Set Me Free ▪︎ Joel Miller ▪︎

▪︎○ Ten ○▪︎

Ellie slowed her pace as she admired the beauty of the nature around them. The silence that had enveloped the trio no longer bothered her as she listened intently to the chirping birds and the swaying trees. She smiled contently, watching as the sun shone down on the woods just beside the highway they continued to walk along.

Meanwhile, ahead of her, Joel and Olivia walked side by side in silence. Neither one knowing what to say to the other to break through the tense air around them. Their moods mirrored what the other felt; they were both grieving the loss of Tess in different ways, but one thing they certainly shared was their inability to vocalise their grief and pain.

It was something that connected the two deeply - whether they realised it or not.

Olivia was deep in thought, her brows creased with a troubled frown. She couldn't rid herself of the guilt that plagued her, not just for deaths she had been directly responsible for, but also for the death of her friend - Tess. She wondered if Tess might've never been bitten had she stepped up and helped her with the runner when she had the chance to. She wondered if deep down Joel blamed her for what had happened and perhaps that was why he avoided looking her in the eye altogether.

It was all eating her up from the inside out. Breaking her down little by little.

So, when Joel finally spoke after an hour of silence, it startled her.

"Now, there we go..." Joel drawled as his gaze shifted upwards, his hand lifting to point out an old water tower just off in the near distance. "Yeah, it'll be quicker to cut through here." he says in thought before hopping over the highway railing and dropping down into the grassy woods below with the girls soon silently following him.

They take only a few steps before Ellie speaks up, "Man..." she trails off in awe, her eyes wandering the forest around them.

Her tone intrigues Joel, causing him to curiously glance back over his shoulder at her. "What?" he asks.

She smiles sheepishly, her head dipping as her cheeks tint a light shade of red. "Nothing..." she shrugs, "it's just... I've never walked through anything like this before." she admits.

"You mean the woods?"

"Yeah," she nods, "I've never walked through the woods before. Its kinda cool."

Olivia smiles to herself. Her mind pulling back to memories of her brother and his love of the outdoors. Her chest aches as the words fall from her mouth before she has a chance to think them through or stop them. "Yeah... Matty always loved walking through the woods." she shares fondly, a sadness leaking into her quiet tone.

Ellie looks up at the woman, her head tilting with confusion. "Who's Matty?" she asks with creased brows.

My brother.

Her question and the answer to it snap Olivia back to reality, her internal wall building back up quicker than neither she nor Ellie could have anticipated as she stares down at her feet with an empty look in her eye. She feels that familiar suppressed grief threaten to wash over her like a tidal wave, prepared to drown her in its ruthless waters. But with a firm surge of determination, she answers the teen and forces her emotions back down.

"No one," she mumbles, "just someone I used to know."

Ellie doesn't press the matter, instead she just nods and continues to walk alongside Olivia silently. She had picked up on the woman's heavy tone and the sadness in her dulling green eyes - the sadness Olivia had tried desperately to hide - and that alone was enough indication to leave the sore subject alone.

However, Joel couldn't shake the sympathy he felt for her. His heart became heavy as he lifted his head to look at her, his gaze sweeping along the glassy eyes that fought so hard to hide what lay behind them. He wanted to comfort her but he knew better than to press the subject with Olivia. She was much like him in that regard and he knew it.