TWD - Zomboid - Chapter 287: Joel: No, Absolutely Not! (Patreon)

Rebecca wanted to draw two vials of blood from Ellie first for some preliminary tests.

“Young lady,” she asked gently, “have you eaten anything today? It’s best to have an empty stomach before a blood draw.”

“I have,” Ellie answered honestly. “Ice cream, pizza, hot dogs, candy, and just a tiny bit of pie.”

Rebecca: “...”

She was speechless. Her head snapped up, and she shot Luke an irritated glare.

“Did you do that on purpose? Were you trying to get my hopes up again just so I’d spend another night too excited to sleep?”

“Let’s just say I did.” Luke looked completely unconcerned.

“You #@@#!”

Rebecca was so furious she couldn’t even speak. Without another word, she spun around, grabbed an empty blood collection needle from the tray, and charged straight at Luke.

“Then I’ll draw a few vials from you first!”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!”

Luke hurriedly backed away. “Hey, no needles right now! There’s a kid here! What kind of example are you setting in front of a little girl?”

The lab immediately descended into chaos again.

Sherry, meanwhile, noticed Ellie standing there looking a little lost and took the initiative to run over.

“Hi!”

The little girl greeted her enthusiastically. “Are you new here?”

Ellie hesitated, then nodded.

“I’m Sherry.”

Sherry sat down beside Ellie as naturally as if they were already friends. “They’re always like this.”

Then she lowered her voice solemnly, leaned toward Ellie’s ear, and spoke with all the seriousness of a little adult.

“Luke might seem kind of all over the place, but he’s actually a really good person!”

Sherry sighed and shook her head. “Still, I think they’re all way too childish. They’re nowhere near as mature as we are!”

Ellie: “...”

“See Luis over there?”

Sherry gestured toward him with her chin. “He’s just like a little kid. It doesn’t take much to make him happy!”

The corner of Ellie’s mouth twitched.

This little girl seemed like quite the little troublemaker herself.

...

By nightfall, the eventful day had finally come to an end.

Luke walked beside Ellie through the cool night breeze. Lights came on one by one along both sides of the street, bathing everything in a warm, peaceful glow.

Ellie walked in silence.

She had to admit, the day had been almost perfect.

Except Joel wasn’t there.

If Joel had been there too, it would have been even better.

“You did pretty well today,” Luke suddenly said.

Ellie looked up.

“A kid who behaves well deserves a reward. So I can finally keep my promise.” Luke glanced at her and leisurely pulled out his radio.

Ellie’s heart tightened.

Luke switched to a channel.

“Hello, hello? Leon, put Joel on!”

Ellie let out a long breath of relief.

Joel really was okay.

There were several seconds of silence on the other end before a deep, extremely hoarse voice came through.

“...Ellie?” Joel asked urgently. “Is that you?”

Ellie gripped the radio tightly, and the weight that had been pressing on her heart finally vanished.

“Joel, it’s me!” she said excitedly. “It’s Ellie! Are you okay? Did they give you any trouble?”

“I’m fine!”

Joel’s voice immediately sounded much more relaxed.

Even so, he still couldn’t completely put his mind at ease.

He pressed her for details. “What about you? Where are you? Did they do anything to you? Are you hurt?”

“I’m totally fine!”

Ellie hurried to reassure him. “Joel, don’t worry. I’m really okay! The Commonwealth is real. They weren’t lying to us!”

Afraid he wouldn’t believe her, she eagerly launched into everything she had seen and experienced that day.

“Joel, you have no idea. This place is completely different!”

“They have actual city walls. On the way in, I saw fully automated turrets. They looked like something out of a sci-fi story.”

“And they have pizza places and ice cream! I got to eat both today. They even gave me a hat, and I had pie too. Actual ready-made food!”

“Joel, I even had a hot dog!”

Ellie’s excitement made Luke feel that something was slightly off.

If they were going by the game’s setting, where Ellie had been born after the apocalypse and had never experienced food from before the catastrophe, then her reaction would make perfect sense.

But in this walker world, the virus had only fully broken out a little over a year ago, and Ellie was already fourteen.

Had she spent all those earlier years growing up in a laboratory or something?

Luke rubbed his chin.

Something about that didn’t quite add up.

“Joel, there’s even a zoo here! I saw a real tiger! Hershel taught me how to shoe a horse too. He’s the one who gave me the cowboy hat!”

“Joel, everyone here has been really nice to me. Nobody’s trying to hurt me...”

Ellie kept chattering away, speaking so quickly and excitedly that Joel couldn’t get a single word in.

But her eagerness to tell him everything made one thing clear. The bond between the two of them was anything but ordinary.

Joel could only listen quietly.

He was naturally suspicious, so he carefully analyzed Ellie’s tone, searching for any inconsistency or even the faintest hint of a concealed distress signal.

There was nothing.

The excitement in Ellie’s voice was completely genuine.

In the end, she was still just a kid. That kind of childlike happiness wasn’t something she could fake.

Which meant the so-called [Ark] might truly exist.

This city-state, like a beacon shining through the apocalypse, had at least given Ellie a safe place with food and shelter, somewhere she could temporarily escape the Fireflies’ pursuit.

“That’s good. That’s good,” Joel said quietly, a trace of exhaustion in his voice.

“What about you, Joel?” Ellie asked eagerly. “When can you come over? When can we see each other?”

Joel’s heart sank.

This was bad.

He knew exactly what had happened the night before.

He had barged into Leon’s room without permission and been caught on the spot. His evaluation was bound to be delayed again, which meant his entry into the Commonwealth would probably be pushed back by quite a while.

Damn it.

And if it was delayed, then his reunion with Ellie would be delayed too.

Joel instinctively told a harmless lie.

“I’m doing fine here too. Food and drinks are brought to me. It won’t be long. Just wait a little longer.”

Food and drinks were brought to him, huh?

Luke barely managed to keep a straight face.

Ellie was sharp. She immediately caught the hesitation in Joel’s voice.

“Did something happen?” she pressed. “Joel, don’t even think about hiding it from me!”

“Nothing happened,” Joel said. “The evaluation process is just taking a little longer. They have a thorough screening system for people like me. Don’t worry. I’ll pass.”

“Have you met the leader of that [Ark]? What’s he like?”

“I have.”

Ellie thought for a moment, wondering how best to describe him.

“The leader here... is actually a good person. If I ask him, maybe he can let you come over sooner!”

“It’s just that he has a few conditions.”

“Conditions?”

The warmth vanished from Joel’s voice, and his guard immediately went up.

“What conditions?”

“They have a lab here.”

There was a note of trust in Ellie’s voice. “The woman in charge is really impressive. I can tell she’s a good person. She’s not like the people at Firefly hospital...”

“Joel, they want me to cooperate with some physical examinations...”

“No!”

Joel cut her off almost instantly, his tone harsher than it had ever been.

“Ellie, listen to me. No matter what conditions they give you, you are not to agree to any of them.”

“Everything can wait until I get there.”

“Until then, don’t do anything. Understand?”

But this time, Ellie wasn’t as obedient as she usually was.

...