CHAPTER EIGHT

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          IT WAS SIGNIFICANTLY COLDER IN THE FOREST THAN IT HAD BEEN IN THE CITY AND LUCIA HAD TO ZIP UP HER JACKET TO KEEP HERSELF WARM. Autumn wasn't that far away and while the heat of summer often bled into late September, nights could still be tremendously cold. Which is why the woman sat huddled against a tree, arms wrapped around herself to retain some of her body heat.

The small group of three had reached the outskirts of the city by nightfall and the forest somewhere during the night. They had taken a much needed rest after that, hidden away by tall trees. Most of their journey had been in silence as Joel was in no mood to utter any words, which was a valid response to losing someone you care about. It was the most difficult thing about the post apocalyptic world, she knew all about it.

The years after losing her brother to the raiders were difficult. There were times she never said a word for weeks on end, especially when she realised she was all alone. Alone in a world that was no longer equipped to host non infected. At least not without making them work for it, and she found herself often too tired for it. How she managed to stay alive for another seven years was still a mystery to her, sure there were groups but they never lasted more than a few weeks. Then she found the Boston QZ where she was put to work, and it was as if her life had stopped moving at all.

Blinking away those depressive thoughts she peered through the dark, morning still a few hours away. Lucia couldn't sleep and she wasn't only one. Even if they were far out of the city, the uneasiness from the bandits still clung in the air. 

Besides her, Ellie slept soundly on the soft patches of grass, though she shivered every now and then from the cold. Her head was propped on her backpack and she had pressed her hands underneath her armpits to keep them warm. Lucia rested her head against the rough bark of the tree as she stared up at the stars between the branches, observing the few constellations she could see. 

"Get some sleep." It was Joel who sat a few trees away from her and she slid her dark eyes toward his own. "We have a long walk ahead of us."

It were the first words he had spoken in hours and it came out hoarse, and he cleared his throat. Ten years in the quarantine zone and she had never seen the man around. Joel kept to himself, did the work that was expected of him, did his trades and went back home. In a way, Lucia was the same, she too, did her jobs and spent the rest of her time in her dump of an apartment or outside scavenging. 

The crease between his brows was evident on his face, edged into his skin from twenty years of constant unease and death. Lucia suddenly felt bad for hating him before, he had just adjusted to the new world in his own way, just like she had done. It wasn't something you could hate a person for.

"I'm good." she answered, pushing her shoulders up so her jacket covered the freezing skin on her chin. "You get some sleep. I'll keep watch."

He let out a small huff at that and she knew he wasn't going to sleep and Lucia couldn't blame him, it was probably for the same reason she wasn't going to. Lucia smacked her lips together and cringed when he asked, "Where're you from then?"

"Burlington, Vermont." Lucia despised small talk and she didn't really want to get to know him or Ellie, though the girl had forced banter on her so there was no escaping that. It would only make it harder once they went their separate ways, but she answered anyway as not to sound rude. "What about you?"

"Austin, Texas."

"Ah, hence the heavy accent." she realised and tried to joke. "Can you ride a horse? Texas is known for cowboys, right?"

Joel narrowed his eyes at her, traces of goodwill no longer present on his face. The brunette grinned to herself, pleased at his reaction. There was no sign of anger, just annoyance that radiated off of him like a thick fog. Lucia held up her hands in defence and let them drop back down onto her lap. 

"Sorry, i'm not good at this." she muttered, amused. "Guess i'll stick to keeping my mouth shut."

Joel got to his feet from where he sat opposite of her and shrugged off his jacket. The woman followed him with her eyes as he took a step toward the teenager beside her. He covered her in the piece of clothing and grudgingly went back to his previous spot, but opted for standing.

"What?" he demanded gruffly when he noticed her gaze. Lucia just shrugged her shoulders, running her tongue along her teeth to keep herself from smiling as she looked back up at the sky. Joel easily caught it and countered, "Her teeth clattering was getting on my nerves."

"Sure," she expressed, absentmindedly scratching at the skin of her nails. "where are you going?"

The smuggler rummaged through his backpack and slid something into his pocket before taking some steps toward the tree line. He turned his upper body and said, "I need a piss. I'll be back in a bit."

Joel wasn't back in a bit. His backpack still resided on the forest soil in front of her. He hadn't run of and Lucia guessed he was just patrolling the perimeter. The brunette watched as the darkness above slowly turned into a sunny summer day. Warmth began to spread back throughout their little makeshift camp.

"Fuck,"  muttered Ellie, sitting up as she pressed her hand into her stomach. "not now."

Lucia blinked and tore her gaze away from the sky to the girl beside her. Ellie had a pained expression on her face and she frowned when she moved Joel's jacket from her shoulders. Her hands rummaged through her bag and she cursed again.

"What is it?" wondered Lucia, raised a brow in her direction.

"Uh," Ellie peered at her, eyes slightly widened. "I didn't bring anything with me. You know ... for periods."

"Oh," nodded Lucia and turned to her own backpack, fishing out a pad. The brunette didn't have much left and she definitely needed to scavenge more products whenever they would come across a building. "here."

"Thank you." sighed the girl, getting to her feet and grimacing at the pain in her lower abdomen. "Where's Joel?"

"On a walk." said Lucia, shrugging her shoulders. "He'll be back soon."

"Okay," she affirmed, taking in her surroundings now that it was morning. "I'm gonna ... uh, i'll be right back."

Lucia shook her head in amusement as Ellie left her in the small clearing. It had been two weeks since her own cycle so she was positive she had some time to search. Most of her products were gonna go to Ellie now. There was no way Lucia was going back to placing socks in her underwear, that had been positively horrible. 

"I need a shower." glowered the girl as she sat back down beside the woman after a few minutes. "I hate being a girl."

"Sorry, kid." Lucia nudged her shoulder with her own as Ellie pulled the smugglers jacket over her knees for warmth. "Luckily it didn't go through your jeans."

Ellie was about to respond when Joel came up behind them, making a beeline for his backpack. He didn't say anything, but Lucia noticed the goosebumps on his forearms from where he had pulled up his sleeves. He was freezing but decided to ignore it, why, she had no idea.

"You want your jacket back?" wondered Ellie, feeling the tension floating through the air. 

Joel didn't bother to glance her way but gave a single shake of his head as he rummaged through his belongings. He tore open his pack of jerky and placed a small piece into his mouth, ready to wrap it back up before hesitating and a moment later he tossed it to Ellie and Lucia. The latter had her own so she let Ellie eat.

"I've never been in the woods." confessed Ellie, chewing away on the stale smoked meat. "More bugs than I thought." Joel continued to ignore her and she let out a long exhale before speaking, "Look, i've been thinking about -"

"I don't want your sorries." Joel cut her off, getting to his feet and hoisting his backpack over his shoulders. 

"I wasn't gonna say i'm sorry." Ellie retorted. "I was gonna say that i've been thinking about what happened. Nobody made you and Tess take me. Nobody made you go along with this plan. You needed guns or whatever and you made a choice. So don't blame me for something that isn't my fault."

Joel stared at her, face unreadable and Lucia didn't know if he wanted to scream or strangle the girl, but a moment later he inclined his head. The teen got up from the soil and collected her stuff silently. Lucia only had to swing her bag over her shoulder and she watched the teen hand his jacket back.

"How much longer?" wondered Ellie.

"Five hour hike."

"We can manage that."

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ELLIE HAD COAXED THE NAMES FROM HIS FRIENDS OUT OF HIS MOUTH, THOUGH JOEL FIRMLY INFORMED THAT THEY WERE NOT FRIENDS. Bill and Frank, who lived in their own little town in Lincoln owed him a favour. That was all the girl got as she pestered him about the two men.

Three hours had passed and it was late in the morning. Lucia had finished the rest of her water before they left and needed to find a stream soon or else she'd get a headache. The brunette wasn't familiar with the area and had to rely on Joel to lead the way.

"You've gone this way a lot?" Ellie began, trying to stir up a conversation. "No infected?"

"Not often, no." he responded, broken hand resting on his rifle. He was scouting the area, eyes never focused on one area for too long. 

"What are you looking out for?" she continued, following his gaze curiously. 

Joel refrained from rolling his eyes. "People."

Ellie didn't seem to be getting the hint that he didn't want to talk. Lucia ambled behind the two, holding her own gun loosely in her right hand as she took in the environment. It had been a while since she had seen something so serene and untouched. Fields of green stretched for miles and woodland areas surrounded the path they were walking on. 

Bunnies hopped from one side to the other and birds flew overhead, chirping loudly. At one moment, she followed quite a large bird and walked backwards in interest to see it disappear behind some branches.

"Are Bill and Frank nice?"

"Frank is."

"How did you get that scar on your head?" Joel scoffed at the teen, regretting his decision to take her. "What? Is it something lame? Like you fell down the stairs or something?"

"I didn't fall down any stairs." Joel grumbled, not giving her anything else as he continued to walk.

"Okay," she grinned, trying to keep up with his long strides. "so what then?"

"Someone shot at me and missed." He retorted, knowing there was no way Ellie was going to let it go until she knew everything about that scar on the side of his temple. It was a thin faded red mark against his tanned skin.

"See!" she quipped, pleased with his answer and she shot a look over her shoulder to see if Lucia heard him as well. "Now that is interesting. Did you shoot back?"

"Yeah."

"You get him?" 

"No, I missed too." he commented, shaking his head at her. The trees around them thinned out as they passed the last of the woodlands. "It happens more often than you think."

"'Cause you suck at shooting or, like, in general?"

The smuggler turned his head toward her, offended. "In general."

"Have you ever been shot?" Ellie had turned to Lucia, walking backward and Joel had to steady her with a firm grip when she almost tumbled to the ground. "I don't see any scars."

"Yeah," said Lucia, feeling the scar on her stomach ache when she thought back to a few months ago. "i've been shot before. Twice, actually."

"Really?" Ellie raised her brows, curiously. "Where?"

"Shoulder, few years ago." Lucia shrugged as she caught up with the two of them. It had been after she had snuck out of the zone, one of the FEDRA soldiers caught her and shot before she could even form a sentence. He didn't survive, she had stabbed him in the neck a few seconds later. "Three months ago, got shot in the stomach."

Joel turned his head, eyes moving down her stomach as if he could see the remnants of her wound through her shirt. "By who?" asked Joel, brow twitching but she barely caught it.

"One of Robert's men." she said, brows furrowed. "Fucking imbeciles. They wanted to trade something, I didn't. They're all shoot first ask questions later. Marlene found me after, patched me up."

The smuggler hummed and tore his eyes off of her, continuing to scan the area. Ellie seized the gun in her hand, eyeing it with interest and noticing the extra gun on Joel's belt. God, she really wanted one of her own. "Seeing as it's just us now, I was thinking I should probably -"

"No." "No." Again, both Joel and Lucia denied her her wish simultaneously.

"Oh, come on." she groaned, closing her eyes in desperation. The two adults curled their lips in irritation as Ellie threw up her hands. "You guys are no fun. I might need it, you know. This is a very dangerous world, you've seen it."

"We're almost at our first stop." Joel glowered.