"See that silver lining? Just stay low and you'll be fine."

There was another tripwire to avoid. Maeve lost count on how many tripwires they had to step over or duck under. They only traveled a short while, maneuvering through the maze of back alleys andclosed-offf buildings.

It had only been half an hour, but to Maeve, it seemed like a whole day. Other than that Clicker, they hadn't run into any infected. Yet.

She hoped they got to Bill with the extra turbulence.

"Now listen," Joel began after ducking under the wire. "Bill ain't exactly the most stable of individuals. So, when we get there, you let me do the talkin'. You understand?"

Maeve and Ellie glanced at each other. "We understand."

"We gotta be clear on this," the older man continued. "He...he don't take kindly to strangers."

"We get it."

"Bill's a good guy," This TJ took the stand. "He definitely needs time warming up to you."

Maeve adjusted her bag's straps. "Damn, this guy sounds like he needs a hug."

"I mean, you can try."

They came to another small alley, with a chain-link gate and another trailer blocking off a clear exit. It was against the warehouse-looking building, broken metal fire escape and stairs were just above it. Maybe they could boost each other up and use that?

Bill certainly made it difficult for outsiders and infected, didn't he? The auburn-haired girl laughed to herself.

She recalled when Joel said Bill lived in Lincoln alone. Is that he booby-trapped every nook and cranny of this place? Seemed to her, this was far beyond paranoia. There was bomb after bomb, they were hidden in plain sight too.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

Maeve squeaked and flinched at the violent pounding of flesh on metal. A door from the building beside them jostled abruptly before a heaving growl escaped from behind it. And heavy footsteps ran up what sounded like stairs.

"You hear that?" The guys pulled their guns out.

"Yeah." Joel etched closer to the door.

"Oh shit," Ellie muttered, looking at the man incredulously. "You're gonna go in there?"

"It'll be fine," the metal swung open easily, Joel kept his gun at the ready. "We should see what we can find."

"You're gonna find my body when I die of a heart attack." Ellie responded sassily.

"Don't worry, I got this."

He sounded smug as he crept up the stairs. It didn't seem like much, but did lead to a small apartment.

Maeve pulled her switchblade out, just in case the infected decided to Jack-in-the-box them. She never knew when they would appear. It may have unintentional, or it could be, but the infected seemed to love to jump scare non-infected. She gripped the handle of her blade as they entered the upstairs. Alright. Small bedroom, a living room/dining room/kitchen. Nothing seemed out of —

"RAH!" A floppy body raced out of the tiny bathroom, on the other side of the apartment. It bared its teeth and lunged for the group.

Joel, quick-thinking and cool-head, dodged its flailing arms and snapping jaw, and easily threw it off guard. He arms linked around its neck, swiftly shoving to the ground when it landed on its back. It yelled out at Joel before he stomped on its face. The skull broke like hollow wood. Blood poured out of the broken cranium, all mushy and clumpy with brain matter, and thick, dark crimson.

"Oh, that's disgusting..." Maeve averted her gaze someplace else, her stomach churning.

She should be used to this by now — Joel killing infected in the most gruesome ways. But, still it didn't seem to get any easier.

"Well, while we're here, let's search the place."

Maeve waved a thumbs up in the air as she turned to search the bedroom, eager to get away from the dead body of the infected. They smelled so awful. Even more so when they were shot and opened up. She grimaced at the thought, but it was one hundred percent true. They were so horribly putrid, she was partially surprised she hadn't thrown up by now.

"Uh...god..." Her nostrils flared once she entered the bedroom, the smell a little less strong now.

She was met with a queen-sized mattress, a huge pile of clothes and a suitcase. Whoever had lived here was in a hurry, probably trying to pack as much as they could before they were hauled off to a QZ. She shook it off and rummaged through the clothes. Maybe she could find some rags or something.

"Do you think they ever found each other?"

She heard Ellie ask from the other room.

"How the hell should I know?"

"I would like to think they did."

"Good for you." Joel answered disinterestedly.

After not much finding anything, Maeve left the bedroom, careful not to look at the dead infected. Though it was difficult not to, its disgusting scent resonated in the air. Her face screwed up again and she pinched her nose with her thumb and forefinger.

"Alright," TJ stepped out of the bathroom, shifting his bag over his shoulders. "We done here?"

"Yeah," Joel answered and shuffled past the dead body and back down the stairs to the outside.

"That thing scared the shit outta me," Ellie confessed to Maeve as she skipped down the stairs.

"Same," she agreed, although the fear that clutched her chest was long gone.

They exited the building without another word said. Only problem now was they had to figure out how to get through the fence without triggering the tripwire. Maeve peered through the chain-link fence and saw a skeletal body awkwardly strewn on an old weather-worn sofa.

"Stand back," Joel told them as he held up an empty bottle.

"What're you gonna do?" He was asked, but he didn't say anything other than throw the bottle at the silver lining.

BOOM!

Maeve smacked her palms over her ears at the semi-powerful explosion. She felt the invisible heat waves of the explosive power inside it, it nearly matched the summer air. Yep. She would have to learn how to make those ones. Maybe if Bill doesn't have a stick up his ass, then she would ask him.

"That's one way to do it," TJ whistled.

"Shit," Ellie uncovered her face. "Those things are kind of awesome."

"Until you trip on one." Maeve mentioned.

"Just watch your step and you'll be fine," the blond grumbled Joel's words from earlier.

They ventured through the doorway of the fence, only to be stopped by Joel again. He brought his arm up, keeping them from going any further down the short and narrow alley.

"Another one," he explained, picking up a loose brick, teetering it on his palm to test its weight, and then tossed it at the near invisible tripwire and explosive.

The explosion wasn't as fierce at the first one, but it still would've done serious damage if Joel hadn't caught it in time. After the bomb went off and the air stilled, the continued on, having to pass through a warehouse.

"Come on you two, stay close," They entered an office of sorts, it was tight and enclosed. Not much room for the four travelers.

Maeve couldn't imagine people working in a cramped space like this one. Her claustrophobia would kill her. She eyed the filing cabinets and two desks, which took up most of the space. And a dishonorable mention, this place didn't seem to even have air vents for AC, if her claustrophobia didn't kill, the humidity and lack of circulating air would.

Joel headed to the metal door that led into the warehouse. He grabbed the rusted doorknob and looked back at them as he opened it.

"Now, you just—OH SHIT!"

Joel was yanked off his feet and a loud bang echoed in the warehouse walls. His body was suddenly upside down and suspended in the air, swinging around from the sudden pull. There was a rope tightly cinched around his left ankle.

"Joel!" The three younger specimens called out to the adult while he swung around.

"Goddammit Bill!"

"Here, I got you!" Ellie hurried to the swinging man and steadied him.

"What the fuck happened?" Maeve asked while she peered around for what caused the loud banging.

"It's another one of Bill's stupid traps!" Joel grunted and pointed to an old refrigerator that teetered on a table. "There, that fridge. It looks like that's the counterweight."

"Okay," the sisters pulled their knives out and approached the appliance.

"Cut that rope and it'll bring me down."

"On it!" Maeve saluted him and climbed the table with Ellie and got to cutting the rope.

The rope was tough. Probably far tougher than any rope Maeve has tried to cut. Maybe it was because Joel was hung from the other end of it? Her knife had made little friction, much less do any damage to the little fibers of it. She gripped the handle tighter and tried to cut faster, in hopes to speed along the process.

"Oh, shit," TJ gaped and brought out his gun.

"What?" Maeve stopped her cutting and looked down at him. "What is it?"

"Infected," he replied grimly and looking off to the surrounding area, where Runners were appearing as if they materialized out of thin air.

"Holy..." Maeve blanched, looking over her shoulder as she heard their gurgling wails. "Ellie, you got this?"

"Yup!" Her sister said, focused on the rope.

"You cut that rope, I'll try to fend them off, 'kay?" Maeve hopped from the table, grabbing a conveniently placed random glass bottle from the foot of the table.

She wasn't given an answer, but in her sister's place came a scream of the infected as they stumbled into the warehouse as if they were on a mission.

"Hah!" Maeve thrust the bottle at a Runner that beelined for her. The glass broke against its face, and it was stunned momentarily, but it was just enough time for her to tab it in the head and kill it.

"Nice throw," TJ commented as he shot another Runner rushing inside.

Maeve's heart pounded inside her chest. That was a frightening amount of infected beyond that chain-link fence, screaming and frantically clawing their way through. She could hear Clickers too. Her heart thumped painfully. Oh shit...

"Hey, watch it!" Several infected rushed into the building, going after Ellie and the teens.

Joel, still suspended in upside down, badass-ly shot at them, missing a few shots, but still giving the two enough time to deal with them.

"Eek!" Maeve narrowly dodged a flying hand, tripping on debris inconveniently laid at her heels. Her body crashed onto the ground with a thud, and the infected took advantage of her fall. "Ah! Get off!"

Her hands locked around it throat to keep it at bay while it slapped the ever living fudge out of her. She desperately cried out and caught a glimpse of TJ dealing with two infected himself, and Ellie was still on top of the fridge trying to cut the rope.

"Grah!" The runner on top of her screeched out, its torso jerking toward her.

Her heart thudded inside her chest and she screamed, feeling her arms falter. Its jaw snapped together, and all she could see was its ugly, browning teeth. It came so close to biting her when its head exploded. Not exploded in to the point only its neck was there. But like, a shot exploded. It crown burst apart, bits of skull flew out in various directions, and blood squirted everything in a five-foot-radius. The body slumped down, dead. Maeve heaved its dead-weight to the side and gasped as her arms burned.

"You okay, kid?" Joel asked from his suspended state, clutching his gun, and adding bullets to the round. She hadn't even heard the gunshots, she was so terrified and focused on not getting bitten, that she couldn't process anything around her.

"Yes," She breathed out and scrambled to her feet just when a Clicker appear. It stumbled toward the fridge at a scary pace.

"Ellie, hurry!" Joel called and shot the Clicker, taking it down after three bullets.

"I'm trying!" Ellie grumbled, jerking the rope with her weight. It caused the fridge to teeter on the table's edge, creaking and finally it toppled over onto the ground and throwing Ellie off. "Woah!"

"You okay?!" the man yelled from his...elevated suspension.

"I'm fine!" Ellie got back up and hurried over to the rope again.

Joel continued to shoot at the infected, TJ too.

"Watch out, Ellie!" Maeve hurled a brick she'd found on the ground at the Clicker that rushed for her sister. "Die, you creepy motherfucker!"

The brick broke on its split cranium, and the impact caused it to stumble back while its senses were disoriented. She took the advantage she gave herself and hurried to kill it. It shook itself back into focus and shrieked at her hostilely, all while smacking Maeve back. She barely dodged its clammy arms and swiftly swung her knife up into its lower jaw. It made one last cry before its life gurgled out of it. It collapsed and that was that.

"Hurry, Ellie!" Maeve urged her sister.

"I got it!" She yelled back, frustrated.

"Watch out!" TJ shouted at Maeve, she being seconds away from being infected chow. He shot the runner's shoulder, the impact of the bullet threw it off balance and it gave Maeve the chance to stamp its face in.

"Blegh..." She grimaced as the blood seeped out into a dark puddle.

"Get ready!" Ellie informed, the rope snapped on the last few fibers.

Joel yelled out and plummeted to the ground, hard.

"Dammit..."He groaned out in brief pain.

The shrieks of the infected had gotten louder now. Many stumbled outside the fence, some even got through, but there were too many for four of them to try and fight off alone.

"Joel!"

A heavily clothed man with a gas mask appeared, as if out of thin air. He swung a machete down, the blade sank into runner's skull. He pulled the blade back, and swung again, this time, he beheaded the fungal being.

The man offered Joel a hand. "Get off your ass and on your feet."

"What the fuck?!" Maeve's voice barely pierced the screams of the infected.

"Out this way!" The mystery man led them out of the garage, and into an alley, to an abandoned laundromat. They slammed the side door shit as the infected pounded on it from the other side

"Ah, goddammit! Get back!"

The guys shot incoming infected.

"Hey, fucker!" Ellie chucked a bottle at an infected's head, throwing it off balance so Joel, or whoever, could deal with it.

It was shot, but a Clicker wandered in from the back door. And then another Runner. And then another Clicker. There's too many of them...and an idea popped into Maeve's head.

"Fuck!" Maeve hissed and pulled something from her bag. "Everyone get down!"

She gripped the molotov she made and lit it with her lighter, the cloth ignited immediately. Her voice was hoarse as she hurled it at the fungal beings. Their bodies were licked with instant flames, and their terrible screams escaped them as they tried to put the fire out. All they could do was flail their arms around hopelessly as they died.

"Holy shit, Mae!" Ellie winced as the sudden light.

For a moment, there was no infected weaving their way through the door. It was near silent, but the distant wails outside made the almost silence more terrifying.

They weren't out of danger quite yet.

"Don't slow down," Bill, with his loud bootsteps, hurried for the charred doorway. "This place ain't secure."

"That's gotta be an understatement!"