Ellie and Enid sprinted down the worn road, with another explosion echoing in the distance. Enid struggled to tune in to the radio for updates from the soldiers.
"BZZT! Back up needed in area five! BZZT! C'mon! Get your asses down here! We've got them on the run!" the soldiers shouted before the static cut him off. They slowed down after coming around a street corner.
"I'm guessing telling you that this is a bad idea is out of the widow?" Ellie asked her, still rubbing the back of her neck. "Nope. Not a chance in hell," Enid replied, looking ahead of them for a minute.
"Engaging hostiles at Macmillan and Jordan! Send reinforcements goddamn now!" The same soldier shouted. Enid listened intently before lowering her hands and gazing ahead, ready for whatever lay ahead.
"Macmillan and Jordan? That's a couple of blocks away from here," Enid said, walking in that direction. However, Ellie stopped her by grabbing onto her upper arm. "Wait a second, Enid. Are you sure you want to do this? You know that the Fireflies have killed soldiers," Ellie said.
Enid faced her 13-year-old friend with a determined look on her face and replied, "I'm sure, Ellie. This could be our only way out of here. Let's go," Enid was dead set on finding the Fireflies. To her, she believed that they were the ticket of getting them out of this city.
The further they ran down the street, the louder gunfire from the soldiers got. They were retaliating against the Fireflies, who were hiding to stay out of the line of fire.
Enid and Ellie took cover behind a crumbling wall. Enid, feeling concerned, leaned against the worn-out surface and whispered, "Shit, they need our help." She cautiously glanced around the wall to assess the situation.
Curiosity piqued, Ellie joined in and asked, "What's our plan?" Both of them peered carefully, trying to gather information. Enid, determined, reached into her pocket and retrieved a smoke grenade. "We'll use these to flush them out," she confidently responded.
Ellie's eyes became big when she saw the grenade in Enid's hand. "Holy shit, Enid! You stole that too?" she exclaimed. Enid rolled her eyes at Ellie. "No, I found spare parts in Winston's tent while you were gone. Of course, I stole it. Winston's got plenty of these - He won't even know it's missing," Enid sarcastically said.
Enid's suggestion made Ellie hesitant. Their childhood was long gone, and Ellie couldn't help but worry about the potential harm it could cause. "I'm not so sure about this, Enid. We're not little kids anymore. Someone could really get hurt," she expressed her concerns to Enid.
Enid moved closer to Ellie, gripping the grenade tightly. "Consider this, Ellie. This little thing can alter our destiny. Do you want to be their puppet for the rest of your life? Plus, we're safe here," she stated, gazing into Ellie's emerald eyes.
Ellie briefly contemplated Enid's words before realizing it wasn't her desired path. Swiftly, she grabbed the grenade from Enid's grasp and pulled the pin. "Fuck it," she muttered, hurling the grenade towards the Soldiers.
As the grenade landed amidst the crossfire, a soldier urgently yelled, "TAKE COVER!" Within seconds, the explosive detonated, filling the area with a blinding light. Ellie and Enid instinctively dropped down, shielding their faces from the intense brightness.
Once the light subsided, Enid noticed that the Fireflies had successfully freed themselves from the soldiers' clutches. Overjoyed, she couldn't contain her excitement and exclaimed, "Fuck yeah! We pulled it off! Whoo!" while energetically jumping around.
Ellie's smile quickly faded as the soldiers caught wind of Enid's excited outburst and swiftly pointed their Colt M16A4 Assault Rifles at them. The girls' eyes widened in terror as they cried out, "Oh shit!"
In a split second, the soldiers unleashed a barrage of bullets towards the girls, who miraculously managed to sprint away just in the nick of time. The bullets ricocheted off the wall, narrowly missing the girls by a hair's breadth.
*X*
They continued to sprint down a few more blocks until they couldn't hear the soldiers shooting at them anymore. Enid had hid behind a dumpster where Ellie had found her. She turned and hid behind the dumpster with her, catching her breath.
Enid sat by the brick wall with her legs up, while Ellie caught her breath and gave her a look. "Yeah, so safe, my ass," Ellie grumbled.
Enid grinned at her as she watched Ellie sit down next to her. "At least we're alive, aren't we?" she said. "Are you sure that Winston won't notice that you took his grenade and radio?" Ellie asked her.
The dark-haired girl burst into laughter, her eyes shut tight. "Well, looks like our friendship is very fucking over. Am I clever or what?" Enid teased, causing Ellie to roll her eyes in response.
"Your 'cleverness' nearly got us killed," Ellie retorted, rolling her eyes once more. Enid playfully nudged her. "Oh, come on. Admit it, we haven't had this much fun in ages," Enid said, still chuckling.
Ellie chuckled, "Yeah, yeah, I hear you," she replied, joining in on the laughter. Their lighthearted exchange was suddenly cut short by a loud noise from the adjacent building, causing Ellie to fall silent and tense up.
"Hold on, Enid," Ellie whispered, her gaze fixed on the open doorway. Enid picked up on Ellie's unease and asked softly, "What's the matter?"
"I think there's someone here..." Ellie murmured, her eyes still locked on the door, her laughter replaced by a sense of apprehension.
Enid whispered quietly, prepared to protect Ellie if necessary, asking, "Where?"
Both Enid and Ellie gazed at the doorway where a woman emerged, twitching and making eerie noises.
"Do you think she saw everything?" Ellie whispered, noticing the woman's unsettling movements.
Ellie's eyes widened in terror as the woman gazed up at the two girls, noticing the cloudy and bloodshot eyes of the woman before them, with black veins protruding from her head. The realization struck them both with fear as they understood that this woman was indeed infected.
"I-Is she..." Ellie stuttered, having a look of fear on her pale face. "Yeah... she's infected," Enid yelled out, taking Ellie's hand tightly.
Suddenly, the infected woman lunged at them with a piercing screech, causing both girls to panic. Enid was unable to evade the attack and was forcefully knocked to the ground, hitting the back of her head, leaving her momentarily disoriented.
Enid managed to fend off the infected's attempt to bite her neck by using her feet to hold it back, while it relentlessly swung its arms at her face.
Filled with fear, she exclaimed, "Oh shit!" and quickly grabbed a nearby rock. With all her strength, she struck the runner's head, causing it to be knocked off her.
The infected let out a piercing screech in response to the powerful blow. Despite her efforts, the runner managed to grab hold of Enid's arm, preventing her from escaping.
Enid suddenly felt a sharp pain as the runner sank its teeth into her arm, causing her to let out a terrified scream. In a swift act of bravery, Ellie rushed to her rescue and swung the bat, striking the runner on the head.
"Get the fuck away from her!" she shouted.
The runner turned towards Ellie sinisterly, growling at her like a wild animal. It caused Ellie to stand there with a petrified look on her face, the bat tightly gripped in both hands.
"Oh, fuck me..." she grumbled. The runner then pounced on Ellie, causing her to drop the bat. "Ellie! No!" Enid shouted, immediately getting to her feet. She snatched the bat from the floor.
Ellie felt a wave of fear as she worried that the runner tried to bite her like it did Enid. She held it back with both hands. However, Enid swung the bat at the sprinter's head, crushing its skull.
The sprinter collapsed lifelessly to the ground, blood and brain matter splattering everywhere. Ellie sat up and scooted away, trembling from the terrifying ordeal.
Ellie's voice trembled as she exclaimed, "Holy shit... you... you actually did it..." Her hands were still shaking as she stared at them in disbelief. "How did it not get me...?"
Enid, on the other hand, was fixated on the lifeless infected lying at her feet. She closed her eyes, hoping to calm herself, but the memory of being bitten on the arm by that runner quickly flooded her mind.
"Oh shit!" she cried out, glancing down at her arm and noticing the torn sleeve on her jacket. Ellie's eyes darted towards Enid, her heart pounding with fear, afraid that the infected had managed to break through the fabric and harm her friend.
"Oh shit.. did it actually bite through your sleeve?" she inquired, standing up. She approached her cautiously, extending her hand towards her. "There's no way..." Enid exclaimed, noticing her skin visible through the tear.
Ellie reached out to examine her arm - She needed to see if the runner had indeed bitten through Enid's sleeve. "Let me see it," she said.
Enid's eyes widened as Ellie did that. "Ellie, don't-" she shouted.
"Let me see it!" Ellie shouted, grabbing Enid's arm and pulling her sleeve back. They were surprised to see that Enid wasn't bitten; there wasn't a mark on her arm. "See? I'm not bitten. I'm okay," Enid assured, pushing her sleeve back down.
Ellie was surprised that the runner didn't bite Enid's sleeve, so she leaned on her knees. Enid examined the tear on her sleeve, upset because it was her favorite jacket.
"Well, fuck, my favorite jacket is ruined. Remember when you gave this-" Enid began, but Ellie interrupted by hugging her tightly.
Enid was taken aback by the hug but hugged back, feeling emotional and tears starting to form. "That was really scary," she said, her voice trembling with each word.
"Please don't do that to me again. I really thought you were bitten..." Ellie said, embracing her tighter. Ellie's words hit Enid hard, causing her heart to ache.
She never intended to hurt Ellie and it pained her to see the impact of her actions. "I-I'm sorry..." she stammered, unsure of what else to say in this situation.
Suddenly, a loud crash broke their embrace, drawing their attention to the doorway where the first runner had entered. To their horror, two more runners appeared, growling menacingly. Fear consumed both girls as they realized the danger they were in.
"Oh, shit! RUN!" Enid exclaimed in panic. Without hesitation, they sprinted away from the runners, desperate to escape.
"Run, Ellie! Come on!" Enid screamed, running ahead of Ellie. Ellie was having a hard time keeping up with her, breathing heavily. They kept running until they ran into a dead end.
"Oh fuck!" they shouted when they came across that dead end. The two runners were closing in, their screams and growls getting louder and louder.
The two girls held each other's hands tightly, thinking that there was no way to escape. However, they saw the two runners get gunned down. Things finally calmed down and they both looked up to see a few Fireflies standing on a platform above them.
"Ellie, look! It's the Fireflies!" Enid said with a smile. The two girls were blinded by a few flashlights ahead of them. They covered their eyes for a second before the owners of the flashlights lowered them.
They belonged to more Fireflies, who started to approach the duo. "Thank God, it's just you guys! That smoke grenade you guys saw, that was us. Oh, by the way, I'm Enid and this is El-" Enid started confidently, but one of the Fireflies took out a fiberglass baton from his belt.
The man struck Enid with the fiberglass baton, causing her to collapse. She cried out in pain as she hit her head once more.
Blood trickled down Enid's head as a result of the blow. Ellie, witnessing the attack, attempted to retaliate but was also struck by the baton, sending her to the ground.
The man, known as a Firefly, prepared to strike again but was interrupted by a woman's voice shouting, "Stop!" Enid and Ellie both felt the impact of the baton, with Enid's head throbbing and Ellie shielding her eyes from the bright flashlights ahead.
The voice belonged to a woman in her 40s with curly black hair tied up in a ponytail, who was clearly of African American descent. "Ellie? Enid?" she exclaimed, recognizing the two girls.
The two girls looked up at the woman in confusion. They didn't know who this was so how did she know who they were? "What in God's name are you two doing here?" she asked them, looking at them with wide eyes.
"What...?" Ellie asked. "Who the hell...?" Enid added, still struggling with the dizziness in her head. The woman turned to the rest of the Fireflies and instructed, "Bag them and let's get out of here."
The Fireflies obediently followed instructions, carrying sacks as they approached the two girls. Enid's voice rang out, "Don't you fucking touch her!" upon witnessing Ellie being lifted up.
"Stop! Please!" Ellie cried out as they had bags over their heads, plunging them into total darkness.