𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐫 | 𝐉𝐨𝐞𝐥 𝐃𝐚𝐰𝐬𝐨𝐧

03.

Joel Dawson

as i climbed outside, the warm air and bright sun shined down on me. it looked quite nice. i shut the latch and climbed down as i looked around the open land and sniffed the air. i looked at the map then looked around.

"okay you know what. i gotta head west right?" i said while walking.
"nope its this way" i said again.
"shit. split the difference. lets go this way" i spoke to myself before walking straight.

i saw billboards before seeing the broken town.

dear aimee,
i am doing it! im really doing it! honestly i thought it'd be way worse too. so far, its not too bad. i've seen a lot of signs of death but no actual death so cross your fingers. tryna stay positive. weathers nice, getting some fresh air. what else can i tell ya?

i picked up a frisbee and looked at it.

"cool" i said as i heard growls.
"noo. run and hide. hide in the house" i whispered to myself before running towards the white house.

i walked through the house as i opened the fridge and instantly closed it as a monster popped out. i ran out the house and heard bubbles prickling. i looked at the pond to see two eyes emerge before a third one followed. a huge frog emerged as its tongue charged at me.

i dodged it and fell to the ground as a dog hovered over me. the tongue carried a gnome back. as i bolted for the small broken part of the fence, the tongue rammed into me. i hit the fence before hitting the ground as the tongue swallowed my foot. it started pulling me back as i yelled while looking for something to grasp. the dog ran to it and bit the slime filled tongue until it pulled back and flew into its own mouth.

the dog hopped the fence as i followed after it. it sprinted away as i yelled after it. it ran into a bus as i followed and watched the dog close the door.

"woah that was so cool" i said as the dog went to its bed.
"nice place" i said while examining the bus.
"can i sit? thanks. you all alone? yeah me too... boy? is that your name? boy? your name is boy? my names joel. nice ta, meet ya. thanks for saving my life boy. is this a dress?" i asked as boy growled and grabbed it from my hands.
"sorry! okay. i wont touch it again. was that your owners? its okay, you dont have to talk about it. sorry. wait- did you think i was her? huh. im gonna lie down too. is that okay?" i asked the dog as i took off my bag.
"you know i had a girl too once, i think you would have really like her. yeah you guys would totally get along. she- she loves dogs i mean- all animals. she's a big animal lover. i havent seen her in 7 years. its a long time, so im tryna go find her. i havent told anyone about this but im kinda nervous about it" i said quietly.

boy grabbed the dress and walked over to me as he whimpered before laying down with the dress in his mouth.

after about an hour of not being able to sleep, boy got up and walked to the door. he tugged it open as if he was expecting someone. a shorter girl with blue eyes, and half red, half black hair walked through.

"woah- hey uh- sorry" i said quickly.
"oh no no, its fine. um.. im rayven" she said in a soothing voice.
"im joel" i said while looking at her.
"you uh- you come from a colony?"
"yeah i just left today"
"like on purpose?"
"yeah. im trying to get to another colony to see my uh- to see aimee"
"mm, and all you have is a crossbow?" she asked with a slight smile.
"yep, we kinda ran out of almost all ammo we had"
"well, how far is it?"
"from my colony it was 85 miles. i havent come far from it so..."
"i can help you get there"
"and you trust me?"
"well seeing as you havent tried to murder me yet, yeah i do. you came from fairfield right?"
"yeah! yeah i did. im guessing you did too?"
"mhm, it was uh- traumatic" she said while sitting down as boy hopped up and laid on her lap.
"yeah. yeah it was"
"well 85 miles is a lot and once we leave here, we definitely wont get much of a good sleep so, take advantage of the mattress now" she said as she smiled.
"thank you rayven. goodnight and goodnight boy" i said while looking up.

••••••••

as we all headed off the bus, boy handed me her red dress as rayven wasnt looking. i put it in my bag for him while we all started walking.

"this is good actually having company" i said as we walked.
"yeah. its nice" she stated while looking at a house.

we walked through the destroyed streets and the muddy waters with flat and mushy grass.

dear aimee,
guess what! i got a dog and a new friend! her name is rayven and the dog is boy. and their the coolest. boy saved my life from a giant frog in a pool who tried to eat me with his tongue. and then we hung out in his bus until rayven arrived. it was kinda awkward but we're getting along. man do we make a great team. i found out we have like a ton in common too. i feel like we can talk about anything. you gotta see us out here, were like this iconic trio. i dont know, it feels like when were together, were unstoppable.