𝐏𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐤 | 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐎𝐟 𝐔𝐬

32. Birthday Parties.

T H I R T Y - T W O
Birthday Parties.

TW: David, and everything that comes along with him.

THIRD PERSON POV

"The horse, Joel! It'll be quicker," Ellie reasoned after Joel just picked up the bag and started moving as fast as he could. He was so focused on getting there that he hardly remembered how they were meant to get there.

He shook his pounding head, stopping when all he wanted to do was keep going. It was clear, looking at Ellie that she was petrified. From the adrenaline still coursing through her veins after being caught, to watching Joel torture people, and now having to race against the merciless clock to look for Bobbie. The men they just ended were nasty, cruel beings, the exact opposite kind of people the pair wanted Bobbie around. Her impulsiveness and smart mouth she'd gotten over the past few years would get her killed.

The woman thought the pair were riding away, going right for as long as Joel could stay on the horse. Bobbie had hoped he wouldn't be there enough mentally to comprehend the missing link and then either be too far away to be able to double back and find her, or accept she was dead and he needed to get Ellie where she needed to be.

Neither happened. He came to quicker than both girls expected and he had enough clarity to devote everything to getting back Bobbie. Consequences be damned.

Seeing her again after so much time had passed was a shock to his system. The last time he saw her she was half a foot shorter, with hair cut above her shoulders and a baby face. She was different now, she wasn't sixteen anymore, she was taller, had collected a few new scars on her face and no longer had the chubby cheeks. Her hair was different, she wore different clothes and the hopeful nature that always burnt within her had been stomped out by the people she surrounded herself with. For a second, he didn't recognise her, she was just a girl that looked a little like Bobbie—but he saw those girls everywhere, not because they ever looked like Bobbie, but because if you really want to see someone, your mind will trick you. It was the same with Sarah, on occasion, he'd see her wandering the streets, forever a teenager.

Joel got a second chance with Bobbie to make things right, but he didn't. Because he realised she'd been in the QZ for years and didn't once find him to see him. Even if he knew why she didn't, he had explicitly told her not to do that, but somehow, he wished she'd realise it was said impulsively, in the anger of the conversation it slipped out and he was too proud to take it out. In reality, all Joel wanted was for her to knock on his shitty apartment door and give him the wonky smile that meant she was okay.

He'd been the adult, he never could've stopped Bobbie if she wanted to—where there will there's a way—but what he could've done is been gentle and thought what he said through for more than a second. Had he been gentler, and told her rather Ryan was bad news instead shouted that information, maybe things would have been different.

There was a moment in time when Bobbie lay in a pool of her own blood, having been shot just like Sarah was. But while Sarah had the comfort of having someone there, even if it was for nothing but comfort, Bobbie was alone. Alone and scared—just like right now.

"We're goin' through woods, it'll be quicker on foot," he grunted. "We gotta go, Ellie. Just follow me." He started walking, the painful wind slapping their skin, and pieces of frozen water whipped them mercilessly. Nature has never cared for those trying to survive in it.

Ellie knew she was powerless to stop Joel, she'd never seen him so set on his way.

His steps, even though occasionally fumbled, were fast. He couldn't be too late. Joel checked the map every few seconds, worried he'd accidentally go the wrong way and get lost. The people he got the information from were very, very dead.