Joel is alone. However after a fight for their life's he and a man named Jaden have found solace in the nightmare. However when a girl from his past shows up Joel and Jaden set off to help her.
Jaden was sat inside, coloring with loose bits of old crayons. He had the colored wax under his fingernails from trying to draw so hard on the floor. It was a nice enough day out, cloudy but not raining. Gwen was asleep, so was his mom. However his dad appeared behind him, "Come on. We're gonna look around today." His father patted Jaden on the shoulder. "Really?" Jaden sprung up, going outside was rare. This would be great! "You bet, c'mon."
Jaden rushed to put his jacket on, at ten years old he wasn't very quick. But he did have the right energy as he dressed himself. His father zipped up his hoodie, strapping a backpack to himself as his son smiled. They were so busy surviving he never got a chance to just be with his son, father and son. It kills him to know Jaden won't really get a childhood he deserves.
"Are Gwen and mom coming?" Jaden said, lacing up his shoe. Bunny style. "Nope this is a guys trip." "Why?" The two men silently exited their apartment. It was hard though. The building isn't exactly in peak condition. So steps were audible by crunching rubble and leafs that had blown inside through various holes in the walls. "Because I want to spend sometime with you kiddo." "Aren't there monsters around?" "That's why I have this," his father then pulled out a large knife, "besides they don't stay around the outskirts of town. They like the center." "Why?" Jaden asked, "More people, more of a chance to spread."
The two descended the old crumbled staircase, the building seemingly falling apart as they moved. It seems worse than it is. Jaden's father, Daniel was a architect before the outbreak. They building would be fine for a good while. He knew that. "Why don't we use guns like everyone else?" "Guns are loud. Takes some work, but knifes can be just as good." "Okay."
The real reason they never used guns was because of his mother, she didn't want the kids to have guns. She held hope that the world would go back to normal some day, and she didn't want her kids to have such heavy weapons. And that extended to the parents too. They weren't fighters, his mom and dad. They were runners. The hid. They didn't fight. Some might call them cowards, but it worked. Until it didn't.
The father and son wandered into town, they kept quiet. They weren't in the center of Denver but rather the outskirts of the city. The suburbs and forests.
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They didn't need anything, in fact they'd gone on an expedition earlier that week for supplies. This was just a bonding mission. But it never hurt to fish a little. Get some meat.
So with two collapsible rods stowed in his backpack he wandered over to the lake just south of the city. Daniel cannot remember the name, but it had fish. He knew that much. "Wanna do some fishing?" He asked Jaden, the boy didn't want too but he could even see that his father would appreciate it. "Yeah!"
