joel miller (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
shittybirthday) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
bezoar2014-03-26 11:32 pm
shittybirthday) wrote in bezoar2014-03-26 11:32 pm
searching home still
"Wake up," Joel whispers urgently. He crouches down by the dirty mattress Ellie is asleep on; bracing a hand on her thin shoulder, he gives it a quick shake. "Wake up, baby girl."
In the distance comes an echoing thunder of gunfire. Someone shouting nearby. Footsteps pounding along the metal scaffolding just outside the room that's become Ellie's room in Tommy's settlement.
Joel's heart is pounding. He'd been downstairs with Tommy, rugged up in thick layers to keep warm against the oncoming winter, playing poker with a pack of old, tattered cards by the dim glow of a light overhead, using empty bullet shells and useless scraps of metal as chips, a half-empty bottle of contraband whiskey shared between the both of them, when the alarm sounded that the compound had been breached. Hunters, Maria had shouted as she came bursting into the room, breathing hard with angry panic in her eyes. Fucking Hunters. A whole pack of them this time. The compound is outnumbered. The fuckers had waited until the dead of night to ambush.
"C'mon," whispers Joel, whiskey on his frosty breath, "we gotta move. Now."
In the distance comes an echoing thunder of gunfire. Someone shouting nearby. Footsteps pounding along the metal scaffolding just outside the room that's become Ellie's room in Tommy's settlement.
Joel's heart is pounding. He'd been downstairs with Tommy, rugged up in thick layers to keep warm against the oncoming winter, playing poker with a pack of old, tattered cards by the dim glow of a light overhead, using empty bullet shells and useless scraps of metal as chips, a half-empty bottle of contraband whiskey shared between the both of them, when the alarm sounded that the compound had been breached. Hunters, Maria had shouted as she came bursting into the room, breathing hard with angry panic in her eyes. Fucking Hunters. A whole pack of them this time. The compound is outnumbered. The fuckers had waited until the dead of night to ambush.
"C'mon," whispers Joel, whiskey on his frosty breath, "we gotta move. Now."
no subject
Ellie doesn't complain. Joel's head wound is probably making him feel worse than just her little cuts, and she's not about to suggest they stop. It's still too close to the firefight.
"Gotcha. Meet in the main room."
Carefully, Ellie moved through the greenery at the edge of the meadow, never coming within sight of the cabin's windows. They'd been there enough times for her to know the range, and where the best spots to camp the place were. There were plenty, but there were also blind spots.
In the back, Ellie found the shaft of darkness thrown by the chimney and crept up to the side, following along the base to a loose part of the foundation in the back. Carefully, she slipped underneath the house, listening for any sign of voices or footsteps.
So far, nothing. She waited, knowing Joel's approach would be louder. If anybody was in there, they'd be roused by him, and she'd have his back.