¹epiphany ─ j. miller

Name's David

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
WINTER
NAME'S DAVID

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Elva watched as the gorgeous flakes of snow fell down outside of the window. It was a small hideout, an old garage in an abandoned home. But, it worked.

Ellie nudged Elva's shoulder, looking down towards the unconscious man on the floor and back towards the older woman. "I'm gonna try and get some food, can you come in like fifteen minutes?" The young girl asked.

Elva nodded. "Sure, take the bow." She spoke, handing it towards Ellie.

Over the course of the last month, Elva had taught the young teenager how to use a bow and arrow, and a few gun tricks. A bit of medical skills came from watching Elva help Joel, but they were running out of painkillers, fast.

"Oh- before I go." Ellie smiled, handing Elva a little box.

"What's this?"

"Happy birthday." The young girl grinned, watching the adult open the small box and see her mother's Firefly pendant. Elva teared up a bit, running her fingers over the lettering. "I thought you'd want it."

Elva embraced Ellie, holding her tight. It was them against the world, at least, until they could get Joel back up and alive again.

"Thank you, Ellie." The woman exclaimed.

"I'll see you in fifteen." The girl nodded, pulling up the large metal door and slamming it behind her.

Elva sighed, sitting back down in a chair and sharpening a wooden stick. Joel was still sleeping on the ground, his breath straggled and broken up. Things felt different without him. It was lonely. Of course, the woman had Ellie, but she missed Joel with all of her heart.

"God, what the fuck happened?" Elva asked herself, slumping down in her chair. How did it come to this? Relying on rabbits to have food, giving everything she had to try and help Joel, and taking sleeping shifts with a fourteen-year-old.

She looked towards Joel, standing up from her chair and sitting on the ground next to his sleeping bag. Ever since the day he had almost died, she kicked herself for not being able to help him. She should've got more medical supplies, she should've been faster, she shouldn't have let them get attacked.

It wasn't her fault, but she believed it to be.

Elva looked at Joel's smashed watch, turning back to her own. It had almost been fifteen minutes of her sitting in her own thoughts. She sighed, standing up and grabbing her hunting rifle, a handgun, an extra bow and a few packs of ammo.

She glanced at Joel, placing a hand over on his forehead and brushing the hair out of his eyes. Sighing, she stood up again, pulling up the garage door and shutting it behind her.

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"Ellie?" Elva yelled, spotting the young girl through the mounds of snow. She pulled an arrow out of a rabbit, tying the rabbit onto Callus.

The young girl looked towards the older woman, who was riding on the other horse. "It won't last very long. We need something else." Ellie stated. Elva nodded, jumping off of her horse as a look of awe came over the younger girl's face. "Look." She whispered.

Alas, a deer was running through the snow and trees. They needed something like that, or else they weren't gonna make it through the rest of the year.

"Tie up the horses, they'll just startle it." Elva instructed, placing the reins of her horse onto an old tree branch. Ellie nodded, doing the same.