Apocalypse
Monica's POV

Mikhail set down--or rather dropped--Heather against the nearest tree once they were far enough from the town to be in much danger. He let out a tired sigh. In a matter of seconds he had his knife out and was twirling it.

"You--" she pointed her finger accusingly at him. "I could've saved him!"

He looked at her indifferent, and that just made her angrier. She put her hand on the tree trunk to steady herself as she got to her feet. She turned and shook her finger at the rest of us, her voice brittle.

"You could have saved him! You could have, but you didn't! You just ran like cowards! All of you!" She looked crazed. Heather's green eyes were huge and glancing quickly from face to face and back around again. Her face was turning from bright pink to such a shade of red that she thought she would explode. Her long golden hair was half out of it's pony tail and bobbing loosely on her head.

Her eyes still blinking back tears, she took a step forward toward Heather. Heather was a good friend to her and she hated to see her be so upset. She was someone that deserved a happy ending.

"Heather, I--"

She put up a hand to silence her, looking down. Her voice was quiet. "Don't say a word... I can't--I can't even look at any of you right now."

She trudged away--leaving Heather standing there--feeling even worse than before. David came up beside her and gave her a small smile. He quietly offered her a granola bar, which she rejected.

They walked over and sat against a tall tree, the boughs shielding them from the heat and light of the sun. Mikhail, walking back and forth, kept watch.  

"It was my fault... I shouldn't have taken my eyes off of him. I should have stayed right beside him the whole time." She muttered, hot tears bursting from her eyes. She had toughened a little since the apocalypse had begun, and Tony was no David to her, but it still hurt nonetheless.

"Hey..." David squeezed her hand. "Don't say that. If you had stayed close to him, you might be dead right now too. What happened, happened for a reason. Every other option we could've taken would have ended with more deaths. You shouldn't feel guilty for what happened. None of us should."

"Yeah..." She said. She didn't feel much better, though she knew David was probably right. She decided she would talk with Heather later after she calmed down a bit and try to patch things up with her. She didn't want to lose another friend today, in any kind of way.

"I still think we could've dealt with those people-eaters on our own. If we hadn't run and instead killed them all in the beginning, Tony might still be alive." Mikhail commented. She stared at him incredulous, a bit unimpressed.

"You're kidding, right?" She looked at David. "Please tell me he's kidding."

David rubbed the back of his neck, "Yeah... I, uh, don't think he is..."

"Huh," She nodded slowly, silent for a moment. Then she looked back up at Mikhail and yelled, "You're fucking crazy! More of us would've died!"

"Language," Mikhail gasped dramatically. She glared at him. His dark, hardened brown eyes, black hair, and his muscled chest and arms, which a dark shirt stretched across and made more pronounced, didn't intimidate her one bit. And the fact he was inches taller than her didn't faze her either. Didn't the saying go, 'The bigger they are, the harder they fall'?

"You don't know the half of it," David said with a laugh, reaching over to ruffle her hair. "But I guess I'm to blame for most of the foul language that comes out of her mouth. I influenced her."

"You're not helping. At all." She swatted his hand away. They both snickered. "I can't spend another second with you two or I will kill you both. I'm going to check on Heather." She muttered.

She stood up and went in the direction that Heather had disappeared off to. Heather was sitting on the trunk of a fallen tree, her hair down and blowing back in the cool wind. She was looking at the ground, her hair curtaining her face so she couldn't see it.

As she sat down beside her, Heather sniffled, hurriedly wiped at her face, and sat up straighter. 

"What do you want?" she asked, defeated. 

"I was just seeing how you were doing," she said back.

"I'm fine, don't worry about me," Heather turned to her and gave her a smile she knew was fake. "And hey, I'm sorry for how I reacted earlier. It was wrong of me. It's none of your guys' faults. I know you would've tried to save him if there was a way."

"Heather... We already know you're upset. You don't have to act like you aren't. You were close to him, it's okay to be emotional."

"He loved me and I loved him and I never told him," her hand flew to her mouth. "He never should have suffered like that. And in my head he keeps on suffering. I want it to stop, but the images--I can't get rid of the images."

She turned her tear streaked face in her direction. The look on her face was so heartbreaking it took everything she had not to cry too. She wrapped her arms around Heather. "I don't want to remember him like that, Monny..."

***

She walked back to the others, hesitantly leaving Heather so she could recuperate before joining us. She held out her hand, folding and unfolding her fingers from her palm.

"Mikhail--give me your knife." She ordered.

"If you're going to kill me with it, can I say a few things first?" Mikhail asked, eyebrows raised.

"If you do not hand me your knife, you can be quite sure you will die."

"Monica, what are you doing?" David asked. He hadn't moved from his spot on the ground since she had left, but was now getting up. He joined her at a wide tree as Mikhail handed over his knife.

"He deserves more," She answered, putting the knife to the bark and carving. "We're not leaving until I get this done."

Hey, you're going to dull the blade!" Mikhail protested.

"Mikhail..." David warned and Mikhail shut up.

When she finished, the tree bore the message:

R.I.P 

Tony Ferris 

20xx

It wasn't much, but it was something. Tony deserved something.

"Okay, now everyone say something nice before we leave. I'll go first," She said. She took a deep breath. "I'm sorry that I didn't save you Tony, and that I didn't talk with you more. You were a great guy and I will miss you. I will miss all the things I never got to really know about you." I looked at David, signaling for him to begin.

"Okay, well I want to say that I'm sorry for fighting with you and treating you as if you were an idiot. You aren't. I'm the idiot." David shifted uncomfortably, "Your turn Mikhail."

All Mikhail said was, "You were cool," She stared at him with the most terrifying look she could muster that said if he didn't say something else, she would hurt him so bad he was going to wish he was never born. He sighed and rolled his eyes. "I am sad that you are gone because though we weren't close, I know I'm going to wake up one morning and miss your incessant rambling."

They all stared at Mikhail, at a loss for words.

"O-kay... That's good enough. We'll take it." She looked at Heather, who had joined them when she was half done with the carving. "Whenever you're ready Heather."

"Can I have a moment alone?" She asked quietly.

"We'll be over there waiting for you," She squeezed Heather's shoulder and then gestured for the boys to follow her. "Come on, guys."

They waited for Heather, keeping enough distance between them that she had privacy, but close enough that they would know if she was in trouble or not. She could see Heather's lips moving, shaping meaningful, last words.

"I love you..." Her fingers trailed Tony's carved name, lingering. Then she dropped her hand and stood there, her arm limp at her side. She straightened and walked over to them. Heather grabbed her hand, squeezing it comfortingly.

"You ready?" She asked.

"Yeah," Heather whispered, taking a deep breath. "Yeah, I'm ready..."