Ageless Secrets

Five

“Yn, you need to move!” I looked up at Joel and shook my head. “He's still down there. He's still in our  basement. Tess couldn't–we just left. We could have helped him when we went back to Detroit. I could have helped him. I went back to the house. But I got scared and ran; I left him there all alone. He's my nephew, I should have helped him.”

“There was and is no help. That thing in the basement isn't him anymore. Now, go into the living room.” He was right; I know he was right. But it still hurts hearing it. I nodded, took a deep breath, and forced my legs to move. A few minutes later, I heard rustling in the kitchen and then a gunshot at the same time as a loud crack of thunder rocked the house. I sat on the couch, knees pulled up under my chin. “It's taken care of,” Joel said, walking into the living room and standing by the window.

“I'm sorry,” I whispered. Joel looked over at me and shrugged. “You did nothing wrong. We've all lost people.”

At some point, I had fallen asleep. I woke up laying on the couch with a blanket over me. I blinked the sleep from my eyes, slowly sitting up, and looked around. Joel was sitting on the chair in the corner, eyes closed, breathing even. I looked towards the windows to see if it was still dark outside. Standing up off the couch, I stretched my body out, hearing the pops of my joints. My bladder felt like it was going to explode, so I went in search of the bathroom.

When I found It I tried the light switch out of pure habit. To my surprise, the light turned on. “Oh shit.” Out of curiosity, I tried the sink to see if there was water. “Holy shit!” Cold water sputtered out of the faucet running clear. “Well, damn that's fucking exciting!” I quickly peed then ran out to the living room but I stopped at the kitchen and turned the light on. I can't believe we hadn't noticed before. Maybe because it was dark but this place was oddly clean.

I turned the light off and ran into the living room. “Joel!” I shook his shoulder but he didn't wake up. “Joel, wake up!” I shook harder until his large hand was wrapped around my wrist. “I think we need to get out of here, Joel.” He let go of my wrist and slowly opened his eyes. “Joel, someone lives here! There's water and electricity. Not to mention in the light this place is very clean after being abandoned for seven years.” He looked at me before running his hands over his face.

“Joel! Are you fucking listening to me?!”

I went to shake him but his large hand came around my wrist again..”I fucking heard you. There's a generator in the basement. It was on when I went to kill that infected. The guy was a runner so he didn't die  too long ago. Probably locked himself in there after getting infected.” Joel let go of my wrist and sat down. “You couldn't tell me that earlier?” I asked. When he didn't answer I scoffed and walked away. I walked into the kitchen and started going through the cabinets. This guy had food; a good amount of food. I grabbed a couple cans of ravioli and searched for a pot.

When I came back into the living room Joel was standing by the windows. “Here,” I said, handing him a bowl. He looked over at me and down at the bowl. “Don't act like you're not hungry. We're going to be stuck here all night with the way that sky looked. Hell, it's still raining.” Joel took the bowl from me and started eating. I sat on the couch, setting the bowl on the coffee table in front of me, and began untying my boots. “Don't take your shoes off.” I rolled my eyes and ignored Joel. When my shoes were off I tucked them under, pulled the blanket over me, and grabbed the bowl.

“What did I just tell you?”

“Oh, my god, Joel. We can't go anywhere. And there isn't a soul insight. So sit the fuck down and eat you damn food.” I started eating and ignored his grumbling. When I was done I picked my book backup. The rain started to make things damp and cool. I pulled the blanket closer, tucking it in around me. I was almost done with my book and it was a good thing I brought the next one, which is unfortunately the last one.

An hour later I started to get hungry again. It sucked that I couldn't just snack all day long. But there was plenty of food here in this house. I marked my page and set my book down, and stood from the couch. “Where are you going?” I turned to a dress Joel. “Into the kitchen to find something to munch on,” I told him. “You don't need anything to munch on.” I raised an eyebrow and crossed my arms over my chest. “What's that supposed to mean?”

“For fuck sake,” Joel mumbled. “I mean, we don't need to be eating all that food. You need to be careful what you eat…” I groaned, cutting him off. “Yes, Joel, I know what I need to watch out for. I wasn't born yesterday. Jesus christ.” I walked into the kitchen and started going through the cabinets. Joel was treating me like a damn child and it was pissing me off. Tess already has that fucking covered. I slammed the cabinet door shut and sighed. My appetite is gone now.

The rain was still coming down pretty hard. I stayed in the kitchen just to get some space from Joel. His presence alone made shit awkward and uncomfortable sometimes. At least when it's just the two of us. When he's with Tess he's more relaxed and he doesn't tense up when she touches him. All I have to do is stand close to him and he gets tense and moves away. He listens to whatever she has to say and shuts me out.

Of course he would go for her. She's closer to his age, knows what it's like to lose a child, she's tough and doesn't need anyone to protect her. I'm just a kid to them even though I'm twenty-two and have proven to them that I am more than capable of handling myself. Maybe I should stay here in the house or maybe Billy and Frank would let me come stay with them in one of the houses there. Yeah, I think I might do that. If Bill agrees to it of course. What the fuck am I even thinking? Tess would probably just come after me. 

A/N: Should she go to Bill and Franks, maybe like a little later on down the road, years down the road.