"Victoria is wunderbar, but she is not my "Lebenslanger Schicksalsschatz." She's my "Beinahe-Leidenschaftsgegenstand"... it means the thing that is almost the thing that you want, but it's not quite. That is Victoria to me."

"How do you know she's not "Lebenslanger Schicksalsschatz?" Maybe as the years go by she'll get "Lebenslanger Schicksalsschatz... ier?"

"Lebenslanger Schicksalsschatz" is not something that develops over time. It is something that happens instantaneously. It courses through you like the water of a river after a storm, filling you and emptying you all at once. You feel it throughout your body, in your hands, in your heart, in your stomach, in your skin... have you ever felt this way about someone?"

"...I think so."

"If you have to think about it, you have not felt it."

"And you're absolutely sure you'll find that someday?"

"Of course. Everyone does eventually... you just never know when or where." Conversation between Ted and Klause, How I Met Your Mother.

Louis woke up with a frenzy, his head pounding at the same speed at his heart. He opened his eyes and found himself in a strange room, one that made Louis feel…calm. Inside the room there wasn't that much: just a clear glass coffee table, a clean white sofa that sat in front of the table, and a glass of wine that sat on the table. Louis looked at his hands and found that they weren't exactly healed; more like they were never cut off. He stood up from the carpeted floor and picked up the glass of wine. It looked freshly poured.

"If I knew I had a visitor, I would've left the tab open." Louis nearly fell down and broke the coffee table when the voice spoke up. He steadied himself on the table and turned around to the source of the voice. He saw a unusually handsome man, dressed up in a suit of the darkest black and a fedora of the same color. He gave a welcoming smile, the area around his mouth covered in stubble. "Can I offer you something? A beverage? I think I have some leftover spaghetti in the refrigerator." Louis was at a loss for words.

"I-I don't really feel hungry."

"Yeah, dying will do that to you." Louis's heart skipped a beat.

"I-I died? You're n-not serious, are y-you?" The man walked over and took the wine glass from Louis's hand.

"One hundred percent." Louis looked around the room in disbelief and rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't dreaming.

"Then…then who are you?" The man took a sip of wine.

"Me? My name was lost long ago. You mortals may know me as Death."

"You're bullshitting me?"

"Why would I?" Louis looked the man up and down.

"I thought you would've at least looked different."

"What? I'm sorry I don't dress like I do in your stupid churches, Louis." The man told him sarcastically. "I needed to adapt, you know? Didn't want to seem too frightening to new people." Louis walked over and slumped down on the sofa, placing his feet up on the coffee table.

"Well what is this place then? And how do you know my name?" Death sat down next to Louis and placed his glass down on the table.

"This is purgatory, the place that you have to wait while I find out whether you go to heaven or hell. And I know your name because I'm Death. I know the name of everyone in the world."

"Everyone?"

"Along with their personal information."

"So this is real? I'm…actually dead?" Death nodded.

"I'm afraid so. I wouldn't worry about the heaven and hell thing though. You're a Christian, you've left behind a legacy as a good guy, you're practically a shoe in for a spot in heaven."

"That's the thing, I didn't want to die! There must've been some kind of mistake!" Death clicked his fingers and a flame appeared, eventually dissipating to reveal a folder entitled 'Louis Henderson'. He opened up the file and showed it to Louis.

"Louis Henderson, deceased as of April 26th, 2034. Dead from a bullet wound through the cerebrum of the brain. Final moments spent in the arms of one Ellie…" He squinted at the paper. "Hmm, don't seem to have her last name on file. To cut a long story short, you were shot through the head and now you're dead." Louis ran his hands through his hair.

"There has to be some way to reverse that! I can't just die!"

"I'm afraid it doesn't work that w-" He stopped talking and looked further down the folder. "Are you schizophrenic?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"We may have a problem."

Ellie had stopped crying hours ago. Now she just sat next to Louis's cold body that had been laid on a mattress by Gerald. She looked up at Joel, who sat across from her, and Shane and Sara, who sat at the foot of the bed. No one had spoke for the hours since Louis's death. Since his heart had stopped beating and his breath silenced. She decided to step up from Louis's side and walked through the camp that Gerald's men had made up to the master tent where Gerald slept. She opened the tent flap and stood in front of the shooter, the bastard that had killed Louis, Daniel.

"Well, hello there. This isn't exactly helping my argument that I'm a good guy, is it?" Ellie went up and punched Daniel in the abdomen. He keeled over and coughed, but Ellie put her hand under his chin and lifted his head up.

"You can never be forgiven for what you have done. I fucking hate you." She let go of his chin and pulled out her switchblade.

"I know that. That doesn't mean I regret it." Ellie placed the blade at his throat.

"One more comment like that and you can join Louis." Shane had entered the tent now and pulled Ellie away from Daniel.

"Ellie, I know he killed Louis, but you can't do this." He pulled the switchblade from her hand. "Me on the other hand, I can." He walked up to Daniel and looked him in his fearful eyes. "You're a fucking son of a bitch. A Satan to walk the earth." Daniel gave a chuckle.

"Am I? I certainly don't consider myself that. I'm just a man trying to get by."

"And that means killing a fifteen year old?" Daniel formed a small smile.

"I only do what is necessary." That was the last straw for Shane. He calmly grabbed Daniel's head and pulled it up to face him, then he swung the switchblade down on Daniel's ear, causing him to scream out in pain. Shane held the ear in front of Daniel, tormenting him. "Just kill me! Get revenge for Louis!" It was Shane's turn to laugh.

"It won't be that simple. I need to make sure that I hear you scream as I carve your flesh, the look on your face, I need my revenge." Shane looked back at Ellie for confirmation that he could do this, and she gave him a nod. "And I know how to start." Shane got the ear between his thumb and his forefinger, and stabbed Daniel in the leg to open his mouth in agony, then shoved the ear in Daniel's mouth. "Start chewing." Daniel, instead of fearing for his life, smiled and chewed gratefully. When he swallowed, he spit out some leftover blood in his mouth and looked at Shane.

"If I knew I was getting a free meal, I would've killed the blonde boy earlier." Shane flipped the chair over in anger and crouched down next to it.

"You are sick. People like you don't belong in this world."

"You mean survivors? Face it kid, we all need a way to get by in this world. Just because we have different ways, does not mean we are so different." Shane chucked the switchblade back to Ellie and got up. He walked up to Gerald, and whispered into his ear so Daniel did not know what was coming. Gerald nodded and paced quickly out of the tent, returning a few minutes later with a table full of tools.

"You know what my favorite thing is about people like you? I get a reason to express myself." Shane pulled a pair of pliers from the table and walked back over to Daniel. "So, any recommendations?" Daniel smiled.

"Take a pick." Shane grabbed one of Daniel's teeth with the pliers and slowly yanked it out. He let the tooth drop to the ground and looked back to Daniel.

"Your breath really stinks, you know?" Daniel spit a glob of blood in Shane's face, causing him to fall back onto the floor. "Bloody hell!" He yelled out.

"Heh heh. What are you, British? Maybe that's why you think you're better than me."

"Fuck you. You aren't in the position to insult people right now."

"No, I think I am. In fact…" Daniel looked past Shane at Ellie. "You want to know something Ellie? It is your fault that Louis is dead! You had all the chance to stop me back in my office, with that gun hidden in your coat, but you did nothing!" Shane pressed his arm hard onto Daniel's throat to get him to stop talking. He felt a hand on his shoulder, and looked back to see Ellie standing over him, gesturing for Shane to let go of Daniel's throat. Shane obeyed and stepped away from Daniel, allowing Ellie to crouch beside him.

"Daniel, why are you like this? You showed me a side to you I didn't expect back at the office. I can never forgive you for what you did. Where did you go?"

"Ellie, that side died a long time ago, when I held my dead wife in my arms. People have their own ways of dealing with death, just like I have mine. I find satisfaction in the deaths of other people. It's how I've survived." Ellie and Shane heard gunshots, not too far from the tent. Gerald grabbed his assault rifle and started out the tent. "Well, would you look at that? My ride seems to be here."

"What do you mean a problem?" Louis asked. Death flicked through the pages a few times.

"This can't be happening. I need to hurry up that result." Death got up from the couch and put the folder in his suit jacket. He then got out a Blackberry phone from his pocket and called a number. "Hey, buddy." He said nervously into his phone. "Yeah, I've got Louis Henderson here and it turns out I need you to speed up that choice! Why? Well because the boy's a fucking schizophrenic! And I'd rather not be around when-hello? Hello?" He threw his phone to the ground.

"Who was that?"

"Just the fucking greatest being in the universe, God himself!" He rubbed his forehead in frustration. "We need to go."

"Why?"

"Because-" Death was interrupted by the sense of a figure standing behind him. "Because of him." Louis looked past Death at the newly formed figure, who was clad in a hooded jacket and a pair of denim jeans, and saw him start to look at his ghostly white hands. The figure looked up at Death, then at Louis.

"Oh happy days, oh happy days! I've been waiting so long for this day to come!" Louis stood back out of fear for the figure.

"Who a-are you?" He stammered out. The figure gave him an evil smile.

"Me? I am the physical embodiment of your schizophrenia!"

"You're m-my schizophrenia?"

"I know! Isn't it amazing? For years I have been locked up, deep down in that fucking mind of yours. Do you know how bored I've been; only being able to operate at the smallest capacity possible? But now, now, I'm free!"

"I can't believe this is happening!"

"Well fucking believe it Louis! I am your darkest fear, I am your devil on your shoulder telling you to do bad things, I am YOU!" The figure stopped for a second. "And most importantly, I…AM…FREE!" Louis wanted to run, but something was holding him to the ground. The man slowly but menacingly walked up to Louis, and stood just a few inches from him. Yet he did nothing after.

"W-what's gonna happen now?" The figure smiled, and opened his mouth to say something, but before he did, he was pushed back from Louis by a force stronger than himself. He flew across the room, splattering on the wall. He fell from the wall onto his hands and knees, and looked up to face his attacker, who was none other than Death. Louis could move his legs again, and used his new ability to move next to Death. "You're going to help, then?" Louis whispered to Death.

"Oh, no. This is your fight. I was just giving you some breathing room, and I wanted to wish you good luck."

"Good luck?! I'm fighting this guy? What happens if I lose?"

"I wish I could tell you. Just…don't." And with that, Death disappeared from the room, leaving Louis alone staring at the physical form of his disorder. The figure rose onto his two legs, the smile not leaving his face.

"It's just you and me now." He told Louis, forming a machete from nothing in his hands. "Your move, Louis."

Ellie kept behind Shane, her pistol held out in front of her and over Shane's shoulder. She holstered it when no-one came through the tent flaps and walked back over to Daniel. She got out her switchblade and cut the ropes tying Daniel's arms behind the chair, and placed her gun on his forehead.

"These men aren't here to save you, are they?" She asked him.

"How'd you call my bluff?" Daniel asked back.

"Because no-one would want to save your insane ass." Daniel let out a chuckle.

"Maybe you're smarter than you look." Ellie pulled the gun away from Daniel's forehead and lifted him up. Shane took one look and pointed his gun towards Daniel.

"What are you doing?" He hissed to Ellie.

"Don't worry. He knows he needs us as much as we need him."

"But the bastard killed Louis!"

"And we will deal with that when we have dealt with the situa-" A volley of bullets ripped through the tent, causing the three of them to fall to the ground to avoid the bullets. "Shit! Shane, we need to get out of here! Hand a gun to Daniel!"

"What? You're fucking crazy!"

"Just do it! He's the best fighter of us here!" Shane reluctantly pulled a shotgun from his back holster and slid it over to Daniel.

"You better know what you're doing, Ellie!" They all got up when the bullets stopped coming and ran out the tent flap. Ellie ran ahead of Shane and Daniel, allowing Shane to slow Daniel down. "Just be mindful; I always have a gun pointed to your back." Daniel nodded and continued on, Shane following close behind.

Victor kept his gun trained on Gerald. He had so much power at the moment. Yet Gerald did not realize it. The power to end his life, with one gunshot. One bullet. He gave a smile as he shot a bandit with a machete held high running at Gerald. He quickly loaded another bullet and shot again at another man. A lot of people wanted Daniel and Gerald dead, why, Victor did not know. Joel ran up beside him and took cover behind the same sandbag barricade Victor was behind.

"Where are Shane and Ellie?" He yelled over the gunfire.

"Gerald left them with Daniel! I have no idea what happened to them after that!" A gunshot whizzed past Victor's head, way too close for comfort.

"How many damn bandits did you guys have here?" Joel fired a few shots from his hunting rifle.

"Hell if I know! It goes well into the hundreds though!"

"Really? We only have a couple dozen here!"

"This place needs a lot of fucking maintenance! You wouldn't believe it!" Victor looked over at his friend Max just across from him, who was loading a car trunk full of C-4. "Max! What the fuck are you doing?" Max looked across to him, and closed the trunk.

"Creating a distraction! We don't have many men left, Victor. This should create a gap in their attack." Max opened the driver side door and sat in the car.

"Max! Don't do anything stupid!"

"This isn't stupid! More like heroic!" Max gave his friend a smile and closed the door. The car suddenly jolted to life, and began accelerating forward at the bank back entrance. Victor stood up from his cover and let his rifle drop to the ground. The car smashed into the back entrance, creating a blinding explosion on impact. Victor, Joel, Gerald, and all the men around them fell to the ground from the shockwave. Joel slowly sat up after a few seconds and rubbed his head.

"What just happened?" He asked Victor.

"He's given us a distraction." Victor replied, jumping up to his feet. He reacted quickly, running at the confused men that lay on the ground and the few men that were standing up. He grabbed his knife out of his pocket, and grabbed one of the men standing up. He plunged his knife into the man's chest, and bent him over so he could shoot past him. Grabbing his pistol and aiming it over the man, he shot and killed three men that were desperately trying to get up from the ground. He threw the man to the ground and reloaded his pistol, the old clip falling to the ground, and ducked into a tent next to him. Victor went prone and crawled forward so he could see under the tent at the attacking bandits. He fired shots at the feet of a few of the men, causing them to fall to the ground out of pain. He rolled under the tent and crouched onto his hands and knees, before standing up and shooting at the attackers.

Louis put out his arms to block the first swing of the figure's machete, as it was the only thing he could do right then. The machete swung down hard, and cut Louis's arms deeply. He then kicked the figure back and ran back to the sofa, ducking behind it to hide himself. The sofa was tipped over by the figure, causing Louis to roll over to avoid another swing of the machete.

"You can't run from your fears Louis. I know everything about you. Your fighting style." The figure stomped at where Louis was meant to be, but missed. "Your love life." He stomped and missed again. "Your secrets." He stomped and caught Louis's hand under his foot. Louis tried frantically to get it out, but with no luck. "You were just a body in my control. You did my willing. Now I don't need you!"

"Yes you do!" Louis grunted. "You're nothing without me!" The figure chuckled.

"Don't you know? If I kill you here, I take your place up in heaven. And you stay here, in the darkest reaches of your mind!"

"My mind?" Louis whispered to himself. "Your right. This is my mind!" Louis lifted the figures foot just high enough so he could pull his hand out, then rolled onto his feet. He held out his hand, causing David's machete to form in his hands. He pointed it at the figure. "This is my mind! And I will be damned if you are gonna take it from me!" He ran at the figure and lashed his sword at him. The figure blocked it though, and pushed Louis back. He then swung at Louis, but Louis jumped back before the machete hit him. Louis continued to dodge the angry and sloppy strikes, and eventually countered him by kicking the figure's arm so he dropped the machete. He then swung at the figure's left leg, causing him to fall to his knees. Louis went to swing a final time, but the figure blocked the machete with his forearm.

"You can't win, Louis. I control you!" Louis smiled.

"Well maybe it's time for a change of leadership." He dropped the machete from his left hand, which was still blocked by the figures arm, into his right hand just under it. As soon as he got a grip on the machete, he plunged it into the figure's abdomen. The figure grunted, and leaned over to Louis's ear.

"This won't get rid of me. I'll still be with you whether you're alive or dead. You can't get rid of me." The figure started to fade away, red petals of a rose taking away his clothes and skin. "I will never leave you Louis. I promise you that. And since I am you, I keep my promises." Then he disappeared, a single rose in the place where he stood.

Ellie got up on her knees, her ears still ringing from the explosion. What the fuck could've caused that? She hazily looked behind her and saw a figure slowly making his way towards her. She thought it was Shane, but it was actually Daniel that came forward.

"Ellie? Are you alright?" Ellie heard him say over the ringing.

"I-I'm fine! Where the hell is Shane? He was right in front of us!" Daniel stood a few feet away from her.

"Shane, he…he…" Daniel trailed off.

"Where is he?" Daniel closed his eyes and swallowed some saliva.

"Shane's dead, Ellie! The explosion killed him!" Ellie lost all color to her face.

"No…" Daniel took a step forward.

"I felt no pulse. He wasn't breathing! Don't you understand now Ellie? It's your fault that they're both dead!" Ellie put her hands on her face, trying to comprehend what Daniel was saying. Daniel saw Ellie's back turned to him, so he pulled out his pistol and cocked it. "Carol, I'm sorry. For letting you down. But you will have a new friend up in heaven." Daniel whispered, pointing the gun at Ellie. He closed his eyes and pulled the trigger, and when he opened them, Ellie was not in front of him anymore. She was to the right of him now, another body to the side of her. Shane's body.

"Shane?" Ellie whimpered. "Shane?" She got up onto her knees again next to Shane and started to shake his body. "Shane, wake up! I can't have you dead as well. Please!" Gerald, Sara, and Joel had gathered around now, Victor coming a few seconds after. She was about to cry when she saw his mouth smile.

"You didn't think…a bullet would be the end…of me, did you?" He asked her jokingly, his fake American accent reverted back to his British accent.

"Oh, thank god!" She gave him a tight hug, and lifted him so he sat up. She then looked towards Daniel, who was standing there dumbfounded.

"I…I…I…" He was at a loss for words. He had lied to Ellie about Shane's death, then attempted to murder her, but instead almost killed Shane for real. He dropped the gun, and looked at his hands. What had he become since the death of his family? Maybe he was a monster. He looked back up at the group, at the mixture of looks on their faces. He picked his gun back up. "I'm so sorry. I'm gonna join you soon, Carol. Soon." He placed the gun on the side of his head, and pulled the trigger.

Death appeared in front of Louis, the Blackberry held to his ear.

"No, I'm fucking serious! I'll eagerly await your decision." He hung up the phone and looked over to Louis. "Nice job, kid! You're the first one to ever do something like that! Not in my millions of years of living would I expect that!" Louis sighed.

"So is that it? Am I just supposed to end my chapter of this story?" Death put his hand on Louis's shoulder.

"I got to admit Louis, if it were up to me, I'd let you live again." Louis sighed. "Then again, it isn't exactly uncommon for me to lose a death file on a person." Louis's file appeared in Death's hand, and proceeded to go up in flames. "Whoops." Louis smiled.

"You're seriously giving me another chance? Why would you do that?" Death let go of Louis and walked over to the sofa.

"I don't really know. Maybe it's because it was impressive seeing you do that. Maybe I want you to live for some plan I have for the future. Or maybe it's just because I can." He sat on the couch with his legs crossed.

"I don't know how to thank you. All I can say is I'm glad that you aren't like how people imagine you." Death gave Louis a smile as Louis turned his back to him. "Just one more thing though?" Louis turned around to face Death again.

"Yes Louis?"

"You can predict the future, can't you?"

"I believe I can. Why?"

"Well, in the world of the living, I kind of have a big choice to make." Louis paused for a few seconds. "To make a long story short, who am I supposed to be with exactly? Between Sara and Ellie?" Death shook his head.

"I'm afraid that is classified information, Louis. I just can't tell you that."

"Of course you fucking can't." Louis mumbled

"If you're that desperate for an answer, we could always leave it to chance?"

"How so?" Death formed a coin in his hands.

"Heads, you're meant to be with Ellie. Tails, you're with Sara. What do you say?"

"Fine, whatever. Just flip the coin." Death flipped the coin in the air, and let it fall onto the ground. Instead of landing on one of the two sides, the coin instead landed on the middle bit that separated the two sides. "You're fucking with me, aren't you?"

"It's what I do best." Death smiled and clicked his fingers, and everything went black for Louis.

Ellie pulled Shane up with her, and Shane placed his hand on his stomach where he had been shot.

"God blimey, this hurts like crap." He said through his cockney British accent. Gerald walked over and checked Shane to see how bad the bullet had hit.

"It'll hurt like hell, but you'll be fine with some medical attention." He let go of Shane and stepped back. "What's up with the accent, anyway?"

"All natural. Born and raised in Bristol up in England." Gerald gave a small smile.

"Dublin myself. Why'd you use that American accent then?"

"Don't you ever get annoyed of people asking you to say certain words?" Gerald chuckled at that.

"At times. Anyway, we should probabl-" Gerald was interrupted by a gunshot through his back and out his stomach. "Shit!" Joel and Sara started shooting at the direction of the bullet, where a single man seemed to remain. He was quickly taken down. Gerald held his stomach, attempting to stop the bleeding. Victor ran over to him, and put Gerald's arm around him.

"You guys go patch up Shane. I'll handle Gerald." He told the rest of the group. That was when he heard more footsteps, and expected it to be another damned bandit. But there wasn't a bandit that stood there. Instead, Louis stood there; his seven fingers all covering his head. The rest of the group saw him, and were left speechless at how he was even alive, let alone standing. Louis felt confused.

"Are you guys okay?" No-one responded. "Why are you all staring at me like that?"

Victor set Gerald down on the sofa in the tent, which was lit by a series of candles. He then pulled off his backpack and rummaged through it, pulling a roll of bandages out of it.

"Thank god I have you Victor. You've always been loyal to me." Victor smiled and walked back over to Gerald, before throwing the bandages to the side of the tent.

"Oh Gerald, if only that were true." Gerald narrowed his eyes.

"What?" Victor walked to the side of the sofa, running his hand along the dust laid armrest.

"You really weren't as smart as I thought you were Gerald. That's really quite disappointing." Victor used his right thumb and pointing finger to put out a flame from one of the candles. "I never told you why I was kicked out of the military, did I? Attempted assassination of a superior officer. Why would I do this? For a promotion of course!" Victor put out another candle. "I saw potential in your bandit group, potential of another chance at power. So I proved myself loyal, and I started to plot on how to get rid of you. Then that crazy fuck Daniel came along, and my entire fucking plan had to be rethought." Another candle put out. "We then came here, established a steady defense, and I decided it was finally time for a course of action. I lied to Daniel, telling him that you were planning to cut him out of the group. The original plan was that you two would gain half the group each, and end up killing each other, so I would be left to pick up and reassemble the shattered pieces of the group. Instead, Daniel killed himself, and now I can just leave you here to bleed to death so I can now assume the leader of the dozen or so men left now."

"The others will be suspicious, especially Louis. You could never defeat them." Victor lifted Gerald's head up so he looked at him.

"No, you can never defeat them." He let go of Gerald's head. "I, on the other hand, will end up killing them all. Especially that blonde boy. But all that will come in time. Right now, I have to announce your death and my new leadership role to the men." He got his gloves out of his backpack and put them on, then pulled out his knife from his holster, and walked back up to Gerald.

"You'll never get away with this!" Victor held his knife up above Gerald.

"But Gerald, I already have."

"Ow!" Louis exclaimed, feeling Sara examine the bullet hole in his head.

"Oh, quit being such a baby." Sara told him. Sara had brought both him and Shane into the tent that they had put Louis's body in when he was dead to examine the both of them. She let go of Louis's head, took a step back and let out a high pitched whistle. "I don't know how the fuck you survived that. Bullet wasn't a hollow point, so it stayed in your head after being fired. Caused a lot of damage. Right now, you should be dead. It is mighty impressive you still walk the Earth." She gave Louis a quick kiss on the cheek. "I am glad you're alive though." She walked over to Shane. "Gerald was right about you. The bullet will hurt for a few days, but otherwise you're fine."

"Well it's still bloody hurting, innit?"

"I still can't believe you didn't tell me you were English. It would've been great to know." Louis told him.

"It wasn't something I liked telling people."

"Well I think it's cool. I kind of like that accent."

"Well thank you." Victor entered the tent at that moment, a grim look on his face.

"Victor, what's wrong?" Louis asked.

"Gerald, he…he didn't make it. He bled out before I could patch him up." Louis sighed.

"Of course he didn't. What will you do now Victor?" Louis asked.

"Try and patch up what's left of the group. See if we can't get back into the old routine again."

"Well, good luck with that, I guess. Say, you haven't seen Ellie, have you?" Victor thought for a second.

"Yeah, I think she went back up into the vault. Don't know why, though." Louis went to get up, but Sara stopped him.

"No, you're not in good condition. I'll go find Ellie and bring her back here, alright?" Louis sighed, then nodded. He lay back in his bed, and watched Sara go off to find Ellie.

Sara looked everywhere to find Ellie, but it was like she had disappeared off the face of the Earth. She almost gave up until she spotted Joel wandering around the upper levels of the bank.

"Yo Joel, you seen Ellie anywhere?" She asked him. Joel threw his hands up in the air.

"She's up in Daniel's office. I've been trying to get her out of there for fifteen minutes. I have no idea what is wrong with that girl." Sara thanked him and went over to Daniel's office, and tried opening the door. Locked. She then tried knocking on the wooden door, but was met with no response.

"Ellie? You in there?" She still heard no response. Sara put her ear to the door. "Ellie, I know you're there. Joel told me that you would be here."

"Go away." Was the response Sara got. Sara sighed.

"Ellie, what's wrong?"

"Just go away. I don't want to talk about it." Sara lent her back against the door and crossed her arms.

"Just let me in so we can talk."

"I don't want to talk, Sara."

"Can you at least tell me what's wrong?" No noise came from the room for a few seconds.

"I almost lost both of them today Sara. I just…got so scared and vulnerable."

"Let me in, Ellie. We can just ta-"

"No. I need time to myself." Sara sighed and slid down the door so she sat down, still lent against the door.

"Ellie…why can't you just let me in? I thought we were friends…" The lock clicked and the door opened, causing Sara to fall onto her back. She looked up at Ellie, and wiped some hair from her eyes.

"Fine. If you want to talk, then we'll talk." She held her hand out for Sara. "It's what friends are for, right?"

Epilogue

"Well Gerald, I guess this is my final good-bye." Victor whispered to Gerald's cold corpse, which still lay on a sofa inside one of the tents. "The others have asked me to give you a honorable death; a Viking funeral, so to speak. I would've thrown your body in a ditch if it had been my choice, but alas, they wouldn't have it. This is just a waste of gas if I ever seen one." Victor tipped a small bottle of gas onto Gerald's body and tossed it to the side. "You want to know something? I'm acting a lot like Daniel. Betrayal, insanity, the whole lot. I can only pray to God that I don't end up like the crazy bastard. Or maybe I'm praying to the wrong guy. Satan might be the one to talk to about this. Or maybe there isn't anyone to pray to, but I would have to hope that I live to a ripe old age." He sighed. "That group seems to be a problem though. I don't give a crap if they have done nothing to me, but I have to maintain my reputation as one of the most fearsome bandit to roam America. When I have deemed it time, I will take them out." Victor pulled Gerald's M16 from its holster. "With your very own gun. But that will be a problem I will deal with when it arises. I can promise you that." Victor pulled a box of matches out of his belt, and lit one. "And in fire, all your sins shall be purged. Isn't that what you said Gerald?"

Louis sat on a sandbag barricade just outside the tent, watching the fire consume the tent that Gerald lay in. He noticed Sara approaching him.

"What's up?" She asked him.

"I can't believe he's dead. Gerald didn't deserve what happened to him."

"You know, it's kind of suspicious. A gunshot like the one he sustained shouldn't of have killed him."

"So what are you saying?"

"I'm saying that Victor didn't seem as devastated as he should've been at the death of his 'close friend'"

"You think Victor might've murdered him?"

"Anything can happen." Louis reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes and his lighter. "You really shouldn't be smoking right now Louis." She lightly touched the bandage she had wrapped around Louis's head.

"It'll be all right." He assured her. He attempted to light his cigarette, but his lighter refused to turn on. He threw the thing to the side and groaned.

"I got you." Sara pulled out a lighter from her jeans and lit his smoke for him.

"Thanks." He took a draw and passed it to her, and she gratefully accepted it. "Sara, there's something I gotta tell you." Sara passed the smoke back.

"And what's that?"

"Back in the vault, when I was trapped there with Ellie, I…I kissed her." Sara looked at him.

"You what?"

"I'm so sorry Sara. It was just a spur of the moment, an impulse. Like I cou-"

"Will it happen again?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm asking if it will ever happen again. Can you promise me that it was just an impulse? That you really don't have feelings for her?"

"My promise ain't got no meaning anymore. Never the less, it will not happen again. Now that I know she is with Shane, it won't happen again. I can't betray my best friend like that, and more importantly, I can't betray you. I promise."

"That's good enough for me then." Louis gave her a smile.

"Awesome. Anyway, how long until I have to take this bandage off?"

Whew, that was a close one. Louis almost died there. But then again, he is a very important character, so I wouldn't kill him off…OR WOULD I? Jk, I wouldn't do that. Anyway, that's another part of the story finished. Keep a watch for the next story, 'The Resistance' in about a week. So…yeah.