𝐉𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐆𝐎 (𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐔𝐒) *editing*

𝐒𝐚𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐇𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐲🌞

"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."