Where We Roam
"Get the f*ck off of her!" Elizabeth's voice rang as she dug her nails into Mark's shoulders, attempting to throw him off of the other girl. Thankfully, Mark was not yet accustomed to the lesser strength of having only one arm and was easily separated from Natalie by Lucas and Elizabeth.Lucas held Mark back, allowing Elizabeth time to help the flustered woman up."Are you okay, Natalie?" She asked, looking her over.
"Yeah, yeah, I think I'm fine-"
"What the hell is your problem?!" Lucas' demand sounded, cutting off the rest of Natalie's sentence.
Mark heaved out a shaky cough before shouting in response, "My problem is that this bitch here is the reason my wife is dead!"
"Natalie told us her story, and she didn't do shit!" Elizabeth countered.
"Well, her f*cking friends did, and if I can't find them, she'll have to do."
"Shut the hell up," Lucas said, standing in between the three. "We saved your sorry life, and you'll respect us here!"
"Should've just left me out there, then," he muttered, letting his arm flop to the ground.
"It's too late for that now," Elizabeth sighed, rubbing her forehead. "Unless you want to wander out in negative-degree weather, I suggest you get along with the rest of us."
"And this is it? Just four of you?" Mark asked, not bothering to shift his gaze from the ceiling.
"If you join us, that'd be six. Another should be joining us shortly," She said, walking back over to Mark. "Do you need some help?"
"No," he grumbled, slowly pushing himself up with his arm. "I'm fine."
Casting a hostile glare at Natalie, Mark finally managed to get himself back up on his feet, tensing as he tried to supress the thoughts going through his mind; thoughts he didn't want to have but couldn't control. The kind of thoughts that make you question yourself and what you've become.
Sighing deeply, Mark stumbled his way back over to the couch he was resting on but was overcome by a series of coughing. The group relaxed at his passive state, and Elizabeth decided to speak, "So is there something wrong with you? The coughing, I mean. Are you sick or something?"
Panting from the ordeal, Mark gruffly answered, "It's just my asthma. I used to take something for it, but now it's hard to come by."
A knock at the door jolted unexpectant Mark upright, but he relaxed as Lucas said, "It's probably just Jenna. I'll get it." The handle to the door clicked as Lucas opened it, and Jenna, having only a zip-up jacket to protect her dark, nearly frost-bitten skin from the cold, eagerly stepped inside to join her group. Jenna and Allie went unnoticed as they stepped out of the room to go through the small bag of supplies she had managed to bring back.
Lucas turned to join the two girls, but Elizabeth and Natalie both stayed behind. The elder of the two spoke, "And what was it called; your medicine?"
Mark grumbled something. "Hell if I can remember. Theo-something."
"Alright, then," Elizabeth sighed, rubbing the side of her face; the dark circles under her eyes gave insight to many sleepless nights. "Natalie, why don't you go check with Jenna and see if she managed to scrounge anything up like that? I'll keep on eye on him."
"Okay.." She meekly whispered, disappearing into the connecting dining room.
Mark kept his gaze lowered to the ground, ignoring Elizabeth's piercing one."So you're the guy, huh? What the hell happened to Natalie's group?" She demanded, keeping her voice a harsh whisper so as not to alert the others.
"I don't goddamn know! I thought it was just Rose, but apparently she had a couple others with her," he whispered just as harshly back.
"Who? She said they were dead." Elizabeth cast a suspicious glare, folding her arms.
"Like I said, I don't know. They got out after-" Mark's voice suddenly caught in his throat, even catching him by surprise. "-after they shot my wife."
"And where was Natalie?"
"Away. She escaped me somewhere along a road, but I kept her horse."
Natalie slowly shuffled back in and shook her head, whispering, "Jenna doesn't have any."
"Guess we'll have to find some later," Elizabeth muttered. Raising her voice, she added, "So are you staying with us or going back out in the cold? Be reasonable."
Mark grunted as he looked at Natalie, before hesitantly responding with a sigh, "If I'm being reasonable, I'm staying."
Sidney cast a disgusted glance at the man, muttering, "Told you he was a good liar." Joseph discarded their comment and kept his attention on Rose, who stood frozen in place. Sidney watched in amusement as the stranger, who had agreed to meet them outside the city, strode towards them and aimed Nicholas' firearm at their father.
Joseph, however, heard the snow crunch under the weight of the stranger, and multiple things happened at once. First, Sidney quickly stepped aside to avoid the stranger; second, the stranger pulled the trigger, and, third, Rose fell to the ground in shock at the sudden rush of action. Her already existing bullet wound, however, did much to bring her down.
Sidney, eyes wide, stared at his father's body; they had wanted this, but Sidney only now realized that they were completely alone. Of all their small family, they were the sole survivor. The stranger rushed up to Rose and offered her her hand; Sidney quickly followed behind. "Are you okay, Rose?" Sidney asked, looking her over for any new wounds they knew weren't there anyway.
"I think so," Rose muttered, her teeth clenched together as a stabbing pain coursed through her torso. "It's just.. the place.. where I was shot.." She choked out, pausing to cope with the throbbing wound.
"We really need to get her somewhere safer," the woman muttered, mostly to herself. "What's your name?"
"Sidney; that's Rose."
"Good to know. I'm Lea," she spoke hurriedly, already walking down the path with Sidney in pursuit.
"So, do you-"
"Do you know a place where she can rest?" Lea interrupted.
Sidney inhaled sharply before responding, "That's what I was going to ask you."
Lea frowned slightly. "That's too bad. If we don't find a place, we can't get her wound cleaned, and it'll only get worse."
"What about-"
"And don't even think about going back into the city. Even if Nicholas is dead, the others aren't; they'll catch on soon enough."
Sidney furrowed their brows. "But-"
"What?"
"There were some others we had split up with in the city.. I guess it's too late now."
"Damn right, if you want your friend to survive."
"Why are you helping us?"
"Are you complaining?"
"No, I just-"
"Then quiet down."
Sidney folded their arms and hugged themselves, carefully watching Lea's stiff movements. Rose's left arm was swung around her shoulder, Lea's right arm was around her waist, and her left arm was holding Rose's left in place. Sidney, feeling a bit useless in the situation, decided to chip in and swing Rose's remaining right arm around their shoulders, mirroring Lea's position.
Rose weakly muttered a, "Thank you."
Slowly shuffling through the rapidly falling snow, Sidney suddenly felt a twinge of guilt, which they disregarded in the fear that acknowledging it would only make it worse. Sidney's worried expression was turned into one of curiosity when they felt Lea stop walking and sigh.
"Something wro- Oh," Sidney remarked, staring at the frozen horde they had traveled through with Lidia.
"They're fine to pass through, right?" Lea asked; despite her serious face, Sidney could hear the slight worry.
"Should be. Rose and I passed through on the way in," Sidney reassured, their voice confident in contrast to Lea's.
Without answering, Lea pressed on and made sure to keep her distance from the first walker they encountered, just to be sure. It merely stood there; it's eyes following their bodies in hunger. The three trudged on, and, finally, the snow began to let up. Lea stopped again, squinting her eyes. "Do you hear-? Ah!" She gasped, suddenly pulled away from Rose.
Rose fell back on Sidney, and it was only until they had managed to roll Rose off of them that Sidney caught sight of what happened. A walker had grabbed ahold of Lea's shoulders and pulled her back, attempting to bite and tear through her. Lea had pushed it down and shot it before it could do any further damage.
Sidney stood up, still hazy from the sudden movement, and groaned as they tried to pick Rose back up. Lea soon joined them and, with the other's help, effortlessly resumed their previous position. "Shit!" Sidney exclaimed. "I thought they were supposed to be frozen!"
"Me too," Lea whispered. The corpse was spotted with frost but had no wounds, meaning the previous inhabitant died of natural cause. She concluded this, "The virus might be adapting."
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