The fire crackled and popped as grease from the burgers dripped slowly down the grill, complementing the array of sounds that accompanied the celebration. Families were gathered around in chairs and blankets on the freshly cut grass as they all waited for the meat to cook. There was a merriment to the proceedings, something that was all too rare these days. Joel smiled slightly and took another sip of his beer.
"So you're telling me people would just sit around and eat dead cow patties while getting completely sloshed, just to celebrate the day their country told another country to get fucked?" asked Ellie, seated in the chair next to him. "Gotta say, your generation knew how to party."
"Somethin' like that," he replied. "Used to have a big fireworks display every year, too. The whole sky would light up. People would take their families, sit on the grass and just watch 'em explode for hours."
"But if we tried that now, we'd bring every Hunter and Infected in the state down on us."
"Yup," he said, leaning back and watching the crowd. Tommy was working the grill, while Maria saw to it that everybody had enough to drink. The younger children were chasing each other across the field, while their parents and older siblings sat a short distance away making sure they stayed out of trouble. For their part, Joel and Ellie were seated on the outer fringes of the gathering, where they could easily observe the whole group.
When he'd first been reunited with Tommy, the settlement had been twenty families strong. Now they were up to thirty-five, including Ellie and himself. They'd had to build the house themselves, with some help from the community, but after spending a year on the move, it was nice to have a say in where they settled down.
"Hey, let me have some of your beer," Ellie demanded, reaching out with her hand. Joel raised an extremely skeptical eyebrow.
"I don't think so, kid."
"Joel, I'm sixteen now. I'm not a kid. And I've had beer before."
"Then get'cher own," he told her. "Don't go stealin' mine."
"With Maria handing out the drinks? Yeah right. She'd bitch-slap me."
"She ain't gonna bitch-slap you," he reassured her. "Go ask Tommy if you're so scared of her."
"I'm not scared, I just know she's gonna tell me no. Go get one for me."
"Ellie, with how good you are at swiping things, I'd say you don't even have to ask her at all if you don't want to."
She sighed. "Forget it. I'll just enjoy my lemonade." She brought the cool yellow drink up to her lips and guzzled down half of it in one gulp.
"You are right though," he said. "You ain't a kid no more. Think it's time you started helping out on the watch."
"You're trusting me with guard duty?"
He turned his head to look her in the eyes. "Ellie, you are way better with a gun than most of the adults here. You've had a lot of experience and I think you deserve the chance to put it to good use. I know you've been healing a lot this past year and you can still say no if you want to."
"No, I'm ready," she insisted, nodding fervently. "I'd be happy to help."
"Well it's settled then," he said, downing another swig of his beer. "You start tomorrow."
"Can't wait."
"Burgers are ready!" Tommy shouted, and several of the other families began lining up. The two of them sat there drinking quietly as they waited for the line to thin out a little.
This year had been a time of healing for both of them. Ellie had never told him exactly what went down before she hacked a man's face into bloody pieces with a machete, but the experience had noticeably traumatized her. She had adopted his survival tactic of simply trying to bottle it up and move on, but it took a longer time for that to happen than he had anticipated.
For the first few weeks that they stayed in Jackson City, she had been visibly uncomfortable when left alone with any adult male other than himself or Tommy, which was why he had made it a point to stay close by as often as he could. There were still nights where she would wake up screaming in a cold sweat, and although she claimed not to remember the details of the nightmares, he knew they had something to do with that lakeside town in Colorado.
Still, some of her old personality had resurfaced after he feared it had been lost forever to the horrors she had gone through. For a while it had seemed that while her youth and innocence were softening his heart, the exposure to the darker elements of the world were hardening hers in turn. She was still markedly different from the impudent brat that he had encountered back in Boston, but the experience had not completely extinguished her fire. She simply expressed her brattiness in a slightly more grown up way.
As for Joel, he had finally pulled Tommy aside and laid everything on the table regarding Sarah. The death of his daughter had torn out his heart, and for the longest time he tried to survive without one. He had tried to remain in the darkness, where he never had to face the horrors of his past. But then another girl came into his life and dragged him into the light.
Joel had been focused on surviving ever since the day the world completely fell apart. Maybe now he could actually start to live.
"Hey Joel!" Tommy hollered from the grill, jolting him out of his thoughts. "You gonna grab something?"
"Be right there!" he yelled back, finishing off his beer before standing slowly. Ellie did the same, and the two of them joined the rapidly dwindling line.
Tommy slapped the patties down on the homemade bread that served in lieu of the bun. "You know, this came from the first batch of cows that matured enough to slaughter," he said. "Been savin' it for a special occasion."
"Don't get much more special than this," agreed Joel, placing the other slice of bread over the patty while Tommy delivered another burger to Ellie. "It's a shame ketchup don't exactly last twenty-two years, though."
"Man your age shouldn't be eatin' something with all that acid anyway," he replied. "Red meat ain't that bad for you when it's fresh off the butcher's block and ain't been processed, but all those condiments will kill ya."
"I ain't that old."
Tommy laughed. "Just keep it movin', there's folks behind you. Maria'll get you another drink."
He nodded, moving over to the drink table where Maria stood waiting. "I'll have another beer," he told her, then glanced briefly at Ellie. "Actually, make it two."
"Don't go getting drunk now," Maria warned. "Cause I am not cleaning up your puke."
"I'll be fine." He grabbed two beers and started making his way back to the chairs.
"I've still got enough lemonade, thanks," Ellie informed her before quickly following after him.
They sat down, and Joel passed one of the beers to her as discretely as possible.
"Thanks."
"Don't mention it. And just keep in mind, I ain't cleaning up your puke either."
"Yeah, yeah," she muttered, prying off the lid with her trusty switchblade before taking a sip. "Hey, this shit is pretty good."
"Brewed right here in town, actually," he said, gesturing to a couple who were seated on a blanket in the grass. "Earl and Amy scavenged some equipment from a brewery a few miles from here and started makin' their own. This is actually the tame stuff. They don't bring out the real moonshine in front of the kids."
"Will you ever let me have some of that?"
"Hell, I haven't even touched it myself. Anything that alcoholic is more liable to kill you than get you buzzed."
"Yeah, I tried something stronger than beer once. Not really for me."
"When was that?"
"I told you about Winston, right? The guy who taught me how to ride horses?"
He nodded.
"After he died I found a bottle of cheap hooch at his place. Tasted like the devil's piss."
"Well, the longer you drink, the more time you have to get acclimated to the stronger stuff," he said. "I'd stay away from it if I were you, though."
"You'll get no argument from me," she said, raising her hands.
Joel took a bite out of his burger while Ellie did the same. She moaned loudly in approval, gesturing to the food and nodding vigorously while giving a thumbs up. She swallowed and washed it down with another swig of beer.
"Wow, that tastes good."
He nodded. "It might just be 'cause I ain't had one in over twenty years, but I'd have to say this is one of the best burgers I've ever tasted."
"Damn right," she agreed, taking another bite.
"So what was this Winston like?"
Ellie swallowed and stared straight ahead for a few moments. "Well, he was a sergeant in the military. He was stationed in the mall. It wasn't exactly a high priority for the military to guard that place so he mostly got to slack off and teach kids like me how to ride horses."
"Sounds like a real nice fella. Would've liked to meet him."
"Yeah, he was pretty great. Died of a heart attack, of all things. In this world, getting to die of natural causes is a miracle in itself."
"Got that right."
"Anyway, the military really should have kept a better eye on that mall. After the Hartford QZ shut down, a bunch of people started sneaking into the zone through there. A lot of 'em were already infected."
He nodded in understanding. "And that's how you got bit?"
"Yeah."
"What were you and your friend doin' in that mall to begin with?"
Ellie shrugged. "Riley and I... we had a big fight a couple months earlier. She disappeared. I thought she was dead, but it turned out she just joined the Fireflies. She just appeared in my room one night and took me to the mall."
"For no reason?"
"No, there was a reason. She was leaving the next day. Marlene was shipping her out to another city. She wasn't even supposed to see me. I guess she just wanted to make things right between us." She chuckled sadly. "I'd say she succeeded, for all the good it did."
"How long did it take her to turn?"
"Three days. She held out longer than either of us thought she would. I thought I was definitely gonna turn sooner than that, so I was just waiting for the hammer to drop."
She lowered her eyes. "After she turned, she came right at me, and Marlene put her down. She didn't want me to pull the trigger while she was still herself, and even after she turned I still couldn't do it."
"I'm sorry."
"It's alright." She downed some more of her beer.
"You been making any new friends lately?" he asked, glancing around at the families in front of them. There's more than a few people here around your age."
"I know everybody's name, yeah," she said. "I hang out by the watering hole with Lucas and Maryanne sometimes. Jeremy kinda gets on my nerves, but he's alright. I haven't really gotten to know the new girl yet."
"What was her name again?"
"Camille, I think." She gestured to a girl who appeared around fifteen, with dark black hair and copper skin. "But she seems nice enough."
"Got your eye on any boys?"
She fixed him with an extremely skeptical look.
"Alright, alright, I overstepped. So you're not looking for anybody?"
"I didn't say that," she replied, leaning back casually. "Just not any boys."
He raised his eyebrows in surprise. "I see."
"Don't go judging me, Texas."
"I ain't judgin'," he insisted, raising his hands. "I didn't give two shits about it before the outbreak and it matters even less in the world we live in now. Way I figure, we like who we like and we don't often get a choice in the matter."
"Long as we're clear."
"Crystal."
She took another bite of her burger. "Why are you asking me all this, anyway?"
"Look," he said very seriously. "I know you didn't get much in the way of an ordinary childhood. And I might be giving you some adult responsibilities, but you should feel free to be a teenager. And part of that is hangin' out with friends, dating people you like, and getting into a little bit of trouble. Don't be in such a rush to grow up."
"I wasn't given much of a choice."
"I know that," he said. "But we have a second chance here. A chance to start livin' instead of just surviving. I just want what's best for you."
She smiled faintly. "I'll keep that in mind." She took another swig of her beer, and he did the same with his.
They continued to eat and drink in silence, watching the community around them celebrate. After everything they had been through together, they both knew that moments like this were few and far between, and it was important to enjoy them.
"This is nice," she said after a few minutes.
"Yeah," he agreed. "Yeah, it is."
Author's Notes: This was originally part of a longer story that never got off the ground. I'm posting it today for reasons that should be obvious. Who knows, if I ever finish the rest of this I might expand it, but for now consider this story complete.