𝐉𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐆𝐎 (𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐔𝐒) *editing*

𝐀 𝐐𝐮𝐢𝐞𝐭 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐍𝐨𝐭❄️

"Blankets...blankets...where the fuck are the blankets?!"

Two stores, and nothing. She searched for what she could. Some shops were locked up tight, and she could not enter without an entrance. A few rags and a small spool of sewing string that could be used as a substitute stitching if Ellie wasn't able to find what they needed. She doubted there would be a perfectly preserved medical kit, much less with sutures. It was a slim possibility.

Most shelves she searched were bare. Nothing of interest.

Frustration soon built up, and she balled her hands into fists. She clenched her jaw, glowering at the disheveled items before her. Children's clothes, thin sheets that wouldn't be classified as covers, and a pair of gloves that might be of use. She snatched the wool-felt gloves up. Oh. Two pairs. She wished there were more gloves that she and Ellie could wear too. Her fingers were like ice; the tips already pink from the long exposure to the cold. She should try to find winter beanies. Keep their heads warm.

"Dammit," she cursed under her breath, feeling defeated by the minimal choices of clothing. She sighed a moment later and stuffed the gloves into her backpack. You'll have to do for now. She folded some of the shirts she managed to shirt and placed them in her bag with the gloves. They were big enough, maybe TJ could fit them, Joel on the other hand, needed a bigger size. It'd be better to get them out of those bloody clothes. Infection was not something she wanted them to have.

She almost laughed at herself. Pneumonia would be preferable. Fevers, she could probably deal with -- bodily injuries, she could not. Sticky crimson wasn't an ideal feeling, she cringed. She endured it because TJ and Joel's lives were on the line.

"Fuck," she cursed again, and puffy vapors escaped her mouth. "You save my ass countless fucking times, and I couldn't do the same with you."

The mall seemed like a freezer. It was too cold, and the store windows had frost dancing across the glass. As cold as it was, it was just as quiet. Her footsteps remained light and hurried, the soft crunching of dead leaves and snow that fell through the broken glass ceiling softly echoed off the still walls.

She wondered if there were infected in the mall, she couldn't bring herself not to be surprised if they herded somewhere in the building, huddling together; awaiting their next victim to stumble upon them in a horrible, sickening twist of fate.

Focus, girl! She shook her head. She needed to hurry and find proper blankets, return to the yogurt shop, and take care of the guys.

A vicious shiver tore through her body, yanking her back into reality again. Near painful goosebumps bristled across her skin, tugging the seams of her jeans and clawing at the insides of her shirt and hoodie. She truly despised winter.

"You never did like the cold." She heard Jordan's voice in her head, but it sounded like he was right next to her; all amused and smug as he wrapped his hoodie around her, proving he was right about her being a warm-blooded creature. She liked the warmth in between the seasons. Not too hot and not too cold.

"You're such an asshole, Jordan," Maeve forced away the memories trying to cloud her reality. "Such a fucking asshole."

Her feet carried her to another barricaded store, unlike the rest of the stores in the mall, this one was easy to get into.

The shop didn't seem at all promising, but she had to try for TJ and Joel. A few racks of dull-colored shirts, too small to be worn by either her or Ellie, and certainly too small for TJ and Joel. She searched further, rummaging through the whole stock of the place. She made a mess of it, having turned it upside down without much luck.

She felt at her wit's end. The stress of not being able to find suitable blankets and coats, and the stress about TJ and Joel was about to get to her. Just as she was about to relinquish her sanity to the anxiety, there was a disembodied grunt somewhere within the wide corridor, echoing sharply off the walls.

She exited the old clothing store, hurrying to hide behind the waterless wishing fountain just as a clumsy body stumbled into her sight. It was unaware of her, much to her relief. As quietly as she could, she pulled out the bow she borrowed from TJ and an arrow. Time to use this bad boy. She pulled the quiver back and aimed at the infected as it stumbled to a halt. With a calculated prediction of the infected's movements, she let loose the arrow. It glided through the frozen air quickly. In an instant, the arrow sunk into the neck of the runner. The infected cried out before collapsing to the ground dead.

A quiet sigh left her and she stood up, taking out another arrow and lined it with the quiver. She crept toward the body, hoping to retrieve the arrow, if hadn't broken upon impact.

She peered around cautiously, observing the area the runner came from. A food court. Thankfully, it was empty. With shallow breaths, she approached the dead infected, bending her knees slightly so she could grab the arrow from its neck, grimacing as its blood and muscle made a squelching sound.

Gross. Out of all the noises a dead body could make, it made that sound. It caused her stomach to churn. She was sure that if she had any food in her, she would've hurled it up just by the smell of the infected. She hesitated, lifting her arm to stow the bow in her bag with the last two, but instead switched the one she had with the bloodied one.

"How many more of you are there?" Maeve trudged forward, keeping the bloody arrow notched and pointed at the ground. "Just try me, you fuckers...you'll end up like that last guy."

Whirr...

She gasped as the light suddenly flickered on around her. The darkened food court lightened up a bit.

"What the fuck...?" her brows furrowed together. "Ellie, what the hell are you doing?"

"GRAH!" A growl ripped her attention to the opposite side of the food court. Another runner she hadn't realized there was more than one, even though she thought she thoroughly looked around. It ran at her, knocking over chairs, they clattered loudly to the ground.

She quickly drew the arrow back and released it. The wooden shaft swished through the air and lodged into the left of the infected's chest. It didn't stop there, unfazed by the arrow. She hurried to draw another arrow and loosed it.

This time the arrow sunk into the runner's shoulder. That only seemed to piss it off more. Maeve grunted out, fumbling to grab another arrow.

"Die already!" By the time she released her third arrow, the runner was right up on her. The point of the shaft of the arrow plunged deep into its right eye; a gruesome and sickening popping echoed off the court walls. The runner went down, finally. "Stupid thing."

"--hear that?"

Her ears perked up, hearing a deep voice, and then multiple heavy footsteps. They were coming at a quickened pace.

Maeve cursed under her breath and hurried to hide. Just as she hid, three figures came running down the hall the runner guarded. They were armed with a shotgun and rifles; they looked at the dead infected bodies with hard expressions.

"What the fuck happened here?"

From the electronic shop she hid in, she peeked at them from the broken window with narrowed eyes. She counted three, but there could've been more. Three or more antsy men with their fingers tight on their triggers against her and a flimsy bow with few arrows? She wouldn't last five minutes. A frown dipped her lips.

She observed the men while they searched around, carefully though, she noticed. Random dead infected always meant someone was around. Her eyes followed the largest man, well, more like the shotgun in his hands. She'd been too focused on his line of patrol when she'd been spotted.

A yell boomed out, "There you are!"

And then chaos erupted.