They climbed down the old ladder in the bell tower, and gathered some stuff they needed in the garage before heading out in the street. Joel quietly closed the door behind them so infected couldn't wander in their post. Beth scanned the street to look out for infected, and spotted some runners wandering around in the road. She pointed them out to Joel, to which he held his hand up to make her wait for his signal. The runners wandered around some cars and Joel silently told her to move. So she moved her ass to close the distance between her and the runner. She saw Joel in her peripheral creeping up to the second runner, and he was as silent as a mouse. How was he so nimble at such an old age? Her knees hurt crouching like this!

She held her breath as she approached the wandering infected, it was moaning and screaming and causing her heart to pound. She was looking death right in the face, and that face was missing both cheeks and an eye. This is it, Beth. It's now or never, old girl. She took a deep breath through her nose to gather her wit, and waited for the runner to turn around so she could ambush it.

Only, it didn't turn around. It started scuffling towards her! Beth's heart stopped, and her blood ran cold. She watched in horror as the runner wandered closer to her, threatening to see her at any moment. She panickily looked around her to find something, anything, to distract it. The runner screamed again, and she almost pissed her pants, it was right on the other side of the car she was hiding behind. She looked around for Joel, but he was gone. She was completely alone, forced to deal with this runner on the very good chance it's about to see her. The runner's sporadic footsteps got closer as it slowly made its way around the car. There! A bottle behind the tire! She thanked the good Christian god that she didn't believe in and shakily retrieved it, making sure not to drag it across the asphalt to alert the nearby threat where she was hiding. Once it was planted firmly in her hand, she exhaled slowly through her nose, trying to keep her pounding heart from exploding. It was beating so loud that surely the infected could hear it. It pounded in her ears, making it hard to hear the infected's footsteps. She could see the head through the busted-out windows, and it was getting closer to her hiding spot.

Her blood got hot in her veins as the adrenaline kicked in. It was now or never. She pulled her arm back with the bottle in hand, and flung it over the car. The glass shattered, echoing over the street, but she wasn't fast enough. The runner saw her. It screamed at her, and Beth's ears starting ringing as the panic set in. Time slowed into a crawl, and she could only watch it run at her in slow motion. She was watching her death approach her. This was it. It was over. Sorry Joel, she fucked up. She never lost her senses like this, and it killed her. It was over. Her whole body was lead; it took all her strength to hold her arm up to brace against the attack of the infected runner. She could feel it's hands brush against her skin, it was so close.

"BETH! MOVE! LET'S GO!"

The ringing suddenly lifted at the sound of Joel screaming at her. She dropped her arm that she was using to block the infected and saw Joel take down the runner that had tried attacking her. She crashed back into reality and scrambled to her feet as Joel gripped her arm tightly and jerked her to her feet. His grip was iron tight as he began running, and she stumbled behind him. Her heart was pounding in her throat and her ears were ringing. She saw Joel looking back at her and screaming but she couldn't hear anything. She made the stupid mistake to look behind her.

Oh, shit!

There was a dozen of infected, and they were running straight for them. Runners and, Jesus fucking Christ, clickers. That meant instant death if they got their hands on you. Shit shit shit! Adrenaline surged through her and she finally got the spring back in her step. She was finally able to catch up to Joel, who kept checking behind him to make sure Beth was still behind him. There was genuine fear in his eyes, but not for the infected behind him, but something happening to her. She could tell because his eyes kept looking at her, never behind her. She wasn't going to let him down, not today. Looking around, there was absolutely nothing to use against the infected chasing them, but Joel had a bottle of alcohol in the side pouch of his backpack. A Molotov! She could make a Molotov! She picked up the pace to snatch the bottle from his pack, and was relieved to see that it already had a cloth soaking in it. He came prepared, thank Christ! Grabbing the lighter in her pocket she lit the weapon and threw it behind her praying to the God she didn't believe in that it hit them. A startled Joel looked back at her when the Molotov exploded, only to be relieved when she smiled deviously at him and shot him a thumbs up. He gave her that familiar knowing smile and... was that pride in his eyes?

She looked behind her to see that only three infected remained, and damnit that clicker lived. Of course it did, why wouldn't it? They were running up on some cars and she cleared the trunk of a car in one swift motion to clear some distance to be able to turn around and aim her weapon for the immediate threat. That damned clicker. Her hands were shaking due to the adrenaline coursing through her veins, so she steadied her breath the best she could and made every shot count. She counted four shots: three in the clicker, and one in a runner. The clicker finally went down without much issue, but that fourth bullet only slowed that runner, while the other one was still running full speed at her. She cursed under her breath and took off again, running full speed to catch up with Joel who was quite a few feet up messing around in his backpack. Was this really the time to be fucking around with inventory?

"A little help?"
She cried out panickily.

"Working on it! Hold on!"

He yelled back, examining something shiny in his hands.

What the fuck was that? Was this really the time to be building stuff? As she ran closer to him, she could see some sharp objects sticking out of the metal. Was that... was that a bomb? A nail bomb? While she was still in range?

"Move your ass!"

She watched him fling the contraption right at her. She ducked while trying to keep her speed and she felt it whiz over her head and hit the ground behind her. Time slowed down again, and her ears started ringing again. Joel kept waving her down, trying to keep her attention on him and to keep her alive, but all she could think of was the shrapnel that was bound to hit her from behind. She wasn't going to know when it was coming, or what it was, just that it was going to hurt. Each step felt like an eternity; she couldn't seem to run fast enough.

"LOOK OUT!"

She heard Joel yelling, but it didn't register in time. He was screaming and pointing, and she dragged her eyes from him, from safety, to see where he was pointing. It was too late; she didn't see the clicker in time to move out of the way.

It was over.

She last thing she was going to see was Joel.

Her next-door neighbor, and close friend.