The End Of Life

Mark continued to follow Steve through the hallway of the 6th floor. As he did, one of the doors opened and Denton came out with a little kid. Denton noticed his brother and Mark behind him and said, "Steve, Mark. What are you guys doing here? Mark, I thought you were going to another city."

Steve was the first to speak, "Oh! Denton. Mark came by just now. So dad asked me to show him a room for the night. Why are you out?" 

"Oh! I was taking Alex for a walk in the hallway cause he was bored inside. Since I am free, I will also come with you." tagging along with the two. Mark didn't mind Denton tagging along, and so Steve nodded and led the way again. 

"So, Mark, how are you? It's good to see you are alive." 

Mark nodded at his comment and replied, "Yes, I am fine. It's tough outside. It's good that you are in the camp. If you were outside, you would have died within a day." and this was true. Mark truly felt Denton was lucky to reach the base. 

Denton nodded and said, "Yes, I was lucky. If it wasn't because of you and Mona. I would have already died there, wouldn't come back to my family." with a sad smile while patting the boy's head. Mark looked at the boy, wondering who it was. 

Denton noticed Mark's gaze and said with a proud smile on his face, "It's my son, Alex. He is 6 years old now. If both you and Mona didn't help us in that building, I probably wouldn't have ever met them again." Even though saving them was never his intention, Mark didn't stop him. 

They reached the room, and Steve opened it. It was a simple single bed hotel room. They got in and Mark kept his bag down. Steve took his leave after Mark settled down and Denton remained. 

"I heard you're helping out here?" as he sat on the chair. Denton nodded and said, "Yeah, my dad is making me learn how to use a gun properly. He says it is needed to learn one, especially now. I can't refute him, so I am learning as best as I can. I am also helping out with the management of a portion of the camp. This is easier compared to learning a gun for me as I have some experience with my own company."

Mark nodded and said, "Well, that's good. The General is right. You need to learn at least a gun. If not, how can you protect your family in case anything might happen in the future." Denton nodded and after talking for a while, he left the room with his son. 

Closing the door, Denton sat on his bed thinking about the next day's plan. He was thinking about whether he needs to take Suzie with him. Her mind is in utter chaos at the moment, and if anything small happens in the camp, she might not be able to take it. 

He was worried for her and didn't want to take a risk leaving her alone in the camp. He noticed how close and open she was when she was with him and remained far away from even her own father. This was a huge point for him to consider. 

He exhaled and decided to decide tomorrow, depending on how she is after a good sleep. His next problem was reaching Evergreen city. Evergreen city was pretty far away from Stargaze city. Normally it would take a person a complete day for him/her to reach the city by car. 

But in the current situation, he considered even 2 days lucky. They had to go through an entire small town on the way to Evergreen city. Thinking about it made Mark exhale. It would be a very long journey and Mark was tired just by thinking about it. 

Mark tried to plan out his locations in Evergreen city. The places where Kevin could be were only at either the hotel they stayed at or the museum they were visiting on that day. If it wasn't these two, then Mark had no idea where he should start searching for his friend. He hoped it would be in either of the two. 

He then decided to lay down and sleep, but as he closed his eyes, he remembered about something he saw. It was that strange feeling he felt when he was driving from his home. He immediately wanted to check it out. He felt very strange when he got near that place. He couldn't go inside last time because of the lack of time, but now it was different. 

He felt something in him resonate when he felt the strange vibes around that small patch of woods. He decided to check it out tomorrow early morning before moving out. He felt something very nice or something very bad would be found and was excited at the mystery. 

As Mark was sleeping, something strange was happening in the small patch of trees he was just thinking about. There was a blue light blinking from within the forest and it attracted a few surrounding zombies. 

All the zombies which made their way towards the blue light were either Bitters or Bloaters. The small light was coming from the middle of the woods. It was constantly blinking as if it was a signal of sorts. 

If looked closer, it was a small cube. So small that even a human hand could completely cover it whole. What was most weird, was that the box was black in colour, but blue light shone from the inside? All the zombies it attracted were circling around it, not moving a muscle but staring deeply into it. 

It was as if they were all waiting for something. But after a few more minutes, the blue light stopped and didn't come again. As it stopped, all the zombies which circled it went away as they came. It looked like it controlled them.