Archive of Our Own

"Everyone I have cared for has either died or left me. Everyone… Except for you." -Ellie, The Last of Us

ALL GONE

"Emma, tell me the infected stages once again."

"Jack, I told you, I've already memorized-"

"Emma."

"Stage one, Runners, the first and the weakest stage. People who have been infected show hostility and irritability as they enter this first stage, though they still seem human. As the name suggests, Runners move really fast. They have poor eyesight and they usually attack in packs."

"Good, continue."

"Stage two, Stalkers. The most notable physical traits that define them are the distinct croaking noises they make, the beginning of fungal growths on the head and face with only one eye left. They will strafe and take cover, eventually closing in on the victim, hence the name Stalker."

"Stage three?"

"Stage three, Clickers. About a year after you get the fungus, you become a Clicker. They are able to maneuver through areas by utilizing echolocation, which produces noticeable screeching noises, that's why we name them Clickers. They appear less human than the first two stages, the fungus takes all over their face, they are completely blind. Jack, do I have to-"

"Yes."

"Stage four, Bloaters. They are the rarest but the most dangerous ones. They are covered in a thick fungus that effectively acts as armor. They move slow, they use echolocation to see, just like Clickers. There is no way for a human to defend themselves if a Bloater grabs them, they kill instantly. Bloaters also throw sacks of mycotoxin, which explode on impact."

"So?"

"So never get infected. Survive, at any price."

"J-Jack." the eleven years old stuttered out, she was darting her brown eyes at her hand, the mixture of fear and despair was taking control of her body. "We are both... bitten."

"I know. I know, sis." the fourteen years old replied hastily, he strived to hide his own panic. Nevertheless, he could feel the sweat dripping down from his muscles, in addition, his entire body was shuddering... He felt numb, his throat was too dry and he had no idea what to do.

"What should we do?" the young girl, Emma asked with a husky and shaky tone.

She didn't want to turn into one of those inhuman things, neither did he. He refused to be a monster whose body was mutated by cordyceps fungus. He'd rather die than being an 'infected'.

Jack raised his pistol, placed the muzzle on his temple.

Endure and survive

what remains cannot stay forever

no longer beauty

no longer dignity

no longer mercy

The familiar song that he has started to hear lately echoed in his head... It was funny, funny how he was listening to those painful lyrics as he was about to die.

The boy removed the gun that was terribly vibrating because of his wobbly hand, then he let himself drop the revolver on the ground.

He was a coward that desired to live, even though he had no life to live anymore.

Her eyes opened slowly, in a fed-up way, they glared at the room that was illuminated by the morning sun. There was not a single slightest movement on the young woman's face, she neither was yawning due to her awakening nor enjoying the pleasant light that was warming her.

Without losing time, she immediately got up from her bed, or rather from a handful of rags that she had laid on the floor. She cursed under her breath in a raucous way, her whole body was aching, she felt sore.

She wore her coat without lingering around, she has slept in her everyday clothes so she didn't need to change her outfit. As she left the room, she didn't forget to take her backpack and her guns, yes, she was safe for now, nevertheless, she mustn't have let her guards down.

"Good morning Els."

"Morning, Hic." she greeted her friend, she forced out a smile to lighten up the mood in the room. Nothing was going right, but she couldn't demoralize the group with her grumpiness.

"We got beans for breakfast." the young man informed her bluntly.

He was crouching down next to the gas cylinder, Elsa could easily see the can that he was struggling to heat... One can of disgusting beans and seven people. Great.

"Want some?" Hiccup offered with a dry tone, his green eyes were averting her gaze.

"No, thank you... I am full." she lied without hesitation, her small and strained smile was no longer there, she wasn't that powerful to keep it for long.

She was starving... She and the whole group haven't been putting enough food in their mouths for days. Her friends needed to eat, more than she did. She could take care of herself. She had to.

At least, a few days ago she had found a small bag of coffee beans in a random supermarket. Of course, the product was long expired due to the humid and due to the fact that it had been laying on that supermarket shelf at least for three decades. Still, she was lucky, coffee beans were rare to find and she absolutely adored coffee. She was more than happy to eat the coffee beans so that they would suppress her hunger, she was lucky that no one in the group except her liked coffee.

"Your loss." he muttered quietly while he was stirring the beans with a fork.

"The others are awake?" she changed the topic, she wanted to quell the fact that they ran out of supplies, at least a bit longer.

"Yes." Hiccup retorted while he was nodding. He ultimately rested his gaze on her, his lips curled up a little, he too was trying his best to ignore the fact that everything was messed up. "Rapunzel and Anna are checking up on Kristoff, Astrid is... searching for Jack."

An exhausted sigh escaped from her lips thus she expressed her frustration, however, apart from that, her features were apathetic. Though, admittedly, her head was aching. She couldn't even feel mad anymore, he had done this for dozens of times. Jack wandered away and simply left the group whenever he liked to, he did not mind the consequences at all.

Without saying anything, she slowly walked towards the closed bedroom door to check on the others, more specifically, Kristoff. Just when she was about whirl the doorknob, she hears the muffled moans of her friend, who was obviously in great pain.

She entered the room and did not take a further glance at Hiccup even though she could feel that he was watching them, particularly the injured man through the open door.

"Good morning... How are you, Kristoff?" she asked with a rigid, emotionless tone.

The young man didn't respond because he was half-unconscious, his eyelids were shut down but there was a deep scowl on his face. He was laying on a bed, it was rusty and old, regardless, it was the only bed they could find in this house. His lips were barely moving, still, Elsa could see that he was mumbling a few words that weren't audible enough for her to understand.

"Elsa..." Anna stood up from the bed that she was sitting on, she instantly crushed her sister into a tight embrace, Elsa didn't hesitate to embrace her back. To soothe her dear sister, she began to stroke her strawberry blonde, greasy hair. They hadn't got the chance to take a shower in a long time.

"Rapunzel, can you inform me about his... arm?" Elsa raised a question while she was eying the young man, whose left arm was no longer there.

"He needs medication to ease the pain and help prevent infection. Kristoff is a tough guy, still, he lost a limb. He won't be able to continue with the journey for a couple of days. We need to stay here until he regains his strength." her cousin Rapunzel enlightened her, her green eyes were hollow, her features were weary. It was as if she had aged ten years after Eugene's death.

As Anna finally broke the hug, Elsa's gaze shifted to Rapunzel's belly, which was swollen. "How's the baby?"

"My baby is fine... Eugene would have teased me about gaining weight if he has seen my belly." she murmured softly, her lips twitched, a fond but bitter smile spread all over her face.

"He would have." Anna repeated quietly. "Merida would complain about how difficult it is to take care of a baby but she would have loved the baby more than anything, being a softie that she...was."

No one dared to say anything after that statement, the grim aura has already filled the room. Elsa closed her eyes as she inhaled sharply. Her hands were shaped in fists, her nails were digging into her palms.

Soon after, the silence dissolved when they heard Astrid's voice. Elsa swiftly turned around and got out of the room, her palms were sweaty due to her... concern.

She sighed in relief as soon as she caught the glimpse of Astrid and Jack, who were alive and in one piece.

They too, seemed worn out, just like the rest of them. No one was speaking, not even Astrid, normally, she would stubbornly reprimand Jack whenever he vanished. However, the others including her simply accepted the defeat. They all warned Jack about his sudden disappearance but it was no use, the young man hardly ever obeyed Elsa's commands.

She didn't know why she kept him around, he always endangered the group and as the leader, she had to act responsibly. Nonetheless, deep down, she exactly knew why she let him stick with the group...

"I found a letter on a dead Fedra soldier." Jack blurted out without giving an explanation of why he had left in the first place, it didn't matter anyway. "Thanks to that government's dog, we may have a chance." he spat out, the hatred in his voice was evident.

They all loathed the government, the curfew, the rules... Even though they had lost a lot, Elsa was still content with the decision of escaping from Boston, one of the quarantine zones of the government.

Jack stretched out a piece of foxed paper and handed it to her, she accepted it without looking at his eyes. She began to read the letter that was written in messy handwriting.

Ethan,

I messed up. Elizabeth is dead, she is freaking dead and the only thing I could do was to watch her getting killed by a Clicker. I ran away but there were too many infected. A Runner bit me. I am dead, I am dead, I don't want to become one of those bastards! I've made my decision, I'll kill myself. That's the right thing to do, am I wrong?

I hope you are doing well and you've reached the old town hall. We got informed that there were plenty of supplies, everything in there.

Don't you dare to die, you hear me? Mom can't take it if she finds out that both of her sons are dead. Hope you are in a better condition than me, brother.

Mark

"No."

"This is our best shot!" Jack instantly started to argue, his tone indicated that he was annoyed. "We ran out of supplies. We need food, medicine, we need more guns, bullets-"

"I said no." she hissed with a commanding tone that usually worked on others, but never on Jack. "We are not going, it is in the center of the town, we are not getting closer to there." she said her final words, praying that he wouldn't argue.

It was risky, too risky. They had discovered this suburb that was out of the town by pure luck. They all knew that there were probably too many infected in the town, they would surely be dead if they were crazy enough to go there. Besides, how could they be certain that there were supplies in the town hall? Even Fedra has lost their power in this town, how could they, seven people, one injured and one pregnant, manage to survive in the town?

"Kristoff lost his arm because of those bastards, you didn't even let us get revenge!" Jack cried out angrily, he wasn't trying to hide his hostility. "He is dying, he is freaking dying, Elsa. We have to get medication for him."

Elsa shivered at the mention of that gang. It has been two days and she still remembered that moment so vividly, she knew she would never be able to forget it. A bunch of thugs ambushed them for no particular reason, on the top of it, they attempted to torture them. If Rapunzel was caught, there would be no one to save them. Still, none of them would forget that day because before Rapunzel could save them, the thugs cut Kristoff's arm in front of their eyes... And all they, all Elsa could do was to watch.

She wanted to get revenge, to kill every single one of them, to steal what they have... But if she did, Kristoff wouldn't be alive now.

"I am not gonna repeat myself, Jack." she declared confidently, her face, her whole body was lifeless, unemotional. But from the inside, she was in pain, she was buried deep in sorrow.

"Nonsense!" Anna shrieked all of a sudden, regardless, Elsa wasn't surprised at all. "Elsa! Jack is right, we have to go! If we don't, it means we leave Kristoff to die!"

She furiously shook her head as she clenched her teeth. She took a glance at her each friend, Hiccup was still busy with the can of beans, Astrid was leaning on the wall and staring at the floor with her arms crossed, Rapunzel was stroking her belly, tears were streaming down Anna's face, but she wasn't weeping loudly. Jack... Jack was fuming, he was glaring at her with so much hatred. It wasn't because he despised her, it was because he disliked knowing that she was right.

"Elsa... I love him. I will never, never forgive you if you don't let us go." her sister snarled, her nails were digging into her palms, just like Elsa, she did that whenever she was enraged or distressed.

"He is my best friend, Anna." she stated with a collected manner, "Don't you believe I care about him? I grew up with him. Of course, I want to save him as much as you do. But I can't, we can't. We lost enough. Eugene, Merida... I can't bear to lose more. I don't say we stop trying, I say we should create a safer strategy to find medications for Kristoff."

She stood still as Jack came closer to her, as always, her body reflected no emotion, not a single muscle moved. He was still glaring at her, his eyebrows were knitted together as he placed his index finger on her shoulder.

"Screw you." he growled with a hoarse, hateful voice, then he pushed her harshly and walked out of the room.

"He is gone."

She scoffed dryly, her blue eyes darkened while she was weighing her options. "I'll go after him. You all stay here, protect yourselves and Kristoff, we still have our guns, we should have enough bullets if we use them wisely." she instructed the group with a determined expression on her face.

"No," Rapunzel disagreed promptly. "We need to develop a proper plan and act together." she proposed the logical action, but Elsa wasn't going to listen to her.

"I didn't volunteer for to be the group leader. You chose me for this position so you better follow my orders. No one is coming with me, you are all gonna stay here and wait for us. If we don't come back-"

"Please don't say that-" Anna interrupted her with a broken, raspy voice.

"If we die, you better get yourself together quickly. You'll go to Santa Barbara and join Fireflies. Endure and survive, that's what it is all about."

In this world... There were people that became disgusting creatures because of a fungus. The government fought against the other organizations and called them terrorists even though some weren't. In this world, people slaughtered the infected and also other people repeatedly.

However, in this world, there were also... soulmates. It was interesting that the concept of soulmates didn't fade away after the outbreak. Humanity lost so much during and after the outbreak, there was no true happiness in this world, there was just relief, the brief feeling of relaxation if one accomplished living for another day.

Nevertheless, soulmates did exist no matter what. Just like the old times, people still had an inner song that only they knew. If two people shared the same inner song, this meant, they were soulmates.

Humans weren't born with the inner songs, they appeared out of blue, they didn't exist in a person's mind at a certain age, they appeared when an important event occurred in one's life. This meant that, if two people have been through the same or extremely similar event that had a crucial place in their lives, they would hear the same inner song that only they knew, they would be soulmates.

Elsa never believed that she could have a soulmate. How could she? She was born into a world that had no room for goodness and kindness, she was undoubtedly living in the worst times of humanity. Furthermore, it was not that rare to witness that some people never had an inner song in their heads. It was quite logical to assume that she was one of them.

Yet, when she reached thirteen, after that incident happened, she began to hear her inner song, which was... quite disappointing if she had to confess. She didn't want to have a soulmate, love meant weakness, she has already cared about enough people, she didn't want to add more to the list.

To her, having a soulmate meant nothing but trouble, thus she couldn't stand the idea of someone, falling head over heels in love with her. It was such an absurd concept, so bizarre that she convinced herself that it would never happen, she would never meet a random person that she instantly fell in love. Love at first sight did not exist, soulmates were overrated.

Therefore, she didn't tell anyone that she too had an inner song that only she and her unknown soulmate had known. What would be the point anyways? Anna and Rapunzel would squeal and make assumptions about her soulmate's appearance and personality for hours... She didn't want to waste her time thinking about a person who would be a burden. She didn't want romantic love, she didn't want someone to be in charge of her heart and her feelings, no, she had more important things to do, such as... living for another day.

"Not joining the others, eh?"

"I don't see the point of swimming... We've already showered. Besides, someone's gotta watch out for a probable danger. I am more than happy to take the first patrol." she retorted with a monotone tone, she was sitting on the grass with her knees drawn to herself.

The young man let a low chuckle as he settled down next to her, he was copying her sitting position. She paid no mind to him, her cold, hollow blue eyes were watching the lake and her friends.

"Pft, killjoy." he said between his chortles, then, he playfully hit her arm, causing her lips to twitch a little. "They seem happy."

Kristoff had Anna, Eugene had Rapunzel on their shoulders, the girls were pushing and shoving each other, the boys were trying not to lose their balance as they were splashing water at each other. All four of them were convulsed with laughter. Hiccup, being the nerd he was, was busy with searching for fishes, he has been diving into the water and attempting to catch one. Astrid was mocking him nonstop, but she was also helping him with his search. Jack was right, their friends did seem... joyful.

She couldn't have asked more than that, their happiness was her happiness.

"You are not having fun with them either." she pointed out, she actually made an effort to sound humorous but her voice was tepid instead.

"I am not exactly comfortable with showing my body." he admitted easily, his lips were pursed together now.

She could feel herself frowning in bafflement, she was trying to figure out if he was being honest or not. "You? The cockiest guy I've ever met is uncomfortable with people seeing his body? You love showing off!"

He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, there was a sloppy grin on his handsome features. "I am totally fine if you see me nake-"

She punched him from his arm, not too hardly but also not too softly to indicate that she wasn't going to flirt back. "Save your cheesy lines for another girl, Jack."

"Duly noted."

Fortunately, after that, he did not make a remark, the duo simply allowed silence to replace their conversation. It wasn't the most comfortable one, she could definitely feel his tension but still, to her, the stillness was indeed pleasing. She liked not being forced to speak, she was never good with words.

The delightful moment lasted until Jack decided to break it. "It is not your fault y'know. What happened to Merida... There was nothing you could do."

She sharply winced in pain, her features creased because of distress. She clenched her nails into her palms as she made a fist. "I don't want to talk about this."

"Elsa, look at me." he ordered her with a serious, intense tone. She wanted to avert his gaze... Nonetheless, eventually, she rested her eyes on his blue ones. "You have nightmares about her. Nearly every night, you wake up while you are screaming her name. You have to talk about your feelings, even if you don't want it, that's the healthy thing to do."

"Stop-"

"No, you have to open up to someone-"

"I said stop!" she cried out loudly, caused him to startle in surprise, his eyes widened at her sudden burst.

She never raised her voice, never, she was always reserved, collected, cold-blooded. And yet, here she was, shivering violently while she was wrapping her arms around her legs. She had to get herself together, right now.

"It is my fault," she declared quietly, "I shouldn't have instructed the group to go from that way. I should have chosen the safer route even if it took us more time. Merida died because I wanted to buy us more time."

"You couldn't have known. Maybe the safer route to get out of Seattle would be more dangerous, you can't know that. What happened has happened, it wasn't your fault." he immediately retorted as he was fiddling with the fabric of his hoodie.

"I am the leader. I am responsible for all of you. I am not going to change my mind about this, Jack. Let's just move on from this topic, there is no point of discussing." she reasoned so that she could put an end to the discussion.

Thankfully, he did not say pester her about this incredibly touchy subject. However, after a couple of minutes, he did open his mouth to speak once again.

"I wanna show you something... But you have to promise you will try not to freak out."

She narrowed her eyes, then eyed at him suspiciously, she was attempting to figure out what he was hiding. Obviously, she wasn't going to discover that until he told her. Ultimately, curiosity got the better of her, so she nodded her head to approve his statement. "I won't, go on."

He sucked a deep breath, his hand shifted to his hoodie once again, they were awfully shaking. He began to lift up his hoodie, he sure was taking his time.

When he finally moved it up enough for her to realize what he was striving to show, she leaped backward in utter shock. Quickly, she pulled out her handgun from her backpack, she was holding the pistol with both hands and pointing the muzzle at the young man in front of him, her hands were jerking, even much more than his.

"W-What is that?" she stuttered out, when he attempted to reach out for her with his arm, she immediately went backward. "Stay away from me!" she shouted, the gun was still aimed at him.

"Elsa, listen to me. Let me explain." he said with a pleading voice, his blue eyes were watching her intensely with a hint of fear.

She didn't have the power to say no as she was staring at those blue eyes. "You got only ten seconds. If I am not satisfied with your answer, I'll shoot you." she proclaimed harshly, her gaze shifted to his abdomen, where the bitemark of an infected was located at.

"I am immune." he stated curtly.

"Bullshit," she spat out confidently, "No one is immune. If you get bitten by an infected, you become an infected in a few days. That's the first thing you ever learn."

He raised an eyebrow, indicating that he wasn't impressed with her answer. "Then, enlighten me, why is this bite mark not fresh?"

The mark didn't seem like it was a few days old, it seemed like it has been there for... years. He clearly had a point on that one, the mark on his skin was faint, it should have been fresh as he put it out.

Elsa lowered her pistol, she cussed without attempting to sound quiet. He was... immune. That was impossible and ridiculous but she couldn't deny the truth that has been laying in front of her eyes.

"I assume you have plenty of questions." he murmured under his breath as he fixated his clothes.

She rolled her eyes in slight irritation, of course she had questions... But she didn't know if she crossed the line with the one question that she truly was curious about. "I've got a personal question. May I ask, if that's okay with you?"

"Go on."

"How did you get infected?"

His expression unsurprisingly darkened at her words, a pained grimace spread over his face. He swallowed, then ran a hand through his messy hair nervously. "I was fourteen... I and my sister decided to escape from the city, we didn't want to become a Fedra soldier when we grew up. Back then too, we wanted to join Fireflies." he began to explain, he clenched his jaw whereas he was staring blankly at the ground.

"I thought, the outside couldn't have been worse than the city. I hadn't seen an infected before, I thought I could beat them. I was being foolish, so foolish that it resulted in an infected biting me and my sister."

"Your sister..." Elsa's voice trailed off.

"She is dead."

He did not have to tell her what had happened, it has already been crystal clear... He murdered his own sister so that she wouldn't turn into an infected.

She wanted to comfort him, tell him that it wasn't his fault, that he was naive and just a child. However, she knew, those reasons wouldn't appease him, in the end, he had to kill his sister, nothing could change that, nothing could make his agony go away.

So, she simply changed the topic. "Who else does know that you are immune?"

"Hiccup and Astrid, you three are the only ones. Of course, I am extremely secretive about this so you better not tell anyone, not even Anna."

"Why do you show me this? How could you know I wouldn't kill you as soon as I saw that mark?"

He gave her a look that she couldn't exactly figure out what it had meant... Still, she could sense his gratitude. "You saved my, Hiccup's and Astrid's life, you let us join the group, you gave us supplies. You deserve to know the truth, I owe you that. And I knew you weren't going to kill me because well... you are an idiot. You were dumb enough to wait for me to explain, you hesitated to murder me right away. You are stupid because... You care about me. Shit, you are so damn stupid."

"Says the fool himself." she retorted rapidly. "You are still staying with us, you didn't abandon the group-"

"Moving with a group has its own advantages."

"You risked your life to save me back in Seattle. You are an idiot too."

His lips curled up as soon those words left her mouth, then he chuckled in amusement while he was bobbing his head in disagreement. Regardless, he didn't reason because he had no further argumentation, they both knew that.

He simply stretched out his arm and placed his left hand on the grass, she did the same action with her right hand. The pinky fingers were too short to reach for each other, the thumbs were too far away. But the other ones... His fingers were on hers, they were enjoying the sensation of the contact.

She heard his deep but gentle voice, singing the lyrics quietly... She didn't know he could sing, admittedly, he sounded pleasant, wonderful even. "Endure and survive

what remains cannot stay forever

no longer beauty

no longer dignity

no longer mercy"

She was not shocked, she wasn't even surprised. Deep down, she knew, she always did. When she first caught the glimpse of him, she knew, they shared the same inner song.

When he paused, she decided to go along with him.

"It is all red and black

the blood in our hands

the darkness in our souls" she sang the lyrics that have been lingering on her mind for years. She realized... She has never sung this song out loud before.

"That's what it is all about

you either get killed or kill

everyone fights to breathe

no one fights to leave"

"In the end,

the trigger is pulled

the weak is culled

the innocence is plucked

what remains is all gone"

"Endure and survive

we are no longer humans

nothing can last forever

everything is all gone"

"When did you begin to hear this song?" she asked him softly.

"When I first killed an infected... When I was fourteen. What about you?"

"When I was thirteen."

He scoffed bitterly. "Funny how the others have a cheesy love song in their heads while we are stuck with this shitty one. It sucks... soulmate."

They didn't kiss, didn't hug, didn't confess their undying love.

An outbreak had occurred thirty years ago, long before they were born. Their world was red and black, there were no room emotions, the things that truly made them humans. They were the children of famine, destruction and death, things were more complicated now.

Regardless, the young, strong fingers, they kept brushing each other, they kept feeling their presence.

"I know, soulmate."

"Jackpot." the young man mumbled under his breath as he took a generous bite from the dried meat, then he grabbed the medicines and tugged them into his backpack.

He discovered a treasury, the government was useful for once. There were so, so many weapons in the town hall. He immediately threw his old, rusty rifle away and got himself a brand-new sniper rifle with a scope, he also took an M16. His backpack was full to the brim with bullets, grenades, canned food and pills.

He really hit the jackpot, it was a shame that the others didn't see this place, they could have loot as much as they wanted.

He felt good, he felt really good. For once, he was right and Elsa was wrong, now he would bring all of the medications that Rapunzel required him and save Kristoff's life.

The young man flinched a little when he heard the low creak that came from the exit, his grip on his M16 tightened, he aimed at the closed door and was ready to shoot.

He knew, the person behind the door was human, not an infected. If it was an infected, they would scream and would break the door open instead of pushing the doorknob gently.

"Jack, it is me." he heard a familiar voice, regardless, his gun was aimed at the target until he detected the platinum blonde hair and the pale face of the young woman.

"Welcome to my territory, my lady." he greeted her with a cocky expression on his face, he was grinning from ear to ear. "We got everything here, food, pills, guns, grenades-"

"You should have listened to me." she cut him off with a stiff, stern tone, she wasn't smiling.

He felt irritated and hurt at her attitude, what did he expect, of course, she would scold him instead of appreciating him. She was mistreating him and he had enough of that. "Yeah, well my disobedience brought us to here. So you are welcome." he snapped, didn't strive to sound gentle.

"When we return, if you don't follow my commands, you are out, you are not one of us, you can go and find Fireflies on your own. I won't go after you to save you, not anymore." she proclaimed so naturally, as if the weight of those words weren't a big deal, as if she didn't shatter his heart into pieces.

He had nothing to say, he was speechless, he contended with glaring at her coldly.

"You are putting everyone on a risk, yourself included." she proceeded with chiding him.

He could feel himself shuddering, visible enough for her to see it. He uttered profanity as he ran a hand through his hair, then darted his gaze at her once again. "Can't you be proud of me, just for once? I found this place and now we can save Kristoff's life!" he exclaimed without hiding his frustration.

"You stupidness is going to result in death."

"You are the one who is foolish." he hissed with a growl. "I didn't ask to be followed and yet here you are. I never asked for your help, Elsa. So fuck off and let me save our friends' lives because you are obviously not capable of doing that."

He could easily discern the hurt in her eyes, he did want to offend her, to rub salt in her wound and he accomplished that quite successfully. However, now, a wave of guilt hit him hard, he realized this wasn't what he desired. Yes, he wanted to prove to her that he was right but not by upsetting her and saying ridiculous things that he didn't mean.

He attempted to reach out for her so that he could apologize and appease her, he didn't wish to argue with her. Nevertheless, before his hand could catch her wrist, they heard the screeching noises that gave shivers down their spine.

"Clickers," Jack breathed out as Elsa has already been clasping an M16 and 5,56 mms. "Let's try not to shoot them." he reminded her, she was nodding in agreement hastily.

Clickers couldn't see, it would be easier if they got out of the building by being as silent as possible.

"Aren't you gonna loot?" he asked with a hushed tone when they simultaneously crouched down next to the counter, they began loading their guns.

"Already did." she replied curtly.

They looked at each other for a brief moment, as they nodded their heads, they stood up at the same time and started to move with cautious, gentle steps.

When they reached the door, a nervous exhale escaped from Jack's mouth. He touched the doorknob and he pushed it towards down as slowly as possible. Then, as he nudged the door, a low creak came out from it. He and she held their breaths, eyes were wide open as they waited for the Clickers. Luckily, not a single Clicker appeared on their sight.

They were walking faster now, they had to get out of here and-

Jack stood still as the blood drained from his face. A dog was in front of them with its tongue hanging out of its mouth, it was wagging its tail in the excitement of seeing them.

"Hey, buddy." Elsa mumbled as she kneeled down silently, her voice was shaky and eyes were filled with utter fear. "Now, just stay quiet-"

The loud howl of the dog echoed in the corridor.

For a second, everything was still, the world was silent. But it didn't last long, soon, the corridor, the hall, the entire building was filled with gruesome clicking, screeching noises that jarred every bone in his body.

"Shit." he only managed to say.

"Run!" she shrieked in terror, Clickers have already been approaching them promptly, thankfully they weren't as fast as Runners.

The duo whirled around and began to run, although his adrenaline was rushing madly, Jack was still able to carry his firearm. He had the experiences of years, this wasn't the first time he was fighting against Clickers... Well, escaping from them at this point.

Clickers were coming from everywhere, the appeared out of nowhere so it was quite challenging to find a free corridor. Now, they weren't trying to exit from the building, they were going to random places that didn't or less have infected.

Elsa was taking the lead, Jack was turning around to shoot at the Clickers from time to time, but since he didn't have the slightest time to aim at their heads, he doubted if he could kill one.

He noticed that they were heading downstairs of the building, Clickers were also blocking upstairs. As they began to climb down the stairs, Jack swiftly twirled around once again.

He brought out a hand grenade, pulled the pin with his non-throwing hand. "Goodbye, you mushroom heads!" he shouted joyfully, then he strongly tossed the grenade at the infected.

His legs moved even more rapidly as they heard the loud explosion from their behind, even though Jack wanted to see the satisfying view of dead Clickers, he knew that plenty of them survived, therefore they still had to escape.

Downstairs, there was a single door, Jack assumed that it opened to a basement or something. Maybe they could find their way out from there, they had nowhere else to go anyway.

"Masks on." Elsa instructed him, they could both see the spores through the window.

Not only by getting bitten from an infected, one could get the cordyceps fungus by the spores that occasionally existed in closed areas.

"Do I have to?" he whined in a bored manner, "You know I am immune, Els."

"Jack," she called out his name strictly, she has already been putting her mask on. "If someone sees you breathing spores and not coughing, that will cause us a lot of trouble. No one must know your condition."

"Alright." he gave in, he decided to obey for once.

They entered the basement of the town hall, as expected, the area was pitch black. Jack switched on his flashlight that was attached to his backpack's strap, so did Elsa.

They proceeded with walking, they were searching for an exit. The basement seemed huge enough, although there was no door to be seen. The long hallway was filled metal shelves, old books and a bunch of other obsolescent stuff.

After a couple of minutes, they had to stop. The corridor was divided by a massive gap, it seemed impossible to jump on the other side. They searched for a rope or a way to get on the other side, however, they couldn't find any useful equipment. Ultimately, the duo decided to leap towards down, the height didn't seem that high anyway.

He didn't use the elevator in this building so he had no idea how many minus floors this building consisted. He wondered... Maybe this floor they were currently on was used as an archive room. Either way, it didn't matter, he didn't grow up in a timeline that town halls were utilized for their original purpose.

His thoughts were interrupted when he noticed the heavy air they were breathing through their masks. The air was full of spores that's for sure, but it was also yellowish.

He was about to warn the young woman, but she acted faster than him. "Bloater." she breathed out.

It didn't take them long to see the gigantic, thick body. The creature did not have a single element of human appearance and features, the fungus that was covering its entire body was almost an armour, it was hard to believe that this monster was once human. Was there a human skin under that armor? They would have never known the answer.

Elsa was wrong about one thing though... "You forgot to add the plural." he commented dryly.

Two Bloaters were facing them, as if one wasn't enough.

Elsa, with a quite smooth manner, slid the strap of her gun around her neck and pinned the M16 on her back. She placed her shotgun between her arms as it was a more effective weapon against Bloaters, then she began to fire upon these rarely seen monsters.

Bloaters were slower than the other infected due to their larger size, thus the duo could step back steadily and move from room to room, they had a chance to aim well while they were shooting the two monsters.

"Bloaters are vulnerable to fire like all infected! Make a molotov cocktail and I'll cover you!" the young woman suggested with a yell, shouting was the only to communicate through Bloaters' dreadful groans.

One of the Bloaters threw a sack of mycotoxins at them, Jack immediately shoved her aside as he backed away. The mycotoxin exploded on impact, thankfully, they managed to avoid the deadly cloud before it could spray them with its toxin.

After that unexpected attack, he instantly started to make a molotov cocktail. His fingers were moving rapidly, they knew what they were doing. He unzipped his backpack and snatched a glass bottle, he bound the alcohol-soaked wick to the neck of a bottle of hard liquor.

He lit the wick hastily and hurled the battle at the targets, he knew his eyes probably glimmered in satisfaction as the bomb bathed the two targets in flames.

Elsa must have weakened them a lot, normally, one molotov cocktail wasn't enough to take down a Bloater, let alone two. Nonetheless, now both of them were collapsing on the ground, their roars were becoming even wilder and more tremendous.

Without being able to enjoy the incredible victory, Jack was yanked strongly. He stumbled but managed to keep his balance, he turned around to comprehend why Elsa was snatching him along with her. He smiled a little when he detected the sunlight gliding through the broken boards and when he bent over his head, even though it looked small, he saw a groove they could fit into.

After reaching the gutter, they laid face downwards on the ground, then commenced on crawling their way out.

He shut his eyes down whereas he was squirming, he could already feel the fresh air. He was looking forward to meeting their friends, assisting Kristoff to recover and lending them the supplies. Moreover, he now had a remarkable story to tell.

However, his moment of joy vanished as soon as he got out of the building because his body had been clutched hard by someone, or rather by an infected.

Jack drew his knife that was clasped on his trousers, then he promptly moved his head backward to whack at the enemy in order to save time and bemuse them. When the infected that was clutching him eased its grip, he saved himself with a harsh kick and stabbed the knife into the infected, specifically a Stalker's neck. The Stalker slumped on the ground with blood gushing from its neck.

Not really unexpectedly, another Stalker swooped down on him, this time, he was facing the infected, so he easily pierced its skin with his narrow but sharp knife.

"Hey, Els, did you see that-"

The words on his lips perished as he caught the glimpse of the young woman, who was laying on the ground.

The right side of her neck and her right shoulder... The piece of flesh that was supposed to be there was plucked, blood was rapidly gushing from her severed veins, it was leaking to the ground, to her clothes, in all directions. Her whole body was shaking violently, very blue eyes were wide open, they were horrified and full of tears. She had gone as white as a sheet, her lips were purple.

The moment he saw her condition, his vision went blurry, Jack could no longer control the movements of his own body, everything, everything was hazy, it felt like he was in a terrifying nightmare.

As he slumped beside her, he extended his trembling hands to her, however, he withdrew them before he could feel her body. He settled them on the grass and vomited on the ground as his nausea intensified. After removing everything from his stomach, he straightened up on the young woman, his sweaty palms were touching her stiff, cold and pale skin.

"Elsa, baby, breathe, breathe with me, okay? You'll be fine, you'll be! Everything is gonna be alright, we will save Kristoff together and we will find Fireflies."

He was rambling, he knew he was. But that was the only thing he could do to quell her dreadful, pained cries and whimpers. His left palm was pressing against the wound, but it wasn't like he could stop the blood floating or prevent her from getting an infection.

"Elsa?" he called out her name softly.

With her last strength, she was clinging into him, tears were streaming down her face. Jack's free hand moved to her chin, then he cupped her cheek, his thumb was caressing it to brush her tears away.

"You can't leave me. You can't. That's not fair." he murmured, he doubted if he could speak with a hearable tone without sobbing. There was a lump in his throat, he felt choked.

"Els, baby, please don't do this to me. Please."

His lips shifted to hers, he pressed them against her bloodied and chapped ones with a strong, needy push, he was desperately yearning her to respond. She didn't do anything though, her ice-cold lips didn't move at all and Jack couldn't feel her breath.

It was their first and their last kiss, she wasn't even there to feel it.

He had never wanted to be immune.

He should have died a long time ago, he should have perished with his sister. What did happen instead? He had to witness his own sister turning into an infected, he had to... shoot her.

After that, he swore himself that he would never feel, he would never let himself love anyone because he certainly couldn't afford to lose another loved one, he wasn't strong enough to deal with grief.

What was the advantage of being immune anyway? Due to his stupid immunity, he had a higher probability to get killed by an infected or a human, who would most likely torture him. Being unaffected by the fungus had no pros, it didn't mean he was special... It meant nothing.

But apparently, to someone, it did mean a lot of things.

The guy's name was Pitch. Jack met him a year after Emma's death, he thought the guy was alright. He was the leader of an organization called The Nightmares, the group wasn't as big as Fireflies but they were more brutal. All in all, Pitch wasn't someone to be underestimated, he had connections, he had power. And when Pitch accidentally discovered his bitemark... He made an interesting proposal.

He told Jack that they could formulate a vaccine thanks to him. A vaccine... A cure to end this all, to save humanity. Without a second thought, he accepted his offer instantly.

Nonetheless, according to the doctor, who was undertaking his surgery, there were a couple of problems. The Cordyceps in his brain has somehow mutated, that was why he was immune. Studying his brain would allow the doctors to reverse-engineer a vaccine, though since the fungus grew all over the brain, it meant that Jack would be killed with the process.

He ran away.

He was a coward, he has always been. He didn't want to perish at such a young age, he wanted to survive, he wanted to live... Humanity could go to hell, it wasn't worth saving anyway.

On his long and thrilling journey, he met Astrid and Hiccup, they too discovered his condition when he got injured, they had to remove his t-shirt in order to heal his wound. Thankfully, they let him explain instead of murdering him instantly.

Then... He met her. He met her and for the first time in his life, he explained his immunity not because it was discovered without his will, simply because he wanted to tell her.

In the end, what did it bring him? What was the consequence of pouring his heart out to her? More agony, more misery, more despair. He cared about her and just like every damn single time in his life, he ended up with those stupid feelings.

"The decision is simple," he declared with a rigorous tone, his features were blank and impassive. "Now that we finally found where Fireflies are, we will join them."

"Then what? You'll spill out that you are immune and beg them to do the surgery?" Astrid spat out with a disgusted tone, her arms were crossed together.

"Yes, that's the plan."

"Jack." Rapunzel called out his name softly, her once bright but now dull green eyes were glaring at him. She had lost a lot of weight after... her death, she should have eaten more at least for the sake of the unborn baby.

"I am not a doctor but even I know that the possibility of creating a vaccine is low. Even if we make one, we do not know if it cures the infected or not. If it only prevents the healthy ones from getting infected, then... Is it worth it?" his friend reasoned, she seemed to be even more exhausted as she spoke.

"You can't." Hiccup blurted out, even though he did his best to come off emotionless, his voice trembled when he talked. "You can't just expect us to sit in a corner and watch you die."

"You will, you god damn coward." Jack hissed and pushed him hard to enrage him.

Hiccup wobbled, when he found his balance, he directed his green eyes at him... They weren't hateful, they weren't even angry. They were brimming with tears.

"The surgery will happen." Jack declared in determination.

"There is still hope."

"No. You don't get it. There is no hope, at least for me. My hope is dead. But if they kill me and do that surgery... There is finally hope for humanity."

Anna, who had been silent during the whole interaction, continued to stay quiet, her nails were digging into her palms.

The soft tune of the acoustic guitar filled the room, the young man was playing it delicately, his fingers moved quickly, they were pressing the strings of the instrument and creating the music.

One could have easily listened to the unique melody that the man was playing, but no one would have realized that the man was also singing. Lyrics were spilling out of his mouth harmonically, but they were inaudible.

Jack's lips continued to move vaguely as he murmured the words that were repeating over and over again in his head, no one except him could recognize the song. Regardless, he wasn't the only composer of this song. A person, a young dead woman once had the same inner song. This song was theirs, they created it together.

"It's all gone

no longer rage

no longer hope...

yet there is love

love remains

but at what cost?

love remains

and you are gone

everything's all gone"

"No matter what, you keep finding something to fight for." -Joel, The Last of Us