They had been picking on Minho lately. Hope watched helplessly as they dragged him off again. She was slammed into the wall, a tazer held inches from her neck. She whimpered as her chest heaved. Once the guards had hauled him off the guards let go of Hope and she slid down the wall. She pooled on the floor, held her head and cried. It had been months since they had been taken. Hope had no faith in this Thomas hero, that Minho kept talking about. Sure he took a train car of kids, but it had been four...five months since then? Could they not have tried something? 

What hurt though was Papa hadn't tried. She felt abandoned. Maybe she was a nobody to them too. She could feel herself giving up. She didn't fight as much anymore, more resigned to the fact that torture and nightmares were her life now. She had the train car rescue constantly playing in her head, hearing the voice only calling for Minho. No one else was important, including her. She didn't feel like anyone would put in the effort to come get her. She didn't want to do this anymore, she didn't want to be here anymore, and she didn't care how it ended. She had wished many times as she was strapped down, for her heart to stop and she could die. Just slip away and be done. But every time she was dumped back into her room she was disappointed she was still alive.  

Hope stayed against the wall huddle for a long time. She had no way of knowing what the time was. And there wasn't much for her to do. She eventually picked her self up and crawled into bed, and closed her eyes, praying for her heart to just stop and she could fall asleep and not wake up. Unfortunately that didn't happen, instead she was pulled into a nightmare. 

There was a loud bang on the front door, making everyone jump. The wild screams surrounded the door and windows. Lanna scrambled down the stairs, grabbing her back pack and her loaded gun. She retreated to her corner and crouched, her big honey brown eyes wide with terror. The banging on the door got louder, making her whimper and flinch.

Hope stood beside one window and Tim stood by the other, an older woman was in the middle of the room while Papa Odin stood in front of the door. The banging on the front door was louder and stronger. The cranks outside were getting more aggressive. There was a loud bang on the boarded up window beside Hope. Hope quickly glanced around the cabin. Everyone was tense, she could see everyone's faces set, eyes wide and knuckles white. This was a fight to the death sort of situation. She was glad though she had these guys on her side. Something hit the boards and she heard it land on the porch with a thud. She peeked through the slits, as something else hit the board, making her flinch backwards.

"They're throwing rocks!" Hope yelled.

Hope raised her gun, ready to shoot. There was another loud bang and a board cracked. The front door didn't look much better.

"Where did they come from?" Tim yelled from the other side. The boarded up window on his side was shaking, but it seemed to hold better.

"Lanna, Hope, Tim!" Odin barked, glancing at the young teens, they were only about 14. "If they get in, you run like hell. We'll hold them off." He indicated to the older woman who looked like she had killed a few things in her life.

The kids nodded. Hope could feel her heart sink, how could see leave Papa Bear behind. Odin seemed to know what she was thinking, and he looked at her very pointedly, "You will run, Hope." 

She slowly nodded, with a gulp.  glanced back at the window, it was giving, and starting to splinter. The boards cracked. The banging was more frantic. The incoherent screaming was wild. There was a final crunch and boards over the window exploded inwards. Hope ducked. Lanna screamed. There was an instant roar of manic glee as the infected humans all swarmed forwards, hands and arms flailing though the broken window, a few tried to climb through.

All of them had wild black eyes, drooling that black bloody phlegm. These humans looked worse than the first group that tried to get into their house a week ago. Their veins looked swollen and dark, their skin was ghostly white. Whereas the first group could still communicate and talk, this group just screamed and wailed. Hope clamped her mouth shut and pulled the trigger.

The door finally smashed inwards with a loud crunch. The monsters were now trying to get inside all at the same time, jamming them in the doorway. Odin and the woman leapt forwards screaming.  Tim's window was still holding, so he leapt towards Hope and fired his gun. It was chaos.

Hope ran out of bullets. She threw the gun aside. She tried to reach for her knife. A hand reached out and grabbed onto Lanna's backpack. She screamed. Hope screamed just as loud. Her hand finally wrapped around her knife. She ripped it out of the holster. The Monsters cackled and screamed. It was pulling Lanna backwards. Hope grabbed onto Lanna, and with a wild scream, slashed her long knife down. The hand let go and disappeared. Hope shoved Lanna farther into the room, towards the wall, away from the grabbing hands. When her back was turned for a split second a hand grabbed her long ponytail.

There was a shriek of glee, and they yanked Hope closer to the window. More hands grabbed onto her. They all pulled and grabbed. Hope screamed, trying to claw her way free. Dirty hands and nails clawed at her. They were trying to pull her through the broken window. She still had a firm grip on her knife. With a wild swing and scream she did her best to free herself. But there were too many hands everywhere. No mater how many times she slashed her knife, one hand disappeared only to be replaced by two more.

"HOPE!" Someone screamed.

Hope was finally pulled through the window. She felt sharp stinging pain in her back and then landed hard on the ground. Black bloody slobber dripped on her. Hands pulled and clawed. Hope screamed again. Slashing her knife, kicking her feet, she made a small enough opening to scramble as fast as she could away from them. She was outside, alone and armed with just a hunting knife. The rest of the Cranks from the window turned towards her, ignoring the window now. She slowly backed away, passing her knife nervously back and forth between her hands. She took a deep breath, this was life or death. And she was going to go down fighting; if Papa Odin taught her nothing else it was always go down fighting.

She let out a wild challenging scream and leapt forwards. There was no plan, just survive as long as possible. Some of Papa's training kicked in, she could hear his voice in her head.

"Keep your eyes open, Hope. Never turn your back on an enemy ."

The group of Cranks tried to surround her. A few of the cranks at the back of the group went down in a spray of blood. As she ducked under another attempt to grab her, Hope chanced a quick glance in that direction. Tim and Lanna were standing at the window, picking them off with a gun. She knew if she could keep their attention on her, they would be able to pick them off without issues. Hope stabbed another one, with a yell. As she pulled her knife out she felt something sold make contact with the side of her head.

Hope dropped to her knees. Letting go of the knife in the proses. She grabbed the side of her head. Everything around her was spinning. Black spots danced in her vision. She could vaguely hear her name being screamed. She shook her head trying to hear and shake away the double vision. She knew she had to get up.

She could see her knife on the ground by her knees. With the double vision, however, she fumbled trying to pick it up. A few seconds later it was in her hands again. Something grabbed her hair again, pulling her backwards. Hope screamed and twisted around. Her head swam and her stomach felt sick when she moved too fast. But it was that or be killed, her adrenalin was pumping, and her fight or flight was in high drive. There was a wild snarl and something black flashed in her vision. The tight hold on her was released with a wild scream. Hope turned to face the monster. It was laying on the ground wrestling with a savage snarling dog. 

"Buddy! Release!" She screamed.

Buddy jumped away still snarling and barking. Before the monster could get up, Hope plunged her knife down with a scream. The crank stilled. Blood bubbling up from the stab wound in his heart. Hope yanked her knife out, spinning on her knees. Ready to fight again. Her fuzzy visions took a few seconds to catch up with her movements, it made her stomach heave. A hand grabbed her shoulder. Hope screamed and raised her knife again. She was going to go down fighting.

"Hope! Stop! It's okay kiddo." Odin yelled at her, he grabbed her wrist before she could swing it again.

The familiar deep voice cut through her wild fight or flight brain. She blinked a few times, her chest still rising and falling, gasping for air.

"They're gone! They're all gone. You're okay now! They're all dead."

Hope's body gave out and she crumpled into him. He caught her and pulled her close to his chest, his arms wrapped around her.

"Whoa...whoa, Okay...I got ya." Odin said quietly.

Hope was jerked awake, she was covered in sweat and she was breathing hard. She raised her shacking hands to rub her eyes. She remembered that night. Their small group had found an abandoned cabin, but the cranks had found them. The woman in her dream had become infected and she had fled that night. Her dog, Buddy stayed with them for a while, until he was injured and Papa had to put him down. Hope cried harder for Buddy then the woman who fled. She lay panting on her bed, her clothes and hair stuck to her. She slowly sat up, swinging her legs over the bed, her head in her hands. 

She didn't get a lot of time to get herself under control, the cell door was thrown open. The guards stormed in, Hope jumped to her feet and backed away into the corner, her hands raised in surrender. Two of them stood in front of her as others dragged an unconscious Minho into their room. He was dropped carelessly on the bed and they all backed out of the cell. 

Hope scrambled over to him, and gently rolled him onto his back. He felt warm, and he was covered in sweat. He was burning up. She scrambled to the bathroom, filled up the metal bowl and grabbed the stack of cloth and brought it over. By the time she got back he was moaning and mumbling something incoherent, and he was thrashing his head. Hope put a damp strip of cloth on his forehead and he settled slightly. She continued to change the damp cloth, yet his fever wouldn't come down, if anything it was getting worse. 

"I'm sorry Minho." She grumbled. 

She slowly and carefully pulled his shirt up and with a lot of cursing and struggling, got it off. Her face was burning, and her hands were shaking, she placed cool damp strips on his chest. She remembered Nettie, an old emergency nurse doing this one time when the flu hit their camp. Minho's rapid breathing slowly settled. The cool cloths helped. She changed the cloths often, his skin was burning, and she did her best to not stare. 

"How the hell do you still a ripped six pack?" Hope rolled her eyes. 

"I'm just amazing, Ace." A gravely voice whispered. 

Hope spun round, holding a wet cloth. "Minho!" She yelped. "How are you feeling?" 

"Like a giant pile of klunk." 

"I actually have no idea what that means, but judging by how you look...terrible." 

"About sums it up." He groaned. 

"Shh. Stop talking, go back to sleep." Hope soothed, she gently switched the cloth on his forehead. 

"Why...why don't I have a shirt?" 

Hope's face went bright red, and she stumbled over her words. "I umm...you were...I had to...you were hot." Even in his fevered state he managed a small smirk. Hope's face went an even darked shade of pink. "No! That's not...not that you aren't, umm hot....What? No. You're fever...I had to...dammit!" She sunk her head into her hands, her elbows on her knees. Her face burning from humiliation. "You're fever wouldn't come down. An old nurse showed me that trick." She finally grumbled through her hands. 

Minho was chuckling quietly at her, but it turned into a wince and then a moan. 

"Go to sleep Mean HOE." Hope rolled her eyes and lifted her head up, resting her chin on her palm. 

"Who's the hoe? You took off my shirt." He whispered, a ghost of a smile on his exhausted face. 

Hope waved her hand, "Ya ya...well I did sleep with you. Get over yourself." 

"Will you stay?" He asked, his voice shook. Hope looked closer a him, his lip was quivering, his dark eyes were dilated, in fear? In panic? His one hand opened and closed in a tight fist. He was trying hard to keep it together. And he had almost begged, she hadn't heard this before. He was scared. 

"Ya Min, I'll stay." Hope said quietly. 

She got up and grabbed her blanket and crawled into the bed beside Minho. He looped an arm around her and cautiously, she scooted closer, and laid her hand on his burning chest. She could hear his ragged breathing, and feel how his chest heaved, trying to keep it together. His muscles were so tense, they were shacking. She slowly sat up, frowning. He had his eyes clamped shut, but she saw the tears leaking. She gently wiped them away. 

"It's okay to fall apart sometimes." She whispered. 

Apparently that's what he needed to hear, permission to break for a moment. He rolled, placing his head in her lap and his damn broke. His body shook as the sobs came in waves. He wrapped his arms around her waist. She picked up the damp rags and tossed them onto the floor by the bowl. Hope leaned against the wall and let him cry. She ran her hand through his hair and down his back, just letting him cry. He had held her enough times when she broke, it was time for her to repay the favor. They didn't have anyone else, they had each other. And that was the only way to get through this living nightmare. He eventually cried himself out, and his breathing evened out, and his body relaxed. Hope stayed leaning against the wall, and let him sleep. She pulled the blanket up over his still feverish body and let him sleep.