Clickers. I hate those fuckers. How the hell a mushroom evolved echo location I'll never know, but they scare the crap out of me. Is the person still in there? Or are they gone for good? I think still being in there, unable to control yourself would be worse.

We have our parts, and some fuel too. I even managed to find some rations. We try not to be greedy. There is only so much we can carry and being greedy gets people killed. We've both learned that lesson the hard way and it's not an experience I want to relive.

It really feels like they've multiplied since we slipped past them earlier. It's dark now, advantage them. Flashlights won't attract anything so it's not as bad as it could be but there are always blind spots.

I motion Lara over and whisper. "Give me your right arm."

She looks at me quizzically, but detaches it and hands it over. I work as quickly and as quietly as I can, but when hand it back to her I've fixed a hatchet to the end. It'll last a couple of hits but not forever. But usually a couple of hits is all we need to escape. I show her how to detach it.

Lara nods in approval, and we start to move. There's so many of them. And if the screaming from earlier is any indication there's going to be a lot more infected over the next few days. I don't think we've moved more than fifteen feet before my boots crunch on glass.

It feels like slow motion. A clicker zones in on Lara, and she moves from a crouching position to a standing one, her hatchet arm cutting in an upward arc and nearly cutting the clicker in half. It lodges in a second one and she rips her arm free, dancing backwards out of the reach of a third. I hit it with a brick and start running as the crack of Lara's rifle fills the air. Two shots, then three. I jump for a window and something yanks me back. I kick at it. There's another crack and it lets go. I glance behind me to see Lara running.

Adrenaline fuels me as I pull myself through the window. Lara throws our bag of supplies to me, then I lean in to help her out. She doesn't look hurt and I'm relieved. She puts her fingers to her lips after picking up her pack, and I follow her along the edge of the building and towards one of the high walls that ran around the QZ. Infected are swarming in the direction of her gunshots and I'm so very okay with the idea of high ground right now.

Something grabs my ankle again and I turn, pointing my gun. It's a man, clearly bitten, but he hasn't turned yet. I recognize him. His eye long gone, only three fingers on one hand. We used to talk a lot. I guess nature finally cleansed him.

"Sam!" Lara's voice hisses in my ear.

I look at her, then at our friend. "Lara, it's.."

"I know." She kneels next to him. His eyes are already starting to glaze over, but I can tell he recognizes us. Lara sighs, then slits his throat in a single, even line. "Make it this long only to get bitten in the only place we're supposed to be safe."

I close the man's eyes, then lean on Lara as I stand. I don't know where we're going to go, but I don't want to see London ever again.

From our current location, it's not going to be easy or quick to make it back where we'd left that boat. I'm praying someone else hasn't found it and set it adrift, because we're going to be so screwed without it.

I want to know what Lara's plan is, what we're going to do once we've left London. But I can't ask, not until we're safe. I'm achey and sore and we're not even half way there. It took us two hours to find the parts, but it's been nearly three times that long just to get back already. It's a risk, but we cut through a building.

A low groaning comes from around a corner, and we both freeze. First one stalker, than another shuffles past. We press against the wall. I think I might pee my pants a little. I count six, and a clicker. They stop. They're just hanging out right there. One is so close I could touch it. I'm positive that they can hear the pounding of my heart in my chest. The sound of sweat hitting the floor. I spare a glance at Lara. She's very slowly digging through a pocket. Even more slowly, she lifts her hand into my line of site and points towards the door. I hold my breath.

A coin (at least I think it's a coin) sails through the air, bounces off a wall and rolls down the hallway away from us. The infected chase after it and we're running. The water is in sight, the boat still anchored in the distance. Lara starts hauling it in and I turn, blowing the head off of a stalker and nearly sending myself flailing into the water.

"Lara! Hurry!"

There's another, it's arms swinging towards me and I put buckshot into his chest. Another comes from behind it and slams into me. I kick at it and roll away. There's the sound of a skull being crushed as Lara hits it with a rock. I pick myself up and shoot anything that moves and isn't Lara.

"Sam!" Lara pulls me into the water and almost flings me onto the boat. She pushes off of the shore as another infected leaps at us. I fire my last shotgun shell. Finally we're safe. Finally. Maybe we can catch a break, maybe we can...

Lara is looking at me, the color draining from her face. I press my hand against my leg. Warm blood flows around my fingers. Sinking to the deck I wrap my arms around myself. The world is spinning. I want to throw up.

"I'm so sorry."

Lara looks like she's breaking as I say those words. Lara, always the strong one, the one who's held us together in the years since Yamatai and the outbreak. Her fingers press lightly against the wound on my hip. The bite. Too high up for her to amputate. I'm so sorry Lara. I'm so sorry I'm going to leave you alone.

She collapses onto the deck next to me, and I lean my head on her shoulder. It's shaking, but she's not crying. She'll save that for later. She'll save everything for later. I know her, I know how her mind works. Lara'll save her anger and her grief, her tears and her rage, her guilt, she'll save it all for after I'm gone.

I'm too scared to say anything else. Five years ago I'd be screaming and thrashing and cursing and acting like it's the end of the world. But that was then. I don't feel any different yet. I don't know what it'll feel like and I don't have it in me to ask her to end it. Not yet. We didn't have enough time together. Eighty years wouldn't be enough. Our hands find each other, our fingers squeezing tight. I scream in my head, for Lara's sake.

I finally find the strength to start talking. I talk about us. Boarding school and University, how much fun we'd had, how she always has and always will mean the world to me. An hour passes, and then two and then everything blends together as we reminisce, and as we talk about all the things we never got to do. I push my bag towards her. With my camera and my videos. Me. Us. Her. Lara's voice cracks as she accepts them.

It sneaks up on me, when I start slipping away. Lara's face becomes blurrier and blurrier.

"Lara…" I meet her eyes. "I need you… I need you to…"

She silences me with her lips. They're so warm and mine are so cold. I devour her kiss, her last kiss, before her lips are against my forehead. Then I feel the cold steel of her pistol. "I love you, I wish, I..."

"Thank you." My voice cracks. The barrel of the gun isn't steady. It wavers against my skin, to the same beat of her jaw tensing and untensing. There's a storm in Lara's eyes that I know will never leave her. "Thank you. For saving me. "

I imagine the silence after I'm gone. That'll be the worse I think, when the only time she'll hear my voice will be in her head. I don't want to cry, but the tears streak down my face anyway.

"No Sam. Thank you. Thank you for loving me."