Chapter Text
Stupid.
Nat was so stupid for thinking that she could’ve gotten away with it. I mean, what was she thinking in the first place? A normal person would’ve looked at a large, abandoned city and go ‘Yeah, maybe I should head the other direction far, far away from where I could easily get mauled by a huge herd of the infected.’ But, of course, Nat had gone and done the exact opposite. (In hopes of more essential supplies, of course. She wasn’t that reckless enough to barge in without a proper reason.)
Now, here she was, running out of breath and stamina as she tried to find her way out through the maze of cars that scatter at the city's exit. Yeah, she would definitely say this was one of the stupidest plans she’d ever made, but she’ll scold herself later because right now she needed to get herself out of this situation in one piece first.
She didn’t dare to look back as she was afraid that wasting a single second could get her caught in the limbs of one of the many infected that are currently chasing her. So she pressed on, putting all thoughts of doubt in the back of her mind, and eyed the rest of her surroundings just in case-
Just in case.
And just like that, Nat saw the faintest of movements coming from the right side of her peripheral vision. She acted fast and managed to dodge in time when an infected leaped from the top of a car to hurtle at her. Since there were no humans in the way of its path anymore, it slammed itself against another vehicle on the opposite. This momentarily stunned the creature who was then trampled by the rest of the following herd.
(If Nat had seen all of this happen, she certainly would’ve found some humor in the scene but her back was turned.)
Yup, stupid was what Natalie Scatorccio was.
She shook her head in disappointment as the weight of her backpack was slowly becoming somewhat of a deadweight on her shoulders throughout the run. Which was kind of bothersome since she barely managed to scavenge any new supplies from the stores. She lasted only an hour in the city before she somehow found herself running into a massive crowd of infected. The universe was surely never on her side.
As the blonde ran and ran, she felt the burning in her lungs grow more intense with each passing second. It was getting harder and harder for her to breathe and her muscles felt like they could almost give out at any moment. But she can’t give up. She won’t .
She looked ahead of her and sees that there was a tunnel ahead that leads the way out of the city, but there was no fucking way she was taking that route if she wants an actual chance of surviving, Nat knew better than anyone not to take dark alleys or paths since it was always a sign that there could be a bunch of infected hiding and lurking about in the shadows. She’d learned this the hard way before.
Nat shook those dreadful thoughts away as soon as they came. She shouldn’t be thinking about them right now. She drew her focus back onto finding another pathway when she saw that there was a bridge over the circular entrance of the tunnel. She could probably get over the tunnel instead of going through it.
But that was when Nat made the mistake of looking back to check how close the infected were to her. She lost her footing for just a second and realized she needed to stray away from the road as soon as she could. So that’s what she did. She leaped out of the way into a small alley to make her way up a fire escape that she spotted. A sudden sharp turn like that caused all of the runners that were hunting her before to slide against the concrete road due to the momentum. That gave her the chance she needed to slip into a window and close it behind her immediately. She quickly switched the lock and closed the thick, rugged curtains to lean with her back against the window. She didn’t realize it at the moment but her left hand held onto the pin necklace around her neck so tightly as she was taking sharp intakes of breaths to catch up.
Her entire body was shaking from the adrenaline from running for what felt like hours, but in reality, it was about a 10-15 minute chase. Her lips were quivering from registering that she was almost a few inches away from being mauled out in the jagged streets that made the city. God, she was never making that mistake again.
It was only then when her breathing had slowed down a bit, did she notice she felt a tiny prick in her left hand that she held to the front of her neck. The shaky hand slowly removes itself from the object it had grasped in its tight grip with calloused fingers taking its place instead. The fingers felt around the pin gently as the blonde was pulled into memory from years ago.
Flashes of yellow, pink, and brown came to the forefront of her vision and Nat had to steady herself briefly, leaning her entire weight onto the window now that she feels a bit safer as a few minutes passed with no signs of any threats around. Taking a deep breath, she let herself submit to the memory once more.
Yellow.
Pink.
Brown.
A breath was let out steadily.
Yellow.
Pink.
Brown.
Eyes began to close.
The yellow sun.
A pink sweater.
Brown eyes.
A small smile tugged at the corner of her lips, and she dove even deeper.
-~-
“Close your eyes.”
Two pairs of legs dangled off the dock with bare feet that were a few inches from touching the green, lake water that glistened beneath. Nat looked at the figure next to her incredulously, eyebrows furrowed but still with a curious grin.
“Mind telling me why first?”
Brown hair gently swayed in the wind while brown eyes sparkled, a wide smile appearing on the figure’s lips. The blonde couldn’t help but return the same gesture.
“It’s a secret.” The figure spoke ever so softly but continued speaking when Nat rose one of her eyebrows, “A surprise. For the best friend I’ve ever had.” And the brunette’s smile grew impossibly wider.
Nat had a secret of her own.
It wasn’t like a big secret that could be terrible if it got out, or so she thought. Not like an ‘ I murdered someone’ kind of a secret. But a secret that she felt like she could keep forever because it was just so precious. So precious that if it was ever revealed, it could change something. Change an entire universe. For the worse or for the better? No one would know, and Nat intends for it to stay that way.
That secret, that small, delicate she kept so close to her heart was how her best friend’s smile was the prettiest smile she’d ever seen on someone, even when she hadn’t seen many in her life. Nat always felt like she would do just about anything to see it anytime she could.
When the blonde finally comprehended that she was staring a little too long, the brunette shifted to grab ahold of something hiding behind her tall frame.
“But you know I hate surprises.” Nat kept the grin on her as she watched the other girl turn back over her shoulder with a smirk.
“You won’t hate this one.”
Before Nat could protest some more, a small, navy-blue box was shoved in front of her. For a tiny box, the designs on it were pretty intricate enough for her to guess it must be at least somewhat expensive. She then removed her eyes from the box to look at the brunette that held onto it with two hands on each side and, what Nat had to say, was the biggest smile she’d ever seen on her best friend. And that was saying a lot because the brunette always gave her the brightest smiles one could possibly produce. The smile paired with those pouty lips and extended was one of the most adorable sights she’d ever seen in-
“Nat. Are you planning to open this anytime soon?” The brunette laughed. And God , her laugh, “My arms are getting a little-”
The shorter girl made a move to snatch the box immediately after being brought to her senses, “Right, sorry.”
Nat felt around the object in her hands and noticed the tiny details on it without even having to see it with her eyes. Small patterns of leaves were plastered all over it and she thought it was such a nice touch as she thought this box alone was still the fanciest present she had ever been gifted.
A few more seconds and she opened the box by moving the top lid back since she saw a spring behind it that clung the two lids together.
Inside, a silver item glinted in her eyes under the setting sun. The same eyes grew wide when her mind eventually managed to catch up with her vision.
A necklace.
A silver, silver chained necklace with a pin in front of it.
A small tear ran down purely at the display.
Her eyes moved further down to a small, folded piece of paper attached at the bottom. She felt a pair of brown eyes follow her movements as she carefully shifted the necklace to grasp the note. She moved to set down the box and the necklace to the side to read the contents inside. She flipped the top open and scanned her eyes over the words:
“For my Natalie,
Lottie Matthews”
Another tear ran down as she let out a laugh. Her best friend, Lottie fucking Matthews.
Blue eyes meet brown before Nat leaped onto the brunette with arms wrapped around her pink sweater. Tears freely rolled down her cheeks as she hugged the taller girl even tighter, a different set of arms wrapped around her own shaking figure.
They held each other in that embrace for as long as they could, neither wanted to pull away. Blonde hair getting tangled in the wind with brown hair now, but no one cared.
“Lottie…” Nat whispered into her shoulder,
“All I ever want is for you to be safe and loved. I got you this necklace as a reminder that there’s always going to be hope for you, no matter what happens in the future. I want you to hold onto this to remind you that no matter where we are, no matter who we are, I’ll always try to be there for you. And this,” Lottie paused for a moment to pull away from Nat to hand her box with the necklace before placing both of their hands on top, “This will always be there for the times that I can’t.”
Nat started crying even more than she already was at the emotions that were flying between them. This was a lot after the past year she had endured losing her father. There had been days when she missed classes because it was physically impossible for her to get out of bed, or had gotten so drunk to the point she had multiple blackouts in one day. But Lottie Matthews, her best friend, was there for her throughout all of it. Lottie Matthews had skipped her own classes to take care of Nat by picking her up and driving to her mansion where they would spend the rest of the day doing whatever Nat wanted. Lottie Matthews made sure Nat always ended up in a safe environment after all her blackouts and held her hair up all those times Nat had to throw up the poison that was alcohol in the bathroom. Lottie Matthews always protected her at times she couldn’t protect herself, and Nat never had something like that in her life. She never thought she would until Lottie Matthews showed up in her class in first grade one day, wearing all pink and having the class’ full attention, but still chose to sit next to a little brat like her. Lottie fucking Matthews.
“Lottie, I-I don’t even know what to say,” Nat sniffled, shaking her head slightly before looking down at their joined hands with a soft smile. “Thank you so much. You have no idea how much this means to me…”
”Well,” Lottie started with a playful smirk, tucking a strand of hair behind her ears comedically, “It only cost like fifty grand or something, so you could get a decent amount of all the vinyl records you want if you sold it.”
“Oh fuck off.” Nat scoffed but laughed at the joke nonetheless.
When their laughter died down, a lump began to form in the blonde’s throat as she felt the brunette’s gaze linger on her once more, eyes only leaving to look down to recollect herself for a second before looking back up into her blue ones. And the lump grew even larger.
There was something Nat really wanted to get out. And she should get it out before those beautiful brown eyes leave hers again. Before it’s too late.
“Lottie,” Nat stopped to gather up enough courage. Just fucking say it, Natalie, her mind screamed at her.
“Hmm?” Lottie responded, eyes watching expectantly.
Natalie took a breath and held it.
Yellow.
Pink.
Brown.
“I love you.”
Lottie beamed at her, “I love you too, Nat.”
A small smile formed on the blonde’s lips. Nat didn’t think anything of Lottie’s words, even though she meant hers with every beat of her heart. They were only fifteen after all, along with being each other’s best friend. She couldn’t have meant it the way Nat did. Nat didn’t even know what it really meant for herself as it was. Just that Lottie was so special to her that she couldn't imagine a life without her. So yeah, Nat didn’t think anything. And it pained her so deeply, but Nat would never voice it.
Nat would never risk it.
Risk hurting Lottie.
Risk losing Lottie.
So Nat shuffled around and positioned herself beside the brunette, shoulder to shoulder, as close as ever, leaning her head on Lottie’s shoulder. A moment of graceful silence took place as they watched the sun set behind the woods across the other side of the lake. It was an incredibly beautiful view during a moment that was just as incredibly touching. Like it was straight out of a wonderful dream. Nat listened to each breath that Lottie took as she let herself be at peace in the moment. She was always at peace with Lottie Matthews around. Nat never wanted to be anywhere else but here.
That was until she remembered something the other girl had uttered just a few moments ago that made her frown.
“Did you really buy me a chained necklace that was worth fifty grand?”
-~-
Nat was abruptly brought out of the memory when she heard a faint deep growl from behind her. She made sure to move steadily away from the window before peeking through the curtains.
A bloody hand landed on the window and Nat jumped back before she had time to even see the full figure. She immediately knew what it meant, that the infected somehow climbed up and found her. Nat jumped again when she heard a thump from what she assumed was further into the apartment or condo she was in. It took her a second to realize she hadn’t fully taken in her surroundings before trapping herself in. It was a small room that looked like it once belonged to a young boy with all the racecar posters and toys spread around the room. Luckily the door was also already closed but Nat needed to get away from the infected at the window.
But when Nat walked over to open the door, she heard another thump that was closer to her than the last one. It made her lock the door instantly. When Nat removed her hand from the door handle, she realized her hand was shaking before registering that her mind was now going into overdrive.
Fuck, she was panicking.
Nat tried to slow her breath intakes to ease her body but it wasn’t helping.
Another thump was heard but she couldn’t make out where.
Fuck! Nothing was helping!
Nat closed her eyes and tried to repeat the process of taking steady breaths in hopes of calming herself down. Fuck, she was so fucked!
Get out.
Nat froze.
That voice didn’t belong to her or the one that usually occupied her mind.
Her eyes flew open to look around for the source, but nothing stood out. Not a person, an animal, or some puff of air somewhere. None.
It drove her even more insane to be completely honest.
Then, there it was again.
You have to get out.
The voice. It was definitely different from hers.
Yet it was also so familiar.
“Well, no shit.” She cursed under her breath, responding to God knows whoever or wherever that voice came from.
Nat would’ve thought that she might have been losing it right about now if it weren’t for her focus getting drawn to the fact that the growling noises were getting around. She tried some breathing steps again.
Inhale… exhale. One.
Inhale… exhale. Two.
Inhale… exhale. Three.
One.
Two.
Three.
Nat noticed it was slightly working so she kept on going, holding onto her pin necklace and closing her eyes once more.
One.
Two.
Three.
Yellow.
Pink.
Brown.
Nat needed to find a way to get the fuck out.
Eyes shot open to look strategically around the room and they managed to catch something in the corner. A smirk formed on her lips.
A baseball bat.
She sprinted across the room to equip it in her hands and steadily stepped towards the door. She moved to lean the side of her head to the door to listen for sound from the other side, she knew there might be one just outside of it.
But she didn’t hear any movement. Nat looked back at the window to do the same, cautiously approaching with a mindful ear. One peek out of the window and she saw that none of the infected were in sight. For a second, she wondered if she had just imagined the entire thing but the bloody handprint on the glass confirmed that she didn’t.
It was gone.
Nat stilled her breath. Silence .
They were all gone.
Weird.
Although, she wasted no time to make her next move immediately by unlocking the window and sliding it up to climb the fire escape up to the roof.
The blonde was heavily panting with hands on her knees to support her upper weight by the time she reached the roof. Jesus fuck, seven whole stories. Either she was getting out of shape somehow or never in shape, to begin with. You would think an apocalypse would change that.
But what was nice was how the rooftop gave her a better view of everything. A few skyscrapers were seen to her right that lead deeper into the city, all with broken windows and plantations all over. Nat looked down to spot the infected that were chasing her earlier in a much calmer state as they slowly roamed around the street with growling noises that could be heard up from where she was. Some were gathered near the doors to the building she was on top of.
“Fuck.” Nat sighed, she didn’t know if she had enough strength to endure another pursuit with those runners. She shook her head in aggravation before she turned to her left side to scan the area near the tunnel. The tunnel was only a block away. If Nat could somehow move past the runners, she’d be able to escape the city after getting to the other side of the tunnel, hopefully unscathed. But then she spotted something out of the corner of her eye that gave her a little hope.
Three planks of wood were conveniently stacked next to the door of the roof and it gave the blonde the most ingenious idea she’s ever had. But then again, that's what she said last time about finding supplies in the city, and look where that had gotten her. Nat huffed and just decided that she was prone to make plenty of stupid ideas anyway, and this one might just be her ticket out of this god-forsaken city.
The blonde shifted briskly to grab ahold of one of the planks and walked to the side of the roof that faced another building that was closer to the bridge. The other building just might be close enough for her to connect. She placed the long plank onto one edge of the roof and the other end on the edge of another roof.
Yes! It was long enough. It worked!
She grabbed the two other planks and placed one next to the previous one with one more on top of both of them so that it created a more stable makeshift bridge across the two roofs.
Now all Nat needed to do was make it across… Shouldn’t be so hard.
She took a breath and climbed on top of the edge of the roof when she immediately almost lost her balance. Her hands flew up swinging around in the air to get her footing correct again. A moment passed and she did.
That was a close one, Natalie .
Nat nodded, subconsciously agreeing. Yeah, it sure as hell was.
She paused and frowned. Wait, what the fuck-
There was that voice again. It called her by her full name this time, and Nat hates her full name, so it definitely couldn’t have been her. Unless her subconscious hated herself that much, which was weird because why now. Nat didn’t know if it was better to believe it was her sanity that was draining or if it was something else. Something else out there trying to communicate with her, which sounded beyond insane. Maybe she’s totally losing it. The only time she ever liked being called by her full name was when-
No.
It simply couldn’t be true.
Even if it was, that was somehow even more delirious than what her mind already managed to conjure up. Another possibly paranormal being trying to talk to her, out of all people, yeah right. Psh. She really needed to get it together.
Nat didn’t risk shaking her head or moving her body after she lost her balance last time so she brought her attention back to getting herself moving again. She experimentally places one foot on the planks, shifting her weight onto it to test the sturdiness. After a few pushes with her foot it seemed good enough for her to use. Here’s your big moment, Nat.
One step was taken, followed by another step, then another. Nat tried her best to not look anywhere else but her own feet and that was what kept her progressing through. Before she knew it she was jumping off and landing on the other roof. She let out a long breath she didn’t realize she had been holding in. The worst part was over.
Nat instantly knew she just jinxed herself when she looked ahead and registered she needed to do this again more than once since there were a few rooftops left until she made it to the last one that was on the very edge of the city and where the entrance of the tunnel stood.
Fuck me.
—--
The blonde jumped down onto the ground from the fire escape as faintly as she could to try not to attract any unwanted attention. She didn’t know how the fuck she managed to not fall several stories off any of the times she crossed the buildings, she was just glad she made it.
Nat took in her surroundings and realized she was in an alley where the tunnel was just across the street on her left. She scooted closer to the corner of the building to take a peek at the infected she left behind and noticed that they were still in a pretty mild state. She took the opportunity to creep up the stairs to the bridge.
On top, she noticed it was a straight home run for her as only a highway leading into the woods that were about a mile away stood in front of her. Luck was finally on Nat’s side.
—--
Luck was so not on Nat’s side. Fuck this. Fuck the universe!
Just as the blonde was closing into the woods, a few runners jumped at her from inside the cars and she was sprinting yet again. She guessed she could be happy about the fact that at least it wasn’t a herd but still this time but can’t the world just give her a break?! One single-
A loud growl was heard from close behind and she ducked in time for one of the infected to launch itself in front of her. But that only blocked off her pathway so she switched to the left lane as a few cars were littered around the highway. She was surrounded by woods now so she also needed to watch out for anything lurking in the trees as well but her attention span could only reach so much. She really needed a goddamn break.
Nat managed to last a few seconds before she found her movements becoming more sluggish and slower, she was running out of stamina fast after having to run throughout the entire day. The infected were catching up to her and she was fucking doomed. So she pulled a last resort and hid behind one of the cars after managing to lose the infected on her tail for a bit.
Nat was shaking, trembling , as she desperately tried to stop herself from making any noises. But her body was still catching up to her mind ever so slowly which forced her into a position where she had to put her hand over her mouth to halt any sounds from coming out. It kinda worked since she couldn’t hear anything else but the wind and the soft groaning from behind the car. She planned to stay here until the runners ultimately move on and leave her alone.
She was so tired. So depleted. Her legs were aching from all the strain of the hardest physical workout she’s ever done in her life. Her heart felt like it was beating out of her chest, and her lungs felt so heavy as if a rock was pressed onto her chest. As if there wasn’t enough air for her to breathe.
The blonde almost jumped when she heard a twig snap a few feet to her right. An infected was roaming just a couple of cars away. That put her on immediate alert. She didn’t know if the best option was for her to get the hell out of there or stay put. She was frozen to the ground with thousands of thoughts running through her mind at a hundred miles per hour.
Nat idiotically watched as the infected (from what it looked like to her) sniffed the damn air and jerk its head in the direction she was in.
It must’ve spotted her because it gradually began crawling toward her.
Fuck .
There was no way Nat was going out like this. Not on a goddamn road, in the middle of nowhere! After running for miles and miles! The universe was never on her side but it wouldn’t do something like this to her, right? It wouldn't fucking pull something as awfully shitty as this. She tried so hard to fight her way through this life, and this was how it repaid her. This wasn’t fair, there was no way-
The infected was just one car away from her now, but it kept a steady pace.
The blonde couldn’t move not only because she was suddenly struck with fear, but also because even if she did, her movement would’ve given away her location and the other infected would just come barrelling towards her.
There was just no way out of this.
...But she still has to try, right?
She clutched the necklace again. There still had to be some hope left…
A snarl came from the creature that seemed to be ready to pounce on her.
Fuck, fuck, fuck! Who was she kidding?!
You really must like that word a lot since it seems to be included in almost every one of your sentences.
Nat made a confused face. What-
Just then a loud pow rang in the hair and both of the blonde’s hands flew up to her ears from the unexpected deafening sound. Her eyes automatically closed just as it happened.
But when they reopened, she had to refrain from screaming or yelling or letting out any other stupid sound coming out of her mouth.
The infected that was targeting her lay still with dark, thick blood gushing from the side of its head. The white dead eyes looked even more unalive than they already did before, signaling to her that it was dead for real. Nat’s eyes grew wider and wider at the realization.
What the absolute fuck-
There it is again.
“ Huh?! ” Nat was all but silent when she practically shouted that out into the air. What the hell was happening? What just happened? She thought she was done for, just a second ago. She forgot she was still being hunted by the runners when she heard a symphony of clamorous growls behind the car she sat. With the scene that had played out not even a moment ago, Nat failed to notice a figure coming out of the shadows from the woods. Only when another loud clang rang out was she able to spot the silhouette of a human-shaped figure…? She had to squint her eyes to realize that the entire body seemed to be covered with animal fur for clothes. She couldn’t figure out the face since half of it was covered with a mask and had dark goggles for the eyes. A gun was hoisted onto their shoulders, and it seemed to be a fucking shotgun at that. And wait, are those deer antlers around their head? The blonde suddenly wondered if her best bet at surviving was taking on the infected or that animal-fur-doohickey-guy.
Before her brain could even make a decision, an infected jumped onto the car above her and started lashing out at her. Nat darted to the car in front of her to get away from its grasp. She really should’ve just run because now it had the tactical advantage to leap down to attack her. Which was exactly what it did and she swore that her entire life flashed before her eyes before she looked away, eyes closed with arms up to her head to shield herself from the strike.
But then an intense slam could be heard from in front that made her eyes shoot open to see the guy from before fighting off the infected with the shotgun in between them. The gun was being used as a bar to hold off its gnawing teeth away from the guy’s face.
Nat felt stupid as she just hopelessly watched the scene play out with the person slamming their knee up into the infected which caused a loud shriek to reverberate from its unhinged mouth. The person then removed one hand from the gun to punch it in its face which stunned the creature momentarily. It gave them enough time to shoot it down.
Nat felt like she could start breathing again once a loud crunch was heard when the infected fell limp from its captor's hands, and said captor happened the shotgun guy. She grimaced when she took note that the nicknames she kept coming up with for her possible savior(?) were less than appealing. To be fair, she almost died right there and then so her brain had a proper excuse for the time being. She’ll come up with a better one if the guy doesn’t end up killing her later.
Just then, Nat realized part of the reason why she felt like her life flashed before her eyes were the face that was a small pink patch of fur stuck on the stranger’s backside. Huh... weird.
A chill ran down the blonde’s spine when the antler person directed their gaze toward her direction. Nat didn’t know what else to do other than let her mouth stupidly open and close because she seemed to be flimsy with words at the moment.
“Um…” Nat squeaked, her eyes flittering all over the place, “Thanks?”
The blonde found it kind of hilarious when she eyed the way the guy’s head tilted to one side, surveying her… Or checking her out?
Alright, this situation was just getting ridiculous.
She bit her lip in agitation, “Look, I don’t know why you saved my ass back there. But I’ll be forever grateful for what you did. Seriously, dude-”
“ Look out!!! ”
Before she could give a moment to register, Nat was shoved to the side and onto to the ground ever so abruptly. Well, that was rude. A few curse words slipped out of her mouth from how hard she landed and she was about to complain before she saw another fight break out between the guy and the runners. The guy was struggling a lot harder this time, dealing with three at the same time now.
Fuck, she needed to help.
The blonde grabbed a knife from her pocket and charged toward the small crowd. The guy was punching and pushing the infected around when Nat stabbed her knife into the skull of one of the runners. A disgusting sheathing sound could be heard when she drew her knife back. The infected fell right in front of her feet before she moved on to the second one.
Although, she realized she didn’t even have to do much when she saw the way the barrel of the shotgun hit the temple of the last infected. The force of the impact was so hard that the gun was stuck on the side of its head and the guy had to do more wrestling with the already-dead infected to retrieve it. Nat’s jaw slightly hung open at the sight.
Wow…
She must’ve said it out loud because the person glanced back at her almost immediately as if they were surprised to hear something that resembled some form of praise from her. To be honest, she would’ve reacted the same way if she was someone else and heard a compliment from Nat Scatorccio.
Suddenly, alarm bells were ringing when the guy sprinted at Nat. She promptly lifted her hand with the knife held in it at the unforeseen motion. What she also didn’t expect tho was for the guy to tackle yet another infected onto the gravel road. She took her eyes off of them for a moment to frantically scan around for other signs of the infected. How many were there?!
Nat concluded that it seemed to be the last one so she got herself to quickly move to help when a high, excruciating shriek filled the air. She stared at the two figures fighting just a couple of feet in front of her and noticed that the person was now beneath the runner, using their arms to hold the infected up from biting into them. The blonde decided then to waste no more time and delivered a lethal blow to the side of the beast’s head with the knife she held.
The infected dropped down to the person’s side as soon as she withdrew her knife. Nat moved to the person’s side to assist them back up on their feet before she halted in her steps, noticing the guy was still on the ground breathing heavily, and kind of fidgeting.
“Hey,” Nat leaned down, “You good to get up?”
The person shook their head from side to side and winced, moving one of their hands across their torso.
The blonde’s eyebrows furrowed. Something wasn’t right.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” Nat took it upon herself to kneel to assess the person’s body for any wounds. It didn’t take her long for her to find it when she saw a pool of blood dripping from the person’s left side, which was the side she was currently positioned in. The antler guy was trying to cover it but it was hopeless since the blood only seeped through their slightly gloved fingers. A lot of blood.
“Shit, you’re losing blood, we need to move you.” She muttered but was met with more desperate head shakes, pleading her no .
“Listen to me,” Nat gently placed her hand on top of the bloody hand on their torso, “Let me return the favor and save you this time. We can get you out of here and to safety, but I need you to work with me here, okay?”
This time there weren’t any more protests but the person just seemed to stare at her as if they were contemplating whether to trust her or not.
It didn’t matter to Nat if they trusted her or not. She just couldn’t have someone dying on her or because of her. Not again.
“ Please? ” She uttered desperately.
One or two beats of silence past before the antler person slowly nodded their head yes, finally giving in.
Nat let out a sigh of relief, “Okay give me one of your hands.”
The person weakly raised their bloody hand from her torso to reach out to her, and Nat tried as gently as she could to grasp it. She grabbed them with ease and used the momentum to slowly sit them up against a car next to them. A deep groan resonated from the person that was muffled by their mask from the movement. Nat cringed from thinking about the amount of pain they might’ve been going through since it sounded a lot reserved too. Like they were holding back from revealing just how excruciating it must be for them right now.
“I’m so sorry, but there’s only one more step we have to take before we could get out of here, okay?” Nat tenderly whispered. She didn’t know it but her soft tone was easing the stranger. “I need you to stand up so that we could get going. I’ll help steady you. On the count of three, ‘kay?”
More head shakes.
“ C’mon, please. I know you can do this.”
No response. Just a stare and some labored breaths.
She was going at this all wrong. She needed to distract her or convince her somehow. “I’m not leaving you out here like this. No way. Not after what you did for me.”
Antler-Guy almost seemed sad or disappointed in themselves when their gaze left hers to stare at the ground instead.
Nat catches her bottom lip in between her teeth. Being nice wasn’t working she guessed. Distracting it is then.
“Fine, if you’re staying here then so am I. Is that what you wanted, Antler-Guy?”
That surely seemed to get a reaction out of them.
“ ‘A-Antler-Guy’ ???”
Nat tried not to show how surprised she was at hearing the stranger speak for the the second or third time as she holstered her knife back into her pocket. “In case you haven’t looked in a mirror lately, you have two antlers poking out of your head, dude. That’s some crazy shit.” She said with two hands on the side of her temples, index fingers out to represent the antlers. “Are you like a fusion between a human and a deer or something? Is that why you wear that horrendous mask and those shitty ass goggles? To cover your ugly ass up?”
Antler-Guy must’ve been looking at her incredulously under the mask because they hadn’t made a single movement in what felt like minutes. Which meant Nat was successful at pulling a diversion.
“Alright, let’s get you up now.”
Antler-Guy was already up and about from the ground before they could contemplate whatever just happened, but the pain that shot through them was so blaring that they let out a long, loud groan.
“Yeah, sorry about that. I had to shift your attention away from that somehow so that I could get you up.” Nat apologized as she put one of their arms around her shoulder, supporting their wounded side.
Nat thought the person must’ve been shooting her glares beneath the dark goggles with the way their head jerked as if to make eye contact.
“Yeah, yeah, you can thank me later all you want, but we need to go. Now .”
—--
They hadn’t made it that far into the woods (Antler-Guy strongly suggested they head into the woods with frantic gesturing for some bullshit reason that they never voiced, but Nat was honestly too tired to argue so she simply complied) when Antler-Guy gave a few distressed taps onto her shoulder with the arm she was supporting.
“What now?” Nat voiced patiently, she refrained from raising her voice to an almost-dead person.
And at this instance was the third time she ever heard the stranger speak. “Break…” They pleaded. Nat tried not to wince at how weak their voice sounded. “... Please .”
“Fine, yeah, okay.” She honestly needed it too after carrying the stranger, who seemed almost half a foot taller than her.
The blonde slumped them down a tree before sitting on the tree directly across to keep an eye on them.
Nat observed the person silently, not liking the way Antler-Guy seem more agitated with each passing second. Their breathing was so shallow, shit, Nat needed to do something about it.
Nat slowly approached the person in hopes of not alarming them.
“Hi.” She gently whispered to draw their attention. The only indication of a response she seemed was when they stilled. Nat brings her hand up to the stranger’s face, not yet touching, “Let me take this mask off of you so you could breathe a little bit better, ‘kay?”
A hand shot up to grasp her own, the one she had close to their face. Nat thought she must’ve made the wrong decision or triggered something, but before she could pull it back, the hand slowly leaves hers. A slow nod indicated that they were relenting their guard, giving in to the hope that maybe they could be saved. They were trusting her.
So Nat honored it and slowly pulled down the mask. She really didn’t mean to stare and think anything of it when soft, pink lips appeared under the mask, mouth slightly hung open for tiny intakes of air. And the nose, a small button nose was cute yet distantly familiar. Nat frowned a bit, something was scratching its way to the forefront of her brain.
It was then when the stranger’s breathing hitched momentarily, she saw a couple of fangs for teeth. A fleeting thought made its way to her mind. It left as fast as it came but it was enough for Nat to realize...
Wait.
Another sharp intake of a breath from the stranger, as if they could read her thoughts and knew what was about to happen but couldn’t seem to stop it.
Nat placed her fingers around the goggles ever so gently and lifted them up leisurely from the stranger's eyes.
The blonde’s eyes grew so wide she felt as if they could've popped out of their sockets.
Turns out, Antler-Guy wasn’t a stranger after all. Or a deer mutant.
“Lottie?”