I rode as fast as I possibly could.
"Faster, Harley!"
Harley's mane was the colour of black, and together with his dark fur, he resembled a blur if seen from afar. Together, we pierced through the cold night.
Nothing could stop us. The storm and thunders rolled, and we didn't even heed the two. Maria's words echoed in my mind, warning me about the wrath of the insane Ellie.
We passed through the empty fields and the familiar sign which said, 'Welcome to Montana'. The town of Hardin would be up ahead. I was afraid that I was too late.
I passed through the empty houses of Hardin and eventually stopped on a nearby cabin just north of the town. The wind bristled, rising all the hundreds of hairs sticking on the back of my neck.
The cabin was lonely. Its alarm contraption, which Geoffrey installed by himself a month ago, was on the floor, broken into two. The bell was plundered, and the wirings were trashed. The wooden door to the single-storey cabin was opened.
I was too late.
I cursed under my breath and prayed. Instinctively, I reached for my silver revolver slung to my waist and cocked it. I prepared my flashlight and proceeded to enter.
Shards of broken glasses littered the floor of the living room. Several small dents on the wall suggested some gunfights between individuals.
I had never felt the urge to burst more than that point in my life. But I had to collect myself and focus.
"Geoffrey? Mila?" I risked it. I couldn't help but shout their names.
But in the end, I didn't need to. The first shadow that I encountered was slumped on the kitchen floor. I illuminated the area with my flashlight and scanned. My heart completely dropped when I saw that Mila was blanketed with blood. Her right hand was firmly pressed onto her stomach in which a wound had been formed. Her white face was never that pale. Her blond hairs never looked so dim. Her eyes, blue and supposedly bright, showed no emotion but fear.
"Jesus, Mila!" I knelt immediately and ransacked my backpack for bandages. I knew none could help my dying friend, but reflexes moved my hands without the command of my brain.
"I'm sorry, Iris. We couldn't stop her." Mila coughed a mouthful of blood and smiled. It was hideous.
Then, I saw Geoffrey in the corner of the kitchen. His neck was slithered. Blood pooled all around him.
"You're going to be fine. I'm going to bring you back to Jackson."
Mila shook her head. "They know, Iris! They know we were Fireflies."
I applied the bandages roughly on her streaming wound while holding back the tears. "It doesn't matter. They don't care about our past."
"Ellie does," she said with a struggle. "And she thought we robbed Dina."
I stopped for a while. "That stupid bitch thought we did that to her girlfriend?"
"Yes. Iris..."
I leaned down to hear her gasping words. She couldn't be helped. I knew it. But I could do nothing but deny it.
"She won't stop. You're still alive. She will get to you."
I shook my head. "Don't worry about⸺"
But the crash interrupted me. I saw a flashbang breaking the window and entering the kitchen, and I immediately covered my sight and rolled to the back of the countertop.
"Hang on, Iris!"
But she didn't answer. All I could hear was the blissful bang.
I clutched my revolver tightly and waited. Nothing happened.
Then, I heard it. Her footsteps slightly moving in the dark. I covered my mouth and pressed in all the panic and fear. The footsteps got closer, and then a bang.
The gunshot shattered every sort of hope I had for saving Mila's life. I heard her weak scream one last time. She'd ended her.
All emotions were there at the same time. The urge to kill her and the urge to stay hidden were equally high. Then, my anger got the better of me, and so I launched up and immediately sprung to attack the intruder.
I saw her, face coated with the blood of my friends and a pistol in hand. I screamed and brought her down with my body.
"You killed my friends!" I headbutted her forehead and shook back to regain balance.
Ellie fought back. It was unfortunate for me because she was superior in every degree of skill. She knuckled me back on my chin and kneed my stomach until blood burst from my mouth. Then, she ultimately retracted her knife and almost stabbed me with her swing.
I dodged back, deflecting the lethal cut barely by an inch. But again, Ellie furiously attacked. She was unstoppable. She was determined.
"We didn't do it!" I shouted. She barely flinched. Her last attack cut down three strands of my brown hairs. "We didn't rob Dina."
I saw it right after. She was getting tired, and with one swift movement, I grabbed the empty ceramic jar and slammed it right to her face. She swore and fell back, and after swooping for my gun, I quickly booked it by running out to the storm.
It was exhilarating. I felt the numbness in my head and the biting cold of the weather.
Then, of course, Harley too was on the ground. An arrow had pierced his head.
This bitch is going to pay.
Suddenly, I realized the stinging sensation I felt from the right side of my shoulder. Blood was oozing from the open wound. Ellie had cut me harmlessly on the shoulder, and now, I felt the pain more and more each second.
I had to flee. I had to hide and take her out methodically.
She took down my best friends. My best friends were my family. They guided me through the tough times and gave me a home. A home that later would be destroyed by the same people, Ellie and her deceased maniacal father.
I didn't stop running. I headed for the town of Hardin and picked a random house. It was painted in red. A barn positioned itself right to the side. Vegetations had grown until the very roof, breaking the woods and foundations of the house.
I used the roll of bandage which was left.
She would be looking for me. She wouldn't stay down. She would haunt me for the rest of my life. Killing her would save me.
It felt like hours. I waited and waited and clutched my revolver until my palms sweated despite the intense cold. A lot of the times, I wanted to just end it all and let her win. But then, I realized that the blood of my fallen friends had to be repaid.
When I was still in my thoughts, I heard some creaking from the back of the house. I never did check it. She could be pressing me surprisingly from there. This time, I wanted to toughen myself and prevent her from charging first. So, I aimed and moved.
I tried my best to make no sound at all, but the amounts of piles and rubbles that were below me hardened that. Still, I pressed on, clinging dearly to the anger and desire of vengeance.
And I could feel it. I pressed my back to a sheet of wall and listened to the activity right behind it. In the next room were movements, and they weren't rapid. Ellie was there. I could smell her.
So, I charged. I yelled a sort of a mumbling battle cry and aimed flawlessly towards the first thing I saw. I pulled the trigger and the gun bounced back after the emancipating power it launched. The bullet flew. A form huddled down and fell.
When I gave the room a bit of light, I realized that it wasn't Ellie that I killed. It was a clicker, and down on its death, it was still clicking and moaning, and its legs twitched. I shot it again for the measure.
I tried to recollect myself. I wasn't thinking straight. I didn't even hear the clicks that should be heard from a mile away.
But once more, my thoughts had to be shattered by the screams of the dead. Two more clickers appeared from the rearrest room. Their heads were encrusted with the deep roots of fungi. Their bodies deformed and hideous. Their cries otherworldly. I pulled the trigger three times and only hit one right on the chest which meant nothing.
"Hell!" I stumbled back as I ran from the two angry beasts. They charged furiously for me out into the rain. I crossed the road and entered the black house from across. I turned in every room and skid down to the tall bushes formed inside the house.
The clickers had arrived, and together, they patrolled the area. They tried to sense me, to taste me and to see me. They weren't the best at those, so I took advantage.
One was walking towards me. It never realized my existence right in front of it, and when it got close, I immediately kicked its legs. It dropped to the ground and yelled, so I took the liberty to unleash my knife and planted the blade deep into its deformed skull.
It shrieked one last time and died.
But I had no time to breathe as the second clicker came in charging. I swung my knife for the head but missed. The blade was now stuck on the monster's bony chest. It bumped me back and pushed me while I tried to regain my energy. It screamed right to my face. Its fungi head was closer and closer to me, but I defended myself with my hands.
Then, I saw my chance as I bowed down and slid to the side. I picked my revolver, aimed it, and pulled the trigger. The bullet went through the head, and soon, the clicker fell dead.
Despite my glorious victory, I heard something that would make my heart falter yet again. The cries of many clickers echoed from the surrounding area, and I knew that all of them heard our little battle out here. Also, Ellie still hadn't shown up, meaning that either she was watching me being taken down by the beasts, or she was planning the right moment to snatch me up and put an arrow in my skull.
"Show yourself!" I clumsily shouted. It was directed at both Ellie and the threatening clickers that were nearby.
So, I gambled. I waited inside the dead living room of the black house for any coming threat. The insane exhilaration was a mockery to me. I barely could see what was right in front of me because of the pressing and stressful situation.
The answer to my wandering curiosity of who was to come next had finally been answered after three minutes. A clicker with the rotten outfit of a policeman showed up from the front door and shrieked threateningly towards me.
I felt the heat on the back of my body. I didn't want to die, but I didn't want to keep this up any longer.
But I had to.
I aimed and it charged.
I clicked the trigger.
Nothing happened.
Realization dawned when it was too late. There was no more bullet.
The clicker leapt towards me aggressively, teeth first and hands in the air. It was like a hungry lion trying to catch its prey for the nightly feast.
I swerved and missed its attack merely. It shook confusedly. I gained the upper hand now.
Fortunately, I found a rusted crowbar sitting comfortably right on top of a cabinet desk along with many other ancient items. The clicker ran towards me, but I swung the crowbar right at its face. The crowbar broke. The clicker trudged back and slumped, and I decided that it was best to gain some momentum for my next attack. I had no more weapon, so I was forced to flee.
I ran outside and hit in a small staple with no animals but bugs and spiders. The storm hadn't ceased, and while the night got older, the rain turned more intense.
But under the ceiling of that staple, I realized that I got no chance against all these odds. I was merely delaying my death.
For the first time in my life, I tried to let it go.
I tried to calm myself down and to breathe it all in. I tried to think of the beauty of death and the calmness of the afterlife.
So, I recollected myself and walked passionately towards doom itself.
I found a big shovel hidden in a broken shed and decided to make it my weapon.
The clicker was now wandering on the road. I felt every side of my body was exposed.
I swung the shovel intimidatingly at the clicker. It cried.
"Attack me, come on!"
And it did. It wasted no time in hurling its way towards me. Immediately, its weight fell on me and both of us struggled on the ground. I whacked the beast one more time, but it didn't affect anything.
It pressed me deeper and deeper into the asphalt. I struggled to breathe. It was somehow strong. I was already weak, already distracted by the thoughts of the afterlife.
I imagined myself beating this beast to the ground and letting Ellie end it all.
But reality had another plan for me. A more wicked one so to say.
The clicker unexpectedly bit me through my right arm. It cut the sleeve and down to the flesh. I screamed as blood plundered out and the infestation of this deadly disease mixed itself with my blood.
I tried to throw the creature off me. I wasn't successful in that.
It all ended with yet another bang. The gunshot almost didn't exist.
The next thing that I knew was the clicker falling to my side lifelessly. It clattered and twitched for five seconds, and then completely stopped from any movement.
A blurry figure stood in the middle of the road. Her pistol was raised. Her clothes were drenched. Her eyes... full of pity.
"Please... Don't let me turn," I begged her one last time. I wanted her to finish me off.
She shook her head. "It won't happen for some minutes. Then, I'll do it. I promise."
My eyes drooped. I couldn't even see her.
Ellie picked me up and guided me back to the staple. I slid down almost immediately. Soon, I cried.
"It was Hans," I said suddenly. "He robbed Dina. That's why I kicked him out. I did that to protect him. To protect us."
Ellie sighed and dropped down next to me. "Hans is dead."
I smirked and finally laughed. "Figured."
"I can't control myself anymore."
"Yeah." I looked at the worsening wound on my arm. "I can see that. The tale of you chasing Abbie is infamous. That's a great example of your characteristic."
Ellie smiled. "Not something I'm proud of."
"But you did let her go." The sting on my arm worsened. I flinched.
"I tend not to let something go. Joel was a big part of my life and I had to avenge him. It was just near the end that I realized that... it won't stop. The chain of revenge won't ever end."
"Then why did you do this? If that's how your brain is logically thinking, why are you still hunting us down one by one without a certain proof?"
Ellie sighed again. "Because Dina was hurt. I'm willing to do anything to protect her. No one can mess around with her. I will track and kill every single one who tries to harm her and little JJ."
"Isn't that just the same with all the Abbie situation?"
"I guess so." Ellie dropped her head in regret. "I still can't control myself. It's just that, seeing someone close to me got hurt makes me burst."
I nodded. "I think I can relate... Just not that extreme."
"Dina's not even with me anymore. Now, she's not going to talk to me ever again."
I turned my head towards her. "How is she?"
"She's good. She may never walk again, but who knows? She's badass anyway."
I smirked. "Yeah. She is."
"How about you?" Ellie asked. "You have someone close?"
"Yeah. You killed them."
"Sorry." Surprisingly, her apology sounded genuine. "I promise Joel that this won't happen again to anyone. I'll move somewhere, maybe north, and see if I can be a different person."
"Hope you don't stumble into Abbie."
We both chuckled, but I stopped quickly because of my infected arm.
"You want me to do it now?" She asked.
"No. Wait until I turn. Then end me. I want to savour every bit of what's left."
"Okay."
So, we waited.
My heart and veins eased up.
My mind became clear.
In those last moments, I got to know the legendary Ellie, the one who survived everything. I could boast and say that we developed a speedy friendship.
She was an interesting person.
And somehow, I could see myself ending up as her best friend.
And while we waited for the inevitable, I thought about Mila and Geoffrey.
But ten more minutes passed.
Then, it became an hour.
Instead of spreading up, the wound became less dominant.
It decayed on my skin, giving me a mark.
The inevitable didn't happen.
It surprised both Ellie and me.
It surprised me because apparently, I am immune.
It surprised Elliebecause apparently, she's not the only one