Even When the World Comes Down (Sequel to Always & Forever)

Chapter 33 - Joel

"Joel," she whispered.

I moved my head but didn't open my eyes.

"Joel, come on," she said shaking me gently.

I opened my eyes and for a split second I forgot where I was. But then I saw her and it all came flooding back. It was the weirdest sensation. It felt as if we were back in our house, living our lives like we were meant to. With Sarah.

"It's time to go," Beth said.

I got up off the couch and went over to Ellie and the others.

"How long were you up?" I asked her.

"Not long. As soon as the others woke up, I came over to you," she said.

Henry was giving Sam clear instructions on what to do once we were out there. I felt Ellie could understand how serious this all was. There was no need to remind her.

"Alright, y'all ready?" Henry asked us.

"Yeah," I said.

He opened the door and we were on the move.

"All right, y'all stay close, okay?" Henry said.

"You tried this before?" I asked.

"Uh, yeah," he said, not entirely giving me much assurance.

"That's comforting," I said.

"Relax, old man," he said.

"I just hope you know the way," I said.

"Old man? I sort of like the ring to that," Beth came up to me and said.

I rolled my eyes at her and kept going. I looked back to see her smiling. Seeing her smile made me chuckle lightly.

"This way," Henry said.

There was a door that led down and we all quietly descended the steps.

"Alright, we take them out quietly and we should be able to get to the gate," he said.

"Quietly is our favorite thing to do," Beth said.

"Good to know," he said.

Once we were at the ground floor, we crouched our way out to see what we could see. There was two of them that came into the building and huddled near a fire. They started to converse and that was our window.

"Henry and I will take these," I whispered to Beth.

"I'll make sure the kids are okay," she said.

I nodded and Henry and I made or way over. We creeped up behind them and the two were down in seconds.

"Move up," Henry said.

Beth and the kids came over to where we were. One of them had a bow and arrows that Beth was quick to pick up. We made our way out and to our luck, concrete dividers were spread all over the place. There was then some clicking that came from behind us but it didn't last long. There was a few shots fired and then the clicking stopped all together.

"Yo, Joel, there's a guy on that light up there," Henry said.

"I see him. Beth?" I said.

She took out and arrow and aimed it at him. She let it fly and was satisfied when he went down. The others quickly took notice and came down to investigate. I pulled out a few nail bomb and rolled them in their direction. It didn't take long before we had taken care of all of them

"I think that's all of them," Beth said.

We all stood up and headed toward the gate.

"Guys, give me a hand with this," I said.