Those Who Survive

New Plan

"So, um.." Sean speaks meekly as he approaches Cry the next day, "How long was Signe with you? H-how did she..?"

Cry shakes his head, "You don't want to hurt yourself like that, man."

Sean frowns, "I need to know.."

Cry sighs, crossing his arms, "She was with us a for a few months at least. She died a few weeks ago, right after we got here. We lost our friend Entoan then, too."

Dan frowns, watching them silently from where he's sitting against a shelf. Sean nods, pursing his lips, "Okay.."

"I'm sorry, man.." Cry states softly, and he really was, "She was a good woman."

"All good people," Sean sniffles, "That's what Mark said, everyone we've all lost were good people."

Cry nods, "They were."

"Signe didn't want to go on anymore." Dan finally speaks up and Cry frowns at him. Sean looks at him in confusion, "What?"

Dan shrugs lightly, Sean deserved to know the truth, "Signe couldn't take it anymore, when we got here and found out the infection happened here, too. She had some kind of break down, and Entoan gave his life to save her."

Sean's eyes widen, but he doesn't say anything. Cry steps towards Dan, "That's enough."

Dan glares defiantly, "He deserves to know what happened, doesn't he?"

Sean frowns, stepping up next to Cry, "Tell me. Please, I want to know."

Cry frowns, but nods and Dan continues, "There was a horde coming, and everyone was trying to force her to run. It wasn't working, not really. Entoan sacrificed himself so they could get her moving."

His eyes narrow, anger building in them, "A lot of good it did. His death meant nothing, she still wanted to die."

Sean's eyes widen, his heart breaking for the woman he loved. Cry glances at Sean before looking back at Dan. Dan sighs, rubbing his tired, angry eyes, "We got away, and waited out the hord for awhile. Minx and Cry left to get more supplies, and Signe went to lay down. She then slit her throat and Dave and I went to check on her when he heard something fall. There was no saving her, and she was turning."

Dan grits his teeth, shuddering for a moment, "I tried to warn him. I told him to get away from her, but he.. He wanted to save her.."

"It's okay," Sean says softly, he can put two and two together, "You don't have to say anything else. Thanks for telling me."

Dan pushes himself to stand, "I'm going to check the perimeter."

He leaves without another word and no one stops him. Sean sighs and crosses his arms. He had a lot to think about. All the letters he had written for her, she'd never get to read now. Was it really worth it to keep writing to her then? No, probably not. Cry puts a hand on Sean's shoulder in an attempt to comfort him.

"If she hadn't given up, just waited a few more weeks, she could be here right now.." Sean mutters softly.

Cry's eyes soften, "It was her choice.. And there wasn't any way to change her mind. She.. She was scared that you were dead. She couldn't take the thought of seeing you.. Infected. We all tried to convince her that you could be fine, but.."

He shakes his head and pulls his hand back. Sean just nods, smiling lightly for a moment, "Thanks.. I'm gonna.. Go sit down."

He walls away and Cry sighs, sticking his hands in his pockets. Everyone was sat, talking in little groups and Cry walks over to join one, sitting with Ken and Felix. Felix smiles at him and he smiles back, "What are we talking about?"

"Where we should go from here." Ken replies, "We never really had a real plan for where we were going, and from what I hear, your plan was to find us."

Cry chuckles softly, "Yeah, looks like we're all in need of a new plan, huh?"

"So it would seem." Ken chuckles back fondly.

"Well.." Felix leans back, stretching his arms over his head, "I don't think there's anywhere that's not touched by the infection, so where should we go? What should we do?"

"That's a good question," Mark walks over and kneels next to Ken. He grins, "And I think I might have an answer."

"Oh, yeah, hotshot?" Felix raises an eyebrow, "Whatcha got cooking in that big brain of yours?"

"We find somewhere kinda secluded to set up camp, permanently. Fortify and we won't have to worry about the infection." Mark replies.

"That's a pipe dream." Felix snorts.

"No, it might work, if we got enough supplies." Cry says thoughtfully, "We held out a few months in a farm house before. It had a generator and we ate actual cooked, fresh food for quite awhile."

"So what?" Ken asks, "We scope out a farm house and hope it's empty?"

"I say we go north." Nate speaks up, "Head up to Canada."

"Why Canada?" Minx asks, also now invested in Mark's conversation.

Nate shrugs, "Heard it was a good idea once.. It could be worth it. And hey, maybe the colder it gets, the less mobile the infected will be."

"That's not a bad plan, the cold might help slow them down, at least the ones that run." Ken nods.

The door to the gas station bursts open and Dan and Thomas rush in.

"Guys, we gotta go!" Thomas gasps, "The hords coming this way!"

"Yup, time to go." Ken stands.

Everyone rushes outside and gets their respective vehicles. Felix stops Cry before he can get in, handing him a walkie talkie, "Not sure how well it'll work, but I have the other one, just in case we need to talk to each other on the road."

Cry takes it and nods, getting in the driver's side. Felix starts to fun back towards the other car, but stops when he sees just how close the infected had gotten, and runners are getting close to the car. Ken steps out of the car, "Felix, come on!"

"Get back in!" Felix call, tossing his walkie to Ken before opening the truck's back door and climbing in as Minx scoots over to make room for him.

Ken catches the walkie and tosses it to Mark as he gets in and slams the door just as the first runner get to the car. He hits the gas and zooms off, following the truck that had just taken off a moment before. They didn't yet have a concrete plan, but they'll figure it out. It's about time they got ahead of this thing, and got to actually live instead of just survive.