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"God damn it, god damn that... Every. Stupid. Time."
She pulled the makeshift wooden spear out of the flesh of another undead. The crooked piece of metal left it with a wet, slurping sound, a trail of sludge following behind. She twisted her lips.
"Disgusting."
This place was some kind of forest. An endless forest of dead trees, thick white mist. And zombies. She had been walking for two hours, and this one was the second of the third dozen. One by one, they fell quickly by her hand. It wouldn't have been a problem - if there weren't so many of them.
So many of them.
She turned toward a growling sound a few meters away. Another rotten, human-like thing. She flipped her spear, walking toward it, intending to end this quickly. And then, as she swung her arm, the silence of the cursed forest was suddenly torn apart by a gunshot.
"Aaah!"
The zombie’s head blew to pieces. She screamed and flinched away violently. The bullet had passed close, too close to her head, making her spin around instantly. Her eyes caught a silhouette in the mist. The figure took a few quick steps forward, lowering a hand with a gun.
She went furious.
"You hellish spawn, why did you do this?! Have you finally gone insane? Or has your stupidity reached its limit?!"
The figure turned out to be no one else but him. Standing in his neat suit, with a deep concern in his eyes.
She hated every feature of his face.
"I'm sorry. I thought that thing was going to attack you."
"Thought?" she barked. "Don't lie to yourself - you never think."
She lowered her spear. Her expression shifted from fury to exhaustion, a rare look for her.
"You never think..."
He stepped closer to her.
"I'm really sorry. I should have warned you first." His hands moved toward her, hovering near her shoulder for a moment. But the touch never came. "Are you alright?"
She slapped his hand away.
"Perfectly fine. And there was no point in stealing my kill."
He pulled his arm back. And allowed himself to smile a little.
"Noted," he replied, falling into step beside her as she moved away from the dead body. "Next time, I'll ask first."
She sighed and rolled her eyes, irritated.
The forest stretched out before them. Crooked leafless branches, like the legs of giant spiders, emerging from the mist as they walked. Their footsteps left no trace on the strange flat ground. A pale light from above - maybe from an unseen sun, maybe something else - made everything feel eerie. There were no sounds anywhere. Silence ruled this place.
He remained silent, as she did. In the next ten minutes, they encountered two undead. One fell to her spear, the other met a bullet. She flinched again when the gun fired, but she didn't say anything. She was exhausted and wanted to leave this place as fast as possible.
The forest ended, and ended so suddenly that it left her baffled.
"The hell is... this?"
Before them lay a cliff. They stood at its edge, with a white abyss yawning below. The mist swirled far beneath them. It looked as if someone had split the ground with a giant axe.
The other side of the opening couldn’t be seen - if it even existed. She felt anger begin to rise inside her.
"Great," she spat. "Just great. Now where are we, huh?"
She turned to him. He raised his hands in a surrendering gesture, wearing an innocent smile.
"Sorry. I don't know. I just followed you."
The words meant no harm, but they broke something inside her. Exhaustion and tension overtook her, spilling out in a wave of pure, blinding fury.
"Oh, you did?" she yelled. "You followed? You stupid piece of shit! I am tired of you! And of this stupid place!!"
She threw her spear away. It hit the ground, only to be kicked aside by her foot a second later.
"You're stupid. You're dumb and you're annoying! I hate you! I hate the way you look at me! I know what you're thinking - that I'm just a weak woman, that I need to be taken care of, that, that... You don't know me!"
"Wait, I'm-"
She swung her hand through the air, continuing the curses that refused to stop so easily.
"I don't want to wait! Wait for what? For another one of your jabs? I'm sick of-"
The ground beneath her shifted. She stopped abruptly, just in time to hear a cracking sound. The stone under her feet gave way.
The moment - and she, along with the debris, fell into the abyss.
"Aaaaah!!"
"NO!"
He lunged toward the edge of the cliff.
"HEY! Where are you?!"
The swirling mist below offered no answer. Fear, cold and paralyzing, gripped his heart. Skeletal fingers of terror wrapped around his chest, making it hard to breathe.
No. No... She is... dead.
His eyes, wide with fear, stinged with tears he hadn't shed in a very long time.
Then - a scratching sound.
He bent dangerously over the edge. Below - there she was, clinging to roots growing from the cliffside. He leaned down, stretching his arm toward her.
"Here! Grab my hand, quickly!!"
"No!" she cried back. "I can. Do it. Myself."
She tried to place her feet against the stone to steady herself, but it cracked and fell away.
"Aaah!"
"Don't be stupid!" he barked in return. It was a voice she had never heard from him before. "Grab my hand, you stubborn twit!"
She hesitated for a moment. But the roots began to tear loose, leaving her no choice. She reached upward. He caught her hand and pulled her back to the safety of the solid ground.
When she hit the earth, she gasped for air. The danger was over, but the fear lingered. She sat there, breathing hard. For a long moment, she couldn't draw in enough air to stop her heart from hammering wildly.
He stepped closer and dropped to his knees beside her.
"Hey. You're okay now. It's alright. It's all alright."
His voice was so soft and gentle that she even lost the will to throw a curse at him, as she always did.
She looked at him. For a second it lingered in the air. And then all her defiance shattered, like glass hitting the floor.
She began to cry, tears spilling like a broken dam. She covered her face with her palms, desperately trying to stop it. But the tears had been held back for too long, and she couldn't control them anymore.
Everything was forgotten. The fights, the danger, this place. The only thing she wanted was to curl up somewhere, make herself smaller, hide, and cry.
She didn't notice him moving closer. Only when his arms wrapped around her, giving her the refuge she had been longing for.
“You'll be okay. I promise you, I'll keep you safe."
His calm voice soothed her a little. She buried her face in his chest, sobs choking her.
"I’ll keep you safe..."
For long minutes, they just sat like that. He placed his hand on the back of her head. Her hair was soft. He stroked it gently, murmuring calming words.
"It's all alright." He paused for a moment, then continued in the same warm, soothing voice she hadn't known she needed. "I know. You've walked through life alone for too long. You've learned how to fight. You've learned how to survive."
She sobbed quietly.
"I will never doubt your strength," he continued. "But maybe it's enough to fight alone. You can accept help. I will always be here for you. I'll come to help you and protect you."
He felt the tension in her body begin to fade. She clutched the collar of his jacket, as if he might disappear if she let go. He tightened his arms around her.
"You're not alone anymore."