybe a little harsher than intended, but he couldn't find it in himself to care. Laura hadn't just lost everyone she trusted; she didn't know how devastated he was. How could she?