The Last Ones Left

Chapter 12: Reunited

FALL

TWENTY THREE DAYS LATER

We've been walking for about twenty three days when we finally walk up to a sign that says "Jackson County Snake River Trail" "Jackson County. Means we're close to Jackson city, right?" I ask, I stop walking and turn to look at Joel "Shouldn't be more than a few miles" he says as he studies the road in front of us "You ready to see dear, old brother?" "I'm just ready to get there" he responds in a tired voice, we're both tired. I haven't gotten much sleep since Sam and Henry's death, and I guess that has Joel worried to the point where he can't sleep either, walking for three days straight doesn't allow you much sleep anyways. "You nervous?" I ask while we start to walk down the road "I don't know what I'm feeling" he says softly. I decide to not talk to him for a while just to let him think things out. Once we reach the end of the road we see that half of it has eroded and fallen into the river below us. "Well so much for this road" I mumble as I look down at it "We just follow the river. It'll lead us straight to Tommy's" Joel says. We turn around and retrace our steps, but Joel spots another path we can take, we hop down onto the slanted sidewalk and continue on from there.

"What happened between you two?" I ask as I trail behind him "What do you mean?" He glances at me "You and Tommy... You're not together, so clearly something went down" he sighs as he hops down to the next sidewalk "We just had a bit of a disagreement, that's all" I hop down after him "Ah here we go... So what was it about?" I ask. "Tommy saw the world one way, I saw it the other" "And that's why he joined the Fireflies?" "Yeah, your friend Marlene promised him hope" Marlene... Wow I haven't thought about her in a while, I hope she's okay. "That kept him busy for awhile, but just like Tommy, he eventually quit that too" Joel continues. "How was it, the last time you saw him?" I ask as we walk under the bridge "I believe his last words to me were, 'I don't ever want to see your god damned face again'" dang, his brother said that to him? "Jeez. But he's gonna help us?" I ask "I suppose we're going to find out". "Well, with or without his help, we'll get there" Joel glances at me again and smiles slightly "Let's just keep goin'" he waves me over to a set of stairs. "Woah what's that?" I ask as we walk up to some huge machine type of thing, it's like a dam but it has a huge windmill type thing in a factory on top of the hill.

"That right there is a hydroelectric power plant" Joel says as if it's no big deal, I laugh as I try and pronounce that name "A... A hydra who?" "It uh... Uses the river's movement and turns it into electricity" wow, that's cool. "How's it do that?" I ask out of curiosity "Look. I know what it is. I don't know how it does it" he says as he opens a shiv able door, I laugh at that "Alright, so how are we getting across?" I don't hear a response so I walk over to the edge of the hydra-uh-something. I see a wheel next to me and an identical one on the other side of the dam. Joel comes out and looks around, he sees the wheel and walks over to it, he spins it a couple of times while I watch. It moves the part of the dam that blocks off water, it only moves the one half though. "Well, that gets us halfway" I say as he finishes spinning it "if we get the other one up, we'll make it across" I say and look over the side, if we don't fall off of it first. Joel hops over the railing and jumps into the water inside of the dam, "i'll find something. Just hang tight" Joel yells to me. I mean I'm surrounded by water what does he expect me to do, he dives under for a long time then finally emerges with another pallet "Alright Ellie I need you to-" "I know, step on the fucking pallet" I say in annoyance.

He pushes the pallet against the edge of the dam, I jump on and almost lose my balance but he holds me steady just in time, he pushes us over to the other side of the dam with the wheel beside it. I climb up to it and ring out the water in my jacket "Go on, give it a spin" he yells to me, I walk over to the wheel and turn it, which was a lot harder to turn than I thought. Joel climbs up on the other side and walks over to me "Hey, be careful crossing that thing" I yell to him "I will" he says as he walks over. "Teamwork" I smile and hold up my hand, he smiles back and high fives me "Yeah" I grin. "What was the world like?" I ask Joel "before it went to shit" I add, he gives me a side glance then sighs "It was a hell of a lot better, we had a whole lot more food and jobs to tend to. It was.. Normal" he frowns at that word. "What about your family?" I ask, he never talks about them, I don't even know if he has a wife or a son. He tenses up "Nothing to say" he says through clenched teeth. "I'm sorry, I didn't-" I start to say but he cuts me off "C'mon" he says and starts to walk faster. "Joel" I stop walking and twiddle my thumbs, he turns around and gives me a confused look "What?" He asks sharply as he folds his arms against his chest, "I-" I sigh "I didn't mean to intrude" I say and look down, I just wish he liked me enough to tell me about himself. Joel sighs and steps a little closer to me "You didn't, I'm just not ready to talk about them" he says.