"Run!"

A terrified voice rang out.

"Keep running!"

"Shit, get down, get down!"

As the group of four made their way into a closed-off building, two people ran past the boarded-up windows, screaming as a military turret chased them down. A man and a woman were gunned down by the turret. The man went down first, but he didn't get back up. The woman, however, was still alive and attempted to crawl away, but she didn't gain an inch from her injuries.

"No...!"

The woman cried out, begging as the hunters in the military turret stopped near them, two hopped from the tailgate. One of them shot the woman with their shotgun.

Maeve flinched at the horrible sound, her stomach churned with sickness and anger. She had to bite the inside of her cheek to prevent herself from making any sounds. She didn't want to accidentally alert those merciless fuckers any more than they already had.

"A busy couple of days, huh?" One of the hunters asked as the other crouched beside the woman's bleeding body.

"Whatever, man," the one who crouched grumbled and searched the woman's body. "Damn. No food, old pair of shoes. They got nothin'. Let's go."

"Alright."

They hop back onto the military vehicle, and it drove off.

"Oh, man..."

They stood up, the only ones seemingly disturbed by the sight were Ellie and Maeve. Joel and TJ were more focused on getting out of Pittsburgh before the hunters killed them.

The older girl couldn't tell if she had acid reflux or was actually about to get sick. She'd seen a lot of horrible things in the past few months, and within the weeks of being with Joel and TJ, but damn...those hunters were on a whole other level, that was probably an understatement, Maeve figured.

"There ain't nothin' we coulda done," Joel spoke and cautiously surveyed the stairwell from the door.

"I know...it's just...oh man." Ellie gulped down.

"Let's just get to that bridge."

"Okay."

After a moment to recompose themselves, the group carried on into the stairwell, and much to their dismay, they find more hunters. They were patrolling a small rundown street, which caused the group to hide behind an old truck.

"Well, at least they finally killed that couple. I was sure they made it out of the city. Now, all we need is to find that fucking pickup group."

"There better've been an army that truck. How the fuck did they wipe out an entire crew over there?"

Maeve inwardly smirked at that. At least they had them on their toes.

"Let's just keep searching. I wanna wrap this up by sundown."

Once the hunters were far enough away, Joel and TJ glanced at each other. They had this unspoken language, and maybe she was catching on to what they decided. They took out their guns and crept their way toward the two hunters who were unaware of their presence.

The guys take them out quickly by smacking the grips of their guns on the back of the hunters' heads. Their bodies were caught and dragged into a secluded area so alerting other hunters would be less likely.

"C'mon," Joel murmured and they continued deeper within the financial district.

"—got word from the east side crew — they ain't seen shit."

"What about Market Street?"

"Yeah, they're driving through that area now. Who knows, maybe they'll flush 'em out."

Maeve tried to survey the area. Even for a small group, those hunters seemed to have numbers. They were cocky, horrid, and fucking insane. They were scared or at least shaken by the fact so many had fallen into "tourist's" hands. If anything, she was grateful she wasn't the enemy of Joel or TJ. Those hunters acted so arrogantly and badass, but in reality, they were shaking in their shoes.

"—Joel, there's a guy on that second floor, right there."

Ellie's voice dropped and kicked Maeve back into the summer heat. Her eyes followed her sister's words to an armed figure within the abandoned building right of the street. He peered down but seemingly didn't see the four.

"I see him. Stay low."

"I don't see any way out of this one, Joel." TJ narrowed his eyes, looking further up the street, where there were more hunters.

More death. Great. Maeve couldn't think of anyone more deserving of death than the hunters. Those fuckers probably didn't deserve just death, they deserved the very torture they inflicted upon their victims.

If she could, that military turret would be hers and she'd shred down every last one of them. Or she could let Ellie do it, or they both could take the pleasure of mowing those dicks down. They deserved it anyway.

It wasn't long before the shooting began again. Maeve was beginning to believe she'd never not hear gunshots. Each bullet shot made every nerve in her body jolt. Maybe it was from the lack of rest, she couldn't tell.

"Ellie!" Maeve grabbed her sister and dodged a hunter coming at them swinging a wired baseball bat. Her sister shot him a couple of times in the chest, and he went down, not getting back up. "Shit..."

"Get down!" Ellie practically tackled her as another hunter seemingly came out of nowhere with a shotgun.

The firearm went off just as the girls managed to scurry out of the way. It went off with such loudness and being in such close range, Maeve almost felt her ears pop and leave with a faint ring. Her palms were over her ears before she could try to control her arms.

Bam!

Ellie shot the hunter before he was able to cock the shotgun. The man's side immediately bled, and he snapped his attention at her furiously.

"You little shit—!"

Pow!

With a fresh bullet wound leaking from his chest, the hunter gasped out and struggled to breathe. His face went into a panic before he collapsed onto the ground, dead.

"Holy—!" Maeve was caught off by Ellie, who grabbed her by the arm and dragged her to safety behind the walls of the library in the forked street.

"Shit, tripwire!" Ellie leaped over a silver wire, just barely escaping certain death by an explosion.

"There are, you little brats!" As if the universe were against them, this burly hunter entered the opposite side of the small library and stomped toward them.

Maeve saw the tripwire before the explosion, and oh boy was it messy. The hunter walked right into the hidden trap, snagging at his ankles. The sound of his clothes and flesh ripping apart made them cringe and duck for cover. Blood and tattered shreds of clothes went everywhere. On the narrow walls, the floors, the ceiling.

The hunter screamed in pure agony during his last moments of life, his scream ultimately abruptly cut off.

"Damn..." The sisters peered over at the hunter's body, finding the bomb practically amputated him too.

The sight was ghastly...and sickly. Maeve thought seeing that Clicker in Bill's town meet the same fate was stomach-churning, but this could take the cake too, considering that guy was a non-fungal being. His being a cold-blooded killer made it a little bit easier to swallow. Metallic filled the air, making Maeve cover her face.

"Ugh..."

"You girls okay?" Joel's voice was concerned.

"Define "okay"." They carefully left the building, stepping over any silver lining they found, and into the seemingly empty street, bodies strewn out at random.

"Are you okay, as in are you still breathing? Uninjured?" TJ said, a bit out of breath.

"I guess so."

She looked around, the street was empty of life, well, besides the four of them. It seemed Joel and TJ made quick work of those hunters. Physically, she was alright, but mentally, she was so fucked up. From all the infected and hunters.

She just wanted to sleep. This whole day had been so exhausting, she could feel it take a toll on her body.

"Endure and Survive," Ellie suddenly said.

"What?" Joel looked at her oddly and then realized what she meant. "Oh, right...that comic book thing."

After they had a moment to catch their breaths, they proceeded down the street to an abandoned bank. They couldn't find a way off the street; most potential ways out were blocked off with garbage or unreasonably high roadblocks.

In the center of the three-way, the street was this colossal tank, broken down, of course. It seemed to be just for looks. Kind of like...a trophy of sorts. The tank looked military, otherwise, they wouldn't be seeing a tank.

"—Jeez," Ellie caught Maeve's attention, pulling her away from the tank and to a wall of skeletal bodies lined on the wall by the bank. "I guess this is how it ended for this zone."

Now that she looked, Maeve realized they were executed. Faint blood stains on the wall behind the bodies seemed to just scream it. Yikes. She guessed the zone that used to be here was an oppressive one, which most likely caused a revolt. The skeletons had thick, bulletproof vests and insignia that proved they were military. 

"Well, every battle's got a losing side."

"What if they had families?"

"Everyone has a family. Best not dwell on it."

"How can you not? Hey — get me up there." Ellie suddenly did a three-sixty and pointed up to a fire escape with a ladder.

"You two really are alike," TJ commented.

"What?"

"The ADHD thing."

Maeve rolled her eyes. She wanted to say something snarky, but like, he wasn't wrong. Ellie had it more under control than she did, or at least she thought she did.

Anyways, she was getting off-topic.

Joel lifted Ellie to the fire escape ladder, which she climbed and undid the latch. The ladder clanked down, and from there on, they each climbed the ladder onto the fire escape.

From the angle on the fire escape, they could see the yellow bridge just barely peeking over the buildings. Whether that was a good thing or not, she didn't know. She had to shield the sunlight with her hand, and she realized how low the sun had gotten.

"We're almost there," Joel murmured.

They dropped into another closed-off yard. There was a building that seemed all too familiar, like a certain school Maeve and Ellie were forced to go to.

"Hey, we went to a place like this — back in the Boston QZ."

"Military Preparatory School," TJ read the sign hanging on the closed gate.

Both girls snorted. "Yeah, nice way of saying orphanage. I wonder what happened to all those kids."

It was true, for the most part. Those who weren't being put through the basic academic classes were being trained for the "real world" training. Maeve was already two years into her soldier training, another two, and she would've been one more asshole soldier. Well, she was already an asshole before, but she would've been a somewhat entitled one. 

Before Maeve always imagined herself decked out in military gear, armed to the teeth, but now the image has faded.

"This place had been out for a good stretch," Joel rubbed the back of his neck stiffly. "They ain't kids no more."

Maeve adjusted her bag straps. It was clear where those kids were. Well, they could be one of two: the hunters trying to kill them, or dead. She couldn't think of any positive alternate road that they may have gone down.

As if Ellie were thinking the same thing as she was, she voiced her thoughts, which led to Joel attempting to be optimistic about the kids.

"But you don't believe that?"

"I believe in getting out of this city. Come on."

And like that, they were on the move again. In the same lot as the school, there are more rotted vehicles. Namely a van and a pickup with a busted windshield. Around the lot was trash, aged trash, mechanical parts, whatever the hell that thing was...

"There's another one!" Ellie suddenly raced to the brick wall with a giant, faded poster, but it was obvious what it was.

"Dawn of the Wolf..." Maeve squinted.

The poster had a couple on the front, a woman embracing a very hairy man. It seemed strange to Maeve. People were interested in these types of things? It seemed very dramatic, the setting of it. Dark and intense, but also enticing. She guessed that's how they got an audience. 

"Yeah, I've been seeing them everywhere."

Joel kind of chuckled. "I saw this before the outbreak."

The three younger persons gave him astonishing looks.

"You did?" Ellie grinned. "Does he totally gut her by the end?"

"Nobody gets gutted. It's a dumb teen movie."

"Who dragged you to see it then?" Maeve planted her hands on her hips, eyeing the older man.

He sighed. A far-off look in his aged eyes. It was almost...like he was remembering something painful. He shook whatever he was feeling, he shook it off, and stepped toward a narrow alley to continue their journey.

"I don't know. Let's just stay focused, alright?"

"What was that about?" Ellie joined Maeve's side.

"Dunno." And they followed after him.

They went down the alley, coming across an old gas station. The back door was wide open, and the back windows were busted open. It was deserted and seemed like no one was around —

"—six."

In a panic, the group hurried for cover as two hunters came into view from inside the store.

"Nope."

"Seven."

"Not even close."

"Ten?"

"Keep going."

A sigh escaped into the dusty air. "I don't know, twenty?"

"Try twenty-five." The other voice answered, all proud.

"Bullshit."

"Swear to god."

Maeve's brows squished together in confusion. Here they were, hiding behind a counter in the back while those guys conversed carelessly. Is this what they did when they weren't killing people?

"You have twenty-five cans of bacon?"

"Well, twenty-four. I just finished one."

"How the hell do you have twenty-four cans of bacon?"

Light pressure on her shoulder took her away from the hunter's needless conversation. Ellie was nodding her head at Maeve, gesturing for her to follow into the side alley. She guessed they should move while those guys were distracted, it seemed like a good idea.

Luck was on their side, having so many obstacles to hide them from the hunter's line of vision. The only problem...

That Humvee with the military turret. It rumbled as it made counterclockwise rounds, keeping an eye on its surroundings and ready to gun down anyone the gunner saw.

Maeve felt her heart race, but Joel and TJ seemed to know what they were doing as they led them carefully across the street and into the other store. Her heart continued to throb even after they were safe within the store walls, hidden from the vehicle. Or so they thought.

It sounded like a thousand machine guns being fired at once. Bullets pierced the walls and the shelves in the building. Broken bits of wall spit everywhere while they ducked for cover. 

Someone screamed, if it was her or Ellie, she couldn't tell. She heard Joel shout for them to run, and she didn't need to be told twice. She ran into the alley after them, the turret still firing.

It was a sheer miracle none of them were hit.

"What the fuck are they shooting at us with?!" Ellie yelled over the firing.

They take a sharp left, leading into a broader portion of the back alley, empty except for an old dumpster and police cruiser. They didn't stop for anything, they kept going until they entered another building. That military vehicle was still blasting ammo from outside.

The group hurried up a flight of stairs, into an apartment with a fire escape. Seemed like a good idea for them to try and get away on that, out of sight of that demon truck. They could still hear it out there, surveying the alleyways to find them.

"I think we lost 'em," Joel breathlessly concluded, warily scanning the fire escape.

"This is insane!" Maeve rasped shakily as Joel leaped through the broken window.

"There's another window, we can get to that and think up some kind of plan." Joel's voice quietly echoed off the brick walls.

She hopped onto the fire escape, trembling from their near-death experience. It wasn't the best experience, and she wished it would go away. Just disappear from existence altogether.

"What the fuck?" Her eyes widened seeing Joel and Ellie moving along a 2F ledge.

There was barely enough room for Joel there. If one of them were to fall, they would die. It was no three feet fall.

"Are you going?" TJ grumbled.

"Fuck, shit, this is so stupid!" She took a deep breath and pressed her back against the wall, her heels rubbing against the pattern of the bricks. She did her best not to look down.

"Just keep moving." TJ stepped carefully onto the small ledge.

"Oh shit—"

The rumble of that military truck vibrated the walls, it coming into view. The turret aims into the alleyway below. Whoever was driving it was trigger-happy, but they didn't appear to spot them.

"We're okay," Joel said, relieved himself, and relaxed a little bit as the truck drove off.

Maeve thanked whatever God that was out there. Someone wanted them alive, at least. She craned her neck just to see Joel climb through the window. Almost immediately, she heard a struggle.

She tried to hurry when Ellie hopped through the window.

"What the fuck?" A new voice breathed out, seemingly surprised.

And there was more struggling, especially the sound of harsh punching.

When Maeve finally got through the window, she saw Joel beating the hell out of a dark-skinned man. He tried to shield himself from Joel's hits.

"Joel." Maeve called.

"Wait, wait!" The man, under Joel's wrath, tried to defend himself from his next round of punches.

"Joel, stop!" Ellie peeled herself off the floor. "Look."

A kid, no older than, well, who knows. He looked younger than Ellie. He held a gun, aiming it at them, mostly Joel. His aim was a bit shaky, though if they moved wrong, something told her he wouldn't be shy about shooting them.

"Leave him alone."

"Easy, son," Joel let the man go, rising to his feet slowly. "Just take it easy."

"It's alright," the man Joel beat up said, "They're not the bad guys. Lower the gun." The boy did, however, he kept his finger on the trigger. "Man, you hit hard."

"Yeah, well, I was trying to kill you."

The man sat up, seemingly not angry as he rose to his feet. "Yeah, I thought you were one of them too. Then I saw you...and then the rest of you," he glanced at Ellie, and then Maeve and TJ. "If you haven't noticed, they don't keep kids around. Survival of the fittest."

They looked alike, the man and the kid. Maeve couldn't see them being father and son, the man looked too young for a kid. Maybe they were brothers? Or somehow related.

"You're bleeding," the boy said, concerned.

"Ah, it's nothing," the man opened the boy's bag pack, dug around, and pulled out some aid wrap. "I'm Henry. This is Sam. I think I caught your name was Joel?"

"I'm Ellie," the younger girl introduced herself. "This is Maeve and TJ."

She was given looks, but no one said anything.

"How many are with you?" TJ eyed the man as he wrapped his bleeding arm.

Maeve hadn't noticed it before, but she guessed Ellie was the reason behind it. It was tense there. Probably from getting attacked and meeting these people.

"They're all dead," Sam answered.

"Hey, we don't know that," Henry cast a glance at Sam, and then returned his attention to them. "There was a bunch of us. Someone had the brilliant idea of entering the city, looking for supplies. Those fuckers — they ambushed us. Scattered us. Now it's all about getting outta this shithole."

"We can help each other."

"Ellie, sh!" Maeve nudged her sister.

"What? Safety in numbers, and all that."

The older girl wanted to roll her eyes, but Ellie was right. That's probably how they survived this long. Well, mostly it was Joel and TJ who mowed down the path for them, but still. It might be beneficial for them to travel together, at least for a little bit. These guys wanted to get out of the city just as much as they did, so it'd make sense to compromise.

"She's right," Henry spoke. "We could help each other. We got a hideout not too far from here. Be safer if we chat there."

Joel debated with himself, it seemed. He sighed and ran a hand over his face, "Alright, take us there."

"Follow me," Henry grinned and began to lead them out of the apartment. "We had another guy with us after those fuckers separated our group — hopefully we can find him along the way."

"Another survivor?"

"If he's alive, he'll be at the hideout."

"Finger's crossed," Sam murmured, loud enough for them to hear.

"Finger's crossed," Henry repeated.

Maeve took a deep breath and trudged after everyone. She was so tired, not even tired — what's a word for tired, but more than tired? Exhausted, or just plain enervated? Crap, she was so worn, she couldn't think straight. Her legs ached, her arms, her feet, not to mention her throat from nearly being choked to death earlier. She felt like she could collapse and become comatose for a few days.

"Sorry about the whole gun thing." Her eyes flickered to her sister as Sam walked beside her.

"Don't worry. I would've probably done the same thing. Where you from?"

"All the way from Hartford."

"I heard some bad stuff went on down there," TJ cut in, interest seemingly piqued by the mention of another QZ.

Sam nodded. "Yeah, the military abandoned the zone. It's why we left. The place probably looks like this by now."

"That's gotta be rough," Maeve gnawed her lip.

"Eh," Sam shrugged. "The soldiers there were kind of mean, so I'm not sad about it."

"Seems to be a recurring pattern," the sisters shared a glance.

"We gotta be careful," Henry's voice echoed through the empty stairwell. "We're right next to one of their lookout areas. Is it just you and your kids?"

"Oh, we're not related—"

"Only Ellie and I are related —"

"Not related, we're just—"

Henry chuckled at the burst of answers. He seemed amused for a moment and then Joel perked up.

"I promised someone I'd look after them," he gestured toward the girls, but Henry wasn't looking.

"Yeah, I can appreciate that."

They got to the bottom of the stairwell, entering through a door, which led into an old toy store with boards over the windows, sloppily done, Maeve should add. She could see out, and no doubt anyone could see in.

A rumbling startled everyone, and seconds after, that truck came slowly rolling down the street outside.

"Shit, get away from the windows!" Henry whisper yelled as he ducked and hid behind the window seat.

Yeah, like hiding behind the window is any better...Maeve frowned and hurried to hide behind a shelf. Her eyes stayed focused on the vehicle as it rumbled by, its deadly hums vibrated the windows and ground, and she could feel it.

For what seemed like a dreadfully long time, the dangerous vehicle wheeled by, leaving a stilled silence with reminiscing of fading grumbles. Everyone seemed to relax a little bit. That truck was no joke and has been on the bad end of it, she never wanted to be there again. She couldn't say her heart didn't race with anxiety as the truck rolled on by ever so menacingly.

"They're gone." Joel's voice pierced the silence, signaling for them to come out of hiding.

"Man..." Henry cringed, peering back at everyone. "That fuckin' truck. It's been hounding us ever since we got in this damn — Sam, what are you doing?"

Sam, in question, was by the closest shelf to the window, he had something in his hand, possibly a toy. To Maeve, it kind of looked like a toy robot. He kind of froze, but then went to argue his case.

"Nothing."

"Get rid of it."

The boy's face phased through a dozen emotions within seconds. "My backpack is practically empty."

It felt awkward to see Henry scold the boy, especially when he approached him, "What's the rule about takin' stuff?"

"But—it weighs like nothing!"

"The rule — what is it?"

"We only take what we have to", Sam visibly deflated, and defeated, tossed the toy to the ground. 

Poor kid...Maeve somberly thought as she witnessed the scene. Sam was just a kid in the apocalypse. He probably never had a chance to just be a kid.

"That's right," Henry nodded, seemingly pleased he got his point across. "Now come on."

The guys walked toward the back of the toy store, however, Maeve and Ellie strayed. The sisters eyed the toy Sam had discarded.

They shared a knowing look, making sure the others weren't paying any attention, Ellie subtly scooped the toy up and stashed it into Maeve's bag. The two glanced around, acting as if they hadn't done anything.

"Are y'all coming or not?"

The males were gathered at the back door, looking back at them, or at least TJ was. It was somewhat funny; he was like Joel's second pair of eyes. Eyes on the back of his head, if she imagined it hard enough.

"Don't get your knickers in a twist, we're coming!"