After being forcefully dragged several blocks away from where she started and hauled into an abandoned indoor swimming pool, Harley was at last freed from Edvin's tight grip.
The moment her feet met the concrete, Harley exploded at Edvin, bashing him in the chest with her fists and trying to push him with all her might. Given Edvin's hulking stature though, Harley's efforts were fruitless.
"You bastard! You left them there to die!! I hate you!!" She screamed tirelessly, her voice echoing as she beat her hands raw against Edvin.
All he could do was stand steadfast and accept Harley's rage. He welcomed each punch and each slap, understanding completely the anguish Harley was experiencing.
Harley continued to hit and shout, "Why? Why!? We could've helped them!! We could've saved them!!!"
"There were too many Howlers- We would've been taken down too. I'm so sorry, Harley," Edvin said sullenly, still accepting her abuse.
"That's bullshit!" Harley screamed and shoved Edvin with everything she had, "I'm done! This stupid fucking mission is done!" She added before pushing past Edvin and stomping back around the empty pool toward the barred door she'd been carried in through.
Edvin was quick to catch up and grab Harley by the arm, "How can you say that?" He asked heatedly as he flipped her back around, "Literally everyone died for you," he added in disbelief.
Yanking herself out of his grasp, Harley yelled, "I never asked them too! I never asked for any of this!" She turned away and kept walking.
"You can't leave. Not now. We're seeing this through," Edvin commanded.
"Fuck you!" Harley declared without looking back.
It was only a moment before Edvin forcibly snatched Harley into his arms and began dragging her back around the pool to where his things were. She kicked and bucked furiously, "Let me go!"
Once back in the far end of the space, Edvin released his grip on Harley, "SIT," he ordered and pointed to the floor.
"Or what!!" Harley screamed and shoved Edvin once more.
At the peak of his anger and frustration, Edvin reached into his back pocket and pulled out his hand gun, pointing it in Harley's face. His eyes were furious and his brow sweaty, "Sit the fuck down!"
Harley grit her teeth and glared at Edvin for a long time before she angrily ripped her backpack from her shoulders and took a seat on the hard, concrete floor.
Sighing and brushing his hand through his hair, Edvin wearily lowered himself to the ground by sliding his back down the wall and dropped his head feeling utterly defeated.
The space was quiet for some time as neither of the two could think straight in their grief.
Harley suddenly remembered Rebel. She pulled her backpack onto her lap, unzipped the large compartment and was immediately greeted by a blissfully happy pup. He reached his head out of the backpack and took to licking and nipping at Harley's chin and mouth.
But she had no love to give in that moment and simply stared ahead into blank space. Rebel squeaked and whimpered, hungry and needing affection, and that's when Harley lost her resolve and began to cry.
Hot tears rolled down her cheeks in rivulets and her breath caught in her throat. She was beside herself with sorrow. She was lost and alone in a dark, ugly world- but this wasn't the kind of lonely she was accustomed to, this alone was painful. Having something and then losing it, she discovered, was far worse than never having had that something at all. Harley dropped her head as tears spilled down her cheeks and her lungs involuntarily gasped for air.
Suddenly Harley felt Edvin's heavy arm drape over her shoulders and he pulled her close to him, embracing her. But to Edvin's dismay, Harley wasn't having it and pushed herself away from him, reclaiming her space.
Edvin sighed.
Sweet Rebel wriggled himself out of Harley's backpack and waddled around, inspecting the new space and all its smells. He was oblivious to the hopelessness that hung heavy in the air like a storm cloud. He was lucky.
For a long time Harley stayed as she was, inconsolable and utterly broken. She'd only ever cried a few times in her life and each time she hated herself for it. But this was different. This was John. Harley never pictured getting to the CDC without him by her side. She was really only going along with it because of him in the first place. Because she would never admit it but John felt safe and familiar to her from the very first time she looked up into his eyes. Sure, her logical mind tried to convince her otherwise, but the fact of the matter was, if Harley had not wanted John to find her he wouldn't have.
Just then she and Edvin heard a little cry and looked up just in time to see the back end of Rebel as he fell into the large, empty pool. Harley jumped up quickly and ran toward the pool, wiping her her tears away as she moved. Edvin followed behind worriedly.
When Harley reached the ledge of the pool she was relieved to see that her pup had only fallen a foot or so to the first step. She scooped him up and kissed his head, grateful he hadn't had a worse accident.
"He okay?" Edvin asked as Harley walked past him.
She glanced at Edvin with teary eyes and nodded.
Rebel's sudden fall reminded Harley that her pup needed to be fed so she prepared him his mixture of dry kibble and baby formula mixed with water, then sat curled up in a ball while she watched him eat. The pup was ravenous and his little body trembled with excitement as he smacked his lips, lapping up the mixture as quickly as he could.
"He's getting big," Edvin commented, looking down at Rebel.
Harley's lip began to quiver again and she dropped her head into her knees, unable to stop the tears from falling.
Edvin nearly reached over to rub Harley's shoulder but stopped himself, accepting her need for space.
Hours passed and the two remaining members of a once illustrious group remained as they were, frozen in shock and despair. Eventually though, both Edvin and Harley's exhaustion caught up to them and the pair fell into deep, dreamless sleeps.
○●○
Waking to a stiff, sore body, the consequence of sleeping on a cold, concrete floor, Edvin opened his eyes to find himself alone.
His first thoughts were of having been abandoned by Harley and he was quick to scurry up from the floor in a rush to find her.
But as soon as he stood, Edvin could see her tiny figure sitting in the corner of the deep end of the waterless pool. Edvin scratched his head and blinked away the sleep in his eyes before grabbing his things and stepping into the pool.
As he approached Harley, he could see that she was surrounded by Polaroid photographs, a memory cucoon of her own making. Curious, Edvin took a stiff seat across from Harley and her pictures and tilted his head to the side, trying to have a look.
Seeing Harley's odd collection, including photos of hanging corpses, salivating Screamers and infected road kill, Edvin grimaced and commented, "Morbid"
Harley frowned and methodically collected all her photos before Edvin could continue to pass judgment.
"Hey, it's okay. Art isn't meant to be pretty, it's meant to be honest," Edvin tried to assure as he watched Harley stack her Polaroids and shove them into her backpack. She didn't respond.
"Uh, we should eat something," Edvin insisted soon after as he unzipped his backpack and pulled out two cans of food, one Ravioli and one beef stew. Without asking, he handed Harley the can of stew and the can opener. But Harley liked ravioli, not beef stew and she remembered how John knew that about her but always asked just to make sure.
Unwilling to explain, Harley accepted the stew without a word.
Edvin looked over to Rebel who was busy pushing and biting his little red ball just a few feet away, "So, Pebble doing alright?"
Harley's unimpressed eyes rose to meet Edvin's, "ReBel," she uttered in annoyance.
"Right. . Sorry," Edvin paused, "Look, I know this is hard, but I need you to give me a little bit of a break here. I lost people too and, I'm trying"
"What are you trying?" Harley asked.
Shrugging his shoulders, Edvin replied, "To be friends?"
Harley looked down at her can of stew for a moment before picking it up and handing it back to Edvin, "I don't like stew"
Edvin smiled, accepting the can, "I don't like ravioli," he said as the pair swapped.
"Why'd you give me the stew then?" Harley questioned, her brow furrowed.
"I thought everybody liked the stew," Edvin answered simply.
○●○
After eating, Harley and Edvin packed up their gear and bid farewell to the abandoned swimming pool.
Moving forward was painful for Harley but she was a survivor and steeling herself was all she knew how to do, all she could do. She needed to stay busy and keep her mind off of John, off of everything. She needed to tuck her thoughts and feelings away because if she didn't, she wouldn't survive. There was no room in her world for mourning, no time to reflect. Move or die, that was the law.
Her and Edvin moved carefully from the building that enclosed the pool to a tall, brick warehouse that happened to have a caged in ladder leading up to the roof. Edvin needed a clearer view of his surroundings to see which direction the pair needed to go to get to Lane Cove. With all the chaos of the day before he'd somehow lost the way.
Up on the peak of the roof, Harley and Edvin scanned their surroundings. Buildings, shops, restaurants and cafes spread out as far as Edvin could see. It was unfortunate to witness what had become of all the hard work that had been put into the city of Sydney. Now it was nothing but a cemetery, a decaying reminder of who had once dwelled there.
"Yep, we got turned around somehow. We need to go there," Edvin pointed.
Harley removed her backpack and pulled out her pup so that she could find her very last bottle of water. The day was hot and just climbing up the ladder and onto the roof had been a tiring task.
Tipping her water up to have a swig, Harley was shocked into alertness when suddenly the bottle flew fiercely out of her hand. She and Edvin both looked to the ground where a sharp thwok sound was heard and saw a long, black arrow pierced right through the water bottle, which was held upright as the head of the arrow was stuck firmly into the asphalt roof.
Harley raised her hand then to see both her middle and index fingers were dripping with blood. But she had been extraordinarily lucky as the arrow only nicked the insides of both digits, meaning that the arrow had flown right in between them.
Edvin and Harley gazed out across the landscape in the direction the arrow had come from. At first they could see nothing but suddenly Harley's eye caught two figures standing on the rooftop of an office building not eighty yards from where she and Edvin stood.
"There," Harley pointed with her good hand.
Edvin looked out and could see a man with binoculars as he gazed back and beside him another man holding a crossbow as he took aim once more.
"Get down!" Edvin said as he grabbed Harley and yanked her down to the ground.
Just as their bellies touched the hot asphalt, another arrow flew like a missile over their heads and hit the ground with the same sharp thwok sound as the first.
Harley was quick to scurry around on her tummy and find Rebel, scooping him up into her good hand and pulling herself and him back over to her backpack.
"We gotta get off this roof," Edvin said as he hurriedly helped Harley tuck Rebel into her backpack.
Soon after there came another arrow whooshing by and it landed only a few feet from where Edvin lay, "At the count of three, we run," he instructed as he rolled onto his side and assisted Harley in pulling the straps of her backpack up her shoulders.
Full of adrenaline and breathless, Harley nodded and paced herself for a quick getaway.
"One- Two- Three!" Edvin declared.
The pair shot up from the ground and bolted back toward the caged, iron ladder, both remembering the speed and strength of the previous arrows and longing not to experience the pain of being hit by one.
As they hurtled forward, they heard yet another arrow fly past, but didn't stop to see where it had landed.
Finally they reached the ladder and Edvin urged Harley to go first, "Go go go!" He insisted as he nudged her forward.
Harley speedily began descending the ladder, ignoring the sting in her fingers and hoping she was quick enough to allow Edvin access before he could be struck.
Another arrow zipped past Edvin's head, causing him to duck down in a panic. He looked down at Harley and saw there was enough room for him on the ladder, so he rushed over the ledge and climbed down as many rungs as he could just as yet another arrow flashed across his head from above.
Harley reached the ground quickly and stepped aside, leaving room for Edvin to finish his descent. Once down, the pair looked at each other, breathless and confused.
"Survivors," Edvin said as he gulped air into his lungs.
Harley rested her hands on her knees as she caught her breath, "Assholes"
It was then that Edvin caught sight of Harley's bloody hand, "You okay? Let me see," he insisted as he reached down for her hand.
"I'm fine," Harley assured as she pulled her hand from Edvin's grasp.
Edvin wiped the sweat from his brow and took a breath, "Let's get somewhere safe and clean you up"
The pair moved cautiously up the alleyway, now on the lookout for not only rabid Screamers but now an unknown number of territorial survivors. Their high-risk mission had just become even more treacherous than before. It seemed the rooftops could no longer offer the duo any measure of safety, nor could the ground.
"Why would they stay here?" Harley asked quietly as they walked slowly, eyes and ears focused.
Edvin held his gun at the ready as he peered around the corner of the building to which they stood adjacent, "Who knows," he answered.
Spotting a run down van with flat tires and no back windows, Edvin rounded the corner toward it and Harley followed closely behind.
He quietly slid open the back door, "Get in"
Harley gazed into the van then gave Edvin a suspicious look.
"We need somewhere safe to get your hand cleaned up. This'll have to do," Edvin said in a frustrated tone.
Harley grumbled to herself but complied.
The pair climbed into the back of the van and Edvin quietly slid the door shut. It was cool and dark inside the vehicle as the sun had yet to hit its outer shell and turn it into a sauna. Both Harley and Edvin enjoyed the feeling as they pulled their backpacks from their sweaty shoulders.
"Let me see," Edvin insisted, holding out his hand expectantly.
Harley leaned back slightly, holding her hand close to herself, "I can clean myself up"
Sighing, Edvin unzipped one of the small compartments on his backpack and pulled out a tiny first aid kit, "I get what you're doing. Trying to avoid getting close to me because I could die any minute," He said.
Gazing down at her bloody fingers, Harley didn't respond.
Edvin nodded slowly in understanding as he handed over the first aid kit, looking defeated.
"I'm not going to die," he finally said as he watched Harley struggling to root through the kit with only one hand.
"Don't jinx yourself," Harley uttered without looking up from her task.
Annoyed, Edvin took the kit out of Harley's grasp and pulled out the alcohol wipes, "Here," he said as he handed them over.
After cleaning her wounds and covering them with two small bandages, Harley and Edvin reluctantly exited the van, moving on with their journey toward Lane Cove and the CDC.
They quickly realized they were just outside the boundaries of the surviving group that had attacked them when every time they rounded a corner they found large barricades made up of cinder blocks, vehicles, garbage bins, garage doors and all other sorts of large objects.
Thankfully they had yet to see anyone from ground level or up above as they moved slowly block to block, cautiously trying to find a way around the makeshift sanctuary and get themselves back on course.
The morning sun was already scorching and the sky a pristine blue with no clouds. The only break Edvin and Harley had from the heat were the small patches of shade provided by the tall buildings that surrounded them.
As the pair turned the corner leading onto a narrow street, Edvin was jolted to see two figures at the far end of the block.
As quickly as he'd seen them, he raised his gun, prepared to shoot first and avoid being shot himself.
But just as soon as Edvin took aim, Harley grabbed his hands and wrenched them down, "Don't!"
Taking a few steps forward, Harley felt her knees become weak and her heart exploded in a rush of adrenaline.
"John?" she said quietly.
Harley began to pace toward the distant figures but Edvin was quick to grasp her arm, "It's not him," he disagreed and attempted to pull Harley back toward where they had come.
Planting her feet into the ground, Harley tried her best to sharpen her vision on the two figures and as they came into view she was heartbroken to see that they weren't, in fact, John and Taylor.
Both understanding implicitly that gunfire would be a terrible idea, Edvin and Harley turned to flee but both were shocked to discover they already had company.
Behind them stood a group of men, no less than eight and all armed with a gun pointed directly at the cornered duo.
"You're coming with us," one of the men announced menacingly.