"One. Two. Three!"

The pair shoved open the doors to the mall. A slight breeze ruffled Ellie's hair, and the door banged softly against the outer wall of the mall with a dull thud. All in all, it was quite anticlimactic. Ellie found herself with an excess of adrenaline and a feeling of unease- she was almost wishing for something to happen, just so it was over and done with. After waiting for a few seconds, Riley broke the silence that had fallen.
"Well." she said. She was feeling the same unease as her friend, and was desperate to get moving before she had time to contemplate all of the horrible ways they could die.
"Where to next, m'lady?" Ellie said, tipping an imaginary hat and offering her arm to Riley. Her weak attempt at humour eased the tension, if only slightly.
"Hm," Riley replied in a mock british accent, "I don't quite know, good sir. Let us travel wherever the wind may decide to take us."
"That was terrible." Ellie teased, grinning. The tension had evaporated, and now they were left with an overwhelming sense of freedom.
"You're terrible." Riley retorted. Ellie stuck her tongue out in response, turning her head to look at her best friend as she began to walk down what she imagined was once a sidewalk. Over the years, nature had slowly taken over, reclaiming the land that was taken over by layers of concrete and regrowing the grass that had been trampled by human feet for centuries. Riley followed behind, her hand resting gently on her gun, tucked away in the waistband of her jeans.
"What's the plan, Stan?" Ellie asked, stopping so that Riley could catch up.
"I have a few ideas. I'm thinking that we find a little place, zombie-proof it and stay there for a little while. When we get bored, we pack up shop and we wander again. I like the nomadic lifestyle." Riley pondered. She was in her own world, imagining a perfect scenario in her head, filled with imaginary vases for the imaginary flowers Ellie brought home to their imaginary house every night. This, of course, was entirely unrealistic. Everybody knows there are no vases in the apocalypse.
"The nomadic lifestyle? I like the first bit. We find a little place, we make it safe, then we make it cute inside? And then we stay there, livin' off the fatta the lan'." She was also imagining a scenario in her head, very similar to Riley's (except Riley was the one bringing home the flowers). Again, completely unrealistic.
"The fatta the lan'? What are you? A cowboy?" Riley scoffed. She guessed it was from a book or a film Ellie had seen that Riley had not yet. Knowing Ellie, it wouldn't be long until she had seen it too, and been given an in-depth analysis of each character.
"No, actually. I'm an early 20th century migrant worker." This cleared things up slightly. At least Riley knew it was a book, even if it was a boring history book.
"Have you been reading encyclopaedias again?" Riley asked as they walked together.
"No. It's from a book called Of Mice and Men. Ironically, it has absolutely nothing to do with mice. Zero mice involved." Ellie said, pondering the title some more. "It should be called Of Rabbits and Men. Or Of Misogyny in Men."
"Misogyny? You've definitely been reading encyclopaedias." Riley said, smirking. She pretended that it was something she found amusing because she thought it was stupid, but underneath the layer of disdain she was harbouring a secret- Riley used to read the dictionary. Of course she knew what misogyny was, aside from a whole load of bullshit. She was glad that there wasn't much time for discrimination nowadays- the apocalypse does have its perks.

It wasn't long before they left the boundaries of the city entirely, and soon they found their way onto a long, mostly empty road leading out of Boston all together. It had been an easy first day, considering the circumstances. Sure, they had a few close calls- a couple of runners, a clicker, some asshole who decided to set up traps on the outskirts of the city, but overall, they were doing pretty good. It was getting close to nightfall, and both girls (being tired and hungry) were on the hunt for a place to spend the night. It seemed that luck was on their side, because not long after having complained of their aching feet and grumbling stomachs, they stumbled across a large house, surrounded by a large wooden fence, which encircled a metal chain-link fence topped with barbed wire. It was like a bullseye. A double fenced safety net. There seemed to be only one problem: The other inhabitants.

"Drop you weapons." A female voice sounded from above. It was a middle-aged, grizzled looking woman with black hair, staring down the barrel of her gun at the two small but threatening figures that stood at the edge of their giant, double fence. Ellie squinted into the sunlight, raising her arm to gaze up at the woman, who appeared to be standing on some sort of platform above the gates. She slowly reached behind her back, pulling out her gun and dropping it at her feet. Riley copied her movements, following the woman with her eyes as she paced on the platform above.
"We don't mean any trouble. We're just looking for a place to spend the night." Riley said, her voice laced with caution.
"How do we know we can trust you?" The woman said, squinting at them. Around her neck, on a strange golden chain hung a pair of glasses, attached on each side and broken beyond repair. Ellie assumed she was short-sighted, or just very sentimental. Maybe they weren't even her glasses. It didn't really matter. Anyone who was sappy enough to hold on to a pair of glasses from before the end of the world was too sappy to survive. You can't live in the past when there is no promise of tomorrow. There was no room for sentimentality in a life that took every ounce of humanity it could find. Ellie had seen good people do bad things, and this was one of the many reasons she was more scared of other humans than the infected. More of her friends had died at the hands of other people than she could count on both hands. Only three times had the infected taken someone she loved. Humans have a strange way of destroying themselves. It has happened since the beginning of time, and will continue to happen until the end. It was this rather morbid train of thought that prompted Ellie to answer the woman.
"How do we know we can trust you?" She said, a hint of triumph in her voice. The woman laughed, but it was devoid of happiness. It sounded almost like a bark.
"You make a fair point, little girl." She turned away from them, slinging her gun over her shoulder and cupping her hands to her mouth. "Hey! Charlie! Let 'em in. Open up the gates!" Ellie cast a furtive glance at her girlfriend, who was shaking slightly. Ellie reached down and grabbed Riley's hand, giving it a quick squeeze. When the woman turned around, she let it go quickly and busied herself by reaching down for her gun. Riley glanced at the ground, where her gun lay. She slowly bent down to reach it, watching both Ellie and the woman the whole time. Once it was safely tucked inside her belt again, she felt slightly comforted, and her shaking ceased. The outer gate creaked open, and they both stepped inside the perimeter. Ellie jumped when in slammed shut behind them, full of split-second panic that they would be trapped in the tight space between the gates, but by the time she had registered this fear, she was already inside of the second layer.

Guards were stationed at various points around the circle, and at the entrance to the large house. It had many windows and great double doors, made of a heavy, glossy wood. Although it was painted a cream colour, the paint on the outside had begun to peel away, revealing the house's skeleton underneath, the grey stone and mortar peeking through the cracks of what was otherwise a sunny exterior. The white windowsills had begun to rot slightly, and the chimney stack had toppled over, the loose bricks having presumably knocked some tiles loose as they had slid down the gabled roof and fallen three stories. The house was surrounded by long, greenish-yellow grass and dotted with patches of wildflowers and weeds. Ellie was in complete awe, as was Riley. It was one of the most beautiful places they had ever seen.
"Well, are you going to stand there gawking or are you coming in?" The woman said, slightly less terrifying now she was at their level and not looking at them over a gun. "I'll give you a full tour in the morning. For now, I'll show you to your room, and let you get some rest. I'm Jessica, by the way." Ellie and Riley simply nodded in reply, still too in awe of their luck to reply with anything worth saying. The light was fading fast, and the large lobby inside was too dark to marvel at. They simply walked in the dimness to their room, enjoying the feeling of the soft carpet beneath their feet. They reached a door labelled '209', where Jessica stopped.
"This is it ladies. Have a good night's rest. I'll come and get you in the morning. I would, however, like you to hand me your guns."
"What? No." Riley objected, but Ellie handed hers over willingly. Riley reluctantly reached for hers too, and passed it to Jessica. "When will we get them back, at least?" Riley asked, annoyance showing in her face, but she kept her voice even.
"Tomorrow morning, at breakfast." Jessica replied. "Is that all you have to ask?" Riley nodded. Jessica reached into her back pocket and pulled out a box of matches. "For the candles." She said, placing them into Riley's palm. "Make sure you blow them out before you sleep." She said sternly. With a final goodbye, she turned on her heel and walked briskly down the corridor.

Inside the room, there was a thin layer of dust over everything, but it was fairly clean and well looked after. In one corner, there was a cream armchair next to a heavy-looking wooden desk. This looked out to the back of the house, through a large window that had been nailed shut. In the centre of the room was a large bed with four posters. There were no fancy drapes like there had been in Harry Potter's room, as Ellie had pointed out, but the sheets were clean, if slightly rough, and they were grateful for the warmth that the large, dusty duvet brought. In the end, Riley didn't bother with the candles. She simply drew the large curtains that were slightly torn but not entirely dysfunctional, and climbed into bed beside Ellie.

"Riley?" Ellie whispered as she lay on her back, staring at the ceiling above that was barely visible in the dark.
"Yeah?" Riley replied, turning to face Ellie even though she couldn't see her very well.
"I love you." She said bashfully. Riley knew that she was blushing, even though the night concealed the pink in her cheeks. She smiled, sitting up slightly.
"I love you too, El." Ellie giggled as Riley tried to kiss her in the dark. It took a few tries and some accidental nose bumping to find each other's lips, but it was worth the effort. Ellie sighed as she reached her hands up to Riley's face. They pulled apart, breathing heavily, their foreheads touching.
"Goodnight." Ellie murmured, leaning in again for a final kiss before lying back down and burying herself in Riley's embrace.
"Goodnight." Riley replied, finally allowing herself to feel a little optimistic about something. Sometimes, a little hope was a good thing.

A/N: I spontaneously decided to write this at 1am on a Sunday. It is now almost 3am and I have to get up at 6am for school but we all know I never make good life choices. I would say I'll regret this in the morning, but it's morning already. More like 'I'll regret this in 3 hours'. Anyway, sorry for the break. I was on holiday for a month in Spain and I didn't bring my laptop like an idiot, and then some shit happened and I got sad BUT the important thing is that I'm okay now and possibly more importantly for you is that I finally updated. Sorry if there's any typos as usual, I'll probably proof this tomorrow night but if you're reading this the night it has been posted, it's a first draft. I have read exactly none of this over. Good luck trying to make sense of it 3
As always, until next time! 3
-Vulpixels.

P.S 1 review=1 prayer (I will love you so many if u review it will give me the strength to actually wake up in 3 hours)