SHELTER

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"No-one likes a mad woman; you made her like that."

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CHAPTER SIX
Shelter

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After days of riding on horses and close calls with infected, the big, overgrown skyscrapers soon came into view. Ellie and Willow smiled as the blaring sun soon became covered by the buildings, relieving the girls from the heat. Some of the towers had leant over each other due to the explosions of the Quarantine Zones over the years, it had just shown how much the world had changed. Ellie blamed herself for most of it, but she needed to keep a clear head if they wanted to find somewhere to stay before sundown.

"What time is it?" Willow asked, leaning back on her horse a bit. They were both tired, and the sky was slowly turning orange above them. If they could take some form of shelter, they would be relieved of the heat and their exhaustion.

"I'm gonna guess its around three in the afternoon." Ellie replied. Willow nodded, continuing to lead her horse beside the older teenager. They soon turned onto the road, or what was left of it. Most of it was cracked underneath itself and had caved into the ground.

Soon, the two were surrounded by the tall skyscrapers, the sun only poking through and brushing their skin when there was a break in the blocks. Staying in one of the tall buildings wouldn't be the best move, it could collapse at any minute. Ellie continued looking around as she let her horse follow Willow's, trying to spot anywhere they could stay. Nothing was coming up, and the two girls' eyes were beginning to droop under their lashes.

Ellie's eyes trailed over to an old, run-down hotel. It looked like it could've been fit to house royalty back in the day. "Think we could camp out there?" She asked, turning to Willow. The younger girl turned her head over, pulling against the horse's reins and slowing to a stop.

"Looks pretty in-tact." Willow replied. Her voice was strained from the lack of water she had drunken over the past few days, she prayed that there would be some type of water source in the hotel. "We'd have to clear most of it out, though. Looks like a hotspot for infected." She remarked, rolling her shoulders back and trying to relieve them of the pain from her backpack straps. She had a lot packed in it, her arms felt like they were bruising from the weight.

"We've got a bit of time before sundown, anyway." Ellie spoke hoarsely, shrugging. "It'll be a nice way to kill time, anyway."

"Killing infected, how romantic." Willow stated sarcastically, turning her horse towards the hotel. "Let's hitch them out here, we can bring them in once the area is secured." She proposed smartly. Ellie nodded, both leading their horses towards one of the alleyways. If any stray WLF members saw two saddled horses standing in the street, they'd immediately know that someone was there to scout out the area- or do worse.

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