The old woman fell to the ground, her face freezing with a look of surprise. She tumbled on top of Zombie, the already broken table splintering more underneath the extra weight. 

Zombie let out a grunt and I dashed to the ground, using all the strength I had to heave her off of him. I pursed my lips, pushing her body to the ground. It rolled away, exposing her now blood stained sweater. 

"Zombie-" I started. 

He pulled me down to him, enveloping me into a crushing hug. "Shit are you alright?" he asked. 

"Yeah," I said, my voice muffled against his jacket. "And you're alright?" I confirmed, pulling back enough so I could see his face. 

I already knew he was alright. I wasn't trying to be full of myself or anything, but I had just killed the Other that had been two seconds away from killing him. I'd say he was doing pretty good considering how he could be doing if he'd come alone. 

He nodded. "Yeah, thank you," he said," You were amazing." 

I bit my lip, trying to suppress the smile I felt coming. I looked away, my gaze resting on the old woman. 

My eyes widened suddenly and I scrambled off of him. 

"Dumbo," I said eagerly. "C'mon, let's get going." 

Zombie nodded, stumbling to his feet. 

As much as I would've liked to revel in my success, we had people counting on us. There was no time to waste. 

After grabbing two of the Other's rifles, we were off, descending the steps to the deserted town road of Urbana. It was time to find the caverns, get Ringer, and then get our asses back to Dumbo before he bled out. 

After the incident with the old lady and all the time we'd wasting trying to get out of Urbana, the day had started to come to an end; the sun was starting to make its descent, causing colors of pink and orange to take over the sky. 

Zombie and I walked in silence out of Urbana and then back onto the highway. I tried passing off the silence as a result of us being careful not to draw attention to ourselves. But I was pretty sure we weren't talking because neither of us knew what to talk about. More than anything, I wanted to talk to him- like actually talk to him. Talk to him about normal things and what the world would be like after we defeated the Others. 

But talking about those things didn't seem plausible in the slightest. Nothing was normal anymore and neither one of us wanted to talk about what our lives use to be. There was also no certainty that we would defeat the Others. If anything, there was certainty that the Others would defeat us. 

I looked over to my left, letting my eyes lift up to his face briefly. 

It was dark now - the moon the only source of light. But even with the limited light, I could still tell he was tense. His jaw was clenched and the way he gripped the rifle seemed screamed that he was on edge. 

I let out a small sigh, tearing my eyes away. 

My nose started to tickle and I could tell I was on the edge of a breakdown. 

I liked Zombie- I'd gotten to know Zombie, not Ben. But Zombie was always focused on what the next step was, always focused on the next battle in the never-ending, raging war. Ben, although not as strong, had smiled...had laughed. 

I missed that adorable, charming smile and that effortless, carefree laugh. 

I pursed my lips, flexing my fingers on the trigger of my rifle. 

"You ok?" Zombie murmured softly. 

My eyes darted momentarily to his before returning to the chaotic, distressed highway in front of us. 

Was I ok? No. 

But bringing up something as insignificant as missing his smile seemed childish and pointless. And I knew, without a doubt, he'd either get upset or feel incredibly guilty knowing that he was the reason I was upset. 

"Yeah," I lied. 

We started to make our way off the highway, unable to continue any longer on the crumbling pavement; the sea of cars had thickened, making it impossible or us to move around them. 

The ground had started to clear up from the snow, our boots meeting solid ground. At least that bit was reassuring - we didn't have to worry as much about leaving a trail that could be traced.

I saw something, a figure, out of the corner of my eye. I squinted, trying to see through the dark. I shook my head, sure that my lack of sleep and energy was starting to play tricks on me. 

I heard him sigh quietly. "Canary, I know you well enough to know that you're lying," he said, "What's up?" 

I looked over at him, meeting his eyes. "It's silly, ok?" I said. "It's not worth it." 

We hadn't dragged our eyes off the path in front of us for more than a couple seconds. But it was just long enough for us to lose sight of where we were going. The ground below us disappeared as we fell. 

I let out a small yelp, tumbling into the too-large-to-go-unnoticed pit. 

I heard Zombie curse beside me. We'd walked...fallen right into a hole that seemed to go down to hell itself. 

I groaned, hitting hard against something. 

I looked down. 

Someone. 

My eyes widened and I started to breath quickly, forcing air in and out of my lungs in an attempt to stay calm. 

Her hair tickled my arm and I let out a small whimper, pulling my arm out from underneath me. 

Her eyes were open. She did not blink. She was dead. 

My gaze darted madly around me, catching the faces of all the dead around me. 

"Z-Zomb-b-ie-" 

A cold hand thrust out, reaching up to cover my mouth. 

My heartbeat quickened as I struggled against the strong, unrelenting fingers digging into my skin. 

"Canary- shut the hell up or so help me." 

My nerves dissipated into pure anger. 

"Ben- calm down," another voice said. 

I searched the pit, trying to pick out where Zombie had fallen and to whom the new voice belonged to. 

I couldn't believe we'd found that little piece of shit...and in a ditch of dead bodies. 

I jammed my elbow into Ringer's stomach. She fell backward into the bodies, giving me just enough time to escape her grip. 

She had some nerve. I swear, if I wasn't mobilized by fear and disgust right now, I'd jam my rifle up her ass. 

"Ringer?" I heard Zombie asked. 

He didn't seem upset. Instead, he sounded almost... happy. 

"Private," Ringer acknowledged. 

I bit the inside of my cheek, a multitude of emotions taking over my mind. 

"What's going on?" Zombie asked. 

The woman holding Zombie back said something I couldn't hear. 

"You mean there's an Other out there? Around here? Right now?" Zombie asked, responding.

Well that explained their hushed whispering and Ringer's effort to stifle my screams. They were hiding. In a ditch of bodies. From the Other.

Ringer nodded beside me. She made no effort to restrain me. 

"You didn't see him? The Other?" The lady said. She sounded surprised. 

I crossed my arms in an attempt to keep as much of myself from touching the dead bodies as possible. 

I thought back to the figure I'd seen not more than two minutes ago. My stomach started churning. I'd dismissed it too quickly. It was no doubt the Other Ringer and this other lady was talking about. 

"Yeah, I did," I said, my voice trailing off. 

I grazed my surroundings, finally able to find where Zombie was being held. He looked surprised, giving me the idea that he had no clue who we were talking about. 

I felt bad, guilty that I hadn't told him about what I'd seen. I'd been so caught up in my pathetic pity party I hadn't focused on what was really important. 

"Constance, check if he's still here," Ringer said softly, nodding in the direction of the woman holding Zombie. 

The lady, Constance, released Zombie and peered over the edge of the ditch. 

"I don't see him," she said. "Let's get going before he comes back." 

Ringer pushed me aside to heave herself up and over the ridge and onto the forest floor. I thought she was going to leave me but then she turned around and reached her hand out to me. 

I narrowed my eyes, pushing myself to my feet. The surface below feet was uneven due to the limbs and rotting flesh of the corpses. I felt myself gagging, my head starting to spin. 

I needed to get out. And fast, before I threw up or showed Ringer any sign of weakness. 

I finally got to the edge, my fingers digging into the dirt to steady myself. With my free hand, I swatted Ringer away and then pulled myself up. 

I didn't need her help. There was no way I was going to start treating her like some blasted savior this early on in the game. Zombie already thought she was our saving grace and even though part of me believed that too, I didn't want her to know that. 

Ringer rolled her eyes as I rose to my feet, brushing myself off. I instinctively reached my hand up to the side of my face, drawing back blood. 

I looked down at the pit before resuming my gaze on my hand. It wasn't my blood. 

"What happened to Teacup?" I asked Ringer, crossing my arms. 

Ringer looked down at the ground. Something about her behavior told me she was uncomfortable. 

"She's gone," she said. "She didn't make it." 

I nodded stiffly, figuring it wouldn't do any good to ask her more about it. Teacup, like Oompa, like Poundcake, was gone. 

"Are there others?" Zombie asked, coming up behind me, Constance in tow. 

His hair was sticking up in every direction and his face was smeared with blood from one of the freshly killed corpses. 

"Others?" Ringer asked. 

"Survivors. In the caves," Zombie clarified. "Was there anyone in the caves?" 

"Not anymore," Constance said, speaking up. "That Other, that we were hiding from? He's a priest. He's been luring humans in through the winter. Every night, a few go missing. We're quite sure there's no one left." 

Ringer started walking away in the direction Zombie and I had been heading. Constance followed and then Zombie and I picked up the rear. 

So the priest had lured the survivors in, killed them, and then put them in the pit. I tried to think. How many bodies had been in there? A hundred? Maybe more. 

I shook my head, trying to clear the image of the Other snapping each one of their necks, throwing their lifeless bodies into the pit as if they didn't matter in the slightest. 

I took a glance over my shoulder at the hole. With every step we took, it grew smaller, smaller until it's opening was covered by the shadows of the trees. If it weren't for the vivid memory of the corpses' skin against my own, I'd say the hole ceased to exist completely. 

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What's that? Oh yes. It's me crying and begging for your forgiveness because I haven't updated in what feels like years. 

I moved into college for my second year a week ago, which involved flying across the country and moving into a new dorm. And even though it was only the first week, I was assigned a bajillion things by my professors. So needless to say, it's been crazy. If it weren't for labor day tomorrow (i.e. a school holiday), I wouldn't have gotten this update of Perish out today! 

So thank you everyone for your patience! And I hope you enjoyed Chapter 5 ! Good things to come, my friends so stay tuned!