The Both Of Us | Zelink X The Last Of Us

Chapter Forty-Seven

Zelda's pov

A knock on my door wakes me up from my light sleep. The argument in my head is leaving me more tired than the lack of sleep. Father was never a liar before. Five years could have turned him into one. Link is a liar. He's a killer. He's selfish. But his hands aren't dangerous on me. He touches me slow, traces his fingers across my skin. He keeps me safe. He changed for me.

He wouldn't leave me.

"Who is it?" I say. My hand moves to my gun out of habit.

Ganon appears when the door opens. I forgot he's taking me today. I hated the idea last night but now it seems like the perfect opportunity. If I can sneak away, I can find Link. I know he's still here.

"Where are your weapons?" His strictness is similar to Link's. But he speaks with discipline while Link is full of suppressed chaos. I prefer my chaos.

"My rifle is over there." I point to the sniper rifle leaning on the bookcase. "I lost my gun," I lie.

"Did you now?"

"When I was kidnapped by cannibals." His face flashes with concern and disgust for only a moment. Link had recovered my belongings when I was kidnapped. He wouldn't tell me where he found them.

"I see..." He collects my rifle, slinging it over his shoulder. "We'll be leaving now."

I follow him out of the apartment and down the hall. The guards by the elevator nod to him. He should have access to everywhere in the city being my father's second in command. If Link isn't still in the hall they brought him to yesterday, he'll know where he is. That's assuming Link didn't leave and I refuse to believe he did. But why would Father keep him prisoner here if he completed his quest? He got me here safely and was promised anything he wanted in return. Why would Father go back on his word?

"Some of the families live on this floor," Ganon explains, stepping onto a floor I haven't been to. There's kids here, running down the hallway. Some are small and had to have been born after the outbreak. It's safe enough here to have kids. But I doubt I'll become a mother here.

"Did this used to be a hotel?" I ask after seeing the rows of doors with room numbers. The building looked familiar even if I didn't stay in hotels often before the world ended.

"Yes." He's worse about talking than Link is. "Soldiers live on each level and shifts rotate ensuring there are always a sufficient number of guards. More guards are on patrol at night." He's comparable to a robot.

"Why more at night?"

"Trespassers try to sneak in at night."

"What if they just want a safe place to live?"

"Then they are allowed in after being cleared." I wonder what that involves.

After showing me the rest of the building and leaving my rifle with another soldier, he takes me outside. He took me out a different way so we didn't pass the hallway Link was taken down. What if he did that on purpose?

"Is the city completely cleared of infected?" I ask. I hate talking to him but I want to get information.

"Mostly. There's more on the far reaches that haven't been dealt with yet." So they're not much of a threat.

"What kinds of infected are here?"

"I don't know what you mean."

"When I was traveling with Link, we encountered an infected that had plates of fungus covering its body like a clicker has on its face."

"Bloaters," he says. "We call them stage four infections. But we also have shamblers as well." I don't like how that sounds. "We think they've been infected since the beginning and the infection was more aggressive in them than others."