Joel Miller x Reader

Seventeen

Loud voices reached your ears. Tension was in the air.

Your body was sweating with tension. You hurriedly jumped through the kitchen, past the bedrooms and suddenly stood in the open hallway.

Like a deer in the headlights, you froze. Your eyes caught on a long, braided ponytail of dirty blond hair.

"Abby.", you whispered.

Surprised by the sound of your voice, her eyes turned away from Joel. As she looked at you, something shimmered in her eyes.

Cold fear.

Her grip on Ellie's neck loosened, but she still held the gun pressed to her temple.

"Surprised to see me?", you asked with a bitter taste on your tongue and pushed yourself in front of Joel. "Let her go. It's me you're looking for, isn't it?"

A grim grin appeared on her pale face. Squeezing her arm tighter, she nearly cut off Ellie's air and took a step back toward the door.

"I must admit, it's nice to see you again.", she opened the door, an icy wind hit you and Joel in the face. "But I need her."

She pointed at Ellie, who hung in her grip with a half-fainting mind. Blood dripped from her forehead. She looked tired, beaten like a dog.

Examining her, you glanced over your shoulder.

Joel looked at you, there was that gleam in his eye, that foreboding.

Suddenly everything was clear to you, the little fear of getting infected, the bite marks on her arm and the tattoo to cover them. It was so obvious now.

You had to laugh.

"Holy shit!", shaking your head, you turned back to Abby. "What do you want with her immunity?"

"Develop a solution.", Abby growled. "Which you weren't ready to do."

Amused, you snorted and shrugged.

"You also believe that everything your father said is gold, don't you?"

Your expression darkened.

"At least my father tried to change something!", she hissed and pointed her gun at Joel. "And he killed him for trying! So now I'm going to take his daughter. Killing him would be far too easy. I want him to feel my pain."

Her words surprised you. With a raised eyebrow, you turned to Joel again.

His gaze was still fixed on Ellie.

"I had no other choice.", he mumbled. "The operation would have killed Ellie."

"It could have brought a cure!"

"There was no guarantee of that! Maybe she would have died for nothing, too. Then her immunity would have died with her."

"Every change needs sacrifices!"

"But not my Ellie!", his voice trembled with anger as he threw it at her. "Not my daughter..."

The emotion sent a shiver down your spine. It was strange that in a world like this, people still trusted each other so much without being connected by blood. But Joel loved Ellie as if she were his own flesh and blood.

You didn't remember what it felt like to be loved like that. But you couldn't blame him for what he had done.

Whatever it had been.

But not everyone was touched by his words. Instead, Abby's face contorted with hatred and anger. Her head turned red and she looked like she was about to end the world.

"I will take her with me.", she growled. "And if you take one step toward me, she will die, right here, right now. And then I will shoot you."

As she set the first step outside, Joel flinched.

Out of reflex, you grabbed him and squeezed gently, in order to tell him silently that he had to stay put.

His body tensed. But he did not take the risk. Clenching his hands into fists, he watched as Abby dragged his daughter down the driveway and shoved her into one of the black cars.

But before she slipped into the drivers seat she raised her gun and shot the wheels of every single other car. Then she opened the drivers door and threw a quick glance over her shoulder.

Her eyes locked with yours.

A shiver crawled down your spine. You bit your lips, trying not to raise the riffle and put a bullet through her head.

"You fucking bitch!", you hissed, shaking with anger. "I wish I had never spared you..."

The cold engine of the car howled. The smell of gasoline filled the air. The wheels moved, snow crunched. And just like that she was gone again.

"You...", Joel's voice was as cold as the snow storm. "What business do you and Abby have?"

Slowly, his head turned to you. A thin trial of blood was stuck to his lips. His cheek was beaten black and blue. He and Abby must have had a fistfight before she had gotten her hands in Abby.

With a pained expression on your face, you sighed, shoved your hand into your pocket and pulled out a handkerchief. But as you raised your hand to help him clean his face, he grabbed your wirst and squeezed it so hard that a sharp pain chased through your arm.

"What history do you and her have?", he asked again, more aggressive this time.

The look in his eyes was a cold one, full of hate. He mistrusted you. More than he had ever done.

For a long, very long moment you looked at him.

"She took someone from me, just like she took Ellie.", you said. "I was too late. I couldn't save them. But if you let go of me, we might still have a chance to save Ellie. Our chances aren't big, but they exist. That should be enough to try."

His grip around your wirst tightened. Skin and flesh rubbed against the bone.

It hurt. It hurt so much that a whimper escaped your lips.

"Why would you want to help me?", he asked. "We're not friends."

You shook your head.

"No. But we have a shared enemies. You want Ellie back, safe and sound. And I want revenge."

"You want to kill her."

"My mind hasn't changed ever since I told you the first time. Let's just keep this arrangement going."

"We don't even know where she will take her."

"I have a clue."

"How?"

"Abby and I share a past. We come from the same place. We once had the same ideals. I was a firefly once."