Don't Let Me Go

The Infection Is Spreading

"Jack, let me in!" Felix screams, pounding his fist against Mark and Amy's front door.

He tries the doorknob, but it's still locked. He keeps hitting the door, "Let me in!"

"Where's Mark?" Jack's soft voice replies a moment later, "Where's Bob and Wade? Nate?"

"They're dead," Felix growls, "Now, let me in!"

"I don't believe you." Jack states.

Felix hits the door, "Jack!"

"Where are they, Felix?" Jack asks.

"Let me in, you Irish bastard!" Felix keeps hitting the door, "Javla helvete! Open the fucking door, Jack!"

"How do you know they're all dead?" Jack is quiet, "Why are you the only one that came back?"

Felix groans, looking around. A few infected are walking his way from down the road. He hits the door again, "Jack, if you don't open this door right fucking now, I'm going to die!"

Felix looks around again and his eyes widen as he sees Mark, Wade, and Nate running his way, a horde of infected running after them. He bangs on the door again, "Jack, they're alive! Open the door! There's a lot of infected people out here, man, you need to let us in!"

Felix's heart stops as the infected close in and Jack still won't open the door. Mark, Wade, and Nate are almost back to the house and soon they'll be surrounded. He bangs against the door repeatedly, "Jack! Jack, open the door! I'm serious, we're going to die if you don't open the damn door!"

Mark is the first to get to the door and he shoves Felix back, hitting the door how he told them he would. In an instant, Jack opens the door and Mark, Felix, Wade, and Nate rush in. Jack slams the door shut, locking it. He's staring at them with dark eyes, "What the fuck?"

His eyes widen as he sees the wound on Wade's arm, "Are you all right?!"

Nate pulls the mask down off his face then runs over to Felix. He grabs Felix by the collar of his shirt, shoving him against the wall, "You fucking coward! You left us to die!"

Felix shoves him back, pulling his own mask down. Mark sits Wade on the couch, pulling his mask down as well, "Jack, get the first aid from the bathroom!"

Jack runs off and Mark turns to Nate and Felix, "Knock it off, we'll sort that out later!"

Nate slams Felix against the wall again, glaring at him, "I'll remember this. When the time comes that you need help, and trust me, it will, let's see how you like being abandoned."

He storms away from him, going over to Mark and Wade. He puts a hand on Mark's shoulder, "We need something to block the windows. The house is surrounded, and when that glass breaks, we're fucked."

Jack comes back in, carrying a box. he sets it on the floor by Mark, "Where's Bob? What happened out there?"

"Bob's dead," Mark says, reaching into the box Jack brought, "He got infected and he bit Wade."

"How.." Jack frowns, unsettled, "How did he get infected?"

"He got bit, and then.. I think he died. His throat was bit out, there was just so much blood.." Mark shudders, focusing on cleaning Wade's wound. Wade is still crying and Nate is staring at the windows, "Seriously.. We need to block the windows."

"Did you guys at least get any food?" Jack asks softly.

"We weren't able to.." Felix replies, arms crossed, "There were just too many of them.."

"Jack, she---" Marzia yelps as she slips, coming down the stairs. Felix, being the closest, moves and catches her. She gasps, wrapping her arms around him, "You're okay!"

Jack turns to her, "Marzia?"

Felix helps Marzia stand fully and she turns to Jack with wide eyes, "She's getting worse."

Jack frowns and runs upstairs. Mark turns to her, looking confused, "What's going on?"

Marzia looks down, "Mark, it's.. Amy.. She's sick."

Mark's eyes widen, "What? What happened?"

Marzia shakes her head, looking at him now with tears in her eyes, "About an hour ago, she just.. Just.. It was just a nosebleed and then.. She's coughing up blood now."

Mark rushes past her, running up into his bedroom, "Amy?!"

Marzia and Felix follow, leaving Nate in the living room with Wade. Mark comes into the bedroom and Ethan, Tyler, Matt, and Stephanie sit off to one side, while Amy is lying on the bed. Jack, Marzia, and Felix come in behind Mark and they go and sit with the others. Mark crosses the room and stands beside Amy. She smiles up at him, "You're back."

There's still blood under her nose, and some blood on her shirt. She's clutching bloody tissues in her hands. Mark smiles lightly back at her, pushing some hair from her face, "Marzia told me you were sick..?"

She shrugs lightly, "I guess I must have.. Caught.. What's going around."

Mark looks over at his friends, "How are the rest of you feeling?"

"We're okay," Matt frowns, hugging Stephanie closer, "We've.. Kind of been staying as far away from her as we can.. No offense.."

Mark frowns, but says nothing as he looks back at Amy. She coughs lightly, holding a tissue over her mouth with shaky hands. She's clammy and her skin is a little more pale than when Mark last saw her. Stephanie clears her throat, "If she's.. Infected, shouldn't we.. Stay in a separate room from her? If we all get sick.."

"This room is pretty much contaminated." Jack replies, "There's the guest room, I guess."

"We're probably all infected," Ethan says, "We've been in here since she got sick, some of us have even been real close to her. If whatever this is is airborne, we're all already infected. Trying to isolate her won't do anything. If we get sick, we get sick. If not, great. Either way, I'm terrified."

"What do we do?" Matt sighs, "Just sit around, waiting to die?"

"Yup," Ethan states, popping the "P."

"Ethan, shut up," Tyler frowns, "We're not all infected. If we were, we'd be just as sick as her."

"I don't know, man." Ethan covers his face, "We just don't know."

"Everything's going to be fine," Mark glares at them, "We're all going to be fine."

His words are shattered when someone screams downstairs.