ELEANOR . NEGAN

068.

Loud clashes rattled the dry-paste wall, pieces of paint scattering to the floor below and filling the silence in quite thudded drops. Elle stood with a knife in her hand, but her other laid flat against Judith's body who stood curiously in front. The two girls were eyeing the hole that was repeatedly getting smashed into.

Dog's loud howls and barks begin to fill the entire tower, and that wasn't good. "Shit," Elle crouched down and whistled for the mutt, he came skidding forwards. "Good Dog." She scratched behind his ears and watched as he wagged his tail, before she cupped his collar and looked at Judith. "You keep him safe, alright?"

Judith nodded and quickly took Dog into another room, leaving Eleanor and Gabriel and the Oceanside woman next to them. It was a sudden change in atmosphere as the door got booted into, like it was being carved messily by the thickness of a knife. It was a shitting axe.

She could hear Gabriel's staggering shudders beside her and the creaking of string as the woman lifted her bow. It wasn't long now, they will get through. Inevitable really. "Thought this was over," She whispered. "I'm getting pretty fucking sick and tired of these skins."

Gabriel sighed and clutched onto his radio. "Evacuation has started to point B. We just need to buy time."

"We can do that." The Oceanside woman said. "Time. We can buy ti-"

"Move!"

Elle didn't know how or when, but on instinct she lunged to the nearest protection which was an open wooden door. The loud booming reverberated off the walls and tinged her eardrums in a restless high-pitched ringing as the thickness of nails imbedded in everything around them.

Fuck.

The heat of the boom singed the tips of her converse as it melted through the gap of the door, integrating into her clothes and filling her scent with putrid smoke and melted skin? She knew the smell of that even before the apocalypse, and fuck, it wasn't good.

The thick cloud of smoke took over her lungs and the pain that was subduing only came back. Shit sake. Eleanor was sick and tired of feeling weak all the time.

"Eleanor!" Someone yelled, their loud voice pushing past the infuriating ringing in her ears, "Fall back."

Elle pushed past the pain in her feet and the incoming headache and sprinted to the corner, watching as the emptiness of the room took in her sight and she saw a little Judith wrapping her arms around her own body.

When she saw her aunt okay and well, not physically okay but not physically impaired? She ran forward and hugged her. It was relief filling through her bones as she clutched onto her little body, eyes closing in happiness. "What are you still doing here?!"

"Waiting for you."

Eleanor smiled and quickly took her hand, "Come on, kid." She spared a look to Gabriel, a short nod, because she didn't know he was about to sacrifice himself so everyone can evacuate. If she did? Well, she would've swapped places in a heartbeat.

The two girls climbed their way down the elevator shaft using the thick heavy ropes and tried to ignore the burning in their hands the further they moved. The rough material scraping across their palms and leaving red scratches in their wake.

When they plopped down on floor below, Judith was sporting a look that said it all. Full of worry and the need to do something. And when Judith looked at Eleanor, she had the same gaze.

Eleanor was gone before Judith could even protest.

Meanwhile through the seething pain of the crowd of walkers, each Skin was getting caught on the blades of the hidden fighters. It was an idea they made when there was nothing else to do, and it was working brilliantly. The walkers were getting divided and it created an opening in the paths, something easily manipulated by humankind.