Bite Me: Septiplier AU

Fire

A/N
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I'm sorry it's taken me so long to update. School started and kind of took over my life, but I promise I'll write whenever I have time. Thank you all so much for your patience.
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This chapter is in Mark's perspective.
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I turned from my friends and cross the courtyard towards the building lined with cots. I could see the small, green haired man's frame through the shattered shell of the window, passed out with his mouth gaping. He looked ridiculous but endearing while he slept. I chuckled to myself as I entered the building and approached his cot.

"Jack," I said, tapping his shoulder. He mumbled and twitched a bit. I leaned down so my mouth was right next to his ear.

"Jack!" I shouted. He jumped and cursed, lurching off the cot and into an upright position.

"What the fooking hell was that?" he groaned, rubbing his now ringing ear.

"You didn't wake up the first time," I laughed, lightly nudging his arm. "Come on, sleeping beauty. Time for lunch." He hesitantly followed as we stepped out of the building and out into the courtyard.

Jack gazed around at the camp, completely overwhelmed. Men and women were at work every place we looked, stitching up wounds or cleaning guns or just talking and having a beer. Loud laughter erupted from around a campfire and I saw my friends gathered around each other, shoving down their meals and exchanging what was likely idiotic banter. We approached them and they greeted me with much enthusiasm. I motioned for them to shut up.

"Guys," I announced. "This is Jack. Jack, this is Ryan, Matt, and Wade." I gestured to each of the men in turn. Jack smiled slightly and waved.

"So, Jack. You killed a zeke yet?" Ryan asked. I rolled my eyes.

"Zeke? Is that what we're callin' 'em?" Jack asked, laughing and raising his eyebrows.

"Ryan watches too many movies," I joked, shooting Ryan a look. "But I think we're all curious." I turned to Jack, interested to know what he had to say.

"Yeah. Yeah, I killed one," he said, looking proud.

"With what?" Matt asked, eagerness getting the best of him.

"Metal bat. 'S'all I could find around the house." The men nodded in approval and I half smiled in agreement.

"Let's get you some dinner, man." I directed Jack to the makeshift mess hall, where stale bread and canned whatnot was being served like a delicacy. Jack looked at the provisions with a grimace, but thanked those that scooped the slop into a bowl for him with a smile.

"We've been setting up this place for a few weeks now," I explained as we walked back to the campfire. Jack watched me as I spoke  with such genuine interest that my face began to burn. "Things went to shit earlier a few miles away from here, where we're all from. Wade was visiting when it happened. Home went dark for him today. He doesn't know what's happening there.

"When crap started happening we all grouped together and looked for a place that we'd be safe. We found this place. I don't know why it's here or what it's for, but it's damn useful. We're pretty established. For whatever reason, the zombies didn't get announced until it became a problem for more than a handful of towns."

"So this isn't a new? People knew about it before today?" Jack asked in disbelief. I nodded. He groaned and rolled his eyes. "Typical."

We sat down with the rest of the guys in the middle of one of Wade's stupid stories. I didn't pay attention to what it was about, but based on the reaction it was pretty embarrassing.

"Damn it, Wade!" I cried. The group erupted into laughter as Wade spluttered a defense that nobody cared enough about to hear. I glanced out of the corner of my eye to see Jack's face pulled up in a grin. His mouth had twisted into a supernova of a smile, his eyes crinkling with early laugh lines. He pushed his green hair out of his face and stared into the fire. I looked away and smiled slightly. He seemed like a good guy to be around.

As his wide grin faded and settled into a relaxed smile, his eyes darkened slightly. In them I saw fear and uncertainty, the same thing I saw evident in his features while looking down on his frightened, injured frame in the woods. My chest ached slightly. I felt the same thing. My phone had died early on, so I didn't know how my mom or brother were doing. The world around me seemed to stop and my stomach churned. I stood suddenly. The men around me looked up at me in confusion, worried by my sudden burst of inexplicable energy. I coughed, looking down.

"Well, we'd better get going if we're going to assign you a job by nightfall," I said, turning to Jack. I placed a hand on his shoulder when he stood to join me and started leading him away. He called a farewell over his shoulder.

"Every person in this camp has a place, and they do their job quite well. That's all we ask. It won't be anything too hard, but you can't slack off, got it?" I explained. He nodded.

"I'm on the scavenging crew. We go out every day and search houses and try to sort out some shit that might be useful. That's how we found you. Matt is on water duty, Ryan is kitchen, and Wade takes shifts on the watch. You," I said, pulling him into a large building. "Will preferably be trained for the scavenging crew as well. Not much for initiation, we just have to teach you how to handle a gun and not die. Got it?" He nodded again. "Great."

I paused and gave Jack a moment to take in the building, which was really an abandoned warehouse. The ceiling was high and lit up by bright fluorescent lights. Gunshots and shouts echoed from divided stalls, where targets were set up and attacked. People jogged past in running clothing or makeshift armor, because we may as well make this a goddamn movie scene. I turned to Jack, who looked completely awed by the spectacle before him. I smirked happily.

"Like what you see?" Jack, speechless, nodded. I chuckled to myself. "We'll start tomorrow because you need to rest. Come here tomorrow morning after breakfast." He smiled at me happily and dove toward a stall, eager to learn what the hell he was getting into.

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A/N
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I just wanted to say thank you guys so much for all the support! I can't believe we're already past 150 reads. I really appreciate all the feedback and love you've given me, and hope you still like the story.

As always, I will see you...in the next update!

BUH BYE!