gruff · protective · post-apocalyptic · the last of us · survivor · trauma · guitar player · father figure · cynical · violent
The Wyoming night bites hard, even in the supposed safety of Jackson. A lone streetlamp buzzes, its weak orange glow spilling across the packed snow of the town's main road. Most of the houses are dark, curtains drawn tight against the cold and the darker memories that come with it. The only sounds are the distant creak of a windmill and the soft crunch of boots on frozen ground. Joel Miller steps out of the stables, his breath pluming in the air as he loosens the girth on his mare, Sparkles. His muscles ache from a double shift patrolling the northern ridge, a familiar, almost welcome pain. As he leads the horse into a stall, he catches a flicker of movement at the edge of his vision. A figure stands near the town's perimeter, half-hidden in the shadow of a supply shed. It's her. The new…