The End Of Life

They heard the bike from the end of the street and noticed the bike. They already cleaned the whole street when they arrived. There were only a few zombies, and it was easy for them to finish them quickly. The time was already 2:15, but they decided to wait until 2:30 for Mark. Even though Mark ordered David to move out, he still believed Mark was fine and was just running a few minutes late. 

As he looked at the bike, he felt relieved. He took the risk of staying there and it paid off. Mark drove and stopped right in front of them. They all noticed the girl behind Mark hugging him. Tears started to roll down Ray's cheeks. He noticed his daughter sitting behind Mark and couldn't stop himself from moving towards her. 

As he tried to bring her into a hug, he saw her body shaking and she tightened her grip around Mark. Mark felt this and looked to see her shaking. She was shuddering as Ray bought his hand near her. He quickly understood what she was feeling.

He turned towards Ray and said, "Uncle, I think that's a bad idea." Startling Ray. He looked at Mark with a questioning gaze, asking what he meant. Mark shook his head once again asking him not now and turned towards David. 

"David, can you get a water bottle? Suzie, get down, we came." And patted on Suzie's hands, asking her to get down. Suzie nodded as she slowly retracted her arms around him and got down from the bike. Ray, who was near her, backed away to give her some space. Mark also got down and noticed David had a water bottle in his hand. He took the bottle from his hand and handed it to Suzie. 

"Suzie drinks some water." hearing him, Suzie simply nodded and took the bottle while her head was still hung low. Mark knew she cannot look at people, especially males. He decided to deal with this slowly as there wasn't any hurry. After she sipped half of the bottle, she gave the bottle back to him and he asked, "Do you feel hungry?" 

There was no response from her making him exhale. He wasn't getting annoyed at this, unlike he would have if it was another person in her place. He felt more burden in his heart thinking about her emotional state. He once again asked, "Do you feel hungry Suzie? I need you to tell me." 

This made Suzie flinch, but she slowly muttered, "I am." while nodding. Rei sighed in relief and turned towards David once again. After thinking about something he said, "David, can you give her some food we have. And make Daisy hand them over and help her to eat." David nodded at the request. He roughly guessed what happened and so said nothing. 

"Suzie, follow him into a jeep. There is another girl who can help you. Don't be scared, just call for me and I will be there for you." he slowly said but hurried at the end when she saw her shivering. Suzie nodded as she slowly made her way towards the jeep. 

David slowly opened the door for the back seat where Daisy sits. Suzie looked inside with her emotionless eyes and noticed Daisy looking at her. She slowly got in and David let the door open just in case she might get scared if he abruptly closed it. 

He went to the other side and whispered to Daisy what she needed to do. Suzie nodded as she slowly took out the food from one of the bags and handed it to her. Suzie slowly took the food from her and ate it. 

David nodded and went back to Mark. Mark noticed David come back and knew Suzie was eating and was relieved. He turned towards Ray and was bombarded with questions from him, "Mark, what happened to her? Why is she like that? Did those bastards do something to her?" while shaking him. 

Mark held Ray's hands which were on his shoulders and said, "Uncle calm down. I will tell you what happened. Don't panic." trying his best to calm the panicked father. Ray calmed down when he heard him making Mark slightly relieved. 

Mark slowly told them the whole story of what happened. He told how he got inside the school using the sewers and climbed the wall to find the room. How he found the bastard trying to get his way with Suzie, completely restrained and her struggling. How he shot him dead and saved Suzie before anything happened to her and got out of it. 

"... This is what happened. Suzie now has some trauma against males after experiencing that helplessness and struggle she went through before I saved her. Her body unconsciously backs away from all men except me cause I saved her. She probably feels more secure when she is around me." exhaling in relief. He looked at Ray, who had tears on her face. 

He tried to console the old man, "It's ok Uncle. She will recover slowly. You don't need to feel sad about it. Nothing happened to her. I will be there for her all the way." patting on his shoulders.

"Mark, if you didn't save her. I can't even imagine what those animals would have done with her. Please be there for her, Mark. She only trusts you, please." begging him and even went for his legs.

Mark quickly stopped him and said, "Uncle, my life is indebted to both Suzie and Kevin. If not for these two, I would have taken my life long ago. I am willing to lay my life for both of them. You do not have to worry about Suzie, I will stay with her all the time, till she becomes normal again." with a complete, resolute expression. Ray knew Mark was completely serious.

Ray was aware of Mark's situation and how his daughter along with his friend helped him. It relieved him when he heard Mark's words. Mark was never a person to go back on his words.