Title: Some Kind Of Love
Summary: Joel thought he'd never learn to love again. And he never did. At least, not in the way he thought he would.
Author's Note: A couple of chapters exploring their relationship. I was so very intrigued about them. I guess I always like a ship whenever it involves a woman who knows how to take care of her shit. Oh, sorry about the awful title. Honestly, I don't quite know where to take this story just yet.
He didn't like her.
And that was putting it lightly.
He couldn't give one fucking shit about her, and the feeling was mutual. The moral of today's story was really just 'kill, or be killed'. Really, no one could be trusted. He learned that the hard way when he tried to check up on an old friend and that meeting resulted in several stabs to the leg. He should have seen it coming, anyway. Left and right people who weren't infected were losing their minds, their reactions varying from killing themselves to literally killing anyone that even fucking breathed in their area.
So when she showed up at his doorstep, a crowd of Clickers hot on her trail, his first instinct was to lock the door and leave her to her imminent death. Joel was a man who followed his instinct, his gut, so that was exactly what he did.
He listened carefully as vile words started to roll off her tongue, louder than the Clickers' shrieks and only sometimes overpowered by the sounds of her shotgun going off. There was a brief moment of displeasure with himself about his actions when there was another loud, high-pitched shriek and a silence covered the place.
He grabbed his rifle from the counter, his senses on high alert when he slowly unlocked the door and pulled it open, carefully peeking around the door to find a massive amount of bodies lying around on the street, covered in blood and fungus. The strange lady was panting amidst them, her eyes meeting his. 'Thanks for your fucking help.'
He couldn't help but stare at her in confusion. 'How-'
'I wasn't born yesterday.' She interrupted him harshly, reloading her shotgun with a loud click. 'When push comes to shove, I take care of my shit.'
Joel opened his mouth, ready to speak when a noise startled him. A Clicker that was lying right next to his door, was apparently not quite dead and reaching out to his foot. The woman aimed her weapon and shot, the impact of her bullet cracking the Clicker's skull and creating a mess of dirt and blood.
He glanced down from the Clicker, to his now bloody leg, to her. She didn't even flinch.
'Well,' Joel said, clearing his throat in an attempt to recollect himself. 'It seems like you're right. You can take care of your own business. Have a nice one.' He was about to turn back around and walk back into the house, when she was suddenly at his side, grabbing his arm in a desperate plea.
'Please.' She didn't beg, but the tone of her voice made it clear that she was serious. 'I could really use some supplies.'
Joel sighed in exasperation, turning back around to her. 'What kind of supplies?'
She released his arm. 'Ammunition and medical supplies.'
He laughed once. 'Don't we all need ammunition and medical supplies.' It was more of a phrase than a question, but the woman held her ground.
'If I take care of this wound now, I might just live to die another day.'
'What wound.' Joel was now at a point where he didn't even try to hide his annoyance.
Without another word, she pulled up the side of her shirt high enough to reveal a stab wound, covered only with a bloodstained cloth and a piece of tape.
'I went to visit someone I considered a friend to ask him if he could fix up my car. He'd gone batshit crazy, though. Didn't even consider the fact that he actually knew me. Saw me, stabbed me, end of story.'
Joel's mind went back to his old friend who had done the exact same to him a couple of months ago, but he opted not to tell her. 'And I'm guessing that the 'end of story' for him didn't end so well.'
The woman smirked and pulled her shirt back down. 'You know the drill. Kill or be killed. Only the strongest survive. The world's basically the law of the jungle right now.' She eyed him for a second. 'Are you going to fucking help me, or not?'
He rolled his eyes, but stepped aside to let her enter. 'Because you asked so very nicely.'
Author's Note: I'm trying to write these things as if you could read them as one-shots, but hopefully I will be able to update with more snippets, I guess, of their lives together. So, I would love to know what you think of this. Oh, and I'm still busy playing the game (because I needed the time to grieve) so please, if anything big goes down after Joel, Ellie and dickhead Bill fight their way through hordes of Clickers, don't share 'em in the comments. Thank you!