Don't Let Me Go

A Sacrifice For The Liar

"Nobody move!" Mark hisses, in the center of the room, the bottom half of his body dangling through the ceiling of the room below. His friends all stand just inside the room, all looking anxious. As the night fell, they all took cover in the abandoned house. As they were picking the place clean of supplies,  floor gave way in the second bedroom they came into and now Mark is struggling to keep himself from falling through. 

"Do you need help?" Matt asks.

"Nobody move," Mark groans, "The rest of the floor might fall apart, too."

"What should we do?" Marzia asks.

"I'm hanging here, there's a basement beneath this room at least. Someone go check it out, make sure it's safe for me to drop into." Mark replies, "I'm not sure this floor will hold up if I try to cross it again, and I don't want to drop into somewhere that might not be safe."

"So, you're just going to hang there and hope the rest of the floor doesn't collapse?" Tyler frowns, "At least let someone help you up."

"No, I don't want anyone else falling. Just go check out the basement." Mark snaps, "I will not be defeated by a floor!"

Tyler rolls his eyes, "I'll look for the basement, Ethan, come with me."

He instantly winces, clearing his throat as he looks down, "I-I meant Matt."

Matt nods, putting a hand on his shoulder, "Sure, man. Let's go."

"Be careful," Stephanie says softly as Tyler and Matt leave the room. Nate frowns, "I'll stay here, make sure you don't fall through the floor."

Mark nods, "Just don't get too close.."

"What should the rest of us do?" Jack asks.

"Look for supplies," Mark and Nate say in union. The group chuckles uneasily and then Mark and Nate are left alone in the room. Nate stays close to the wall as he slowly makes his way towards Mark. He doesn't go too close, just close enough to make sure he can grab Mark if he starts to fall through. On the other side of the house, Tyler and Matt cross through the kitchen. Matt keeps his eye on Tyler, "How are you doing..?"

"Fine," Tyler snaps, opening the pantry. 

Matt sighs, "You're not fine."

He opens a door and there's stairs leading down. He turns back to Tyler to find the man glaring at him. Matt sighs, shrugging, "I'm just trying to help, man."

Tyler shoves past him, "Let's just see what's down here."

He starts down the stairs and Matt follows close behind, "You know, talking about it will make you feel better."

Tyler turns on his heel, glaring at Matt, "Just leave me the fuck alone! I don't want to talk about it, and I don't want to be babied because I'm angry that my best friend was thrown out like trash!"

"Tyler," Matt frowns, his train of thought instantly changes when he sees the infected coming up behind Tyler. 

"Tyler!" he screams, grabbing him and pushing himself towards the infected to shove Tyler back up the stairs. Tyler turns back to Matt and his eyes widen. He stands there, frozen in his fear. Matt steps up to him, unable to get upstairs with Tyler frozen in place. Tears come to Matt's eyes as the infected grabs him, and then he screams as teeth tear into his throat. Tyler snaps out of his frozen state and he shakes his head, getting back upstairs. 

"I'm sorry," he says as he slams the basement door shut and then pulls up a chair, propping it up under the handle to try and lock the infected down there. He slowly backs away from the door, listening to Matt's muffled screams that are silenced too soon. Tyler turns away and meets up with his friends in the hallway.

"What was that noise?" Jack asks.

"Tell Mark not to drop down," Tyler mutters, "There's infected down there."

"Where's Matt?" Stephanie asks.

"Tell Mark not to drop down," Tyler repeats.

Jack disappears into the next room to help Nate get Mark up.

"Tyler," Stephanie steps up to him, shaking. Tears come to her eyes and her voice breaks,  "Where is Matthew?"

Tyler looks her in the eyes and he says, "He's in the basement, being eaten by the infected."

Stephanie's eyes widen and then she glares at him as tears spill down her face. She slaps Tyler across the face, making a sound between a sob and a scream and then she turn away, covering her mouth with her hand to muffle her own sobs as her grief takes over her. Mark, jack, and Nate come into the hallway and Mark looks at Stephanie, then at Tyler, "What happened?"

"Matt and I were going into the basement and we got jumped by an infected. It grabbed him and bit into his throat before I could stop it." Tyler replies.

Mark looks sick, "Matthew.. Fuck.."

Tears threaten to overflow and he turns away from his friends, trying to keep himself in check, "D-did we clean the rest of the house out yet?"

"Yeah," Jack replies softly, tears falling down his face slowly.

The group of friends stand in the hallway and they all grieve for their fallen friend. After awhile of just sitting in the hallway in silence, once the only person still crying is Stephanie, Mark sighs and stands, "We should get going. Find someplace safer to stay the night."

"This place is safe," Jack frowns, "As far as we know, the only infected are in the basement.."

"What if all the floors are as weak as that room?" Marzia asks.

Felix nods, "I'm with her and Mark, we should find a safer place."

No one else speaks, and they all take off into the night. They end up making a small camp in the woods after walking through the woods until it's too dark to see. They settle onto the ground, sleeping in the dirt, in the light of a pitiful fire. Mark stays up to keep watch for infected, and he notices Tyler is still awake. 

"Hey.." Mark speaks softly.

"Hey.." Tyler sighs.

Mark frowns, "About Matthew.."

Tyler's eyes narrow, "What about him..?"

"Are you sure there was nothing you could have done to save him?" Mark asks.

Tyler sits up, glaring at him, "Are you saying I let him die? Because I didn't want him to die. I told you what happened, and that's what happened."

"Are you sure?" Mark leans back against a tree, "There was no way you could have helped him at all? It all happened too fast for you to react?"

"What are you getting at?" Tyler growls softly.

Mark shrugs, "Just trying to make sure. We're losing people so quickly.. I just.. I keep going over how we've lost everyone so far, and I can't help but to think.. Maybe there was something we could have done.."

Tyler lies back down, turning away from Mark, "It happened too fast."