[ CHAPTER FIFTEEN ! ] 

the ones i love

I HARDLY HESITATE WHEN IT comes to raising my hands in defense. Then, Joel quickly perks up, but doesn't quite sit up. He stares right at the little boy holding a gun to Ellie's head, in which the older of the three--who is taking turns pointing the gun between Hayden and Joel--begins to speak. "Eyes on me," He orders Joel, "eyes on me." 

Joel obeys, and Hayden looks at me with quivering eyebrows and a bottom lip. I soften my gaze and nod at her, silently telling her that it'll all be okay. 

"You don't have to worry about what to say." The older boy says, his tone calm with his finger steady on the trigger. But I can tell he has no intention of killing any of us, but I can't speak for the girl. "We don't want to hurt you." 

"Well..." The girl next to me shrugs, keeping the same taunting smile on her face. 

"Parker." He snaps, shooting a glare her way. 

I don't know who to look at--my gaze is just rotating between all other six bodies in the room for different reasons, yet the same. Don't hurt the ones I love.

Joel appears completely unfazed--he always does. He always has but right now he just looks like someone made of stone. 

"Okay, um..." He begins to pace back and fourth, his feet taking turns balancing each other out as I can see anxiety expanding within him. "I don't know what the next step is for something like this, but if I lower my gun... we didn't hurt you... so you don't hurt us, right?" He shifts his gaze from Joel and to my own. 

I nod once. But Joel is the one that speaks. "That's right."

This shocks the boy in some way--he tilts his head to the side and blows out a short, escalated breath. "That's a weird fucking tone, man." 

"It's just the way he talks!" Ellie is quick to counter on Joel's behalf, scared for her life. 

I nod in agreeance, carefully moving my hands toward him. "We don't have a problem with you. Any of you."

"Joel, tell him he's okay." Ellie clenches her jaw, her eyes wide with both annoyance and plead. 

Nothing in Joel's expression changes. He doesn't even blink, he just keeps staring at him with a darkened glare. "Everything is great."

"For fuck's sake." I drop my head in between my shoulders, ready to be shot at this point. 

"Fuck!" The boy shouts, and it looks like he's completely contemplating what he's about to do. "Look, I'm gonna trust you." 

Then, he turns to the little boy and begins to motion something to him. And it takes me a minute to realize he's using sign language. 

Are you sure? The boy signs back, and I'm grateful for my time in the hospital and those courses I took. 

"Yes. But if any of you guys try anything..." He warns, motioning his gun toward the back of Ellie's head. 

"We won't." I confirm with a shake of my head. He nods and something in his eyes slightly soften. Like he might see good intentions within me, then he motions to both the younger girl and boy to step away. They do, the boy quicker than the girl--who is still looking at me with squinted eyes and her suspicion clear. 

The little boy is still holding his gun toward Joel, as are the other two. "Can I sit up?" Joel asks with a dumbfounded expression. 

Something in the oldest kid's face clicks--and he nods. "Yeah. Slow. Get up slow." 

Joel stares at him for a second with that stupid slight-smirk. The one that will get us all killed one day--if not in the next minute. 

It's awkward and silent for a moment while we just look around. "So... are you going to tell us who you are or do we have to guess?" 

He looks away from me, and blinks a couple times before answering. "My name's Henry. That's my brother, Sam." Then, he nods toward the girl next to me. "That's our friend, Parker." 

Parker appears to be around Ellie and Hayden's age--maybe a little older. 

"I'm the most wanted man in Kansas City." He says, and it takes me longer than I'd like to admit to realize that we're in Kansas City. "Although right now..." He finally lowers that gun of his, and his brother does too. "My guess is that you're running a close second." 

I turn to face Joel, and he's already watching me--analyzing my body language to see if we should ally with them or not. But I have no clue. We're just left to read one another's eyes, to converse with one another the way we used to. He nods, and I do too, before turning to face Henry again, then I nod toward my backpack in the corner of the room. "You guys hungry?" 

THE TENSION IS SO THICK IN the air I could cut right through it. Here we are, sharing our food supply with total strangers that we're left to trust. But for all I know, any one of them could intend to kill one of us tonight. Hell, I could kill any one of them if I wanted.

I've tried to start different conversations but have only ever gotten short, stern replies. 

"Where'd you get these?" Henry questions, and I assume he's wondering about the food. 

"From Bill." Ellie quickly answers, before any of us could. Then, watches the confusion on his face and clarifies. "He's dead." 

Then, Joel wraps up the remainder of his food and hands it to Sam and the corners of my lips threaten to smile. The little boy's face lights up and signs to his older brother thank you. And all it takes is that little gesture to make me want to protect these kids with my life.

"I'm guessing you don't have much... so, this means a lot." Henry doesn't smile as he says it, his eyes don't even soften. But I know that he's grateful, I can tell. He reminds me of Joel--his presence. The way he thinks he needs to be strong. 

"How old is he?"

How old are you? Henry signs to his brother, and Sam replies with Eight. 

Eight. How does an eight-year-old even end up in this situation? 

"Cool." Ellie beams, swallowing down her food. "I'm Ellie."

Henry translates this to Sam once again, and once he's done, I set my food down and grin. "I'm Rhea," I not only say this, but I sign it. "This is Hayden." 

Sam's face lights up for the second time and my heart bursts. "Where'd you learn?" 

I smile again, shaking my head once. "Doesn't matter. It was a long time ago." 

"What are you hiding?" Parker asks, her food still wrapped up in a napkin on the floor at her feet. She's twiddling her knife in between her fingers like it's some toy and is reminding me exactly of Ellie when we first met. 

"What are you?" I counter, my brows furrowed. "We don't know anything about you guys. Just that you're the most wanted in this city." 

"That's all you need to know." Her expression doesn't change. It's still blank yet daring, she's trying to torment me and although it's not working on Ellie, Joel or I, it's clearly scaring Hayden. She's looking up at me with those doe eyes and I don't understand how I've raised someone so opposite of me. Someone who has no chance of survival in this apocalypse. 

I clear my throat. "How old are you, Parker?"

I expected her to have drifted her gaze to Henry--for confirmation that she'd be allowed to say something. But she doesn't, she knows exactly what she wants to say and what she wants to do. "I'm fifteen tomorrow." 

Ellie hums, her smile widening. "Mm, happy early birthday!" 

I smile, too, a bit. "Happy birthday. These two are still fourteen. What a lovely coincidence." 

She removes eye contact with a snort. "Nothing is lovely about this fucking thing." 

"Parker." Henry cuts her outburst off with a quick warning. This clearly pisses her off and without a single mutter, she stands up and walks out of the room. 

None of us say anything. Joel continues eating, completely zoned out as he watches the fire in our lamp burn. Ellie smacks his hand with a glare, snapping him out of it. Joel looks up at her quickly, avid with attention. But when she nods toward the two boys, motioning for him to introduce himself. 

He barely rolls his eyes. "I'm Joel. Look, you ate, we didn't kill each other, let's call this a win-win and move on." 

I normally would scold him for saying this, but something in me agrees. My gut is telling me something my brain hasn't even thought of yet. 

Henry nods, wiping his hands off before clasping them as he swallows. "Well, I'm betting that y'all came up here for a view of the city and plan a way out." 

Joel looks at the two of them with a semi-frazzled expression, but also that he's trying to figure the two out. As am I. But I still feel something going on with the girl--her outburst clearly had to have meant something. 

And my gut won't stop and let me think until I talk to her. 

a/n

btw parker is portrayed by millie alcock