Kill or Cure (Extract)

Always trust your instincts

I furrow my brow and sniff the air arounds us in an attempt to understand what Tommy is referring to. Joe initially looks confused but then a flash of realisation quickly spreads across face.

"Infected..."

Joe and I instantly draw our swords and begin to scramble down the boulders.

Tommy jumps forward and grabs the hood of my jacket. "Hang on. I can't hear anything!"

I almost trip over my own feet. "What do you mean you can't hear anything?"

Tommy searches the tree line. "If they were that close, surely I would hear them, right? I heard Joe coming before he got here, and I can't hear anything other than wildlife and... Will's breathing!"

Cursing under his breath, Joe marches up to the top again, completely frustrated. "I know you're trying to help here, kid, but we don't know how these abilities work yet. I heard some Infected a while ago, so Alyx and I need to run the perimeter to make sure."

Ignoring the sense of dread rising through me, I swallow hard and stare at them with an air of defiance. "He was right about you, Joe. We could use this to our advantage. I think we should trust his instincts."

Tommy smiles at me meekly, almost grateful for my undying faith in him. In response he points his face into the gentle breeze and closes his eyes.

Nodding his head at us, he says, "The smell comes and goes in the wind, so they are probably quite faraway. Sorry, false alarm."

Joe frowns as his mind races, trusting Tommy's abilities essentially goes against his military instincts.

"Okay, I'm not sure how happy I am about this...but given how dark it is, I guess we can wait it out and hope for the best."

Sighing heavily, his shoulders sag with exhaustion. Hesitating at first, he reluctantly places his sword back into its sheath and shakes his head with dismay. "Between Tommy's abilities, the wild girl and the Infected, I'm fresh outta ideas!"

Tommy turns away from us, looking a little hurt by Joe's bluntness. Clearly unaware of his feelings, or maybe just too tired to notice, Joe slumps down on the edge of the rock and hangs his legs off the side. I reach out and reassuringly place my hand on Tommy's shoulder, acknowledging him, before joining Joe on the ground.

I follow his gaze and squint into the darkness, without looking at me he mumbles, "You know that Will should go back to Merope, kid? He should never have come out here in the first place. We clearly have so much more than just the Infected to worry about. He has his own family to think about."

My stomach lurches at the thought of Will leaving us. With a fluttering nervous feeling in my chest, the words suddenly explode from my mouth, "You can't send him back!"

Joe shushes at me. "Keep your voice down! I know we needed him, and without him we may never have escaped, but what about his family back in Merope? This is our battle, our problem...not Will's."

I hiss through gritted teeth, "If Will goes, I go! I'm not going anywhere without him, and you said yourself that they would kill us all on sight, so surely that includes Will?" I continue to stare at him unblinking with my heart in my throat. "He can't leave."

Not backing down, Joe turns away from me. "I'll discuss it with Will when he wakes up."

Feeling as though I have had the air sucked out of my lungs, I angrily jump to my feet and walk as far away from Joe as possible. There's no point discussing this any further until Will is awake and at my side, especially with the kind of mood that Joe is in. He may be right, Will does have his own family, but I know in my heart that he would never leave us out here. With the nights chill starting to creep into my bones, I sulkily pull my hood up around my face again and shuffle back slightly so that my hips are next to Will's.