Boston to Lincoln

Soggy leaves squelched underfoot as Ellie surveyed the rotting, dilapidated buildings of the Boston suburbs. There were an abundance of abandoned buildings in the zone, but the flurry of military activity around the city had always seemed to give them some sort of life, even if it was just by proxy. Everything out here was so utterly forgotten about that it unnerved her. She half expected to see some slum-dwelling lowlife rustling through the trash for his next meal like back in the zone, but as far as she knew it was just herself and Joel. Joel, who was a few steps ahead of her, hadn't looked back at her once since they had left downtown Boston. The pregnant silence that hung between them was starting to get uncomfortable. They had managed to escape the Capitol building relatively unscathed, but they had lost Tess along the way. Her death, she was sure, was the heavy burden that weighed down the atmosphere between them. She wanted to say something, to confess the guilt she was feeling, but Joel had made it abundantly clear that he didn't want to hear it. That was his prerogative, she supposed, and her cross to bear. Still, she had to break the silence with something.

"So, uhm, where exactly are we going?" she finally asked.

Ahead, Joel huffed an annoyed sigh. "There's a little town north of here called Lincoln. That fella I told you about holed himself up there. It's a good fifteen or so miles away. Might take us a few hours to get there."

Ellie hopped over a pothole full of water. "He lives outside the zone? Is he crazy?"

"Most people do," Joel replied.

"Really?"

"Yeah. The quarantine zones filled up right quick once the military established them. About a year after the outbreak they started letting less and less people in. After a while, they stopped letting people in all together," Joel explained. "People had to fend for themselves."

"That's not what the military says happened," Ellie replied, sidestepping another pothole. Years of neglect had made a once smooth road into a minefield of pits ready to twist an ankle.

"I wouldn't put much stock on what the military says," Joel grunted.

"Is that why your buddy lives in Lincoln? He couldn't get into the zone?" Ellie asked, comfortable enough with the way the conversation was going to jog a few steps forward. She fell into stride with Joel and, to her relief, he didn't seem to mind the company.

Joel snorted. "Bill? No. He lived in the zone for a stretch but he didn't like the way the military ran the place. Thought he could do better on his own. So one night he sneaks into one of the military's bases, hotwires one of their cars and off he went."

"Pfff, no way. Just like that?" Ellie asked, flabbergasted.

"That's what he tells me," Joel replied, kicking an old suitcase out of the way with his boot.

"Ohh, okay, I see. So he's a liar."

Joel shrugged minutely. "It don't matter. He gets us what we need and in return Tess and I-". Joel stopped midsentence and fell silent.

He spoke of her so casually, as if she were still amongst the living. It wasn't too long ago that she was. Ellie didn't exactly know the nature of their relationship, if they were just partners or if it went beyond that, but it was obvious that they were close. She felt an overwhelming sense of guilt for her part in Tess' death; Ellie knew all too well how crushing it was to lose somebody close.

"Why don't we just stay focused on the task, alright?" Joel grunted after a few moments.

"Sure," Ellie replied, her voice soft. She fell a step or two behind Joel's pace. The area they were in now was mostly residential with a strip mall or two scattered amongst the houses. While the soldiers and civilian workers of the zone did their best to keep trees and plants from taking over the streets, the vegetation out here had free reign and had begun reclaiming its space. All that plant life made the air out of the zone incredibly fresh and clean, but for the past couple of blocks there was a hint of something sour that marred it for her. "Hey… do you smell that? What is that?" she asked, inhaling deeply through her nose. The scent was sour, but it had a sweetness to it as well that she didn't find appetizing at all.

"Body would be my best guess. There's no clean-up crew out here so they're just left to rot where they lie," Joel replied before taking a quick sniff of the air. His shoulders tensed visibly and his hand fell to his holstered pistol. "Hmm," he mumbled, slowing his pace to a stop.

"What?" Ellie asked, darting a few feet forward to stand beside him. His face was scrunched with concentration and he took another, deeper sniff of the air.

"Body smells fresh. I reckon it's no more than a couple days old."

"You can tell?"

"When you've been around 'em long enough you know what bodies smell like after they've gone bad". Joel's eyes faded into memory for a few moments before he pulled himself back into the present. "Fresh bodies usually mean bad news."

"I don't know about you, but coming across any type of body would count as a bad day for me," Ellie replied, lifting her forearm and covering her nose with it. "Fuck, it stinks!" she cried, the sound of her voice muffled by her sleeve.

Joel shot her a scolding look and explained further. "The older a body is the farther away whatever killed it is going to be. The fresher a body is…"

"… the closer whatever killed it is going to be," Ellie finished, the implications finally dawning on her. She dropped her arm from her nose. "Shit. Should we be worried?"

"We ain't in the clear yet. The farther we get from downtown the safer it is but that don't mean we should let our guard down. Keep your eyes peeled. If you spot anything, you let me know, alright?"

"Yeah, of course," she replied. Her eyes darted across the dilapidated buildings but the only movement she saw was the rustling of the leaves in the wind. For all she knew the smell was just a dead raccoon but she'd rather not put herself at ease and risk being caught unaware. The constant feeling of unease was something that she needed to get used to; life in the zone had its challenges, but at least she always felt protected.

"Good. Let's keep going. If we keep this pace up we'll be at Bill's by sundown."

They pushed forward, the heat from the midday sun beginning to dry patches of the cracked pavement underfoot. Now that they were away from the zone and the madness of the infested downtown area the world was utterly silent. There was no hum of military vehicles patrolling the streets, no distant clang of city repairs being conducted, no screeching infected trying to kill them. If the wind was calm she swore she could hear her own heartbeat. She couldn't help but wonder what these streets sounded like before the outbreak. The roads out here were wide, the sky was uncluttered by skyscrapers and there was more open space than she had ever seen. It seemed like it would be a peaceful place to live. If it wasn't all a big pile of rubble she could have been jealous.

They walked in silence for several more blocks, the sour stench that had filled the air slowly fading into something sweet and floral. To her left a bushel of orange flowers opened their petals to the sun. She considered asking Joel if he had lived in a neighbourhood like the ones they were walking through, but she felt like she was already on shaky ground with him and didn't want to press her luck.

She wasn't entirely sure what to make of Joel yet. He was extremely capable and frighteningly ruthless when he had to be, but otherwise he didn't seem so bad. He was grumpy, closed off and seemed more annoyed by her presence than not, but she's had worse company. Still, would it kill the guy to be a little friendlier? She took solace in the fact that he wouldn't be in her life for much longer. Once the job was done she doubted he would stick around. She would just need to tough it out for a few more days until they found the Fireflies.

"This way, c'mon" Joel said, veering right into a fenced pathway between two houses. On the other side Ellie could see a large, open field with a rusted playground and a small collection of trees. She lifted a shoulder to adjust the strap of her backpack and followed him in.

"Wow… look at all this space!" she marveled, taking the scenery in. The wide field, lush with thick, green grass was too inviting. She started to dash forward, eager to run her hands through the carpet of grass, when Joel grabbed her by the shoulder and yanked her back. "Hey, easy!"

Joel pulled her into a crouch and pointed towards the small forest at the edge of the field. Ellie followed his line of sight but saw nothing but trees. "What? I don't see anything."

"In the shrubs by that big oak. See it?" Joel whispered.

It took a moment or two of searching but she finally caught sight of what Joel had spotted. A runner, mostly hidden by tall bushes, stood clutching her head and twitching periodically. Half of her shirt had been torn away, exposing her bra and a nasty looking bite mark. How Joel had managed to spot her so quickly was beyond her. "How did you… you can barely see her!" Ellie whispered back.

"You learn to spot these things." Joel replied and inched toward the end of the pathway.

Ellie kept close and crouched beside him. "What's the plan?"

Joel removed his pistol from its holster. He removed the clip quietly and counted his bullets before sliding it back into place. She counted five bullets. "Stay here. I'll scope things out. If it's just the one we can sneak by."

Ellie nodded and Joel snuck forward into the field. The runner was about two hundred feet into the field; Joel had a ways to go before they would be clear to move forward. She clung to the side of the pathway, trying to make herself as small as possible, peeking around the corner to watch his progress. He was almost feline with this stealth, staying low to the ground and pausing whenever his prey twitched a muscle. It was really something to see.

She scanned the rest of the field; aside from the playground and two soccer nets it was empty. She cast a quick glance over her shoulder to make sure nothing was behind her; what she spotted made her blood ran cold. A flowering, fungal head atop a twitching human body. A clicker. Ellie's heart began to pound so loudly that she was afraid the clicker would be able to hear her. As it was, the fungal monster hadn't yet entered the pathway. It lingered at the entrance throwing its head forward and croaking that awful croak, hoping to find its prey. She had thought they has been so quiet as they made their way through the streets but something they said or did must have lured it from whatever hole it had been hiding in.

She whipped her head around to make a note of Joel's progress. He was still approaching the stagnant runner but the line of his shoulders made clear that he knew something was amiss. He must have heard the croaking. He looked over his shoulder and must have seen the fear written on her face because he waved her forward without clearing the area first. It was a risk she supposed he had to take.

She started to sneak forward but was met with a tug from behind and the sound of metal pulling on metal. She snapped her head around and saw that the buckle of her backpack had become caught in the chain-link fence when she moved, causing the fence to jiggle loudly. 'Oh, fuck…'. A ferocious scream erupted from behind her and the clicker began tearing its way down the pathway, arms flailing manically and its teeth gnashing at the air.

A wash of adrenaline flowed through her veins as she freed the entrapped buckle and dashed into the field, clicker hot on her heels. She looked for Joel, only to find him pinned to the ground by the previously stagnant runner; it must have been alerted by the cries of the clicker and went on the attack. "Joel!"

A spray of red mist exploded out the back of the runner's head and its body went limp and fell onto Joel. He threw the dead weight off of him and rolled to his feet, his eyes fixed on the clicker pursuing Ellie. In one swift motion he holstered his pistol and withdrew the rifle strapped to his back. He pressed the stock into his shoulder and aimed just past Ellie. "Dodge left!" he called.

Ellie dove to the left and not a second later a sharp crack filled the air and chunks of fungus spread in every direction. The clicker stood stunned for a moment which was long enough for Joel to reload his rifle and get a second shot off. The bullet hit the clicker in the chest with such force that it was knocked clear off of its feet and hit the ground with a dull thud. Joel's preoccupation with the clicker, however, caused him to turn his back on the forest, out of which two more runners emerged.

"Joel, watch out!" she cried, but it was too late. One of the runners tackled him from behind and the two fell to the ground. Joel threw his elbow back savagely and hit the side of the runner's head with a crack. The second runner spotter her in the field and started to give chase at a terrifying speed. "Oh shit!" Ellie exclaimed, getting to her feet and dashing away. She didn't know what to do. She had her switchblade, but it would take a greater level of expertise than she had to get a kill off. She looked to the rusty playground; maybe she could use it to her advantage. Without further though she changed direction and sprinted over, the runner gaining ground with every step.

As soon as she made it, she bolted up the steep, slippery slide, threw herself under the bar at the top and spun around to assess. The runner in pursuit attempted to follow Ellie up the slide, but slipped halfway and tumbled down to the bottom. It got to its feet and screamed at Ellie, little puffs of spores erupting from small tendrils of fungus that had pushed through the soft tissue of its eye. "Motherfucker…"

In the distance, Ellie watched as Joel rolled on top of the runner he was grappling with, grip both ends of a baseball bat with his hands and bring it down forcefully on the runner's neck, crushing its trachea. The runner went into spasms and croaked for breath, expiring a few moments later. Joel pushed himself to his feet and began stalking his way towards the playground, baseball bat hanging by his side.

The runner below her grabbed at her feet through the bars of the playground but Ellie deftly kicked its hands away. If she could just keep it distracted until Joel got to her she knew he would be able to take care of it better than she could. She gripped the bars of the jungle gym and began shaking to keep the runner preoccupied. "I'm right here you piece of shit, come get me!"

The runner became increasingly incensed, thrusting its hands wildly through the bars trying to reach her. It grabbed at her with such reckless abandon that its pinky finger got caught on one of the bars and snapped backwards with a nauseating crunch, not that it seemed to notice or care. Joel was getting closer now, his footsteps loud and heavy. His eyes burned with intensity as he approached, lifting the bat to shoulder height, readying himself for the kill.

"Hey!" he called out. His voice was deep and menacing, furious.

The runner whipped around and, spotting easier prey than Ellie, wailed and sprinted towards Joel without pause. Joel planted his feet and let out a mighty swing that connected with the side of the runner's head with a thick squelch. The infected's body flew to the side of Joel with the force of the blow, the bat so embedded in its head that when the runner hit the ground Joel ended up losing his grip. Joel grunted as he bent over the carcass, placed his foot on the runner's jaw and yanked the bat free from the collapsed skull.

"…that's disgusting," Ellie remarked.

Joel shot her a look, the fire of battle still in his eyes. It wasn't until now that she noticed the blood dripping out of his nose, staining his lips and beard. "Are you okay?" he asked, his voice still thick with adrenaline.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine but… you're bleeding."

Joel raised his arm to his nose and wiped away the blood, leaving a streak of red that stretched from his wrist to his elbow. Fresh blood seeped from his nostrils. He ignored it. "It's nothing. You ready to go?"

Ellie dusted off her jeans and leapt from the jungle gym to the ground. "Yeah."

"Good. This place ain't safe. Once we get out of the area we'll take a break."

Ellie nodded. "Sure."

"Let's get a move on before any more of 'em show up."

"Okay."

Ellie looked around the field at the smattering of corpses, impressed once again with Joel's prowess. He killed with such efficiency and ruthlessness. It was a marvel to see. She knew the outside world was full of unprecedented danger, but she found comfort in having Joel as a companion, even if he wasn't the chattiest of people. They might not be friends, but Ellie vowed to have his back until they met up with the Fireflies.

The duo crossed the field without further incident and exited via another pathway on the other side, leaving the bodies behind to rot in the elements.

"This'll do," Joel said, pointing to the remnants of what was once a laundromat. An old, rotted tree had fallen onto the structure, collapsing a corner of the building. Several of the windows had been smashed and plants that had found life inside the building flowed out of the broken windows towards the sun. They had escaped the suburbs of Boston and were now in the outskirts, the concentration of buildings shrinking as they went. What was once a residential epicenter had given away to small businesses and amenities for those out of the city's reach. "Let's get inside."

They picked their way through the rubble and fallen branches to enter the building. Despite the years that had passed and the rot that had ensued, it still smelled faintly of fresh laundry. Ellie sniffed deeply, ignoring all the unsavory scents and focused on the smell of synthetic lavender. "Ahhh… I like this place," she remarked, opening a washer and sniffing inside.

Joel had continued deeper into the building and shrugged his backpack off of his shoulder, placing it on a folding table. "Yeah? Why's that?"

"Whenever I got into trouble at school – which was a lot – they would always give me some shitty chore as punishment. Sometimes, if I was lucky, I would get put on laundry duty. I always loved laundry. Everything just smelled so clean. It was nice."

Joel smirked – actually smirked! – and began unloading his backpack. "Yeah, I get that. It's a luxury these days".

Ellie continued exploring the laundromat, opening washers and driers and seeing what was inside. Mostly nothing. A majority of the machines were filled with rusty water. In one of the driers she came across a couple pairs of old socks and an extra-large shirt that was mostly intact. It was far too big for either Joel or herself. "Oh, awesome!" she exclaimed, snatching the clothes up and bringing them over to Joel. "Look what I found!"

Joel took the items from Ellie and ran a calloused thumb over the fabric. "Shirt is a little thin to wear, but we can probably make use of it. Keep those socks though… they always come in handy."

Ellie acknowledged that and packed the socks away in her bag, leaving the shirt with Joel. He would know what to do with it. "So what are we doing here?"

"Taking a break. It's been a long day and we still got a ways to go." He opened one of the flaps on his backpack and pulled out something wrapped in cellophane. "Here, you need to eat," he said, handing her a thin strip of something that looked like leather.

Ellie took it from him and raised it to her nose. It smelled salty. "What is it?"

"It's jerky. And not that rat junk they have in the zone. This is the good stuff, beef." He slipped a slice of jerky from the cellophane for himself and took a bite out of the end.

Ellie took a nibble. It was surprisingly good. Salty and tough, but she could tell it had substance. "Wow, not bad. Where did you get it?"

"One of the guys we trade with in the zone, Donovan, he makes the stuff. It ain't hard, if you've got the meat and know what you're doing. Expensive, though. This batch cost me half a box of bullets."

Ellie took another bit of her jerky and spoke through her chewing. "Wouldn't the bullets be more useful?"

"Yeah. Still worth it though."

Ellie didn't disagree with that. She lifted herself up, sat on the folding table beside Joel and scanned the inside of the building. She tried to imagine what it was like before, without the broken glass and invading shrubbery. "This is different than what I thought," she remarked.

"What do you mean?"

"The outside. All of these places. It's not what I expected."

Joel finished his piece of jerky with a lick of his fingers and unscrewed the lid to a canteen of water he carried with him. He offered it to Ellie. "What did they teach you about it in school?"

Ellie took the canteen from Joel and took a sip. She wiped her mouth on her sleeve. "Not much. That it was out there. That people used to live there." She shrugged and bit off another piece of jerky.

"That it?"

"They weren't big on history; said it didn't matter anymore. We mostly did military drills all day. Well, they did. I mostly skipped out."

"Hmph," Joel grunted.

"I probably missed some important stuff," Ellie reflected, "I mean, I know the basics. Math, English, the boring stuff. They teach you that when you're too young for military drills, but once you're twelve you fall in line and learn what the military wants you to learn. Next year we were supposed to learn more about the infected."

Joel raised his eyebrows dramatically. "You tellin' me they don't teach you about the infected?"

"No, no, they do. Just the basic stuff though. I know that it's a fungus and it takes over your brain and turns you violent, but a lot of stuff was held back until we were in senior classes. When you turn sixteen they start sending you outside the wall with a squadron to make repairs, check the perimeter and clear out the area and shit. That's when they really start to teach you more about the infected, so you know what you're up against," Ellie explained.

Joel withdrew another piece of jerky and split it in half, giving the other half to Ellie. "Guess that explains why you didn't know about clickers."

"Yeah." Ellie kicked her dangling feet. "I heard stories. Seniors who came back from outside the wall told us that mushrooms were growing out of people's, like, faces, but those guys were so full of shit most of the time that I guess I didn't believe them." She paused. "Clickers, man. Fuckin' creepy."

Joel nodded his silent agreement. He wrapped the remainder of the jerky in the cellophane and slipped it back into his backpack, along with the shirt Ellie gave him earlier. "There'll be a lot more of 'em where we're going". He shouldered his bag, ready to go. "It won't be like here in Boston. There hasn't been a military presence there in years. The place will probably be infested."

Ellie felt a chill go up her spine.

"When we get there I need you to stay close and keep your nerve," he advised. "I can get us through the town as long as I stay focused. That means I can't be babysitting you," he said, not unkindly.

"I haven't lost my nerve yet," she replied, hopping down from the folding table and shouldering her own backpack.

Joel studied her for a long moment, looking her over before settling on her face. She could feel him summing her up, judging her character and whether or not she was a liability. She lifted her chin and stared back boldly. She might not like him very much yet, but she respected him and respected his opinion. She certainly hoped she would make the grade.

After a moment longer Joel nodded minutely with approval. "That you haven't."

Joel could see the water tower in the distance. It wouldn't be long now. The evening sun had started to dip to the west and Joel raised his hand to block the glare. It had been a long, hard day and his bones were weary. When he thought back to all that had transpired over the past twenty four hours he was surprised he was still standing, let alone walking. His hunt of Robert through the docks of Boston, fighting their way through the downtown core, losing Tess…

Joel shook his head and cast the memories aside. The past didn't matter. What mattered now, going forward, was reaching Bill. Joel wasn't entirely sure Bill would actually have a vehicle, but at least he would have a place to rest and some food to share. He was just hoping Bill wouldn't mind a couple of visitors. Bill had always made it very clear that he would travel to Boston with the goods and that they were prohibited from entering Lincoln. Joel had never cared to ask why.

"Is that it over there?" Beside him, Ellie pointed to the water tower he had spotted a few moments ago.

"Mmmhmm," he replied. "Shouldn't be more than an hour or so."

Ellie nodded. "Okay."

Joel hadn't quite made his mind up about her yet. From what he had witnessed so far she seemed capable; more capable than most of the adults he knew in the quarantine zone. She had good instincts and a level head when things got dicey, and she was fearless in the face of danger. He had to acknowledge that she had the makings of a survivor, but he couldn't help but resent her presence. This was a journey that he didn't want to take, a crusade that wasn't his to fight. After they escaped the Capitol building he should have found a way to bring her back to Marlene. It would have been difficult but the path he was on now, finding his brother and delivering her to the Fireflies, was damned near impossible.

A cure… Joel scoffed at the notion. Any doubts about Ellie's immunity vanished when Tess had revealed her bite, but a cure? He doubted it. What good would it do, anyway? The world was beyond repair; humanity had failed to survive the infection in more ways than one. There was a new status quo and Joel knew that even something as miraculous as a cure couldn't challenge it. The world had too much blood on its hand to unite once again.

No, this journey wasn't to help the world find a cure. He would fulfill his promise to Tess, but once the drop has been made, Joel vowed to collect his payment and return to Boston to take up the life he has been living the past seven years when he first entered the city. Until then he would keep her close and out of harm's way.

"Wow, awesome!" he heard Ellie exclaim from a distance.

Joel looked to his left to find that Ellie had disappeared from his side while he was lost in reverie. He turned around to find Ellie rummaging through the wreckage of an old car, he legs dangling out of the driver's seat.

"Hey!" he yelled, irked. "What in the hell do you think you're doing?"

Ellie slid out of the driver's seat with something clutched in her hand. She jogged forward to Joel and presented her find. "Check it out! Who are the Beach Boys?"

Joel grasped the old cassette tape. "Best of the Beach Boys, Volume 2," he read, flipping the tape over in his hand. There was writing on the back.

'See you in California!

Love, Margaret'

Joel held the cassette in his hand for a moment longer, a relic of the past, heavy with the pain of a time lost, before tossing it to the pavement unceremoniously. "Let's go," Joel muttered. He spun away from Ellie and continued walking west towards Lincoln.

"Uhm…. okay, cranky pants," Ellie replied, bending down to pick up the discarded tape. "Don't know what's up your butt," she muttered quietly to herself.

It wasn't quiet enough. Joel spun on his heel and faced Ellie, his nostrils flaring. "Do you remember what our agreement was? I said that you do what I say, when I say it. When I say stay close, that don't mean you get to wander off. It means you stick to my side."

"I was like ten feet away!" Ellie argued.

Joel's nostrils flared again. He knew he was getting irrationally angry over a minor offence but he needed Ellie to listen to him. Both of their lives depended on it. "Do you even realize the risk I'm taking by bringing you to the Fireflies?"

Ellie had the good grace looked chastised. "Sorry, sorry. I didn't think it was a big deal."

Joel huffed a sigh and crossed his arms over his chest. He knew his anger was misdirected. Ellie was the indirect cause of the day's events to be sure, but she had as little choice in the matter as he did. He dropped his arms and placed them on his hips, loosening his stance a little. "Let's just get there, okay?"

"Sure," Ellie replied.

Joel watched as she examined the cassette tape in her hands for a few moments. She looked back to Joel and tossed the tape to the ground with a clack. It was a silent apology on her part and he acknowledged it with a nod. "We should get movin'. This road will take us right where we need to go."

They set off together, west towards Bill's town with an uneasy tension in the air. Joel considered Ellie's reaction. She had disobeyed him, which was irksome, but when scolded she seemed to want to rectify the situation quickly. He valued that. She was a teenager after all, and a rebellious one at that, so she was bound to make a few missteps along the way. She was responsive to his criticism, though, which meant she was a quick learner and, more importantly, that he had her respect. If he alienated her with little bursts of anger he would lose that respect and, as a consequence, lose whatever control he might exert on her. He needed to extend an olive branch.

"Scavenging… you know, searching for things… it's good. It's a good thing to do," he started awkwardly. He wasn't great at this. Issuing apologies wasn't something he had done often these past twenty years. "We need supplies to survive."

Ellie shot him an annoyed look. "I know. That's what I was doing."

"I know. It's good that you have those instincts. Real good. But it can be dangerous if you're not careful."

"We're in the middle of nowhere!" Ellie argued.

Joel stopped walking and placed a hand on Ellie's shoulder and drew her in closer. "What I'm trying to say is that I need you to ask me before you go and do something like that. It's not like in the zone out here. There could be a runner or clicker anywhere and one mistake, one second of inattentiveness and it could all be over. You've got a good head on your shoulders, Ellie, but you don't know how to survive out here yet. I do. So when I say that I need you to listen to me it's because I'm trying to keep both of us alive. Okay?"

Ellie looked mollified and nodded along to what Joel was saying. "Okay. I will. Sorry."

Joel patted her shoulder in acknowledgement, pleased that she was internalizing what he was saying. "Good. Now let's get a move on. Daylight is burning. As long as you follow my lead we might just survive."