"So...how are we gonna get on this island?" I asked Yara as we made our way through the abandoned city. "There are blind spots along the coast we can boat into. From there we’ll follow back roads." she replied.
"They’re safe?" Jesse asked her. "Safest option we have." said Yara. "Any chance Lev is going to change his mind?" Elliot asked. "None. He’s too stubborn." She said.
"Does he get what he’s walking into?" I asked her. "I thought he did...He’s got a soft spot for her." Yara said. "Well...it is his mom." Daniel said. "Yeah, well. She won’t see it that way." Yara said and we go through some more buildings until we come up to this old mall.
We make our way inside of it and look below us to see some WLF leaving on boat in the flooded area of the building. "You think they're heading to the island?" Daniel asked. "Would be the logical explanation." Joel said and I look over to see a couple of boats that weren't being used.
"There! That’s our tickets out." I said and we get down and walk over to the boat just as a few WLF soldiers come up. "What the fuck!" One of them exclaimed but all of us, besides Yara, were able to take them out and get on the boats. Elliot, Yara and I were on one boat, Joel, Daniel and Jesse on the second.
We started the motor and take off, Yara acting as our guide to the island.
Eventually, we make it and noticed that there didn't seem to be anybody near the edge of the land. "Where is everyone? No guards?" Elliot asked Yara as we got closer. "They don’t use this corner of the island." Yara explained then she looks over and points off to the left. "Look! A boat! That has to be Lev's! We have to catch up to him." She said.
"How do you know that's him?" I asked her. "Like I said, no one uses this corner." She said as we get to shore. "Do you know where he’s going?" Elliot asked her. "To our house...That’s where our mom will be." She replied.
"How far is it?" I asked. "We’ll take back trails. They won’t see us." She said and we get off of the boats and she gestures for us to follow her.
"Whoa... Is that your village?" Daniel asked as we see a view of a massive village of wooden buildings, almost like a large city of its own. "No. That’s Haven. Ours is further inland." Yara explained as we all stare at the view. "Don’t linger. They might see you." She said and we follow her.
After walking for a few more minutes we heard a loud sound and Yara stops in her tracks. "Oh no..." she whispered. "What is that?" Joel asked. "It’s our warning signal. The Wolves are here. The whole island is on alert now. We need to hurry." She said and she starts to sprint.
"Damn it." I growled and we all started to run. "We’ll cut through the logging camp. Follow me." Yara said and we follow her. "How many people live here?" Daniel asked her. "Around a thousand." Yara said. "How many soldiers?" Jesse asked. "Half of us are trained in combat." She said.
"What are the other half going to do when the WLF get here?" I asked her. "Some will hide. Most will fight." She replied as we enter a small village and see them loading people up in carts.
"This is bad." Yara mutters as the cart of people head out. "How do we get through this?" Joel asked, concerned. "The gate’ll be locked. The lumber mill. The big building on the right with the torches." She said. "That gets us outta here?" Elliot asked. "Yeah. We can cut through it." She said. "Perfect. Come on." I said and walk around the buildings and sneak through the village as best as we could.
Couple of times we had to take out some of the Seraphites luckily it was pretty easy. "Where we going?" I asked Yara as we got deeper and deeper into the island. I mean, we have to be close by now.
"See that tall tower?" she asked as she points off in the distance, towards the tall white tower that comes to a sharp point at the top. "Yeah." I said. "That's where we need to go." Yara said. "Okay." I said and we continued on.
Finally, we make our way through the forest and into another small village when we came upon a little house. "This is the one." Yara said and she goes to the door and opens the door, we follow her inside.
"Lev?" Yara calls out only to see her mother lying dead on the floor. "Mom..." She said, her voice shaking with tears. Then Jesse said. "Over here." We turned around and see Lev curled up in the corner, crying.
"Oh, thank God." Yara said as she runs up to Lev and kneels down to him. She looks him over to see he had some bruises and scratches on his face. "Did she do this?" she asked him. "I just tried talking to her. I tried to make her understand, but she....she just kept yelling. She started chasing me. I tried to make her stop. I was just pushing her off of me..." Lev cries then he lowers his head down and begins to sob.
"Hey, hey, hey." Yara said, trying to soothe him but I could tell she was holding back tears of her own. "Then she hit the table." Lev finished and I look over at the boys, who looked shocked at this as we all look over at their mother's body behind us.
"Listen." Yara said. "Yara..." Lev cries then Yara hugs him for a moment and he cries into her shoulder. "You were defending yourself. You did nothing wrong." Yara said then she pulls back from the hug and looks at him. "It’s gonna be okay, I promise." She said.
"I want to leave." Lev said. "Yeah, me too. C’mon." She said and the two stand up. "Hey, kid." I said as he walks up to me and I go to hug him as well. "I'm sorry." I whispered and I pull back from the embrace and pat his shoulder.
He wipes his eyes then turns to Yara. "Yara...I never should’ve..." he started to say but she shakes her head. "It’s okay. I’m glad we found you. Let’s go." she said and we leave the house to see that it was raining.
"You know, I'll be glad to be outta here. Too much rain." Jesse jokes. "No kidding." Elliot said and we run ahead when we hear gunfire in the distance. "What’s happening? Wolves?" Lev asked. "All over the island...We’ll be okay. She protects us." Yara assures him.
"Shouldn’t we head back for our boat?" Daniel asked her. "No. I hear fighting back there." Yara said. "I hear fighting everywhere." I remarked, pointing out the gunshots echoing through the air. "There are lots of boats in Haven." Lev points out. "That’s what I was thinking. We can cut through Old Town...Avoid the main roads." said Yara.
"How far’s Haven?" Joel asked her. "Not close. But it’s our best chance. Just keep following us." She said to him. "Lead the way." Joel said and she nods and leads us on.
"Yara. Mom believed with all her heart." Lev said. "I know." she said. "Then why would this happen to her?" Lev asked. "Our faith doesn’t make us immortal. Loss is around every corner. But our faith guides us to find the strength to rise above that loss." Yara said and Lev looks down. "She guides us." He mutters then he looks up at Yara before he nods.
After walking through the villages and some abandoned buildings we make it up to this knocked down wall, only to see what looked like a village was engulfed in flames. "Oh no." Yara mutters. "Let me guess, that's Haven." Daniel said and Yara nods. "Shit." I muttered, shocked.
"Well...let's go." Elliot said and we jumped down from the building and run for a bit until we heard a loud roar. "Uh...What the hell was that?" Jesse asked as we looked around. I look over at Yara and Lev, who looked as equally confused as us. "That's not normal." Lev said, answering my worried look, then we heard another loud roar, it almost sounded like a Bloater but...different somehow. It honestly made my skin crawl.
"Is there normally infected around?" Daniel asked Lev and Yara. "No. That's why we choose this island as our home." Yara said while we could hear some people screaming and gunshots in the distance. "Well, c'mon...the faster we get to the boats the better." Elliot said and we all nod in agreement.
We ran for a few minutes until made it to an open field and found some horses. "Here, we can take these. Should get us faster to the boats." Yara said as she gets on one horse. "Here, I'll help you." Daniel said as he gets on her horse.
"(Y/n)..." Elliot said after he mounted his horse and holds his hand out to me. I accept it and he helps me up just as Jesse gets on the third horse and Joel and Lev get on the last one. "This way!" Yara said and we galloped on.
It was utter chaos as we got up to Haven, fire was everywhere and the sounds of war going on as the WLF and the Seraphites fired at each other and yelled orders to their comrades. While some of the buildings would collapsed around them.
We did had to shoot at some of the soldiers as each side tried to shoot at us. Lev with his bow and arrows and the boys and I had our guns. "You okay back there?" Elliot asked me as we galloped through. "Just peachy." I remarked, sarcastically, but then a large tall building started to collapse and crashed in front of us.
All of our horses bucked back and knocked us off of them before they took off. "So much for that." Jesse groans as we all get up on our feet. "Everyone okay?" Joel asked. "Yeah." All of us said. "You okay, Yara?" Daniel asked her, concerned. "Yeah, I'm fine." She said as he helps her up to her feet.
"And your arm?" He asked. "It's fine. I'm just tired." She said and he gives her a concerned look. "Look! The boats! We're almost there!" Lev shouts and we could see that the shore was just a few miles ahead where there were a couple of boats on it.
"C'mon! Almost there!" Yara said when a man comes out and knocks her down.
"Yara!" Lev shouts and I pick up my gun and shoot the man before when could shoot Yara. He falls back and we run over to her.
"You alright?" Lev asked her. "Yeah..." she groans the coughs and Daniel goes to help her up while I go up to the guy and gasped as I recognized the sandy blonde hair.
"That's Owen." I said and everyone looks over at me and the looks on their faces turn from shock to realization. "Then she might be here." Elliot said and he looks over at Joel, almost like he was afraid he was gonna leave. Joel looks us over but before we could say anything, we heard a voice shout out. "Owen? Owen! You there."
"Shit." Elliot growls and a moment later, the familiar blonde woman walks up and stops in her tracks when she sees Owen's dead body. "N-N-No...." she said, devastated, then she looks up and sees us. "You?!" She said, shocked, once she sees my face.
"What? Did you really think leaving me to die would be that easy? You’re clearly mistaken.” I said to her then she looks around and then her eyes widen and her jaw drops. "You!" She growls with venom and I see her staring at Joel. "You bastard!" She growls as she pulls out her gun.
But before any of us could do anything, we heard a low rumbling of a growl, like a lion. All of us stood still then heard some footsteps coming from behind Abby. She looked scared as well and turns just in time to see a...I'm not sure how to describe it. All I can say is that it looked like it came out of the worst nightmare you could think of.
It was large and gray and it looked like it was a collection of all of the infected we had come across. Runners, Clickers, Bloater, Stalkers, Shamblers...you name it. It was all of those rolled into one giant creature.
"What the fuck is that?!?!" Elliot exclaims.
"Oh shit!" Abby shouts and she dives off to the side as the monster roars and charges towards us. All of us move out of the way of the creature as it came at us. "What is that thing?" Daniel asked, frantically, after we got out of the monsters path.
"I don't know. That was never here before." Yara said. "The Wolves must've brought it." Lev exclaims as he tries to fire its arrows but it seemed to do no damage. It growled, turned around and roar. "Lev!" Yara screams as the monster charges at him but Jesse comes up and moves Lev out of the way.
"Okay, better question...how do we kill it?" I asked. "Joel, any ideas?" Daniel asked. "I think you and Jesse need to take the kids and get outta here." Joel tells them. "What?!" They exclaimed and the monster roars and turns to face us. "You kids get out of here, Elliot, (y/n) and I will take care of this. If we're not back within an hour, leave Seattle!" Joel said.
"But--"
"Get the hell out of here now!" Joel yells and the monster comes towards us. After giving us scared and concerned look, Jesse and Daniel grab Yara and Lev and they run while Elliot, Joel and I dodge the charging monster.
"That is one ugly son of a bitch!" Elliot shouts as we shoot at the monster with our guns but it didn't seem too bothered by our bullets, just annoyed and irritated. “I can’t find any weak spots!” I shouted, panicking a bit. “Yeah. this fucker isn’t even going down!” Elliot yells and I noticed Joel looking back towards the burning buildings.
"I've got an idea! Follow me!" Joel shouts then he starts shooting at the monster. "Over here, you sonuvabitch!" Joel shouts and the monster turn to him and starts to follow him. Joel fires at the monster before he turns and runs, the creature following him.
Elliot and I exchange looks then we run after them and catch up to Joel. We run along side of him and fire at the monster and yell at it to get its attention until we stand in front of a burning building.
"Over here!" Elliot shouts at the monster before it stops and gets ready to charge at us. "Okay, on three...we dive out of the way. Ready?" Joel asked and we nod.
"One...two..." Joel counts down as the monsters starts to charge at us at full speed. "Three!" Joel shouts and we jump out of the way and monster crashes into the burning building.
It lets out a roar and screams of pain as the fire engulfs the monster. The three of us get up and watch as the monster screams and writhe in pain before it finally collapses and moves no more.
"Fuck..." I whispered, exasperated. "I really hope that's the only one." Elliot said. "Yeah, me too." Joel said. "Hey, its a fun story to tell the others." I said, smiling, and the boys let out a snort of laughter.
Suddenly, a gunshot sounds out and the three of us get startled and jump. Luckily no one was hit and we dive down and hide behind a large boulder as more gunshots sound out.
"Come on out, you bastard!" Abby's voice shouts and we look over at each other in fear. "You ruined my life!" She screams. "How?" Joel asked, loudly. "You killed my father!" She screams. "I've killed many people." Joel tells her. "Years ago, you and those hunters ambushed a group of people in the woods. Killed everyone in that group, including my father. You and your brother even chased after me before Owen shot at your brother, which slowed you two down." Abby shouts and Joel's eyes widen as the memories of that night came to him.
"So...after all these years, you've been hunting us down?" Joel asked her and she starts to laugh. "At first, but then I lost y'all's trail. Wasn't til my friend, Mel talked about her time as a doctors assistant when she was part of the Fireflies." Abby said and Elliot and I give each other a shocked look.
"After that, it was easy to find you. I was hoping to kill you since you were the one that pulled the trigger but your brother...was the next best thing." Abby said and she seemed to not regret what she did. "I wanted to find you and kill you but my friends wanted me to leave and be happy I got at least one of ya. But...here you are..." she laughs. "Only one of us is gonna make it out."
"Then let's finish this!" Joel yells and then we pop up from the hiding spot and started firing at her.
It turned into a shootout between us until Abby stopped. "What the hell? Why did she stop?" I asked as we slowly stand up and don't see her. "Keep your guard up, kiddos." Joel warns us as we slowly walk along the land and look around.
That is until I heard a scream and Joel letting out a pained yell. I spin around to see that Abby had tackled Joel to the ground and she was trying to stay him with her knife, but Joel was holding her knife back.
Immediately, I run towards them and knock down Abby and the two of us tumbled and rolled until I was on top of her. "Leave my dad alone!" I exclaimed as I punch her in the face a few times.
She grabs my fist with one hand then punches me across the face with her other hand and shoves me off of her. I fall to my side as she gets up and starts to kick me in the stomach a few times until Elliot comes up and stabs her arm with his switchblade.
She screams in pain then elbows him in the stomach before she turns to him and headbutt him, knocking him back. "Elliot!" I groaned as Elliot falls to the ground then Joel comes in and punches Abby across the face.
I slowly try to get up but the pain from her kicks to my stomach really hurt me. I look up and see Abby and Joel struggling for a knife that Abby had, Joel punched her in the face and she tried to knee him in the stomach.
I get up in my feet just as Abby knocks Joel down and she raises up her knife. I run towards her and kick the back of her knee, making her fall down to her knee. I grab the back of her head and pull her head back as I knock the knife out of her hand. Then Joel kicks her in the stomach then I shove her down as he gets up.
Abby growls as she turns on her back and kicks in my leg, which made me fall. Joel gets on top of her and punches her, repeatedly, before she grabs Joel and rolls over to where she's on top and punches him.
Suddenly, a loud gunshot sounds out and Abby screams as she holds her hand up to her chest. She turns her head and I look over and see Elliot standing a few feet away with a gun raised at Abby.
I get up and run at Abby, before she could do anything, and wrapped my arm around her neck. She tries to shake me off but I stood my ground, kick at her legs from behind, not even letting go as I tightened my grip on Abbys neck.
She struggled for a bit then she stops and lowers her arms, almost going limp. I start to loosen my grip when she grabs my arms, headbutts me and turns around as I stumbled back a bit then I felt a sharp pain in my lower left side.
"NO!!" I hear Joel and Elliot scream out and I stare, blankly, at Abby's face, which was scrunched up in a snarl, then I looked down to see she had stab my side with a knife. I raise my head to look her in the eyes before I felt the shape metal being pulled out of my body and I fall backwards.
Everything started to feel like it was in slow motion as I fall back. As I fall to the ground, I could hear gunshots and saw Abby jerk a bit as blood was pouring from fresh bullet holes in her body. She starts to fall forward until Joel comes up, grabs her by the shoulder and puts a bullet to her head.
At that moment, I felt solid ground under me and I place my hand over my wound, hoping to stop the bleeding. Elliot comes up to me first and I could just make out him calling my name, but it sounded muffled. He looked worried and distressed then Joel comes up and he looked beyond terrified.
I couldn't make out what either of them were saying but I could feel Elliot trying to apply pressure on my wound. Suddenly, my vision started to go black and the boys started to become blurry. I could hear them shouting something to me but the darkness engulfs me and I feel....nothing.