1 Week Ago

The Whitetail Mountains

"So, are we just going to sit up here all night until something shows up for us to kill?" Liz asked.

She sat her rifle in her lap and wiped sweat from her brow. Despite it being nighttime, it was humid and hot. She had already stripped down to her tank top, but she continued to sweat. Jacob looked to be suffering worse than she was. His jacket laid on the wood floor. He deserved to sweat though. It was his idea to come out here and camp in the tree stand.

"You ain't ever been hunting before?" He asked.

"I mean, I have. But I never said that I enjoyed it. I'd always rather be out practicing on the field during the weekends. And I hate getting up early." She chuckled.

A smile crossed over Jacob's face. "That does not surprise me at all."

A warm feeling washed over her. She still didn't know how he was able to do that to her. In her mind the past week has been nice. She didn't want to oversell it. But this week she hadn't had to shoot, been shot at, or do any physical training of any kind. It had been a pretty good week for Liz, maybe the best since she'd gotten here. Which wasn't saying a lot, but it was still better. That was all that mattered.

"How often do you come out here by yourself?" She asked.

He shrugged. "Mainly when John's pissing me off. Or when the Deputy blows something up. And sometimes when you're pissing me off."

Her nose scrunched up and she lightly punched him on the arm. "Since when do I ever piss you off? I'm a perfectly behaved angel, remember?" She purred. Her words were complete shit, but she liked pressing his buttons. She was very good at it. If she kept hanging around him, eventually he might end up out here all the time.

Jacob scoffed. "Oh, please. You're a little devil and you know it."

The look he gave her indicated that he meant something more. But whatever it meant; he wasn't wrong. She had been nuisance to him since day one. She tried to escape by swimming across a frozen lake, she tried to kill him repeatedly, and a few times she even got close. He still had the stitches on his chest from when she stabbed him in his office. That had felt good at the time, but she kind of felt bad about it now. Which was strange, because she's never felt bad about hurting him before. She's always felt like he deserved it.

"You're right. I can kinda be a pain in the ass sometimes."

"Yeah, only sometimes…" He said.

She glared at him. "Jerk." He only laughed in response. It was still strange to see him do that. Showing emotion like that still didn't seem normal for Jacob. It seemed like sometimes he even surprised himself.

"Why do you like coming out here so much?" She asked.

He sighed. "It's just always relaxed me, even since I was younger. I've been wanting to take you out here for a while now."

"Really?" Her head perked up. Blush formed on her cheeks too. Spending time like this with him was one of her favorite things. It was nice to know that he enjoyed her company as well.

"Yeah. I like your company, most of the time..." He smiled back at her.

Present Day

Holland Valley

Liz struggled to push the memories of last week from her head. After what she had told Jacob today, none of that would probably matter now. She had told him that it was a mistake being with him. She had to leave the Ranch. After Jacob left, it took her about two seconds for her to do the math. Whenever he came back, he would get rid of her. She wasn't going back to the Whitetails. It was possible though. Spin some story about how she escaped again. Her best option now though was to be alone. That way she could survive and no one else would die because of her.

It was about nightfall by the time she reached it. She had walked across the whole valley to get there. She hadn't planned on coming here, but somehow it was where she ended up. It was always here. She hadn't been here since her first day back. Her small mobile home in the Silver Lake Trailer Park was just as she left it.

Even seeing it again, it was still hard for her to process. Everything that she had growing up was gone. The memories, the things, the people… Most of the time Liz was able to suppress all those feelings but there were times like this where it all came bubbling up to the surface. Tears welled up in her eyes but didn't spill over. The person she was before was gone and all that was left was a monster. Elizabeth Palmer was dead.

She opened the front door and stepped inside. Broken glass crunched under her boots. There were still bullet holes in the walls. She tiptoed down to where her room was. Or what used to be her room… There was nothing left to salvage. All her softball trophies were thrown into a heap on the floor, along with everything else. None of it mattered now. She walked over to her bed and collapsed onto it.

All this time being here, she wished it would go back to how it was before. But laying in that bed now, all she wanted was to forget. She didn't want to remember her past life. Maybe she was built for this new world after all. She was never meant to be happy; she was only meant to suffer. Happiness was something she would never achieve now. She thought about who she had in her life. An uncle who hated her, a couple of friends she'd betrayed, and a sick man who's only intention was keeping her alive. But the crazy thing was that they all truly hated her. They had plenty of reasons to.

Liz curled up into a ball. She just wanted to forget. No matter what that took. There might not be anything left for her to live for; but she wasn't ready to die. She thought that she was, but she wasn't. She would do whatever it took to live, even if that meant being alone.

She laid there until she was able to right back her tears. That was something she wasn't going to do tonight. She took a deep breath and got up. There was barely anything left to salvage in her room. But there was one thing that she could use. She picked up the wooden baseball bat that sat in the corner. Her father had gotten it for her when she was eight. It had sat there her entire life, never being used. But now it would be.

She strode out of the room. It didn't take her long to find what she was looking for. She picked up a jar of screws and a screwdriver. She immediately went to work. The wood cracked under the force. Each screw meant something. The men on the cliff, the people that were dead because of the damn music box, her cousin that she knocked into the ice, and Andrea… There were so many more that she didn't even want to remember. She tallied up the number. One screw for each kill. The final product was something truly remarkable.

It was perfect for what she was going to do. It could take down anyone who stood in her way. Many superior men had tried to defeat her, but yet none succeeded. It was a good thing that she was no man. Being alone was the best option, but there were always others. Those options just weren't with Jacob… She refused to get tossed away.

She got up from the kitchen table. More glass crunched under her feet. When she looked down, she saw a picture of her brother. It was remarkable how young he looked in it. At the time he had been about her age. But he was gone now. Everything was gone. She put the photo in her jacket. Those memories needed to die but she needed to save one thing. Just one.

Now she knew what needed to be done. There was something that could make her forget it all. She found lighter fluid and a few bottles of alcohol in the house. Every bottle was opened and thrown onto the insides of the house. The liquids were sloshed everywhere. Walls, furniture, and counter-tops were all covered. After she emptied each bottle, she smashed them into the wall. It was like a weight began to life off her shoulders. That part of her life began to slowly die. It didn't take long for her house to reek like a run-down bar. Every object was dripping with flammables. It would all burn.

The last bottle smashed on the floor and she stepped out into the nighttime air. Goodbye to this life. Goodbye to the softball games, school, happiness, Eli, Dep, Wheaty, Sharky, Jacob… Goodbye to what was and what could have been. This was her life now. She was meant to be alone. The former was gone and there was no going back. She wasn't a hero, a soldier, a fighter, or even a woman. She was a survivor. That's all she was and that's all she'd ever be. Goodbye to the former things and goodbye to all that would be.

With one quick flick of her wrist, she struck the match and set the whole place ablaze. The fire spread through the entire house and black smoke billowed into the air. The forest glowed orange. She took a step back and collapsed onto the ground. She laid her chin on her knees.

Everything that she had ever known disappeared into the air. Ash floated down and landed on her. It stuck to her jacket and in her hair. It didn't bother her. For the first time in a long time, she was contempt. She knew her path now. She knew exactly what she was.

She closed her eyes and began to sing softly. "Look at the horizon, the time is coming near. Look out at the world on fire, look at the people frozen in fear…" Her voice was far from angelic. It wasn't soothing or calming, like Faith. She hardly ever sang but somehow it just felt right. This song was exactly what she was feeling right now. "We won't listen to their crying; they had their chance to see the light. We won't be handing out no pardons, cause the world is gonna end tonight…"

The house continued to burn. There was no one around to watch such an amazing spectacle. The flames illuminated the entire trailer park and the trees around it. It was surprisingly beautiful. With each passing minute the fire engulfed the house and it slowly began to collapse. Liz sat there and watched it burn until the roof caved in.

There was nothing but ashes now. Good. She could finally throw these memories away. The path was clear now. She got up, not bothering to brush herself off. Ashes stuck to every part of her. She flung her rifle and bat over her shoulders. The work was done. The whole trailer park would burn now. It was better that way.

She wasn't exactly sure where to go. Leaving the county wasn't an option, she tried that before. The Henbane would be her best bet. That was somewhere Eli or Jacob couldn't fully reach her. Faith was nice enough. Maybe the woman would let her hide until this was all over, or until she died…

The light from the flames guided her through the forest. She dashed between the trees to leave there as quick as possible. Running into the Resistance or the Chosen were both equally bad. She didn't want to stick around to find out which showed up first.

She ran until she hit the river. It was still tonight, there was no one to be found. She needed to find a way across though. The last thing she was going to do was swim again. That had been an awful night, one that she didn't want to repeat. Her planning was interrupted by a loud noise in the distance.

It was a siren from one of the outposts.

It had to be the Copperhead Rail Yard. That was the closest outpost from here. Someone was attacking it. That wasn't her problem though. She wasn't a part of the Chosen. It wasn't her outpost to defend. She kept her course along the river.

There was some part of her though that felt like she should go. It was the part of her that wanted to fight. She hadn't truly been out in the field in a couple weeks. She hadn't had to shoot or defend herself since her time back with Dep. If she was being honest with herself, she wanted to fight again… When the shit hit the fan, that was the only time she truly felt alive. She didn't want to go, she needed to go. Like Jacob said, it wasn't like her to back down from a fight.

Liz took her rifle of her back. The sirens continued to wail through the forest. Her plans had been shot to hell once again.

She sighed. "Let's do this shit."