Darkness. There was so much darkness and barely anything else. Only a bit of glow made shadows form and silhouettes appear.

With your teeth clenched, you crashed to the ground. A sharp pain chased through your bones as you hit your elbows on the concrete floor.

It tingled and paralysed your senses for a moment.

Panicking, your eyes jumped through the gloomy dark, tried to find a hint of Ellie to make sure she was safe. But all you managed to find was a lump of dark mass.

The stench of iron reached your nose.

Teeth dug into soft flesh as Ellie threw herself at the infected. That quick thinking alone and the will to sacrifice herself was what saved you in that moment.

The bite was painful, air burned in her open flesh and made her groan in pain. The infected crashed to the ground as well, Ellie on top while she tried to restrain it.

Screams mixed with the sound of fighting while the warmth of blood ran down her arm, wetted her fingers and made her grip slip as she reached into her pocket to fish out the knife you had given her.

The blade lit up in the dark, slipped between her cramped fingers. Pain made her mind go foggy, she could barely see in the dark.

With nimble fingers Ellie turned the knife in her grip and chased the blade into the infected. Screaming, it twisted and turned, reached out and tried to scratch her face off.

Huffing and puffing, Ellie put her feet on the ground to stabilise her stance. The thing was strong, almost an entire head taller than her and bigger in mass.

Her muscles were tense but the adrenaline that rushed through her veins kept the fight even. A scream of frustration made her throat vibrate as she pulled the knife out the body only to stab again, this time with more force.

The dark made it almost impossible to land a good hit so she pierced the shoulder too high and slipped.

Screaming in rage, the infected tore its head around and buried the dirty, wood-like teeth once more in her flesh, making blood flow in rivers.

Skin and muscles tore apart and Ellie had to let go of her knife. Blind, she tried to feel through the dark but became reckless.

In one swift strike of force, the infected wrapped its arms around her and threw Ellie off, making her back hit the ground with such violence that she gasped and coughed.

All of a sudden your mind cleared. Fear turned into something numb, something dull that pushed you to the edge.

It was like a calm ocean before the storm. One more wave and the heavens and hells would open to allow everything to rise and fall as they pleased.

Darkness clouded your vision as you let your hands chase over the cold floor in search for a weapon. Or anything that could have been used as such.

Hard wood nestelnd into your palm. Immediately, your fingers wrapped so tight around it that it felt like the joints and bones were about to snap into thousands of pieces.

Within seconds you were on your feet, heart pounding all the way up in your throat, and looked around in hopes that something could be aimed at.

Sounds reached your ears.

Ellie's breathing was heavy. The infected screamed and cried.

Your eyes jumped through the darkness.

Suddenly a lightning chased through your limbs. Muscles tensed and your senses sharpened. Darkness opened before your eyes and for a brief second the outline of the infected appeared.

For the last time your fingers wrapped tighter around the baseball bat. You reached out, all the way until a flinch chased through your arms and made you snap.

Wood met the face of the infected, bones shattered and fungus was smashed into one big mass. Screaming, the thing threw its head back, was thrown to the ground.

Gasping, Ellie crawled away on all fours, blood covered the two bite marks that decorated her arm now.

For a brief second you made sure that she was still alive before reaching out once more and smashing the head of the infected into one big mass of dirt and blood.

The impact chased a vibration all the way up to the handle of the baseball bat. Wood splintered. You reached out again, a scream on your lips, blood on your face.

This time the force was so powerful that the bat snapped in half. Taken by the strength of your hit, the broken piece bounced off the ground and chased back to hit you in the face.

Startled by the pain, you squeezed one eye shut and threw your head back.

A soft sound cut through the silence.

Without hesitation you twisted the broken piece of wood in your grip, sharp splinters facing downwards and pierced the remains of the infected with it.

One last gurgle escaped the blood flooded throat. Then everything fell silent again.

All that filled your ears was your own heavy breath, the gushing of the blood that chased through your veins and made sure you were still alive.

Warmth stuck to your skin, disgustingly sticky, rotten. It chased the need to scratch your skin off your bones through your fingers.

Silence. Nothing but silence.

All you could do was stare at this dark spot right in front of you, the way it all fell apart, dissolved into things that a human body wasn't supposed to be in contact with.

Was an infected able to spread spores?

If so, you'd be one of them within the next hours. You and Ellie.

"(Y/N)!", Ellie's voice trembled, words made air get stuck in her throat so she had to choke and cough on them.

Torn from your thoughts you blinked. Darkness. Nothing but darkness greeted your vision. You threw a glance over your shoulder.

Ellie lay on the floor, flat on her stomach while her nails dug into the concrete.

"Ellie.", with trembling steps you managed to get to her, bend down and grabbed her wrist only to freeze.

Her arm was wet all over. She was bleeding. And you were sure you could feel bite marks on her skin.