Apocalypse Survival Guide ✷ Joel Dawson ✓

𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐏 𝐅𝐈𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍: Avoid Purple Berries

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- ˏˋ ✎ [STEP FIFTEEN: Avoid Purple Berries] ˊˎ -

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:⠀ *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

"Seventy forty-five, this is thirty twenty-two. Come in."

Joel's finger remained on the button of the radio as he impatiently waited for someone on the other end to answer. Beside him sat Liz, who was watching intently, chewing at her bottom lip nervously as she was starting to believe that trying to contact their colony was no use.

"Seventy forty-five, this is thirty twenty-two. Is anyone there?" Joel urged. "Tim? Ava? Anyone? Over."

"Hey," Liz said quietly, reaching out for his hand and gently pulling it away from the machine. "Give it some time, okay? Maybe they're just busy right now."

Joel glanced from where their hands connected, up to her face, offering her a weak smile as he nodded. "Yeah, you're probably right."

The sudden sound of a bowl and glass hitting the table interrupted them unsympathetically. "Cap thought you both might need a snack," a man spoke, pointing between a bunch of berries in the bowl and a glass of what looked like beer. "You know, he brews his own beer!"

"Oh. Yeah. So I've heard." Joel's voice was flat, groaning inwardly at the constant talk of the blonde Australian.

Liz noticed and gave Joel's hand a little squeeze comfortingly. Joel didn't bother to look up at her, his eyes fixated on the radio in front of him, but gently gave her hand squeeze in return, silently letting her know that her kind gesture didn't go unappreciated.

Pulling away, Liz stood up to stretch her legs a little, but was startled when she heard the sound of paper crinkling in her pocket. A confused brow quirked up on Joel's face as he looked up at her, curious as to what she had in there.

Liz almost instantly remembered exactly what inside, her blue eyes lighting up excitedly. Her hand dug into her pocket and she quickly retrieved the map that their colony members had given them before they left.

"You never got a chance to look at this properly," Liz said as she handed Joel the map. "Take a look at it now."

The man took it hesitantly, opening up the map to see nothing that he hadn't seen before. In his opinion, it was pretty useless; a map with no instructions, but only some sections circled with warnings like 'do not go here' and 'this place is off limits' wasn't exactly helpful, per se.

"What's special about it?" Joel asked curiously.

"Look closer. You'll find it — I know you will."

Joel huffed, narrowing his eyes with sharp focus as he really tried to concentrate on the map. His vision flickered frantically around it, trying to pick up on anything that he could've missed, but found nothing.