Claire's Point of View

"Hey he's not getting past us! Find him!"

I led the girl to a window which we jumped out of, once again, landing in tall grass. There was a dog barking at us through a fence and without hesitation, she quickly shot the dog. I looked away from the scene and continued pushing through the grass.

"By the fence!" The dog's owner called.

We hid near the fence, "What do we do?" I asked.

Without a response, she jumped in front of the fence, revealing herself, "Take her down!" The soldier angrily shouted once he located her.

She kept shooting him, her makeshift bottle suppressor quieting the shots. After three shots, the soldier fell to the ground.

We maneuvered past the fence, and dropped into a broken brick building, "She dropped in there!" A soldier called, the soldier's must have not realized my presence.

We put on our gas masks noticing the thick air was filled with spores.

"Smoke her out!" Another WLF responded to him.

"Go! Go! Go!" They called to one another.

They began shooting at the both of us as we took cover, "There's two of them!" One yelled, noticing me.

"Fuck!" The girl shouted as sparks flew, the result of some type of explosive.

She placed down a mine of her own and ran in the opposite direction, me following close behind. A man ran up on us through the doorframe with a wooden bat. We dodged his swings and when given the opportunity, she used her hammer twice to hit him. But we were quickly matched with yet another man. It was now a two versus two.

Knowing the girl was being outnumbered and overpowered, I grabbed my blade and stabbed one in the chest, "Fuck!" I yelled loudly as I pulled the blade out of him and stabbed him again.

We began running back in the direction of the placed mine and the soldier followed, getting blown to smithereens.

"Cut her down!" A female soldier called.

The girl peeked from behind the pool table we were hiding behind and shot at the soldiers. But they also shot her back sending her on her lying on her back. Knowing I had to help her again, I grabbed my pistol from my bag and shot in their direction and gunned down two WLFs.

She stood back up, her reflexes sharp and grabbing the wooden bat from the fallen soldier. She handed me a hatchet off the ground, "Take this." I wasn't well trained with melee weapons, but it's better than nothing.

We ran up in the stairs, "Trespassers in here!" The familiar female voice yelled.

The girl fired a shot at the soldier who ran head on into her. She kicked her down and dropped her bat for a machete.

We dropped out of the building, removing our gas masks, and moved into another. When we jumped out of that one, she was grabbed my a male. He put his hand over her mouth as she struggled to form words. My newly found protective reflexes jumped in and I grabbed my gun going to shoot him.

"Don't shoot," He whispered.

The girls face relaxed and she stopped struggling. Her expression turned to shock, she must have recognized the young man by his voice. Her eyes widened. He let go of her and she was hesitant to turn around, but when she did, she didn't know what to say.

"What the hell are you doing here?" She whispered.

"Think I'd let you do this on your own?" The attractive male formed a small smile.

"Jesse..," The girl slowly said.

Were they a pair? I couldn't tell if she was shocked or happy. She was very hard to read.

"Who is this?" Jesse motioned over to me.

"This is.. Claire," She said remembering the soldier had called out my name.

I nodded slowly and quietly as the two looked over to me.

"Where's Dina?" He asked her.

"She's safe," The girl let out a sigh of a relief. "She's just sick."

How many of them where there?

"What kind of sick?" Jesse asked her, was this mystery girl infected?

I was yet to discover her name, "She's fine," She assured him that she wasn't infected.

"Fan out! She went that way!" A soldier called as Jessie pulled his gun out, "Christ, there's a lot of them," He observed.

Ellie pulled out her gun as did I. We began making our way towards the stairs when we realized Jesse had a blatant limp, "Hey, how hurt are you?" She asked in a caring tone.

"I'll be okay," He assured her, we decided to skip the stairs anyways. "Your friends out there rushed me. No warning, no nothing."

"Tell me you didn't come alone," She said to him as I quietly followed close behind the pair.

"Gimme shit about it later," He said to her.

The girl shook her head and scoffed, "You're a fucking idiot, you know that, right?"

"Yeah," He responded then pointed out through wooden boards holstered onto a window frame. "See that truck?"

"Those are the vehicles I mentioned earlier," I chimed in, the girl nodded.

"That's the plan?" She looked at the three of us, soldiers were climbing into the vehicle.

"We need to get some distance," Jesse explained.

"I can help," I whispered.

"How?" Ellie looked at me.

"I can go talk to them," I said. "A distraction."

"I don't know about that," Jesse shook his head.

"It's the best we got," The girl argued. "Your leg Jesse, we can't take the chance that being aggressive will get us our way."

"I'll be fine," I said.

"Hey, be smart about it," The girl said to me.

I nodded my head and prepared myself. I charged out the door, running, the air pushing a breeze through my hair.

"What's up?" A soldier called.

"The trespassers!" I breathed out falling to my knees. "They went that way!" I pointed in the opposite direction of the vehicle.

"We'll take the vehicle there, get in!" A WLF called out to me.

"Are you kidding?!" I exclaimed. "They'll hear us from a mile away and blow up the vehicle. We gotta go on foot!"

The WLFs nodded their head in agreement, "Let's go!" They called to one another. "You stay here, we'll call in back up for you and the rest of the injured!"

They began running down the road back towards Hillcrest. I whistled, signaling for Jesse and the girl to come out. Jesse and the girl ran up on two of the remaining soldiers, injuring them and taking the keys to the vehicle.

"What the fuck's going on?!" A soldier called.

"Fuck," I whispered noticing the three soldiers on their way back.

"Ellie!" Jesse exclaimed catching the girls attention. "Got the keys! Let's go!"

Ellie. Her name was definitely not as cold as she was. It was sweet.

"Get in!" Jesse called as we all made our way to the vehicle.

"Okay," Ellie sighed getting into the passenger seat as I climbed into the back.

"Shit," Jesse said trying to start the truck, but the exhaust kept giving in.

"The car!" A soldier called.

"Fuck fuck fuck!" I shakily responded to what was happening around me.

"Give it some gas!" Ellie yelled.

"I am!" Jesse was cracking under pressure.

"Duck Claire!" Ellie ordered and I ducked my head in the back of the truck.

The window just above my head was instantly shattered, glass spilling onto Jesse and Ellie.

"Give it more!" Ellie yelled as she turned around with her pistol through the broken glass window and started aiming, readying herself to open fire.

"Come on, come on," Jesse spoke to the vehicle trying to get it moving as Ellie gunned down two WLFs.

"Jesse, get us the fuck out of here!" Ellie called.

"I'm trying!" Jesse called out.

I sat back up and took out my own pistol aiming at the WLF, "It's Claire! She's gone rogue with the traitors!"

I turned back to Jesse who was being strangled by a soldier through the window, "Ellie!" He struggled to get out.

As Ellie proceeded to help him by stabbing the soldier in the neck allowing his grip to loosen around Jesse, I continued shooting at the WLFs before me.

"Jesus," Jesse muttered.

"Watch out!" Ellie warned as she continued shooting.

"Get the tires!" A female WLF commanded.

"Fuck not the tires!" I thought out loud as I continued firing shots.

"Don't let them get away!" Another soldier yelled.

"Why the fuck aren't we moving?!" I angrily said.

"Hang on!" Jesse called and instantly started reversing into the WLF.

I gripped the sides of the trucks as I struggled to not get thrown around in the back by Jesse's wreckless driving. Ellie grabbed my shoulder through the broken window, holding me in place with one hand, and shooting with the other.

"Derek!" A soldier yelled as I gunned him down.

"Go! Go!" Ellie called as another truck came from behind us trying to stop us.

"Shit!" Jesse called out as the truck went farther to our side and was now parallel with us.

Ellie turned around and started shooting through the windshield since the truck began driving in front of us, trying to block us off. I gripped onto the broken window tightly so I wouldn't fall out of the truck, the glass piercing through my skin.

"Shit!" Ellie shouted out.

"Keep 'em off of us!" Jesse responded to Ellie's grunts.

"I need a clear shot!" A soldier on the back of the truck called in an attempt to get the truck driver to slow down so she can easily shoot us.

Ellie shot and killed her, the truck swerved right over the front of us and onto the other side of the road. We caught up to their speed, pulling up to the driver Ellie snarled, "Got you," And shot him in the face causing the truck to slow down but continued make its way in front of us.

"Look out!" Ellie called as Jesse crashed the truck into the passengerless truck in front us.

Then the truck hit a dip, falling into a ditch. We all jumped up and the windshield crack. The truck in the distance crashed and caught fire. Jesse groaned as it took several kicks to the windshield for it to finally pop out. The fire and the rest of the commotion became a beacon for the infected and they were soon on their way to us.

"You gotta be kidding me.. come on!" Jesse ushered to the truck.

Clickers and runners were making their way to the truck as Ellie and I shot them, hoping to clear ourselves a path.

"Oh my god!" Ellie frantically yelled, a bit of fear in her voice, that was the first time this whole endeavor I'd sense a nerve was hit with her.

Jesse started to back up the truck, but by then a runner had attached itself onto Ellie, "Ellie!" I yelled as she tried defending herself. I reached over behind the runner's head and stabbed him in the neck twice.

The runner, when falling from the truck, detached the door with it. And suddenly, I was whiplashed as the truck crashed behind us, blocking us and concerning us in. The flock of infected began running towards us and Ellie and I kept firing shots.

"Damn it!" Jesse said, he switched gears and tried driving forward.

A clicker jumped onto the windshield, as Jesse drove. It's grip was strong and it's clicks were loud.

"Get off!" Jesse yelled as Ellie shot it in the head, it's blood creating an explosion that backsplashed onto each of us.

"Motherfucker!" Ellie shouted at it as the blood spewed onto us.

But it's body remained on the truck, it's arms dangling in as Jesse drove through the insane terrain.

Eventually, we drove off a cliff and into water. The impact had me pushed away from the truck, floating, "Ellie?! Jesse?!" I shouted.

I swam beneath the water grabbing Ellie's hand and Jesse followed as we reached the surface. As our heads popped up from the water we all gasped for a breath of fresh air.

We swam over to a dirt path that the water ended at. Jesse immediately lied on his back and Ellie and I sat up, "You okay?" She looked over to Jessie.

"Never better," Jesse joked in a serious tone.

"Okay. I think we're in the clear," Ellie remarked looking up to the cliff to see nobody was after us.

"Here, c'mon," Ellie said helping up Jesse.

"Thanks," He responded getting onto his feet.

"This way," Ellie said looking back at me and nodded.

"Okay," Jesse responded as we all followed Ellie.

We followed Ellie for several miles, eventually coming across The Pinnacle Theatre. An overgrown-with-ivy theater. Ellie knocked on the door lightly, "Dina," She called in a soft tone.

The sound of the door being unbarricaded filled my ears and it eventually opened revealing a girl a bit shorter then Ellie. The girl who I'm assuming is Dina, pulled Ellie into an embrace, "Hey."

She then turned to discover Jesse, "Oh my god," She muttered to herself and walked over to him reaching up to give him a hug, "Jesse."

"Hey Dina," He started but winced in pain.

"Hey, you okay?" She asked softly pulling apart.

"Nothin' a little sleep won't take care of," Jesse responded. As they had their moment Ellie and I just watched.

"Who's this?" Dina asked looking over to me.

"We should get inside," Ellie chimed in, completely ignoring Dina's questions as she nervously fiddled with her hands.

"Yeah, okay, come on," Dina said helping Jesse into the theater.

There was definitely some odd tension between the three of them now that we've reached Dina but I couldn't quite put my finger on what was going on.

"How'd you get past Maria?" Dina asked Jesse.

"I had to sneak out," Jesse responded whilst Ellie speechlessly rebarricaded the door with a chair. "My friends' problems are my problems. I heard you're sick?"

"Oh it's.. it's just a stomach thing. C'mon let's sit you down, huh?" She offered as she rubbed his back allowing him to sit on the sofa nearby.

Dina removed his shoes and they continued to converse with one another. Ellie stood there watching, speechless still, and fumbling with her fingers until she silently turned around with an upset face, "C'mon," She whispered to me and continued walking and I followed close behind silently.

We went upstairs and into a secluded room. Ellie sat down on a chaise and I looked over to her arm that had a pretty bad slice wound, "Hey let me help you with that," I offered.

I sat in front of her and she pulled a first aid kit from her backpack, "Jesus Claire, you're hand," Ellie said looking at the glass shards in my hand. "Let me help you with that first."

She motioned for me to sit next to her so I did. She grabbed the pair of silver tweezers from the medical supply kit and began pulling each piece of glass. I winced and slightly jumped with each pull, "Fuck."

She was pulling glass shards for the next few minutes before cleaning it up with a wound wash and bandaging it up. I turned back my attention to her and kneeled in front of her. Grabbing the sewing needle and thread from the kit, I looped the thread around the needle. Before I began stitching her back together, I cleaned her wound, "Ow fuck," She winced in pain.

"You're okay," I whispered and began to stitch her up.

Her veiny arms were trembling with each poke through her skin with the needle. The door creaked open to reveal Dina, "Jesse's passed out."

"He's a good guy," Ellie nodded her head slowly as Dina walked over, still unbothered by my presence, I'm guessing she trusted Ellie's judgement.

"Mhm," Dina responded.

I looked up to Ellie who looked back at Dina with glassy eyes, "Why didn't you tell him?" Ellie asked Dina.

"Wasn't the right time," She whispered back to Ellie.

"But now you can be a happy family," Ellie was nodding her head like a crazy person, tears brimming her eyes.

"Seriously Ellie, you don't really think-?" Dina started but Ellie cut her off.

"-No Dina, he's a good guy and you guys need each other now," Ellie mumbled, emotion strong in her voice.

I grazed Ellie's wound with my thumb as I finished sewing her up.

"Well who's this anyways?" Dina remarked with sarcastic laughter as she motioned towards me.

"Claire," Ellie leaned back in the chair with a shrug, crossing her arms.

"Like it's nothing," Dina said imitating her shrug. "What the fuck Ellie?"

"Ellie I'll go," I said standing up.

"No," Ellie grabbed my hand. "Stay. I need you, remember."

Dina sighed angrily and turned her back and walked out, slamming the door behind her. I looked over to Ellie, "Whatever game you two are playing, I want no part in it. Don't use me as a pawn piece Ellie. I'll bring you to Abby and that's it."

"What game?" Ellie shrugged acting like she didn't just use me to upset Dina.

"Don't play stupid with me Ellie," I said. "You so clearly have a thing with her and you're jealous of this Jesse dude."

Ellie sighed and rolled her eyes, "Just tell me how I can find Abby."

***
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