"Promises" (Nature)

“Quick! Everyone up here!” Elliot lead his group up the hill, to hide behind a formation of rocks. “Keep low!” He gestured for everyone to lay down behind them, “We wait for the wolves to pass, make sure you have a weapon ready in case they attack us.” Everyone either gripped their firearms or their melee weapons more tightly.

“Elliot,” Erica whispered to him, “I think I know why you haven’t been affected by the radiation.” He put his finger over her lip, “Wait until the wolves pass!” He whispered back. Throw a crevice between two of the rocks, Elliot could see the pack slowly strolling past. Each of the wolves ranged in size. Some were only slightly above regular size, while two of them appeared to be around nine or ten foot big. Their sizes sent shockwaves through everyone.

“Take note of their red-eyes everyone!” Elliot pointed out, still in a whisper,

“And remember my theory!” This was hard to do however as most of the group didn’t even understand his theory when he said it to them.

One of the wolves looked up, and growled slightly, prompting Reed to move his shotgun up slightly. “Reed!” Elliot whispered his name quickly, “Don’t!” But he ignored Elliot’s warning, and pulled the shotgun up further just in case.

The wolf which had growled looked at the area around it. Everyone had copied Reed’s tactic of pulling their weapons further up. “Stop it! All of you!” Elliot’s command was futile though, as they positioned their weapon between the rocks.

After looking around for long enough and noticing nothing unordinary, the wolf continued to follow its’ pack. Everyone breathed quiet sighs of relief. “I told you!” Elliot rolled over and berated his group, “Just trust me for once!” They didn’t respond to him, knowing they were in the wrong. “Give it a few minutes, and they’ll be out of range. Then we can move out again! The base is just down there!”

After a few minutes had passed, the wolves had not moved up much further. They were still visible on the road ahead. “Erica,” Elliot whispered to her, but she put her finger on his lip, mimicking and mocking what he had done minutes prior. “Very funny,” he gently pushed her hand away, “You said you know why I’m not affected… Why?”

She rolled onto her side. “Not many people know this, but since the year… I think it was about thirty-five years ago so that’s around… Mid 1990s maybe?” Elliot continued to stare eagerly at her, “Basically, around that time, there were odd things going on in the blood of many new-borns. It was a rare occurrence, around as little as every 1 in 10 million babies were born with it.” Still Elliot was waiting for her to get to the point. “Some new form of bacteria I think many scientists suspected it to be. I was rather young at the time so I don’t remember it too well when it happened, but it was a case I did for Science A-Level when I was sixteen long after it began.” She was beginning to procrastinate, frustrating Elliot.

“Anyway, the point is, this new form of bacteria in their blood made them resistant to certain environmental factors. Most notably, Radiation.” Elliot could tell where this was headed. “It didn’t stop there though, ever since the 1990s, right up until the end of the world, babies were being born with this bizarre immunity. The statistic over time increased to every 1 in 9 million, and presumably as the first immune ones grew up and reproduced, this statistic increased even further. I guess it won’t anymore though. But the point is Elliot, I think you are in that 1% minority. I think you may be Radiation Resistant.”

He understood the logic, and felt slightly privileged. “So,” he had many questions, but chose to ask the least relevant one, “Are you saying that if I was in Hiroshima during the atomic bomb dropping, I could’ve survived standing out in the open?” Erica nodded, “I guess so. I mean, you survived whatever the hell Sierra put in her missile with no side effects…” Towards the end of her sentence, Erica became lethargic, coughing slightly. “Erica?” Elliot tried to get a response out of her, but she began to cough more wildly.

Elliot looked up, the wolves began to turn back around, “Shit! Tina! Get over here now!” Elliot summoned her, “I think the radiation is getting to Erica! Keep her alive!” Tina was distraught by her lover’s situation, “I will,” She was unwilling to let Erica die.

“Reed!” Elliot crawled over to him, “If you’re gonna use that shotgun, use it now.” He smiled fiendishly, “With pleasure!” He hopped to his feet in an instant, sliding down the hill.

Noticing Reed, the Wolves growled, as half of the pack broke off into the woods on the other side. Elliot watched them do so, “So, pack-hunting is it? I guess two can play at that game.” Elliot turned around, “Everyone! Arm yourselves! Someone’s gotta teach this rival pack whose territory this is…”

Erica knew how to slow down her coughing, therefore she had not go on to the choking phase yet. “It’s alright! I know exactly what to do,” Tina tried her best, but had to lie to reassure Erica. In Erica’s bag, Tina noticed the case of syringes – with everyone’s blood samples inside. She pulled it out of the bag and opened it, searching for the syringe with Elliot’s blood inside. “Bingo!” She pulled it out, inserting it into Erica’s arm, “Hold still,” She injected Elliot’s blood into her, “Pure blood should help you a bit… I think,” Tina didn’t truthfully know what would happen, but thought it logical to assume the makeshift-transfusion would sustain her life force a while longer.

“Come on, let’s have it.” Reed taunted the wolves approaching him, despite how fearful he was on the inside. “Elliot, if this plan goes wrong, I hope my spirit haunts you for the rest of your life,” he called up to him in a joking manner.

“Don’t worry! It won’t go wrong Wolf-bait! I mean, Reed Jones, sorry!” Elliot joked darkly back to him. He turned back to Gwen, “Alright, if you see anything in the woods, shoot it. Make sure the wolves can’t ambush him from the side.” Gwen nodded in acceptance, “Good.” He patted her on the shoulder, “Elliot, wait,” she called him back, “Thank you.” He nodded appreciatively, even though he was unaware of what she was thanking him for. “For getting me this far. I spent two years with one group that held me back. I always wanted to see the world when I was a little girl, when the apocalypse came about, I thought I never would. But thanks to you Elliot, you showed me the world is still here, just not the ones who maintained it.”

Elliot put his hand on her shoulder again, “Gwen, the ones who maintained it aren’t gone. We are the ones who maintain it now. This entire planet is ours to explore until the day we die. I’ll tell you what, one day, we’ll go to America. How does that sound?” She laughed doubtfully. “I’m serious Gwen!” He reassured her, “We got from England to France by air travel. Who or what says we can’t extend that journey a little further?” With perfect timing, one of the wolves howled. “I guess that big bastard over there says so,” Gwen nodded to the wolf that howled, half-jokingly, half-serious.

“Howling!” Celeste burst out, as Elliot and Gwen turned around. “What? What is it? Celeste?” Her English had improved over the past couple of days. “The howl of the wolf! It is the howl to bring more!” She sounded terrified. “More? Wait… Christ, she’s right!” Elliot turned around in a panic, “Everyone! Be on the lookout! They haven’t attacked us yet because they know our guns will rip through them! They’ve just called for backup!” Everyone pointed their weapons in different directions, readied.

“If that’s the case,” Reed shouted out, “We might as well get started!” He blasted the three wolves approaching him with his shotgun, as they began to run at him. “Reed, no!” Elliot switched his rifle to full-auto, riddling bullets through the pack preparing to attack Reed. “Gwen! Help!” Elliot noticed the bullets weren’t enough to finish them off, “Just like the spider, we need to properly light this guy up!” She pulled out her heavy-pistol, aiming it at the head of one the wolves. Taking a shot, she killed it instantly. “You see Elliot? That is how you do it!”

Taking Gwen’s advice, Elliot switched his rifle back into semi-automatic, aiming for the head of one the wolves. “It’s too fast!” He couldn’t line up the shot. “Fine, I’ll do it,” Gwen aimed her heavy-pistol again, but was distracted by two of the wolves leaping out of the woods. “Reed!” She took a wild shot at one of them, knocking it back. The other one pinned him to the ground – luckily one of the smaller ones. “Got it!” Elliot pulled the trigger, blasting the wolf off of ready. “You see Gwen? That is how you do it!” He taunted her.

“Those poor creatures!” Zach complained, “No!” He was distraught by the sight of two dead wolves, “How could you!” He began to tear up, as Elliot knelt down to him, “Zach, they’re not wolves anymore. They’re infected. By killing them, we’re saving them. It has to be this way.” But still, he was upset. “Zach honey, watch this,” Gwen called his attention, before aiming the pistol at another wolf preparing to attack Reed. She shot and killed it, sending Zach into shock. “How could you!” His tears blocked his vision. “Now watch this!” Gwen pulled the trigger on another wolf, “And for the final kill,” She emptied the clip taking down the final one. “It’s called the Apocalypse, Zach. Deal with it, or die…” Elliot was shocked at how harsh Gwen was on him. “Celeste, Pierre!” He called to them, as they rushed over, “Look after him.” Elliot rushed over to deal with Gwen…

“What the heck was all that about?” He stepped in front of her. “Why did you berate Zach like that?” She tried to walk past him, but he kept blocking her, “Why?” He sternly repeated himself. Here, Elliot once again used his subliminal technique of reading people. “Annabelle, isn’t it? Something to do with her, right?” Elliot lowered his voice to be more sympathetic while making sure the tone was still overly strict. “She was fourteen once as well, Elliot… She loved animals and nature too. Just like Zach.” That made Elliot question her behaviour even more, “So why would you want to scold him in that way then?”

Gwen looked up at him now, “Because my daughter is no longer alive. I refuse to be reminded of who she once was. Zach needs to grow up, he has to change, it’s the only way he’ll fit this world. Just like the one you call Annabelle did. The moment she killed Andy, I knew my daughter was lost. How is it at all fair that Zach can remain the same boy he used to be, yet my daughter has to die and change into a monster to be passable?” Elliot was stuck for an answer, “I don’t know, Gwen. I’m sorry. But Annabelle is indeed alive out there somewhere. She’s probably missing you right now!” Gwen laughed, “Yeah right. She should’ve thought about that before murdering Andy.” As she went to walk off, Elliot stopped her one more time, “I promised you we’d go to America. I also promise you that we’ll find your daughter again. Not Annabelle, your daughter. Look at me Gwen,” reluctantly, she looked into his eyes, “I promise.” She could tell he meant it from the heart.

While they maintained eyes for a few moments, Gwen then began to laugh. “Do you know what’s funny about this, Elliot? The fact that you know that’s a load of rubbish. You can only say that because you found Olivia again… Just imagine if this scenario was the other way around. What if it was you looking for and missing her, and I was the one who tried to stop you from walking away from it all?” He maintained their stare, “It was that way once, Gwen. You came after me when I left the London safe-zone. Now, I’m doing the same thing for you. Annabelle is elsewhere, but she will come back one day. She has to. Believe me…” Gwen remained sceptical, as Elliot finally allowed her to walk away.

“Elliot!” Tina screamed out to him, as he rushed over. “What’s happening?” He bent down to take Erica’s pulse. “Right everyone! We need to move out now!” With the wolves out of the way, the entire group rallied, headed towards the refugee camp. “I’ll take her,” Elliot lifted Erica up, carrying her in his arms. “Wait,” before Elliot walked off with her, Tina gave her a kiss on the forehead, “Stay alive for me, ok?” Although Erica was passed out, Tina had a feeling she could somehow here her still. “I’ll keep her safe, I promise,” Elliot reassured Tina – but today, had he given out too many promises already?