A/N: From the phrase "surrounded on three sides" in a fic tree with iawenbemerry
Set before the appearance of Rosita, Abraham, and Eugene on the show.
Dead Ones surrounded them on three sides, and the other option led to a steep cliff.
"Go," Abraham growled at her, a bass rumble that hid anything but command in his voice. "I got you."
Rosita turned her back on the swarm, trusting Abraham to keep them clear, as she focused on a problem of a different sort.
"Come on, Eugene. Let's get you down."
Eugene hesitated at the edge of the cliff, not excited about the dangerous trip down. But to his credit, he kept his mouth shut. Out of shape and clearly afraid, he was still smart enough to know they were out of options.
As Eugene readied himself, Rosita dared a glance back at her companions. Abraham and Rex were a few feet apart, beating back the Dead Ones with mostly stubbornness and insanity. Abraham threw himself at the nearest with an animal yell, smashing its head into a tree trunk hard enough to shatter the skull and end it, then barrel rolled to the side before the next could get a grip.
In the momentary lull this created, Rex glanced over his shoulder to check their progress, eyes wide and a little frantic. She flashed him a cocky smile, and called out, "See you at the bottom."
He gave her a mock salute, trying to match her confidence, and threw himself into the fray.
It took every once of courage she had to leave them fighting and lower herself over the cliff edge, but Washington was what mattered. They'd lost people, and they would lose more, but if they ended this it would be worth it. She saw a flash of red hair, heard a grunt as Abraham collided with something, and then rock blocked her view for good.
"Come on, Eugene. Let's go." She braced herself against the rock, as solid a foothold as she could find, and reached her hand up to Eugene.
As they made their way down the cliff with agonizing slowness, she sent up a prayer. Let them live. Then they got too far to hear anything, and still there was no sign. She hung on, as Eugene slipped and fell a few inches, straining to keep him on the cliff face. Please, she thought, as he scrabbled to find a foothold, let it be worth it.