01 Evanescence - All That I'm Living For

6 Months after being rescued, Sanctuary is overrun by the new strain of the infection. Emily and Ellis are rescued from the rebels and their coliseum. They signal a helicopter that strayed from the rest but they are being attacked by a lot of infected.


"Oh, thank God," Fiona said through her panting, clutching Ellis' hand tightly beside her. They collapsed onto the helicopter as all of the energy in them slipped away, leaving them breathless and immovable on the floor. The pilot in the front turned his head and yelled back to them, muffled against the chopper's blades spinning overhead. Nick made out the words mostly by sight, the blood in his head rushing and making his ears unusable; "Hold on! We gotta go now!" With the last little bit of energy, he pushed himself onto his knees and patted the pilot's back to show that he heard and they were ready.

Emily lifted her head, still on her knees, as Nick reached back and touched her shoulder as though everything would be okay from there on, despite how pessimistic he remained to be. She smiled at him briefly, but then horror shot across her face. Everyone noticed immediately, but as soon as she opened her mouth to speak, the tongue around her waist yanked back.

A Smoker had caught her.

"N-" She reached out, felt her fingers brush his, saw the terror on his face, and then she saw the ledge of the copter rise above her head. Over the scream of the abandoning helicopter and the roar of the horde ready to catch her below, she heard her name called shrilly. Falling towards the ground, probably her death, she looked up and saw him again, vainly reaching for her. She felt her expression plead for help.

The tongue tugged and pulled her to the source instead of letting her hit the ground. She felt her feet touch outreached hands underneath. Next thing she knew, her back was pressed up against something disgusting, neither man nor animal, and a thick smog clouded her eyes and choked her lungs. Emily coughed and flailed to get away. Through the smoke she could see infected coming at her, gnashing their teeth and reaching for her. And then a bullet whizzed past her face and the Smoker's tongue unraveled from around her. She hit her knees and tried to clear her airways. And then she cried and pushed the limp tongue away, utilized her shaking legs, and picked up the sword that had fallen from its sheath still strapped to her back. The helicopter flew away, but she kept her eye on it.

Ready to cut through the undead like water, she ran for them as fast as she could. Knowing her legs would not carry her fast enough, at least escaping from the zombies would give her a chance to reunite with them eventually.


After all they had been through... it had to end like this? Nick punched the wall with all the anger and frustration he felt. But the strength left was too sparse and he fell against it, forehead pressed to the cold metal and his eyes shut tight. Ellis cradled Fiona as Akiko sat in the back silently and no one said a thing. Despite arguing with the pilot, they could not go back with that many infected closing in. And they had left too fast to put her out of the eventual misery.

Something foreign clumped in his throat and suddenly the pistol at his hip grew heavy yet welcoming.

"She's gone..."