PetrA

Chapter thirty-nine: Joachim

Ellie lifted his arm and tried to put it back in place. He had managed to dislocate it falling from a tree. "Stop whining, it's your own dam fault." She said glaring at him as he let out a howl of pain through the cloth he was biting down on to make sure he didn't ruin his teeth. After a while, it popped back into place and Ellie carefully let go. Henrik got off him so he could move again. "Why did you even have to scale that tree?" Ellie asked hotly rounding in on him. Joachim didn't answer her, "Are you, hell bent on getting us killed?" She asked in the same aggravated voice. Ever since she'd woken up this morning she'd been in a foul mood. Worse than he'd ever seen, which said a lot. Because, Ellie always seemed to be in a bad mood around him. He wondered if it was because she'd been sleeping on the hard ground.

Ellie glanced out of the covered up cave entrance and peered towards the sky. The rain had finally given up the day before, but they'd been on the move since then, and when the dark started to fall over them, they had agreed on finding somewhere to hide. "Let's get moving." She grumbled pushing aside the stuff covering their hideout. "Can't we just wait a couple of hours?" Joachim asked still grimacing. Ellie stared at him, "No." She said flatly marching out into the sun with her bag slung over one shoulder. Leaving them to follow. "What a ray of sunshine." Joachim grumbled. "I heard that!" Ellie said loudly. "Of course you did." He said blinking as he shielded his eyes from the sun. "I don't think you should annoy her anymore. Not unless you want to stay alive." Henrik muttered so Ellie wouldn't hear him. He'd picked up on her mood and been wise to keep his mouth shut.

"It's not my fault." Joachim said. His mood was almost as bad as Ellie's. "It sort of is. You're the one who scaled that tree." Joachim glared at Henrik who lifted his hands in surrender. "You know Ellie's temper is short lived, especially with you." Joachim grunted in response and trudged after Ellie who'd already moved towards the road. They trudged along the empty roads with the sun burning down their necks. It wasn't until they found a vehicle that was able to drive, they got out of the heat. Sadly, much to Joachim and Henrik's disappointment the car didn't have AC. On their way, they stopped a few times painting something on a car or a tree, or even something on the road if there was nothing else around. Finally, the sun started to set on the sky, but that didn't slow them down. They'd just have to sleep in shifts. At least he and Henrik had to, since Ellie couldn't drive a car. How she'd never learned it beat Joachim. Maybe her dad didn't want her out on the roads, which Joachim didn't have any trouble imagining. That girl would probably burn down the other cars if they got in her way.

Henrik took the first shift, but Joachim had trouble falling asleep, and it seemed like Ellie didn't have any plans of going to sleep. "You think they'll be able to find us?" Henrik asked quietly so he wouldn't wake up Joachim. "If they have any brain, they will." Ellie scoffed. "I didn't sign up for a squad of morons." She was quiet for a while and then sighed. "I'm sorry." She said, "For what?" Henrik asked. Though Joachim knew that Henrik knew what she was saying sorry for, "For being a bitch. I just woke up in a very bad mood." She grumbled. To both of their surprise Henrik laughed. "Don't worry about it. I know your fuse with Joachim is short. That much have been clear from the beginning." He said. Ellie nodded, "The beginning of the end of the world, or as in from when we all got stuck together?" Henrik was quiet for a while pondering what to answer. "I think it's been quite clear from both beginnings. I still remember when Anne put you in a group with Joachim, Xander and I. You did not stop scowling once, and you glared at Joachim the whole time." Ellie snorted, "I can't remember that, I remember being quite ah civil." She said. "Oh you were quite civil, but your body language was clear. You would rather want to be anywhere else than near us." "Correction, I wanted to be anywhere else than near Joachim. I've never had any problems with you or your other friends. Just Joachim." She said.

"Why?" Ellie sighed. "Why I have a problem with Joachim?" She asked carefully. Even from just listening Joachim could hear her throwing up the walls. "Yes." Ellie didn't answer right away, maybe she thought that Joachim was listening, which he was, but she didn't know that for sure. "Because obviously he's a prick, and he did something towards me that I did not like, and to be honest I have zero tolerance for it." She said. She didn't hint at what he'd done, but it was clear that she hadn't quite forgiven him for it. Even though Joachim had a very good idea about what it is, he's not exactly 100% sure. After that, Joachim finally fell asleep. The next time he woke up, it was around 4.30 Am, though they couldn't be sure.

Ellie was sleeping on the backseat and Henrik fell asleep almost at once, leaving Joachim in silence. "It was only..." he didn't get to finish the sentence because Ellie interrupted him. "A joke?" She asked. "A joke where you play with other people's emotions?" She hadn't turned around, but her voice had an angry edge. "You probably thought it was funny, but I didn't. Did you know how much it actually hurt me?" She asked. Ellie had completely surprised him; he'd thought she was asleep. Obviously she wasn't. She sat up and stared at him through the rear mirror. "I..." She rolled her eyes, "No, of course you didn't. Because you didn't care, all you cared about was getting a good laugh, wasn't it?" She asked. When Joachim kept quiet, she shook her head in disgust. "You have no idea how many times people have done that to me. Just because they think it's funny, let's mess with Ellie's feelings! The odd girl, she won't care." It was scary to hear her say it aloud, because it was something like that he'd been thinking, and judging from her face she wasn't messing around. Although she never joked with him. "You know, that is exactly the reason why I hate people like you. You always think you know everything about a person, just from seeing how they act at school. You never actually stop to get to know why they act like they do." Joachim didn't know how to answer, her eyes blazed with cold hatred. "You never think that maybe that a person was bullied from 1st to 7th grade. You don't think about the possibility of an absent mother who treats you like a showcase doll she can just pull out whenever she wants to, and only take contact when she want's something, you can't even imagine that he or she might have moved to another country and it all started over again. The odd man out, the ones who never seem to fit in, the ones everyone judge just because they're quiet, shy and mostly keep to themselves and a select few people they trust, because of their experiences with other people just like you."

He stared at Ellie, was she talking about herself? Joachim found it hard to digest, somehow he knew that she had been talking about herself as well as her friends, but he had a hard time imagining Ellie put in those situations in life. He knew that she was the quiet and shy type, well at least until you tick her off or she in some way trust you. "And don't bother apologising." She said laying down again. The silence settled over the car and Joachim kept driving, the sun was well up on the sky when Henrik woke up. He frowned at the sun and then at Joachim. "Why didn't you wake me up?" He asked. Joachim glanced at him, "I figured that I'd let you sleep as much as possible. I wasn't tired." He said. Joachim cast a glance back at Ellie who thankfully was asleep.

He didn't mention what still Ellie had said after Henrik had fallen asleep. Somehow, he couldn't get himself to do so. It felt as if she'd revealed something about herself, that she didn't just go around and tell everyone. If Henrik had noticed any swing in his moods, he didn't say anything or ask. After a while, Ellie stirred and sat up rubbing her eyes groggily. "Morning sunshine." Joachim said. She gave him a deadly glare and he guessed that she wasn't in any better mood today that what she'd been yesterday. Oh, joy.