GLOWING (Joel Miller)

27 | The Old Woman

One Month Later

Ellie, Joel and I trudged through the heavy snow, our breath fogging up in front of our faces in the cold. We had been walking in this weather for weeks at this point and I was beginning to grow tired of the constant wetness in my shoes that never seemed to go away. I could telll Joel and Ellie were beginning to lose their nerve too; it had just been way too long.

"What's that?" I followed Joel's gaze to what was truly a sight for sore eyes. A plume of smoke spiralled up into the sky from a point just over the crest of the hill. I immediately waded my way up, pushing my legs through the packed snow, until I reached the top.

"Holy shit." I put my hands on my thighs and attempted to catch my breath as Joel and Ellie stopped beside me. It was a house (well, more like a cottage); but the most exciting thing was that it appeared to be occupied. "Should we check it out?" I asked, turning to Joel, who stared ahead at the building in the distance. "Maybe they have food—"

"—Or maybe they're watching us right now, with rifles in hand." I sighed. Despite Joel's overbearing paranoia, I knew he was right. We couldn't risk it. "It's not worth it."

"Are you kidding me?" I glanced over at Ellie, who looked like she was looking at some sort of glorious mirage in the barren desert. "I'm starving."

I put a gloved hand on the girl's shoulder. "No, Ellie." She looked up at me, with so much hope in her exhausted eyes. "Joel's right. Anyone living out here is gonna be the get them before they get me type. Like Bill." Ellie sighed in defeat. "They'd shoot us the second we get close enough, without a second thought."

I turned back to Joel, who nodded towards the forest that ran alongside the house. "We'll skirt around—"

Joel's eyes locked on something right over my left shoulder and I whipped around to see—a very indiscrete—Ellie sprinting at full speed towards the little cottage at the bottom of the hill.

"Shit!" I exclaimed, before taking off after her. I could hear Joel hot on my heels and I knew that every prior concern he had just spelled out was irrelevant now; we had to get Ellie. "Ellie!" I whisper-shouted as Joel and I raced after the retreating girl. She was much faster and much more agile than us, so she easily outpaced us. My heart just about jumped out of my chest, when she opened the front door and entered the house. "Shit..."

Joel and I skidded to a stop at the front door. Two antlers were mounted just above it, with unlit lanterns on either side. I pressed my ear to the peeling paint on the door, listening intently for any sound of a scuffle. I was met with silence.

"What is it?" Joel leaned closer to me, pressing his left ear against the door to listen as well. Our eyes locked, our faces mere inches apart as we strained our ears for any sound of the insubordinate teen, who was supposed to be under our protection. "I don't hear anything."

"Neither do I." With a deep inhale, I reached for the door handle and twisted it ever-so-slightly. It creaked loudly and I winced at the noise, but persisted nonetheless. Once the door was open, I pushed it forward, enough to slip inside.

I removed my handgun from its holster at my hip and cocked it, keeping my finger ready on the trigger, just in case we were met with the inhabitants of the house we were trespassing in.

"Hello." My gun was aimed at the old lady's forehead, before she could even finish uttering that one word. I felt Joel do the same behind me, but I didn't turn to check; my eyes scanned the small room for Ellie. "Are you her parents?"

I knew I would never hear the end of it from Ellie, but my current priority was finding her and getting the hell away from here. "Yes," I replied, keeping my gun trained on the woman, even though it was clear she was no threat whatsoever. "Where is she?"