This Isn't The End [Ellie Williams x Fem!Reader]

•Chapter 10•

Your P.O.V
Everything hurt. Your very bones shook when you hit the ground. The breath snatched from your lungs when your back hit the hard dirt. You couldn't think beyond the need to get up and the need to survive. You stayed on the ground hidden in the tall grass, listening. Atlas was still crashing through the woods heading further away, thankfully for you taking the runners with him. But the clickers stayed nearby. You could hear them clicking and screeching around you. Four maybe five in the area. You'd have to play this right if you were going to get back to Jackson hopefully before morning.
You remained crouched in the grass for a minute waiting for a clicker to get close to you when another one was right behind it you swore. You knew with how close they all were there wouldn't be a quiet way out of it. So you waited for the two to align just right, and you fired. Brains splattered all over you and the area.
The two corpses collapsed and you took off. Racing through the woods while the other 3 clickers chased you. Branches slicing at your face and tugging at your hair, you ran as fast as you could. Twisting every so often to fire a shot at them. You grabbed onto a branch using it to swing yourself around a corner. You were now behind them and they had no idea you were there. Now with there only being three you moved quickly and quietly taking them each out. The last one heard you though, tackling you to the ground.
You were sobbing grappling for your knife and trying to keep the clicker away from you. When you finally got the handle you jammed it into its neck spray blood all over you. You just lay the after shoving it's convulsing body off of you. You could feel the blood soaking into your jacket. You hated infected even more than before.
You stood up hearing runners groaning and yelling. That must've meant Ellie got away. You sighed in relief at that before getting up. You wiped your knife on your jeans before beginning to walk.
You were lost, you cursed yourself for falling asleep in the ride here. You debated just going back to overlook for the night but it was too far, too exposed as well. Part of you selfishly hoped for Ellie to come back for you. But you knew once she was in Jackson they wouldn't let her out. You'd survived on your own for so long, you couldn't let Ellie become a crutch. You'd do this on your own as you always have. It's one night. What's one night to years.
You walked quietly through the woods till in the moonlight you saw a small building. You had avoided all infected hoping to find this place. You almost started crying at the sight of that cabin Ellie took you to earlier. You started jogging to it when you saw a soft light lit in the window. Someone was inside.
"Fuck." You swore under your breath. Quietly approaching the structure. If someone was in here they weren't from Jackson, none of their patrols went out this far in the night. Thanking whoever was out there for the full moon, you narrowly avoided a trap wire. A fire roared inside the cabin, the window had been cracked to allow a soft night breeze inside. You waited crouched below the window for whoever was inside to speak.
"So that town back there, do you think they know where she is?" A male voice asked, whoever it was was tired. You unsheathed your dagger from it almost permanent to place on your belt. All out of ammo it was your only option.
"I hope so. I told you we should've stormed the mansion the second we knew she was there." A bitter female voice growled. Your blood went cold. They couldn't be talking about you. That voice sounded familiar.
"Abby. They have children down there, you can't mean for us to actually destroy the town." The man reasoned. That name pulled the world out from under your feet. Another name from your past, another face you thought you'd never see.
2 years ago
     Winter had come harsher than any winter you thought you'd ever see. You had been around the Washington area scrounging for food and shelter. You had only come this far in hopes of a milder winter than the one howling around that mansion. You cursed yourself for leaving Atlas back at the gas station a few miles back in favor or quieter pursuit on foot. A girl a few years older than you was around the forested area with you. Bundled in jackets she was still cold. A group of people followed her a few feet back. You didn't want to kill them but if they decided to attack you, you knew you could take them.  However maybe they could help you. Maybe your mom was wrong when she told you not to trust anyone. So you approached the group in search of rescue and family.
      You were wrong. So wrong. The main girl Abby, was cut throat, vicious, and the most ruthless woman you ever met. She took one look at you and told you to get lost, then when you lingered, she beat the shit out of you. Her friends just watched. When you started punching back, her friends tried to step in. One of them held you down while Abby kicked you. It went on for hours in the freezing cold. The wind howling around you swallowing your cries of pain.
      "We aren't going to kill you. Don't make us regret it." Abby seethed at you. As they walked away, leaving you in the snow bloodied and beaten. You decided you would make them regret it. Something about the way they beat you just for asking for help. You knew they were bad people, and you knew they couldn't be allowed to walk free. Who knew how many other people they had abandoned.
      It took weeks. Weeks of healing and stalking them. Weeks of planning. One night in the depths of night crawling through snow, you killed them. They had holed up in an old cottage in the forest. Two of them on patrol, one inside with Abby. One by one. There were only four of them including Abby. The first one went out quietly far away. The second one an unexpected dagger in the throat. The third one out up a fight, you had lured him outside throwing a brick against the building. Leaving a slice across down your arm. She didn't realize you were there until you flung open the door. Coated in blood that for the most part was not yours. You never had seen someone so feral with rage. You two battled in that destroyed living room. Slicing and dodging. But she was so lost in her anger she left an opening vulnerable. You sliced up her side, cutting through her shirt. Abby collapsed on the ground. You pinned her against the wooden floor.
      "What are you waiting for kill me!" She was shaking below you tears burning down her face. You felt a pang in your chest. You had done enough killing tonight. Maybe you were just as awful as she was.
      "No. Don't make me regret leaving you alive." You said softly. You knocked her out, leaving bandages nearby for her. A small mercy you supposed. A small gift to lighten the ruined stain on your soul tonight left. So then you walked out into the storm to find where you left Atlas and to leave Washington forever, vowing to never set foot in the state in case the girl ever decide to exact her revenge.
Present day
      It felt so similar to that night. You crouched outside a small home, snow surrounding you and crunching under your feet. However there wasn't any howling wind or rage in your blood tonight. Just fear and pain lacing your spine, each breath felt too shallow.
      "All of our other leads on her have dried up. She moves fast and the only place she goes back to is that mansion." Abby whined. Frustration evident in her voice. If they so much as planned on attacking Jackson you'd leave. You'd take them with you, fight it out with them on your turf. You couldn't let them near Jackson, near Ellie. "If she's in Jackson we have to get down there tomorrow. Sniff around see if she's there. If not we leave. If she is we tear that town down brick by brick to find her."
      You couldn't let that happen. These people didn't deserve this. They should never know the pain Abby brought. It seemed she made new friends, these ones probably just as bloodthirsty. Just as ruthless even. So you formed a plan. A loud goodbye out of Jackson tomorrow if you survived the night. Hopefully they'd leave with you. Then your absolute nightmare happened.
     "(YN)!" Ellie called out into the woods.
The light inside the cabin went out.