After the end

ten

Snow fell around them as they trudged towards the large bridge in front of them. Lexi's skin hadn't been tanned in a while, she was so pale she practically blended in with the snow. The end of her nose and the tips of her ears were a bright pink. Of course her skin was partly tanned because of her Mexican parents. Her mum was Mexican and her dad was Mexican too but grew up in America. They moved to America before Rosa was born and stayed there since. Joel used the rifle to shoot at the bridge, seeing if anyone would come out of the bushes to end them. "The river of death, still no people." "Fine." Joel gave up, walking them through the tree line towards the bridge that was covered in snow. Birds cawed as they grossed. Lexi leading up the back of the pack, getting rid of their footprints even though snow would cover them anyway. It was good to be cautious, especially in this day when they were in a unknown state and there was no cover, just open land. Lexi turned around to see Ellie putting her fingers in her mouth attempting to whistle like Ezra tried to show her how to. "I thought it was a damn bird." She chuckled. "You tryna whistle?" Lexi asked. "Trying to." Ellie responded, fingers in her mouth again as she blew them again. "Seriously, how the fuck do you do that?" She asked, putting her glove back on and walking backwards. "Talent." Joel and Ezra said in sync, they then looked at each other and Ezra slightly smiled at him agreeing. "You should teach me how to hunt." Ellie nodded at Lexi who had her bow and arrow slung over her back and the sheath of arrows sticking out. Ellie mocked Joel's 'huh. "She's a girl, she can't handle it. If Lexi can do it, I can." Ellie huffed. "You can handle the shooting, I'm not sure about the dressing." Joel sped up with Ezra by him, Lexi hanging behind with Ellie. "What's the dressing?" "It's when you take all the guts out. But you need to be careful round here because of wolves and bears." Lexi marched through the snow, her whole body freezing. She knew she would freeze any minute if she stood still. 

They got to the top of a hill and they saw a dam, water flowing through it. "Dam." Ellie said and both Lexi and Ezra snorted then tried their best to cover up their laughing at the teens stupid joke. "You're no Wil Livingston." Joel said and Ellie looked at him with a smile. "Yeah, yeah. But who is. So that made electricity?" Ellie asked. Lexi was entranced with the water flow, it was almost like laminar flow. When the water was draining but it was in a perfect spout so it looked dead still. "Don't ask me, I have no clue." "You could've just made something up, she probably believed you." Lexi teased, trudging after her husband. They were quiet for a while until they reached a river, the scenery was perfect. The white snow and green foliage contrasted to the beautiful blue that the river was. "It's crazy blue." "Probably because there's no pollution. This river more than likely was brown because of all the trash but because no one is here to ruin it, it looks beautiful." Lexi exclaimed as they continued through the tree line. "Hey what if this is the river of death." Lexi stopped and she looked at the river again, watching as Joel grabbed the map from his pocket. They began walking again and thunders of hooves surrounded them with guns pointing at them from ever direction. Joel attempted to make a run for it grabbing Ellie's arm but they were surrounded. "Ellie, Ezra stay behind us, if they shoot you two run okay." Ellie nodded and Ezra did as well but slower than the teen. They all put their hands up. "We ain't looking for any trouble, we're just passing through." Joel said loudly. Lexi was just praying his tone wouldn't get them shot. "Drop the guns." Lexi dropped her shotgun into the snow and Joel dropped the rifle too, slowly enough so they didn't look like a threat. "You drop the crossbow kid." Ezra dropped it into the snow like they asked and they all still had their hands up. "You take five steps that way, you take five steps the other way." "How about we talk this through." Joel asked. "How about you shut the fuck up." Lexi raised an eyebrow at the man's words. "Do it now or I'll shoot your damn head off!" The brunette huffed before doing what he asked. Lexi looked around to see if she recognized Tommy or Rosa under their hats and masks, but no luck. "You been around infected?" "This dog can smell an infected and rip them up so fast." A man whistled and then a dog appeared and smelt around the four of them.