CHAPTER THIRTY THREE

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          THEY EVEN HAD A FULLY DECORATED CHRISTMAS TREE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE TOWN SQUARE. A fucking Christmas tree. Fairy lights hung in between buildings like a long web of illuminated balls of luminosity. Lucia hadn't seen anything of the festive sort for years. The Boston Quarantine Zone wasn't know for keeping pre outbreak traditions alive.

The brunette wondered how different her life would have been had she grown up in a place like this instead of being exposed to so much horror on the outside world. Would she still be so reserved, would she trust other humans more easily? Lucia had no idea and she didn't have much time to keep the thought when Maria spoke up.

"We settled here about seven years ago." explained Maria, as the woman led them through the busy streets of Jackson. There were people left and right in thick winter clothes, either getting ready for a work day or just coming back from one. "Just a handful of us back then. That section," she pointed to a few homes on her right. "was already a gated community so we built the rest of the wall out from there."

Lucia watched the back of her head, standing at about the same height as she, Joel and Ellie followed after the couple. They were married even and Joel had been pissed ever since they'd revealed the information. 

"Stopped most of the raiding parties, but we still find pockets of them."

"And you said infected?" queried Joel, briefly scanning the walls that protruded on the other side of the busy street. 

"Yeah, but usually smaller colonies, wandered off from the cities." confirmed Tommy, glancing over his shoulder to meet his brother's gaze. "All this open country out here, it's a turkey shoot. I still got my seven-hundred, but I found a variable power scope. Sub-MOA. Can headshot those fuckers from half a mile out."

"Can you teach me how?" wondered Ellie, pulling her beanie further over her ears to keep them warm from the harsh winter air.

"No, he can't." stated Joel gruffly and turned to Tommy. "How do you keep this place quiet?"

"Carefully," it was Maria who had answered him. "being in the middle of nowhere helps. Not advertising what we have, staying off the radio -" Joel shot his brother an accusing glare, having tried to catch him on one of them for months while in Boston. The youngest of the two looked down with guilt as his wife continued. "House of worship, multifaith on your left. There's the school. Laundry. Old bank works as a jail, not that we've needed it."

"And you draw power from the dam?" asked Lucia, crossing her arms over her chest as they got to the end of the road, leading them to a bit more of open land.

"Got that working a couple years ago." nodded Maria. "After that we did the sewage, plumbing, water heaters and lights."

Ellie shook her head in disbelief and retorted. "This place actually fucking works."

There were homemade greenhouses where they grew their own vegetables and fruits, not a little sparse from the cold weather. Maria pushed open a fence and a bunch of sheep ran off toward the other direction to hide away from their sudden entrance.

"Hey, Joel, check it." called Ellie, amused as she tried to mimic one of the sheep. The smuggler shot her a fake grin and rolled his eyes. Maria gave a snort and the teen glanced at her. "So are you, like, in charge?"

"No one person's in charge." she said as she led them through their little farm area. "I'm on the council. Democratically elected, serving three hundred people, including children. Everyone pitches in. We rotate patrols, food prep, repairs, hunting, harvesting."

"Everything you see in our town," began Tommy. "Greenhouses, livestock, all shared. Collective ownership."

"So, communism." stated Joel.

"Nah," denied Tommy. "Nah, it ain't like that."

"It is that. Literally." pitched Maria as she smiled at her husband. "This is a commune. We're communists."

"A fucking fever dream." uttered Lucia below her breath and even if Joel agreed with her, he didn't show it apart from the look he send her. The woman heaved a sigh as they continued along the stables. 

Maybe it was the fact that Lucia had never seen a place like this before that it was hard to grasp the fact that something like this could work. Or it was the fact that Maria kept glancing at the older Miller brother as if he was going to start shooting his way through town. Lucia had decided that she didn't like her one bit.

"No way!" screeched Ellie, running up to one of the stables.

"That's our newest one." smiled Maria as she glanced inside the stable where a small horse stood with its mother. "Couple months old. You wanna pet her?"

"Yeah," nodded the teen as the foal lifted its head over the wooden door. "What's her name?"

"Shimmer."

"Shimmer, you're so beautiful."

"Well," began Maria, clasping her hands together as she turned to Tommy. "I'm sure they'd like a shower, some new clothes. We can put them in the empty house cross the street from us."

"Yeah," he agreed. "It's a decent place. Pretty much untouched since '03, but it's got the heat goin' in it. Could be worse."

"Trust me, we have been." sighed Ellie.

"We've been doin' fine." Joel shrugged, jaw clenched shut.

"Well, i'll take the girls over there if you two wanna catch up?" tried Maria as she faced the two men. 

"We're not splitting up." stated Lucia, narrowing her eyes at Joel as he met her gaze. He slowly nodded to himself, seeing the slightest of desperation behind her eyes.

"We can catch up later, get cleaned up first." he decided.

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THE HOUSE WASN'T ANYTHING SPECIAL BUT IT HAD A WORKING SHOWER AND ONCE THE HEATER HAD TURNED ON IT WASN'T THAT COLD INSIDE. Ellie had run of in search of the best bedroom before she jumped underneath the shower adjoined to her room.

"Can you tell me what's bothering you?" Lucia had dropped her backpack on the old wooden floors of the home when Joel came back inside. He had checked the perimeter, something he felt he needed to do just to make sure they were completely safe. "I can see something is wrong. Has been for a few days now."

"I don't know what you're talkin' about." he dodged her question. Joel had no idea how to even tell her how he was feeling. 

He hadn't talked, actually talked, about his feeling in a very long time and it felt sort of redundant to do it now. Sure, he had spoken about his feeling a few months ago, but that was one time and sometimes he forgot how he had gotten the courage to do that. Perhaps it was the fact that Lucia had been in danger that he managed to show her how he felt. 

Joel had tried after that to do it again and again and sometimes succeeded, but he couldn't bring himself to do it now. He didn't want to start a fight with her, which was going to be inevitable after her voiced his concerns.

"You can talk to me, Joel." she urged. "I don't get why you're pulling back all of a sudden. Did something happen?"

"I don't want to do this now, Lu." he sighed and rubbed at his eyes as he leaned against the kitchen counter. "Can you drop it."

"Yeah," she hummed, disappointed. "just talk to me when you're ready."

Joel bit the inside of his cheek to keep him from saying anything else as he met her gaze. This was going to hurt him. He just couldn't do it. He was too old and he wasn't as strong as he used to be and the pain in his chest he got whenever he worried about something a little bit too much, it wasn't fair to her or Ellie. He needed to stop thinking like this. They had gotten this far and they were almost at the end of their journey. 

He pushed himself off the counter and trudged toward the back door. "I'm going to find Tommy."

Lucia watched him disappear and frowned, feeling an odd feeling deep within her chest that she hadn't felt in a long time. Her leg bounced up and down at the thought of not seeing him again and she brushed it off with a sigh as she sauntered up the stairs to find a room of her own. She had no idea how long they'd be staying there, but she might as well try to get a little comfortable. 

"Hello?" the woman froze mid stairway and turned to find Maria entering the kitchen. "Oh, there you are."

The woman was holding three pairs of clothes and some other small items she couldn't really see all bundled up within the fabrics. Lucia slowly walked back down to meet her.

"I got you all a fresh pair of clothes and some little things you might need." she placed the items on the dining table. "I'm not the best and guessing sizes but I think these should fit you all just about right."

"Thanks," uttered Lucia, nodding at her. 

Maria smiled and after a moment of silence she blew out a long breath. "I think we started off on the wrong foot. I may have overstepped a bit earlier."

"You think so?" Lucia tilted her head to the side as she watched her. "You judged a man based on his past. A past you weren't there for and he has been nothing but kind and respectful since we've been here."

"You're right." Maria agreed. "I apologise. And I will tell him the same when I see him. It wasn't my intention. I just get protective over the people that I love."

Lucia could understand that, she'd do exactly the same but for some reason she just didn't have it in her to forgive her. The woman nodded nonetheless, too tired to start an argument or anything else. "Thank you for the clothes."

"You're welcome." smiled Maria. "I'll let you get settled in. Come find me whenever you're ready. I'm just across the street. Bring Ellie with you."

I am currently on holiday in Austria and my wifi is very bad so the gifs aren't really loading so i'll add them back when I get back home. I am hoping to finish this story in the two weeks that i am here. Thank you all so much for the support so far <3