Set Me Free ▪︎ Joel Miller ▪︎

▪︎○ Fourteen ○▪︎

They continue up the stairs, following Bill as he shamelessly mumbles to himself as if the trio weren't even there. He barely even bothers to glance over his shoulder when Olivia informs him that she's going to search the back office of the second floor he'd led them onto.

Instead, he lazily waves her off, muttering about how there was nothing of use for him in there anyway. She rolls her eyes in response to him as she plucks up a pair of scissors and an unused bandage from the top of a dirty mattress. Then, she moves towards the countertop where some supplements had been left in their plastic container. She smiles at the find and scoops them up, stuffing them in the front pocket of her bag with the rest of her supplies just before she returns to join the others near a broken out window.

"So, what kind of trouble you in? Where the hell's Tess?"

"It's just a job. A simple drop off." Joel answers gruffly, avoiding the question about his missing partner altogether.

"What are you delivering? Those little brats?"

Ellie rolls her eyes, lifting her hand to flip the round man the bird. "Ha ha, fuck you too."

Bill laughed, jumping out of the window and onto a large sign that connected the two buildings together. "Y'know, I hope you know what you're doin'," he tells Joel.

Olivia scoffs at the man, jumping over the window frame after Joel with Ellie following suit. "It would take just one shot from here, right in the back of his stupid head." she conspires whilst lifting a finger gun and pointing it at the back of the round man's head, pretending to pull the trigger. "He'd never see it coming," she whispers to Ellie.

The teen sniggers at Olivia's words, noticing something the woman clearly had not. "No, but Joel might."

"Huh?" Olivia's brows dip with confusion, her plump lips pulling together.

Ellie doesn't explain, she simply just nods ahead of them towards the older man she had referred to with a smug look on her face. Its a look that prompts Olivia to turn her attention to the men walking out front, only to realise that Joel was watching the two, already shaking his head at her with disapproval, the usual firm scowl on his face. She pouts and folds her arms across her chest, "party pooper," she grumbles under her breath causing Ellie to snigger once more with her hand covering her mouth.

There is a short beat of silence before Joel slices through it with a question aimed at his unstable friend. "Where we goin', Bill?" he asks as they climb through yet another broken window into the building next door.

"My other safe house; it's more of an armoury."

"Wait," Ellie cuts in with a tilted head, "I thought we were gonna fix up a car?"

Bill snorts, clearly gearing up to be an ass with his response to the young teen. "We? You know how to fix a-"

"Bill," Olivia says through clenched teeth, cutting the man off before he could finish his sentence.

What she wouldn't give just to shut this guy up for good. Just one arrow in the back of his thick skull, it would be so damn satisfying.

Bill sighs out with frustration, shaking his head at the two. However, after a long moment, he does explain the plan to Ellie briefly. Detailing how they'd need to get the extra guns from his armoury to be able to go to the other side of town - where more infected were - to collect the parts he'd need to fix up a car.

"That sounds exhausting," Olivia complains quietly, already scowling at the idea of more running and fighting. Hadn't they done enough of that shit?

Joel shoots her an amused glance as Bill heads back down stairs towards the front of the fast food place. A familiar guttural groan fills the air, alerting the group to an infected who was more than likely already inside the premises. "Hear that?" Olivia asks Joel as he steps in front of she and Ellie with an arm stuck out protectively, his hand hovering over her stomach.