"Come on!" Cry calls out desperately.
More gunshots ring out. The dead are moving steadily closer. They're being shot down, but there's too many to hope to take out this way. They all were wandering off, the noise of the boat leaving again gaining their attention away from the group of survivors before the noise ceased and then the shouting drew them back in.
The shouting continues, Signe doesn't want to move. Entoan steps closer and closer to them, "Minx, Signe, I can't hold them off, we need to run!"
He groans, firing off another shot and then another. Minx stiffens, shuddering as she looks back to see just how close those rotting hands are getting to grabbing them. She looks back at Signe, grabbing her by the arm once again, jerking her forward, "We have to go right now! Right now, Signe!"
Cry keeps shooting, but he can see this isn't helping the situation. Pretty soon they'll be overrun. Entoan lowers his gun and runs over to help Minx force Signe to move. He grabs her wrist, pulling as he tries to move back towards Cry, "Signe, please. Please, if we don't move we're all going to die."
Signe looks at him, she's trembling and still crying. She doesn't want to keep going. There's no way she can take any more of this world filled with more of the same pain and sorrow they should have left behind. She just isn't built to handle such strain inside. She whimpers, "Entoan.. Just go. Please.. Leave me."
"Not happening!" Minx growls, yanking on Signe's arm, forcing a few steps out of her, "We're getting out of here together, right now!"
"Just let me go!" Signe pleads on deaf ears.
Entoan uses Minx's tactic to try and force his friend to flee as well. Cry keeps shooting the ones that get close, but he can't keep it up as he has to stop and reload his gun now. Signe continues to fight her friends, shaking her head and yanking back on her arms, "Just go without me! Please! I just can't do this anymore!"
"You can't just give up!" Entoan stops pulling, pushing Minx back as he stands in front of Signe. Minx stares at him, standing behind him now. She looks uneasy. Her eyes flit to the infected, then back to her friends, "Entoan, give me your gun."
He hands it to her without looking away from Signe. He continues to try and reason with her, "Signe, please. Just come with us. It will be okay, I promise you. You've come so far, you can't just stop now. What about Jack? If he's still alive, don't you want to see him again?"
Minx starts shooting. They'll get surrounded if they don't move. She keeps shooting.
"What if he isn't?" Signe asks softly, barely heard over the gunfire and the growing moans and growls of the diseased. She stares up at him with tear-filled eyes, "I won't be able to handle seeing him if he's.. One of them. Or just.. Dead all together. Please.. Please don't make me go through that.. Gunner, please.."
Entoan winces at the use of his real name. Tears come to his eyes as well, unable to just let her go when she saved his life that day when his friend died. The day when he wanted to give up, too. She doesn't know what she did for him by finding and staying with him that day, and he'd never be able to live with himself if he let her go now. He shakes his head, "Signe, I can't. You can survive, we can survive together just like we've always been. It will be okay, eventually. You have to believe that. We don't have time to discuss this, please just come with us."
"I---" Signe's cut off by Minx's shout, "Shit, I'm out of bullets, guys, let's go!"
"I can't waste any more bullets!" Cry says a moment later, "We have to get out of here before we're all killed!"
"Cry!" Dave gasps, running back with Dan right behind him. Cry looks back at them and Dan skids to a halt, his eyes widening as he sees just how many infected they're up against. He shakes his head, "We're all going to fucking die!"
"Go!" Cry orders, "Find a safe place not to far from here to wait them out, hurry!"
Dave nods and turns back, grabbing Dan's arm to make him follow. The two run off and Cry looks back at the others. His anxiety is pumping adrenaline through his body, breathing heavy and terrified. His eyes widen at what he sees. Minx is running back towards him, and behind her still stands Signe and Entoan. One of the Infected grabs Signe by the shoulder and Entoan quickly pulls her from their grasp, shoving her forward as he puts himself between them. Cry screams out as he starts towards them. Minx stops and turns back, eyes widening as she, too, realizes what's happening.
"Entoan!" she screams.
Minx moves, fighting the tears in her eyes as she grabs Signe, now too shocked to fight back. Cry and Minx drag Signe away, they all are able to break into a run and head for an escape. All except for Entoan, who's quickly surrounded as soon as he pushes Signe out of the way. Hands grabbing, nails scratching and teeth biting into flesh. All too fast to stop, all too fast to save him, all too fast for Entoan to even scream before his throat is bitten into. His friends flee, Signe's sobbing, running clumsily as she can't even put up the energy to try and fight it anymore. She knows he did it to save her.
He sacrificed himself because he wanted her to keep fighting, because he wanted her to know that she's strong enough to keep going. Minx glares ahead, vision blurry with tears, falling down her face. Teeth grit, grip strong as she refuses to let his sacrifice be in vain. He wanted to save Signe, and Minx promises to herself that she will not let his sacrifice be in vain. Not now, not ever. If she has to drag Signe to the ends of the earth until this is all over, she will. Cry leads them, looking around quickly. He's upset just as the others, he didn't want to lose anyone.
This was supposed to be a safe place, there wasn't supposed to be any more death. This was all supposed to be behind them by now, but it's not. This world ended just as theirs did. The world isn't really divided, the whole world ended on the same day, and now they know that. And now that they know that, how can they keep hope now? This was their hope. But just like before, Cry won't let his friends give up. He won't let another death cripple them all. He won't let the deaths of his friends ever be in vain. He'll keep the promise he made to Ohm and make sure they all survive. Somehow.
YOU ARE READING
After The Fall
Fiksi PenggemarThe world they knew was gone. Their friendships were strained. Winter is coming, and the threat of the infected isn't all they have to deal with. Two groups of friends, in two different places in the world, fighting for their lives in hopes of findi...