The Night that never Ends

Infected

It was hard to hold a weapon and carry four medium-sized logs at the same time. Not to mention the cold made everything difficult. Eli could see his breath with every exhale, forced to take slow movements to keep from dropping his load. Emily was right behind him, she had a bundle of twigs, dry leaves, and assorted branches in her arms,

"This would be our third trip back." Eli called,

"The more we have for the signal the better, but we might've been more effective if it wasn't so gosh darn cold out." Emily replied,

She too could see her breath, her fleece coat barely kept her warm, even with the layers she had worn under, the frost and icy-breeze were breaking through easily. Both of their faces were pale, because they had to move relatively slow, they couldn't circulate any necessary body heat for warmth...they were cold...

After walking back, the way they came, they pushed past the last of the thickets and walked out into the clearing, a hundred yards ahead was their shelter, smoke was rising from the makeshift chimney Ryan had constructed, he must've started a fire before patrol,

"Almost there." Eli surged on,

Next to the fire everyone was tending that morning was a huge pile of burnable material used for their signal. More burnt branches, hollow logs, dry leaves, anything worth burning was in that pile. Emily and Eli dropped their bundles and both clapped the slight remnants of dirt that remained on our hands,

"What time is it?" Emily huffed,

Eli took a quick glance at his watch on his right wrist,

"Eleven-fifty, ten minutes until noon."

"One more bundle wouldn't hurt."

"Yea, but the cold won't hurt us, it'll kill us."

"You know what Ryan would say,"

"Yea, yea, how much you care is displayed by how much effort you put forth." Eli replied,

"Then let's put forth a little more effort." Emily nudged Eli forward and he reluctantly started walking,

It took them a short time to walk Northbound to the neck of the woods and as they walked through the thickets and shrubs, they were met with illuminous trees with frost glistening from its branches. Hard to believe such beauty could survive in a desolate place like this.

Eli immediately found a small log, about the size of his forearms, and scooped it into his arms; Emily was busy rummaging for branches and assorted twigs, she scooped about a branch with protruding twigs and leaves attached to the nibs.

Then came the uneasy silence, Eli could hear Emily foraging for burnable resources, but other than that...it was silent. Eli added another log to his bundle and stood up, Emily did the same,

"Didn't take as long." Emily huffed and shivered slightly,

"We'd better move," Eli warned and started ahead. Emily followed.

The leaves crunched against the soles of their shoes as they walked. Eli looked in all directions, keeping a visual on all his surroundings, he felt uneasy knowing that his two rifles were slung over his back and not in his grip.

Next, an unsettling wind whipped through the forest, it suddenly became more pale, and the sky shifted a shade, becoming slightly darker,

"More cloud cover," Eli called, "I don't like it." He whispered,

"The faster we get to the shelter, the safer we become, lets quicken the pace." Emily purged on past Eli and started into increase her distance between him,