CHAPTER FOURTY ONE

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          THE BLOOD THAT HAD FALLEN UPON THE STARK WHITE SNOW FROM JOEL'S WOUND WAS EASILY ERASED BY CALLUS AND APPLE AS THEY TROTTED ACROSS THE ROAD. It wasn't even fully visible anymore once they'd reach the small town which only housed about twenty homes as far as they could tell.

The trek from the mall took them two hours and the moment the raiders had been out of earshot, Lucia and Ellie had rushed their way back toward the yogurt shop were Joel laid, shivering from the cold.

Callus and Apple stood in the garage of the small home, and the smugglers screams of pain echoed throughout the basement as Ellie and Lucia tried to clean his stomach. His back rested on a thin mattress that the latter had pulled from the bedroom.

"I'm sorry, i'm sorry." breathed Lucia, as she pressed yet another rag against his heated skin. Joel cried out and grabbed her wrist as tight as he could, wanting to get away from her touch. "Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck."

"Lucia, here." Ellie was frantically trying to open the emergency kit she had found at the mall. "We gotta do this now."

"Leave," wheezed Joel, trying to get hold of her hand but she brushed him off with a shake of her head as she kept pressure on the infected skin. "leave."

"Shut up, Joel!"

"Take Ellie and -"

"Joel, shut the fuck up!" she roared, not caring if she scared them.

With the last bit of his strength, he had taken a hold of the collar on her jacket and pulled at it with all his might, and she was forced toward him. Their noses were almost touching, breaths mingling together at their proximity and she looked at him with wide eyes, heart thundering against her ribcage.

Despite the hazed state he was in, he could see her as clear as day and he wanted to scream at her to leave him behind. He thought himself to be a lost cause. His wound was infected, there was no medicine and he had lost a lot of blood. He wasn't going to make it.

"You have to go." he shook her and she hissed in anger,  their noses bumped together. "Take Ellie and go north. Go to Tommy. You go."

Joel released his grip on her as she slid back onto her backside, glaring at the man whom she had fallen in love with.

"Ellie," said Lucia calmly, but she wouldn't tear her gaze away from him as the teen looked up at her numbly. "I need you to go upstairs and look for more gauze, we're going to need it."

The teen was out of the basement and up the stairs before either of them could blink and Lucia slowly got back onto her knees beside him, taking the emergency kit and grabbing the small bottle of disinfect alcohol. There was a lot of noise coming from upstairs, no doubt the girl ransacking the place for supplies.

"If you think that we're leaving you," muttered Lucia, squirting the liquid onto a clean gauze. "you're completely out of your mind, Joel Miller."

Before the smuggler could voice his protests, the brunette had pressed the gauze onto his wound and he cried out in pain, eyes screwed shut tightly as he tried to scoot away from her. Maybe it was too late, maybe it wasn't. Lucia didn't care. She had to try.

"The cure can wait." she continued, cleaning the sides of the wound while he trashed underneath her. "The Fireflies can wait. The whole fucking world can wait, but I am not leaving you. We're staying here until you are better, do you understand me?"

The initial sting of the alcohol had subsided and Joel was able to catch his breath, tiredly meeting her determined gaze.

"It's too late." he muttered. 

"No, it isn't." she glowered, brows furrowed. "You'll get better. Everything is going to be just fine. We don't even have to go to Salt Lake City. We could just go back to Jackson, where everything will be fine."

"Luc," he grabbed her hand in his glove covered on, trying to squeeze her in comfort. "there's no -"

"Joel," she sobbed, not being able to stop the tears from flowing. "don't do this to me. Don't make us leave. I can't. I can't do that, Joel. I need you to be alright -"

"Shh," he managed, eyes closed for a moment and he felt the woman rest her head on his chest. He had reached up with his other hand, still shivering from the cold and he brushed a strand of hair from her face. "It's okay."

Ellie's feet thundered down the steps, three pieces of gauze in her hands as she fell to her knees on Joel's other side. Lucia glanced up, pushing herself back up slowly and giving the teen a small smile. "I'm going to stitch you up now, okay?"

Joel only nodded once, taking in shallow breaths as he watched the woman wipe her own hands with alcohol to disinfect them. The wound looked horrible, the skin around it was raw and red and there was still some blood leaking from it even after she had kept proper pressure on it and cleaned it.

"Fuck, sorry." she murmured when the needle with thread first came into contact with his skin and he let out a low groan of pain. Ellie held onto his hands so that he couldn't push Lucia away as she began to stitch up the stab wound as best as she could. "I'm so sorry, Joel."

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IT MUST HAVE BEEN AROUND NOON THE NEXT DAY WHEN LUCIA AWOKE TO SOFT SNORES BESIDE HER. Joel had made it through the night and the stitches had held up pretty well. It was no longer bleeding, but the wound was swollen and infected, even though she had cleaned it every hour as best as she could.

Yellow liquid was slowly leaking from between the stitches and he needed antibiotics, and quickly or he'd get worse.

The smuggler was tired and he had fallen asleep before nightfall the night before, and he was barely conscious. The brunette blinked at the harsh light coming from the small window and offered Ellie, whom sat against the wall with her headphones lazily in her hands, a soft smile and shuffled toward her backpack.

"There isn't anything left." said Ellie, grimace on her face as she stretched her legs out before her. "We're out of food."

"Shit," grumbled Lucia, sliding down the wall beside her.

"Yup, shit." agreed the teen. "What about water?"

"I'm not worried about that." confessed Lucia, slowly raking her gaze around the small basement for something she didn't even know. "We have plenty of water. Just gotta get some snow from outside and let it melt. Might not be ideal but it's liquid."

"Huh," nodded Ellie, impressed. "never thought of that."

"Ellie," sighed Lucia after a moment of silence, her eyes falling onto Joel whom looked horrible and incredibly pale. "I need you to watch over him while i'm gone, can you do that? I'm going back to that mall and look for food and other supplies. Joel's weak. We need medicine or I don't know how much longer he can go on like this."

"What? No!" she refused, getting to her knees with a shake of her head. "You can't go there by yourself. It's filled with those raiders, you'll get yourself killed."

"What else are we supposed to do, Ellie?" she expressed, closing her eyes for a brief moment in frustration. "He's not going to make it."

"We can go hunt?" tried the Williams girl. "We can find something to hunt in the forest. Just like you both taught me to. It's close, there's no infected or anything in the area. We can do this, Lucia."

It would take Lucia two hours to get to the mall, no clue how many she'd spend inside, and another two hours back. The woman wouldn't get back till at least midnight and she didn't know how bad Joel would get in those hours. Lucia nodded her head slowly after she mulled it over. "Alright, you start gathering our supplies. I'll be right up with you."

As Ellie was going up the steps toward the living room of the home, Lucia made her way toward Joel and brushed a curl away from his forehead. The canteen of water by his head was not used and she tilted it toward his lips, but he wouldn't open his mouth.

"Please, drink something." she tried, pulling at his lower lip to open his mouth and managed to get in a few drops of water with her fingers. "Ellie and I will be right back, okay? We'll bring you some food and you'll get better."

Lucia leaned down and pressed a soft kiss against his forehead.

It was freezing the moment the two girls stepped out into the afternoon air, no matter how well dressed they were. Lucia hoped that Joel stayed warm enough underneath the blankets she had placed over his shivering body.

The forest was a quiet place, only a few birds to be heard as they flew overhead. The two of them walked along thick bushes and overgrown trees, snow crunching underneath their boots. Their cheeks reddened by the cold, feeling as if their skin was stabbed with tiny needles all over.

Something scurried by Ellie's feet, and she jumped in fright before aiming the shotgun at the animal. The rabbit was already gone before she had the chance to get a good aim at it and she huffed out an annoyed breath.

"Damn it." she cursed.

"It's okay." said Lucia. "We'll find another one."

But there weren't any more rabbits, at least not that they could find and Lucia's stomach grumbled loudly, causing the teen to glance up at her with furrowed brows.

There was an odd noise coming from up ahead and Lucia held out her arm, alert as she stopped Ellie in her tracks. The latter held up the shotgun and moved it toward her face as she followed after the brunette and around a group of trees in front of them.

The deer was quite beautiful as it stood grazing at a small patch of uncovered grass. The Williams girl was already on her knees, resting the weapon on a tree trunk as she tried to get a good angle at it. Lucia didn't move at all, just stared at the animal. It wouldn't see her if she didn't more and she was confident Ellie could take the shot.

Ellie took in a slow breath, placing her finger on the trigger before exhaling. The bullet whizzed through the air and hit the deer on the side, it wailed in pain as it fell onto his stomach. Ellie's eyes widened and she glanced over her shoulder.

"No, fucking way."

"Shit," muttered Lucia as the deer got back to its feet and ran off.

The trail of blood was sparse but it wasn't a long one to follow and after a few minutes of making their way deeper into the forest, they found the deer in the snow, lifeless and still bleeding. Ellie was pushed behind Lucia and she blinked in confusion before her eyes fell onto the two strangers standing over the animal.

One of the two men, the one who looked older, reached down to grab the deer by it's antlers but Lucia had aimed the shotgun at them with a glare. Ellie hadn't even noticed her take the weapon from her. "Don't! Drop you rifles! Now!"

The strangers turned their heads toward her voice, brows raised as they slowly and carefully slid their weapons from their shoulders and let them drop toward the ground.

"Turn and face me ... slowly." ordered Lucia, and the woman could feel Ellie grab onto her coat as she tried to step around her to get a better view. "Any sudden moves and I put a bullet right between your eyes. Ditto for buddy boy, over there."

"You're quite a hunter." said the blonde one, though his hair was greying and Lucia didn't like the way his eyes were taking in their appearances. "We didn't even hear you coming."

The brunette narrowed her eyes and tilted her head slightly, giving a light pressure on the trigger to make it click. "Turn around and walk away, no one needs to get hurt."

"Okay, all I ask is just ten seconds of your time." he tried, hands up in surrender and a small smile on his features as Ellie fully stepped out from behind Lucia.

Lucia hissed, "I won't tell you again."

"Please, just ten seconds." he insisted, and slowly moved his glove covered hand toward himself. "My name is David and this is my friend, James. We're from a larger group, woman, children, and we're all ... very, very hungry."

Lucia had always been a very good liar, probably from all the years in the QZ when Robert's men wanted to to know wether or not she had good finds from the outside world. The woman scoffed. "We're from a large group, too. Also hungry."

"Well, even so ..." he trailed off, as he gestured to the deer. "you can't drag this back on your own. We're not asking for charity. We ... we could trade you for some of the deer. We have - " he looked at James for a moment. "What do you need, hm? We have ... boots."

"Medicine?" Ellie had opened her mouth before Lucia could tell them to get lost and she clenched her jaw in anger. "Like, for infections."

"Yes, we do." nodded David, still holding up his arms. "Back in our village. You're both welcome to follow us."

"We're not following you anywhere." scoffed Lucia, not daring to move her eyes away from them incase one went to grab for a weapon she couldn't see. "Your friend over there can go get it. He comes back, you get half the deer. Anyone else shows up, I put a bullet -"

"Right between my eyes." he confirmed, and let out a soft chuckle.

"That's right." she said, raising a single brow.

David turned toward his friend and gave a single nod. "All right, go talk to Howard. He's got a case with some penicillin. Bring back two bottles and a syringe." And James furrowed his brows on confusion. "It's not code, James. Do as I say."

The stranger left, though still uncertain and disappeared out of sight. David had watched him leave and was met with the unpleasant sight of her still holding the gun to his face. 

"Well, look, uh ... it's a four mile round trip back to our settlement." he sighed, squatting down beside the deer as Ellie snatched their weapons away. "It's gonna be a while before James gets back. I have some oil and matches in my pack. We could ... take shelter," he glanced to the small open sheds behind him. "start a fire?"

Lucia let out a heavy sigh from her nose and glanced down at Ellie, seeing the redness of her cheeks from the cold before nodding. "Bring the deer with us."

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THE FIRE DID FEEL NICE AND ELLIE'S CHEEKS WERE NO LONGER RED FROM THE COLD, BUT FROM THE WARMTH IN THE SMALL SHED. The fire crackled before them and it kept the deceased animal from freezing, thought that might have been better for the meat. 

Lucia and Ellie sat beside each other, the former not once taking her eyes off David as he sat on a small log on the other side of the fire, holding out his hands toward the flames in search of warmth.

"You know," he began, breaking the minutes long silence from before. "it's quite dangerous out here for two girls like you to wander around by yourselves."

The brunette raised an eyebrow and she saw Ellie look at her from the corner of her eyes. "From where we're sitting, you shouldn't be out here on your own."

"Fair enough," he nodded, though there was amusement behind his eyes and it made Lucia clench her jaw in distrust. Perhaps having gone to the mall had been a better option now that she looked at the man. "So, what are your names then?"

Neither her or Ellie gave him an answer and Lucia shook her head with narrowed eyes. 

"It's hard to trust strangers. I know." stated David in understanding as he scooted closer toward the fire. "But I honestly mean you no harm. For what it's worth, there is room for either of you in our group, if you want."

"You're inviting us to your hunger club?" asked Ellie with a hint of boredom in her voice as she played with her knife. "Thanks."

David offered the teen a chukle and nodded his head. "It's true, we're hungry, but ... we're still here. Look, i'm a decent man just tryna take care of the people that rely on me."

"You're their leader?"

"It wasn't my choice. It was theirs." he shrugged, nonchalantly at his revelation. "But, yes."

Lucia hummed before letting out a long breath, letting it puff out in front of her like a tiny white cloud. "They 'chose to follow you', is this like some weird cult thing?"

"Well," chuckled David and his mouth turned into a slight smile and for some reason seeing that made her nauseous. He seemed embarrassed at her question and rubbed at his chin. "you sorta got me there. I am a preacher, but just pretty standard bible stuff."

"The whole world ended," voiced Ellie. "and you still believe that shit?"

"I actually started believing after the world ended. Before that, I was a teacher. Math. Taught kids about your age. It was a job I did with a whole lot of love."

Ellie scoffed as she asked, "So you went form teacher to preacher because, what? It fuckin' rhymes?"

"Yeah, exactly." he laughed but it died down quickly when het met Lucia's stare and he sighed. "Well, I found God, after the Apocalypse, which is either the best time or the worst time to find him, hard to say. But when the Pittsburgh QZ fell in seventeen, Fireflies and FEDRA. I left with a few others and that's how I ended up with our flock."

"Long way from Pittsburgh." commented Lucia.

"Yeah," he let out a breathy laugh and looked away from the two of them, rubbing his hands together to cherish some of that warmth. "we'd settle somewhere, then the raiders would come, so we'd move again. And we wandered, we picked new people along the way untill..." he glanced around the area. "we ended up here."

"Well," began Ellie, kicking off a piece of dirt from her boot. "your luck had to run out sooner or later."

"Luck?" wondered David. "There's no such thing as luck. No, I believe everything happens for a reason. It truly does. I can prove it to you." Lucia raised a brow as she waited for his explanation. "We didn't expect this winter to be so cruel. Nothing'll grow. Game's been hard to find. So I send four of our people to a nearby town to scavenge what they could. And only three of 'em came back."

Lucia blinked, feeling her face start to heat up in either panic or anger as she waited for him to continue. It was a gut feeling and she knew she had a reason not to trust this man. 

"The one that didn't was a father." he continued, fiddling with the ring on his finger. "He had a daughter just like you. And her dad was taken from her. Turns out he was murdered, by this crazy man. And get this, that crazy man was traveling with a woman and a little girl."

Lucia pressed a bit harder down onto the trigger, ready to fire as she took deep breaths while David added, "You see? Everything happens for a reason. James, lower the gun."

The brunette spun around, weapon trained at his friend only to see he had a gun pointed at her head. Ellie let out a silent gasp and clenched her knife in the palm of her hand.

"She's the one that killed Alec, isn't she?"

"She didn't kill anybody." said David, looking between them with slight amusement. "Lower the gun."

Lucia didn't lower her shotgun, contemplating how to get out of this situation without endangering her and Ellie further. The brunette watched as James lowered the weapon reluctantly.

"Did you bring the medicine?" questioned David, and James gave a single nod, about to open his mouth but David cut him off with an order. "Throw it to them."

James, visibly angry, rolled his eyes in disagreement with his leader and slowly reached into his pocket. He took out two vials of liquid and a syringe and threw it toward them.

"Back the fuck away." ordered Lucia, and her and Ellie watched him do so, so that the Williams girl could grab the medicine and pocket it. 

"I know you're not with a group." began David, still sitting on that stupid log. "You both won't survive for long out there. I can protect you."

Lucia kept the weapon pointed at them, grabbing the back of Ellie's jacket before pulling her away from the shed. They were off a second later, rushing through the thick bushes and overgrown trees to get the hell away from there and back to Joel.

The brunette made sure to cover their tracks so they couldn't be followed.

thank you so much for 6K votes on this story, means the absolute world that you're all still reading this. A few more chapters till this story is finished <3