Unwelcome

The smell of smoke caused Anna to snap awake.

Jumping up, she pulled the knife from the sheath around her thigh to combat anything that might have caused the fire, whether it be a clumsy animal seeking refuge in the night, or even a marauder that crept in, trying to take what wasn't theirs and cover their tracks. Anna's eyes widened when all she found was the west side of the trading post ablaze from top to bottom; the west side containing the only way out. Frantically, Anna threw her knife aside and rushed over to a still sleeping Elsa. Olaf lay asleep as well, sprawled across Elsa like a small, furry blanket.

"Elsa," Anna said sternly, pushing on the blonde's shoulder. "Wake up! There's-"

In a flash, Elsa sprung from her bag, overtaking Anna in a single swift motion (causing Anna to squeal), and wound up on top of the redhead, a hand pressing down on her chest and the other held a gun to her head. After breathing heavily for a moment, Elsa snapped back to reality and found her eyes were locked with Anna's very blue, and very terrified eyes.

"Oh my god," Elsa huffed as she put the gun back into its holster. "Anna, I'm so sorry, I had no idea what wa-"

"Worry about it later," Anna said austerely, cutting her off. "We have a bigger problem right now!"

Elsa's brow furrowed. "Wait, what?"

As if on cue, a few pieces of the roof on the west side of the house fell to the floor, covering the exit with flaming pieces of wood, cutting off all access to the exit.

"Oh," Elsa said, standing up and pulling Anna off of the ground as she rose. "We do have a bigger problem."


Olaf barked wildly at the flames as Anna and Elsa hurriedly secured their gear.

"Yeah, Olaf," Anna said loudly. "We know there's a fire!"

"He's just being a dog," Elsa said calmly as she slipped her backpack on.

"Well, I sure wish dogs could carry stuff."

Olaf's barking didn't cease.

"You know," Elsa said, placing what she had in her hands back down. "I just thought of something."

"What," Anna asked. "Maybe we SHOULD try and make Olaf carry something?"

"No," Elsa chuckled. "How many exits do we have?"

"Uh, one."

"Uh huh, and can we get to it right now?"

"Not unless you wanna get scorched," Anna joked, her voice rising in pitch as she spoke, still grabbing her gear.

"So why are we grabbing our stuff if we can't get out?"

Anna stopped suddenly and sighed, her somewhat chipper look turned bleak as she dropped her backpack on the floor. "We are so fucking retarded."

"You said it, not me."

Olaf barked furiously at the fire still.

Anna and Elsa both looked over to face the dog, realizing now that it wasn't the fire that he was barking at. There, through a small hole in the wall, both girls saw a figure walking away from the fire he had set, and was only visible in the wee hours of the morning because of the torch he or she carried.

"That son of a bitch," Elsa said, pulling her pistol out of its holster, trying to line up the sights on the figure before putting her finger on the trigger.

Anna swatted the gun out of focus, causing Elsa to give her a glare that she wouldn't soon forget.

"Look," Anna said, trying to be diplomatic. "If you shoot that guy, then yeah, great, he's dead and we can take his stuff, but a horde will have heard that shot and then you have to shoot a lot more. It'll be a never ending cycle with us fighting the uphill battle."

Elsa sighed, knowing that Anna was right.

"Plus, you wanna beat the heck out of that guy don't you," Anna questioned, already knowing the answer.

Elsa nodded, keeping an eye on the retreating figure. "But how do we get out of here?"

"Already on that!"

Elsa turned around to see Anna, still with a large amount of gear on, holding the stump that Elsa sat on the night before over her head. The redhead threw the stump with a hearty "HAR-UMF," sending the stump through the air and into the hole in the wall where the figure was barely visible. The hole opened greatly, weakened by the fire that was near it, and Anna turned to face Elsa.

"Are you ready?"

Elsa nodded, understanding what was about to happen, and letting a small smile slide across her lips as she took notice of how she was about to do what usually happens in action movies.

Anna suddenly sprinted from her position, barreling towards the hole in the wall before making shoulder-first contact with it as she felt the heat and strength of the flames just a few inches away from her. Through the hole she came bursting through, Elsa right behind her, and following the blonde was Olaf. Anna hit the ground with a thud, while Elsa somersaulted into a position on one knee, her pistol in hand as she scouted the area around them.

Elsa scanned her surroundings, pointing her gun in all directions to see if she could see the fire starting mystery figure.

She saw nothing.

Everything was calm, and the only thing that could be heard was the fire and the creaking and snapping noises emitting from the house behind them. Elsa sighed, putting the gun back into its holster and propping herself on one arm on the knee that was raised, taking in the silence.

That was until Anna came rolling in front of Elsa, her shirt engulfed in flames.


"SHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHIT"

Elsa frantically looked about for something to distinguish Anna whilst she rolled about in the dirt, causing Olaf to go into a barking frenzy. Finally, after finding nothing good for retarding the flames, Elsa took off her overshirt in a single motion, and slung the shirt down furiously at Anna.

"Hold still!"

"ICAN'TI'MONFIRE," was Anna's reply.

Elsa's shirt was doing good, as it extinguished most of the flames before it too caught on fire.

In a panic, Elsa ripped off her undershirt, exposing her bra, and began to do the same thing as before, this time getting rid of all the flames. The blonde fell to her knees, huffing and puffing as she tried to regain her breath. She looked down at the redhead, trying to evaluate what kind of damage might have occurred to the girl's body.

There was just a few scraps of Anna's shirt left, barely enough to be used to wipe food from someone's face. Anna's skin was red, and Elsa knew that she was burned, but could only guess how badly.

"You alive, Anna?"

The redhead remained motionless. "Yeah, I'm alive." She gave a small cough. "Well-done, but alive."

Elsa ran her hand through her hair, smiling as she looked down at Anna. "Good. You gotta stay alive, remember?"

"How could I forget?"

Olaf, behind Elsa now, growled at the woods surrounding them.

Elsa pulled her gun from her holster and spun around to find the barrel of her gun pointed at a man after hearing a twig snap. He had long, blonde hair and brown eyes, a muscular build, and was relatively tall. He wore a black hoodie and black beanie; his jeans tore and his workboots looking like they've seen better days. The man was likely in his twenties, and was unarmed. He approached, carefully, but seemingly unalarmed by the gun pointed at his chest and the husky growling at him. He looked worried. Concerned, even.

Regardless, Elsa tightened the grip on her pistol.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you on the spot," Elsa cried out, doing all she could to not pull the trigger due to the events that just occurred.

"Well," the man started, stopping in his tracks and putting his hand to his chin and pulling out an ice pick, twirling it around his wrist by a lanyard attached to the bottom of it. "I did happen to take care of the creatures that lurked around here while you two, uh… Struggled."

Elsa started to snarl.

"Plus, as a bonus," the man started again, "I got to see you strip and beat up another girl." The man bent over from laughter. "Man," he said, shaking his said and smiling, "it was just like late-night television all over again."

Elsa stood up, pulling her other pistol out.

"Alright meathead," Elsa began, "I don't have time for your shit. Tell me why you're here. Why did you dispose of the corpses?"

"And if I refuse to tell you," the man asked, crossing his arms again and leaning on one leg.

Elsa pulled the hammers back on both pistols.

"Message received," the man said, his posture fading. "One at a time, so the reason I'm here is because I saw a fire, so I came to it. The reason why I killed those zombies was because, honestly, you looked like you needed help. Your dog's barking was attracting these things so I killed them while you distinguished your friend there," he said, pointing his pick at Anna. "It really was quite the show."

"Uh huh," Elsa began, unmoved. "And what did you plan on doing once you made sure we were safe?"

The man reached his hand into his beanie, scratching his hair and looking up, thinking. "I dunno… Maybe ask if they needed someone to travel with? The more the merrier, right?"

"Wrong," Elsa retorted, coldly.

"Ouch."

"Thank you for your help, but we don't need you. We need to get to the city."

The man's eyes widened. "I'm from the city! I can help you!"

Elsa shook her head. "She's from the city," the blonde said, motioning towards Anna who appeared to be passed out on the ground. "She knows her way around. And right now, she looks like she needs my help. So either go back where you came from, or I can shoot you."

The man put his hands up. "Alright, alright. Don't shoot me. I'll get back on my horse." The man started to walk off, but turned around and waved at Elsa. "Name's Kristoff, should you ever need me."

"Goodbye, Kristoff."

Kristoff laughed as he turned back around. "You should work on that attitude of yours."

And just like that, he was gone. Back into the trees he went, and it wasn't moments after when you could hear him yell, "HYAH," and ride off on his horse.

Elsa looked down at Olaf, then down to Anna, who was barely breathing.

"Well buddy," Elsa said, sighing as she squatted down and petted Olaf, causing the husky to give Elsa an affectionate, wet lick on her cheek, making the blonde laugh as she wiped off the slobber. "Let's take care of her again."


Elsa watched Anna uncertainly, afraid of what she might say if she woke. The blonde shook her head, turning her attention back to the small fire that she had built in Anna's tent.

It was still dark, just turning into a new day when Anna had woke from the fire. The bugs sang and cried out for each other as the "hoo" of an owl could be heard in the distance. The wind created a soothing music as if blew through the green leaves and tall grass of the woods, as if it were singing along with the bugs. The air was thick with dew as it tried to cling to the ground. Olaf lay in Elsa's lap, sleeping soundly as he enjoyed the rays of warmth that their diminutive, but effective, fire had to offer. Anna lay in a sleeping roll, bandaged and dressed in soot-free clothing, away from the fire. Elsa thought that she probably had had enough flames for one day.

But now, all Elsa could think about was how badly she felt towards Anna.

All Elsa had done to her was endanger her. From the time that they had first met, Elsa was always a threat to Anna. When Anna tried to wake Elsa, the blonde initiated an attack the likes of which Anna would have never thought Elsa would do…

Like a killer. Elsa sighed and shook her head, looking back over to Anna. That's all she probably thinks of you. But then again, that's what you're good at, right? Killing.

Anna rustled, grimacing in her sleep as she rolled over on her burnt side.

You're a monster. A cold-hearted fucking monster.

Anna rose, much to Elsa's surprise, as she held her side that she had rolled over on.

"Hey Elsa," Anna slurred, still drowsy from her interrupted slumber, "can I have some water or alcohol or a gun or something?"

Elsa nodded, immediately moving to get her canteen from her bag, waking Olaf in the process. The husky watched as Elsa carelessly threw things out of her bag until she found her water source, handing it over to the redhead.

"Here," Elsa said, handing the canteen to Anna, as well as two capsules of acetaminophen, "take these too. It's not alcohol, but it'll work, right?"

Anna took the water and drugs from Elsa, taking a huge gulp of water before swallowing the pills. She handed over the canteen to Elsa, laying back down.

"That was good water."

Elsa smiled as she sat the canteen down. "Is there anything else you need?"

"Sleep," the redhead said blurrily.

"Well, how about you sleep, and I'll keep watch? I'm not tired anyway."

"Are you sure, Elsa?"

"Positive. Now sleep. You're gonna need the energy."

There was a silence for a while, and Elsa began to pet Olaf as he had laid back down in Elsa's lap, soaking in the warmth from the small flickers of flame.

"You wanna know something, Elsa?"

The blonde jumped slightly at the sudden interruption of peace. "What," Elsa asked, putting a smile on her face when she turned her head to see a smiling, almost delirious (probably due to a lack of sleep and combining that with pain medicine) Anna with her hair messy and her sapphire eyes brightening her whole face.

"You've been the nicest person to me since this shit started. You've taken me in, fed me, clothed me, taken care of me when I'm hurt, and you've only tried to kill me once. No, make it twice now," the redhead said, causing Elsa to blush and cover her face. "And not only that, but you're helping me on my journey. I just don't know how to repay you."

Elsa could practically feel her cheeks on fire.

Okay, here's a recap: EVERYTHING YOU THOUGHT SHE THOUGHT ABOUT YOU WAS WROOOOONG.

"Oh," Elsa said, averting her face from Anna's to hide her blushing cheeks, "I'm sure we can think of something."

"Mm. I'm sure we can." Anna rolled back over in her bedroll. "Goodnight, Elsa."

"Goodnight Anna."

Elsa turned her head from Anna's general direction to look at Olaf, whose gray eyes stared into Elsa's blue eyes.

"What," Elsa mouthed to the dog, throwing her hands in the air.

Olaf rolled his eyes and yawned, laying his head back down into Elsa's lap.

Elsa rubbed her hand through Olaf's thick, white fur as she closed her eyes.

Maybe you aren't the monster you think you are.

Maybe.


There's chapter 3! Whew.

Sorry for the delay, but I've been pretty busy with trying to get things packed up and ready to go before I ship out for basic training.

Speaking of which, due to that, I WILL NOT be able to post on either of my stories for over 70 days. Yikes.

Regardless, I'll get to work on Chapter 4, and I promise there will be a little bit of conflict happen between the girls and the undead. Give you something juicy to look forward to.

Anyway, please Fav/Follow!

- FHDB