rewritten: January-June 2025

"This is the downtown area?" Maeve took in the devastation surrounding her, which was even more evident before her. She stood on a slab of tiled concrete, certain it might crumble under her at any moment and plunge her into the abyss below. The road–or what remained of it–had been consumed by the earth. Vehicles and buildings lay in various states of ruin, some partially collapsed while others were completely flattened. And if she squinted hard enough, she could make out a train wreck buried beneath the debris in the subway.

It was a very long drop.

"What's left of it," Tess replied. "The military bombed the hell out of this area and some parts of the city near the QZ, to kill off as many infected as they could — worked, for a short bit," she looked toward something in the distance, gesturing, "There's our building."

A golden dome stood prominently above the destruction, shining like a beacon of hope. The sunlight glinted off its rounded top.

"Incredible..." Maeve marveled, captivated by the view, but her gaze returned to the gaping hole in the street. She realized the collapsed ground was not a cave-in; it'd been ravaged by a bomb. A massive one, judging by the damage.

Oof. She wasn't scared of heights, but being this high up gave her butterflies in the stomach, which she felt twisting the more she continued looking down.

"Saved your life!" A pair of hands grabbed her shoulder, pulling her forward and then yanking her back.

A sound escaped her lips — she wasn't sure the sound she made was a scream or not. It echoed strangely across the barren landscape. Her heart raced painfully as she turned to see her laughing sister.

"Oh man! You should've seen your face!" Ellie was doubled over, clutching her ribs.

"Dammit, Ellie! You little brat! What if I fell?!" Maeve snapped at her.

"Pssh! Relax," Ellie wiped her tears away, still grinning. "You're fine, see?"

"Ugh! You're such a dick!" Maeve glared at her and moved away from the ledge.

That comment only made Ellie chuckle.

"Ugh! You're so—" the older girl began, but Joel's voice cut her off.

"Hey, Tess? This way!"

You're safe for now, little sister... Maeve glared at her sister as Tess beckoned them to follow. She tried calming her heart as she hurried after the woman and TJ. She and Ellie were jabbing each other with their elbows and poking each other's sides.

"Can you two knock it off?" TJ shot them a look of annoyance.

"You want what she's having?" Maeve challenged him, balling her hands into fists and throwing mock punches in the air as if she were boxing.

"I ain't scared of you."

"Not yet." Maeve retorted with a fierce look.

"Not yet." Ellie imitated her sister, lowering her voice to sound more like her.

"Shut up!" Maeve blew a raspberry at her as they neared a skyscraper.

Well, it was a dilapidated building. It leaned so far, supported by another identical structure. From where she was, she could hear the building creak and groan. She got vertigo staring too long, and it was through the roof, no pun intended.

Was there such a thing as a fear of looking at tall objects?

"Hey, Tess!" Joel shouted once more, observing from a grassy incline that rose into a jagged wall of the building.

"On our way!" The four rushed towards the man, stepping into the crumbling wall.

"I guess we're going inside the building that could collapse on us at any given second..." Maeve wrapped her arms around herself for comfort.

Joel opened the door leading out of the half-destroyed conference room, discovering a deformed corpse against the door opposite their entrance.

"He's been ripped to shreds." Tess switched on her flashlight, her expression grim.

"Is that bad?" Maeve asked warily, glancing between the adults.

"Might be. Body looks fresh."

"Let's not stick around." Joel said and Tess nodded in agreement.

"Yeah..."

On their way to the upper floor, they came across another body. This one was a dead S.W.A.T soldier. The man was slumped against the wall, dead hands clutching the rifle in its lap. Maeve felt a pang of sorrow for the soldier. Clearly, he hadn't met a peaceful end; his body was surrounded by both fresh and old blood. She noticed a piece of paper tucked under his leg, and despite the blood staining it, she picked it up, unfolded it, and read it, her brows knitting together.

"These guys died waiting for backup...poor dudes..." Maeve returned the letter to its place.

She rushed up the stairs, chasing after the others who had left her behind. Well, not exactly left behind, but she was right on TJ's heels.

"What the hell is that?" Her face twisted in horror, spotting another body, which was stuck to an office door. It was clearly an infected, but it wasn't like the infected she'd seen before. Its face was grotesquely split open, forming a cleft mouth, and fungus had erupted from its skull, resembling a mushroom growing apart. The odor was unbearable. The coolness of the storm wasn't able to tone the stench; it was like someone left the worst kind of garbage in the rain and then sat in the sun.

"It's a Clicker, dumbass," TJ said, rolling her eyes.

"Excuse me for never seeing any other infected besides the first stage." Maeve side-eyed him. Was it hard for him to be nice, or at the very least understanding?

"What's wrong with its face?" Ellie squinted at the corpse, tilting her head just as Joel grabbed the body, having to break it off of the door as it had grown into it, and he pushed it aside.

"That's what years of infection will do to you." Tess said before TJ could say anything sarcastic or rude.

Maeve looked at the caved-in floor. It appeared that the interior of the building was just as damaged and broken as its exterior. Her stomach sank, and she stepped back from the broken floor and the frightening height. Fantastic! There was nothing to be concerned about! Just a rickety structure on the brink of collapse.

"So what, they're...blind?"

Maeve entered the room everyone gathered and wandered around the personal cubicles. There were still photographs in them, and computers too; some were tipped over or fell onto the floor. She saw that some even had children's drawings.

"Sorta. They see using sound."

"So...like bats?" Ellie inquired.

"Exactly," Tess nodded. "If you hear one clicking, hide. That's how they find you."

Maeve heard it before she felt it. The entire building groaned, every meatl beam within the walls, every column supporting the ceilings, everything trembled. The movement of the structure caused some office furniture to shift, rolling into the steep dip and colliding with other office items.

Maeve cried out in fear, grabbing onto the closest thing to her, squeezing her eyes shut tightly. Unbeknownst to her, at the moment anyway, she had latched onto TJ.

"You're such a wimp," TJ said, bemused, but at least he waited for the tremors to stop before shaking her off his arm.

"Excuse me! I'm in a state of panic, and I have every right to panic!" Maeve huffed, trying to regain what composure she had, though the universe seemed to love testing her sanity.

"It's alright, Mae!" Ellie chirped, going to her and giving her reassuring pat on the back.

"This whole building feels like it's on the verge of collapsing," Joel commented warily.

"You think?" Maeve glanced at the older man. She breathed sharply. "It's all good. It's all good. We're definitely not going to die here."

"That's the spirit!" Ellie beamed and nudged her shoulder against Maeve's.

"Alright, ladies," Tess called for them. "We're moving forward, keep up the pace!"

With heavy steps, the sisters trailed behind the trio, waiting for Joel to unlock a door. He struggled to get it open. The door was stuck, and he alone couldn't get it open.

"TJ, give me a hand with this."

Together, the males pushed against the door, using all their strength and slamming their bodies into it. The door resisted their efforts at first, but then the hinges squealed loudly as they finally managed to pry it open. Metal scraped against metal, and something tumbled out of the way as the door swung open.

"Joel!"

A disfigured figure lunged at the two, knocking TJ aside and tackling Joel. The infected clicked and roared maliciously and attempted to wear the man down with fierce blows.

Tess acted quickly, kicking the Clicker in the head, which sent it sprawling, and then she shot it twice in the head.

And that was the end of that.

"You alright?" The sisters watched as Joel lifted himself off the ground.

"It's nothing," he dismissed their worries and strode across the hall into the space where the Clicker came from, attempting to project an image of toughness.

Tess let out a deep sigh. "Alright...let's, uh, look for supplies. There should be some still around here."

"Oke doke!" Maeve wearily saluted Tess and moved toward to the right side of the lounge, right to a low cabinet. She pressed her lips together, trying to steady her racing heart after that sudden scare. "That was intense for sure."

"You said it."

Ooooo... She bent down and opened the cabinet doors. Empty drawers...cabinet doors...and bingo! Alcohol! Jackpot. She seized the bottle, shook it, and frowned. It wasn't a lot, but it might come in handy later. She removed her bad and tucked the bottle inside, carefully positioning it between her Walkman and journal.

"Psst..." Ellie nudged her. "I found some rags and this empty bottle."

"Really?" Maeve took the item from Ellie, raising an eyebrow. "That's awesome possum!"

"Yeah it is! You can make one of those fire bottles!" Ellie grinned.

Maeve made a face. "For one, this is rubbing alcohol. It's not as lasting as actual alcohol. We can use this stuff for bandaging if need be."

"Wait, you know how to make molotovs?" TJ questioned, sounding surprised and disbelieving.

"Yes, I know how to make molotovs."

"How?"

"Oh–uh," Maeve zipped her bag and stood, slipping it back on. "That's noneya."

"Noneya?" his face screwed up in confusion.

"Yeah – none ya business."

Ellie snorted into sleeve, and even Tess chuckled from her spot across the lounge room. Maeve felt proud of that; it was quite clever.

"Tch!" The boy clicked his tongue, unimpressed by her joke.

"Chill," she waved off his annoyance. "My boyfriend taught me. I can even make pipe bombs, though they're more like flashbangs than anything."

"Pipe bombs?" the blond parroted. "What kind of shit are you into?"

Maeve grinned, giving a casaul shrug. "The badass kind."

"Alright, everyone," Joel returned, reappearing while he reloaded his pistol.. "Let's move out."

"Aye, aye captian!"

Naturally, the older man found no humor in Maeve's upbeat remark. Right. They weren't accustomeed to having a source of comic relief just yet. They'll warm up to her eventaully.

As they trailed behind Joel, going deeper into the ready-to-crumble building, they stumbled upon a catwalk that'd given away, giving it more of a balcony look. There wasn't many other places they could look, and they were on a race against the clock.

"Look up there," Tess indicated towards the upper level, specifically at the ledge that seemed just low enough for them to climb.

"...how many corpses are we going to find in this place?" Maeve did her best to not look at the body dangling by its mangled thigh caught in the shattered railing.

"Try not to hurt yourself thinking about that." TJ remarked with a tone of light sarcasm.

It wasn't the corpses that disturbed her; well, maybe just a bit, but what really unsettled her was that they encountered at least three human bodies. And they were heavily armed. To put it mildly, she was primarily worried about the number of infected lurking in the building. They'd already faced two Clickers, though one was already dead when they got there, but that's besides the point.

It was still disconcerting.

Joel moved closer to the wall, bending slightling and interlocking his fingers to launch Tess up to the upper level. The woman grasped his shoulders, placed her foot in his hands, and was swiftly elevated.

"Just check if there's a way through."

Tess ascended, panting from the exertion. She vanished for a brief moment before reappearing, crouching by the ledge. She reached down.

"Alright, it's clear. C'mon, Ellie."

Maeve and Ellie approached the wall so Joel could lift them up alongside Tess.

"Okay kid, your turn." Joel lifted Ellie up and she took Tess's arm.

Maeve felt downright impressed by the woman's upper body strength. She was a little intimidated. She needed to step up her own game.

"Okay, now you." Joel looked at Maeve when Ellie was in the clear.

"Oh. Right." The teen grabbed his shoulder and put her left foot into his palms. Her stomach did a loopty loop when he thrust her upward. She quickly grabbed Tess' hand. She thought she'd fall down. Her hands were all sweaty from her anxiety, but Tess didn't seem bothered by it, nor did her clammy palms cause any slipping.

Wow! That was awesome. Maeve gazed at Tess in admiration as she stepped aside to allow the others to climb up with them.

"C'mon. You got it!" Tess strained as she helped TJ up.

He must've been a heavy guy. Maeve kept wondering to herself.

"Alright, big guy," both Tess and TJ reached for Joel. "Give us your hand."

Clank!

"What was that?" Maeve snapped her head toward the entrance behind them, a sense of dread creeping over her skin.

Then came the unsettling clicking sound.

"Clickers?"

"Shit!" Tess and TJ pulled harder. "Hurry, hurry, hurry!"

Once Joel was up with them, they dashed into the archway behind them, sharply veering left into a small cafeteria. The clicking grew louder and more distinct. A clicker burst into the room, tilting its head to hear as the group crouched behind a serving counter near the windows.

Well, this was bad. Maeve grimaced at their situation.

"That's our escape route," Tess directed their focus, whispering just loud enough for them to hear, but soft enough that the clicker wouldn't. "Through the scaffolding."

"Okay...so how do we get up there?" Maeve murmured.

"Uh..." Tess glanced around their cramped hiding place and quickly snatched something from the floor.

A bottle? What was her plan with that—

Tess hurled the bottle across the room, which made the clicker screech and click even more loudly, but it darted toward the spot where the bottle shattered.

Oh.

That was pretty smart.