Last Man Standing

Last Night In The Woods

"should he really be holding the baby?" Minx raises an eyebrow.

Nate glares at her, "Girl, tell me I'm infected one more time."

"Or what?" She scoffs, "You'll bite me?"

"Enough, you two." Ken groans, rubbing his eyes, "For the last time, Nate is fine. He's not going to eat the baby, so drop it."

Nate snorts and rolls his eyes. Minx glares back at Nate before looking at Ken, "We still don't even know why he's looking infected! How can you be so sure he isn't?"

"Because I gave him my blood and I've been bitten and never turned." Mark almost snaps.

Cry, Minx, Dan, and Thomas all stop and look at him. Mark crosses his arms, staring back intensely. Ken sighs and turns back to the others, "Come on, I want to get out of the woods by nightfall."

"When were you going to tell us about this?" Cry asks, looking at Ken, "Clearly you knew."

"Were you going to tell us?" Minx points an accusing finger at him.

Ken frowns lightly, "Look, it wasn't my secret to tell, okay? When Mark found out he was immune, he didn't even tell any of us right away. I figured if he wanted you to know, he'd tell you."

Minx turns her harsh gaze on Mark, "Why didn't you tell us? Didn't you think it was something we should know?"

"Honestly, no." Mark states, "It's not really relevant right now, and I didn't really feel like dealing with all the hostility you've been showing Nate turned on me. Not that I like that you wouldn't just take his word that he was fine anyway."

Minx frowns, crossing her arms, "You really distrust me that much?"

"No offense, but you're not being very trustworthy right now." Mark states, "Nate and Ken have stated multiple times that he's fine and you still keep picking fights. I didn't want to deal with all the drama."

"Understandable." Cry speaks up, "And you're right. It's not relevant right now. Let's just keep going, daylight's not gonna last forever."

Everyone starts walking again and Dan comes over to walk with Mark. He stares ahead, but asks, "When were you bitten?"

"Sometime early fall or something. It's been awhile, months." Mark replies, "Jack.. Sean and I were trying to find the others, we had been separated and it was dark and I got tripped up. An ingected bit my ankle and Sean killed it, saved my life."

He sighs shakily, talking about Sean still hurt, "He kept telling me not to give up, that we'd be okay and we'd deal with the bite when we had to. We never had to. I never got sick."

Dan nods, "Okay.. Thanks for telling me."

"Sure.." Mark mutters numbly. It all seemed so long ago. It was, but it seemed even longer. They had made it so long, but people keep dying, and Mark can't help but keep feeling useless when he can't save them. Bob, Wade. Then Amy and Ethan. Matt. Marzia, Stephanie. Tyler, Mary-Jane. Felix and Sean. Too many people, good people, people he cared so much about. All gone, and what could he have done? The scenarios never stop filling his head, every night a terrible dream. Survivor's guilt will never leave him be.

Dan jogs lightly to catch back up with Minx and Cry, Minx is whispering with Cry, apparently in a heated quiet discussion but Mark's not paying much attention to them. This is what he didn't want to have to deal with, but there's no going back now. He sticks his hands in his pockets, just staring ahead and Nate slows so they're walking side by side. Mark glances at him and Nate smiles softly, "Thanks for sticking up for me. Again."

Mark shrugs, "You don't have to thank me. You haven't done anything, so she shouldn't have kept at it like she's been."

"She just seems to be like that, I guess. Reminds me of Tyler kinda.." Nate replies.

Mark winces slightly at the name, "Yeah.. Guess so.."

Nate looks down, feeling the mood Mark's giving off. He sighs lightly, adjusting his hold on the baby, Oliver whining lightly at the shift.

"Sorry.." he mutters softly.

Mark blinks, looking at him again, "Sorry for what?"

"Mentioning him." Nate says, "You're thinking about them again, I can tell."

Mark frowns lightly, "I'm fine. It's not a big deal, you don't have to worry about it."

"Mark.." Nate frowns back at him, he wants to say something but he's unsure of what exactly he should say. Mark raises an eyebrow, staring at him expectantly and Nate looks off into the distance, "I think about them, too. So I know how hard it can be. You can always talk to me if you need to, okay?"

"Alright." Mark nods lightly, staring off ahead again as well.

Their conversation stops there, neither really knowing what to say now, but feeling that maybe enough was said. They don't manage to make it out of the forest by nightfall, but Ken can see a break in the trees in the distance, so they get close enough when they stop for the night. They set up camp and everything continues as normal, as normal as they've come to know their lives to be now. Everyone settles in for the night, and Ken used to like camping.

He's decided he doesn't like it anymore, running for his life has kind of sucked all the fun out of it. The fire's going and everyone sits around it as Ken dishes out their last jar of offbrand Spaghetti O's. They don't have much food left in general, for any of them even little baby Oli. They all hope a town is nearby that they can get some much needed supplies from because otherwise, they'll starve to death before the dead get them. That's not a death any of them want to experience so hoping is pretty much all they can do as they silently eat their tiny portions of a single can of Spaghetti O's.