CHAPTER FIFTY

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          THE TREES SPED BY AS JOEL SPED DOWN THE ROAD, ONE HAND RESTING ON LUCIA'S THIGH AS THEY GOT THEY NEARED WYOMING. The woman looked out the window, her mind racing with all sorts of uncomfortable thoughts as she tried to focus on the grip Joel had on her. His fingers were brushing slow circles onto her jeans absentmindedly and she closed her eyes.

"Lucia?" Joel peered at her as he averted his gaze from the road.

The brunette didn't show any signs that she had heard him call her name and he grew worried, glancing between her and the road ahead. He briefly looked through the rear view mirror to see that Ellie still hadn't woken up from her anaesthesia.

"Hey," he squeezed Lucia's thigh. "you still with me?"

Lucia lolled her head to the side and opened her eyes to meet his gaze, offering him a weak smile. It had been a few hours since they'd let the Fireflies and the hospital behind and neither had said much since they'd left, both to worked up to say anything.

"Sorry," she murmured and pried his hand off her leg to hold it in her own. Lucia ran her fingers over his skin and counted the freckles. "just really tired I guess."

"Yeah, I know." he kept driving down the empty highway, mountains in the distance. The sun was setting and even if they could make it to Jackson in the next few hours, they were too tired to drive through the night. "Let's find a safe place to set up for the night, alright?"

Lucia hummed in agreement and went back to staring out the window. The woman wondered how life in Jackson was going to be. Would they fit there or would they be to feral for the content little community? What was going to happen to Ellie? The question kept playing through her mind and she let out a long sigh.

The brunette glanced over her shoulder when the teen let out a low groan. Ellie tried to push herself up as she pried her eyes open but she was too weak to do so.

"What -?" she muttered, panic laced her voice.

"It's alright," comforted Lucia, turning in her seat. "You're with us."

"Take it slow." added Joel, looking at her through the rear view. "The drugs are still wearin' off."

"I was with the Fireflies and then -" she managed to say before fallen silent, opening her eyes with worry. Her gaze found Lucia as she offered her a soft smile. "What drugs?"

"They were running some tests on you," she explained, furrowing her brows as she tried to come up with some sort of lie that she would believe. Lucia hated lying to her, but she could never know the truth. "and some others. Turns out there's a whole lot more like you. People that are immune."

Joel took his dark eyes away from the highway and looked at Lucia, trying to add onto her story. "Yeah, dozens of 'em. The doctors, they couldn't make any of it work. They've actually ... they've stopped lookin' for a cure."

Ellie was quiet for a moment as she tried to progress the revelation. The teen twirled on the hem of her hospital gown and frowned. "Where are my clothes?"

"Raiders attacked the hospital," he continued with a strained tone of voice, his shoulders moving up and down slowly as he took steady breaths. "We barely got you outta there. We'll find you some new ones on the way, okay? We're taking you home."

The Williams girl croaked, "Were people hurt?"

Lucia tore her gaze away from the teen and sat back in her seat, not able to look her in the face. Ellie had looked up to Marlene and her head was filled with promises of cures and other none sense that she didn't want to tell her about her death.

"Yes," Joel confirmed after a moment.

Ellie whispered, "Is Marlene okay?"

The silence from either of them was confirmation enough for her and she tried to hold in her cries as she turned around on the seats, her back toward them. The smuggler winched at the sound of her sobs.

"I'm sorry." croaked Joel.

It didn't take more than ten minutes before she had fallen back asleep. The sun had set completely, cascading them in darkness as they drove. The smuggler turned the steering wheel and guided the car through the woods in search of a safe area. The deeper they got, the darker it went as the moon was blocked by the many trees.

Ellie stayed on the backseat, hiding underneath the covers while Joel and Lucia got outside to stretch their legs from the long day.

They had no food, barely any belongings to their name and the brunette lowered herself to the soil ten feet away from the vehicle. The tree bark was rough against her back, stabbing at her skin through her thin shirt. Joel smiled down at her as he kicked her foot gently, and sat beside her.

"Why don't you get some sleep." offered Joel, leaning down to plant a kiss on the top of her head.

"I can't." she sighed, looking up at him and trying to ground herself in his eyes. He reached toward her and wiped a piece of hair from her forehead before resting his palm against her cheek.

"I love you." he confessed, just as sincerely as the first time.

Lucia lips twitched upward and she closed her eyes while pressing her mouth to his own. God, he felt so good after all the sorrow and horror. The brunette had missed this and felt herself get lost on his touch. It was dark and they could barely even see each other, but they could feel everything. He pulled on her thigh and she followed his request with a small whimper, straddling him.

"We can't -" she breathed through kissed. "she's right there."

"I know," he agreed, trailing kisses down her jaw. "just let me hold you like this for a little while longer."

His arms went around her back as he pulled her flush against his chest, her head resting in the crook of his neck. He felt so safe and it made her heart swell with love. "Joel," he hummed. "I love you, too."

Lucia could feel his smile as he pressed another soft kiss on top of her head. "Get some rest now, okay? I'll keep you safe."

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ELLIE RAN HER FINGERS OVER THE SCARS ON HER RIGHT ARM, TRACING THE OLD INFECTED BITE ABSENTMINDEDLY. The clothes they had scavenged had fit her well enough and would do till they'd reach Jackson. The girl sat in the driver's seat, door wide open as Joel tried to fix the car's engine that had started smoking about half a mile back. He cursed underneath his breath in defeat.

"Well, she got us close enough." he closed the hood before making his way toward them. "We gotta walk the rest of the way. Probably about a five hour hike ..." he leaned against the door with his arms crossed. "but we can manage that. Remember?"

"Yeah," smiled Ellie. "I remember."

The girl jumped from the car and played with the sleeves of her red flannel, leaving the vehicle behind. 

Lucia found that she didn't mind the hike much as they were surrounded by tall trees, mountains and lakes. Wyoming was incredibly beautiful and she felt like she could appreciate the view more than she could last time. There was no threat on her head and she felt like she didn't have to look over her shoulder every five minutes.

It was peaceful and she hoped it would stay that way.

"You know," began Joel once they were nearing Jackson. He had been leading them down a mountain path for the last hour now. "Sarah and I used to hike like this all the time." Ellie raised her brows in surprise at the mention of his daughter and he shot both her and Lucia a grin. "I wouldn't say it was her favourite thing. She wasn't a fan of the mosquitoes and such. But she was a big climber, or scamperin'. That's probably the right word."

Ellie listened to him as he talked about Sarah, frown on her face as she followed behind him. 

"That girl," he continued with a laugh. "she'd see a big rock, and just ... pew." he released a whistle and motioned upward. "She would have liked you. Not to say the two of you are the same. Definitely different kids."

"How so?" she questioned.

"Well, she was a lot more, I wanna say girly. And i'm not sayin' that you're not girly."

"I'm not." deadpanned Ellie, amusement in her eyes.

"Yeah, you're not." he declared with a grin. "So that. She was taller. She had a killer smile." He faced her and added quickly. "Again, not sayin' that you don't. But you know why I think she'd like you?"

"Why?" Ellie awaited his answer with curiosity.

"'Cause you're funny." he admitted and Ellie almost bumped into his back as he turned to face her for a moment. "I think you would've made her laugh. Anyway, I bet you wouldn't liked her back."

"Yeah," she nodded. "I bet I would've."

"And you," he turned toward Lucia who had let them have their moment. "she would have loved you."

"Why's that, Miller?" she smiled, feeling honoured that he felt comfortable enough with them to talk about her. Lucia knew how difficult it was for him to bring her up, he had gotten so angry the first time but now he was talking about her freely.

"Because of that right there." he raised a brow in amusement. "The way you talk. Sarah spoke the same way. Always had an answer ready for every occasion and don't get me started on the sarcasm."

"Sarah sound absolutely wonderful, Joel." smiled Lucia, feeling her heart swell at the proud look he got on his face. "I'm sure I would have loved her very much."

They reached a small clearing on top of the hill, near the edge and Jackson was right before them. The walls went all around the town and it looked much bigger from where they were standing.

"There ya go. Not much further now." 

Joel went to continue down the path but Ellie stopped them. "Wait."

The teen cursed under her breath silently as she walked up toward Lucia and Joel, blinking away her anxiety. "Back in Kansas City, you asked me about the first time I killed someone." Ellie let out a shaky breath before continuing, "When I got bit in the mall, I wasn't on my own."

Lucia gave the teen an encouraging nod, having heard the story before but Joel hadn't and Ellie didn't know how to tell him. "My best friend was there and she got bit, too. We didn't know what to do, and she says, 'We can just wait it out, be all poetic and just lose our minds together. And then she did. And I had to ... Her name was Riley and she was the first to die. And then it was Tess. And then Sam.

Joel shook his head more than once. "That's not on you. Look, sometimes things don't work out the way we hope. You can feel like - like you've come to an end and you don't know what to do next. But if you just keep goin', you find something new to fight for. And maybe that's not what -"

"Swear to me." Interrupted Ellie, tears brimming her eyes. "Swear to me that everything you both said about the Fireflies is true."

"We swear." said Lucia firmly.

Ellie searched her gaze for a lie, but when she found none she seemed to relax. The girl licked her lips and let out a sigh, nodding between the two of them. "Okay."

i cannot believe this is finished (for now). i am very bad at finishing stories but i finished this! okay no one knows when the next season will come out so that's why this will be marked as done. i want to thank everyone for reading, commenting and voting, it means the absolute world to me!! i stated earlier that there might be some extra chapters after this as they settle in jackson and such and there will be chapters like that but i am not sure yet when.

love you all so much! already have another joel story brewing in my mind