After The Fall

The Rest of Them

"So.." Ken frowns lightly, standing before everyone in the living room a few days after they buried Mary-Jane. His eyes flicker from the floor back to Mark's face, "You're immune? For real?"

Jack looks around at their friends wearily. He doesn't like that Mark's outed himself to them. Mark nods, rolling up his pant left and unraveling the wrappings he's been keeping over the healing wound. It's evident to them all now that what's healing is in fact a bite. Eyes widen, staring at Mark. He looks back at his friends, leaning back again, "I was bit almost four months ago, and I never got sick at all.."

"Dude.." Felix stares, pure shock on his face, "Seriously..? And.. You never said anything to us?"

"I was worried he'd be kicked out," Jack speaks up, "So even though he told me he was bitten, I didn't want to believe it and I made him lie about it."

Ken crosses his arms, "Well.. I can understand why you would want to protect him.."

Jack nods, sighing, "So.. What now?"

"What is there to even do now?" Felix asks, scratching at his beard, "So, Mark's magically immune to the infection. So what? It's not like there's actually anything we can do about it. We're not government, hell I don't even think any form of government's even survived this long. We've seen more damn zambies than actual people since this thing started."

"True.." Jack frowns. He then suddenly chuckles, "Zambies, huh?"

Felix blinks, looking over at his friend, "What?"

Nate chuckles softly, "You're right. Nothing has to change, there's nothing to do but keep surviving. But.. With Mark on our side, maybe we have a better chance of keeping each other alive."

"What do you mean?" Ken asks softly, "How does Mark's immunity keep us alive?"

Nate just blinks at him like the answer is obvious and Ken frowns. After a moment, realization hits his eyes. Nate nods, "We don't know if it'll work, but.. We're testing it."

"Testing what?" Felix asks.

"We're pretty sure Stephanie's infected," Mark states, "Because that's how we think Mary-Jane got infected. But Steph hadn't shown symptoms yet, so I.. Injected some of my blood into her veins."

He smiles softly, "She seems to be getting better, the evidence of the infection hasn't shown up yet, still, so.. Maybe we're on to something."

Felix's eyes widen, "Dude.. Bro, you could be a fucking cure!"

Jack frowns, "If it does work, we definitely need to keep it to ourselves."

"Why?" Felix frowns at Jack's words. Jack just stares at him pointedly in response.

Mark looks at Felix with warm eyes, "We've both played The Last of Us, right?"

Felix nods and Mark continues, "Remember the ending?"

Felix nods again and then he face-palms, "Ohhhh.... Yeah. Got it."

Jack chuckles softly and then they all share a soft laugh. The world may be dying, but maybe the rest of them don't have to.

...

Cry and Minx head back to their temporary safe place with their newly claimed supplies. Even with the dead ones roaming, they didn't have too hard of a time gathering food and anything else they deem needed from the nearby houses. It seems this place was hit fast and hard, a lot of the houses hadn't even been cleaned out yet. Makes sense with how many infected were around the day before. The sunset casts shadows across their already weary world, making it look more and more like a nightmare than real.

They're both feeling good about their finds. They got really lucky here, they know that for sure. They finally come to the street leading to the house they left their friends hiding in, both happy to be back. Though successful, it's been a long day. The duo walk together in silence, but it's not uncomfortable. They're still best friends, even through all of this, so they find just the company of one another to be somewhat peaceful and calming.

They finally come up to the building and Minx steps up, trying to open the door only to find it locked. She sighs and knocks lightly, speaking out, "Hey, we're back."

There's no answer and Minx looks back at Cry. He shrugs, "Maybe they're in a different room and didn't hear."

There's a scream from inside and they both look at the door with wide eyes. Cry pulls Minx back, hastily trying to get Ohm's lock-picking tool from the side of his backpack. As he starts to try and pick the lock, the door swings open to reveal a disheveled Dan. His friends stare back at him with wide eyes and confused expressions. Dan looks freaked and angry. Cry pushes past him, looking around and Minx grips him by the shoulders, "What's going on? What happened? We heard a scream."

Dan looks back towards the closed door across the room, still breathing heavily. Cry looks back at him, concerned. And then they hear it, nails scratching at wood accompanied by the low snarls of an infected person looking for the next meal they know is there. Cry clenches his hands into fists. His voice is low and harsh when he speaks, "What happened? Who's in there?"

"Signe," Dan speaks with a soft anger, "And Dave. Signe went to lie down, slit her throat without us knowing.. Dave went in to check on her and she attacked him. I ran over, but.. She had ripped out his throat, he was already starting to turn. I shut the door."

The three exchange glances and Minx feels sick. First Entoan, and now Dave and Signe are gone, too. She swallows thickly, "Their supplies..?"

Dan points to the two backpacks still on the couch. Cry walks over and picks them up, turning back to Dan and Minx. He holds them out and the two come over and take the bags from him. He heads for the closed door and Dan's eyes narrow, "Don't let them out!"

"I will not just leave our friends like that." he replies, looking back at them as he pulls his gun free, "Wait for me outside. Then we're getting out of here."

Minx grabs Dan's arm, leading him out as Cry turns back to the door, gripping the handle. They wait outside, and after a few minutes Cry comes back out, a silencer now equipped to the barrel of his gun. No words are exchanged as the three walk away, following the sinking sun back the way they had come. Three left from the starting six who came in search of a better place, now knowing the world being better was only a dream. It's down to the rest of them that have survived to find a new dream to search for, because there is a difference between surviving and truly living.
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Hello, everyone. This is the ending of "After The Fall," so I hope you've enjoyed everything thus far. But worry not, because the story I'm telling isn't over just yet. Just like when the first book ended, I'm already working on a third installment. 

"Those Who Survive", be sure to look out for it. I don't know exactly when it will be posted as of writing this, but I promise not to make you wait too long.

As always, I want to thank you all for being with me this far, and I hope to see you all again when the next book begins. 

~Xion, out