Elsa awoke to a confused and startled voice murmuring off to the side of the tent. She opened her eyes slowly, quickly shutting them against the morning sun, lifting a hand to rub them vigorously before slowly opening them again and blurrily focusing on Anna who was scuffling about on the ground, looking every which way, silent words on her lips, her eyes full of panic.
"Anna?" Elsa asked curiously, taken aback by her weird behavior, "What are you…"
Then she noticed something was missing from the corner of the tent. Her eyes widened in horror…
"Shit!" she gasped, getting to her knees and beginning to panic, "Shit! Shit!"
Her backpack with all the food and supplies along with Anna's Ak-47 were gone.
Dread hit her square in the chest and her heart began to hammer. She felt sick. She looked to Anna who was still scooting about across the ground, murmuring strange things into the dirt and looking around with dilated green eyes.
"A-anna?" Elsa asked, reaching out to touch the redhead, "Stop being stupid…you're acting really weird."
Then, Anna looked up and crawled towards her, resting her forehead against Elsa's and placing a hand on her shoulder. Elsa's cheeks flushed suddenly and her ears turned red. It was out of displeasure at the extremely close proximity but there was something about it that felt natural. Elsa half closed her eyes as she felt Anna's breath move across her lips. Then Anna leaned it for a kiss…
Elsa started awake from her bizarre dream into the waking world, the sudden buffet of harsh cold tundra wind waking her up faster than usual…there was something off about the atmosphere however, and Elsa blinked slowly, taking in the sight of the tent flap that had been opened and had been fluttering weekly in the wind from the intense blizzard outside…the snow had fallen about three inches thick while they slept and the blizzard was still ongoing. Wondering how the flap got open she then turned her head to look at the corner of the tent to see if the supply bag was still there…
Her eyes snapped open to see the redhead and the blonde standing there…the older man with his arm hooked under one backpack strap and the younger tensing to run.
Elsa pulled the gun out of the holster and fired immediately. Simultaneously both the redhead man and Anna screamed, one in pain, one in fear. Anna jumped awake and buried her head in Elsa's chest without thinking and the man fell to his knees clutching the arm that had been outstretched to grab the backpack. Elsa placed a protective hand over Anna's head, covering the smaller girl's ears as she turned her body to aim and fire at the blonde who had made a run for it. She hit him in the back of the leg and he fell forwards with a scream of agony.
"Fuck!" the redheaded man gasped, desperately clenching his arm, blood trickling out from between his shaking fingers, "Damn you." He looked out the open tent flap at his companion who had turned over on his back in the snow and was clutching the back of his calf, teeth clenched in pain.
"Why the hell did you think you could come back here and just steal out stuff?" Elsa demanded. She felt Anna's hands clutching at her shirt and the small whimper that escaped the girl's throat made Elsa feel both protective, angry at the two idiots who had made her whimper, and slightly disgusted.
"We do what we have to do to survive." The redhead growled in reply, his face screwed up in pain, "You trigger happy bitches."
Anna lifted her head from Elsa's chest to look out the tent flap at the man who was lying outside, the blood from his wound dripping into the snow, staining it red. She bit her lip and looked up at Elsa who was staring the man in the tent down. In the heat of the moment, it was either clouded judgment or genuine attraction that gave Anna such a rush of heat to her face, but a few seconds later it all was forgotten as Elsa moved away from her and stood slowly, walking over to the furious redhead, placing the gun against his temple.
"You and your friend will leave right now or so help me I'll kill you both." Elsa growled.
"Okay!" the blonde haired man cried from outside, "Listen, my name is Kristoff and that other douche is Hans! We're brothers, and all we ask of you is just a small bit of supplies to last us a little while." Elsa turned her head to look out at Kristoff who was crawling towards the tent, the blood gushing from the wound in his leg, "We've been so desperate for food lately that we thought this was our only option. We can't hunt for food and you had already picked that town clean by the time we got there!"
Anna felt a pang of sympathy for him.
"We've been without food for almost two weeks." Kristoff went on, "And now I'm not even sure either of us will survive much longer since you've just destroyed any chance of me ever using my leg again and you blasted a hole in my brother's arm."
"Don't try to make me look like the bad guy." Elsa snapped, "We need this food and these supplies just as much as you do, we might not be in your position, but we need it nonetheless."
"If you have any kindness left-"
"This world isn't kind." Elsa shouted and Anna winced, "This world is cruel and selfish and self-providing. I'm sorry you weren't fast enough to get this food, but if you think we owe you anything for you two being slow, then you're very wrong. I shot you both because you were stealing from us. Good cause or not it's still stealing. You would have done the exact same if you were in my position."
Kristoff lowered his head and shut his eyes, clenching his teeth in pain. Hans glared murderously at the blonde who still held him at gun point, staring maliciously back. When the redhead began to move again Elsa thrust the gun in his direction to intimidate him. He scowled and moved passed her and Anna outside where he walked to his brother and knelt down in front of him, putting his arm under his back and helping him sit up.
"It's best you fuck off as soon as possible." Elsa called from the tent, "Consider it a kindness that I shortened your miserable lives in this hell of a world!" she reached out and zipped the tent flap shut then fell back on the blanket breathlessly. She sat there a few moments, letting what she had just done sink in. Anna looked at her incredulously. When Elsa lifted her head to meet Anna's gaze she felt all the worse.
"This world is selfish, cruel, and unkind…" Anna said, "But you could've been different from the world."
"Listen." Elsa said, lifting a hand to run her fingers through her hair tiredly, "I did what was right in retrospect."
Anna then took a long moment to think about Elsa's actions. What she did was justifiable of course, but honestly, no matter what anyone did they didn't deserve to be shot.
"I didn't kill them." Elsa murmured, hugging her knees, "And we're not responsible for feeding them with OUR food if they're not going to stay and earn their keep…" she paused for a long moment, "Do you think I feel no sympathy for those two?"
Anna lowered her head.
"All my life I've been one of those people," Elsa said, "starving, just looking for some kind of help…and it pains me that I can't help them. But only to a degree. After what they did yesterday, holding us at gunpoint, threatening to rape us and then trailing us to where we slept, attempting to steal our supplies again…there's no way I would help them after that."
Anna nodded slowly in understanding.
"I'm not an unkind person." Elsa said, "I wanted to help them. But I didn't because it was the best decision for me."
"I understand." Anna sighed, "I just…see a person in need and I want to help them."
"In a normal world," said Elsa, "That would be a very good attribute to have..."
Anna smiled.
"But in this world," Elsa continued, "Kindness will get you killed."
The redhead blinked, then hugged her knees and hid her head. Elsa felt sorry for the younger girl. She hadn't known how the world worked until very recently. Lucky for her, Elsa had enough experience to try and pass on that knowledge.
Elsa watched Anna for a while as she sat there, unmoving in her position for a long while before lifting her head. Anna looked into Elsa's eyes and nodded, then looked towards the opening to the tent flap that was doing a poor job of keeping the biting cold away.
"Are we just going to sit in here and wait out the storm?" Anna asked.
"It wouldn't exactly be the best thing to walk out into a full out blizzard in the middle of the northern part of Canada now would it?" Elsa replied nonchalantly, "Yeah, we'll just wait the storm out and move once everything calms down and the snow levels out. Until then try and get warm. Hopefully it won't last too long."
Anna nodded, then wrapped the blanket around her and looked expectantly towards Elsa holding out an arm, the blanket open for her to join. Elsa shook her head and continued hugging her knees, staring straight out at the tent flap. Anna shrugged and wrapped the blanket around her tightly then plopped down on her side, her cheek hitting the cool ground and her eyes slamming shut. Although Elsa wouldn't admit it, she wanted her blanket back, but something foreign had crept into her judgment and she let the younger girl go with her blanket. She…suddenly cared how cold Anna got.
Hours passed in which the two sat together in silence. Elsa kept vigil, staring at the entrance of the tent and wondering how many zombies would freeze by the end of the day. The blizzard was certainly cold enough, anything without body heat would instantly freeze in this place. Anna was half asleep in a daze. She didn't want to fall asleep entirely because she didn't want Elsa to think she was lazy, but in reality she was absolutely exhausted due to the fact she was woken up so quickly and so violently. Her eyes fell closed every now and again but she forced herself awake the next moment. Time passed very slowly for her as she resisted sleep. The sound of the wind buffeting the tent outside and the presence of the protective woman beside her began to lull her to sleep for the final time, but before her eyes could shut completely she heard the sound of chattering teeth.
She lifted her head and looked towards the sound to see Elsa sitting in the same spot as before, holding her legs against her chest, her chin resting against her knee, her jaw quivering slightly as her teeth chattered with cold. There was a slight quiver to her arms, legs and shoulders and Anna sat up immediately. She looked down at the blanket and then back at Elsa. It was the blonde's blanket after all…
Anna soundlessly stood and walked over to Elsa, then took the blanket from off of her then placed it over the other woman's shoulders, tucking it around her so that she was covered completely. Anna hugged herself, then sat down beside her. Elsa opened her eyes and turned to look at Anna who smiled right back. She pulled the blanket around her and tucked it under her chin like she usually did.
"You know…" Anna said, tilting her head, "If we keep moving north, we're going to run out of land."
"I know." Elsa said, nodding her head, "I've thought about that." She paused, "I've been one step ahead of this pandemic for a long while. I don't see as many zombies as the other survivors because I keep moving. Without fail I always keep moving. Moving away from the infected, always staying one step ahead."
"What will happen once we reach the ocean?" Anna asked.
Elsa sighed then shut her eyes and rested her chin on her leg, once more "I don't know, Anna…I don't know."
"Well." the redhead said, ever the optimist, "We should start thinking of ideas!"
"My idea is that our lives end there." Elsa said simply, "either you and I die at the hands of zombies or you and I freeze to death in the ocean."
Anna's eyes widened suddenly and she lowered her head.
"I don't wanna die though." She said.
Elsa chuckled at her innocence.
"No one in this world truly wants to die." The blonde replied, her blue eyes locked on the entrance of the tent, "I feel uncomfortable staying in one place for so long in the daylight."
"Maybe we can just move a little bit?" Anna asked.
"Too risky." Elsa replied, "You can't see a zombie in a blizzard. They could blow right up to you and you couldn't even see or hear them until it's too late."
Almost as soon as Elsa's sentence ended, the sun shone through the heavy clouds and the snowfall lessened. Elsa looked at Anna and nodded, both of them getting to their feet quickly. Anna grabbed her assault rifle and Elsa shouldered her backpack quickly, then both stepped out into the snow. Anna looked up at the remaining snowflakes, opening her mouth to catch a few on her tongue...Elsa instantly grabbed her arm. Her grip was tight enough to make Anna wince and bite down. Her eyes watering from the stinging pain of having bit down on her tongue, Anna turned to where Elsa was looking. Her eyes widened and her hand shot up to cover her mouth in horror.
A hoard of zombies about eleven strong had come from the east and had been inches away from touching the tent before freezing completely in the blizzard's biting wind. There were too many of them for the girls to escape if they had been surprised. If it weren't for the drop of temperature, the infected would have reached the two and would've been upon them without a moment's notice. The grotesque and gruesome creatures were frozen to the icy ground in their limp, looming forms.
"Like I said," Elsa said in a whisper, "You don't see or hear them until it's too late."
the wind rustled through the trees and Anna slid her hand down to Elsa's hand, interlocking their fingers together, "I don't want to be here anymore."
"Let's move." Elsa said, immediately turning, letting go of Anna's hand. The younger girl paused for a moment to look at what would've taken her life in an instant before she followed Elsa to the tent, helped her take it down, and put it in her arms, following Elsa into the woods.
The snow proved to be slow going for the both of them. They soon were dragging their feet, tired and worn from the constant struggle to get through the snow. Elsa couldn't sing due to the fact she had to lift her leg with effort to take a single step and Anna couldn't talk because she was too exhausted to say a word. Both women simply trudged on in silence, listening to the occasional chirp of a bird from above and the recesses of the storm receding through the branches.
Hours passed as they traveled this way.
Anna reached out and placed a hand on Elsa's backpack.
"What are you doing?" Elsa asked as Anna unzipped the back compartment and pulled out the bag of beef jerky.
"Just getting a bite." Anna replied, "Want some?"
"Sure." Elsa muttered. Anna opened the bag and pulled out a piece of Jerky, then tapped Elsa's shoulder. Elsa reached up and grabbed the piece of meat, then began to chew on it slowly. Anna smiled and plodded a bit faster to walk beside Elsa.
"Sooo…do you think we can make a boat when we reach the ocean."
"What?" Elsa asked, looking at Anna like she was delusional.
"You know…a boat!" Anna repeated, tucking the bag of jerky under her right arm as she hugged herself, "I'm trying to have an open mind here."
"Hmph." Elsa grumbled, bothered slightly by Anna's optimism.
"I dunno." Anna shrugged, falling into silence again. Elsa look at her out of the corner of her eye for a few minutes before sighing tiredly and stopping in the snow.
"We can stop for a bit." Elsa said.
Anna let out a tremendous sigh and flopped down to the ground on her back, sinking into the snow. Elsa watched in amusement and sat down in front of her. Anna lifted her head and smiled at Elsa who remained stone faced. She took another piece of jerky out of the bag, put it in her mouth, threw the bag to Elsa who caught it without blinking, then laid her head back down in the snow and began to make a snow angel. Elsa chuckled silently, but warmly. There was something very, very charming about Anna, Elsa couldn't deny this. She watched as the redhead made a snow angel and then sat up, looking behind her at her work.
"That probably wasn't the best idea." She giggled, her mouth full of jerky, then shook her head free of small clumps of snow that had stuck, "You know, the cold isn't bothering me as much as it did."
"The cold never bothered me." Elsa replied tucking the dried meat back into the pack.
"Well good for you!" Anna replied smugly, standing up and placing herself down next to Elsa, "You know I still don't know your story…"
Elsa turned her head to look at Anna and shook her head slowly. Both girls pressed their lips together like the other and looked away, Anna facing her snow angel and Elsa to the woods beyond them. The redhead poked the snow with the tip of her shoe an absentmindedly wondered if she would ever get to hear Elsa's story.
Elsa felt slightly guilty. The girl had asked where she had come from and what her story was from the very beginning and there they were, three days later, she still didn't know, even though Elsa knew it was a constant itch in the back of the girl's mind. She sighed like she did so often and turned to look at Anna who was looking at her out of the corner of her eye. There was an awkward silence between the two of them. Almost like the two were both trying to think of something to say to the other, but neither of them could come up with anything good.
"Well…" Elsa said, looking down at the snow angel on the ground, "I like the little snow angel at least."
Anna smiled and hugged her knees, "You wanna have a snow ball fight?"
Elsa looked at her curiously and then found her cheeks coloring as Anna looked right back, a mischievous smile crossing her face, her eyes sparkling with excitement.
"No." Elsa answered, going against what her heart wanted, "We need to keep moving."
The light faded from Anna's eyes as Elsa stood up. She held out a hand for Anna to take in which she did. Elsa helped the younger girl to her feet, picked up the tent for her and lead the way further into the forest. Anna looked behind her at the snow angel and sighed sadly, then lowered her head and trudged on behind the blonde.
They traveled for another three hours before Anna had to stop again.
"God damn." Elsa sighed, sitting down beside Anna, "What I wouldn't give to be out of this fucking place. You have no idea how many times I've had to plow my way through this stuff to get where I needed to go."
"How long have you been out here exactly?" Anna asked, her hit, labored breaths billowing in front of her face.
"About two years now." Elsa replied, "And every day with snow on the ground is a nightmare." She laid back on the ground in frustration, "This sucks."
Anna giggled and Elsa felt a smile tug at the corner of her mouth at the gentle sound.
"…I wonder what would happen if we went back down to the United States…" Anna wondered aloud.
"I know exactly what would happen." Elsa said, sitting up a little.
Both girls looked at each other for a moment…
"We would die." They said simultaneously, Anna nodding and Elsa laying back down again.
"Then again, it would be a nice change of pace."
"What, dying?"
"Heh. Not exactly no," Elsa said, stretching out her legs, "A change of pace as in temperature...I'd love to get to Arizona."
"Ohhh, god yeah." Anna sighed longingly, "The searing heat would feel wonderful."
"After a while the both of us would get sunburnt now that I think about it." Elsa said, running her fingers through her mane of blonde hair, "I'd like to get to Idaho or Nebraska."
"Why?" Anna asked with a giggle.
"Because," said Elsa, "There's nothing but flat."
"And corn fields." Anna added.
"We could literally see a hoard of zombies from half a mile away and we'd be out of there in an instant." Elsa said softly, turning her head to look at the redhead who was looking down at her, "You ready to keep going?"
"I just wanna sit here for a while longer with you but I guess we must." Anna said, struggling to her feet, "I wish we could find someplace to permanently stay."
"Me too." Elsa agreed, picking up the tent and leading Anna back into the forest. The land slowly began to change to a rocky uphill climb and both girls began to struggle with difficulty halfway up a particularly large hill. Not a word was spoken between the two as they stumbled up the hill, the snow making the ground underneath slippery and muddy. Elsa slipped and slammed herself forward into the snow, refusing to fall backwards and slide down to the bottom on her ass.
"Here." Anna said, reaching out and taking the tent back from Elsa, "Let me carry this for a while, okay?
"If you insist." Elsa grumbled, getting on her knees to try and get back up…suddenly her head whipped to the side and she narrowed her eyes…
Anna noticed Elsa's weird behavior and fell silent, watching her curiously. Whenever Elsa heard something suspicious or got that strange feeling something was wrong, Anna realized that her movements became quicker, more fluid. Elsa was so still Anna felt like hiding behind her.
"Oh my god…" Elsa mumbled, trying to get up, "Oh my god."
"What!" Anna asked, beginning to panic.
"Run!" Elsa commanded, grabbing Anna's arm and pulling her up the hill, "Just run!"
"What the he-" Anna looked behind her and witnessed something crash through the bushes and out into plain view about five meters away. At first Anna thought Elsa had heard just simple infected, but what emerged from the woods was something Anna had never seen before. It was an infected, but without arms. The skin had grown over the places where the arms were supposed to be connected to the torso and the monster had brighter more intelligent eyes than the ones that simply stumbled around. Its legs looked extremely powerful and its teeth were almost too big for its mouth, jagged and cracked, dripping with saliva and a black, sticky looking fluid, rank with the virus.
"SHIT!" Elsa hissed, pulling Anna and almost throwing her behind her, "Stay back, stay back!" The blonde pressed her back against Anna's front protectively and Anna held her left arm, desperately wishing to run.
The evolved infected turned to look at the two girls as Elsa drew her gun. Then with amazing speed, the monster began to bolt directly at the two. Anna shoved her face in Elsa's hair, clutching at her arm, and the older girl took a step back and fired. Within the time the infected had begun to run and Elsa pulled the trigger, it had passed halfway between them. The bullet had made contact with the creature's left shoulder, but that didn't stop it for an instant. It plunged on faster than before, reaching them in seconds. Anna screamed in terror. Elsa turned around and threw her arms around Anna, tackling her to the ground as the beast threw himself at the girls.
As the monster passed over Elsa and Anna, the redhead in the muddled confusion of panic, reached out and grabbed her Ak-47 that had been knocked away in the snow when Elsa had shoved her to the ground. She stumbled to her feet the same time as the monster did. Tears of fear streaming down her face, Anna clenched her teeth, looked the monster straight in the eyes as it began to run, then fired.
The gunshot rang out...
Then all faded to silence.
The creature slid limply into Anna's legs and she stumbled backwards, collapsing in the snow, the assault rifle thrown to the side. The young girl sat there quivering on the icy ground, tears of shock running down her face, the severe cold almost solidifying them on her cheeks as they rolled down passed her face and over her neck. Soft whimpers emanated from Anna and Elsa was left completely dumbstruck. Anna had managed to shoot the creature right between the eyes and the splatter of blood across the face of the hill stained the snow with a gruesome shade of red.
Elsa sat up slowly and holstered her gun, then walked over to Anna calmly and reached down to touch her shoulder. Anna had been traumatized. Between the fear the infected inflicted and what she had done both crashed down on her at the same time and it resulted with her becoming completely unresponsive.
There was nothing to be said as Elsa leaned down and picked up the rifle from the snow, brushed it off and then lifted Anna into her arms. The blonde held Anna bridal style and struggled up the hill the rest of the way carrying the tent and the rifle as well that were rested on Anna's lap. Once she reached the top, she looked behind her at the motionless creature below her, then turned her back and kept on her way. Anna shut her eyes and rested her head against Elsa's shoulder, trying to relax herself.
After a half an hour of walking, Elsa set Anna down on a small patch of wet grass and sat in front of her.
She looked Anna straight in the eye and was glad to see her green eyes looking steadily back.
"You alright?" she asked softly.
"More or less." Anna shrugged, "I guess I just got a little bit too scared."
"Well…" Elsa hunched forward and crossed her legs, "That fucker was scary. And your accuracy with that gun is definitely something to be feared."
Anna cracked a small smile and shrugged. Elsa looked behind Anna, her eyes lighting up.
"Hold on, wait right here." She said, getting to her feet and jogging away.
The redhead softly sighed and reached down to trace a small pattern in the snow. She shut her eyes a few times and shook her head, trying to rid her mind of the memory. It was still fresh. It would take time. Anna desperately wanted Elsa to pick her back up in her arms again, to hug her or something…any sort of comfort would help…
Without warning something cold, yet soft hit the back of her head. Anna turned around and pressed her hand to the back of her head, pulling off the rest of the small clumps of snow that had been splatted over her hair, looking through the trees to try and find Elsa. A small smile spread across Anna's face as she saw Elsa slowly lean out from behind a nearby tree, lob another snowball in her direction, then promptly hide behind the same tree again. the redhead got to her feet slowly and crouched down to pick up a clump of snow, fashioning it into a messy snowball due to the fact that her fingers couldn't take much of the freezing snow. She sneaked behind the tree and then jumped out in front of Elsa who smiled in slight excitement. The blonde then received a snowball to the shoulder. She retaliated with dumping armfuls of snow on Anna's head and then running off in the other direction, a hint of laughter on her voice as she called, "Let's test out your accuracy with a snowball fight ehh!"
Anna giggled and bent down to grab another handful of snow before chasing after Elsa. Elsa took cover from behind a tree while Anna took cover behind a bush. Soon the two girls were throwing snowballs at each other from behind their choices of cover. Elsa got a few shots in, hitting Anna in the chest and the shoulder, but Elsa got hit all over. She got whipped in the leg, the stomach, the chest and then the face.
As soon as the last snowball came in contact with her, Elsa laughed for the first time in years and ran towards Anna, covering her face with her arms to avoid getting yet another snowball to the face. Once she reached the laughing girl, she leaned down and picked Anna up, laughing with her and spinning her around before setting her back down in the snow. The moment Anna's feet touched the ground again, she lunged forward and tackled Elsa. As Elsa hit the ground with a thud, Anna grabbed yet another handful of snow to whitewash the blonde but was immediately taken aback.
The light in the older woman's eyes was rare. For the four days the two had been together, Anna had taken Elsa to be this rude girl with a slight, hidden soft side, but this was new. Elsa's eyes were brighter, almost bluer. Her smile made her entire face light up and her rosy cheeks added to the beauty of her features. The two were breathless as they looked at each other, Anna from above and Elsa from below. The smaller girl looked at her hand filled with snow, then back to Elsa who had reached up to place a hand on Anna's arm.
The blonde opened her mouth to say something, but suddenly became stone still. Anna became still as well and listened.
From far off, the girls heard an echoing squeal; a squeal similar to the sound that the advanced infected had blurted before charging them both. In tandem the girls untangled themselves and ran back to where they had left their things. As soon as Elsa had grabbed her backpack and Anna had grabbed her gun and the tent, they were both running, running with all of their might.
The terror increased as they heard not one, but two screams…then three screams and even more echoing off in the distance behind them, but approaching faster than they could ever hope to run. Elsa looked at Anna and saw the intense fear overcoming her. She knew that if the zombies reached them, they wouldn't have much time before they were-
Elsa's thoughts were halted as the two burst out of the forest and onto a road. Elsa's jaw dropped and Anna held back a scream of complete horror at the sight in front of them. It was filled with infected in every direction. The two had made such a racket trying to get away from the approaching threat that the infected all turned to look at them with blank, black eyes and slack jaws.
"FUCK!" Elsa screamed grabbing Anna's hand and running forward, no time to think of a plan.
"What the fuck are you-" Anna cried before her words melted into a scream as Elsa dragged her through the crowd of rotting corpses. Anna bumped cold, dead limbs and brushed against limp bodies, gasping for air as the stench of the rotting corpses filled the air.
Upon reaching the other side, having been too fast for the zombies to react to, the girls bolted off into what seemed to be a very small suburban area. There were houses upon houses in rows along a local road and the two looked around desperately for a place to hide. They continued to run as they heard the advanced infected break through the brush and begin to plow through the other infected.
"SHIT!" Elsa cried, grabbing Anna and pulling her faster. The adrenaline pumping through her veins, Elsa surged faster forward, her desire to live greater than anything she had ever felt in her life. She looked around as she ran, then saw a decently large house at the end of the street. Anna and Elsa heard the evolved infected hurling towards them, almost trip over themselves in their raw desperation to get away. The moment they reached the house, the two stumbled up the porch steps. Elsa turned around and fired at the nearest infected, hitting him right in the head. Anna bolted past her to the front door.
"It's locked!" Anna screamed, desperately pulling at the handle.
"Cover me!" Elsa demanded, pulling Anna away from the door. The advanced zombies were almost two meters away and Anna, without hesitation, lifted her gun to her shoulder and opened fire. She managed to hit two in the head but the other four weren't stopped. by simple bullets to the chest. Elsa managed to kick the door down completely and barrel inside a few steps. She ran back to Anna, grabbed the back of her shirt and pulled her inside, slamming the door with both hands just as the zombies reached them.
Bodies hit the door with tremendous force and it knocked Anna way from the door so hard she tumbled forward and fell. It shook Elsa so hard her arms burned. Elsa braced the door the best she could against the monsters outside by pressing her back to the surface and using all of her leg strength to keep it shut. She looked frantically around for something to bar the door with...Anna was doing the exact same and simultaneously their eyes rested on the large couch in the corner of the room beside the front door.
Anna was on it without Elsa needing to say a word. She ran to the back of it and pushed it as hard as she could. It moved with great difficulty across the carpet, but she managed to get it near the front of the door. Elsa moved away from the door in order for Anna to push it in front of the entrance and as soon as she let go, it slammed open but hit the back of the couch so hard the bang resembled a gunshot. Elsa helped her shove the rest of the couch faster and simultaneously, they used it as leverage to slam the door shut, but in the process they crushed one of the monster's heads in between the door and the frame. Anna jumped back in horror and Elsa, not missing a beat reached down and grabbed the redhead's hand, turning and bolting through a hallway. Elsa desperately began looking for a place to hide, like a basement or a safe room. In the back of the house there was a kitchen, and to the left of it there was a laundry room. From the laundry room there was a conjoining, small hallway which lead down into a small concrete basement type area. Elsa helped Anna down the stairs halfway before running her way back up, slammed the door shut behind her and pressing her back to it...
Their frantic breathing was the only sound in the darkness, the faint slams and muffled screams of the infected outside instilling fear in the both of them.
Elsa, with shaking hands reached into her backpack and pulled out the flashlight. She hit the button and the beam flashed on, its ray shaking slightly with Elsa's hand. Anna remembered what Elsa had said from their very first day together about no crying whatsoever… but she couldn't stand it. Elsa heard soft intakes of breath from below and looked to see Anna who had leaned against the railing with her back turned, her head bowed and large tears splashed onto the stairs.
Elsa fought with herself to remain strong. After what had just happened, narrowly escaping death…how could anyone remain strong?
The blonde sighed and moved down the stairs, taking a hold of Anna's shoulder and leading her down into the small concrete room. Anna collapsed in the corner, hugging herself, hiding her head in her knees, tears streaming down her face. Elsa bit her lip and sat down beside her. She pulled out a candy bar and looked at it a moment…then held it out for the redhead.
It was a small gift, but Anna appreciated it greatly.
The young girl reached out and took it, then weakly tore the wrapper open and bit into. Anna thought she might hurl but she saw the look of satisfaction on the blonde's face and it made her feel slightly better considering their dire circumstance.
"…They're evolving." Elsa said quietly.
"Obviously." Anna said, swallowing the chocolate deeply, "We got close enough to em to see."
Elsa moved closer, "We're going to be stuck in here for a while…" she looked down at her flashlight, then to Anna, "We need to conserve power…"
"Go ahead, you can turn it off…just…" Anna began, moving closer to Elsa, "Can I sit with you? Like in your lap or something? I know it's a lot to ask, I mean…you don't like physical contact and all, but considering everything we just went through I need to know that someone's there…and maybe I can provide you with a bit of comfort…also it'll be warmer and-"
Elsa rolled her eyes, turned the flashlight off and Anna remained silent. She listened to Elsa unzip her backpack and pull out the blanket they now shared. Then she felt it being draped over her and her companion's warm body moved against hers. Elsa picked Anna up and set her down in her lap. The blonde put her arms around Anna's stomach to hold her close and Anna sighed in pleasure, leaning back on Elsa's shoulder, enjoying the warmth.
The two shut their eyes and blotted out the sounds of the monsters banging furiously on the door above, trying to rest in the cool of the basement. Both knew they wouldn't get much rest after that day, but they had the warmth of each other to lull them to a sleepy state in which Anna cuddled up and Elsa held her tighter. Both girls eventually relaxed together, numbing themselves to the screaming, pounding, and thudding from outside.