Chapter 3
It felt like she was vomiting as Ellie coughed out all the liquid from her lungs. Her head hurt with every surge that she brought forth, so that she would've loved to hold it with her hand. However, it wasn't possible since her right arm was cuffed to a pipe.
"Da fuck?!" she exclaimed and looked at first at her arm, which's sleeve was ripped, revealing the bite mark on it, and then at the blond woman that was sitting against the opposite wall, her gun pointing loosely in the girl's direction. They were obviously in some spore free part of the tunnel since she didn't wear her gas mask anymore.
"How long?" she asked, the pistol's muzzle waving towards the injured limb.
Knowing that she was in no position to argue, Ellie plainly answered "Three weeks," causing Sarah to scoff.
"Bullshit!"
"I told you, I'm immune! Look at this bite, it's already healing. No infection," the young red-head retorted angrily. But her exclamations were only meeting deaf ears.
The strange woman got up and closed in on the cuffed girl, kneeling down in front of her, yet far away enough so that she wouldn't reach her. "Why would Marlene send an infected girl with me on a fuckin' journey that has almost zero chance of success?" She didn't wait long for an answer from Ellie's side, saying "Does she wanna kill me, huh? Does she think I wouldn't kill an infected kid? Believe it or not, I did worse."
Hearing this theory that she would be nothing more than a tool to assassinate someone, Ellie lost her temper, blurting "Are ya deaf or stupid?! I told you, I-am-immune! And why would you think Marlene wants you to bring me to Salt Lake, huh? Maybe because the Fireflies have a hospital there and wanna use my blood to produce a vaccine?"
Standing up again, Sarah walked up and down, mumbling something to herself, whereas Ellie watched her impatiently.
"So, what now? Wanna leave me here to rot?"
Swiftly, the lanky blonde turned towards her with a scowl.
"One false move - even just a fuckin' glimpse I don't like - and I'll waste your tiny ass in some dumpster! You got that?"
Feeling nothing more than antipathy against this woman, Ellie just nodded with an angry glare before Sarah undid the handcuffs. After rubbing her sore wrist, the young girl looked around.
They were in some sort of room. It was dark, cold and wet. A rusty cabinet was standing at the concrete wall, while an old desk, where her backpack was lying on, and an uncomfortable chair stood in the middle of it.
"It's an old maintenance room," Sarah mentioned as she walked over to the desk and put her weapons on it. "Hard to reach since most of the floors are underwater, but at least it's free from asshats and the infected. Ideal if you wanna catch a break."
There was no anger or hostility in her voice. Nothing that was underlining the angry behavior from before, which made Ellie very suspicious. That's why, she still kept her distance and watched how the older woman was cleaning her guns.
"Listen, kid…"
"Ellie."
For a short moment, the blonde looked up from her doings and gave the young girl a piercing glare before she returned to her doing.
"Alright…Ellie. I'm Sarah, by the way."
"I know," Ellie returned as she was leaning against the wall with crossed arms. "Marlene mentioned your name."
This time, Sarah simply scoffed and shook her head, and again Ellie thought that she would go all ballistic on her. But instead, she just gave her a wry smirk.
"You're like your mom."
And then switched her focus back to her work again.
"Sorry about the smack and what I said, before. It's just…"
"Why?" Ellie asked, surprising the blonde, who was then looking at her with a frown. "Why are you apologizing? You behaved like a triple-A asshole before, so why are you acting so nice now, huh? All smalltalk 'n' shit. Are you a fuckin' schizo? Or are you planning to murder me?"
But Sarah just shrugged while she was disassembling and cleaning her pistol. "I changed my mind. If I should take you to Salt Lake, we should at least try to get along."
"Aren't you afraid that I might turn and eat your face off?" Ellie kept on pushing, but Sarah still stayed relaxed, put the pistol back together, loaded it and then pointed it at the young girl, making her flinch.
"Already told ya, if you try some funny business, I'm gonna dump your ass. So, I guess we're on the same level now, right? Or do you have some more bullshit up your sleeve?"
Not knowing what to answer and being a bit intimidated, Ellie stayed quiet and watched how the lanky woman packed everything together and eventually tossed the girl's backpack towards her.
"Now, c'mon, kid. We need to get outta here and find a working car or else we have a loooong way ahead."
After leaving the old maintenance room through a shaft that was leading straight to the surface, Sarah and Ellie ended up in the city center again. Like in the rest of the world, nature was slowly taking back what once belonged to it. Plants were growing between concrete and pavement, buildings were crumbling back to dust, old cars were rusting away.
Cautiously, the duo was walking along the street, flanked by tall buildings that were already throwing dark shadows as the sun was setting.
"Where are we going?" Ellie asked as she realized how exhausted she was. Her head was still throbbing from the hit against the concrete wall and her legs screamed for a break.
"Dedham," Sarah replied dryly and stopped for a moment to take a look around. "We need to find some shelter for the night, though. Let's go into one of those buildings. We should find a suitable room there."
Drawing her one-hand crossbow, Sarah approached one of the buildings, which's street level once housed a fast food restaurant and the upper floors an IT business and a law firm.
Due to the civil unrest and lootings during the first days of the spread of the infection in Boston, the front windows were broken and the inventory of the restaurant destroyed and scattered all over the place. Cautiously, they both entered the building and made their way to the back where they assumed the staircases.
While the front of the shop was still brightly enlightened by daylight, the back was dark. The air smelled like wet concrete and rotting wood of the old furniture.
They made their way upstairs, Sarah leading the way and Ellie right behind her. By the way the young girl moved, the blonde immediately realized that she wasn't used to a life outside the walls of the quarantine zone. Clumsy and rushed movement. Her sight busy with checking out the remnants of the old world instead of being aware of her surroundings. The typical signs of a newbie. A freshman. A person who would either die during the first few days or turn into a hardened son of a bitch.
Which one was Ellie? The victim or the survivor?
Sarah didn't know and only time would tell.
Eventually, both reached the top floor, and the destruction there matched the one in the fast food restaurant. If not even worse. Broken windows, broken desks, broken everything.
"Wow, someone didn't like attorneys," Sarah mentioned jokingly after she had checked all the offices. "C'mon, let's check the other floor!"
They then went one floor down, and indeed, most of the offices of the IT company were still intact and in a state like they had been abandoned just a few days ago, minus all the dust from two decades.
"This'll do," said the older woman as they had entered some sort of conference room. In the center stood a big desk with several weird looking chairs around it. Also, there were two couches in a corner and a big screen on the wall.
After putting her rifle on the table and the backpack on one of the sofas, Sarah wanted to use the last bit of daylight and checked the other rooms for some loot, only salvaging a blanket and an old flashlight, everything else wasn't of any use for her. She then locked the door and dusted off one of the couches before slumping down on it.
Ellie, who had also put down her backpack, was simply roaming around the room, checking every item of interest. Even the big screen.
"Can you imagine, watching some sci-fi movies on this big-ass screen?" Sarah asked with a wry smirk, making the young girl's gaze switch between her and the monitor.
"I dunno, never watched a movie before," she replied, causing the older woman to sit up straight as she looked at her with wide open eyes.
"What?! Have they never shown you a movie?"
"Nope," Ellie returned as she walked over to the other couch and sat down as well. "But I once tried to play a videogame."
"And, how did that go?"
"It didn't. It was broken, but Riley…she…"
Suddenly, Ellie's demeanor darkened as she went silent. In the slight obscurity of the late evening, Sarah could see tears running down her freckled face. It was clear for her that this topic - this person, called Riley - was a sore spot, and she wouldn't push it any further.
Instead, she rummaged through her pack and brought forth two cans of food, reaching one to Ellie.
At first, the young girl just looked at the offered food, before taking it. For some time, they ate in silence, each pondering for themselves.
"So… Tell me somethin' 'bout yourself," Sarah asked out of a sudden, causing Ellie to almost choke on her meal as she was taken aback.
"Um, well…" the young teenager began after clearing her throat. "What's there to tell? You knew my mom probably better than I did, 'cause she was always busy doin' shit for the Fireflies. We moved a lot, so don't even ask me where I was born. However, after she died, Marlene moved my ass to Boston and enlisted me to this fuckin' FEDRA academy. Said that I should learn to fight, so that I might someday join the Fireflies 'n' use the shit FEDRA taught me against 'em."
Hearing this story, Sarah just scoffed. "Yeah, as soon as things went to shit and every veteran was needed, they stuffed the kids into these fuckin' boarding schools. Sorry 'bout your mom, by the way! How did she… y'know?"
"Ugh, why do you care?!" Ellie suddenly exclaimed loudly, causing Sarah to flinch upon the volume, because they were still in the city center and every sound could attract infected. "A few hours ago you acted like you hated her guts and blamed me for all this shit. Now you suddenly care. Why? Just fuckin' why?"
Sarah immediately realized that she, again, had hit a sore spot and didn't want to let the situation escalate even more.
"You're right," she eventually said, putting her food aside and laid down on the sofa, covering her legs with the found blanket. "Why givin' a fuck…? G'night!"
Ellie, on the other side, still didn't know what to do with this strange woman. In one way, she was so harsh and rejecting, in another caring and nice. A pure enigma.
Realizing that the conversation was over, the young girl also laid down, and as the last rays of the sun vanished behind the horizon, she drifted into sleep.
Dedham. A suburb in the south of the city center, consisting of your typical family homes.
Like most of the suburbs, they were the first that got looted during the outbreak, since the concentration of infected had been less dense than in the cities and the accessible goods far more profitable. So it was no wonder that most houses didn't have intact doors and windows anymore.
Here, nature had started to overgrow everything. Once neatly trimmed gardens have become wild meadows. Trees have grown, accompanied by saplings around them, forming first small scaled woods. Wild vine was climbing up and covering the wooden walls of the houses. The pavement of the streets was covered by a layer of dirt and old leaves from last fall.
Ellie and Sarah walked along the main road, side-by-side. Since last night, both had barely spoken with each other, their communication only reduced to passing on some needed information.
They had just turned around the corner of a crossroad as Sarah hissed a quiet "Shit!", grabbed Ellie by her backpack and pulled her behind an abandoned truck.
Quizzically, the young girl looked at first at the blond woman, but then gazed around the old vehicle as well.
A hundred yards away, a few men were standing guard on the street, while some others were carrying and loading boxes onto the bed of a rusty pick-up truck. Luckily, they hadn't spotted the two women yet.
"Hunters," Sarah mentioned as she let her backpack glide from her shoulders and brought forth a binocular.
Recalling some lessons at the academy, Ellie knew that Hunters were humans that were living in small, gang-like communities outside the quarantine zones. FEDRA declared them as criminals since they obtain their resources by stealing, looting and robbing. There are even some rumors saying that a few of those groups were indulging cannibalism.
For some minutes, Sarah watched the hunters through her binoculars.
"Fuck! This used to be a safehouse and stash of the Fireflies. Guess word spread pretty fast that they're about to get obliterated in the area and those fuckfaces took the chance."
Sighing heavily, she took down the optics and closed her eyes in order to catch a thought.
"Damn, we would've needed that stuff. Let's hope that they don't find out that the car in the garage is still working."
"So, what're we gonna do?" Ellie asked, her sight shifting between Sarah and the Hunters down the road.
"We wait until they're gone," the blonde replied, shrugging with her shoulders before jumping into the open loading bed of the truck and sitting down, Ellie wanting to do the same. But before her behind even touched the bottom, she got handed the binoculars. "No, you watch 'em! Try to stay outta sight and tell me when somethin' happens."
"Why me?" Ellie returned defiantly with a sour demeanor, crossing her arms.
"'cause I said so."
Now being enraged by this aloof answer, the young teenager blurted "Fuck you, you lazy bitch!" and swatted the binoculars away, causing Sarah to lose her grip on them so that they flew through the loading bed and hit the metallic ground with a loud, booming sound that reminded of a drum beat.
Both didn't move, not even flinched as the echo slowly faded. With wide open eyes and a heavy breathing they listened into the following quietness that was soon filled with some commotion from down the street, consisting of yelled orders and voices that were coming closer.
Realizing that the Hunters had been alarmed by the noise and were heading towards their position, Sarah grabbed her backpack and the young girl and tried to make a run for it.
"Wait, my pack!" Ellie protested as she had to leave her belongings behind. But, mercilessly, she got shoved by the blonde woman towards the next open house.
"Hey, I see someone over there!" a male voice chimed from behind, indicating that they had been spotted.
"Fuck!" Sarah hissed and urged the young teenager to run even faster.
They had just rushed through the backdoor of the abandoned house as they took a sharp turn left through the backyards of the neighborhood. Fortunately, the wooden fences were either half rotten and broken or not very high, making it possible to jump over them.
Nonetheless, the sprint through the gardens took its toll on Ellie, who hadn't even close to as much cardio as Sarah, and therefore got slower with every passing second.
"S-Sarah…!" she gasped as her lungs were burning more and more. But the blonde kept on pushing, knowing that this was a life-death-situation.
Being even more focused on running, Ellie didn't see the rusty remnants of a rake in the high grass and stepped right onto it, the teeth piercing through her shoe right into the flash.
She screamed out loud and immediately fell, the pain unbearable.
Sarah stopped right away and turned towards the on the ground lying, crying girl. Normally, she would've left her and saved her own life, but decided to do the opposite by grabbing her under the arms and dragging the girl towards an empty pool that was still covered by an old, partially ripped tarp.
She could hear how the Hunters were coming closer and closer. After pulling the tarp a bit aside and jumping into the pool, she pulled the injured girl down with her and covered them with the ripped piece of polymere.
Understandably, Ellie groaned out of pain as she landed on the hard, tiled floor since the rake was still stuck in her foot. In order to prevent the danger of getting caught, Sarah shuffled closer to her, trying to give the young girl some comfort while one hand covered her mouth and the other held the pistol, aiming towards the outside.
"They must be here somewhere. Keep looking!"
Steps were getting louder as the Hunters approached their position. The wind lifted the tarp for a second, revealing the two hiding women. To their luck, the hunter by the pool had looked the other direction.
"Hey, I found some blood! They can't be far," the man beside the pool called out and was now obviously following the bloodtrail that was leading him straight to Sarah and Ellie.
Knowing that the young girl wouldn't be able to run away anymore, the blonde woman whispered "Stay here! Don't move and keep quiet, you got that?"
Ellie nodded, tears and sweat running down her face while her lips trembled upon the pain and fear.
Slowly, Sarah moved her hand away from the girl's mouth and grabbed the gun tightly as its muzzle followed the Hunter through the holes in the tarp. Once again, it got lifted by the wind and as soon as his and the blonde's gaze met, the man froze, since Sarah's merciless demeanor made it clear that she was ready to kill.
A shot broke and a bullet pierced the man's skull, killing him instantly. Knowing that the shot would attract the others, Sarah immediately jumped up and out of the pool. Swiftly, she picked up the dead man's old Tokarev TT33 pistol and sprinted towards the house's luckily open backdoor. She had reached it right on time as the others turned up.
Taking the door frame as cover, she sent some quick, but aimed shots at the enemy, hitting two more while another bunch returned the fire.
Suddenly, another Hunter appeared in the house, storming at the blond woman with a knife.
Sarah reacted quickly and threw the - now empty - captured pistol at the charging man right in the face, making him cry out in pain as he held his strongly bleeding nose. Being blinded by the pain, he ran with his arm against the wall, stumbled and received a hard kick from the blonde woman, which let him crash into a glass cabinet, where his throat got impaled by sharp edges of the glass.
Being aware that the rest of the Hunters were about to storm the house as well, she drew her own pistol again and backed away from the entrance. And indeed, another Hunter appeared, this time a woman. Two shots later, she was dead as well.
A hard strike hit Sarah on the back of her head, robbing her awareness for a second. But she kept the gun in her hand and wanted to use it, as a kick to the side of her belly sent her down.
Shaking off the flickering spots and darkness in her sight, she saw another man showing up in the door, aiming at her. She rolled aside, so that his shots just hit the floor. She then returned fire until her magazine was empty, which killed the guy as well as he got hit by multiple projectiles. But she had forgotten the other one, who now hurtfully kicked the gun out of her hand and then attacked her with a knife as well.
Being on the ground, Sarah was in a bad position from the start. She barely avoided getting stabbed by intercepting the opponent's hand that was holding the knife mid-air with her own hands. But it was almost an impossible task.
Their faces now close to each other, Sarah had a detailed glimpse of her opponent. He was dirty and sweaty, his unshaved face full of rashes and his black hair short and messy. His yellow teeth matched the bad breath that was constantly hitting the woman's face.
The blade went deeper and deeper as her foe put all of his bodyweight into the scale, until the tip pierced into her shoulder, making her groan out loud.
One last time, she mobilized all her strength and managed to roll the two of them to the side until it was Sarah, who was on top.
Now having the upper hand and using the element of surprise, she pushed the blade away from her body and head-butted her enemy right in the face. Now that he was confused and handicapped, the blonde took the knife from his hand and rammed it right in his heart, ending the fight.
Breathing heavily and being exhausted, Sarah watched how the man's eyes began to stare into nothingness while one last, hitched whiff escaped his slightly agape mouth. He was dead and it seemed like it was over. But then she heard the cracking of glass behind her as someone was stepping on shards. Someone, who wanted to sneak in on her.
In one fluent motion, she ripped the knife out of the man's body, turned around and threw it at the source. But as Sarah realized that it was a child that had approached her, it was already too late. Luckily, the blade didn't hit, but just the hilt. Still, it was enough to make the kid cry as it hit the child's chest heavily.
The kid was a little boy, maybe eight years old, brunette, lanky, with a round face.
Cautiously, Sarah closed in on the boy and eventually knelt down in front of him and, precautiously, picked up the bloody knife.
"Hey, you're alone?" she asked the kid, who was still weeping, but shook his head nonetheless. "Do you live here? Are your parents hiding upstairs?"
Once again, the boy shook his head and then pointed towards the backdoor, sobbing "M-mommy…"
Now understanding who the child was and that she had just killed his mother, Sarah sighed deeply and pondered about what to do next.
This kid was the child of a Hunter and it would become a Hunter, eventually. So, keeping it alive was a high risk, since it could tell the others of his clan where they were and Ellie was in no condition to travel fast. Still, Sarah wasn't a heartless killer. She only did it if necessary and tried to avoid killing innocent persons like old people, women or children. But this didn't mean that she was a missus-goody-twoshoes.
For a long moment, she looked at the kid, who was terrified beyond everything, and then gazed at the blooded knife in her hand.
"I know who your mother was and I know who you are. The things you stole didn't belong to your people and I have all the rights to kill you like the rest of you motherfuckers."
She then got up and tested the sharpness of the blade, playfully, making the kid whimper even more.
"But I won't do it, 'cause I still have faith in the good side of people. So, are you gonna be a good boy?" she asked, adding a wicked smile to her piercing gaze, causing the boy to nod frantically.
"Alright, I believe you for now. And this is how it goes: You go back to your kin and tell 'em that your group got attacked by Clickers and Infected. Add a Bloater to it, if you wanna, but you tell 'em that this entire area is taken over by the Cordyceps. Got it?"
Again, the boy nodded, his big eyes on the strange woman, who got back on her knees, her grin now even wider as she spoke with an eerie whisper.
"Good! Because, if you don't and I see one of you fuckers again, I'll come for you and your friends. I'll come for you all with this knife and I'm gonna gut 'em. And when it's your turn, I'll cut off your lil' fingers…"
She tipped with her pointer finger on the boy's hand.
"...your lil' toes…"
Then on his foot.
"...and eventually, I'll make a small cut here…and here…"
She brushed with her finger over his left and right cheek.
"...and start to peel off this soft skin from your cutie-face while you scream like a lil' piglet for your mommy, wishing that I'd finally send you to her. Is that clear?"
During this entire threat, the boy's watery eyes had gotten bigger and bigger while a puddle of urine had formed under him. Nodding even more he eventually jumped up and ran away.
Sarah felt a bit sorry that she had killed the kid's mother and scared him like this. But on the other hand, Hunters were a disease and were doing the same to other people all the time, not showing any mercy or remorse.
Now recalling that she still had an injured girl to take care of, Sarah picked up every gun and ammunition on the way out and left the house, only to find Ellie already sitting on the porch, her leg with the injured foot stretched out.
"Didn't I tell you to stay put and wait for me?" Sarah chided the young teenager, who snipped back right away.
"And miss your sweet bedtime story for this lil' shitter? But honestly, I thought you'd need some help, so…"
Though she was about to retort something, the older woman decided to let it drop and instead returned "C'mon, let's take care of your foot."
After she had put the backpack on her shoulder, Sarah helped Ellie up by supporting her with one arm around her hips. Slowly, they made their way to the former safehouse, the young girl limping heavily since the piece of rusty metal was still being stuck in her foot. Every step hurt, making her groan while droplets of blood were leaving a trail behind her.
Eventually, they reached the safehouse and, hence to the Hunter's activities, it didn't look different than the other houses: ransacked and chaotic. Very much to Ellie's dismay, they also had to climb the stairs, but the present, comfortable bed, where she got placed on, was worth the effort in the end.
"Wait here. I'll try to find some medical stuff to treat your foot," Sarah said to the young teenager as she placed her backpack on the floor.
Ellie, on the other hand, just let herself fall onto the mattress with a loud, satisfied sigh and closed her eyes. "Don't worry, I won't go anywhere."
As Sarah left, she took another deep inhale and simply enjoyed the comforting softness of the bed, dozing off unintentionally. And she would've even drifted into dreamland, if a harsh push on her shoulder wouldn't have woken her up.
"Mmmmwhaaaaat…?!" she mumbled in complain as she reluctantly opened her eyes and gazed into the stern demeanor of Sarah, which also seemed to have a ping of worry mixed into it.
"We have a problem."
We have a problem. A sentence that was already bearing very bad news. And bad news was something Ellie wasn't very fond of at the moment. Therefore, she just sighed and closed her eyes again, hoping to shut the world out.
"Looks like these fuckers haven't hit this place the first time. All medical supplies and food are gone. They had just loaded the last bit that's usable on the truck. BUT…" The mid-aged woman picked a bottle with a clear liquid off the ground and presented it to the young girl with a toothy grin. "...we got this!"
"Water?" Ellie asked with a frown and as an answer, Sarah popped the cork and took a deep gulp, after which her face scrunched up and she let out a deep sigh.
"Moonshine, Firefly-Edition!"
With one raised eyebrow, Ellie gazed at the bottle that was held right in front of her face. It was clear that Sarah wanted her to take a sip.
It would be a lie to say that the young red-head had never tried alcohol before, especially since Riley had often smuggled a bottle of cheap booze into the academy. Hence, she grabbed the bottle right away and took a long drag.
As soon as the strong alcoholic liquid began to burn in her throat, she coughed out the rest of the schnapps that was still in her mouth, spraying it all over the floor, which caused Sarah to chuckle.
"Strong stuff, huh?" she asked, still snickering. Whereas Ellie just handed the bottle back to her.
"Da fuck is that stuff?!"
"This stuff's gonna be our disinfectant today!" the blonde announced and started to put down some stuff right beside Ellie's injured foot. Several bottles of Moonshine, two big bowls and a pack of old fabric.
In one bowl she put a bunch of the cloth and washed it with a bottle of alcohol. In the other bowl, she poured in another bottle.
"Okay, I'll need to pull out this piece of iron, take off your shoe and then clean your wounds or else they're gonna get infected," she then said to the young girl as she picked up her foot. "Not gonna lie to you, but this is gonna hurt like fuck. You're ready?"
Gulping her fear down hard, Ellie gave her a determinant nod, signaling with her reached out hand that she wanted another sip of alcohol. Sarah agreed, and after the young girl had swallowed it down, she already felt how it began to numb her mind.
"On three. One… Two…"
Sarah didn't even wait until three as she ripped out the piece of metal with a single, swift pull. It took a second until the pain had reached Ellie's brain, but as it did, she screamed out as loud as she could, pulling her foot out of Sarah's grasp and as close to her body as possible while she whimpered into the sheets.
Sadly, Sarah wasn't even done yet, but wanted to give the girl some time to calm down again.
Tenderly, she then undid the laces of her shoe and took it off as cautiously as possible. Still, Ellie had some more pain and clawed with her hands into the sheets while crying into the mattress. But it was about to get even worse.
"Sorry 'bout that, kid!" was everything Sarah said before she dipped the girl's foot into the bowl with alcohol, where her blood instantly mixed with the clear liquid, dying it slightly pink. The cry that followed was heartbreaking, causing even Sarah to shed some tears, which she swiped away in an instant while giving the poor, whimpering girl some soft brushes over her sweaty face.
But what added to all this horror was the cry of some infected and even a Clicker, who were now running around the house, looking for the source of the loud scream.
Both, even Ellie instantly froze, not moving a limb. Especially as some commotion could be heard downstairs as one of the infected had crashed through a window.
"Listen, Ellie," whispered Sarah, brushing one loose strand of red hair out of the girl's face. "I only have to clean everything properly before I put a bandage around it and then you do it, okay. You just have to stay very quiet."
Her reddened, freckled cheeks drenched by streams of salty tears, Ellie gave Sarah a faint, yet determinant nod. It was clear that her mind was already clouded by this ongoing agony, but she still knew that this was necessary. So, she took the blanket from the bed and bit onto it.
Realizing that this was the sign to continue, the blonde woman cautiously took the foot out of the bowl with the Moonshine and placed it on her lap. Then, she picked up one of the with alcohol drenched cloths and very softly cleaned out every wound spot. And though the pain wasn't that worse as before anymore, Ellie groaned, the sound muffled by the blanket. With every second, however, she started to get used to it and realized that, for the first time since they met, Sarah was being caring and her touch tender, not harsh.
The young girl watched how focused and thoroughly the blond woman took care of her wounds. How she cautiously brushed with the cloth over her foot. How warm her slim fingers were.
"And done!"
The announcement came out of surprise for Ellie since she had been entirely absent while focusing on Sarah's doings. She didn't know why she - out of a sudden - was so fascinated by this woman, who never made a secret out of the fact that she hated her. Eventually, she blamed her raging teenage-hormones.
In awe, she looked at her bandaged foot, whispering "Thanks!" And for the first time, the strict woman gave her a warm smile, which immediately faltered as they heard someone walking up the stairs. What followed, was the loud echolocating scream of a Clicker.
At first, both women looked at the still unlocked door and then at each other, whereas Sarah signed with a finger on her mouth to stay quiet as she, very slowly, snuck towards the door. Whenever a floorboard creaked, she stopped for a moment and listened. Heavy steps could be heard, sounding from the corridor.
Sarah had almost bridged the distance and already reached for the bolt to lock it as the steps closed in. Once again, both women froze as they stopped right on the other side of the wooden barrier.
The Clicker was right in front of the room's entrance. It seemed to know that they were there as it probably had followed the silent groans and words.
Sarah could hear the creature's labored breathing, could literally feel how it tried to catch one last sound to confirm that two victims were right there, in front of it. Actually, she would've loved to draw her pistol or her knife right now, yet knew that even the slightest noise would alarm the infected.
One last time, the Clicker unleashed its loud, deafening scream directly at the door. Both Sarah and Ellie flinched, and this caused one floorboard to creak again, inducing another cry by the creature.
Was this it? Would they get overrun by the infected?
Fortunately, the sound of a car's engine chimed from outside, and immediately all infected screamed in unison and stormed out of the house towards the source. Still staying frozen, Sarah and Ellie listened to the human and inhuman screams and the gunshots.
Over time, the noise faded and it stayed unknown who had won the fight. Therefore, the two women agreed to reduce every sound and light to a minimum.
It stayed quiet until the sun vanished beyond the horizon and they eventually went to bed.
A deep groan woke Sarah from her slumber, letting her sit up straight instantly, the pistol already in her hand. She had been sleeping on the ground while Ellie was occupying the bed, since she was injured. And this was also the source of the groaning.
From what she could see in the obscurity, the young girl was turning her head from left to right while mumbling in her sleep.
Not knowing what was going on - it was still possible that she was turning - Sarah approached the bed with a raised pistol.
The scarce moonlight that was shining through the window got reflected by Ellie's wet forehead, signing that she was sweating. Already having a bad feeling, Sarah touched the young red-head's forehead.
"Fuck!" she hissed as she felt the uncommon heat that was signalling a high fever. And to make sure that it wasn't the Cordyceps that was causing it, she took a flashlight and undid the bandage around the girl's foot. "Dammit!"
All three wounds were scarlet red and one even oozing yellow pus.
"S-Sarah?" Ellie moaned, her barely open eyes fixed on the blond woman. "Wh-what… What're ya…?"
"Your foot got infected. I need to clean those wounds again, but… I'm afraid, If we don't find any penicillin and some sterile bandages soon, it will get worse, and you might even get blood poisening and then amputation will be the only chance to keep you alive."
Sarah didn't know if Ellie had even been aware about what she just said as the girl was already asleep again.
Before she got to work with the injured foot, she glimpsed one last time out of the window, seeing that the first glimpses of daylight were already visible on the horizon. And as soon as it would be bright enough, she would get to work and scout the area.
