i have no clever title; closed;

[aintyourdad]

Who| Joel, Ellie, Riley, Clementine in various configurations
What| The zombie survivor family finally meets up/combines forces.
Where| Some abandoned house near the center of town probably.
When| Backdated to towards the end of week one.
Warnings/Notes| Probably just the usual stuff that comes with these guys - cussing, talk of violence and children doing violence, etc.

Joel hates that he can't do much moving or scavenging in his current state. He does as much as he can get away with (without Riley yelling at him, anyway), but in the end, Riley has to do most of the supply runs once they get settled in an old building that's sturdy enough that it won't collapse on them at any moment. Joel mostly just keeps track of their supplies and paces - carefully - on his injured ankle, and tries not to worry too much about Ellie.

She hasn't been listed among the dead yet. She's still out there, he'll find her. Or she'll find him. Whichever. Joel has to keep believing it'll happen, because otherwise he'd go crazy.

Comments

[onlyimmune]

She relaxes, slightly, but she's still wound up - like a spring knowing it's going to have to snap alive at any moment.

"Yeah?" She asks, hopefully. If Hawkeye survived the bloodbath, was well enough to patch people up-- "Alright. Sorry. We just - had a bit of a hell of a time getting here, Joel, and I don't want anyone croaking on me."

She was still mad, but now it was just with herself, and that she could keep from him easily enough. She replaced the water bottle carefully. "You going to show me?"

[aintyourdad]

Joel sighs, but instead of arguing with her, just lifts his shirt to show her the makeshift wrapping around his ribs. It's clearly been tended to.

"Satisfied?" he asks, tugging her close and putting his arm around her shoulders. "I've been worried sick about you."

[onlyimmune]

"Yeah, I'm satisfied," she murmurs as he lets the shirt fall down again and pulls her into a hug. She puts her arms around him, but loosely, as if holding too tight would break him.

"I'm fine. That fucker Aunamee's gone, so nothing to worry about, right?" She pulls back to meet his eyes. "Joel, there are... things. Here. Like infected, but not. Have you seen them?"

[aintyourdad]

He doesn't even give her first statement any acknowledgement. Aunamee might be gone, but there's always someone else. Always. And they both know it.

"Yeah, I saw 'em. Rabid dogs, too, or somethin' like 'em. Riley helped me out of a tight spot with those things. This is gonna be one hell of an arena."

[onlyimmune]

"The last one was a cakewalk, compared to my first. This seems more in line with the usual," She muttered sarcastically.

"I got a shit ton of stuff, Joel. Just-- grabbed it and ran. If I'd looked for you, instead--"

[aintyourdad]

"We can't know what was gonna happen," Joel points out firmly. "I'm fine, we found each other, it's fine. I got a bunch of supplies, too. We're doin' good, far as I'm concerned."

[onlyimmune]

She looks at him, brows furrowed and raised in the middle, craving that validation, that assurance.

She lets herself be reassured, despite everything.

"Yeah," She says softly. "Yeah. Okay. We're doing good. What's the plan now?"

[aintyourdad]

Joel shrugs. "Hide out here, I suppose. This building is sturdy, easy to defend, we can use it as a base camp. Go out in pairs for supply runs. Stay alive."

There's no point moving around if they don't have to, especially with his injuries.