Once Bitten

Finding A Way Out (44)

It only felt like five minutes had passed when Macaque was pulling the car to a stop though and Wukong wasn't even asleep so he didn't need the other to wake him up, the change in motion doing that job for him. He sat up tiredly and noticed Macaque frowning at the dark windscreen, looking out into the night and only just making out the sight of the old car sat alone in the road, empty.

It took him a second to figure out why that was wrong and when he did he jerked out of the car, eyes wide and worried at the lack of people inside. He hoped it was just too dark to see them and that they were just taking a nap, but the singular, open door on the passenger side proved him wrong.

"Where are they?" He asked, immediately breathless with worry and Macaque followed too, grabbing his wrist tightly as he went to go to the car in a panic.

"Shush. We don't want to draw unwanted attention." He hissed quietly and Wukong bit back an angry scathing retort, taking in a deep breath instead and nodding. Macaque let him go and Wukong looked into the windows of the car, eyes scanning the inside and carefully noting that MK's bag was still there.

"Do you think someone took them?" He asked, dizzy and sick with the thought and his mind took him back to the last time MK had gone missing, hands clenching into tight fists.

"There's no sign of struggle," Macaque whispered back, and while Wukong was looking around the car for clues Macaque's eyes were sweeping around the rest of the area, too dark to see anything concrete.

"Do you think they left? Why would they do that?" He asked, tone rushed and worried and he glanced to Macaque for reassurance and answers only to find him staring off down the street.

"...Don't know. Maybe they went to stretch their legs or use a bathroom." He muttered but it didn't calm him and instead only made the tight lump in his throat worse.

"Then why aren't they back? It's dark, they should know not to be out so late, what if-" His voice rose in crescendo as he spoke but was abruptly cut off by the sound of a bang and a groan nearby, a zombie slamming into something reminding them of exactly why they were supposed to be being cautious.

They both froze at the noise, tensing up and not daring to breathe as they slowly took tiny, soundless steps away from the noise and toward the car. With the door still open they could have gone inside, but with neither of them wanting to make a noise they stayed silent and standing instead, waiting for what felt like forever until the noise grew further and further away until they couldn't hear it anymore.

It took a long time for Wukong to get his mouth working again, swallowing and keeping his voice under a whisper.

"We should go look for them." He said, quiet enough to be lost in the night air but Macaque heard him easily, shaking his head stiffly.

"What if they come back?"

"We can't just wait around hoping they're okay! MK's sick, he shouldn't be up and about." He hissed, tone seething and yet still just as quiet, and Macaque's eyes hardened, mouth opening and closing like he wanted to say something and then thought better of it.

In the end, he just shrugged.

"If he's with the others then he's probably fine. Maybe they went into a house to sleep since we were taking so long?" He offered and Wukong shook his head.

"They would have left a note." Or MK would have at least. The kid was considerate like that, always worrying.

"It's going to be hard to look in the dark," Macaque stated factually but Wukong took it as a slight, teeth gritted as it took all of his self-control not to raise his voice.