Z day ( septiplier )

Stories

"She wanted your help?"
"Shh, don't talk so loud. But yes" Mark stared at the others face, close enough so he could see it through the darkness. Once he had finished helping Suzy for the day, although there wasn't that much to do, she mainly just made him tell her every little detail about the outside world, he had practically ran back to the house to tell Jack about that day's events.

Now, they laid tangled in each other's arms, opting to share a bed for the night. Neither of them had said anything, they had just found themselves climbing into the same bed, laying so they could face each other as they spoke.

"Well, what are you gonna do?"

"I dunno. This place is the safest place I've seen in, well, forever. I just don't wanna ruin our chances here, but on the other hand, I want to help her."
Jack gave a sigh, shifting slightly closer to the other.

"Mark, there's something I have to tell you"
"What is it?"
"I, I've been here before. I used to live here"
"What? Why didn't you say so? Why didn't anyone mention that?"
"Because they don't want anyone else to know."

"Why? Why wouldn't they want anyone to know?"
Jack sighed, his gaze falling from Marks eyes to his chest.

"Before I was with Arin and Danny, I was here. Mark, promise you won't hate me when I tell you this"

"I could never hate you, you know that"
Jack gave a bitter laugh, licking his lips quickly before continuing. "The people here. Not all of them, but some, are, well, not exactly nice. Barry is the worst, and I used to be his right hand man. I was never quite as bad as him, but I got close. At first it was fine, we'd just, dispose of the occasional rebel, or attacker, to show people what happened when you went against us. But then it got worse. Barry started ordering secret attacks on other groups. He'd send a small group of people to raid the camp, take their supplies and light the evidence on fire. I was in charge of those groups. I would lead them out and attack innocent people. But then Barry got greedy. Apparently killing people wasn't enough. So he'd make us kidnap a few of them, I tried to avoid the children, but sometimes it couldn't be helped"

Jack sucked in a deep breathe, his small figure shaking as tears fell out of his eyes and dripped down his face.

"He would bring them back here. Make sure that no-one knew about them. And then he'd take them to the farthest side of town, where no one went. He would torture them, for days and days until they died. I don't know why he did it, he never explained. I think he just lost it. But, he would never do the torturing, he didn't want to get his hands dirty. No, he made someone else do it. And that someone else was me."

The room was filled with silence as Mark struggled to take in everything he had been told. So, all those 'safe' places that had been set on fire, the homes to innocent people, had been destroyed. By this place.

"But, you tried to resist, didn't you?" Mark asked, his quiet voice causing Jack to curl in on himself slightly, a dry chuckle escaping his mouth.

"Mark. I never resisted. Not even when he found those soulmates. Oh God, those soulmates. Didn't even have to touch one of them. They were driven completely insane by the pain of their other half. They felt everything Mark. I didn't even touch them but they felt everything that happened to their significant other."

Mark was frozen by what almost sounded like nostalgia in the others voice. Jacks tears had stopped, and now he just laid still in Marks arms, his soft breathes the only thing assuring Mark that he was still alive. Mark stared straight ahead, for the first time since he had met the smaller male, he wasn't sure that his breathes were reassuring.