CHAPTER ELEVEN

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          LUCIA NEVER LIKED TO BE TOLD WHAT TO DO, NOT EVEN WHEN SHE WAS A YOUNG GIRL LIVING IN VERMONT. Maybe it was the fact that she had an older brother who was the most rebellious boy she had ever known and she took after him, or the fact that men had the audacity to command a woman whenever they saw fit.

This was different, there had been no malicious intent with the words he spoke. Joel wasn't as difficult to read as he might have thought so. Truth was, he was grieving. He had lost a close friend, one who died a horrible death. Now he had also lost two of his other friends, even if he would deny them being that.

It had been thirty minutes and Joel hadn't returned yet. Ellie had taken a seat at the table too, staring at the wall opposite of her. Tension wafted through the air, but neither knew what to do with it. Lucia wasn't good with these types of situations, one of the main reasons she avoided contact with others.

"Will he be okay?" wondered Ellie after another moment of silence, moving her eyes to the woman on her right.

Lucia had her legs crossed at the ankle, hands resting in her lap as she focused on the small dent in the cupboard in the hallway. Her head rested against the back of the chair, wood digging uncomfortably into the back of her scalp.

"I don't know." she said truthfully, lifting her shoulders in a barely noticeable shrug. "He just needs some time to himself."

The teen nodded her head slowly and moved her gaze back to where she had been looking earlier. She had half expected Lucia to be rummaging through Frank and Bill's stuff like she had done in the quarantine zone, but she hadn't.

Ellie was the first to peer up when the front door clicked open, watching as Joel entered the threshold. He met Lucia's gaze a second later before focusing on the teen. "Show me your arm."

The girl lifted the sleeve of her jacket, revealing scabbed over scars on her forearm. The teeth marks were visible, underneath a web of what looked like fungus growing underneath her skin. It had almost healed, not a sign of infection in sight.

Joel needed the reassurance that this was real, that what they were about to do wasn't going to be for nothing.

"I just finished makin' a truck battery. It is charging right now." he began, as Ellie shoved her sleeve back down. "I have a brother out in Wyoming. He's in some kind of trouble, and I am heading out there to find him. He used to be a Firefly. And my guess is he knows where some of them are out there. Maybe they can get you to wherever this lab is."

"All right." nodded Ellie.

"Wyoming is pretty far." commented Lucia, lifting her head from the chair to meet his dark eyes. "It could take weeks to get there, you know. Maybe less if the car lasts that long."

"It's the only lead to the Fireflies." stated Joel, lifting his eyes to meet her own. "I'm going there, no matter what. It's up to you if you want to come with us or not."

"I'll come." she said, voiced laced with zero hesitation. "I just meant to say that we need to stock up on supplies before we leave. It's going to be a long and difficult journey. We don't know what's beyond this town."

Joel rested his hands on his hips as he nodded to himself. It was going to be a long journey and the road ahead would be infested with infected, raiders and more dangerous things lurking about. But he had to find his brother, that had been his priority all along so that's where he was going to go.

"So what now?" wondered Ellie, awkwardly bouncing on the heels of her feet as she looked between the two adults.

"We grab what we can." said Joel, heaving another sigh. "Follow me."       

Wordlessly, Lucia got up from the chair and cocked her head to the side as she tried to stretch the muscles of her neck. A dull ache formed there and all she really needed was a good night of sleep, instead she followed after the smuggler as he led them down toward the basement. He did as the letter had instructed, ticking in the code with his fingers and Joel pushed at a shelf, revealing stairs that led to another room.

"Doomsday kind of guy, huh?" voiced Lucia as he descended.

He grunted in response and flicked on the light, cascading the room in a harsh white glow as Ellie and Lucia trudged down after him. The latter held the metal railing as she stayed half on the stairs for a moment, taking in the room. Soft music played in the background, coming from the radio on of the tables pushed into the middle of the room.

"Ho-ly shit." Ellie emphasised as she eyed the weapons holstered to the left wall. Any type of gun you could think of, it was displayed down there. "This guy was a genius."

Joel pressed a button on the radio and the music turned off, engulfing them in silence. His eyes were focussed on the computer screen before him as Lucia ambled further down. The walls were stocked with supplies, from cans of food to ammo and tape. It was as if Bill had robbed Target and Home Depot itself.

"Why was the music on?" wondered Ellie, craning her neck to peer at the smuggler.

"If he didn't reset the countdown every few weeks, this playlist would run over the radio." explained Joel, watching the screen of the computer before him. He had stopped the music on an eighties song and glanced at Ellie. "Grab some cans from over there. Nothin' dented or swollen."

Ellie pursed her lips and peered back at the guns. "Dude?"

"No." he dismissed, not bothering to look at her as he already knew what she was implying.

"There's a wall of them." she pressed, waving her hands at the weapons.

"Ellie, no." Lucia scolded, shaking her head at the teen and she gave her a glare in return as she grumbled something under her breath.

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THERE WAS NO GUILT IN HER AS SHE RUMMAGED THROUGH MULTIPLE BOXES FILLED WITH CLOTHES. The reason she didn't feel guilty was the fact that the letter had said Joel could take whatever he wanted, and the smuggler extended that invitation to her. 

"What?" shrugged Ellie as she stuffed a duffle bag with toilet paper.

"Nothing." Lucia chortled as she threw a red shirt at the teen. "Here, this will probably fit you."

Ellie caught it, barely, and held it up in front of her as she took in the print. There were palm trees on it, the yellow sunset pictured behind them, and she tried to suppress a smile. Joel placed another heavy box on the bed in one of the guest rooms. 'Mens clothing' it read and he began to rummage through it himself.

"I just checked on the battery." began Joel, lifting his head as he held up a dark green flannel. "It needs another hour."

"It's getting dark." addressed Lucia as Ellie stumbled into the adjoining bathroom. The sun had slowly begun to set, and it wouldn't be long before night would fall over Lincoln. "Should we be traveling during the night? I think we can all use a good night of sleep."

Joel folded the flannel and placed it on top of a new pair of dark washed jeans he had found. There were four perfectly good bedrooms in the home and one of them was calling Lucia's name. Joel seemed to be mulling it over when Ellie bounced back.

"They have hot water! I am taking a shower." she cheered, almost jumping up and down from excitement. The girl faced both adults and pulled a face at either one of them. "And then you're showering, because seriously ... " she blew out a breath in disgust and fled the room with her new clothes underneath her arm.

"Absolute menace." muttered Lucia, as she watched her disappear. The woman didn't see but she heard the mirthful huff Joel let escape and she met his gaze.

"We'll stay the night." settled Joel with a slight nod, deciding to ignore the teen's comment. "We'll leave at dawn tomorrow. I'd like to drive the entire day and night. We can switch every few hours."

"Alright," agreed Lucia, stuffing a clean pair of clothes underneath her own as she was about to take her leave. "I'll take the room at the end of the hall. Call if you need me."

God, the warm water felt astonishing on her aching muscles. Lucia was happy to wash away the grease in her hair, and the dried blood on her skin. The moment she had locked the door behind her, she had stripped of her ruined clothes and stepped underneath the hot stream. 

Her skin was scrubbed raw as she wanted to get rid of the pungent smell of dead clicker. Soap slid down her dark hair and then her body as she washed it for a third time, just to be sure.

Lucia rested her forehead against the cold tiles with closed eyes, soothing her headache. The woman could stay here forever and slowly she slid down the wall to sit in the tub. 

The water was clean, which was a big step from her half broken shower in the quarantine zone.

It took her a good forty five minutes before she was able to drag herself out of the tub and wrapped a towel around herself. Lucia ran a comb through her thick hair, untangling it and letting it hang down her back to air dry. She caught her own reflecting in the mirror and furrowed her brows, brushing her fingers over the cut on her head.

Carefully, she pulled the bandage away from her head and grimaced at the sting. The skin had stitched back together, leaving a raw red mark instead. It hadn't healed properly yet, but it would be best to let it just dry on its own.

Once the woman was dressed in a dark blue top and a pair of cargo pants, she stumbled down the stairs of the home. The sun had completely set and the crescent moon stood high in the sky. There was a cluster of candles lit in the hallway and she rounded the corner to enter the living room.

"Well, don't you look pretty." mused Lucia as she found Joel sitting in one of the armchairs. His hair was neatly combed, the green flannel clung to him snugly and his tanned skin looked clean once he had scrubbed off the blood from before.

"That's what I said!" chimed Ellie, meeting her eye from where she sat on the couch. Lucia sat down beside her, resting her socked feet on the coffee table before her. "Look he got all flustered."

"Shut up." retorted Joel, shooting the teen a glare as he crossed his arms. The woman raised a brow in amusement and huffed out a brief laugh. "It's dark. You should head to bed. We have a long journey ahead of us."

"Fuck no!" Ellie disagreed. "I am not a child anymore."

Lucia watched the two of them bicker back and forth as the teen didn't shy away from his intense gaze. Joel kept his mouth shut, jaw set as he dared her to say anything else. After a staring contest, Ellie gave in and disappeared to the kitchen, stomping on the hardwood floors. 

"Menace indeed." muttered Joel.

The girl didn't return and both Joel and Lucia ate a heated can of beans in silence. 

i've been trying to get rid of a stress migraine for a few days now, which is why i haven't updated. i am not entirely happy with this chapter, the banter i had planned just wouldn't come out naturally so that will be in the next chapters. The last episode was so good and i sobbed even though i knew what was coming. I am very very excited to write the rest of the journey!

hope you enjoyed this anyways. thanks for all the reads, comments and votes!