The Last of Us: The War

Eight

Mark and Jackie head inside the woods that was pretty far from everything, not really seeing anybody else. They saw a rabbit nearby, Mark lining up the shot with the crossbow he borrowed from Lily.

"Be careful." Jackie said.

He gave her a reassuring look. "I got this, don't worry."

Looking straight down the crossbow, he lined up the shot, and pulled the trigger, giving a little kick as the arrow flew right at it, shooting through the middle, trapping the now dead rabbit to the ground. Walking up to it, Mark immediately took the arrow out, half of it red.

"Wanna grab it?" He asked, wiping off the arrow as much as he can. He noticed her looking at it with slight disgust, and he sighed. "All you gotta do is grab it by the ears. It's fine. It won't jump at you, it's dead."

She knelt in front of it, picking it up by the ears, slightly cringing as she stood back up, watching it swing back and forth. Gripping it tightly, she tried to not think about it as they started heading back to the building. But before they made it very far, Mark suddenly stopped in front of her, holding his hand out.

"Let me take it. So you don't have to keep staring at it as if it's a snake." He said with a toothy grin. Reaching for it, his fingers brushed hers as he took it by the long ears. She felt a slight shudder go through her, staring into each other's eyes.

"I'm glad you're alive." She said, taking a step closer to him.

Smiling, he set down the crossbow and took her by the waist. "I know you are."

Feeling her face heat up a little, he suddenly leaned in, pressing his lips to hers, his grip slightly tightening around her. He let the rabbit drop to the ground as they both wrapped their arms around each other. Moving her hand, she lightly touched the floof of his hair, and he broke it off too soon, his brown eyes slightly bright in the sunlight.

"I love you, Jackie." Mark said, his hand lingering on the side of her face.

She smiled warmly at him. "I love you, too."

Kissing her on the cheek, he stepped away from her, picking up the crossbow and the rabbit when she walked up to him. As he stood up, she put her palm on his cheek, giving him another firm kiss, surprising him as he returned the favor. Backing away a couple seconds later, he winked at her before they headed back to the others.

***

When they stepped through the doorway, everyone looked up, watching them come inside.

"About time you guys came back." Kristen said. "You guys find anything for food?"

Mark held up the rabbit. "Get a fire started. I'll get the rabbit ready."

She nodded, gathering pieces of wood and sticks in the middle of the room, grabbing a couple rocks from her pocket, creating friction between them until a flame was created. Gently blowing it, Mark just finished getting the rabbit ready when the flames grew, covering the entire pile. Heading over there, he set it over the flames, letting it cook for a while as they sat around.

"Anything interesting while we were gone?" Jackie asked.

Bridget shook her head. "Not really..just a couple soldiers passing by but they didn't spot us."

"Good." Mark said. "Anything from Sean?"

Kristen gave him a sad look. "No...I'm sorry." She glanced at Lily, who wasn't looking at anyone, just Sean. "She hasn't moved since last night."

"It's fine, just let her be for now." He said. "Give her a little time."

They nodded in agreement.

Bridget suddenly smirked. "You guys didn't make out, did you?"

Mark gave her a wide-eyed look, a scoff escaping his lips as he looked around a little nervously. "No..we didn't."

Kristen laughed. "Yes you did, admit it. We know you guys are together, I'm sure you did that before you came back here."

"Well..we didn't." He said. "It was just a little kiss, that's all!"

"Uh-huh, suuree." Bridget mocked. "It was totally more than that."

"Okay, guys can we move on please?" Jackie asked, feeling embarrassed.

The girls laughed, and Mark couldn't help but do so a little as well.

"We're just messing with you guys." Kristen said, looking at the rabbit. "I think it's done, Mark."

He headed over to it, taking it away from the flames before grabbing the knife from his pocket, slicing it up, handing a chunk to each of them. He looked over to Lily, who was still not looking at anyone but Sean. Sighing, he grabbed the second to last chunk, cautiously walking over to her.

"Hey...you should eat something." He held out the chunk of meat. "Here."

Slowly tearing her gaze away from Sean, she looked down at the meat and up at him, looking like she's glaring at him, making him feel a little uncomfortable. But she took it a couple seconds later.

"Thanks..." She mumbled, taking little bites of it.

Mark nodded once to her. "Yeah...well let me know if you need anything, okay?"

Moving her head stiffly up and down, he walked away from her, relieved she didn't try to kill him when he turned to her again.

"Your crossbow is on the table over there." He gestured to it, and she stiffly nodded again. Heading over to the fire, he sat down to where he can see her just enough as everyone else talked for a while, eating their food when they heard a shout.

"I see something in there!" A soldier yelled, pointing at a building.

Right at the one they're in.

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