Safe and Sound

Part 6

"Dad," you whine again and kick the snow up as you walk. According to the elderly couple you were all headed in the right direction however you were on the verge of insanity. It felt like your mind was slowly turning into a pile of mush. Perhaps it was the lack of sunlight that had decreased your mood so drastically, making you all the more irritable and all the more bored. Which sounded incredibly tone deaf and maybe a bit selfish, but you couldn't help yourself, you were losing motivation and yeah...you sorta hated winter. Oh, that was it, you hated winter, you hated the snow and the way you could see your breath, you hated it all; once again, that was most likely another lie, you liked winter, from the indoors. Beside a fireplace, as if you were in a novel, having some dream life...you would love winter, if you didn't live the life you did. When you had gotten no reply from your father, you picked up your pace to walk beside him and Ellie, you stare at him for a minute and then clear your throat, deepening your voice to mock his, "'Oh what is it, starshine?'" You cracked a smile as Ellie laughed and you then went back to your regular voice, "Oh nothing dad, I was just wondering how you are doing because none of us have talked in two hours and I feel my brain decomposing in my head."

Ellie grinned and took a few steps ahead, then turning around and walking backwards to face her friend and Joel, "Pun time?

A quick glare, "No, Ellie." Joel stated and tried to ignore the girls, failing but nonetheless the effort was there.

You chuckle, "If you don't give me a good joke, Williams I'll throw you into the 'river of death' myself." You referred to what the elderly couple had said earlier, and you were sure if you remembered it correctly but Ellie knew what you meant.

To that Ellie grumbled, in more of a mock like tone and as she pulled out the joke book she spoke, "I would like to see you try, Miss Miller."

"Oh?" You scoff and walk closer to her, discarding your poor father who had to watch it all play out, "I could easily take you."

"Could you though, starshine? Cause I think not." Ellie retorted and then waved the joke book in your face, turning back around to face where she was walking, she flipped through the pages for a moment and then glanced back to Joel, "This goes with your little dream of havin a farm, Joel. Okay," She cleared her throat, "What do you call it when a sheep wins an election by a huge margin?" With a small smile she looked over to you, who was trying to read the page from over her shoulder and she tilted the novel away, and then she looked at Joel...who was just annoyed, "A lamb slide."

A moment went by and Joel frowned, "You don't get it do you?"

"Nope."

"Na-da."

Joel thought about maybe explaining politics and how the world used to run before the outbreak, he really did think about it, however she just really, really didn't want to. They were stressful for him back then, and the very idea of thinking about them now made his heart skip a beat. Thankfully for him, his girl's seemed uninterested about listening to anything he would have to say about the matter and went on walking, leaning against each other as they walked and giggled at the jokes within the book. He, if he were honest with himself, thought their relationship was absolutely adorable, it was something that he had seen since day one of this ' adventure'; would he have to walk both of them down the aisle? Would he have to be all awkward and then backtrack? No. Because they're just girls, his little girls. Key word: little. And they will stay little, he wanted them to stay little. He wanted to be able to protect them, and as of two months ago, he was questioning if he could.

You smiled lightly as you nudged Ellie, in return she shoved you back, almost making you slip into the water below, thankfully you didn't because you would have taken her with you and then you would've never heard the end of it. So instead you scoffed and scooted to the side as your father walked in front of you and Ellie, at the moment you were both content doing what you had been doing, however as you crossed the bridge your attention and mind wandered. Such as, 'is this really safe' or 'What if I pushed Ellie off of the bridge? Or my dad?? Would I be dead? Yeah, the sheer spite would kill me.'