𝗮𝗹𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁.

one.

   I can't wipe the smile off my face as I read through the joke book Ellie lent to me. The jokes in here aren't funny at all but Ellie has the book marked up with which ones are her favorite.

   I feel Ellie and Sam's fingers tangle into my hair, each of them taking a side to braid.

   I like Ellie, I think she likes me too.

   I like people who are easy to read, they make things simple. My eyes flit up to Joel, the man who Ellie has clarified is not her father or caretaker and is simply carrying cargo.

   That part confused me but I brushed it off.

   Joel is a lot harder to read so I don't know whether he likes us or not. I'm pretty positive he doesn't. I get the sense he doesn't really like anyone.

   Sam taps my shoulder and I look up, Ellie holding a broken piece of glass in front of me so I can see my reflection. My hair is in two short braids on either side of my head with a barette pinned into one side.

   I grin, "thanks guys."

   Ellie smiles and takes a bow, Sam doing the same. They both laugh at one another and my smile widens.

   Sam hasn't laughed in a while.

   Just then Henry interrupts us and calls a strategy meeting and we all sit down at the long table in the middle of the room. I watch my brother draw out our map and explain our exit step by step.

   I shift my eyes from the paper to him. He has stubble growing in and a few more wrinkles on his face than he used too. He looks a lot more grown up than a few months ago.

   Thinking about the things he did to take care of us makes my stomach turn.

   How could I repay him for that?

* * *

   "This way."

   I follow Ellie through the glass doors, my eyes on my feet as we stride through the abandoned building. I count my footsteps in between the cracks in the floor.

   As I step over each crack I restart.

   I've gotten used to this.

   I have a gun in my bag just in case I ever need it, I look at my feet so I don't make too much noise, and Sam always holds onto my backpack strap as he follows me so that I know he's there.

   "I think it's this way," Henry turns into a hall leading us to a door with stairs that go down into where I assume the tunnels are. "This should be it, you ready?"

   Joel stays silent a moment before saying to Ellie, "get your gun out."

   Ellie pulls it from her pocket and Joel glares at her. They have some silent communication as Ellie smirks smugly and Joel rolls his eyes.

   It's at this moment that I can tell they're more than just cargo to each other, whatever that means.

   It's gross down here, I scrunch up my nose. It smells like sewage.

   "See it's empty," Henry grins, "the plan is good."

   Joel immediately shushes him and I resist the urge to pinch my brother. "The plan is good? We've been down here two seconds, you don't know anything."

   Henry scoffs, "your dad's kind of a pessimist."

   "He's not my dad."

   "I'm not her dad."

   They say the sentences simultaneously and my eyes flicker over to Ellie. She looks up to Joel with a sort of sadness in her eyes which he ignores.

   "Just point the flashlight forward," Joel grumbles, starting down the tunnel.

   The walk is slow and quiet. I stare at my feet and count to twelve in my head, the age I am. I count over and over until I stop because we've come to a room.

   I follow Ellie inside and shine my flashlight onto the wall. Sam leaves my side as he looks up in awe of the messy children's paintings covering the room. They remind me of the paintings he did on the walls of our attic.

   Ellie smiles and Sam laughs.

   I smile too.

   Joel frowns.

   He continues to move forward to the next room with a huff and doesn't even spare a glance at the walls. Talk about grumpy.

   The next room is full of toys and more paintings. Sam immediately runs forward to explore and I grab him, pulling him close to my chest.

   "I heard about places like these," for the first time Joel speaks and he doesn't sound angry or annoyed, "people went underground after outbreak day. Built settlements."

   "What happened to them?" I'm almost afraid to ask.

   "Maybe they didn't follow the rules and they all got infected," he nods to the white board with rules written across it. He's back to sounding angry again.

   Ellie wanders over to a small table and I release Sam and allow him to follow her. They begin to play with toy cars and Sam hands me one. It's a chipped red pickup truck.

   I smile and pocket it.

   Next Sam picks up a comic book causing Ellie to squeal. "No way! I love these!" Her smile is infectious and Sam grins too. I sit down beside them and smile as they begin to read together.

   I catch Henry's gaze from across the room and he smiles at me.

   He never does that much anymore.

   "Endure and survive!"

   I turn back to Ellie and Sam and they seem to be signing together while Ellie's voice gets increasingly louder. "Endure, survive, endure, survive. Fuck yeah man!" She high fives him.

   I find myself laughing at her foul mouth, I'm glad Sam can't hear her.

   "Keep it down," guess who says this.

   "Come on, can we hang out for a while? There's like actually shit to do here," Ellie asks.

   I nod silently beside her and Henry seems to take my side, "wouldn't be so bad to wait the light out a little bit. Safer in the shadows when we pop back out on the other side."

   We all look at Joel and he looks back at us. I see it in his eyes as he slowly gives in, turning and pursing his lips.

   We win.