“This is not a good idea,” Emma whispered from the doorway as Lincoln glared at her, gesturing for her to cut it out.
“If you say one more word,” he mouthed, furiously, “you will get us killed. Who’s the rookie here, you or her?” He pointed over at me as I furrowed my brow at his latest attack.
“You two stop it,” Holden hissed, drawing their attention back to the crowd in the distance.
“Right,” Lincoln relented, turning away from Emma. “We stick to the plan.”
She gritted her teeth, scowling at his back as he progressed forwards, planting his feet as lightly as possible.
The plan was to split, something that I wasn’t keen on, and then distract and divide the crowd. It didn’t seem like a particularly fool proof plan to me, but there wasn’t really another option – apart from going home, but I’d stomped on that one. Lincoln motioned to us one by one, pointing us in our separate directions. Holden and I were heading to the east side of the mall, Emma and Lincoln to the west side. The arms store was on the east side, and I’d been selected to break in. Why I’d been trusted with such an important task, and by Lincoln nonetheless – who thought I was an idiot – was beyond me. I was uncomfortable with being given arguably the most important role, but I was still riding on my opposition of Lincoln’s insults, so I crept quietly towards my allocated position on the second floor, thankfully undetected. I glanced around, but I was mostly alone up here, bar the few stragglers at the far end of the walkway. I peeked as inconspicuously as I could over the railings, down to where Lincoln had placed himself on the ground floor. He looked over to Holden, who was below me, and to Emma, who was adjacent to me, on the opposite walkway. He counted down on his fingers silently at us all.

Holden leapt into action first, banging the stock of his rifle repetitively against the glass door behind him. The infected jerked their heads up, cracking their jaws as they began staggering towards him. I clenched my jaw as I watched them advancing on him. They were all starving, their skin pulled tightly around their bones, making Jesse’s words echo around my mind as the pack moved.
‘A hungry biter will chase you down until you can’t run any longer.’
Jeez, I hoped these guys knew what they were doing. Perhaps, on reflection, I’d actually been given the easiest role to play. Deep down, I knew I would never handle that many coming at me. I was already feeling flighty, and I didn’t even have to draw anything towards me. Lincoln hollered out next, causing a split in the group. Emma followed with her distraction shortly after, and chaos ensued as the hunters began to realise that they were, in fact, the hunted. I took my cue to sneak to the arms store, my heart thundering in my ears as I did so. Fumbling with the bolt cutters that Lincoln had shoved into my hands earlier, I set to work on the padlocks that held the shutters down. My palms were sweaty and my fingers trembled as I cut through the first lock. I tried to stem my panic, knowing that I needed my wits about me for the next part of the job. As I clipped through the final padlock, I gripped the chains next to me. The shouts of the group echoed around my ears as I took a deep breath and hauled downwards on the thick chain in my hands. With a harsh, grinding screech, the shutters juddered heavily before beginning a slow crawl upwards. I could feel every set of reddened eyes snap towards me. Spurred on in my panic, a guttural grunt escaped from my throat as I threw my weight into lifting the rusted shutters as they approached. The metal finally raised enough to reveal the entire shop door with seconds to spare, and I ripped away from them, throwing myself into the door as hands clawed at me.

I slammed it shut behind me, pushing my back against it to hold it closed. It wasn’t an easy feat when there were at least ten bodies pushing back against it. I cried out as the glass panel cracked behind me, praying that Lincoln, Emma and Holden were picking them off fast enough. A hand finally crashed into the glass, breaking a small hole into it, and fingers wrapped into my hair and gripped tightly. I tried pulling away, but they caught fast in my tangled waves. Eventually, I ripped myself away, losing a small amount of hair in the process, but keeping my humanness. Pulling the arm along with me had dragged its owner into the rest of the intact pane, causing it to shatter explosively. The woman crashed through the door, not hesitating for a second in dragging herself up from the floor. She launched herself in my direction, colliding into me with a force that sent us tumbling across the shop floor. We barrelled into a heavy stand that teetered threateningly as we rolled in our tussle. I pushed myself out of the way as the whole thing came crashing down upon my attacker’s legs, pinning her in place. As I wasted no time in looking up, I could see another one clambering through the crowded door frame. Lincoln, Emma and Holden were now visible through the gaps in the horde though, blood pooling at their feet as they took the others out one by one.

The second one lumbered towards me, cracking his jaw viciously as he closed the distance between us. I’d completely lost my nerve, and let out a gasp as he threw himself onto me. I hit the floor with a thud for the second time, knocking the air out of my lungs. His fingers wrap around my arm as he growled in excitement, bring his teeth down to my face. A scream escaped from my lips as death snapped at me, but as quickly as it had flown at me, it was ripped away. Lincoln dragged the man back, expertly driving a knife into his neck. The body fell limp instantly and he tossed it to the side as though it was a piece of trash.
“WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?” Lincoln bellowed, throwing his arms in the air. He turned to Emma, who was about to finish off the woman trapped under the fallen shelf and snarled, “Don’t fucking touch it.”
Emma stepped back nervously from the venom dissipating from his voice into the atmosphere. Holden was stood in the doorway, surrounded by bodies, panting as he watched Lincoln warily. He turned back to me, a fiery anger dancing in his eyes.
“I asked you a question,” he growled. “Why didn’t you kill it?”
“I... he was person,” I argued, weakly.
Lincoln gripped his fingers around my wrist firmly, pulling me to my feet. Without a second thought, he dragged me over to the scrabbling woman and threw me down at the floor. I let out a yelp as he wound his fingers into my hair, holding my face inches from the woman’s clawing arms and held a knife by my throat with his free hand.
“Is that a person?” he roared, shaking me as I whimpered.
Emma called out in shock, “Lincoln, what are you doing?”
“Shut up,” he barked at her, giving me another shake. “Tell me what that is.”
I didn’t answer, only able to let out a strangled cry of distress as the nails swiped at me.
“IT’S A FUCKING BITER,” Lincoln snarled, his grip on my hair tightening. “What is it?”
“A b-biter,” I stuttered, as tears leaked from my eyes.
“That’s right,” he spat, sliding me closer a few inches, until she could almost touch me. “It’s a BITER, and it will kill you. It doesn’t have feelings, it’s not a person and you need to fucking treat it like the shit it is. Tell me again what it is.”
“It’s a biter,” I whimpered, as he shook me harder, digging his knee into my back.
“Louder,” he ordered, digging the knife at my skin.
“A BITER,” I cried out, as Emma gasped.
“Lincoln!” Holden shouted, his voice ringing out. Lincoln shoved me aside and thrust his knife into the eye of the… the biter. It crumpled into itself as blood poured from it. Lincoln put his foot against its head and ripped his knife back out. A creeping silence fell over the mall, broken only by my soft sobs as I lay curled up on the floor.
“Stop fucking crying,” Lincoln hissed, turning away from me in disgust and scowling at our audience of two. “What are you waiting for? Load up on ammo like you’re fucking supposed to be doing.”
Emma and Holden skittered off to various shelves without argument, loading up their packs.
Lincoln watched them, his lips pressed tightly together as he spoke at me.
“Get up, Marina, and get your shit together.”

I bit my lip as he eyed me accusingly.
“Where have you been?” he repeated, his face tense.
“Brian, please,” I begged, my lip trembling. “I just… I wanted to understand.”
“Understand what exactly, Marina?” he asked, his mouth twisting. It was easy to read the painfully clear look of betrayal on his face.
“I didn’t look at anything,” I whispered under my breath, “I swear I didn’t.”
He swallowed back his emotion and I watched a thousand thoughts float around his mind, none of which I had the privilege to be privy to anymore.
“I'm…” he began, trailing off into silence before he could get anywhere.
“I didn’t look,” I tried again, lamely, as he nodded.
“But you went looking, clearly,” he argued, shakily. “What were you trying to do, dig up my fucking skeletons?”
The hurt in his voice pained me, and I looked up at him pleadingly.
“Of course not,” I sighed, as he searched me for answers I didn’t have. “I… I just wanted to know her.”
“Like we know you?” Brian asked, his voice enveloped in sarcasm as he raised an eyebrow.
I fell quiet for a moment, “There’s nothing to know about me.”
“Hallie seems to think otherwise,” he replied, coldly.
“Maybe Hallie is right,” I shrugged, unwilling to fight my own corner. Hallie probably had a pretty spot on opinion of me right now. Brian screwed his face up.
“What happened with Viola?” he asked, staring me down.
“What?” I stuttered, completely unprepared for the question. “Are you serious right now?”
“Were you serious when you went looking for Blair’s stuff?” he countered.
“Jesus. You know what? Fuck you, Brian,” I scoffed in disbelief.
“No, fuck you,” he hissed back, breathing heavily as he tried to refrain from saying more.
“I think we’re done here,” I replied, slowly, bringing my voice back to a level.
“Yeah, I think we are,” he spat. “So, you can leave.”
“Leave?” I asked, quietly.
“Get out of my house,” he reiterated, his dark eyes boring into me. I was still breathing shakily from our exchange, but I refused to show him my shock. Instead, I nodded once, and stood, grabbing my pack from the side of the bed. My heart thumped wildly as I let steady, but brisk, steps carry me out of the room. I had a clear exit to the door, perhaps for the best. I didn’t fancy answering any questions right now. Hesitation coursed through me as I made to pull it closed behind me, though. I was leaving Hallie behind. I don’t think she would have cared that I was, but I did. I still loved her with all my heart, and I was still hoping for her forgiveness. And there was not only Hallie. As much as I hated to admit it, someone else was lingering on the edge of my thoughts. Jimmy.

Shaking off my doubts, I closed the door on what had been a short chapter of my life and set off towards the gate. I don’t know where everyone was, but they weren’t outside, and I was glad. I was happy to steal away without explanation. I was sure Brian would fill everyone in anyway, and I didn’t really fancy seeing Jimmy’s face when Brian unearthed my desecration of Blair’s memory. The gate was locked, but I scaled it with ease, dropping onto the sidewalk on the other side. As soon as my feet touched the pavement, the tears came. Selfish tears. Not for Hallie, not for Viola, not for Esther; they came for me. I’d never felt more settled or safe than I had since meeting these people, and now I was alone. Completely alone. Hallie, though... Hallie was safe, and for that I was so grateful. She would always be safer with them than with me. I couldn't deny that, so I ran away from it. My feet carried me forwards as my tears slid down my face, in a strange synchronisation with each other. My heart pumped the blood around my body determinedly, pushing me forwards with each beat. I had no idea how I’d get there, but I knew where I was going. It was the only place I wanted to go. The only place I wanted to be. She was the only person I wanted to see.
I’m coming back for you, Viola.

Notes

I swear, I'm going to wipe the fucking floor with Lincoln. Jeez.