Shit.

Shit shit shit fuck shit shit- she mentally cursed herself as she barely avoided tripping over a tree root. Looking over her shoulder, she saw that not only were they gaining on her, it appeared that their numbers were growing.

Fucking perfect.

Suffice to say, Rin wasn't exactly having a great day.

She'd woken up to the sounds of screaming nearby- that nice family she'd encountered on the road the day before. They'd met, and immediately mistook each other for walkers- had a good laugh about it after. They'd generously spared her some food, and although she'd had nothing material to give them in return, she'd played with the children and watched over them while their parents got some much needed rest. When night had fallen, she'd thanked them again, wished them luck in their travels, and they'd parted ways.

Disturbed from her sleep, she'd had no time to investigate the source of the noise- not that it would have been a very good idea to do so, anyway. She'd hurriedly gathered her things, and, sword in hand, rushed away in the opposite direction. She knew that their cries of pain would only attract more of those monsters.

Unfortunately, as it turned out she'd forgotten her map at her makeshift campsite, and she'd ended up completely lost. Trying to judge her location based on her surroundings, she ended up making the worst possible mistake, and wandered back towards the abandoned village she'd narrowly escaped from the day before.

Abandoned, that is, of human inhabitants. As it was, a group of beings much more sinister had recently taken residence. And let's just say she wasn't exactly keen on making their acquaintance.

She'd already been attracting unwanted attention; the autumn leaves had just begun to fall and crispen on the ground. Every step, no matter how calculated, brought forth a crunching sound that echoed through the otherwise silent forest.

In her haste to escape the pursuing hoard she'd accidentally nicked herself in the thigh with her blade as she ran. The scent of her blood attracted more pursuers, demons and walkers alike.

And now, short on sleep, malnourished, and having run for hours already, she was completely exhausted. She willed herself to keep moving forward, but felt herself losing her calculated precision; her body's movements were growing increasingly sluggish and clumsy.

She'd almost fallen three times now, and she knew that if it happened again she probably wouldn't be able to regain her footing in time. If that happened, she would be done for.

If only she was far enough ahead of the pack to climb a tree; she had her bow and a full quiver, and she'd spent the majority of the summer teaching herself how to make arrows. She wasn't very good, but they'd work in a pinch- that was before the survivor camp was overrun, and she was forced out into the wilderness alone again.

As it was, what little distance between her and the walkers was steadily decreasing, and even as she mentally screamed at herself to keep going, to not give up, she knew that it was only a matter of time.

A walker lunged at her from the side, knocking the air out of her lungs. She tumbled over to the side, rolled over, forced herself up onto her knees. She ran her sword through it's head, and stumbled back, standing up with her sword out in front of her. She pushed back her fear and began her attack on the hoard of walkers. If she was going down, she'd take as many of them with her as she could.

She thrust her sword to the right, decapitating two walkers in one swing. Again to the left, and again, and again. But still they kept coming. She cut down another walker in front, realizing too late the fatal presence of another walker behind her.

A flash of familiar green light in the corner of her eye. She blinked involuntarily at the brightness, and when she opened her eyes she was shocked to see that of all the walkers in the group, not one was left standing. Almost unable to believe what her instincts were screaming at her, she slowly turned around, desperately hoping that it wasn't a dream, that it was him, that he'd finally found her.

Golden eyes gazed into brown. She opened her mouth to say something. And promptly fainted.