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“Shit,” Chris mutters, taking a couple of steps back. “Shit, Claire, I’m empty! We gotta go!” He wonders for a moment if she can hear him over her own gunfire and the groans of the undead but she glances over her shoulder at him and gives a quick nod. Together they turn and run.
“Through that alleyway!” Chris yells. Claire, the faster of the two, makes the turn first and stops suddenly. Chris slams into her and catches her by the shoulders before she can fall. The mob of zombies he wasn’t expecting turns and starts coming for them.
“We can’t go back,” Claire says and looks up, gaze frantic. “Look, a ladder!”
“Right.” Chris bends down and cups his hands. Claire puts a foot in them and he shoves her up, wincing when she misses. “Again!” She makes it this time and the ladder rolls down and hits the ground. “Go up!”
“Take this!” Claire hands him her gun before climbing up the ladder as quickly as she can. Chris starts up after her, popping off a couple of shots at the undead who get too close. He’s too focused on climbing and shooting to realize the zombie that had managed to sneak up on him until it grabs his foot.
“Shit!” Chris manages to shake it off just in time for another to claw at his leg, sinking its teeth in his shin. “Fuck, Claire!”
Claire reappears at the top of the ladder. “Duck!” she orders, swinging an old Remington Pump-action shotgun over her shoulder and sighting down. The firing is deafening and immediately afterwards Chris can’t hear anything. But the weight on his leg is gone and he keeps climbing up until he reaches Claire, whose small, strong hands grab hold of his shoulders and help pull him over the ledge.
“Shit, I need some herbs,” Chris mutters, the words quiet and far away sounding. He can vaguely hear the sound of the ladder being rolled back up before Claire appears in front of him.
“Hey, hey, c’mon. I found some with the shotgun, you’re going to be okay,” she says, reaching down and working his boot off.
“Wha...what are you doing?”
Claire rolls her eyes. “Well I’m not going to try to get your pants off to get to the bite,” she says, rolling his pants leg up. She winces. “Jesus. They really did a number on you.”
“Can’t even feel it-fuck.” For a moment the herb is white hot against the bite, before sliding into soothing coolness. He sighs, feeling tiredness soak through him.
Claire taps him on the shoulder. “C’mon, ya big lug. There’s a better place to rest just inside.” She hoists his arm over her narrow shoulders and helps him to his feet, his loose shoe dangling from her free hand. Together they go inside the abandoned apartment just as it starts to rain. Depositing him on the couch, she takes the nearby chair, sinking into it with a groan. “Get some sleep. I’ll take first watch.”
Chris doesn’t argue, just settling against the cushions. “Hey, sis?” he says after a moment.
“Yeah?”
“I would have gotten the ladder on the first try.”
Claire stifles a laugh. “Well next time I’ll throw you up then.”
“You’re damn right.” Chris drifts to sleep to Claire quietly and good-naturedly talking shit about him.