A/N: I'm finally able to upload this one! Geez, it was tougher than I initially thought it would be. I literally hit writer's block and was unable to write a single paragraph. What saved me was the game itself, I just finished it on survivor difficulty for the first time and had a surge of inspiration right up.
Anyways, I've noticed a huge swarm of new readers and I have to admit that I'm OVERJOYED! Thank you so much, guys! As much as I love stories, it is you guys that are my greater inspiration. Thank you so much, you don't even realize how happy this makes me. :)
I'd like to make one thing clear, just to avoid the confusion. There is a bit of a timeline mix up in this chapter. Bear in mind that Ben's POV takes roughly half an hour before Ellie's POV. This chapter is closely connected to the last one and you'll soon see why.
That should be it for this announcement, enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 33 – The Horde
Ben ran as hard as his legs could carry him. His heart threatened to jump out of his chest, and the same exact thing almost happened when he heard their deadly screams. As far as his eye could see, he could see them. They rushed through the streets, between the buildings of the small town, broke through the windows and doors, fell from the balconies and got up to chase him. The horde seemed endless. All while Stepper was still tied to a pole at the end of the street. Thanks to the adrenaline rushing through his blood, he quickened his pace, not even believing how fast he was running. The machete flashed in his right hand when the clicker appeared right in front of him, seemingly out of nowhere. He moved his torso backwards in order to avoid the frantic waving of the clicker's claws, which would no doubt end his life, and attacked by swinging the blade in a wide arc from the left. Squeezing the hilt tightly, he cut off the infected's head in one clean slice, staggering from the swing to fall on one knee.
Sucking air through his mouth, he got to his feet, digging through the snow about as his legs almost gave way. Ben fumbled his machete out of its loop as he floundered back to his path. He did not see any of those mysterious survivors from the other group, but the infected were all around him. Jumping on Stepper's saddle, he stopped for a moment, still staring and wondering which way to go. He turned Stepper, and the horse broke into a half trot, tugging against the reins to go faster. With him staying out in the open exposed, and with the infected's numbers being so endless, there was nothing to protect him should they catch him. The infected would tear him apart. And then… Ben forced himself to stop thinking. He'd listen to his guts and get to safety. He could hold onto that thought. Their screams, their clicks and moans sent shivers down his spine, but he fought his way through the horde that surrounded him. Pulling the reins with his right, Ben aimed and shot with his left, missing the vital points several times but still managing to take some of them down before having to reload. He had to backtrack from a street blocked from side to side by a fallen debris Stepper could never have crossed. Ben could hear his own breathing, short and sharp, just shy of panic and gritted his teeth to stop panting. Aside from the shrieks, gunshots could be heard from the other side of the town where other survivors probably escaped. They were still alive and fighting their way out of this mess, but Ben had no time to waste on them. Stepper rounded the corner of the next street, also flooded with infected that stormed at him. Not all of them were chasing after him, which only meant that they chased after the others as well. A wall of runners bathed the broken snow-covered street forbidding him of going further. It was as if they waited. Wheeling, he galloped away in a tight knot with no heed for the clatter of hooves he raised.
Two stalkers stepped into a street before him, not ten spans away. For an instant, it seemed as if the infected and Ben just stared at one another, each more surprised than the other. Another pair of runners appeared, and another, and another, colliding with the ones in front, folding into a shocked mass at the sight of a human on a horse. Only an instant did they remain frozen, though. Guttural howls echoed from the buildings and the space behind him, and the infected bounded forward. Ben's stepper reached full gallop in three strides. A hasty glance over his shoulder showed him that the ones behind were still chasing after him. Three runners ran at his own heels. His skin crawled as he realized they were almost matching Stepper stride for stride. He dropped low on Stepper's neck and urged the gray on, chased by thick cries.
The street narrowed ahead, brokentopped buildings leaning out drunkenly. Seemingly empty windows broke suddenly with more infected falling out. Ben risked another glance over his shoulder. The infected still ran less than fifty paces back, the light from the snow was enough for him to see them clearly. Ahead of Ben, half a dozen infected sprinted at him, another half a dozen wavered from the windows. Stepper tossed his head and screamed, but Ben dug his heels in brutally, and the horse lunged forward wildly.
The tendrils stiffened as Ben galloped between them, but he crouched low on Stepper's back and refused to look at them. The way beyond seemed clear. If I can reach the end of the street… He booted Steeper harder, and the horse leaped forward into the welcome snows, unstained by the infected. With Stepper still running, he looked back as soon as the screams became less audible.
After a time he realized he could no longer hear the shrieks of the infected, and suddenly the clatter of his gallop seemed as loud as the shouts. He reined Stepper hard, stopping beside a tall tree, right where the forest began. Slumped in the saddle, he listened, but there was nothing to hear except the blood pounding in his ears. Cold sweat beaded on his face despite the cold, and he shivered as the wind flailed his poncho.
Finally he straightened. The grey sky grew darker and the snowfall tightened once again. Where are the others? Are they even alive? What if.. If others were alive, they'd be headed back to the settlement. Their mission was doomed to fail from the start. They cоuldn't beat the horde this big out in the open. Not the ten of them with limited ammunition. Hell, can we beat this horde at all? No, I can't think about that now. I have to find them first. I have to find Ellie. Be alive, please. The forest was vast, he could search for days without finding anyone, if he could keep away from the horde. And that other group if it decided to hunt him down. And Connor if he was here with other Wolves.
Ben gathered the reins. Crossing the frozen stream, a heavy stone fell downhill against the other with a sharp click. Ben froze, not even breathing. He was hidden in the shadows of the naked canopy, one step from the light. Frantically he thought of backing up. What was behind him? What would make a noise and give him away? He could not remember, and he was afraid to take his eyes off the direction the stone fell from. Evening darkness bulked at that corner, with the longer darkness of a shaft sticking out of it. Rifle! Even as the thought flashed into Ben's head, he dug his heels into Stepper's ribs and his machete flew from his belt; a wordless shout accompanied his charge, and he swung the blade with all of his might. Only a desperate effort stopped the blade short. With a yelp girl tumbled back, falling of off her horse, dropping the rifle from her hands. Ben drew a deep breath and lowered his machete, stained red. His arm shook, and he gritted his teeth staring at the girl dropped in the snow, clutching the wound on her stomach. She looked upwards at him, her eyes widened and teary, gasping for air, trying to tell him something. It was as if she was pleading for mercy.
Ben half expected to hear further instructions in his head, but there was only silence. Heart was bumping heavily against his chest, and he lowered the machete, twisting his head to the left where he heard the lone moaning runner that ran at them between the trees. His eyes went back at the girl, who seemed even more terrified than before. Her red, blood-stained hands tried to clutch the rifle, but with no avail. Even her horse had ran off, leaving her alone in the snow. Then she looked up at Ben, her eyes silently asking him for protection, lips moving in an attempt to utter something. "Please..."
"Who are you? Did you attack the dam?" his voice commanded. The cold tone in his voice was enough to make her understand that he would not cope with any possible lies. Annabel was screaming in his head, as if she lost control. Kill her! Gut her! No, no, no... play with her! He tried to keep a firm face, but her return shook him.
"We did…" she spoke and coughed blood, gritting her teeth in pain, "But you don't understand-"
"How many people you got?" Who the fuck cares? Gouge her eyes out!
The girl looked sideways at the runner and her eyes widened when she turned her head back towards Ben. "Please, don't kill me. Please, I have a little sister."
Ben smiled, "I had a brother once. His name was Tom." His smile faded away when he remembered the visions in the barn. "How many?"
"About a hundred, but there's more." She was on verge of tears, Ben almost felt sorry for her.
"Are you a part of the Washington Liberation Front?" Lips curled upwards, adorning Ben with another malicious smile and he revealed his teeth. The girl's eyes were dashing between him and the ever approaching runner. Feed her to them! It will be beautiful! She was relentless, louder than usual.
"No. I don't know anything about them. I swear- I'm not!"
The smile faded away yet again, this time in a disappointment. Ben sighed, "Where is your camp?"
"In the mountains, east of the settlement, but you don't understand! I belong to the Gypsies, we've never hurt anyone!"
Gypsies… Since when do Gypsies conduct raids? I thought they were peaceful. Does this mean I was wrong about Connor?
The runner ran ever closer at them, screaming something in its own language that Ben could never comprehend. The girl was lying on the snow below him, helpless, and it was up to him to decide her fate. Should I save her life? He was struck by a dilemma. She was one of them. Should I spare my enemies? He learned what he could from the girl, and about her group, the Gypsies.A thought, seemingly distant memory flashed back into his head, from a room of black and white. In a moment, he was derived from emotions and just gave the girl one final, cold look. Let her fight her own battles.
"No, wait! Please, don't leave me! No!" she screamed at him in anguish, but he was deaf to her pleas.
Pulling the reins, he turned the Stepper away from the girl and trotted into the distance, stopping at the sound of a gunshot to glance over his shoulder. The girl managed to kill the runner, but not without consequences. It had already dug its teeth deep into the girl's cheek, making for a nasty bite mark. She's the enemy, he thought warily as he galloped away through the forest. She's the enemy. I don't spare my enemies. These thoughts were his own.
Before he had covered a hundred spans the keening cries of the infected rose behind him, coming from the forest behind him. Another cry followed, this one closer. How did they make it here this quick? Ben shivered, but kept to a slower pace, watching his surroundings and avoiding any tough path his horse couldn't handle. Cries weren't heard for a while, and it was in silence he rode outside the woods into a clearance, which was probably once a road. Ben could barely recognize his surroundings and he could turn either left or right. Each direction seemed the same to him, but only one led home. Ellie first. I have to find her first, he clutched the reins in his hands as the thought went through his head. It was either left or right. Only one right direction. He turned left.
x
Ellie sat her horse in the shadows, watching the open gateway of a country house, some little distance off yet, and absently rubbed her point finger against the trigger of Joel's revolver, more so with precaution than of a whim. Others could be hiding in the house for all she knew, but she couldn't risk wasting time with the horde on her back. Where the fuck did it even come from? It was as if the horde popped out of thin two story country house seemed to be a good place for hiding, but she sat on the saddle for two more minutes studying it. Why am I hesitating? The wind tossed her hood off her head and carried her short hair over the eyes, but she pulled the hood back angrily, still clutching the pistol in her right.
She got separated from the others when the horde ambushed them in the last town. It's been at least half an hour since then. Not exactly knowing how, Ellie managed to outrun the horde, much to her own surprise. She hadn't seen anyone else since, though. Jesse and Dina broke off the column almost immediately. It was not as if they had a luxury of choice, being cornered like that. Cat, Julia and Miles disappeared in the same manner, and Ellie couldn't recall seeing Noah and his two friends anywhere. Her throat tightened. It was too risky to remain outside, going back to Jackson was the only option. Yet she didn't want to go back until she found others, or at least those who were still alive. They turned to me to lead them. I can't abandon them. "Fuck. Fucking fuck!"
There had been some sort of a square visible through the gate, with a huge fountain in its middle. Part of the fountain was still there, a cluster of broken statues standing in a big, round basin, and so was the open space around it. To reach the gate she would have to ride nearly a hundred spans, exposed in the open and visible by any infected that might be in the area. That was not a pleasant thought, either. Ellie remembered those hands reaching to tear her off the saddle too well. Scout was tired, brought to the brink of exhaustion and needed some rest. If they house was clear of the infected, it'd serve nicely.
Ellie even considered the noises of the infected that quieted down. She had almost turned back, thinking some of the others might still be in the town, before realizing that she alone could not do anything if they were cornered by a horde. Not against a hundred or more of the infected. Then she went back to consideration of the gate. Careful thought had not given her much, but she had made her decision. Ellie rode out of the words into the lesser darkness of open space. As she did, another rider appeared from the far side of the woods and stopped. She stopped too, and felt the handle of her revolver, it gave her no great sense of comfort. If that shape on a horse was one of the bandits…
"Cat?" came a soft, hesitant call.
She let out a long, relieved breach. "It's Ellie, Julia." She called back, just as softly. It still sounded loud in the cold silence of the winter.
The horses came together near the fountain, prompting Ellie to realize it was not just some random country house. It was more of a manor, not exactly a palace, but still a big place to live in.
"Have you seen anybody else?" they both asked at the same time, and both answered by shaking their heads.
"They'll be all right," Cat muttered, patting the neck of her horse. "Won't they?"
"I hope so." Ellie replied. "They will look after us once they get to safety." She hoped it was so.
Ellie felt a great relief once they were beyond the gate, inside the yard of the country house, even if there were infected in the forest. She stopped that line of thought. The two of them would rest a bit, feed the horses and drive away the exhaustion. Soon they would search for the others and find them, and then she'd put them beyond the infected's reach as well. She believed it because she needed to believe. The wind scraped the naked branches together and rustled the needles on the evergreens. A hawk's lonely cry drifted in the rising dark, and she and Julia moved their horses closer together as though they were huddling for warmth. They were very much alone.
"How'd you get separated from Miles and Cat?" Ellie asked, feeding Scout the ball of frozen oatmeal he broke easily with his large teeth.
Julia shrugged, "Some clickers got between me and them. I had to turn around."
Even though she pulled a miraculous escape, fought off the infected judging by the blood on her clothes, Julia still managed to look beautiful, as if the blood stains on her face didn't exist. How is she doing that? Jesus…
"I hope they're okay. They can't be dead, right?" Julia said when they made it to the living room of the manor. A quite spacious room, it was obvious it was designed for a larger family, judging by two long sofas and table seen in dining room that could hold at least eight people at once with a lot of space to tuck some more chairs in. The owners were rich when the wealth mattered in the past, judging by the decorations in forms of luxurious paintings and other decorative objects that were covered in dust by decades that had gone by, some of the porcelain vases were broken, but not too many. Withered plants inside were turned to dust.
Ellie put a hand on her shoulder, "We'll find them."
Black haired girl shuddered at her words, rubbing her arms in an attempt to warm herself. Her breath froze and left a white mark as soon as air left her mouth. Julia turned her head aside, as if trying not to look Ellie in the face.
"So," Ellie said after she sat on the sofa opposite of Julia, "We're going to move south, towards the frozen river."
Julia suddenly looked up, "But that's where the horde is, it's past the town where it ambushed us."
"The horde is moving fast. We'll wait out a bit and then move quickly. It'll get dark soon and we can't waste any time. The bridge we need to cross to get to Jackson is that way."
"The bridge? Aren't we going to search for them? What if we can't find them before the night completely falls?"
"We have to get to Jackson first, Julia." Ellie concluded realizing getting to safety is their best option, to which Julia simply nodded. It pained her as well, but searching in the dark was not going to do them any good. Julia seemed really distressed, but Ellie couldn't blame her. She enjoyed the safety of the walls for too long. Her father was the owner of the restaurant located by the church on the town square. He was always trading with the hunters, hence why he had such large stockpiles of meat that was always fresh. From what Ellie knew about Julia, she helped him in the restaurant by serving food, while also being the main hair stylist in the settlement. She was a busy girl indeed, but she never ventured outside the settlement much. Ellie could never understand it. How could Julia and so many be completely uninterested about the outside world? That's why she found it hard to get close with anyone in the settlement really, except for Ben. Ben was always seeking to learn more about the world. She chuckled at the memory of the younger versions of them. Some two or three years back, they had that crazy idea of leaving the settlement to explore the world, even though it meant exposing themselves to the risk of dying or something even more, getting infected. I'm immune, but he doesn't know that. Ellie was actually really willing to follow through with that idea, especially after she found out the truth about Fireflies and how Joel killed them. She felt the need to leave Jackson and get away from everything, which she wanted, with Ben. He was the only one who understood, even though he didn't know a thing about what Joel did. Others were bugging her and annoying her, as if forcing her to cheer up and be happy, which only made her sink into herself even more. Ben was the only one who accepted it, and never asked a single question. Let's be sad together, he once said with, grinning widely. But then, Tom died and Ben quit on their idea, which was probably one of the reasons they got distant from each other. He was still struck by Tom's death while Ellie felt she had no purpose in life after finding out the truth about the Fireflies.
"Hey, Ellie." Julia said, snapping her out of her thoughts. "Can I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"About Ben."
Ellie barely swallowed a lump in her throat when Julia mentioned his name.
"It may be out of place, but doesn't he seem a bit different?"
"What do you mean?" Ellie tried to play it dumb. Why does she care about Ben so much? Ellie heard her mention his name more than once. Is she into him?
"I don't know, it's just the way he is right now. He was always quiet, both of us know that, but he was always smiling and cracking lame jokes which was really cute. You're his best friend, you know him the best. Now he seems so distant, like he's always somewhere far away in his head. Did something happen to him?"
Did something happen to him? He was captured. And tortured, Abby's words echoed through her head. What kind of torture he go through? His hair turned completely white? What exactly did they do to him?
"Ellie?"
Julia calling out her name snapped her line of thoughts like a thin branch. She didn't feel exactly comfortable talking to Julia about him. She wasn't comfortable with talking about Ben to anyone really. "I don't know. He seems fine to me." In a way, it hurt her to even lie about it.
"Okay." Julia said in a disappointed tone, her eyes wandering away.
Ellie was not in the mood to chit chat. She removed herself from the living room and lied down on a bed in the upstairs bedroom. If someone were to take care of this house and clean it up a little bit, it could prove to be a really good place to live. It had a large fenced backyard, it was spacious and richly decorated. Jeez, she thought irritably, hating that her mind wandered away from what was really important.
Leaning over the edge of the bed to pick up her backpack, she shoved her hand inside and pulled out her journal. Before she knew it, she was scribbling something in it. Lost in her thoughts, she really just drew the first thing that came to her mind. It was a shape, seemingly an animal, that much she was aware of. Which animal though, she couldn't comprehend. It could've been a dog, a bear, fox, or a wolf.
It didn't go as planned. Horde fucked everything up, and we got separated. I only found Julia so far and will continue to look for others tomorrow. I have to get her to safety first, she is my responsibility.
What do I do from here? How do I… we just started…
I hope Jesse and Dina are okay. I saw them escape together... fuck. This is so fucked up.
It's getting dark and the horde is still out there.
She felt the urge to write something about Ben, but resisted it in the end, laying her journal carefully in her backpack. It was relatively new, with only a couple of pages being filled up with sketches and words. Writing down her thoughts was a thing that always happened on the fly, such as running, rather than a thing much thought out before the act.
Before an hour went by, two girls were back on the saddles, wandering through the woods where the snow was still smooth, a sign that no one or nothing had broken the harmony. Yet. The wind scraped bare branches that were not enough to keep her from seeing the darker shade of the sky above. She only hoped they were beyond the infected's reach. They frightened her much more in the dark. Ellie knew the woods, and soon, they would reach the river that would put them beyond the infected's reach, since the settlement was less than an hour of ride away from that point. But they didn't reach the river yet.
An intense clicking broke the silence somewhere behind them in an uneven rhythm, alerting the two girls of their closeness. Then thick, half-human howls rose on their trail, spurred on by the clicking from a dozen different sources. Howls that grew sharper with every breath she took.
Ellie put her horse to a gallop, shouting, "Come on!" Julia came, both of them booting their horses, heedless of noise, heedless of the branches that slapped at them. As they raced through the trees, guided as much by instinct as by the river to her right, Julia's horse fell behind. Ellie looked back. Julia kicked her mare and flailed her with the reins, but it was doing no good. By their sounds, the infected were coming closer. She drew in enough not to leave her behind. How the fuck are they so fast?
"Hurry!" she shouted. She could make out the infected now, dark shapes bounding through the trees, bellowing and snarling to chill the blood. She gripped the revolver tucked under her belt, until her knuckles hurt.
"Hurry, Julia! Hurry!"
Suddenly her hose screamed, and she was falling, tumbling out of the saddle as the horse dropped away beneath her. She flung out her hands to brace herself and splashed headfirst into icy water. Ellie had ridden right off the edge of a sheer bluff into the last river between them and the settlement.
The shock of freezing water ripped a gasp from her, and she swallowed more than a little before she managed to fight her way to the surface. She felt more than heard another splash, and thought that Julia must have come after her. Panting and blowing, she threaded through water. It was not easy to keep afloat, her jacket and everything beneath were already sodden, and her boots had filled. She looked for Julia, but saw only the glint of moonlight on the black water, ruffled by the wind.
"Julia? Julia!"
A shape jumped into the water in front of her eyes and threw water in her face. Others splashed into the water around her, too. Guttural voices raised in front of her, as if muttering an argument in their own tongue. Her shouts drew the runners right towards her and before she was able to comprehend, she was firing from Joel's revolver, all six bullets in one go. But that was not enough, for runners kept coming for her.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck!"
She knew she had no time to reload. Instead, she was flailing with her machete left and right, feeling the blade cutting sharply through the meat. Five, six.. she tried to keep count of the runners. Dim moonlight that reflected itself off the water helped her recognize the movements all around her. Slice, stab, left and right, over and over. Ellie cut deeply into the runner's head and was unable to get the blade out.
"Fuck it!" she yelled in resignation and let the corpse fall downwards into the shallow water, sprinting uphill to the surface, slipping and bracing herself not to fall on the snow. Shouts and gunshots surely drew in more of them, and in a matter of moments, they'd swarm the river bank. As if they weren't close enough already. There was no immunity that would help her if they got their hands on her.
She couldn't guess her location, the current washed her downriver, but the thick shouts and snarls followed along the bank, keeping the pace and wondering how did they even manage to cross the river. Fuck my luck, she thought irritably, panting as she progressed through the snow that reached all the way to her knees, completely wet and shaking from cold. The flashlight on her shoulder strap was barely working but at least she had something to light her way. My fucking luck. If she wasn't looking over her shoulder as much, she wouldn't have fallen into the deep water. To think that the bridge was so close…
Undoing her jacket, she let it fall on the ground. A little less weight to drag her down. The river took her away from the settlement, but she presumed she was still close. And if she wanted to make it out alive, she'd have to move fast to keep the blood in her veins pumping and hot. Even without the jacket, her hoodie and boots each seemed to weigh as much as she did. And the backpack hung from her back, threatening to roll her over if it did not pull her under. She thought about letting go of it as well. But every time she thought of it, she considered of crawling through the woods to find more infected waiting. Her weapons would not do her much good against half a hundred infected, but it was better than her bare hands.
After a while she was not even certain she'd be able to lift the gun if the infected were there. Her arms and legs became leaden; it was an effort to move them, to fight through deep snow. She sucked the air through her mouth, feeling it freezing in her throat. When she had her breath, she called for Julia again and again, in the ever growing darkness around her. It was not just the cold that crept into her bones. There was fear as well, creeping inside of her. Hugging herself was only a gesture that did not stop the shivering. Alone, she walked tiredly through the woods to find the shelter from the snows and hopefully make it home alive.
She knew she covered quite a distance that way, in spurts, until suddenly, she grunted and stopped dead, staring at the ground. There were markings on the snow. Right under her nose was a clear hoofprint. A slow smile appeared across her face. Forgetting possible appearance of the infected, she followed the trail of the deep snow that seemed a bit more shallow in this part of the woods. The spreading branches of a lone hemlock towered in the middle of the scene. Still grinning, she pushed her way through the snow and the interwoven branches, not caring how much noise she made. Abruptly she stepped into a little clearing under the hemlock – and stopped. Her eyes saw a shape of a horse, lying on the ground. Two smaller, humanoid shapes were next to the horse. Then the smell reached her nostrils. The irony smell of blood. Her right hand reached for the machete, but a curse flew over her lips when remembered losing it in the fight at the river bank.
One shape was lying on top of the other, making that specific sound, the sound you make when you chew on something sloppily. Runner raised its head as if it heard her approaching. Ellie's flashlight illuminated the face, bloody eyes and rotting face were staring right at her and it screamed, lunging forward to tear off her throat
Her switchblade was her only defense. Both her and the runner fell on the snow when she stabbed it in the neck, and then in the head when it was lying on top of her. Warm liquid dripped down on her neck when she pushed the corpse off of her and ran towards the other one.
"No." Ellie squealed when her flashlight illuminated Viktor's disemboweled corpse. The runner ate at his insides and there was no doubt he was dead. He was not dead for long, though, the corpse was still warm and the blood was still steaming. Something hard pressed against her chest. A sense of guilt. If only I was faster…
Ellie looked over her shoulder when a horse neighed from the distance. Rider approached her, blinding her with the flashlight. Julia jumped off her horse and ran right past her towards Viktor.
"Goddamn it!" she cursed when she saw the body. Her eyes were teary when she looked at Ellie. "I found him after I crossed the bridge. Then they attacked us and we got separated, and- fuck!"
"It's not your fault, Julia." Ellie said sadly, putting her hand on her shoulder. Viktor was dead, true, but she was delighted to see another familiar face. "Let's get out of here, there is nothing we can do."
The feeling of guilt remained in both of them as they rode the same horse. She felt a bit more safe ridding behind Julia, holding her waist not to fall off. A stray thought of jealous Cat flew through her mind. Stop thinking about that, you senseless idiot! Julia progressed slowly, but surely throught the woods, as much as deeper snow allowed. They didn't talk much, and Ellie thought she heard Julia sobbing. The girl broke the silence a moment after.
"I thought you drowned." Julia said after a while. "I'm sorry I couldn't go back for you, they were at my heels."
"I thought I was done for." Ellie replied absently. "I lost Scout, I don't even know if he's alive."
"I saw him running off, galloping away. He knows the way back."
Ellie nodded, answering with silence. Viktor was still lingering in her mind. His corpse has gotten cold by now. He was dead, because she invited him to this disaster of a mission. His parents… she'll have to tell his parents when she gets back. If Viktor was dead, others could be too. Ben, Jesse, Dina, Cat, Miles and everyone else. Please be alive. Please make it back home.
"Ben has to be all right," Ellie said, quickly adding, "they all do. They have to."
Julia nodded, still looking forward. This was the first time she felt insecure since she led them to this mission in the morning. She shook her head to clear her thoughts and looked forward, over Julia's shoulder. They're heading home. And if they were, there were good chances others were doing the same. She won't be pessimistic. They'll make it home, and find a way to fix this mess.
x
Ben galloped between the trees in the darkness. Loose branches carried by the wind slapped at his cheeks, but it didn't bother him. Stepper was panting heavily, hot steam coming out of his nostrils, strong signs of horse's fatigue. Just a little bit, he thought, concentrated on what was in front of him, a small wave of light illuminating the path forward. Just a little bit, and we'll get there. His stomach twisted when he found Viktor's mutilated body, which was clearly torn apart by the infected. Him being dead meant the others could be as well. Ben tried not to overthink. One step at a time. He knew he heard voices, screams actually. The only proof that he was on the right path were the tracks in the snow. If those were voices of his friends, he could save them. But there was also a possibility of them being the enemies. Damn Gypsies! Why did they attack us all of the sudden? And then the horde… could this be any worse?
They're all dead, Annabel spoke, her voice taking on a distant tone. They're dead. They will be dead. They're dead. They will be dead.
The girl he killed still lingered in his thoughts. He learned what he could from her, and that was enough for him. At least that's what he wanted to think. Ben furrowed his eyebrows at another thought of her. A part of him, a tiny, nearly silent voice in his head was screaming at him, accusing him of what he'd done to her. But it was as if that voice couldn't reach him at all. "What's done is done." Ben whispered to himself angrily and stung Stepper with his heels, prompting the horse to gallop even faster, merging with the darkness.
