Those Who Survive

Nowhere To Go But Downhill

Mark and Sean race through the house, Mark clutching tight to Sean for fear of his friend being devoured should he let him go. They get back to the dining room they had come in through and Mark quickly uses the dining table to block the open archway between the dining room and kitchen. Not a moment too soon as he just barely manages to keep the infected at bay on the other side. They reach out, groaning and clawing at Mark, who remains just out of their reach, if only by a little. Mark looks towards Sean, who's cradling his injured arm tightly, looking right back at him. They're not alone in the dining room, as Felix and Minx had come inside at the sound of Sean's scream.

"Guys, we gotta go!" Minx urges, "Come on!"

Without another word, she turns back and hoists herself through the window to safety with Cry's help from the other side. The whole group had joined outside the window, all looking worried and concerned.

"Sean, go!" Felix ushers Sean towards the window before running over to Mark, "I'll help keep the creepy crawlies off us!"

Mark gives Felix a thankful glance, to which Felix only smiles in return. Sean does as asked and Nate and Thomas help him through the window, Nate being careful not to touch his wound and risk making it worse. Sean gets back on his feet and turns back to the window, "Mark! Felix, let's go!"

"You're bleeding a lot, we need to tend to this," Ken frowns, stepping up to inspect Sean's bite wound.

"Not right now," Sean groans, looking at Ken then back at his friends still in the dining room, "Guys!"

Felix and Mark look at one another and while Mark looks uncertain, Felix grins.

"Go on, I got this. Just clear the window and I'll be right behind you. I'm fast, these damn zambies can't keep up with me, I'll be running circles around them." Felix boasts as if this isn't a life threatening scenario.

Mark frowns lightly but nods, "Make it fast."

"Sonic fast, Markimoo." Felix chuckles, "Go on, let's not keep Jackaboy waiting on us."

Mark nods and swiftly pushes away from the table before running to the window. Felix struggles to keep the table against the archway, the table shaking as the infected push against it to get to Felix, their dinner still just barely out of their reach. Mark gets through the window with Nate and Cry's help and then he turns back, calling out to Felix, "All clear, come on!"

Sean watches with baited breath, his eyes wide with worry. Felix looks to the window, bitting his bottom lip. He's fast, yeah but getting out the window will still take too much time if he doesn't do it efficiently enough. The last thing he wants is to end up a dead person's happy meal, so taking a deep breath, he shoves the table as hard as he can before bolting towards the window in a desperate hope to escape. All too quickly the table is shoved out of the way with no more resistence on the other side and the infected start pouring into the room, all going for Felix.

Mark leans towards the window, holding his hands out, ready to pull Felix through the moment he's close enough. Felix gets to the window not a moment too soon, locking wrists with Mark, who starts to pull him out. The infected grab onto Felix as well though, one hugging him to bite into his side and another bites into his shoulder. Felix screams and it spurs Sean into action, quickly drawing his knife and running over and stabbing the only infected he can reach, the one biting Felix's side. One of the other infected grabs Sean's arm and pulls him closer to bite into his wrist, slamming Sean against the window and causing him to drop his knife inside.

Sean screams and curses, pushing away from the window, ignoring the searing pain of his tearing flesh as he tries to breal free. All too quickly, the other five infected bite into Felix in the various areas they can reach before the one biting his shoulder goes for his throat. Mark keeps pulling, tears streaming down his face as he desperately tries to somehow rescue his friend, all to no avail because Felix is dead the moment his throat is ripped out by bloodstained teeth. Sean continues to struggle to free his arm from the infected inside without a weapon and Cry rushes forward and quickly chops through Sean's arm a few inches above the wrist, the most he could get to from their positions.

Sean falls backwards onto the ground, screaming and gripping his injured arm. Minx and Dan try to pry Mark off of Felix's dead body so they can make their escape as all the screaming has called some unwanted guests towards their current location. Sean passes out and Ken curses, running a hand through his hair, looking around wildly. Nate paces, keeping am eye out as the infected pour out of every direction towards them. This is bad, this is really bad.

"We need to go!" Nate snarls, "Now! We're ringing the damn dinner bell for them!"

"What do we do?!" Thomas gasps.

"Back in the truck, there's nothing we can do!" Cry groans, tears in his eyes that he refuses to let fall just yet. He, Minx, Dan, and Thomas take off back around the house to get to the truck as Ken hands Oliver off to Nate. Ken then tries to get Sean up, but there's just so much blood. He checks Sean's pulse, and it's weak, he's dying. Ken grits his teeth and stands, "There's nothing we can do for him."

"What?!" Mark screams, storming over, "We can't just leave him here!"

"Look at him!" Ken tries to reason, "He's losing too much blood as is! We don't have anything to help that! The best we can do for him is put him out of his misery before the fucking infected get to him!"

"No.." Mark shakes his head, "I'm not killing any more of my friends today."

"Get back in the car." Nate says over Oliver's crying, "We don't have a choice."

He turns and jogs carefully to the car, getting in with the baby and Ken looks back at Mark, "You don't have to do it. And we should talk about this later, but.. Let's just save ourselves for now. There's nothing we can do for Sean and Felix now."

Mark grits his teeth, trembling with emotion as the tears continue to fall, "It's all my fault. It doesn't matter what we say, or what we do. They died because of me."

Ken frowns and shakes his head, "Go back to the car, Mark. We can't stay here."

Mark turns and hurries to the car, getting in and burying his face in his hands. Nate looks at him but doesn't say anything. Ken sighs and draws his knife, "I'm sorry. I really wish it didn't end this way. I hope you find peace somehow."

Ken quickly drives the knife into Sean's skull, killing him instantly. He then turns him over and takes Sean's backpack, since he won't need the supplies anymore. He grabs Felix's bag as well, since he had discarded it to run in and help so it wouldn't slow him down. He spares one last glance at Sean before running to the car himself. He tosses both bags into the passenger seat and quickly throws the car into drive, speeding off to catch up to the black truck in the distance. They had been careless. Mark's blood may be a cure, but it's not a save all for every situation. Sean and Felix proved that.

Ken's grip on the steering wheel tightens, We can't afford to get comfortable again, or more people will die.
...

That's it, folks. The end of "Those Who Survive," but there's still one more book to be written before this story has fully reached its conclusion. The final book in the Apocalypse Series will be called "Last Man Standing" and as I am writing this, I don't know when I will have it ready to post, but it shouldn't be more than a few weeks at most.

Thanks for following me this long, and when the final book drops, I hope to see you there.