Nights Like This One { a joel miller fanfiction }

XV. [interim]

A.N. hi lol. gifting you guys this one really early since i broke all your hearts yesterday. please note this story is gonna be rough for a while. this chapter is a lot shorter than normal because it's just a segue into the next part of the story. also i fucked with the timeline BECAUSE I WANTED TO. at this point Joel has already gone through his journey with Ellie and is living in Jackson - think about it starting off right at the beginning of game/season two.  

"No holiday can change, no wood can frame, since you went away." — Clock Opera, Whippoorwill

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Fifteen Years Later

Lily crouched behind the thick trunk of a pine tree, trying to keep her breathing slow and steady so she could hear over the pounding of her heart in her head. She hadn't eaten properly in months, beyond the scraps they'd managed to take with them before fleeing the QZ in San Francisco, and so her head spun a bit at the motion, her hand reaching out to steady herself against the rough bark.

"Do you think it's infected?" Caleb whispered, just a breath too loud, and she reached out to grab his arm just as Leslie hushed him from somewhere behind them.

"I told you to stay quiet," Lily hissed, digging her nails into his skin to emphasize her point.

"Okay, sorry," he whispered, grimacing and ripping his arm out of her grip.

The footsteps Lily had initially heard eventually faded into the distance, but she kept them hidden for another several minutes, just in case.

She wasn't taking any chances, not out here, all bets were off just as soon as you left a quarantine zone, not that they'd had much choice in the matter.

"Okay, we stay quiet, and continue heading North-East, those footsteps were going South so we should be okay."

Caleb nodded, pushing himself onto his feet before holding out a hand to help Lily up.

They were somewhere near the border of Wyoming, still in Utah though, most likely in the outskirts of Ashley National Forest. It'd taken them months to get this far, mostly on foot, usually sleeping outside regardless of what the weather looked like.

She didn't really have a plan, not anymore, not after finding Salt Lake City abandoned, but she couldn't tell Caleb that, and so she hadn't told Leslie that either. Her only bet was the reservations up in Wyoming and Montana. Maybe there was a QZ there, or some kind of compound, and hopefully they would be let in, because if not, she didn't know, realistically, how long they would last out here.

They started walking again, aimlessly heading toward the border, slower on foot now that they'd gone through their food supply.

"I'm so fucking hungry," Caleb groaned, dragging his feet in a noisy manner that had Lily punching his arm.

"We all are dumbass, be hungry quieter," Leslie hissed, catching up to them and positioning herself on the other side of Caleb.

"We'll find somewhere to set up camp before sundown, then first thing tomorrow we go hunting. We can keep at it until we get something before we move on," Lily said, huffing a bit as the elevation grew.

"Sounds like a plan, boss," Caleb muttered.

"Don't call me boss, I hate when you call me boss."

"I know, that's why I do it," he said, flashing her a toothy grin when she turned her head to glare at him. She couldn't be mad at him when he smiled at her like that, it made him look fifteen again.