'mind games, don't leave me come so far, don't lose me.' - slowdive

my feet feel like they're about to fall off. my back hurts and im so thirsty i can't stand it. we've been walking for hours and the sun is just rising. up the road i notice some buildings. "hey, is that atlanta?" i ask and joel squints. "looks like it." he says. "maybe there is somewhere we can find some water or food." i groan and tess nods. "good idea." she agrees. the road seems longer than it is and i just want to stop and lay down. 

it takes a few minutes but eventually, we reach the town. it's clearly been overrun for a while now. the windows are all broken, bodies lay on the ground, and empty cars fill the street. "if we cut through this hotel it'll dump us out onto highway 75." joel says, and tess jogs up the steps. she pushes open the door and we see the hotel is flooded with water. "you've gotta be kidding me." i mumble looking at the swampy water filling the lobby. joel ignores my complaint and starts to walk into the water. "wait we're going in there?" i ask remembering i have 0 clue how to swim. my mother was supposed to sign zephyr and i up but, you know, she died. "yeah, we gotta get to the stairwell on the other side." tess says. "well, i don't know how to swim." i stutter. 

"seriously?" joel asks just staring at me. "think i just fill my extra time swimming laps?" i ask sarcastically. "no, smartass. i mean." joel says jumping into the water that is only up to his knees. "well how was i supposed to know that?" i say treading through the swamp water. "this is so gross." i say with a huge smile. since terminus i've done more courageous things i've ever done in my life. "check it out!" i exclaim walking over to the front desk. a bell sits on the counter and i can't help but ring it. "ding, ding. yes, sir, i would like your finest suite, please. yes, ma'am would you like me to take your luggage?" i say pretending i'm in a real hotel with real people again.

"you're a weird kid." joel says watching me push the trolley around. "you're a weird kid." i reply making a face at him. out of the corner of my eye, i see something move. "oh fuck!" i exclaim as a skeleton drags itself with the trolley. joel jumps over making sure it wasn't an infected. i pant holding onto the trolley. "sorry." i say as joel kicks the skeleton away. he reaches his hand out to help me up and i grab it following him back over to tess who is waiting for us at the stairwell. 

"you okay?" tess asks. "yep, fucking fabulous." i reply climbing out of the water. tess sighs as we all look up at the flights of stairs we need to climb. i start running up them as joel and tess follow behind. we reach the top and tess groans. "come on it wasn't that bad." i say looking down the hallway. "you try climbing that many stairs with our knees. see how ya feel." she pants. we walk down the hall and joel grunts seeing as our way is blocked off by fallen concrete. "how the fuck did this happen?" tess asks walking up to the blocked way. "storm, probably." joel answers trying to open the two locked doors beside us. 

"all right, i'll climb up there, work my way around. open it from the outside?" tess says looking at the small hole between the rocks. "i'm the smallest, it'd be easier for me to get through." i say, and tess shakes her head. "no, you stay put." she says and joel walks over to boost her up. "you good up there?" joel asks as tess climbs through the rocks. "yeah, i'm gonna need a few minutes though." she answers. joel sits down against the wall and i sit across from him. i pull out my knife and start twisting it around between my fingers. my dad had taught me tricks when we used to hunt in the winter. 

"nice knife." joel says and i ignore him. "where'd you learn to do that?" he asks again. "the circus." i reply shortly. "where are you from?" i ask him awkwardly, putting away my knife. "texas." he replies and i wonder if i've ever seen him before the outbreak. "what about tess?" i ask. "detriot, it's in michigan." joel explains. "i know where detroit is. i went to school." i snap. "so you two like a.." i say but joel cuts me off. "pass." he says. "how'd you end up in georgia?" i ask. "pass. no more questions about me." joel says. "how long do infected live?" i ask. i know my father is up and moving around back in alabama and zee is still in that truck. i hate i left him like that but i was scared. i had to.

"i thought you knew everything." joel teases and i just stay quiet. "some last about a month or two, cause of weather conditions and how they are decomposing. others, years." joel explains. "you ever kill anyone?" i ask and joel just looks at me. "yes." he answers. "was it hard? even if they were trying to kill you?" i ask him while fiddling with my sweater. "sometimes." he replies and the door behind us jiggles. joel stands up pointing the gun at the door. "you can put the gun down, joel." tess says opening the door. 

"what now?" joel asks and tess sighs leading us through the patio to the ledge of the building. i look down into the street and dozens if not hundreds of infected are swarming in the streets. "there's so many." i say watching them stumble over each other. "i haven't seen a herd this big since boston. they must have wandered back here after the city was bombed, picking up more along the way. that's what they do they travel in packs. you may be sneaky and quiet but when there's a bunch of them all riddled up and hungry, you watch your ass." tess explains to me and i gaze off into the crowd of bodies. "this is important. i'm trying to keep you alive." she adds and i nod.

"so we can't go that way. where do we go now?" i ask stepping off the ledge. "well this was the short way. that leaves the 'most likely to get ripped apart' way." joel says and i gasp. "we could take jasperson up to the museum and cut through." tess says reading the map i gave them. 

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the 'most likely to get ripped apart' way wasn't very alarming. we managed to squeeze through some small groups of infected and got here with all limbs intact. the museum is an old brick building covered in moss and pieces of fallen rock. the front door is covered in blood and i don't have a good feeling going into this. "you've gotta be kidding me." i say looking at the open door. "i bet it's cleaned out. we would have heard them by now." tess says. "great." i reply. "it doesn't even look fresh." tess adds looking at the blood. "okay." i say. "we will be fine." she says again. "awesome." i sigh and joel runs his hand along the door. 

"it's bone dry. could mean they're all dead." he says walking back over to us. "oh man." i say as tess and joel both pull-out flashlights. "you got one of these or just sandwiches?" joel asks and i pull out a flashlight out of my bag. "okay, ground rules. we're gonna go in slowly. if we come up against anything you get behind us. okay?" tess explains and i nod. she sighs and walks up to the door. the building is dark and stinks. bodies line the stairs as we go up. i see a man sitting at the top of the stairs freshly eaten. "oh god." i whisper holding in my gags. joel, tess, and i carefully walk down the hall to a room that leads to the roof. 

joel pushes the door open revealing groaning coming from inside. infected fill the room and one, in particular, catches my eye. it's bloated and mouldy like it sat in water for a while. it's eyes are completely frosted over, a lot like zee's were. "9 infected and a bloater." joel whispers and i now understand the terminology. carefully, we sneak into the room hiding behind crates and boxes. joel slides a dead body over to us and cuts open its stomach. i look at him in disgust. "what are you doing?" i whisper. "shut up." he replies. he grabs a handful of guts and smears it all over my shirt. tess does the same hanging some intestines from her neck. "i think i'm gonna be sick." i gag. 

once we are all covered joel and tess stand up and start walking into the group of infected. i follow close beside tess watching out for any of them trying to grab me. the big infected turns and gets in joel's face and i'm convinced we're done for. it sniffs him and turns back to continue walking about. joel slowly opens the window and we all climb out shutting it behind us. i toss the guts hanging from my shoulders off the ledge of the fire escape. "what the fuck was that!?" i exclaim and joel and tess both shush me. "it worked didn't it?" joel says climbing onto the roof. i join them and turn to face the sun. it's setting and the sky is a mix of oranges and pinks.

"it's so pretty." i say gazing over the buildings. "that over there is where we need to go. i know a friend there he can get us a car." tess says pointing to a building with a clock on it. "we cross over there?' i ask pointing to a wooden plank that connects the two buildings. "yeah, i know it looks scary." joel says as i walk across the plank with no fear whatsoever. "that was scary. this is wood." i say jumping off to the other building. "come on, let's get there before dark." tess says climbing down a broken ladder as we follow. 

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

the clock tower wasn't as far away as it looked. we carefully run up to the fences and scan the area for people. so far, nothing. "no, he's gotta be here." tess says climbing over the fence. "watch out for traps, tess. you know bill." joel says following behind her. i jump down and follow the two through the camp. "tess, he's not here." joel says and tess ignores him as she storms into the building with the clock revealing about 20 bodies dead on the ground. "fuck!" tess shouts. "tess!" joel calls out. "holy shit." i mumble looking around at the mangled bodies. "there's gotta be a- fuckin' note or something? right? maybe he left us a clue." tess says walking over to each body and searching them. 

"who killed them? your friend?" i ask joel and he nods and rolls over a body with his foot. "bill doesn't play around with infected." joel explains and i look at the dead infected. "joel can you help me?!" tess shouts as she bangs things around. "no! tess, it's over. we are going home. back to austin." he calls. "that's not my fucking home!" she yells. confused about what their actual mission to boston was, i keep to myself in the back of the room letting them fight it out. "i'm stayin'. i mean our luck had to run out sooner or later." tess says standing up and staring joel down. "fuck. she's infected." i say and joel looks at tess in disbelief. 

"show me." joel says and tess steps forward but joel jumps back. "oops, right?" tess says pulling her shirt to the side and showing us a huge bite mark on her collarbone. "joel listen. you have to find bill, he'll get you a car. you need to get her home and then straighten everything out in boston." tess says as her hands start shaking. "no." joel whispers. "fuck, joel. do this for me, please. i never ask you for anything. please, joel." tess pleads. "tess-" joel says. "no, shut the fuck up 'cause i don't have time. this is your chance. you need to set everything right. all the shit we did." tess says as her voice breaks. 

"oh fuck!" i shout as an infected runs out of the back room. without thinking joel takes out his gun and shoots it straight in the head. "shit." he says running to the door and looking out the window at the big herd from earlier running towards the camp. "how many?" tess asks. "all of them. maybe a minute." joel answers and tess walks over to some barrels. she pushes them over and gas fills the room. she opens her bag and throws a few grenades on the floor. "what are you doing?" i ask cautiously. "making sure they don't follow you." tess replies knocking over more gas barrels. 

"joel, save someone who you can save." tess says and joel grabs my arm dragging me to the exit. "no! no! we can't leave her! let go of me you fucker!" i shout as joel slams the door behind us. he drags me over to a stack of concrete far enough that we won't be affected by the explosion. a few minutes pass and the windows give out and flames engulf the building. infected stumble out on fire screeching. "we need to go, now." joel says grabbing my hand as we run far from the burning city.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

heyy! i'm loving this book right now and thank you guys so much for all the support on this book and TSL

i'm planning on writing more and posting sooner so just bear with me for now

A

<3