Joel Miller has another child who was just a couple of years old when everything went haywire. Follow their journey as Joel tries to keep her alive during the apocolypse. Which is hard considering she has asthma.
(TJ's P.O.V.) Ellie and I peer through the railings down into the livingroom of a small lodge we found. Dad had pointed his gun at the newly arrived man as he asked question regarding uncle Tommy "I'm looking for my brother". "Well, I ain't seen him" the man said removing his hat, "I haven't told you what he looks like" dad stated, "he look anything like you?" The man question nodding towards my father who answered "a bit". "Then I ain't seen him". Now the woman, who has given us soup before her husband arrived back from hunting, spoke up "he's got two girls with him". At this both Ellie and I rise to our feet and in union ask "can we come down?". Dad quickly looks up towards us "no". But as often we don't take his instruction to heart and go down. "TJ! Ellie" dad tries to keep us up, but we scurry down none the less. "Ooh-wa" the man said looking at his wife as we come down. "What did I just say?" Dad asked annoyed, "Joel, come on, they are like a thousand" Ellie states, "who's this little psycho?" The man questions and points to Ellie briefly, "never mind her" dad said before stepping forward, "I need you to tell us where we are" he continues and turns the map towards the man. "If you got a map, why you lost?" The husband asked curious, "good question, mister. Ellie will you explain why we are lost" I asked sarcastically looking at Ellie, "Probably because we must have missed all the street signs in the enormous fucking forest". "Ho-ly!" The man said turning towards his wife. Both laughing as they heard us speak. "We're somewhere here. Exactly where?" Dad asked the husband as he taps his finger on the map before standing back upright, "and your answer better be the same as your wife's" dad threatens. The husband looks at his wife "did you tell him the truth?". She nods. "Are you telling me the truth?". "Yeah" she answered. With a sigh and a glance between me, Ellie and dad, tge man leaned forward and points on the map. I side-eye my father. He rolls his eyes and holstered his gun before taking a seat "well, you found a great place to hide, I guess". "Hide?" The man asked with a chuckle, "came here before you were born, sonny. Get the hell away from everybody". "I didn't want to" the wife admits, which made me laugh as I saw the husband wave her off. He turns to look at us, well, specifically dad. "Listen, I didn't mean to upset you about your brother. But if you've come this far the you know what's out there. You seen Cody?". Both Ellie and I nodd "yeah, got close enough. It's crawling wjth infected". The man hums "yeah, Laramie and Wind River Reservation. Anywhere people used to be, you can't go there no more". Well, that is stating the obvious. "So you haven't heard the name Tommy?" Dad questioned as if these people don't live in the middle of fucking nowhere. "What about the Fireflies?" Ellie asked, "we get those in the summer" the woman answered, "not the bugs, the people" Ellie replies, "there are firefly people?". I sigh and facepalm myself. This conversation is making me dumber by the second. "You have any advice on the best way West?" Dad questioned steering the conversation in a different direction. The man nods and leans forward in his chair "go East". Well if that isn't good advice to not go West, I don't know what is. "But you never go past the river here" he said trailing the river with his finger "ever". "What's passed the river?" Ellie question curiously. "Death, probaly" I said a half smile. "We never seen who's out there, but we see the bodies they leave behind. Some infected. Some not" the wife explained before turning to look at dad, "If you're brother's West of the river, he's gone". I look at my father and see his face go blank as he stares absently ahead. His worry crosses over to me. "You're not gonna scare us" Ellie said shaking her head, "scared them" the wife said nodding towards us. Dad looks back and takes the map from the table, before we hesd back outside into the freezing cold winter wonderland. I step outside and rub my hands together before breathing against them, as they already become cold. I stare out looking over the snow stretches landscape and the trees that dot the horizon. "You don't seriously believe them?" Ellie asked as me and dad walk away from the hut, "they've lived here a long time" dad stated before turning to look at Ellie "put that back". I now turn after hearing this to see what he wanted Ellie to put back. I chuckle as I see her holding one of the two white rabbits that the man had hunted for. Ellie doesn't listen, as per usual, and throws the rabbit over her shoulder. "They haven't heard anything. Never heard of the Fireflies". Suddenly I hear my dad's breathing become labored as he places a hand against a wooden fence post.
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I study him for a moment, this wasn't an asthma attack like I have, this was something else. Meanwhile Ellie basically get worried and begins to ask her many, many questions. "Joel? Joel?! Are you okay?". "Ellie, shut up" I whisper to her as I realize dad was having a panic attack, but the reason I couldn't figure out. "Holy shit, is he dying?". "No, I'm not" dad said shaking his head. "Okay. Are you okay? No, no, but are you? Because just a reminder that if you're dead, we are fucked" Ellie said gesturing between me and herself, "no offense". I roll my eyes and scofd. "I said I'm fine!" dad snaps loudly and turns to face Ellie who immediatly falls silent. "Okay" she breathed a sigh of relief. "It's just the... cold air all of a sudden" Dad explained as he catches his breath and hangs his head. Ellie nods "all right, uh... so let's go find Tommy and the Fireflies. It's gonna be easy. All we have to do is cross the river of Death" Ellie said walking past us. I turn to my father and approach him before giving him a kiss on the cheek "we'll be okay" I tell him with a small smile. Trying to comfort him, like he usually does for me. I turn on my heels, the snow crunching beneath my boots, and walk after Ellie.
