Claire's Point of View

I sat at my post, tapping my foot against the wooden deck of the house. My dog Kilroy was taking a nap next to me. I rocked in the chair I sat in, waiting for the signal.

Apparently, there was a girl around my age who is trying to take down the WLF. Supposedly, a higher up soldier by the name of Abby killed her father. So in return, she wants Abby to suffer. She has taken out so many of our soldiers single handily. She seems super high trained and all I know is, I don't want to cross her path.

Not only is there a girl, there is also a man around the same age of the man that was killed by Abby. He is somehow connected to the girl and the man Abby killed and is also seeking revenge. It's all so confusing and even if I tried, I couldn't piece everything together because there's so much I don't know.

I never liked Abby, and Abby never liked me. I'm not sure why. In training she was always so mean to me, but nice to everyone else. It never made sense. She's a year older than me, so she's bigger than me, and when we would practice against one another, I would always lose. Maybe that's why she didn't like me, I wasn't a big enough challenge. She ended up becoming a higher up in the WLF because her father was a firefly meanwhile I just stayed a regular scouting soldier.

"She's over there!" Yelled a nearby soldier.

I ducked into cover behind the deck's railing and pointed my scope around. I couldn't get a sight of her. "Go Kilroy, sniff her out," I said to my good boy. He obeyed and started to scout.

I followed Kilroy but there was a lot of space between us so he could be more stealthy. Then all of a sudden, the ground beneath me shook for a split second, a white flash in my eyes, and the last cry of Kilroy. There seemed to have been some sort of mine that was detonated as Kilroy walked onto it and triggered the explosion.

My knees dropped to the floor, "Kilroy," I cried as I held my lost puppy. "Kilroy no."

And out the corner of my eye I see somebody scurrying through the thick grass, "It's her!" I yelled.

My adrenaline was pumping, I wanted this girl dead for killing my Kilroy. I heard gunshots and before I knew it, as I was chasing her, she was taking out all my fellow colleagues so aggressively.

"Stop!" I yelled as I came up from behind her and pushed her onto the ground.

She kicked my legs causing me to fall on top of her. I pulled out my knife and went to stab her shoulder but she turned the blade around on me and it went into my shoulder. "Agh!" I screamed in anguish as I pulled it out and punched her in the face. She flipped us over me and rolled on top of me and cocked a gun to my forehead.

Tears were streaming down my face and I held my breathe, "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you," She said lowly.

"Just do it...," I said as I cried and thought of Kilroy.

"I SAID GIVE ME A REASON!" She yelled in my face as the gun stayed steady against my forehead.

"Okay," I cried out. "I can bring you to Abby." My voice was shaky.

She gave me a confused look, "Bullshit!" She said loud and stern.

"I swear," I replied, my breathing was rapid and my chest grew and fell at a fast pace.

"Get up," She demanded as I stood up she used a zip tie to tie my hands behind my back.

"What if we run into infected and now I'm bonded together," I said.

"I don't care," She replied. "Follow me and don't even think about screaming or running off or I'll pierce your brain so quickly."

"Okay," I quietly said.

She took me behind a house while gathering supplies. And then, another shootout began.

"Stay low," She ordered. "And stay here."

I followed her rules and stayed hidden behind a rusted car, the original red paint all faded and chipped. She put a suppressor on a pistol and began taking people out. Perfect headshots. She was so stealthy, that's why she was successful in all her endeavors. Then she used a bow and arrow. I guess she's just a jack of all trades.

Finally, when everybody was dead she led me through a pathway. There were cars of WLF soldiers and they started shooting at the girl. She fell onto the ground as I hid. I watched them shoot at her and I stood quiet. But within just a few moments, the entire WLF was hot on her trail.

"Hey," I said to her.

She put down her gun and looked over to me.

"You're gonna have to undo the zips," I said.

"Why would I do that now?" She scoffed.

"They're gonna push you," I warned. "They're gonna get aggressive. I know the way out of here, it's best if we run."

She looked at me and shook her head, "No fucking way."

"It's your only option," I said. "It's trust me or die."

"Fuck," She angrily said and looked over to the WLF soldiers looking around for her. "Don't make me regret this."

She went behind me and cut the zip tie. I looked down at my wrists. They had red laceration marks.

"Fuck," I said rubbing my wrists.

"Let's go," The girl ushered me.

"Alright," I whispered to myself. "Through that house."

"There's a shit ton of people in there," She said looking back at me.

"It leads to the outskirts of this neighborhood. There should be WLF vehicles parked outside, we could use those to leave," I explained.

"How do I know you're not gonna lead me into that house and get me killed," She said.

"You're gonna have to trust me," I said. "You ready to run?"

I jumped up as did she and we rushed into the house. Solider all over we're shooting at us.

"It's Claire! She's with the girl! She's a traitor!" Called one.

"Fuck," I muttered as we pushed through the grey door.

She looked at me as if she was expecting me to lead the way, so I did. I threw myself through the broken framework of the house and down the mudslide, the girl followed close behind.

"They got away!" A WLF soldier called as we hid in the grass. "Don't let them escape!"

"Let's check around here," A soldier close to us advised their team.

"Why are so many squads getting pulled for one trespasser?" One asked.

"'Cause of the fucking school and the TV station," Another responded.

"I thought that was scars," The first one replied.

"Think these trespassers might be working with them," The other said.

The girl and I were stealthily walking through the tall grass, assessing what we should do. They would soon discover I was involved since word spread like wildfire among the WLF.

"He's here! Saw him go into that house!" A soldier called.

"Who are they talking about?" I whispered to the girl.

She shrugged, maybe she didn't know, but she definitely had an idea.

"Get in there! Go!" A soldier ordered.

"They found him! Should we go help?" A soldier questioned.

"No. She's here! Hold your ground!" The soldier ordered.

"Fuck," I muttered realizing they weren't gonna leave their stationed house.

Ellie and I crawled through the grass, but we're quickly spotted once again, "Over here!"

The girl jumped to her feet and pulled a switchblade, slicing the soldier in the stomach twice before the soldier fell back into the thick grass.

"Oh fuck," I muttered holding my stomach.

I began to zone out just thinking how easily that could have been me. This girl could have killed me in cold blood so fast.

"What the fuck are doing?" The girl yelled snapping me into reality as she tugged my elbow, forcing me to go prone with her.

I felt like I was going to be sick as I heard all the commotion, just crouching there in shock.

"Kill her!" A soldier yelled.

I heard shooting but tuned it out. I looked up at her. She was now standing holding a pump shotgun and was shooting at a soldier on top of the car.

"Maggie!" A soldier yelled after the soldier the girl just killed.

How many people has this girl so easily murdered?

"There, get her boy," A soldier said to their dog.

I instantly started vomiting thinking of seeing Kilroy nearly blown to bits.

"Fuck," I heaved out as I continued hearing the constant gunshots.

Sure, I've killed infected and few live people. But this was too much for me to handle in just a short span of time. I leaned back into the rusted car and shut my eyes, blocking everything out. Everything sounded blocked out, as if I was underwater.

"Hey, are you with me?" The girl's familiar voice filled my ears. I opened my eyes to reveal her face close to me. She was hovering over me, "C'mon we have to go." Her voice didn't seem so harsh.

She helped me up and we cautiously entered the pale pink house we had been fighting behind. The house was covered in moss and the framework was all decaying.

"What happened back there?" She whispered to me as we looked around, thankfully the small home was empty.

"I just- I don't know," I stuttered, I couldn't gather my thoughts correctly.

She didn't pry any further and we moved through the house in silence. We jumped out of a broken window and into more thick grass. There was smoke in the distance. Something was burning meaning something was set on fire. Did she do that too? It was so far away from where we were so it couldn't have been.

We slowly moved through the grass, progressing on our journey to get out of the small neighborhood of Hillcrest we trapped ourselves in.

"See anything?" A WLF soldier consulted their patrol partner.

"Nothing yet," Their partner were quick to respond.

"The fuck is going on with these trespassers?" The initial soldier asked their partner yet another question, at least I wasn't brought into it so they must not have known yet.

"Let's get one alive and find out," The other responded with a plan.

"Fuck that, don't take any chances," The other soldier responded.

"Over here!" Another soldier intervened as they spotted us in the grass.

A dog pounced on top of the girl. She pushed her hands to it's snout. I pushed my hands onto the viscous canine, moving it away from the girl who took out her shotgun and shot aimlessly in front of her trying to protect herself from not only the dog, but the soldiers.

I grabbed her arm, pulling her up off of her back. She ran up to a soldier, stabbing them once in the abdomen then in neck. She picked up a hammer that the soldier dropped and I noticed how badly she was bleeding. She must've gotten shot or some sort of injury at some point during our rather lengthy escape. With no time to bandage herself, we pushed through the grass not knowing if an enemy was about to turn the corner.

"She's gone!" Declared a soldier making a wave or relief run through me.

"Come this entire area!" A soldier shouted once again sending panic throughout my nervous system. "Hunt her down!"

We climbed up into a house, dropping to their floor with a thud. Thankfully, it was silent enough though that nobody was alerted. We circled back behind the building we were just combatting behind to see another soldier. The girl snuck up behind him, "Quiet." She muttered and turned him over, stabbing him in the neck.

I had no word at how much of a cold blooded killer this girl was. Whatever Abby did, must've been so bad that this is all worth it.

"Okay.. Okay..," The girl said assessing the area around us. "I think they're gone."

Gone. I think she means murdered, "Yeah," I nodded slowly.

"Guide me through," She said and I listened.

I moved through the grass with her following close behind, she picked up whatever supplies she could scavenge around the way snd threw them into her backpack.

"Wait," I said looking back at her. "Your arm is bleeding."

"Fuck," She said looking down at the blood on her arms.

"I got you," I said as she leaned against the wall.

I pulled some bandages from my backpack and sat in front of her.

"Why are you doing this?" She whispered looking down at me.

I looked up to her, shifting my attention from her arms to her face, "I.. don't know," I whispered back looking into her eyes.

Her eyes were so big and green. Freckles littered her face. I took my thumb and grazed over a speck of blood that must have bounced back onto her face.

"Thanks," She whispered squinting her eyes slightly.

I stared at her for a few more seconds before pulling my face away from hers. I didn't realize how close we were to one another. I wanted to apologize, but I didn't want to make things weird.

"I saw him! He went down that street!" A soldier called.

The girl jumped away from the wall and bounced back into her cold- blooded killer mode.

***

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