Tough and Weak 𖣘 Joel Dawson x Reader

008 ||Sandgobblers||

[Joel's POV]

What's so special about that piece of paper? I was just curious. Maybe it's related to the guy she was talking about to Boy.

Right now I'm drawing the berries Y/n and Boy told me not to eat. I smiled down at the detailed drawing. Coloured with the pencils Aimee had gotten me...until I fell.

"Ahh!"

"Joel!" Y/n yelled.

I groaned as my back collided with the dirty ground. I looked up to see Y/n and Boy looking down at me.

"I fell in a hole!" I called out.

"I realized," Y/n said. "I'm gonna go find some rope. Or a plant- or something," Y/n said,

"No, no, no, no, Y/n!" I yelled trying to get her to come back but I guess she had left already. "Okay, I just gotta climb out. Yeah, I can climb out..." I muttered. I put my hand in a hole in the dirt pit. But I heard a noise. Uh oh. "Y/n!" I called. No answer. Damn it! "Oh no. This is bad." I looked up at Boy and he started barking. Why can he not be quiet? "No, stop that, shhh!"

I heard more rustling behind me. Don't freeze, don't freeze, don't freeze!

I turned around. I moved. Don't freeze, don't freeze, don't freeze!

A long, slimey, creature jumped out of the hole. I immediately ducked. However? I ended up falling over on a bunch of bones. Gross!

I quickly grabbed the longest one I could find and held it up as the noises came from every direction. I was ready to hit one of the weird slugs but something fell over me.

"Woah!" I yelled. I looked up and saw a rope.

"It's a rope, you numskull! Put it around your foot and grab on!" I heard an old voice above me. I put my foot in the loop. The old man started pulling me up.

I fell onto the surface. This is the second time in 48 hours I have been excited to touch the grass.

"You wanna look at them? Oh, shit!" One came up and the old dude swatted it with a sword.

"Minnow, finish 'em off,"

"1, 2, 3, 4, and—" a loud boom went off and the hole exploded. A bunch of the bug's remains came into my face.

"Always count to five." The girl said. Where's Y/n?

"Was that a samurai sword?" I panted.

"Why'd you fall into a Sandgobblers nest?"

"Joel?" I heard Y/n's voice. 

"Y/n!" I tried tostand up but fell back onto my face.

"Who're they?" She asked me.

"I'm Clyde. This is Minnow." Clyde told her.

"What's your name?"

"Y/n." She said

"What about you, son?" Clyde asked me.

"Joel. Joel Dawson," Y/n reached out her hand to pull me up.

"You're lucky we weren't monsters. You were screaming like a girl," Minnow told me. "This is bad, this is so bad," she said in a high-pitched voice. Y/n chuckled.

"You know, I've known him for seven years and I already like you better," she told the little girl.

"Hey, I'm right here," I said in a loud voice.

"I know,"

"I don't sound like that. My voice is not that high-pitched." I obviously said.

"Yeah, it is,"

"Yes, it is,"

"She's right," they all agreed with Minnow.

"Really, Y/n?" I asked.

"It was higher than mine. And I'm eight," Minnow sassed.

[Y/n's POV]

I liked this little girl.

"What in God's name are you two doing up here alone anyway?" Clyde asked us.

"We're not alone, we have Boy," I told him.

Boy came out of the bush he was presumably hiding behind. Minnow and Clyde got ready to attack.

"Oh, wait! No, wait!" We called to them

"Oh, my god it's a puppy! Come here, Boy! Come here, Boy!" She called out. Boy came running to her and she petted him.

"They almost killed our dog," Joel whispered to me.

"So what happened with your colony? They kick you out?" Clyde asked as Minnow pet Boy.

"We left. Joel's trying to find someone. And I'm escaping hell." I told him.

"You stole food didn't you, boy?" Clyde asked Joel.

"He's a food stealer," Minnow said.

"Yeah," Clyde agreed.

"No I didn't steal food and neither did Y/n," Joel defended. "We were really close with our colony," I hit Joel in the arm. "I was really close. Like family. Okay? They were super upset that I-" I hit him again "we left."

I heard a roar from behind us.

"Time to go, Minnow," Clyde told the girl.

"Time to go? Why?" Joel questioned.

"Cause we might get eaten," I turned to Joel and started following the two adventurers.

"What was that?" Joel asked.

"It could have been a lot of things,"

"Tree Flamer. Herd Stomper. Rockdiver." Minnow started naming the different monsters as we walked. "Limbsnapper. Limbcrusher. And my favourite, the Chumbler!" She finished naming as we walked up a hill.

"Okay, we get it. A lot of names." Joel stopped her.

"Whatever it is, it took your screams for the dinner bell," Clyde told us.

"If it's got your scent, it's gonna be following us for a while," I added.

"That's right, how'd you know that?" Clyde asked.

"I was the leader of the hunting party in my colony," I told them.

"Cool," Minnow whispered.

As we continued walking, Joel called out.

"Hey, maybe we could, like, I don't know, come with you guys," Joel asked.

Clyde and Minnow paused and turned to look at us.

"Which way you headed?" Clyde asked.

"West," I told them. "To the coast. Jenner Beach,"

"Yeah, we're not cutting North just yet," Clyde shrugged.

"Cool," I said

"Not cutting- not cutting North just yet," Joel repeated.

"Come on!" Minnow ushered.

I hurried to catch up with the two while Joel struggled. I giggled at his actions.

"Come on, Joel,"

"Yeah, whatever you want. You guys want us to come, we'll come." I have Joel a 'really?' look as we kept walking.