Don't Let Me Go

Someplace Safe

Jack and Mark run through the woods as best they can with Mark's injury. Mark suddenly yelps as he crumbles to the ground. Jack gasps and tries to pull him back up, "Come on, they'll be on us any second!"

"Go," Mark grunts, shaking, "I'm dead weight now, so just go!"

"I'm not leaving you," Jack shakes his head, pulling Mark back up as quickly as he can. Mark leans on him again and they run again, the infected closing in on them. 

"Leave me," Mark stares at Jack with wide eyes, "I'm just slowing you down."

"No," Jack grunts, staring ahead with a fierce determination in his eyes, "I'm not leaving anyone behind."

"But, I--" Jack cuts him off, "I said we'd talk about it later. Once we've found the others."

It's not looking good for them, there's too many infected slowly surrounding them in the darkness. Still, Jack helps Mark keep running. A false hope he knows won't last, Mark's bit, there's only one way that can end. Maybe we can take the leg off and he'll be fine, Jack keeps repeating this in his head as he frantically searches for some kind of reprieve that can save them from the death and the darkness that's threatening to swallow them.

...

"I can hear them out there," Nate mutters, staring out the window of the cabin. Ken still lays asleep on the couch by the wall, and Stephanie's still sitting on the couch across from Nate. She's still staring at the floor. Nate looks at her, then at Ken. He looks back out the window, he can just see the outline of a few infected in the treeline.

"Ken?" a little girl's sleepy voice speaks in the darkness. 

Nate turns to the sound to find Mary-Jane standing there, her long hair lying over her shoulders, and she's wearing purple flower-print pajamas. She stares at Nate, "What are you doing in my house?"

"How old are you?" Nate asks softly.

"Seven," she replies, "How old are you?"

"Older than you," he says.

She crosses her arms, repeating her earlier question, "What are you doing in my house?"

"Hiding from the infected. We're in the middle of fucking nowhere." he huffs.

She frowns, "No swearing. You have to put a quarter in the jar."

He raises an eyebrow at her, "Like I hell I do."

"A dollar," she glares.

He laughs lightly, "You sure got moxy, kid. What's your name?"

"Mary-Jane," she walks over and sits beside Stephanie, "What's your name?"

"I'm Nate," he replies.

"Who's she?" she points to Stephanie.

"That's our friend, Stephanie. We're friends with Ken. He let us in, so we'll be safe from the infected." he states.

"Infected?" she tilts her head.

"Yeah," he nods, "The sick people that want to eat us."

"Oh, the bad people." she nods, mostly to herself.

"Yeah," he sighs, "The bad people."

"Have my parents come back yet?" she asks.

He frowns, "No."

Mary-Jane moves and pulls her knees to her chest, trying not to cry, "O-okay.."

"They could be dead, you know." Nate says softly, "You need to know that's an option. That they might not come back."

"No!" she shakes her head, "My parents are coming back for me! They love me!"

Ken sits up quickly, the shouting waking him, "What's wrong?!"

Mary-Jane gets up and runs over to him, wrapping her arms around him, "He said my parents are dead! They're not! They're not, tell him!"

Ken gasps, wrapping his arms around her gently. He looks at Nate, almost glaring. Nate just shrugs, looking back out the window, "Just telling her the truth.."

Ken shushes Mary-Jane, sitting her on his lap, "I'm sure your parents are fine, sweetie. But Nate.. He just wants to prepare you.. In case they aren't."

She nods, wiping her eyes, sniffling, "But.. They will come back.. They promised.."

"I know they did, sweetheart,"Ken sighs, "You'll be okay, no matter what happens. Okay?"

"Okay.." she clings to him.

He holds her as he stands, "Let's get you back to bed, yeah? Which room is yours?"

He walks out of the room and Nate sighs, closing his eyes.

...

"We've been walking forever," Felix groans, "My feet are going to fall off."

"Can you stop complaining for one second?" Tyler glares at him, "When the infected get to us, it's going to be your fault because they followed your loud ass voice."

"You need to stop being so rude," Marzia crosses her arms, "You've just been completely horrible since Ethan left."

"Don't talk about him," Tyler snaps.

Marzia glares at him, but says nothing else. Felix suddenly stops, gasping, "Guys!"

"What is it?" Marzia asks.

Tyler frowns at him and Felix looks back at them, "Look! Over there!"

He points ahead of them, "There's a cabin! We can hide there for the rest of the night!"

"There might be people in there, and they might not want us there." Tyler frowns, "We need to be ready to take it if we have to."

"Take it?" Marzia asks, eyeing him wearily.

"It won't come to that," Felix assures, "Let's just go say hi to the locals."

He turns and runs towards the cabin, Marzia and Tyler following close behind. They get to the cabin and Tyler pulls his knife while Felix knocks. Marzia looks around, there are some infected in the area, heading their way. Ken opens the door, looking shocked and relieved. He smiles and ushers them in quickly, shutting and locking the door back after them. Nate looks over at them, "Oh, look. You're not dead. Cool."

...

Jack stabs his knife through the eye of an infected that gets too close, before turning back and ushering Mark along, who's almost hopping as they run from the horde forming behind them. Mark looks around quickly, breathing heavily, sweating from the pain and the effort to keep going. He sees a cabin several feet to their left and he looks back at Jack, who's stabbing another infected.

"Jack!" he gasps, "Cabin!"

Jack looks at him as he points. Jack nods, "Can you make it?!"

Mark nods, though he has no idea if he'll have the energy to get that far while running for his life. Jack turns for the direction of the cabin, pulling Mark to lean on him again so they can try to go just a bit faster together. The infected coming after them don't seem to be able to run, which Jack thanks the heavens for, because if these infected could run, Jack is pretty sure he and Mark would be dead by now. 

They get to the cabin and Jack tries the door, but it's locked. He then starts slamming his shoulder against the door, desperate to get inside before the infected catch them. Mark's eyes widen, "Jack.."

The horde is quickly closing in on them, almost to the porch where they stand. The door suddenly opens, causing Jack to fall to the floor. Ken pulls Jack to his feet while Nate holds the door, "Mark, come on!"

Mark turns with a gasp, limping into the house. Nate slams the door shut, locking it. He turns to Ken, "We're about to be surrounded, we need to barricade the windows and the door now!"