"You should go and look for her.", he said after a while of silence in which you both just stared into space.

Frowning, you let out an annoyed snort. Your head was no longer as light as it had been a few hours ago. You could feel the strength building up in your muscles.

Nausea still scratched at the back of your throat, but even that would eventually disappear. Your body was recovering. A strange realisation.

"I should mind my own fucking business.", you growled back, your hands clenched into fists.

The first time you had helped Ellie was to please your father, to ease his conscience that he hadn't let anyone down again. But a second time felt unnecessary, a wasted labour of love.

Ellie had made it clear more than once that she was neither grateful nor pleased about the help.

So why bother?

Tired eyes wandered over to you. A growl made his throat tremble.

"You're crueler than before.", he remarked almost casually, letting his gaze wander to the window. "And that's not the fault of this world."

Fingernails dug into your palms so hard that it felt like blood was going to ooze out at any moment.

The smell of mouldy water clung to your slowly drying clothes and irritated your already thin nerves all the more. You had to grit your teeth to keep from hissing at him.

He was alive. You were alive.

But why?

What had either of you done to deserve this?

And it was precisely because of this question that he now had to try to be a better man. A good man.

What a waste, you thought and spat on the ground to get rid of the taste of salt that covered your tongue.

"(Y/N).", there was a gentle warning in his voice.

He too was beginning to run out of patience. Scowling, you curled your lips into a thin line, stood up and grabbed the rifle to hang it on your shoulder in one swift movement.

"I'm going for another round.", you announced without looking at him.

The door was already open when he cleared his throat and made you wait a second.

"We all have our burdens to bear.", again he sounded so tired as if he would fall asleep at any moment and never wake up again. "And we should try not to have to carry them in vain."

Again you couldn't help but clench your hands into fists. This time, a few drops of red blood squeezed their way into the daylight. It ran warmly over your fingers, wet your knuckles and fell to the floor in a red ball as it shattered into a thousand pieces.

Anger boiled in your (E/C) eyes. But he couldn't see it, wasn't supposed to see it. It would have been unfair.

"Take a nap, pa.", you said in a clenched voice and disappeared.

The door slammed shut behind you.

All of a sudden, the world felt heavier on your shoulders, but life felt easier. It would be better to avoid him for a few hours. Both for your nerves and for his well-being.

Glancing at your outstretched hand, you realised that your fingers were still trembling slightly. You thought the attack hadn't left any marks, but perhaps that wasn't entirely true.

At least you hadn't been bitten. And the spores seemed to have lost their effect with the water. There were still no signs of infection and you were beginning to believe it would never happen.

That gave you hope.

Even if it was a stupid thought, you thought it was a ray of hope in the darkness of the last few weeks. At last the misery had come to an end. Life would get better, not good but better.

With a head full of emptiness, your legs started to move. You paid no attention to where they were carrying you until you were suddenly back in the mall, exactly where the clicker had attacked you and Ellie.

Right in front of the fountain. The old water lay still and when you glanced over the edge you had to suppress a gag. It was a good thing that it had been an emergency situation to wash off the spores, otherwise you would have reconsidered everything several times.

The bottom was covered in dirt and dead plants. A light green sheen floated on the surface, probably the spores that had stuck to your clothes.

Infected people didn't drink, they only ate what they wanted, not what they needed. Which was pretty much everything, from animals to humans and sometimes even themselves. You had seen it with your own eyes, when hunger could not be satisfied and there was nothing else, they ate their own fungus from their skin.

The memory sent a shiver down your spine. Disgusted, you turned your eyes away from the water on whose surface your face was reflected.

(E/C) Eyes gazed back at you. Her eyes. Your father's eyes. You were so similar to both of them that you loved and hated it.

Taking an annoyed breath, you frowned and let out a snort. The clicker. The thought sent a shiver down your spine. Out of reflex, you looked around. Nothing and nobody was there. The mall was deserted. Just as you had noticed on your first patrol.

Something wasn't right.

You would have bet your right hand that you hadn't missed anything. Not in the neighbourhood and not in the remote corridors. You had looked twice in every room, made noise to attract infected people if they still existed. But nothing had happened.

So how had you missed this infected?

A clicker at that. It was almost impossible not to notice this species.

Had you been lost in thought?

No, you had your moments but not when it came to staying safe.

Your eyes wandered through the mall again. A light breeze brushed through your (H/C) hair. It was cold, fresh. As if there was an opening somewhere through which a draught was coming.

Your eyebrows drew together. No, that couldn't be.

How could you have missed something like that?

Your legs started moving again. Footsteps echoed in the emptiness. Your own breathing echoed in your ears, mingling with the beat of your heart.

Suddenly you thought of Ellie. When you had almost died, you had wished you could see her face again.

She was really pretty. Foul mouthed, annoying and a bit too snappy, but very pretty.