my very last breath || ellie williams (book two)

X

"Easy, soldier," He chuckled as he grabbed my hand mid air before it could strike him, "You got what you needed?"

"What the fuck is going on? Who are these people? Who are you?" I desperately questioned, "You have to tell me so I know what kind of danger we're in."

"And I will tell you, but first we need to focus on getting out of here. Come on," He nodded, turning back towards the forest.

"I'm not going anywhere without Ellie,"

"She's dead," He replied bluntly, "She hasn't been eating or drinking, she won't let me bandage her up and now, she's laying face down in the snow."

My bottom lip began to quiver as he spoke. I rose my gun to his head, flicking off the safety whilst staring into his eyes. He didn't seem to flinch or falter, he never really did. It was as if death didn't scare him.

"I'm not going anywhere without Ellie," I repeated before spinning back around to face the group, "So if you're not going to help me get her out of there then go."

"As you wish," He nodded, taking a final look at me before escaping into the woodlands behind us.

I adjusted the scope on my rifle, attaching the silencer as I scanned the setting. Like always, I began to take out the ones on the outskirts first. The stragglers that nobody would notice were gone until it was too late. The ones in the middle of the group, I'd have to get closer to get. There was too many of them all stood around Ellie. I returned my rifle to my shoulder, pulling out my pistol from my belt as I crept towards the shed.

I leaned my shoulder against the damp wood, peering around to examine the scene. They were still searching for me, not yet noticing the fact that their group was dropping like flies. There were too many of them for me to take out quietly on my own, but attacking them head on was a big risk. They were heavily armed and a lot bigger than myself.

Taking the risk, I lunged from my hiding place and snuck towards the large group to begin shooting. Bullets began to rain when they spotted me, I dived behind a hay bale to catch my breath as they continued to unleash rounds and rounds in my direction. But somehow, it seemed to be falling quieter and quieter. There was less and less shooting until there was none at all. I peered around the hay bale to witness a sea of dead bodies, all lying in shallow pools of their own blood that now tainted the once white snow.

"Grab her," John yelled from behind the shed, "Come on."

Before I had time to question him, I was sprinting towards Ellie. Both of us grabbed one of her arms and set off towards the forest. She was still alive, from what I could tell. She would whimper quietly if we moved her too quickly. Waves of relief flooded my system, but I knew I still had to find a way to keep her alive.

We spent hours ploughing through the forest until we approached a withered cabin. John briefly let go of Ellie to run towards the door, sweeping the place for infected before beckoning me inside with a swift hand movement to which I complied. Once inside, he bent down to try and ignite the fire with what little firewood there was left in the cavity. None of us said a word as we placed Ellie down by the fire. We just tore off our coats to blanket her and sat beside her on the ground.

"Why did you help me?" I asked wearily, watching Ellie's chest rise and fall slowly.

"You weren't the only prisoner they kept there, Charlotte," He sighed, poking and prodding at the fire to keep it lit, "Just because I wasn't tied by my wrists underground somewhere doesn't mean I wasn't a prisoner too."

"Who were they?"

He sighed deeply, sitting back and hugging his knees loosely with his long arms. He seemed to be thinking, pondering on where to start his story as I looked desperately to him for answers. He cleared his throat.

"After the outbreak, a community from Moscow went around looking for survivors. If you suited their agenda, they kept you. If you didn't, they killed you," He began, "It got to a point where everybody was either part of the community, scared out of Idaho or dead."

"Okay...?" I responded hesitantly, "That's not everything."

"Be patient," He responded sternly, "The community was religious, as they usually are. Followed a weird set of rules and had some pretty violent opinions."

"And how did you get wrapped up in all this?"

"I lost my brother. He joined this... community right before the outbreak. I thought if I could track him down, I'd be able to bring him home," He explained with a sigh, "But I was too late."

I remained silent, waiting for him to tell me more details in his own time rather than giving him the third degree. I watched the way his expression softened in the dim light of the fire, as if he couldn't quite find the word no matter how hard he racked his brain. I knew the look, I knew the feeling. Losing friends along the way was like a bullet to the chest, but losing your family felt like a piece of you was permanently missing. Like you'd never be able to recover.

"He was in deeper than I thought when I got there. When I finally managed to bring him around to the idea of leaving..." He trailed off, "He betrayed me. Told the higher ups what I planned to do."

"Oh my god," I whispered, covering my mouth with my hand as he continued to explain.

"But he had a rocky history with the group. They didn't believe him. So they got rid of him and told me if there was any truth behind the claims, if I ever tried to leave..."

"You don't have to carry on," I reassured, crawling towards him to set an arm on his shoulder.

His bottom lip quivered as he buried his face into my shoulder. I wrapped my arms around him as he quietly sobbed, stroking the back of his head gently as he took a deep sigh. I almost felt bad that I'd forced him to tell me, but something told me that he was ready to get it out. Ready to try and move on.

"Hey..." I began, pulling back to look him in the face, "We have a town. In-"

"What the fuck are you doing?" Ellie spat, sitting up slightly to look at us.

We quickly pulled away from each other and he wiped his eyes on his sleeve. I crawled towards Ellie and threw my arms around her, nuzzling my face into the warm skin of her neck. She didn't melt to me. She remained rigid and focused, staring at John with a snarl she couldn't quite hide.

"Ellie... I was just going to tell John about-"

"Charlotte, don't you dare. We're not taking in strays,"

"No worries, okay?" John responded hesitantly, "I wasn't trying to overstep."

"Ellie," I warned nervously, "He has nowhere to go."

"And neither will you if you don't shut up," She snapped, "Now drop it."