Of all the years she has been on her own, learning to defend herself, and surviving even the direst situations, she had never been close enough to a clicker- or any infected for that matter- to smell the rotting flesh on it. She has had several close calls, but she always could hold her own and was able to survive all these years. Never depended on others for her survival, except for now. She was helpless to the speed and strength of the clicker that was making a beeline for her. She wanted with all her heart for this to be a dream, that it was just a nightmare that had its grip on her. She could see Joel aim his gun from her peripherals, and prayed to God once again to save her from this certain death. She needed a savior, just this one time.

The nail bomb behind her went off, shattering the car windows near it. The noise was loud, and made her ears ring. She had almost forgotten about it thanks to the infected jumping on her. She could only hope that the bomb killed the remaining two that was running after her, because if not, not even her friend could save her from a mob. This very moment may be her last.

"Joel!" she cried out through no volition of her own, "Help!"

She heard gunshots, but the infected was unfazed. The clicker grabbed her, ripping the sleeve off of her shirt and she could hear the bone chilling clacking of its teeth as it desperately tried to sink its teeth into her. She grappled for her life, unable to believe she was still alive. This luck was about to run out, and she could feel it in her chest. She had to get away from this monster or she was going to lose her life. She didn't dare take her eyes off of it for a second, bending and moving in ways she never knew she could so its teeth couldn't hit their target. She was blown away by the sheer strength of a walking corpse. It was able to pull her around and move her without much effort at all. Shit! Where was Joel?

She used her foot to swing herself back to give herself the momentum to kick the clicker in the remnants of its knee, knocking it on the ground for just a split second. She used this time to rip her knife from its holster on her thigh to bring it down on its head with all her might. The squelching noise that the blade made as it sliced through its fungal head made her shudder. She was never going to get that noise out of her head. She gave the clicker a few more hits in its head for good measure before she gave herself a second to breathe. Her lungs screamed for air; She hadn't even realized she was holding her breath. She bent over and put her hands on her knees to rest for a second, gasping for air. She did it. She actually did it! Her fear melted away into a pride that she hadn't felt in such a long time.

"Yep," she gasped out to herself, "Ole girl still got it!"

After a few minutes of catching her breath and trying to calm her racing heart, she finally had the strength to stand back on her two feet and look around. It was finally quiet in the street, but Joel was nowhere to be seen. Her short-lived self-celebration dissipated as fear crept in. Did he abandon her? Surely not, right? No way he would leave her behind. She was instantly on high alert, if he wasn't here that meant he could be in trouble. He never abandons his post. Ever.

The street was blanketed with an eerie silence that unsettled her. The world just didn't get this quiet, there was always the distant screams and screeches of infected or buildings threatening to collapse on themselves. She walked back to the pharmacy, her hand on her handgun holster in case she was ambushed again. The shop itself looked like any other place in the apocalypse; It was covered in mold and dingy, the walls were crumbling, and the shelves were picked clean. The wooden floors creaked under her feet, and seemed like they would give away any second. She took a deep breath, almost gagging on the humid wet air. She was going to have to be careful in case there were more infected in here. Most of the shop was like a convenience store, and then there was the counter that once had the medications locked behind it. She approached the door to get behind the counter, and saw that it was already unlocked. The door squeaked and she froze, listening for any sound of infected being alerted of her presence. When no noise came from the room, she exhaled in relief and entered the room. It was dark and, of course, the room was picked clean. There were a few stray pills laying around, and she examined them to see if they were of any value. She had memorized what different types of pills were by their color, shape, and code.

"Damn, just some zinc. Couldn't have been that easy"

She muttered bitterly, stuffing them in her pockets. Surely someone could use it in Jackson so it would be wasteful to leave them here.

Once she put all the pills away, she ventured further into the pharmacy. The floors gave in to her weight, threatening to collapse under her. Fuck, who knows what was waiting for her under there. The thought made her shiver. Where was Joel? He just vanished! Was he in trouble? The thought made her heart pound She couldn't imagine losing such a dear friend. She had to find him! As she approached the door on the other side of the room, she heard muffled screaming and talking. She froze in her spot, straining her ears to catch whatever was being said, but couldn't make out anything. Whatever was going on, it sounded like a struggle. Was Joel in there? She had to go help him! She reached out to grab the doorknob, and the floor started to give way under her. She couldn't even get a good grip on the doorknob before she dropped through the rotted floor. The scream of surprise and fear that erupted from her didn't even feel like her own, until the impact of the cement floor knocked the breath out of her. Her head hit the concrete, and her vision started spotting and her head began spinning.

Shit. That hurt.

"Beth!? Don't you fucking touch her!"

She could hear Joel screaming, but she couldn't see him anywhere. Her vision wouldn't focus, but she could make out a figure approaching her laid out body. Was that Joel? Did she finally find him? She reached a shaking hand out to ask for his help, but was met with a steel toed boot in her ribs. Her cry of pain was garbled, probably from the blood filling her mouth. There was no way that kick didn't break a rib or two. The pain ripped through her entire body and she was powerless to it.

"Beth!"

Joel? Where was he? She tried to focus her vision to look around the room again, but was kicked again in the jaw. Fuck that hurt! The figure leaned down and she got a better look at their face. It was a guy wearing a baseball cap. Definitely not Joel, but a hunter. They have been known to camp out here to ambush the patrols of Jackson to ravage for supplies. This was bad. She noticed Joel tied up rather roughly on the opposite of the room, and felt bad that she couldn't help. She desperately wanted to be the hero, and instead became the damsel in distress. How typical.

She allowed herself to have a pity party for a moment, to get her emotions out and to leave them on the floor with her blood and shame. The hunter held a gun to her and looked back to Joel, probably to taunt him. What a bastard. While he was distracted, she took the time to try to map out the room with her limited vision. It was slowly coming back, but it was still hard to make out everything. It was a basement that had been crudely rearranged to host inventory considering all the wooden tables with different items on them. On the far wall was a makeshift holding area for prisoners. If you could even call it that, it was just a few metal pillars with buckets nearby. That's where Joel was. The floor was disgusting, completely musty and covered with old blood and God knows whatever other old dried fluids. There wasn't a way out except the door she tried to use before she fell through the floor.

Joel couldn't help her this time, it was up to her to get them out of this. She had to endure, and persevere, and she damn well was going to. What kind of neighbor would she be if she didn't help when she could?