Endure and Survive | Larry Stylinson

chapter three

SUMMER

"Those things out there. What if the people are still inside? What if they're trapped in there, without any control over their body? I'm scared of that happening to me." - Sam

"Are you alone or..?" Louis asks and Harry can hear his voice from the room which has dolls all over it, bloody and dirtied up.

"There are others." Zayn answers as Harry emerges from the room. The two is already at the end of the hall, waiting for Harry collect his shit as they engage into a conversation, "Humvee went for us, we got scattered and I'm the unfortunate one who didn't get a partner."

"How many were you?" Harry asks. Zayn leads them to his hideout where he's been hiding for the past few days.

"Quite few." Zayn answers, pulling out a cigarette pack and a lighter, "But we probably don't care about finding each other. It's all about getting out of here. How about you two?"

"Same thing." Louis shrugs.

"Are you two related? You don't look like brothers, though."

"We're not." Harry answers, using his shiv to unlock a door. He sighs in relief as he spots a few bullets on a shelf and a few cans of food. He catches up to the both of them.

Zayn speaks, "Almost forgot. We got to be careful. Their lookout areas are real fucking close."

"And that's safe?" Harry says suspiciously, and then he begins to observe Zayn again.

At the ground floor, Zayn enters a toy store. It's still full of toys and shelves and colorful decorations. Louis observes it, and his face softens a little as a he sees a dead body of what looked like a kid on the corner. Harry looks away from him.

"Did the truck spot you two?"

"Almost."

"Damn humvee chased me around. It lost me after I went to the alley and up here." Zayn blows out the smoke.

Louis' fingers twitches, "Can I have one?"

"Have what?" Zayn hums, "Oh this? Sure." He taps his pack against his thigh and offers one to Louis, who quickly takes one. Zayn offers him his lighter and Louis lights his stick up.

Louis turns to Harry, "Do you want one?"

"No." Harry says simply, glancing at the black-haired man, "I'd rather save my lungs."

"Low blow." Zayn chuckles, "Through here. Come on."

They exit out the back, and two hunters are on lookout away from them. Harry and Louis ducks behind a wall. "I want to stealth." Harry announces quietly and brings out his crafty stick, with blades and nails all over the edge.

They both look over to Zayn, and he's playing around with a circular object. He makes eye contact with Harry for a split moment before he throws the thing near the hunters. It explodes and smoke invades the area. Harry and Zayn go for it and Louis follows them, aiming his own victim.

It's a risky movement to run towards an armed man, but Harry does it anyway. Once he gets to close, he swings his weapon backwards and down to the hunter's shoulders, then he pulls it back once he's sure that the sharp edges have dug into the man's shoulders. Harry goes for another swing, and it effectively finishes the hunter.

"You got 'em?" He questions, retaping his weapon before putting it back. He settles for his arrow then.

"Yeah, good job." Zayn says, and he still has his cigarette between his lips.