Don't Let Me Go

Who's To Be Buried

Nate shines the flashlight around, closing the door behind him. He coughs, the smell of decay is overpowering. There shouldn't be any infected in the rest of the house, but he still is cautious as he moves about just in case. He gets to the kitchen and his gaze zeros in on the chair blocking the basement door. He moves the chair away and stands in front of the door. He's hesitant to open it, knowing Matthew died down there. He's afraid of what he'll see, but he swallows his fear and reaches out for the handle. 

He opens the door and shines the flashlight down the steps. Blood s splattered all over them and he swallows. He moves the light to the inside of the door and there's bloody hand prints, blood splatters and blood covers the doorknob. He shivers, shining the light back down the stairs, "Could just be infected.. They beat at doors.."

He slowly goes down the stairs, shining the light around to get any infected that might be hiding to come out so he can kill them and get this over with. Nothing besides himself moves in the basement. He gets to the bottom of the steps and there's a dead, infected old man lying there. Nate whispers, like someone could hear him, "Must be who attacked him.. But where is he..?"

He ventures further into the basement slowly. He looks up and he can see the hole from the room Mark almost fell through. He continues to look around and he sees a trail of blood splatters. He follows it to the very back corner and that's where he finds Matthew Patrick, sitting against the wall, lifeless. His clothes are soaked in blood, as is his hands. Nate kneels in front of Matt and he doesn't fight the tears that fall. He gently raises Matt's head up and he quickly looks at the bloody bite in his throat, not wanting to look at his best friend's face yet. The bite was small, not enough to kill him instantly, but it seemed to have bled a lot.

He finally looks at Matt's face and Nate's eyes widen as he sees Matt's knife lodged into his own eye. Nate trembles and starts to hyperventilate, "O-oh god.. He.. He.. Was.."

He starts sobbing, hugging Matt's body close against himself. Matt hadn't turned, his body didn't show any of the symptoms that come along with a bite that the other infected do. His hands are covered in blood, he had beat against the door, trying to get out, and none of them had heard him. He had been unable to scream for help after he was bitten, they left him in the basement, scared and dying from blood loss. They had left, and Matt had taken his own life so he wouldn't turn. Nate holds Matt's body tightly, rocking back and forth as he sobs and screams. They could have done something.

They could have helped him. He didn't have to die alone, but that's what happened because someone lied about how Matthew Patrick had died. Nate covers his own mouth, trying to quiet his screams and get control of his emotions. He picks Matt's body up in shaky arms and he takes him upstairs. He lies him on the kitchen floor then goes to one of the bedrooms. He yanks the blankets off the nearest bed and then he takes the blankets back to the kitchen and he lays them out on the floor. 

He then takes the knife from Matt's left eye and he throws it at the wall. The noise it makes as it clatters to the floor makes him shiver. Biting back more tears, Nate picks Matt up and lies the body on the blankets before wrapping him up in them. He goes through the rooms again, looking for keys for the shed around the back of the house. After spending almost forty minutes just searching the house, careful to avoid any part of the floors that look like they might collapse, Nate goes back to the basement and searches the infected that had attacked Matt. 

He curses upon pulling the keys from the old man's pocket, "Should've just checked him first.."

He puts the keys in his pocket and then goes back upstairs and he picks Matt up again. He goes to the back yard and lies Matt down before unlocking the shed. He finds a mower, a few shovels, and a few gardening tools inside. He grabs a shovel and then starts digging in the yard. After awhile, lights shine from within the forest and Nate freezes, still digging a grave for Matt. Mark comes out of the forest with Ken in tow. They run up to Nate, looking confused. 

Nate frowns, "Sorry."

Mark looks down at the blanket and his eyes soften as he looks back at Nate, "You went back for him."

Nate sighs, continuing digging, "I couldn't just leave him down there."

Mark and Ken grab shovels from the shed and help dig. Nate stares at them, "You don't have to.."

"He was my friend, too," Mark smiles softly, tears running down his face, "Of course I do."

"Who's guarding camp then?" Nate asks.

"Tyler," Ken replies, "You've been gone almost three hours so we went to find you. Why did you decide to do this alone? Why would you feel the need to lie about it?"

Nate looks down at the hole their digging, "I.. Didn't want Stephanie to try and come.. I don't think she'd be able to take it.. Hell, I almost can't.. And I didn't want to endanger the entire group just to do this. We haven't buried any of our other friends, not that there had been time to.."

Mark starts to say something, but stops when an infected's moaning gets their attention. The three men turn towards the noise, shining their flashlights at the infected. It's a blond woman with blood soaking most of her hair, and a small knife stabbed in her throat. Mark's eyes widen and he shakes, "No.. That can't.."

Nate drops his shovel, "Amy.."