A/N: So this is the new story! I'm excited. It's a dystopia thing and the thing people are infected with is similar to the disease from The Scorch Trials. I'll try to make the chapters longer than the last story. Last warning: beware of my language. FloraIrmaTylee did something that I think is brilliant with each of her chapters, she put song lyrics at the beginning. I'm gonna do the same thing, but at the beginning and the end. So, here's my new story.
"You know I can't afford the medicine that feeds what I need, so baby what if I can't forget you?" -Caraphernelia by Pierce the Veil.
Disclaimer: No characters belong to me. They belong to Disney and Dreamworks.
"Incoming, 7 o'clock!"
Elsa whipped around as the hobbled man lurched from the shadows screeching and haphazardly swinging a rusted knife at the girls face. She jumped back and expertly brought the gun up to shoot him once in the head.
"Let's go. That noise had to have attracted more." Elsa said, motioning to her group to follow her.
"Why'd you fucking shoot him then? You have a machete." Merida pointed out as the group broke into a light sprint. Elsa just shrugged.
"Conserve your breath, Merida, we're going back to the safe house." Merida grunted in frustration and sped up, pushing ahead of the group. You could say Elsa was the leader of the group. Raspy screeches rose up from the alleyways.
"Fuck." Elsa muttered before leading her posse down an empty alley. "Fire escape. It's too dangerous to go on the roads." The four climbed the ladder, Elsa being the last so she could haul the ladder up behind her. They quickly assessed their situation; there was another fire escape ladder on the building to their right, but even if they could make the jump, it looked about ready to fall off. The last thing they needed was for someone to take a fall from three stories up.
"Fuck." Elsa repeated. "Merida, crossbow." Merida nodded before swinging her crossbow up to take aim. "Anna, spot her." Anna moved into position to point out the Infected as they approached. Merida mowed them down but she was steadily running out of ammo.
"Stop." Elsa commanded after five minutes of this. "We're gonna have to use bullets. If you run out and there's still more we won't be able to go retrieve them. Arrows are hard to find these days." She ran a hand through her hair, pushing back the tangled platinum blonde locks as she paced back and forth across the roof.
"Astrid." Elsa motioned for her to take aim. She moved to the corner of the roof and brought her rifle up. Darkness began to fall, but the Infected kept coming.
"Fuck. What're we gonna do?" Elsa bit her lip hard. "I'm going down there. Merida, come with me."
"That's suicide and you know it." Anna spat.
"At the very least you two can escape. Merida needs her arrows and someone needs to get her back."
"No!"
"We aren't discussing this, Anna!" The older sister yelled. She nodded her head towards Merida and the two descended the ladder. Elsa unsheathed her curved machete and held the weapon in front of her in a defensive position. Balls of the feet, light on your toes, bounce back and forth, lean forward just slight- a screech came from deep in the alley the two stood in as a woman whose face was partially ripped away heaved forward, swiping with fingernails so long they could have been considered talons. Elsa rose to the challenge, swiftly decapitating the creature that was once human. She rolled her shoulders before joining Merida at the mouth of the alley. They quickly advanced to the first body. Merida ripped the arrow out with a disgusting slurp sound that Elsa had never quite gotten used to. They repeated the process with the rest of the arrows. On the second to last body, a young boy, probably in his early teens, charged out of a smashed window. He tripped over his own feet, smashing his head on the concrete. When he got up, as though the fall hadn't ever happened, his forehead had a prominent indent and it was gushing blood. Elsa moved in for the kill, but he was faster than she expected. He leaped onto her, causing them to fall to the ground as his nails carved into her skin. He shrieked into her face, saliva flying out of his mouth in strings. Suddenly the weight was gone and Merida was there, standing with her own machete. She cocked her hip and offered Elsa a hand. Bloody as it was, Elsa took it and together the two sprinted back to the building.
"Come down! We really need to get back to the safehouse!" Elsa called up to Anna and Astrid, trying not to yell. They climbed down and the troop of four broke into a sprint. Once night fell, the Infected would have the advantage. They raced as fast as they could, panting as their lungs begged for air. Usually they would be conscious about the noise their feet made when they collided with the ground, but they couldn't afford to be cautious. Twenty minutes if they kept their pace up. They hit the highway, vaulting cars where the ancient machines blocked the roads. The tall skyscrapers of the old, crumbling city grew smaller behind them as they continued to push on. Ten minutes. They reached the suburbs. The houses slowly grew further and further apart as the group began to slow their pace. Eventually they stopped at an old playground in the middle of nowhere.
"I can't. I need to breath." Anna gasped, bending around to rest her hands on her knees. Astrid rolled her eyes but copied Anna's action.
"Fine. One minute. We're close." Elsa agreed before nearly collapsing on the seat of a seesaw. The other side flung up, raining rust flakes on the ground below. The girls faces were red and their breath hung in the air as mist with each exhale. Merida ripped her pack off her back and produced a water bottle. She took tiny sips, knowing better than to fill herself up. As soon as she returned it to its place, Elsa stood up and the minute was gone as quickly as it had started.
"Time to go." Anna groaned. "Stay behind if you like, but good luck when the Infected come calling." She straightened and the group broke into a sprint again, Elsa trying to get it up to the initial pace.
"Do I have to say it again? Hurry the fuck up." Elsa called from 5 meters ahead. The other three gave each other looks before pushing their legs harder. They were used to this kind of intense exercise, Elsa made sure of it, but laziness was a major obstacle. Five minutes. suburbs turned into countryside. Long farms stretched out and the occasional clumps of houses became more and more rundown than the once luxurious buildings of the city. Two minutes. Seconds stretched into hours. Merida stopped to pick up a stray arrow that had fallen from her sheath. Elsa had the safehouse in sight. She broke into a faster sprint, coaxing the last bit of energy she had as the others followed. They ran up the dirt driveway and burst through the door. They held their breath, listening for the shuffling of feet, anything to indicate other life forms in the house. Silence. They allowed themselves heavy breathes. Elsa turned around and bolted the door shut. They split up and practiced the daily routine of checking every window for cracks in the glass or a nail that had fallen from the boards they had used to further secure the house. Elsa wandered into the kitchen and opened a cabinet in search of canned peaches. Nothing. She froze, specifically recalling seeing them that morning. She checked the other cabinets. Four cans. Four cans missing. She drew her M98 and began to tiptoe through the house in search of the rest of her team. A noise behind her. She turned around rapidly, bringing the gun up to aim as she did. A young, muscular man with white hair and a similar idea stood there with what looked to be an assault rifle. The two stood like statues, eyes locked on each other.
"Hey Jack-" Another man wandered into the scene. "Shit." He said, stopping in his tracks as Elsa turned the gun on him, then back to Jack, glaring.
"Make one move and I'll fucking shoot." She threatened. The one named Jack shrugged, keeping his body stiff.
"Two against one, I'd say the odds are in our favor."
"What was that?" Merida's voice came from behind Elsa as she walked up with her crossbow already in position. "Your move, boy."
"Flynn." Jack said. 'Flynn' pulled out a rifle of his own.
"Put the fucking gun down. I swear to fucking God I will shoot." Elsa's voice became deadly.
"How about we all put the guns down?" Jack suggested.
"Be my guest." Elsa replied. He dropped his gun, turned on the safety, and placed it on the table.
"Not gonna cut it, slide that over here." Elsa ordered. Jack laughed.
"Oh come on now, let's be reasonable. What about this?" Jack put both hands up and motioned for Flynn to be the same.
"Okay, where are the others in your group?" Elsa asked, not lowering her gun.
"What are you t-"
"Don't try to bullshit me. There are four cans missing. No one can afford to be wasteful nowadays, you didn't eat two each, so I'll let you try again." Elsa paused to tighten her grip on the gun. "Where the fuck is the rest of your group?" She snarled. A floorboard creaked behind her. She turned around and saw two men standing behind her. Her fist connected with someone's nose: she could feel the bone crunch but didn't have time to perceive the pain left in her hand from the impact.
"Got it." Elsa muttered to Merida, who was still focused on Jack and Flynn. She dropped her M98, but it caught itself on the strap slung sideways across Elsa's chest. She pulled out a smaller handgun from a holster strapped around her upper thigh and pointed it directly into the face of the man who wasn't writhing in pain.
"On your fucking knees." Elsa commanded. The man obliged and kneeled in front of Merida on the ground. Elsa kept her handgun pointed at him but picked up her M98 in one hand and ordered the other man to follow in his friend's footsteps. He accompanied the first man on his knees with his hands behind his head.
"Thought you could trick us? Give me one reason why I shouldn't shoot them right now." Elsa demanded. "Actually, I'll give you a second to think about it." She added.
"Anna, Astrid!" Elsa yelled.
"What?" They answered.
"Get the fuck down here." Elsa decreed. "And come with guns drawn." She added. Their footsteps could be heard coming down the stairs. SHe took the moment to observe the two men on the ground. One had shaggy brown hair and a prosthetic leg. He was relatively scrawny. The other one had shaggy blonde hair and a very broken nose. He looked strong and tall, Elsa wasn't sure if she could take him one on one. Astrid and Anna appeared at Elsa's sides.
"Anna, train your gun on them." She gestured to the kneeling men. "Astrid, him." She pointed at Jack.
"Aw, I feel special." Elsa scowled. She walked up to the man with brown hair and relieved him of his weapons, then did the same with the blonde haired man.
"I want your names and ages. All of you, now." Elsa demanded.
"Hiccup. 18." The one with the prosthetic leg spoke.
"Don't fuck around. I want your name." Elsa growled.
"It's Hiccup! I promise."
"Whatever. Next."
"Kristoff, 18." The blonde one said.
"Jack, 19." Jack introduced.
"Flynn, 19." Flynn announced.
"Okay then. Well, I gave you plenty of time. Tell me why I shouldn't shoot." Elsa reinstated.
"We can help you." Jack stated simply. Elsa choked back a laugh.
"Oh yeah? And how's that? How is more mouths to feed helping? How is more lives to defend helping? How is more bodies to supply beds for helping?" Elsa scoffed.
"With more people you can have more hands to gather food, more firepower to defend those lives, beds don't matter. We have sleeping bags."
"Are you making me an offer?"
"Possibly. Think about it." Elsa did; she thought, she analyzed, she assessed, then she looked Jack in the eyes.
"I'm the leader. That means everything I say, you do. Can you put up with that, snow boy? And if you so much as take the safety off that goddamned gun while it's pointed towards one of my friends or turn a butter knife in their direction, I'll blow your fucking head off." Elsa concluded.
"Deal." Jack replied immediately. Elsa was surprised to hear it. She had been positive he'd say no. He extended his hand. Elsa looked at it.
"I don't trust strangers. You sleep here." And with that, she jerked forward, grabbed Jack's gun, and pulled it close to her body.
"I'll be taking this until I feel like you won't try anything. Yours too." She said to Flynn. He reluctantly handed it over.
"We're going into the city tomorrow. All of us. Get some sleep, we leave at 10am."
"Some people should stay back." Jack contradicted.
"I don't trust anyone of you for a single fucking second. I'll be damned if I trust you to watch the house while I'm gone." Jack surrendered. Elsa and the other girls retreated to the rooms upstairs. She couldn't help but feel the hairs on the back of her neck jolt up as she turned her back on the intruders.
A/N: Well, shit. I've typed for two and a half hours now. It's 12am and I really need to get some fucking sleep. My back hurts from hunching over. Yeah here's the ending song lyrics, it'll always be from the same song by the way.
"What if I can't forget you? I'll burn your name into my throat. I'll be the fire that'll catch you. What's so good about picking up the pieces? None of the colors ever light up anymore in this hole." -Caraphernelia by Pierce the Veil.
Until the next chapter,
Midna~