Oh yes, you read right. This is the last installment of the 5 moments series. As to not be entirely confused about what's happening, I recommend reading the first two. Yes those are out of order too, but it'll make sense trust me. Anyway, I hope you enjoy!


During the two months of driving and occasionally battling their way through California, Troy had kept a close eye on Annie and Jeff. Well, he kept his eye on them as best as he could. With only three people, the division of duties was difficult to divide up. Which led to Troy freaking out when he found Annie feeding Ben, her staying behind while Jeff and Troy went off in search of supplies. Annie argued that she couldn't just neglect Ben and let him starve. Jeff sided with her. This led Troy to storm off, taking Ben with him to the back of the RV and slamming the door.

It wasn't until they were deep in the Oregon wilderness that Troy began to trust Jeff and Annie again.

"I don't blame you," Annie told Troy while the two of them went hunting, "it was ridiculous, but I don't blame you for how you acted."

"Better safe than sorry," Troy replied, adjusting his quiver of arrows and a pack, "who's taking perch?"

The three of them came up with a new system of hunting. One would climb up to a high point and observe from above while the other would hunt low. If they were lucky, they would come back from a hunt with twice the game.

"You do it this time," Annie responded, "I've been getting better with shooting squirrels and rabbits."

"Wouldn't it be awesome if we got a bear or a deer for once," Troy looked around for the tallest tree.

"If the two of us alone can drag one back, it would be great," Annie replied, pointing upward, "that looks like a good tree. It's sturdy enough."

Troy nodded, "Before I go up, there's something that's been bugging me."

Annie tilted her head in confusion, "Okay?"

"What's up with you and Jeff," Troy asked, unraveling a rope from the pack.

"What do you mean?"

"Is there something going on between you guys?"

Annie sighed, "No. There isn't."

"Are you su-"

"Yes. Positive. It would be horrible timing for a relationship and the only thing on my mind is for the rest of us to survive. We need to do that first."

"Sorry I asked," Troy replied, securing the rope to the tree before tying a knot to his belt.

Annie narrowed her eyes, "You asked that to distract me from the fact that you have a rope. Where did you get that?"

"You remember that couple we ran into at the Oregon border?"

"You stole it from them!?"

"I didn't steal it from them."

Annie's eyes widened as she reached for her walkie, "Jeff, did you steal something from that couple we met at the border?"

"...Troy is using the rope isn't he?"

"Why did you steal it from those people?!"

"You saw her fiancé. He was changing, they had no chance."

"That doesn't mean-"

"Annie, his eyes were already yellowing and that 'cut' on his arm was black and looked a lot like a bite. They wouldn't have lasted another hour."

"But-"

"You want us to survive right? Having a rope helps."

Annie gave Troy a glowering look as she spoke into the walkie, "We're going to have a conversation about this later."

"Yes, ma'am," Troy and Jeff both replied as Annie clipped the walkie back at her side.

"You, take point," Annie pointed as she drew her gun and cocked it, "I'm off to hunt rabbits."

Troy nodded, hurriedly climbing up the tree as she stalked off. Once she was far enough, she slowed down her walking. She knew she had to be as quiet as possible if she wanted get any game. As she stepped carefully through the wet ground, she heard rustling to her left. Annie snapped her head in that direction and stilled for a moment, listening for movement. She bolted toward the trees after hearing footsteps, coming to a stop when she found nothing behind the low hanging branches.

"Annie, come back. You're out of my sight."

Annie rolled her eyes and picked up her walkie, "I think I might have found a deer. I need to follow it."

"Don't do this," Troy pleaded.

"I'm not losing my mind, I'm trying to get food for us," Annie said, "I'll let you know if I need help. Or if I'm really in danger, I'll scream."

"Be careful," Jeff's voice cracked in.

"I will," Annie put her walkie away and went forward, hearing a twig snap further ahead.

She went back to her slow careful walk, knowing she was close to her prey. That's when she saw it. A shadow, right in front of her. Annie raised her gun, taking on three steps before something sharp clamped down on her right leg and brought her down to the forest floor. Crying out, she glanced down and saw she was caught in a bear trap whose teeth were sinking further into her leg.

"She's in the trap," Annie heard whispers around her, "she's in the trap. We have dinner. We have dinner."

"TROY," Annie shouted in desperation, fear swelling inside of her chest, "TROY!"

A group of wild men and women jumped out of bushes and closed in on her. Their faces were covered in mud like war paint. They all donned leaves, grasses, and other sorts of plant life for crude clothing. When she noticed one of the women wearing a necklace made of human teeth, Annie knew there was a possibility that her teeth would be strung on that necklace if Troy didn't get here soon.

"She's pink and meaty," she heard one voice say, "perfect for filleting."

"She's calling for a friend. We need to call for our own," Another voice had said.

Annie hastily fired off a shot at one of the wild people, a man screaming and clutching stomach as he fell back. A younger man went to his side to look at the wound.

"ENEMY INCOMING," The woman with the necklace yelled, Annie hearing the rotten ones moving to her left.

"She's a fighter. We need to fix that," a red-haired woman reached down and wrestled the gun out of Annie's hand, tossing it away.

"ANNIE!"

"TROY! WATCH OUT, THERE ARE ROTTEN ONES," Annie shouted, remembering in her panic that rotten ones didn't care for Troy.

"You can warn your friend all you want, but he's outnumbered," the two women laughed heartily.

The two wild women stopped laughing when they saw a fire blazing to the left of them, burning the rotten ones and everything else in its path.

"Don't underestimate us," Annie fired back, pushing herself up and pulling out a spare pistol and pointing to the woman with the necklace of teeth.

The two women ran off in separate directions, the young man dragging away his injured friend as fast as he could out of the burning greenery.

"Troy," Annie called, "where are you?"

"I'm right here," Troy responded, running up to her from behind.

"You had to use the molotov in the middle of the forest?!"

"I didn't have anything else on me! Besides, I just saved you from those crazy people!"

"I am grateful for that, but now we're in the middle of a wildfire! Help me out of this bear trap and we can get out of here quicker!"

Troy got down to the forest floor, putting his full weight on both sides of the trap until it opened. Annie stepped out of the trap, careful not to lean back on her injured leg.

"Do you need hel-"

Troy's sentence was cut short by a gunshot. He crumpled to the ground as he clutched his shoulder. Annie spun around, ignoring the searing pain she felt, and fired off a round. The red-haired woman fell to her knees as Annie's gun slipped out of her hand, blood pouring through the bullet hole between her eyes. She spun back around and picked up Troy, swinging his right arm around her as she gripped his waist.

"Stay with me," Annie pleaded to Troy as she picked up her walkie, "Jeff, Troy has been shot. Get my kit out."

"I'm glad one of you responded," Jeff replied, Annie hearing the relief in his voice, "Don't tell me the two of you are in that fire."

"Yes, we are and we're getting out. Now please get my kit out and get into the driver's seat," Annie said as she started half-dragging Troy back to camp, "because this fire will spread fast."

"Just leave me," Troy said weakly.

Annie put away her walkie, "What?"

"Leave me," Troy repeated, "I'm only going to slow you down."

"I am not leaving you behind. I've lost too many people I loved and I'm not going to lose you."

Annie stumbled a bit as she scooped up her gun the red-head had taken and put it in its holster.

"What about the rotten ones…"

"Then I'll fight them off. I'm not leaving you here and you're not going to die. Not on my watch and not when I can fix you."

"You can barely walk as...as…"

"I can manage," Annie said as she hobbled on, "We're almost to the RV."

Sure enough, a few minutes later, the two of them had reached the RV. Jeff stood outside waiting for them.

"I told you to get in the driver's seat," Annie said as she and Troy reached him.

"I thought you'd need help bringing him inside," Jeff glanced down, noticing how Annie limped over to him, "your leg-"

"Troy is first priority, I'll be fine. You got my kit out right?"

"It's on the bed," Jeff answered as he helped Annie bring Troy into the RV.

"Where's Ben?"

"He's on the bed, I didn't think I had any time to get him into his car seat."

"The car seat shouldn't be in front anyway."

Annie and Jeff carefully set Troy on the bed.

"I'll keep a hold of these two, just get us out of here," Annie said as she looked out the window, "It's almost here."

Jeff nodded and went to the front of the RV, jumping into the driver's seat. Annie got into her kit, finding a clean rag she stuffed in there and pressing it down onto Troy's shoulder. She braced Ben and Troy as Jeff sped out of the burning forest, making sure she kept Troy's eyes open.

"Troy, stay awake," Annie said, keeping her tone as calm as she could.

"I'm tired…"

"I know, but you have to stay awake."

"I can't take...just a five minute nap?"

"No. Keep talking to me."

"I know what you're doing...I've seen this…"

"In movies," Annie gave him a small smile as she finished his sentence, "I watched those with you and Abed."

"Does that mean...am I…," Troy looked at her through half closed eyes.

"I already told you. You're not going to die. Not today."

Once Jeff had made it far enough from the wildfire, Annie got to work. She quickly put Ben in his carrier and opened up her kit.

"Is there anything I can do," Jeff asked as he stepped beside Annie.

"Get whatever alcohol is underneath the cabinet," Annie laid out her tools before looking to Troy, "there isn't any anesthetic."

Troy blinked at her a few times.

"Translation: this is going to hurt a little bit," Annie clarified.

"Which means it's going to hurt a lot," Jeff added as he went to the cabinet.

"More...or less than…," Troy's eyes drifted over to the bullet wound.

"Less," Annie assured him.

"Got it," Jeff came back holding up a bottle of vodka.

"Give him a bit of that in small doses and keep him talking," Annie instructed.

Jeff cradled Troy's head in his lap, giving him a shot of vodka as Annie's forceps dug into the bullet hole. Troy howled as the forceps moved around in his wound, pain shooting straight through his body.

"You said this would hurt," Troy swallowed another shot of vodka, "less than the bullet!"

"Sorry," Annie apologized.

"Troy, focus on me," Jeff said, trying to divert his attention away from the pain, "what happened out there?"

"Annie got out of my sight," Troy said, more awake and alert from the endorphins rushing through his system, "she said she was following a deer. I climbed down and followed her."

Jeff's eyes went to Annie, who finally pulled the bullet out.

"It's out," Annie said to Troy, avoiding Jeff's look and dropping the bullet into a small dish from her kit, "now to stitch you up."

"Well…," Jeff looked at her expectantly.

Annie sighed as she got the sutures from her kit, "Yes. I thought I was following a deer. I was wrong."

"Annie."

She clenched her teeth when he said her name in that particular tone. The tone of 'Annie, don't hold back on me.' 'Annie, no secrets are allowed in this group, that's what you told us.'

"It wasn't a deer," She finally answered, ignoring Troy's hisses as she cleaned the wound and began stitching it, "I fell for a trap. There!"

"Who-"

"Cannibals. Four of them. They had an alliance with the rotten ones and sent them after Troy."

"But he's not-"

"Of course he isn't bitten, like they would anyway, he threw a molotov at them. That started the wildfire. He freed me from the bear trap and one of the cannibals got a hold of my gun and shot him. That's what happened okay? Don't give me a lecture about it, I know I shouldn't have gone away from sight. Just spare me that conversation."

Jeff stared for a moment, "They had an alliance with the rotten ones?"

Annie nodded as she finished, tying the end of the suture in a neat knot.

"It's getting worse," Jeff said.

"All done, Troy," Annie pat his arm gently, frowning when she noticed his eyes were closed, "Troy?"

Jeff looked down, dropping the vodka on the floor beside the bed.

"Troy," Jeff gently shook him, "wake up!"

"No no no no no," Annie panicked, "you can't do this. Not now. Not when I fixed you. I can't let you!"

She made Jeff move aside, getting Troy flat on the bed. She bent his head back slightly to open the airway, hovering above him to feel his breath.

"He's not breathing," Annie told Jeff as she began chest compressions.

"Come on, Troy," Jeff pleaded beside him, "stay with us. You have to stay with us."

"I'm not letting you die," Annie moved up to exhale into his mouth before moving back to chest compressions, "Not today. Not today!"