The Last of Us: The War

Ten

"Of course.." Jackie muttered.

"We're not gonna go guns blazing this time." Mark said. "They haven't noticed us yet." He looked over to Lily. "Think you can take them out with that?"

She only shrugged, no emotion on her face, just a blank expression. "Guess we'll find out..."

"Well, take out as many as you can, enough for us to get out of here." He said. "You don't need to use all of it."

She nodded, loading up her crossbow, going further into the tunnel, everyone else following close behind her. Hiding behind a bush, she peaked out around the side, pointing her weapon ahead. Getting a zombie in her shot, she fired, the arrow hitting the head, dropping it right away. Another arrow was ready, but they heard yet another familiar noise.

"Shit..." Kristen whispered. "Clickers..."

"We don't have anything to throw to distract it with." Bridget said quietly. "What're we gonna do?"

"Just don't make noises, and try to stay behind it." Mark said. "If it's really close to you, don't move."

They nodded, Lily shooting another zombie, killing it instantly. Without saying anything to them, she quickly went up the ones she killed, taking the arrows back. Looking to her right, she stayed down as she eyed the clicker, not trying to move so much.

The group slowly approached her, stepping around the debris that could make noise. Kristen found a brick, picking it up. Acknowledging Lily, she did the same, aiming her crossbow at the head. Kristen aimed the brick away from them, and threw it, hearing it hit a car, grabbing the clickers attention. They limped up to the noise, and Lily fired, hitting it in the back of the head as it dropped, twitching a few times before it was still. Heading deeper into the tunnel, they saw a few more of them, wandering around the area where the exit was.

"Of course they block the goddamn exit." Bridget hissed.

"Well..we gotta take them down." Mark said, watching Lily aim at another, shooting it in the neck. Red squirted everywhere as they fell, but what they didn't expect, was a big vehicle rolling in.

One they knew from anywhere.

"Fuck..." Jackie breathed. "It's the truck! We gotta hide!"

Not caring they would make noise at this point, they ran to the nearest hiding place, crowding around a tall enough van as they heard the giant gun constantly fire, killing all the zombies around them. A few bullets hit the van, making them more worried as it rolled closer, the giant light on top scanning every inch of the place.

"Just stay low..don't get caught in that light." Mark whispered. "You'll be fine."
They watch it come even closer, the sound of the engine getting louder. It slowly rolled along, searching for anymore victims to kill. Once the light was pointed away from them, they made a run for it, sprinting as fast as they can to a another hiding spot, ducking behind a knocked over trailer from a semi. Bridget glanced around, finding a bottle that was behind her. Picking it up, she looked over to Mark.

"I'm gonna throw this..once it hits something, we run." She said. He nodded, and she lifted her arm up, aiming it away from them. Hoping it would work, she chucked it away, hearing it hit a car. The spotlight immediately turned towards the noise, firing a few bullets. The group immediately ran out of the tunnel, coming out the other side, catching their breaths.

"Holy shit." Kristen breathed. "Oh, that was intense."

Mark looked behind him, shielding his eyes from the sun. "We gotta keep moving..that truck is probably gonna pull back out through that opening."

They started to walk when Bridget glanced back, noticing Lily just staring down the tunnel. Walking up to her, she put a hand on her shoulder.

"We have to go, Lily." She said calmly. "I know what you're thinking about, and I get it, but...we gotta keep going before it finds us again."

Turning to face her a few seconds later, she gave a small nod with no words, the two of them walking together, Bridget trying to keep her company as they followed the group.

***

They found another place that was secure enough, heading inside. The house was kind of small, but it'll do just for overnight.

"Make yourselves a home, I'll get some fire going." Mark said, gathering what he could find. Lily sat on the dusty green couch, just staring off into space while everyone else sat around the area where the fire will be. Once Mark came back with a bunch of sticks and wood he found, he set them in the middle of the room, grabbing a lighter from his back pocket. Flicking it a few times, it created a flame. Setting it in a few spots, it eventually grew, starting to give off heat.

"Get cozy while you can." Mark said.

"Did we grab any water or no?" Kristen asked. "I'm kinda thirsty."

"No, we didn't." Jackie said. "Unless you wanna look in the fridge over there, if you dare to."

"Umm I'd rather not." She said. "I don't want things jumping out at me."

"We'll find something eventually." Mark said, kneeling next to Jackie. "But for right now, we stick with what we got."

They nodded, and he glanced back over to Lily, sighing before looking back at Jackie.

"I'm gonna talk to her." He muttered, kissing the top of her head before heading over to Lily, sitting next to her on the couch.

"How you holding up?" He asked. "You can come over by us, you know."

She lifted one shoulder. "It's fine...don't wanna be upset around you guys anyway."

"Look.." He began, putting his hand on her shoulder. "You did what you had to do back there..it was either that or get killed." He looked at her in the eyes. "Besides..we did everything we could."

She felt tears sting the backs of her eyes. "I'm never gonna forgive myself for that...I just didn't want it to happen but it did...and now look...I'm a goddamn mess.."

"You're not a mess, Lily." Mark said. "You're stronger than that, believe me."

"Well I don't feel like it." Lily said, looking down at her crossbow. "I feel like I was when we had to kill you."

"But it's not that this time." He said. "I'm sure Sean isn't gonna be mad for what you did."

"I don't know what to think anymore..." She put her head in her hands. "Just leave me alone..."

Giving her a slightly sad look, he patted her shoulder before standing up, heading back over to the others.

"Is she okay?" Kristen asked.

He shook his head. "Not really...it's pretty rough for her right now so..just leave it at that."

They talked about other things for a while, having a couple laughs every now and again. At least it was something better than what they deal with now.

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