After The Fall

Maybe There's A Future

A child who made a grieving woman smile and be able to say the name she had refused before. A child who made a hurting man believe people can still be trusted. A child who gave life back to a group that wanted to give up. A child who was proof that if you're still alive, you can't give up hope. A child who was only a child, a little girl who deserved to live a long, happy life free of such suffering. Another life this new world stole away without explanation. Another life that had to be taken because the disease took it first. 

This bright little girl who loved strangers like friends and family, strong and independent for barely half a year, gone just like all the rest. It's for this little girl, and all the others just like her, that Mark sheds tears for. For her, and all the others he lost just this same way. Taken before they should have been. Happy smiling faces, never to smile again. For all those who were lost, and all those who left people behind that refuse to forget. For them, he cries. He cries until he can hear the sounds of the dead walking, drawing nearer. 

He pulls himself together, sniffling as he forces himself to stand, still cradling the dead child in his arms. He's never seen the Infected eat the bodies of their own, but he isn't going to stay to find out. He walks back towards the house, carrying the corpse with the intention of repaying Ken for the kindness he gave Mark back then. The kindness of allowing him to be able to bury Amy.

Like Amy and Matt, and all those who couldn't get the same courtesy, Mary-Jane deserves to be buried. And he'll be there for Ken, to help his friend bury the child he would have called his daughter. Not wanting to take her into the house for fear of somehow causing the infection to get to Stephanie, Nate, and the baby through the corpse, Mark goes around the house to the basement opening. He sets her down and opens the door, they had planned to use the basement to store supplies once they got back, but for now it will do for this. He looks down at Mary-Jane and closes her eyes before picking her up again. 

He takes her body down into the basement and lies her down on an old tarp, wrapping her up in it, heaving a heavy sigh. He goes back out and closes the door once more, but he doesn't lock it because they have yet to find a key for it. He goes back around to the front, he can see a group of five Infected kneeling and eating the corpse of Mary-Jane's Aunt Lulu, and three more are walking towards the house. He goes inside, locking the door behind him. He looks around, figuring Nate's with Stephanie and the baby since he's not out in the main areas.

He goes to the bathroom and cleans up, just in case, before heading over to Stephanie's room. He knocks lightly before entering and Nate looks back at him from where he's sitting in a dining room chair on the left, across from the bed. He's holding the baby, wrapped in a towel, using another to clean the child's face. Stephanie's asleep in bed, sweaty and breathing heavily. Mark steps in, closing the door behind him, "How is the baby..?"

Nate looks back at the child and continues cleaning him, "He seems perfectly healthy, weirdly enough.."

"Weirdly?" Mark pulls up the other chair he had been using earlier to sit next to Nate.

Nate nods, "If Stephanie's infected and that infected Mary-Jane.. Shouldn't the baby be infected, too or already..?"

Mark frowns, "Maybe.."

"But he's not," Nate looks back at him, eyes slightly widened, "Oliver's in good health, there doesn't seem to be a thing wrong with him."

"Oliver?" Mark smiles softly, "She tell you to call him that? I don't think you were even awake when she told Mary-Jane the names she had chosen.."

His smile falls at the mention of the dead child in the basement. Nate sees the pain in his eyes and he nods slowly, "Yeah.. She did. Yesterday actually, while you and the kid were making dinner together. She.. Told me the names. She said.. Elizabeth was the name she chose, and Oliver.. That's the name Matt always liked. She told me she was torn between naming him Oliver of Matthew Jr if the baby ended up being a boy."

"And she chose Oliver?" Mark asks.

Nate nods again, "I helped her figure out which would be better, but she settled on Oliver, as.. As a last tribute to Matt's memory."

Mark glances over at Stephanie before looking back at Nate, "I'm glad."

"Me, too." he replies softly.

"You know.." Mark mulls over his thoughts, looking back at Stephanie again, "You might be right. She might be infected. But.. She isn't showing the signs yet."

"Yeah.." Nate sighs, "So? Gotta prepare to dig another grave, I guess."

"Another?" Mark frowns.

"I know you took MJ to the basement. I saw you through the boarded windows. There's nothing else around the back of the house, and I heard the door open." he states.

Mark nods, "Yeah, I put her in the basement. I figured Ken would like to bury her."

Nate nods, "That's a good decision to make. I'm sure Ken will appreciate it."

"Um.." Nate bites his bottom lip, "What do we do about.. Mary-Jane's father? He'll probably come here when that woman doesn't come back with his kid. So, what then? What if he thinks we killed them or something?"

"We'll explain what happened the best we can." Mark sighs.

"What if he doesn't believe us?" Nate asks, "What if he tries to attack us?"

"Then.." Mark sighs, "We'll do what we have to in order to protect ourselves."

"Right.." Nate frowns, looking weary, "When does that stop being the only option..?"

"When the world goes back to normal or we die." Mark states. 

Nate says nothing and the room is silent except for the soft breathing of Stephanie and Oliver. Finally, Mark speaks up again, "Hey.. About what you said before."

He takes a breath, "Maybe.. We won't have to dig another grave."

Nate frowns, looking over at Mark with a confused frown, "What? Why not? If Steph's infected.."

Mark stares back at Nate, "Do you remember when I got hurt out in the woods outside Mary-Jane's house?"

Nate nods and Mark continues, "Tyler was right. I had gotten bit, Jack knows this, too."

Nate's eyes widen, "What? You.. You couldn't have been.."

"Because I didn't turn, right?" Mark sighs, "I've been going over everything in my head for months. I should have turned, but I never did. My ankle's even healing just fine. Shouldn't be too much longer before I'm back in running condition."

Nate frowns, "So.. You're immune?"

"I think so," Mark states, "And.. If I am, then.. Maybe there's something I can do to save Stephanie, make sure she doesn't turn just like I didn't."

Nate stares at Mark with uncertainty, "You think you can share your immunity with her? How?"

"Her blood is infected, that's what we think is the cause of how Mary-Jane got infected, right?" Mark looks back at Stephanie's sleeping form, "Then maybe if I share my blood with her, she won't turn."

"Like.. A blood transfusion?" Nate asks, "Do you even know how to do that?"

"I don't know," Mark admits, "But I'll never be able to live with myself if I don't at least try to save her. Oliver already lost his father, I'll be damned if I'll let that little baby lose his mother, too."

Nate nods, "How can I help you?"