Drew carefully places me back on my own two feet close to his chest. His hands are still placed on my waist.
We all have our attention turned to the sounds of gunshots, horses, and the groaning of around only fifty of the Infected. "Guys, quick, over here." Sean snaps our attention towards himself and directs us behind a large fallen tree. Buddy barks in the direction of the Horde that the Stranglers lead towards us.
"Stand down." I command Buddy, as I step back, out of Drew's hold. He lets go of my waist as he realises it's still there, he must not realise the light shade of pink his cheeks have become. He gestures for me to hurry. "Follow." I order my dog.
We all follow Sean as a group, as he leads us towards the fallen tree. But, before I can make it over I feel a tug on my shirt. I glance to my left and Gabriella takes my arm and leads me somewhere else. "There won't be enough room for all five of us." She explains as we settle behind a large boulder.
Just as we all get to our hiding places the Stranglers ride by with the Horde gathered together as they run. I inch toward the edge of the boulder and I peer to the right to see the guys are all hiding behind the tree. Drew leans towards the side, holding Buddy so the dog won't jump or bark at the Stranglers. We make eye-contact and he seems relieved to see I'm okay, just as I am for him.
Once the large group of Stranglers has passed, we all stand up, some of us seemingly shaken at the circumstances. I rush over to Drew and get Buddy to relax a bit. "I thought we killed them all," I begin, looking up at Drew. We both have a rather confused look on our faces.
"I thought so too. There must've been another group that we didn't know about yet." He suggests.
"But, if there were, wouldn't they have also heard the explosion and arrived at the scene?" I say. He looks like he's about to speak, but another voice cuts him off, before he can even speak another word.
"You said you killed the Stranglers," We both turn heads to see West making his way over to us. He only just came up from behind the tree they had been hiding behind. I have my suspicions. Buddy watches him cautiously and begins growling lowly once he realises West coming closer to me. "You lied. I wouldn't assume that was the first time too," He dares to come even closer. He seems like a whole different person. I notice his eyes are very dilated once he's close enough. Drew steps forward and clenches his fists, but West doesn't seem to care as he takes out his dagger and fiddles with it in his hands. "You lying piece of shit!" He yells and throws his dagger at a nearby tree. It lodges in the tough bark perfectly. I flinch, and subtly pull out my own dagger. There's something wrong with him.
Sean and Gabriella watch, not knowing what to do. Although, Sean seems disappointed, as if he knows something that we don't. "West, what the hell is wrong with you?" Gabriella yells.
He turns to look at her and his eyebrows knit together, "I don't know," He whispers, as if extremely upset. "Just," He looks back at the dagger that sits, lodged in the old tree, "Leave me alone." He says, ripping the dagger out of the tree and walking ahead.
Me and the others exchange long looks. Although, Sean avoids all eye-contact.
"From now on, stay close to me." Drew says to me quietly, so the others don't hear. I nod slowly in agreement. I then replace my dagger in my jacket pocket. I feel a hand being placed on the small of my back, almost startling me. I instantly look up at Drew, who stands beside me and nudges me forward so we can catch up with the others. I raise an eyebrow at him. "What?" He smirks.
"You're an idiot," I say, before looking at his hair and noticing the snow all through his hair, "Snow Top." He instantly remembers and laughs.
"Firstly, I'm offended. Secondly," He lowers his voice, "Is there actually snow in my hair?"
I giggle, "I can't tell. It just blends in so well."
He smiles as he sighs, running a hand through his hair. I can still see bits of snow, so I quickly reach up, pulling out of his grasp, and I ruffle his hair. I don't understand how he keeps it so silky and soft. "Jess!" He exclaims.
"Hurry up, you two!" Sean calls to us. I glance up in his direction, before taking off further ahead as Drew chases me. Buddy follows me, running a little ahead of me as we run.
"Go away!" I exclaim, smiling widely. He laughs and continues chasing me. He quickly catches up to me, both of us much further ahead from the group. I'm suddenly stopped when his arms wrap around my waist. I collapse backwards into his chest whilst laughing with him. He still holds me tight with his head just over my shoulder. Buddy barks and runs towards us. He stops, but keeps skidding towards us. I notice and glance around, noticing there aren't any trees around us.
I reach a hand down and brush away the snow. Tough ice is revealed beneath the powder-like snow. Drew notices and calls to the others, "Hey, I found a lake!"
I turn my head back to look at him, "You?" I raise an eyebrow at him.
"Yes, me. You did nothing." He says.
"Excuse me?" I lengthen the 'u'. We both go silent, before we burst out laughing again.
Suddenly, there's a loud crack before a splash of water not too far ahead of us. We both immediately look up and see a large hole in the ice exactly where Buddy had been. My smile instantly disappears.
~-*-~
