Dawn of the living dead

Ch.10 Our destination

Seconds grew to minutes, minutes to hours, hours to days and those days went by fast. The next faster than the other. Conversations got quiet, jokes grew empty. The many footsteps got heavier and heavier, walking was a pain. It wasn't far now, I'd assure myself. My legs were trembling, and we were all so tired. We'd watch the sun, day in and day out. All this took longer than expected. 

Niki was helping Mark everyday, but it brought obvious pain alongside it. For the bites weren't healing properly, the cracking of his skin was getting worse and the area of the rotting was growing larger. I felt bad for him. I could only imagine the discomfort he was feeling. 

Eret was quiet. He spoke then and there, answering questions. But in between there was not a peep that came from his lips. I witnessed him continuously glancing at Mark. Maybe he was worried, maybe he was planning something. I don't trust anyone anymore, not after Toby's betrayal at least. But can you blame me? People have turned out to be different than what I thought of them to be. The doubt of being wrong about everything was beginning to circle round and round my brain.

Then I saw something in the distance, as the sun grew dark one final time.

"You see that too, Tom?" Niki questioned, looking the same direction as I.

"I sure do,"

What we saw, was our destination. We saw the glowing of candles, lit on the front porch. The mood was quickly lifted, for all of us. And our legs began walking faster than the previous hours. We made it fairly quickly, and were greeted at the front door. I didn't care how the others were greeted, all I did was fall into the arms of Kristin, my mother. "How have you been, my dove?" she asked calmly, her gentle nature softly letting go of the hug.

"I've been holding up, trying my best. Hasn't gone so well though," I quietly responded, and she looked at me with comforting eyes. She brought me inside with the rest, closing the door behind me. We were all eventually sitting down around the sofa. I had Mark and Kristin on either side.

"To get the easy thing out of the way, Mark you're sleeping in Tommy's room with him. I don't trust you on your own. Eret can take Mark's room. I'll sleep with Wilbur so the girls can have their own room. Sound good?" Phil informed, it was the best option and was logically most accurate.

"No one saying otherwise? Great. Mark, what happened?" Wilbur quickly added, and the room's mood was quickly downgraded. 

"I'd say it's quite obvious," Mark replied in a shaky voice. He was fiddling with his thumbs, not looking at any of us.

"I'm sorry. May I be excused?" he trembled, his voice breaking.

"Of course, no need to ask that with such formal manner," Phil ensured. Mark got up, and I only saw him walk to the hallway of bedrooms, until he got out of view. I supposed he wanted to go to bed.

"Tommy, will you explain?" Wilbur desperately said, he wanted answers.

"Lets not speak on his behalf, he'll tell you when he wants to, Wilbur," Phil stepped in. Wilbur grunted and stayed quiet the rest of the evening. Something has changed in him, he isn't the same. Once again the only thought in my mind was Alex. I didn't speak much the remainder of the evening either. We all ate dinner together then went to bed, we had long days ahead of us. 

When I walked through the hallway of bedrooms, I saw Alex's door was open. I didn't want to disturb whoever was in there, so I walked past and went into my own room. In there I saw Mark standing without a shirt. My mind went blank. I awkwardly went to my own bed and sat down. 

"What was that all about?" I asked calmly, staring at the floor so he could do what he was doing in peace.

"Nothing."

"You sure? I'm pretty certa-"

"I said it was nothing, Tom!" he hissed in a rasping tone. I flinched. I cowered closer to the wall, quietly laying myself under the cold sheets. I tried to fall asleep, I really did. I wanted to go back to that dream. I wanted my brother. 

I missed the past. Everything was going wrong, in every way it could. I missed the times when me and Wilbur would spar in the backyard, Alex laughing at how terrible we were at it. I missed the times me and Kristin would bake cookies on a rainy day, only for Wilbur to argue that one was a little burnt. I missed the times when me and Toby would play pretend, with stupid costumes, and props. Running around the house, protecting the "princess" that would often be portrayed by Phil. I missed the old days. The simple days. The days we didn't have responsibilities, or taxes, or any care in the world for what others might think. 

We've grown older. And look where that took us.