Playlist for the Apocalypse (Sweet Pea/Betty)

Track Five: The Apocalypse Song

July 14th, 2018

"Run!" Sweet Pea yelled, smacking Betty's arm as he passed, doing away with whispering now that they were here. Betty didn't need to be told twice.

Together, the pair flashed through the forest, jumping over rocks and trees and always keeping their weapons forward, clenched.

A walker came out of nowhere, it's gaunt face and sunken eyes reflecting in the light of the moon. Betty skidded to the left, stumbling down a ravine and into a creek, falling hard face-first. Her machete slipped out of her fingers, washed away by the current.

Betty's head throbbed. She spat out rocks, gravel, and blood, running her tongue over her teeth to make sure none had been knocked out. As she raised her face from the water, sputtering out through her nose, she attempted to blink away the droplets that got into her eyes.

She pulled a face, moaning. She wiped at her eyes, but they stung and her head was still really reeling. In a haze, she muggily wondered if she had a concussion. She touched her hairline, running her fingers cautiously down, until she felt something sticky and warm.

It wasn't water in her eyes, but blood. She felt along where her head had been gashed open, trying to wipe away gritty sand and mud. It wasn't a huge cut, but she knew head wounds bleed like nothing else, and it was still nothing good.

At least, she thought, no walkers had followed her yet.

She shot up straight. Walkers, Sweet Pea, running. Her thoughts were all jumbled and she was down the weapon she was most comfortable with.

A scream echoed throughout the forest, sending birds flapping away. Then, she heard gunshots.

"Sweet Pea," Betty whispered, shoving herself up the slippery river banks, grasping sharp rocks and shoving herself forward.

She thrashed through the undergrowth, limbs flailing as her feet carried her toward where the sound had come from. Her fingers were shaking so hard they were almost vibrating as she fished out her secondary knife from her boot, trying to vanish away the fuzzy black on the edge of her vision.

Sweet Pea was on the ground, aiming at walkers that continued to advance upon him. Betty was about to scream for him to get up off the fucking ground and move, for god's sake, until she saw what had caused him to yell out.

A bear trap, tightly sealed around his leg.

"Betty, get out of here, there's too many," Sweet Pea said, "I won't be able to get this off."

"What?" Betty shook her head, "No, no way." She said.

Sweet Pea looked up, seeing her face, "Betty, you're bleeding. Please, just leave me. We can't win." He sounded defeated, but also utterly terrified. She'd never heard him sound like that. He sounded like a highschooler, like a child.

"You're still shooting, so you still believe there's a chance," Betty argued back, sinking the hilt of her knife into a walker, kicking it away.

"Cooper! You'll get yourself killed. Kill me now, okay?"

"No serpents left behind." Betty reminded him, spinning around to shove away to more. She wasn't even going to address his last comment, "Right?"

"Betty, I swear to god-,"

"No! You don't get to tell me to just leave you. If you go down, we both do. I'm not leaving. Got it?" She spat out, "Now, keep aiming and shooting."

It did seem impossible. In the depths of Betty's heart, she realized this could be the end. If she ran away now, yes, she probably could survive. She could move on. Keep going.