~Mark

"Hello?" I shouted down the long stretch of cracked road that I found myself standing in the middle of. I could see broken buildings and fires, but they looked blurry and out if focus. The sky was overcast with puffy light gray clouds that blocked out the sun. From behind, I could hear the sound of shoes slapping down on the ground grow closer towards me. "Mark, we need to go." Out of nowhere, John appeared and tugged on my arm as he took off in a sprint down the street with Sherlock barely ahead, Aaron by John, and Jack waiting by my side for me to move. I shook my head in confusion as I reluctantly chased after the others with Jack in tow. "What is even going on?" I wondered aloud. "Mark hurry up!" Aaron urged me as I steadily began to catch up with the rest of the group. I dared to glance behind me to see what was chasing me, then instantly regretted the decision. The deafening sound of footsteps was coming from a large mass of Uncured that were almost on our heels. Some of their faces were beginning to rot, revealing their cracked jawbones and razor sharp blackened teeth stained crimson red with fresh blood. For some reason, I stopped mid-run and stood in the middle of the road facing towards the Uncured. I tried to force my feet to cooperate, but it felt like that they were cemented to the ground. "Mark!" Aaron cried as he skidded to a halt. Sherlock, John, and Jack stopped too and darted back towards me. "Guys go back!" I warned them, but none of them heeded my words. Instead they stood by my side, weapons drawn and began firing at the massive horde of Uncured. Person after person toppled down in front of my feet, only to have another Uncured take its place. "No no no, this is all my fault." I yanked my feet as hard as possible, but they still refused to budge. I was dead weight dragging all of my friends down with me. "Help!" Sherlock yelled, startled as he was grabbed by the arm by one of the Uncured. Almost instantly, his face changed from his normal color to a sickly pale color, the skin on his right cheekbone peeled off to show the inside of his rapidly rotting mouth, and his hazel eyes had turned completely gray and lifeless. "No!" John reached for him and touched his hand, but before I could stop him, John also morphed into an Uncured instantaneously. "Jack, Aaron, go!" I cried desperately, tears streaming down my face. My friends were suffering a fate worse than death and it was all because of me. Sherlock lunged towards me with his mouth agape to take a bite out of my head. I cringed and snapped my eyes shut tight as I waited for the sensation of teeth sinking into my flesh to arrive. It never came. Aaron had jumped in the way, sacrificing himself for me. He crumpled to the ground for a moment, then managed to pick himself up off of the floor, now an Uncured as well. "No, no no no," I chanted while shaking my head in denial. This all had to be a dream, but it felt so real. I could feel the Uncured brushing against me, smell the rotten stench of decaying flesh, hear the gun shots. Jack was the only one left now that could do anything. He had a sawed off shotgun clutched tightly in his hands and he was continuing to still shoot at the Uncured that were almost surrounding us entirely. Aaron suddenly charged towards him with an inhuman snarl. His light brown eyes were now the same color of the clouds in the sky. The humor that once sparked his eyes were replaced with a wild look that lusted to eat anything he could get his hands on. "I'm sorry." Jack choked out through the tears that were beginning to week in his eyes as he aimed the barrel of the gun at Aaron's head and pulled the trigger. Only the click of the empty cartridge being dispensed onto the concrete echoed throughout the strangely quiet street. The shotgun was out of ammo. As Aaron tackled Jack to the ground, he looked up at my face with his icy blue eyes one last time and all I could hear as his face began to decay in front of my eyes was "Why did you let this happen to us?"

"Mark, wake up buddy, please." I heard Aaron plead. His voice sounded distant, like he was shouting down a hallway. My eyes snapped open at the sound of his voice. My head felt like it was pounded against a brick wall repeatedly by a wrestler. I was lying on the ground with my bare feet splayed out in front of me and my head was lying in Aaron's lap. My faded light pink hair was knotted in various places and gently brushed out of my face. I noticed that my blue silk pj shirt was slick with sweat. My breathing was ragged and was coming in short puffs of air. I lightly pressed a hand on my cheek and felt that they were wet with freshly shed tears. Jack was kneeling by Aaron with concern glimmering in his eyes. I shifted uncomfortably at the weight of everyone's gazes fixed on me. "What happened?" I rasped in an almost inaudible whisper. My throat felt as dry as a desert and sore like I've been screaming recently. John gingerly pushed past Jack and handed me a plastic water bottle. I nodded gratefully and drained the entire bottle in a few gulps. Jack took the empty bottle from my hands and tossed it into the trash can that was crammed in the corner of the room. The bottle landed directly inside the can, making a muffled clatter echo throughout the silent room. "I was in the kitchen helping everyone make breakfast when I heard you scream 'no no no, this is all my fault. Jack, Aaron, go!' When I came here to check up on you, you had fallen off of the bed and you were crying and muttering in your sleep, saying that it was your fault and that you were sorry. You hit your head on the bed frame and no one could get you to wake up for about ten minutes." Aaron answered quietly. "It was just a nightmare." I explained hurriedly as my face heated up in embarrassment. I could tell that everyone wanted to know what the dream was about, but no one could bring themselves to ask and frankly I didn't want anybody to. "Everything alright?" Sherlock poked his head through the doorway, his hazel eyes gleaming with curiosity. "Judging by the way you're laying on the ground, you fell off of the bed while having a nightmare, and it was a bad one considering you were crying and yelling in your sleep. My best guess is that it's about-" "Hey, back off." Jack ordered Sherlock as he put a comforting hand on my shoulder. Sherlock glowered at Jack, then me. "Fine, then tell us about your dream." Sherlock prompted me coolly as he gracefully sank down on his knees on the the floor by Aaron, still keeping a safe distance from Jack. I grudgingly recounted my nightmare without excluding the details. Throughout the story, everyone's eyes were glued on me and no one spoke a word, although there were a couple of gasps from Aaron. Once I finished, the room stayed eerily silent for a few moments before Mycroft called everyone to the kitchen for breakfast. "Mark, you don't have to worry about that happening, it's almost entirely impossible." Sherlock stated as he pushed himself off of the carpeted floor and left the floor. "Don't worry Mark, that's never going to happen." John gave me a small smile before following Jack and Sherlock to the dining area. "Wait a second, I wanna talk to you." Aaron tapped my shoulder lightly as I rose to a standing position. "This is the second time you've had a nightmare about something happening to us, are you positive that you're okay?" Aaron eyed me worriedly. "Yeah, I guess I just worry about you guys a lot." I shrugged nonchalantly even though my heart felt like it was going to explode out of my chest. I've been paranoid about everything ever since Jack's girlfriend died, but I  always covered it up the best I could so I didn't make anyone panic. The dream looked and felt so real, almost like it was a vision. "C'mon, let go eat." I walked quickly towards the door. "Sure, okay." I could tell that Aaron was dissatisfied with my answer, but thankfully he didn't push the subject any further.

~John

Whenever I got to the dining room, laid out on the table that we ate on last night was scrambled eggs, bagels, lukewarm tea, and coffee with creamer and sugar. "Ran out of regular breakfast food." Mycroft shrugged apologetically as he seated himself at the head of the table after grabbing a white paper plate and filling it with some eggs and a bagel. "We can't stay here forever, we need to find Moriarty fast." Sherlock sat down at the table with only a dark blue mug of black coffee. His hands were clasped in front of him in deep thought, his eyes closed. "He still has to be in London since the UK was put on lockdown, but where?" I searched my brain for any information that might lead to Moriarty, but nothing came to mind. "Wait....on the radio before the ambulance drove by, the news guy mentioned something about London Chest Hospital." Jack murmured to no one in particular. "We can find someone from Londin Chest Hospital and see if we can find someone that is uninfected so we could ask if they knew where he was going after delivering the fake cure." Sherlock deduced. "Then it's settled, we pack all of the necessities and make our way towards London Chest." I nodded in affirmation. The group muttered their agreements to one another. After breakfast, I took inventory of my supplies that were stashed in my bag in Mark, Jack, and Aaron's bedroom. I still had my flashlight, batteries, gloves, hat, and multi purpose tool, but most of the food and water that I had packed was gone, along with my phone and portable charger for some mysterious reason. I sighed in annoyance as I tossed everything back into my knapsack. I was going to have to find another gas station or something soon so I could get more food. "Hey, are ye okay?" The green haired Irishman knelt beside me. "I'm good." I assured him. "Ye look like ye just finished playing a rage game." Jack remarked with a forced chuckle. His eyes suddenly turned vacant like he was remembering something. "You miss doing YouTube?" I swung knapsack over my bag as I got up off of the floor. Jack didn't answer, but his body tensed up and his gaze was fixated to the ground. His actions gave me my answer. "Hey, I'm sure you'll be back recording videos in no time." I patted him on the back awkwardly as I left the room. Sherlock was waiting for me by the door dressed in a crisp, clean, long sleeved white button up shirt, black pants, his regular black buisness shoes, and a fresh black trench coat that had the collar flipped up. He flashed me a smirk as he handed me a bundle of clothes. "Courtesy of Mycroft." He added with a wink. I dropped my bag down by Sherlock's feet and went into my room to change. The clothes Mycroft gave me was the beige sweater Mrs. Hudson gave me as a Christmas present, a black t-shirt, and dark blue jeans. Once I finished, I'm went back to the room where I last saw Jack. He was still the there, but this time he was wearing a gray knit beanie, neon green hoodie from under armor, and jeans. He was talking to Aaron, who was dressed in a light gray button up t-shirt and jeans. They both abruptly went silent once they noticed my presence. "What were you guys talking about?" I casually leaned against the doorframe. "Just eager to leave." Aaron assured me quickly. I shrugged and decided to not press the subject any farther.

~Jack

       "Hey Jack, um, I need to talk to you about Mark." Aaron cleared his throat uncomfortably as he waited for me to pull  the gray beanie over my head. "Sure, what's up?" I inquired as I sat down on the edge of the bed. "Remember whenever we first came to Sherlock and John's flat?" Aaron asked as he sat down beside me. "Yeah, of course." I frowned in confusion. "Well, that night, I heard Mark crying and talking in his sleep. He was curled up in a ball and it took a while for me to get him to calm down." Aaron sighed. "Now he's had another dream about something bad happening to us and I'm worried for him. He's been acting kind of paranoid." "What do we say to him? Hey buddy, heard you were worrying about our safety and crying yourself to sleep, why don't you just don't worry about us?" I scoffed sarcastically. Aaron opened his mouth in protest, but before he could say a word, John entered the room. "What were you guys talking about?" John crossed his arms over his chest and leaned his left shoulder on the doorway. "Just eager to leave." Aaron replied. John didn't look convinced, but he just shrugged and left the room. "C'mon, I think we're going soon." Aaron nudged me playfully in the ribs with his elbow as he stood up and left the room. I followed after him a moment later. "You guys ready?" Mark adjusted the position of the bulging black backpack that was slung over his right shoulder. Mark had changed into sky blue flannel and jeans. His faded blue hair had changed to a vibrant red that matched his logo. "Mycroft helped out." Mark explained when he noticed me staring at his hair. "We already wasted enough time here." Sherlock pushed the entrance door open. The sky was encompassed in fluffy, light gray clouds that blotted out the sun. One by one, everyone but Mycroft filed outside. "You're not coming?" Mark asked as he held the door open. "Someone needs to watch Diane." Mycroft reminded him. With that, he took the door handle from Mark's hands and let the door slam shut on its own. "Where do we go now?" I scanned my surroundings. Buildings were crumbling into bits of rubble. The stretch of road in front of us seemed to go for miles towards the horizon. "Let's just follow the street, we could look for a convenience store on the way." John suggested. We spent about five minutes on the road in complete silence until from behind I could hear the faint sound of a lot of shoes slapping against concrete. When I glanced behind me, I almost began to wish I hadn't. A large horde of Uncured were growing closer to us by the second. "Mark, we need to go." I dragged Mark along with me since he was standing frozen in the middle of the street. I felt a chill of realization go down my spine when I remembered that this was exactly like Mark's dream that he had. I shook away the thought and ran faster with Mark stumbling along beside me. Sherlock and John were up in front of us with Aaron. Suddenly Mark tripped over a large crack that spanned across the street. He fell forward towards the ground, bringing me down with him. I gave a quiet grunt of pain as my face made contact with concrete. By the time I had gotten up, the Uncured were almost on top of us. I took off in a sprint, but Mark was paralyzed, stuck in front of the large mass of Uncured. "Mark!" Aaron cried once he saw him and darted back towards him. John and Sherlock exchanged glances before chasing after him. "No, no no no," Mark gasped repeatedly. "My dream can't be true." "Jack!" John tossed me a sawed off shot gun. I caught it with one hand without even looking at it. "Desperate times call for desperate measures," I whispered as I rose the barrel of the gun up and pulled the trigger. The shot took down two Uncured that were about to tackle Mark. John and Sherlock had their weapons raised as well and were firing at the Uncured.

~Mark

I knew what was about to happen next. Sherlock would die, then John, then everyone else. This wasn't a dream. I was determined to change the outcome. I kept my eyes fixed on Sherlock as the horde began to encircle him. As one of the Uncured reached for him, I shoved Sherlock away just as the Uncured bit down hard on my forearm. I yelled in pain as Sherlock stumbled out of the circle and into John. "Go go go!" John shouted to the group and ran towards the group, gun blazing. Jack had seen me get bitten and he darted over to my side. "Mark-" He stopped mid-sentence once he saw the blood dripping from my arm. "Jack, go." I told him quietly, but with force. "No!" Jack growled fiercely as he literally swept me off of my feet and carried me in his arms like a child. He dropped the shot gun and sprinted with John and Sherlock until we skidded to a halt at a safe distance away from the Uncured. "Jack, I'm already dead. Just let me go." I ordered him tearfully. Then out of nowhere, I was sweating uncontrollably, feeling very hot. "Is it like really hot for you too right now?" I panted. "Jack, put him down." John commanded him gently. I felt Jack hesitate and tense up in his shoulders, but eventually he complied. He carefully laid me down on the ground, my head cradled in his lap. John lifted up my right arm and examined the bite marks. "The affects are starting." Sherlock mumbled like he was in a daze. "Hey, what's-" Aaron slowed to a jog once he reached me. "You know what, maybe I just randomly feel hot, I'm sure I'm fine." I attempted to sit up, but black dots peppered my vision instantly. I ignored them as I staggered into a standing position. I was good for about a minute, then the black dots grew larger until I was encompassed in darkness. The last thing I remembered before I passed out was John catching me and laying back down on the ground.

~Sherlock

       I stared at the unconscious form of Mark, stunned that he had risked his life to save mine. That should've been me, I thought bitterly. But it wasn't. It was my fault that an innocent man got hurt. "I'll clean the wound the best I can, but there's not much I can do for him." John stated as he pulled a halfway empty water bottle out of his bag and poured the contents on the wound to wash away the dried blood. "We need to keep going." I said flatly. The Uncured would catch up soon if we spent too much time here. With a nod, Jack heaved Mark up and carried him in his arms. His blue eyes were fiery with rage, but I wasn't sure if it was because of me or the Uncured. I decided it was best to keep my distance from him either way. For almost half an hour, we walked along the road in search of a store of any kind. "Hey, I found somewhere!" Aaron declared. He had found a Walmart that was in decent shape. The doors were barricaded with boards of wood nailed to the door. John easily pried the wood off and stepped inside. I could barely see since the lights were off, but I could see the outlines of rows of shelves."We're going to stay here for tonight, grab what food you want and dig in." John advised as he handed Jack his flashlight from his bag. Jack and Aaron nodded, then meticulously scanned the shelves for non-expired food. I didn't even realize it was nearly night until I poked my head out of the door. Over the horizon I saw a collage of pinks, reds and oranges blend together to make a beautiful sunset as the glowing sun sank below the parking lot. "Beautiful, isn't it?" John sighed in content. I gave no answer. Instead, I was thinking about Jack. It would be most logical for him to be mad at me, but I didn't make Mark push me out of the way. "What's up?" John queried, interrupting me from my thoughts. "Is Jack mad at me?" I blurted. "I dunno who or what to be mad at anymore." I heard Jack answer from behind me. When I turned around, he still had Mark in his arms. Even farther behind him, I could faintly see a blue sleeping bag unrolled in the middle of the canned good aisle and a case of water bottles. "It's just....why does Mark have to be such a damn hero? He's a great guy. He doesn't deserve this." Jack gestured at the bite mark. "Are you saying that I do?" I asked calmly. "Yes-no, look, no one deserves any of this bull!" Jack huffed in frustration. "Hey John, I found-" Aaron paused a foot away from him. The beam from Aaron's flashlight illuminated John and Jack. Clutched in his hands was bandages, pain killers, and alcohol. "I need to take care of Mark." John excused himself as he grabbed the objects from Aaron, including the flashlight, and went with Jack towards the sleeping bag. "I'm going to go get some rest. Goodnight." I said curtly as I grabbed an ice coffee, green sleeping bag, then found a spot close to the door in case someone broke in. Instead of sleeping, I twisted the lid off of the coffee, took a sip and kept my eyes trained on the door as I sat down on the sleeping bag.

~Mark

      Whenever I regained consciousness, John and Jack were hovering over me. "Ow!" I winced as John doused a paper towel in rubbing alcohol and pressed it go my arm. The dried blood that remained began to sizzle away. "Sorry, I was thinking you would be out longer." He apologized. I opened my mouth to say that it was okay, but I couldn't speak. I took a deep breath and tried again, but no words came out. "Part of the affects. You have a hard time talking, sore and stiff muscles, lightheaded, always feeling hot, and boils." John informed me. I attempted to speak one last time, but the only sound that came out was a high pitched squeak. "At least now I know how to make Mark shut up." Jack teased. I didn't need to say anything to tell him what I was thinking. Instead, I raised my middle fingers and pointed them directly at Jack. He exploded in laughter while I smiled smugly. Even John snorted in amusement as he finished bandaging the wound. "There you go. Do you need painkillers?" John began gathering up his supplies. I shook my head. "Alright, just shout-" I cut John off with an annoyed glower. "Right, sorry, just wake me up if you need me. I'll be over by the door." With that, John stood up and walked over to Sherlock after giving the supplies back to Aaron. "Goodnight." Jack patted me on the shoulder as he got up and left to go to find a sleeping bag. "Good...night." I managed to whisper to his retreating form as I closed my eyes. I knew I wasn't going to sleep tonight. I'll be doing something different, I thought as I rolled off of the sleeping bag. I wrote a quick note to everyone on a small scrap of notebook paper I took from a notebook. I had written with a red ink pen I found in the art aisle. I laid the note delicately onto the sleeping bag, then grabbed my bag from where I had it by the shelf closest to my left. I made sure I was hidden in the shadows so John and Sherlock couldn't see me as I approached the door. I looked around me to find something to distract them, but nothing was big enough. That was when my eyes landed on a small flat screen TV. With a mischievous grin, I hefted the TV up with both hands, held it up above my head, then threw it as far away from the door as possible. The TV screen shattered into a million pieces once it made contact with one of the metal shelves. That shelf toppled over onto another shelf, beginning a domino effect. I'm stronger than I thought, I mused. "Sherlock, look for whatever did that. I'm going to find Jack, Mark, and Aaron to make sure they're okay!" John dashed off towards where Jack was first. Sherlock nodded and took off in the opposite direction. I barely was able to hold in a snicker whenever I easily sneaked past him outside. I shivered in the cold wind that blew past me. I immediately turned serious once I made it to the parking lot. I'm going to turn into an Uncured, I realized. I had never thought about it, but it was true. I won't be able to see any of my friends if I wanted to protect them. I took one last forlorn glance behind me, then ran as fast as my legs could carry me. I didn't know where I was going to, I only knew that I had to do this to protect my friends.