𝐓𝐈𝐋 𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐇 𝐃𝐎 𝐖𝐄 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓 ⚠︎︎ 𝐉. 𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐑

chapter twelve

Holding him close that night was comforting, it sent her into a deep sleep. It'd been too damn long since she'd slept this well, the other night couldn't begin to compare, she almost didn't hear it. But old habits die hard.

The glass crackled beneath the weight of something and she shot up, her right arm leaving Joel's torso and reaching for her axe. It was too late though, a gun was being pointed at her and Joel by a small boy. Several blinks and squeezing her eyes shut, it dawned on her that there was a child holding a gun to her head.

A child.

His finger was to his lips, keeping her quiet but when she looked over to Ellie, her heart skipped a beat when she saw her compromising position. "Are you ok?"

"No, he's pointing a fucking gun at my head! Joel, wake up!" Thalia nudged the sleeping man next to her and after another harsh poke of her elbow he awoke with a start. Joel turned to the child standing before them but his older partner was quick to stop that, "Eyes on me. Eyes on me."

The couple didn't bother to go against that, she looked over at him and held her hands up, having already sat up when she was awoken by the glass. "You don't have to worry about what to say. We don't wanna hurt you. We wanna help you."

"Ok..." His tone was cold, slightly condescending and his wife couldn't help but silently curse him for the harsh demeanor. "Ok... uhm- I don't know what the next step is with something like this but if I lower my gun... we didn't hurt you, so you don't hurt us. Right?"

"That's right..." Thalia grit her teeth and turned to look down at her husband, "That's a weird fuckin' tone, man."

"That's just the way he sounds. He has an asshole voice. Joel, tell him he's ok." As Ellie tried to mediate the situation, Joel couldn't be bothered to even act like he heard her, "Everything is great."

"Dude..." Both girls rolled their eyes at the antics, "Fuck! Ok... listen... I'm gonna trust you." The hand that wasn't on the gun began moving towards the kid, mumbling that he was going to trust them. She turned her head and it hit her suddenly that he hadn't been able to hear this entire conversation.

"He's deaf." The older kid met her eyes and she could practically feel the nerves radiating from him, "Don't focus on him." Thalia smirked but covered it up by bowing her head down, "Can I sit up?"

"Yeah... slow." He did just that, slowly Joel sat up, hands still raised, "Who are you?"

"My name's, Henry. That's my brother, Sam. I'm the most wanted man in Kansas City. Although right now... my guess is you're running a close second." He was right. They both knew that which is why Thalia allowed her guard down for a moment.

She got them a proper setup, all surrounded by a light and she gave the two some of her food portions. It was tense in every sense but Ellie seemed to be enjoying the company, though Thalia and Joel weren't as trusting.

"Where'd you get these?" Ellie was the first to answer, "From Bill. He's dead." The married couple turned to the kid, Thalia becoming slightly uncomfortable at the mention of him. "Sorry..." She muttered it before going back to eating.

Joel sat up slightly and gave Sam the last of his jerky, the little boy took it happily and motioned to his older brother. "He says thank you. We're guessing you don't have much... so this means a lot."

"How old is he?" Henry translated and Sam signed, "He's eight." Ellie nodded, a beaming smile on her face, "Cool. I'm Ellie." Another translation before the girl was smacking Thalia's knee, "Oh- I'm Thalia and this is Joel."

"Nice to meet you both." Henry turned and signed out their names and she almost didn't say anything, it wasn't important. It was not important.

"With an H." The kid picked his head up, looking to her and she offered Sam a smile before spelling out her name correctly since he'd forgotten the H. Sam was beaming and even Henry was a bit impressed, "You know ASL?"