Virus | A CrankGamePlays X Reader

~~Seven~~

Y/n

Ethan and I stay up the whole night together. He's good company. I forgot what it was like to talk to someone my own age after all this time with just Leo, Luna, and I alone. Yes there have been other groups, but Ive never really talked to anyone in them. I did what I had to do to survive and that was it. The sun starts to rise on a new day. Ethan and I decide to wait a bit longer before waking everyone up.

"So why have you been trying to avoid everyone?" Ethan asks as he stares out at Mark and Amy cuddled together in front of us.
"I don't know what you mean." I lean forward and pet Luna.
"Come on. You've been trying to keep your distance. Don't think I didn't notice." I chuckle and slide an inch further from him.
"You're funny." I try to not acknowledge what he said. "So what did you do before all this?" He sighs before smiling.
"I was going to school for film directing." I nod.
"Sounds fun. Do you miss that?" I can see the dreams in his eyes as he speaks.
"Yeah. I always thought that one day I'd be a big director and be in charge of large films." I picture Ethan sitting in a directors chair.
"I don't know..." He shoots me a confused expression. "I don't think you're mean enough to bark orders and under paid staff." He chuckles.
"You don't have to be a mean director." I shrug.
"Are you really a director if people don't hate you?" He smirks.
"You got me there."

As we laugh I hear a yawn come from in front of us. I look up to see Mark stretch his arms high in the air, his finger brushing against the top of the bush. He yawns once more before finally noticing Ethan and I.

"My turn to be on watch yet?" He asks. Ethan shakes his head.
"Nope. The sun is rising." Mark raises his eye brows and moves some leave to look at the sky. Sure enough, the sun is rising.
"Why didn't you wake me up?" He looks directly at me.
"You looked like you needed the sleep. Plus I had Ethan awake with me and he made sure I didn't kill you in your sleep." Ethan kinda waves as Mark turns to him.
"You guys were awake all night? You were supposed to get sleep so we could get moving as soon as everyone was awake." I roll my eyes.
"I'm good, trust me. I don't know about Ethan here but I'm no newcomer to all nighters." Ethan kinds shrugs.
"I had a sweet power nap after passing out on the ground. Sorry about that by the way."

I stretch my arms high into the air and look to Leo. He's still fast asleep. I decide to not wake him as one crawl towards our makeshift entrance to this place. As I go the push away the leave Mark stops me by grabbing my wrist.

"Where are you going?" He asks.
"Well it's hot as hell out right now so you guys want some fresh meat for breakfast you better let go of my wrist."

Mark let's go, but still seems really confused. I just shake my head and step out of the large bush with my bag in hand. I then make my way over to where I hid the deer from last night. I pull out the large deer and set down my bag.

Just pull off enough for everyone to have a good breakfast and a bit for the road. No more. It'll take up space only to go bad.

I open up my bag and reach in. After a bit of searching I find my large hunting knife and pull it out.

"What are you doing?" I turn to see Ethan standing there with a sad look on his face.
"Don't judge me. We have to eat. If I don't do this then it'll be a waste and that would be more disrespectful to this deer." He thinks for a moment before nodding.
"I guess you're right." He agrees.
"I am. Now could you ask Mark to help me and could you go find a water source so we can boil water? There has to be one around here."

Ethan nods and jogs back to the sleeping bush. After a moment he exits and runs off to find water and Mark heads my way. I can see how baffled Mark is as he sees me skinning this deer. I shoot him a smile and pull out another hunting knife. I hold it out to him as he just stares.

"You gonna keep staring or are we gonna have breakfast sometime this morning?" He snaps out of his trance and takes the knife.
"How'd you get a buck this big?" He asks as he sits next to me and begins skinning.
"I heard it walking out here last night and jumped it. Poor thing didn't see it coming." I half lie.
"We're gonna be eating for a whole from this." I stop skinning and take a look at him.

Mark is so concentrated on the task that he doesn't even notice me staring. His hair falls perfectly above his eyes and I begin to wonder how they kept up their hair all this time. I have scissors that I found a while back, but their hair cuts looks well done. It's almost as if someone with experience did it. A bead of sweat drips down his forehead and splashes onto the deer's skin. That's when I gather my bearings and jump back into the conversation.

"It would if we had a way to store it. We don't have a freezer or salt to preserve the meat." We finish skinning it and Mark looks up at me. "We're gonna eat as much as we can and then we'll take a bit for the road. Any more and we'll be weighted down." He nods.
"Well then let's get to cutting."

- - -

It takes us a bit but soon we have a few pounds of meat cut off. I start to rummage through my bag some more as Ethan jogs back.

"How we gonna cook all this?" Mark asks. I smile as I finally find what I'm looking for. I pull out a medium sized box. "What's that?" I quickly take everything out of it and begin to place a bit of meat inside.
"A solar oven." I reply.
"Where did you get one of those?" Ethan questions as he sets two large water bottles full of water next to me.
"I made it. It was pretty easy." I stand up with the box and look for the sunniest spot and set the box there.
"How long will it take to cook?" Mark and Ethan follow close behind me.
"Anywhere from four to seven hours, but I'm thinking more in the five range." I can feel their eyes widen.
"Four to seven HOURS?" Mark sounds concerned. As we head back towards the bush I see Amy and Tyler exiting with sleep still in their eyes.
"You know how early it is? We'll be able to leave by eleven or eleven thirty. You need to really relax." Amy yawns as she walks over.
"How do you know what time it is?" She asks.
"By the shadows casted by the sun." I tell her. "Just look how long our shadows are. It's gotta be about five six o'clock in the morning." They look down at the ground. I watch as Amy's eyes travel over to the dead deer and widen.
"Oh my god! Did a Mort leave that?" She asks. I shalt my head.
"I killed it and Mark helped me with everything else." I head back to the bush to go wake up Leo. "Oh, and breakfast will be done by around noon." I then step into the bush.