NO LIGHT. ✹ E.W.

vi.

"We can get in this way, I think."

Your head turns to gaze at the way Dina's revealed to the pair of you, an old window on the side of the courthouse building. From the inside you can hear the gurgled clicking and sickly groans that tell you one thing: infected. There's infected inside the courthouse and three of you. Surely, you can handle that much.

Ellie steps ahead to the window, heaving it open with the vines grounding it and cringing at the loud sound it makes. Dina drops inside first, ducking behind an old courtroom bench while you move to follow. Before you can open your mouth to call your girlfriend inside, Dina's finger moves to her lips in a 'shh' manner, pointing to a clicker shambling inside the room.

A second later Ellie joins by your side, peering over at the clicker. "Here we go." She whispers, squeezing your hand only for a second. She almost asks you to stay there and wait for her to clear out the building, almost.

You're just as quick as she is, maneuvering out from behind the cover, whispering that you'd check out the other side of the floor, and ducking out of the door. Dina can't help but chuckle at your quick thinking, she knew you were fed up with being babied over the last weeks. Ellie, however, stared at the door you'd just ducked out of with a sigh.

"She's lucky I love her." Ellie whispers, turning her focus back to the clicker shuffling about in the room.

You easily dispatch an infected in the room across from the one you'd entered, dropping it to the side of your feet with a quiet thud. It definitely would not be a habit of yours to run off but you needed to feel like you weren't damaged by one gunshot. It had already impacted the way you looked at your image in the mirror, the fleshy, wrinkle scar on your side. It would have made you feel insecure if you weren't busy worrying about how terrible this could go in Seattle.

After downing a couple other infected, you regrouped in the center of the room, observing the hallway for a way downstairs. The stairway doors appeared to be blocked off by fallen objects and debris but as far as you could see it was the only way down. With your help, Ellie managed to push the door open enough for the three of you to slide through.

Ellie caught your wrist before you could move to follow Dina downstairs, concern evident on her face. "Don't run off like that again, okay? I don't want us to get split up, baby." You hesitantly nod, taking the softness of her tone and the pleading look in her eyes into consideration. You'd forgotten that she didn't want to risk losing you too.

And Ellie was right, you didn't need to get separated here.

"I remember in Boston people who got in serious trouble would go to the courthouse." Ellie tells you once you've entered a checkpoint area in the building. Old metal detectors lined one side of the hallway, elevators on the other. You could imagine these were used to check for weapons or something.

Ahead of you, Dina glances over her shoulder with a sly smile. "I bet you went a lot." She teases, earning a laugh from you.

Your reply earns a sigh from Ellie. "I guarantee you she went once a week." She rolls her eyes, shaking her head dismissively.