When Joel woke up this morning he was expecting a relaxing day. By himself. For a change.
That was before the shouted threats.
And gunshots.
And the explosion.
As the dust settled around him, Joel tried to shake his fuzzy head clear. The blast had knocked him onto his front; he now turned and lay on his back. He looked up and could see the sky in between the clearing debris where previously there had been a roof. It took a second or two to process what had just happened. He lay still for a moment to do a mental check of his body - there were no broken bones although his normal hearing had been replaced by a steady white noise tone.
As he came to his senses he sat up and first looked at the door - it was still bolted shut, and then he looked around for his rifle. Spotting the barrel sticking out from under some wood that had came down from roof he dragged himself on his knees and over to it as quickly as he could. With each second that passed his head cleared more and his hearing started to return to normal. The first muffled noise he heard was a shout from outside.
"You still alive in there stranger? "
He didn't answer. What would be the point ? He had already tried talking and now that time had most definitely passed.