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She tore blindly down the path, wind whipping her hair back and making her eyes water. It was almost pitch black, with just the light of a small flashlight to guide her steps. Not a whole lot of help. That fact was made abundantly clear to her when her foot snagged on a root and she tumbled to the ground. Artemis lay sprawled there for a minute, just breathing heavily and straining to listen. Nothing. Not even a damn cricket, and wasn’t it always a lovely sign when the wildlife got the hell out of dodge?
She gingerly pushed herself up and – shit! – the wrist was probably sprained from trying to catch herself in the fall. Stupid. Better than the ankle, she supposed, though not by much. A sprained wrist was going to make her bow hellish to operate. It looked like she would be relying on her knife for the near future. Carefully, Artemis pushed herself back up with her uninjured wrist, but froze when she heard a groan.
Was it one of them? Or was it someone alive? It had been hard to tell, and it was so dark she couldn’t see. Either way, the living could be just as dangerous as the dead. They were best avoided.
Grabbing her flashlight from where it had fallen – thank god it’s not broken – she began to slowly pick her way forward, trying to remain as quiet as she possibly could. Her eyes were glued to the ground to avoid another mishap, and she only sporadically glanced at her other surroundings. So far, so good. No more noises. No movement. No—
A hand covered her mouth and an arm wrapped around her torso and she was dragged off of the path. Instinctively she tried to scream; the sound was muffled by the stranger’s hand. She struggled but his grip was vise-like.
“Be quiet or you’re going to get us killed, am I clear?” came the harsh whisper near her ear. Gotham accent. Surprising, considering how far west she had travelled. The last sign she had seen indicated she was in Kansas.
She bit his hand.
“Son of a—” He pulled his hand back and she took the opportunity to knock him to the ground and straddle him, pressing her knife to his throat.
“What’s going to get you killed is grabbing women who don’t want to get grabbed, am I clear?" she echoed.
“Nice one, dude,” came another whispered voice and – goddammit I’m outnumbered— “Look, I know this isn’t going to mean much to you, but we are trying to help. You were about to walk into an area that’s been heavily trapped. Probably would have gotten ripped to shreds, or at least lost a leg. My name’s Wally and the guy you’re riding is Dick.” He came close enough for her to be able to see him even in the dim light, and she hesitated. The man looked friendly enough, but that didn’t mean much anymore. Assuming it ever did, anyway.
She stared at him for a moment before replying. “Artemis.”
Wally grinned at her. “Nice to meet you, though I wish it was under better circumstances.”
“Guys, this is great and all, but do you think maybe you could remove yourself? I generally prefer this position when there are fewer knives and clothes involved,” Dick said, shifting slightly underneath her. She rolled her eyes and stood, offering a hand to help him up. He accepted and brushed his pants off the best he could.
Dick was tall, with longish black hair that once upon a time was probably styled, but two months of hard living left it looking unkempt and mangy. He was also fairly tan, which was not particularly uncommon at this point. Everyone was spending a lot more time outside these days. Wally, on the other hand, had orange hair that stood out starkly against his pale skin. The freckles and dark circles under his eyes managed similar contrast.
“Just so we’re on the same page,” she said, gesturing between them with the knife, “I still don’t trust you.”
“That’s fine, because we definitely don’t trust you,” Dick answered with a smile. “Just come take a look. See right over there?” He shone his penlight a few yards up the path. Hesitant to take her eyes off of the two men, Artemis spared a quick glance at what he was indicating. Bear trap, it looked like. She probably would have avoided it had they not grabbed her, but it did lend some truth to their words; she sheathed her knife.
“Is it meant for the dead or the living?”
Wally gave a dry, humorless chuckle. “I don’t think whoever set it really cares one way or the other. We headed out this way because I knew there was an old farmhouse up that path, thought maybe we could hole up in it. Based on the traps, someone else had that idea before me, and I don’t think it was the kindly old couple who lived there before all this shit. Anyway, we were warned about the traps because some poor guy was stuck in one of ‘em, screaming his head off. No one from the house has done anything about it so far. They didn’t try to shut him up, and they haven't checked to see who did.”
Artemis glanced at him sharply. “Did you…?”
“I did,” Dick said. “No one deserves to die like that, and we didn’t have any other way to help him. Seemed like the kindest thing to do. But Wally’s right, if whoever set the traps is still alive in there, they just want to be left alone. Our best bet is to head back, find a small town, and see what supplies we can scrounge up.”
“Towns and cities are a bad idea: too many dead. If you boys want to do that, go nuts. I’m going to investigate that house come morning.” She settled down on the cold ground and gingerly poked at her injured wrist. “In the meantime, is there any chance one of you could lend me a hand with splinting my wrist?”
About an hour after the sun had crept back up over the horizon, the three tentative allies began picking their way up the path, carefully avoiding the traps that had been laid out. Dick moaned that there was no cover anywhere and they were sitting ducks should someone in the house be alive, hostile, and armed with a ranged weapon. Artemis suggested he hang back in the tree line to stay safe and watch their flank, and he responded there was no way he was leaving Wally with a relative stranger. Wally in turn was miffed by the implication that he needed protecting, and began moving along the path faster than the other two could manage.
“Wally, get back here!” Dick hissed.
“Dude, going back on the trap filled path doesn’t make sense,” Wally said with a laugh – did he just stick his tongue out? I am surrounded by children—“I’m scouting ahead, just keep doing what you’re doing.”
Dick made a frustrated noise in the back of his throat and attempted to navigate the path faster. Despite his efforts, Wally made it to the house while they were still several yards back. He pressed his face up to the front windows to peer inside, then moved around the left side of the house. Dick and Artemis quickly lost sight of him.
“Does he have a death wish or something?” Artemis whispered to Dick. “I just need to know what I’m getting myself into with you guys.”
“Yesterday I would have said no, but he’s been such an idiot since then that I can’t really say.” They finally made it to the house; the front door swung open.
“All clear,” Wally said. “Looks like whoever was here left some time ago. Not too much around at a glance, but maybe we can find something useful.”
“I hate it when you do that,” Dick said as he entered the building. “I’m going to start tearing apart the kitchen, okay? Shout if you need something.”
“Sure, now I can be left on my own with a stranger,” Wally muttered.
Artemis snorted. “Yeah, okay, quit bitching and be productive. Let’s go check out the back.” She opened the door to one of the back rooms and instinctively hit the light switch. Nothing, of course. Behind her, Wally started coughing violently.
“I’m fine,” he managed between coughs.
“That didn’t sound ‘fine,’” she said, turning towards him.
“I just need… to sit down…”
Artemis grabbed him by the jaw with one hand and placed her other on his forehead. She shushed him when he opened his mouth, and then she put her fingers on his pulse. After a moment, she said, “You’re feverish and your pulse is too high. Look me in the eye and tell me you haven’t been bitten.”
He didn’t answer. Instead, he reached down and lifted his right pant leg, revealing torn flesh poorly wrapped with what appeared to be the remnants of a shirt sleeve.
“Dammit, Wally. Just when I was starting to like you, too.”
“Dick doesn’t know yet. I can’t…” Wally looked away from her, rubbed his eyes. “He’s not going to have anyone,” –don’t put this on me I barely know you fuck—“He was, he was on the phone with his youngest brother when it started,” –goddammit—“Heard him…”
“Jesus Christ. You can’t… Fuck, what are you expecting me to do about this, Wally? I met you less than twenty-four hours ago, you can’t just dump this on me.” She shook her head and stepped back a couple of paces.
He tried sighing, but it just turned into another small coughing fit. “Just tell him I left. Tell him I didn’t want—”
“Oh no, fuck what you want. You’re dying. What you want isn’t worth shit; he’s the one who’s going to have to deal with the fallout. And if some girl he’s only just met tells him you’ve conveniently wandered off, well I just have the strange feeling that’s not going to fly. Whatever winds up happening, you’ve got to run it by him first.” The fire in her eyes dared him to test her, and he seemed to deflate.
“God, you’re right. I know you are. I’m… going to talk to him.” Wally took a breath before turning and walking out of the room, hand dragging along the wall for extra support.
Artemis looked around the room she was left standing in; a picture on the wall caught her eye. In it, a smiling older couple sat on what appeared to be the old wooden swing she had seen on the front porch of the house. A middle aged man with bright blue eyes and pitch black hair was grinning broadly just behind the swing, his arm slung over the shoulder of a teenaged boy who was his spitting image.
All she could think was that they were probably all dead.