Lost Hope || Rilaya

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Maya's POV

The voices were loud which told me there was already people upstairs as well so we had to move carefully. I crept down the hallway and followed one into the bathroom to strangle him; I used the same tactic on another man in one of the bedrooms. He dropped a machete and since it seemed better than the hatchet I currently had I decided to switch it out. When I went back into the hallway I saw a man taking cover behind a shelf so I killed him quickly with my new melee weapon. It seemed that was it for the second floor so I moved over to the stairs and peeked over the banister, immediately seeing three guys in a group. As I tried to figure out a plan I made a Molotov just in case, but they soon split up which I hoped meant I wouldn't have to use it. I followed the guy closest to me into the kitchen and strangled him then picked up the Shorty ammo he dropped. I followed the sound of footsteps into the living room and found the other two wandering around; one was not too far in front of me and the other was on the other side of the room, seemingly walking towards the doorway. There was a chance I'd be seen but I decided to risk it and got rid of the first guy silently enough to be able to go after the other and kill him without him noticing.

I was pretty sure they were all gone, however after a lap around the house picking up supplies I could surely say, "Alright... house is clear."

"Let's get back to the horses."

Just in case, I got my shotgun out before going outside and checking around for any other enemies. "We're clear." Alison came out and went straight over to the horses and Riley followed after, walking straight past me without a single look.

"You want a hand up?" Alison asked as she put her gun away.

Riley shook her head. "I got it." She untied the horse's reins from the fence and climbed into the saddle, once again not even glancing at me. Once Alison was on her horse they both turned around and began trotting away from the ranch, allowing me to follow on from the back.

The ride back to the plant was slow and silent; the only noise was the sound of nature and the horses hooves. Every now and then I would glance up from the ground and look at Riley, and even though I could only see the back of her head I could tell how upset she was. I hated seeing her that way and I hated even more that I was the one who made her feel like that. I was so conflicted...

As we went on we came to the edge of a cliff and I moved forward from the back to ride between Alison and Riley. "Easy... easy..." I gently pat my horse's neck as we came to a halt.

"Whoa..."

"There she is." Alison said proudly. We were looking down upon a town packed full of houses; what stood out most was the bright floodlights out front that were being powered by the electricity the people at the dam had helped get back. "Kids'll be watching movies tonight."

"Where is this lab of theirs?"

Alison looked surprised but she still answered, "It's all the way out - University of Eastern Colorado."

"Go Big Horns." I joked, laughing a little as did she. "Riley, get off your horse, give it back to Alison." I looked over my shoulder at her and she immediately perked up. Smiling a little myself, I stroked my horse's mane and turned to Alison. "I'm gonna hang on to this fella, if that's alright with you." I waited a moment then looked back at Riley and saw she hadn't moved. She was clearly shocked at my sudden change of mind. "Go on. Don't make me repeat myself."

"What are you doing?"

"Your wife kinda scares me." I admitted, making her chuckle. "I don't want her coming after me."

Riley hopped off of her horse and came forward to hand the reins to Alison. "Sorry for stealing your horse."

"Look, come back to town, let's discuss it at least."

"Eh, you know me. My mind's all made up." I reached for Riley's hand and pulled her up onto the horse to sit behind me. "University Eastern Colorado. How do I find this lab?"

"It's in the science building, looks like a giant mirror, you can't miss it."

I recited it in my head until I was sure I could remember, then froze and looked down when I realised I had to say goodbye to my mum. "You take care of that wife of yours."

When I glanced over at Alison she was also looking down solemnly, but when she looked back at me she smiled slightly. "There's a place for you two here, you know."

"I know... thanks." I smiled back and took a deep breath when I felt tears prick my eyes. We weren't together long, but I was glad my mum and I were on good terms again. "You good?" I asked Riley.

"I'm good." My heart fluttered when I felt her wrap her arms around my waist.

"Adios, mama."

With that we rode off into the sunset, waving goodbye to Alison for a moment before settling down to enjoy the ride. I was scared of losing Riley and not being able to handle the pain, but by leaving her with Alison to take her to the Fireflies I'd be doing exactly that; losing her. I'd grown to like her over the course of our journey and I wanted to finish it. Every moment I spend with her is precious.

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I created a trailer/video for this story and all of my other Rilaya stories (basically for Rilaya in general. Feel free to check it out and let me know what you think!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=X5l3iMwbNWk&t=2s

Thanks for reading, lovelies! xo