Night drawn over the horizon, the stars shining above with a crescent lit moon. Wisps of wind high out of the valleys, yet for some reason nothing drifting below to the floor of it. Drifting smoke across from the floor to the high points, a dim glow lighting the area, a cleared area with a fire and dome of light, a tent also set and present, two shadows of people cast upon it by the fire’s glow, shadows cast despite the dome of light.
Sitting at the edge of the site, Ellie, staring off into the distance with arms wrapped around her curled in legs. Beside the fire on a half log, Shawn, his hands forward in an attempt to keep warm, looking down at the flames in their dance with a somber feeling spread across his face, clearly visible.
Howling in the distance, the sound of the wolves.
“Ellie-, I know you don’t like me but you shouldn’t be so far away. If they decide to nip you up, I might not be able to react and get to you in time.”
A pause, multiple seconds in length, his head turning back just as the response came, “I’ll be fine.”
“Heck… based off earlier I mildly doubt that, just sayin-”
“Why don’t you shut up and leave me alone!?!”
“What did I ever do to you to make you be this way? What did anyone do?!”
“Not a damn thing but that isn’t the point. I don’t need to like you people, I don’t even need to know you! My duty is my own and I won’t allow you or anyone else to interfere with it.”
“Duty isn’t everything. Without a team- I mean look at earlier you nearly got your face chewed off by a dog so tell me, how the devil does that work in your mind!?”
“Then it would have been what is would have been, how dare you make such-”
“Hmm? Such what, such claims!?”
“Why do you even care Shawn. Oh, I get it. It’s the typical man wants in a girl’s pants so he acts like he gives a fuck.”
“Is that why you’re such a cranky bitch? Truly now.”
“What did you just call me!?”
“You act as if you want the Darkling to win, as if you hate humanity. I don’t know what shit town suburb you came from before coming to our city but we don’t do that, none of us do, especially my family. We’ve experienced a lot of loss. It’s helped us learn to be nice to one another, even total strangers.”
“I do hate humanity because of everything!”
A pause, long as the wind finally swooped in, blowing the fire embers away, a small grass fire starting though of little consequence, neither paying attention.
“Elaborate.”
“This is going to be your oh so typical sob story ok?! The Church took my parents from me, then my friends, then relocated the rest of us for labor camps. We were forced to work, we were treated sub-human. Every single bastard I ever met either looked down on us or simply ordered us around, the same church that dominates your pitiful little mud spec.”
He’d turn, looking right at her, her face red hot with rage, “I was indoctrinated into a Black Ops unit later to put down those whom the church did not agree with, later faking my death and adopting a new life. I now am forced to be a soldier for the people I hate just to survive, putting down assholes and bastards alike. I have not yet met a decent human being. So tell me cowboy, how does that make you feel about me now?!”
Another pause, his eyes locking with hers, “Pathetic… you let the terms of one part of society dominate your views. It’s pitiful honestly.”
“That’s it, I’ve had enough of you, raaaaaa!!!”
Leaping forward through the air and a slam.
CRASH!!!
Flailing back, Shawn pinned to the ground with Ellie’s hands on his chest, nails digging into his skin as she then delivered a punch.
“Gah, dammit!”
His hands forward, shoving her off, her back hitting the tent which fell upon her as Shawn took then a stance, ready for oncoming. The fabric flopping away and crashing with the variety of poles used to keep it up, Ellie sitting there scowling, eyes locked on Shawn, the tapping of her feet, skidding forward in a launch. Their fists colliding, knees colliding, right fists, left fists, right knee, grabbing each other and another shot of the right knee, Ellie moving her hand down and a whoosh following.
Shawn’s shirt hooked and away he went behind with a toss, while a thud was audible with Ellie on the ground once again, right side of her face red with a shoe mark. Both scrounging back up, angry to the bone with a glance upon one another.
“Is that all you’ve got!?”
“Don’t underestimate me, I’ve seen countless fights while you’ve laid a soft slumber in your precious wall of a city!”
“Oh ho ho! Bring it on Ellie, I’ll clean your clock!”
“I think we should split up and move on tomorrow separately-”
“Great idea!!”
“Fine!”
“FINE!!!”
Their backs turned with swift turns, walking away, each with a glowing yellow orb in hand from their pockets, Ellie disappearing over the horizon beyond a mound and then, disappearing. Shawn’s gaze turning from her back to the fire and tent, looking down, sighing and then a grunt, “Damn her… the journey is too long for this sort of crap.”
Sleeping bag pulled from the fallen tent, swiftly with a slide inside and the sound of a zipper, it would not be long before Shawn would drift off…
-
And so it would be, for the next days of the journey, neither together. Shawn a few hundred paces ahead, Ellie following gloomy behind. From the rising golden sun of morning, the the cloudy afternoon, through the evening rains, to the night time cloudy sky settling in once again… repeated once more.
The journey ahead, neither stopping to talk. Shawn on the hunt, returning to camp with captured prey only to find a posted Ellie not far behind. The two, not spoken, continuing until that next day, the day when hell would break loose once more.
ns 15.158.61.20da2
