Don't Let Me Go

In The Dark

Nate sits in a chair, staring out the window with his knees to his chest. Ken sits on the couch next to Stephanie. Ken sighs, "Are you okay, Nate?"

"I saw an infected run. It was so fast I thought it was human at first." he replies.

Ken frowns, "What?"

Nate continues to stare out the window, "When I was looking for Stephanie, I saw a woman with dark hair run by. I thought it was Stephanie, so I went after her. I called out to her, and the woman turned. It was an infected, and she ran at me. I kind of froze, I've never seen the infected run like that.. I killed it, though, but.. It still freaks me out."

"That's.." Ken frowns, "Unsettling.."

Nate looks at him, "We don't know anything about the illness that makes the infected what they are. What if the infected are.. Sort of evolving? How can we possibly stay safe if they're just getting more dangerous the longer they're around? How are we supposed to survive?"

"Nate, we will survive this." Ken replies.

Nate looks down, "How..?"

"You just have to believe in yourself and your friends. We'll all protect each other, we'll be okay." Ken states.

Nate looks back out the window and their silent once again. Ken looks at Stephanie, and she hasn't moved since Nate sat her down. She still hasn't said a word. Ken looks at her with worry, The poor woman is broken. How long will it be before she completely gives up? I don't know if Nate will be able to handle losing her, too, so soon after losing Matthew. He looks back at Nate, who's still staring out the window with an unreadable expression. Ken sighs and moves to the other couch in the room. He lies down on it and tries to sleep.

...

Tyler trudges through the woods with a frustrated expression on his face. He groans, leaning against a tree, "I can't see shit out here.."

Darkness has fallen over the forest, thick, dark clouds still cover the sky, giving no moonlight. Tyler sighs and continues in silence, keeping his knife in hand. His frustration quickly turns to fear. He's all alone in the dark, and he won't be able to see if any infected come after him. He curses Stephanie for running away, he curses everyone for splitting on him, and he curses Mark for getting them lost in the forest in the first place. 

He's not in a good spot. Wandering around in the infected infested forest in the dark is the worst thing to be doing. Still, he wanders slowly, not really having a choice. Looks like I'll be walking through the night, stopping and trying to sleep unprotected will just get me killed. He groans, When I find Mark, I'm going to punch him in the face. He barely sees movement up ahead and he stops, uncertain if it's his friends or the infected. Then he hears voices.

"I can't see anything," Marzia whines.

"Just hold on to me," Felix replies, "We'll be okay."

Tyler runs towards them, "Marzia, Felix!"

They turn, squinting in the darkness. 

"Tyler?" Felix gasps, "Finally! We've been searching for everyone for hours. Are you okay?"

"Are you alone?" Marzia asks.

Tyler sighs, "I'm okay, not bit. Yeah, I got separated from everyone, just like you two."

Felix sighs, "It's great to see you. We're not in a good position here, though."

"I don't like being out here, so defenseless, especially at night." Marzia states.

"I agree," Tyler frowns, "So, where are we supposed to go to get somewhere safe?"

"I have no idea," Felix groans, "I can't find my way out of here during the day."

Tyler rolls his eyes and Marzia frowns, "It's so dark.. We're sitting ducks out here.."

"We know," Tyler snaps, "You repeating what we just said ins't helping."

"Don't yell at her," Felix glares at Tyler, who just rolls his eyes again, "I'm not. I'm just stating that her input isn't needed."

Felix continues to glare at him and Marzia looks around wearily. She hugs herself, "We should keep our voices down.. We don't know if any.. Of them are around.."

Felix and Tyler agree to that and the three walk in silence. They don't know where they're going and they can barely see what's in front of them. They have no idea how they're going to find the others, let alone how they're going to get out of the forest, especially in the suffocating darkness.

...

Mark and Jack travel through the darkness, their shared flashlight they found earlier that day flickers constantly. The weak light won't last much longer. Mark sighs, "It doesn't seem to end.."

"The trees?" Jack asks softly, looking around for anything that might jump out at them.

Mark nods, "Yeah. God, this is all my fault.."

Jack shakes his head, "You didn't mean to get us lost. Besides, Stephanie took off.. That's why we're even more lost now.."

"I hope she's okay.." Mark frowns, "I don't blame her for running.. She's so.. Broken.. Losing Matt was just too much for her.. I'm surprised Nate's held it together as long as he has, he knew Matt the longest out of all of us."

"Yeah.. I hope they're all okay." Jack sighs, "I just want to wake up and everything be normal again."

"I know," Mark looks back at him with sympathy, "We all do."

They fall into silence and they both keep their attention on the flickering light that's guiding their way. After a moment, Mark looks back at Jack. Before he can say anything, something grabs his leg and he's pulled to the ground. The flashlight flies from his hand, landing a few feet away. 

Jack gasps, his hand tightening around his knife as Mark goes down. Jack just barely sees the infected's outline in the thick darkness. Mark yells, kicking, and then he screams as teeth bite into his flesh. Jack quickly stabs the monster in the head, pulling it's body off Mark's legs. He then pulls Mark to his feet, putting an arm around him to support him, "Lean on me!"

Mark nods, clinging to Jack. He leans on him, but still tries not to put his whole weight on the smaller man. They start running, or trying to, as they hear the moans of the dead coming near. This is bad, this is so fucking bad! Mark screams in his head. That infected bit into his right ankle. Mark squeezes his eyes shut, "Jack.. I.."

"I know," Jack grits his teeth, "We'll talk about it later."