An idea. A beginning, maybe. Or just a standalone piece?
A light noise. A shuffle...
Max raised her crossbow in a swift movement, pointed it in front of her. With bated breath she waited. She was completely silent.
The shuffle came closer.
She waited. No use in drawing attention to herself. She didn't want to waste an arrow.
Well, she'd go and retrieve it anyway. But... No need to make more of a mess than necessary.
Suddenly the noise stopped. Max acted quickly. She emerged out of the shadow and was ready to shoot, when a hand stopped her.
"Geez, Alec!" she hissed angrily. "I could have killed you, you know?" She batted his hand away and lowered her weapon, staring at him. She expected him to smile at her, possibly even laugh at her, making fun of her for always being so 'uptight.'
"Relax, Max. Not every noise and movement means it's one of them. You do realize there's still quite a few of us left, right?" he had once said to her when she had almost shot him. He loved to sneak up on her. One of these days she would shoot him. He was just too careless; and she was just too... trigger-happy. Or that's what Alec called it. She preferred to consider it common sense.
In a world crawling with what could only be described as zombies, you had to shoot before asking questions.
Right now, though, Alec didn't seem in the mood to joke around. He stared at her, all serious and concerned. Cold dread crept up Max's spine.
"What?"
"It's Logan, Max," Alec muttered. He barely opened his mouth. Max could feel the tension coming off of him. She knew what it meant. Of course she did. Yet, stupidly, she had to ask; just to make sure. "What are you saying?"
She raised her face up to his, searching his eyes. The darkness was almost impenetrable. Yet she knew. Strange, she thought. For the longest time she hadn't seen it, but now it was always there. The vulnerability, the pain. She couldn't even tell how much of it was Manticore, and PsyOps, and Reindoctrination, and how much of it was what came after. After he was set free. After the end of the world; after the meteor, and after the plague. After the deaths of most of their friends.
After the walkers had started to take over the city.
Alec's rough voice jolted her out of her thoughts. "He got bit."
He didn't need to say any more. She knew what it meant.
"He's still alive..."
Max closed her eyes.
Bit, yet alive. Somehow, that always made it worse.
"Is he..."
"Conscious, yeah. He knows what's happening. Max. He knows you and him... He wants to see you anyway. Just... One last time..."
Max still couldn't open her eyes. She clenched her jaw, hard, and nodded. She felt tears burn and roll down her cheeks. The crossbow hung from her arm, almost forgotten, when suddenly she felt Alec's arms around her.
For a split second she tensed and wanted to push him away. Instead, she allowed him to hold her.
His smell, his warmth... She wanted to stay with him like that forever. Ignore the world around them.
"We should go, Maxie," Alec urged softly. "He doesn't have much time..."
Finally, she opened her eyes again, they let go of each other and she looked at him. 'Let's go,' he mouthed and squeezed her hand.
Logan would be gone, soon. She'd have to make sure he didn't turn. One last thing she could do for him... One last, final goodbye...