https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4o0YlP7nB5g

Marcus met the boy a few months after he and his family moved into their new and apocalyptic life. He was hunched by a tree, his arms covering his face, and his legs brought up to his chest. He stayed still. Frightened. Marcus had just decided to go on an afternoon stroll. Neither of his parents knew he was gone or where he was going. They didn't need to. He could stay perfectly safe on his own. He just a few weeks ago had found a hollowed out burrow beneath an old growth tree deep in the forest near the waterfall, and decided to use it as a place to hide out when he needed a mental break or some space. Excess twigs and sticks he had found lying around on the forest floor he used to put together a trapdoor that could be opened and closed so he could come and go as he pleased. This secret bunker wasn't too far from where he had met the young and terrified boy. Marcus tiptoed quietly over to him, avoiding the fallen tree branches and leaves littering the ground that might become a kill-switch. He hesitated and thought for a moment, “What if I startle him and he cries out?” Marcus shook off the nervous thought and placed a gentle and warm hand on his shoulder. The boy had been crying. Silently, he guessed. The boy’s shoulder twitched, and he turned suddenly, but silently to look up at him. “Are you okay?” Marcus asked in signs. He just assumed that the boy knew it since he more than likely belonged to a family that knew what they were going through. His cheeks were stained with tears, and his eyes were swollen and red from crying. The boy shook his head and braced himself before he reached for the tree trunk to pull himself to his feet. The grimace on his face intensified as he limped nearer and nearer to Marcus to lean against him for leg support. There was a deadly gash that tore through his right leg. The blood had nearly congealed, and quite a bit had seeped into his ripped pair of jeans. Marcus furrowed his brow at the sight of blood. He worriedly looked into the boy’s dark brown eyes and allowed him to lean against him for leg support. He quickly motioned, “Here, let me bring you to my secret hideout. I think I can get you fixed up.” He said this because he couldn't just bring him back to his mom and dad. They already had way too many things to take care of, and having another kid around to tend to was just too much. Marcus simply refused to just leave the boy to get killed otherwise by wild animals or those aliens that happened to invade earth. He thought that it would be nice to have another kid around for a change. The bunker had plenty of sound absorbent materials such as carpets, mattresses, and pillows to keep sound from escaping just in case he needed to sneeze or cough or wanted to hum his favorite tune. As of now, it was completely safe.  (He may or may not have stolen a few pillows and mattresses from his family safety bunker at home.)

 Once he brought the boy inside, he wondered just how he might be a help to him. Marcus allowed him to lay out on the ground, and he leaned over him, whispering, “You can talk now.” as he went to grab a few materials he thought might help. The boy sat up and sucked in his breath sharply. “Tha-th-thank you for saving me.” he said in a low whisper. Marcus found a pillowcase, a half-filled water bottle, and a small container of ibuprofen tablets he kept in case of emergencies. “No problem.” he whispered back and crawled over to him. “This might hurt a bit, okay?” Marcus said and gently grabbed the boy’s right leg, when the gash cut all the way down the side of his calf. He hated looking at it. It hurt himself to look at it, but he knew he couldn't stop there. The boy seemed to be terribly traumatized. Marcus knew he had encountered one of those monsters. “You gotta promise me you won't scream.” the boy nodded and gave him a rather obvious fake smile. Marcus reached up and brushed a few wet strands of hair out of the boy’s face and wiped a few tears away from his lonely and tired eyes. The boy seemed surprised at his kind act and was paying close attention to how Marcus was treating him.  Marcus got right down to work and pulled his right pant leg up a little to reveal his wound. He looked away for a moment, then looked back, clenching the pillowcase tightly in his fist. He began to wrap it around his lower leg after he wiped away the congealed blood with the sleeve of his jacket. The boy groaned in pain, and Marcus bit his lip, hoping he wasn't hurting him too much.He unscrewed the lid of the water bottle and brought it up to the boy’s lips, sliding two ibuprofen tablets into his mouth before the water rushed into his throat. He swallowed both the water and the tablets and closed his eyes, feeling refreshed by the looks of it, and only a slight bit better. A twinge of pain surged through his leg when Marcus fastened the pillowcase with a tied knot, and he squeezed his eyes shut. Marcus scrambled to give him another sip from the water bottle. He let the boy take a few more chugs before he took it entirely out of his hand to drink the rest. He must have been very thirsty. Who knew how long he could have been waiting out there. “If I may ask, what exactly happened to you?” Marcus asked out of pure curiosity. The boy turned to look at him. “Oh, ha ha. Forgot to mention. I’m Marcus.” he grinned and held his hand out. It was stained a bit with dried blood from the cut on the boy’s leg. The boy blinked, stared at him for a moment, then smiled. A real grin this time. “I’m Jay. Nice to meet you.” he took his hand and shook it a few times. Jay had a narrow sort of face. His jawbone was sharp and well pronounced, and his cheekbones were raised high. Jay let out a sigh and screwed the cap back on to the water bottle. “I um...I was traveling back to my house. It’s quite a distance from here. We just happened to pass through since, you know, we needed to grab some things in town.” Marcus became unfocused and remembered not too long ago, his younger brother got mauled by one of those evil creatures. His father had tried to save him. He just wasn't  quick enough. Jay was surviving with just a deep cut. He wished every day that he could somehow bring his brother back. He was so scared. That he would get caught too. “Hey. You listening still?” Marcus blinked a few times. He had gone too deep into his thoughts to even have heard his entire story. He didn't need to. It was all the same. Someone made a noise and someone perished in the jaws of one of those beasts. Or, not jaws, clawlike arm thingies. Marcus didn't know. “Not, huh? Well, I don't exactly blame you.” Jay wrapped his arm around Marcus’ waist and laid his head against his. Marcus was paralyzed in surprise. Jay seemed rather attached to him. He did after all save his life, he guessed. He would probably be all over him too if Jay had found him and saved him.

Marcus had a polaroid camera and a bulletin board filled with pictures he had taken over the years. He had it mounted on a wall near the very back of the bunker. His camera wasn’t far.  He leaned over and grabbed it, opening the hatch that contained each strip of film. It was now loaded with three pieces of film, unused. He pulled them out, then slid them back in out of boredom. “Polaroid, huh? Are you a photographer?”  Marcus smiled and closed the hatch. “Ah, no. I just like taking pictures is all.” he grinned slightly and looked into the lens. He rubbed it a little with the bottom of his jacket, clearing away a few dust particles and grains of dirt. “What do you say we take one right now?” Jay asked and hugged him a little closer. Being close quarters with another boy his age was a little weird. Mostly since he hadn't been around one in such a long time. “Well, uh. Sure. Of us?” Marcus asked and opened the hatch, clicking it shut once again. “Why not?” Marcus nodded and moved around a bit, giving Jay an indicator to loosen his grip. He held the camera up, positioning it in front of the both of them, the lens pointing towards their faces. He clicked the button. Marcus brought the camera down to his lap and waited for the camera to dispense the used film. He pulled it out and waved it around a bit, blowing on it a few times before waiting for the image to appear. It eventually came into view and showed Marcus and Jay smiling together. At a glance, one might think Marcus had been giggling while Jay hugged him close and laid his head against his. Best friends. That was the first thing that came to mind. Marcus smiled to himself and crawled over to the bulletin board, grabbing a push pin out of a plastic bag, and pushed it through the top of the photo onto the board. Jay looked around, not exactly wanting to move. Marcus could tell that he was still in pain. As of now, he was completely unsure of what he was going to do with him. He looked hungry too. Marcus decided he might have to bring him an extra sleeping bag to his bunker for Jay to sleep in. Then Marcus would feel on edge every night, hoping and praying for his life and safety. He already did that quite enough for his own life and safety, so that certainly wouldn’t do. He needed to hatch a plan. He crawled back over to Jay and looked him in the eye. “Okay, so here’s the plan.” he grabbed a notebook from the stack of books he was keeping in there with him, and a pencil in a small fabric pencil case his mother had sewn together for him. He wrote at the top of the paper, “Nightly Plan” and underlined it. “What do you mean ‘the plan’?” Jay asked and peered over his shoulder to see what he was jotting down. He wrote quickly, and it was a bit messy too, but Jay thought it was fine if Marcus could read it. “Well, we need to have you surviving through the night, and we can't make that happen without a good plan.” he looked behind to see that Jay was peering over his shoulder. “I suppose that is true. I’m not in the biggest mood of having my entire leg lopped off.” the both of them laughed. “I’m not sure if that’s very funny.” Jay said as their chuckling died down. “Guess not. Anyways, here’s the deal. I have an extra sleeping bag stashed away in my family’s safety bunker at home. You know, in case of emergencies. This is an emergency. I was thinking I could lend it to you and you could sleep in here.” Jay nodded as he followed along and watched him write. “I recently set up a radio system. I know, it’s oldies stuff, but it’s gonna have to work. Just after dark, when my parents and my sister are asleep, I'll send you a message saying I'm coming over, and I'll be over in about five to ten minutes.” Jay thought this was quite a lot just for the sake of his own safety. “I...don’t know how to use radio. It’s difficult...isn’t it?” he commented, interrupting Marcus’ next statement. “Now you are right about it being difficult. And it is, you’ve just gotta-” Jay chuckled. “Woah, woah, woah. Slow down. You sound like you would be some science teacher. You talk so much.” Marcus turned to look at him again. “Ha ha.” he replied sarcastically and turned to look at the radio setup. It was wireless, sitting on a medium sized cardboard box in the corner of the room. “Relax, I was just teasing you.” Jay patted him on the back and chuckled quietly. A scientific mindset did run in the family. After all, his father was studying audiology to get Regan’s hearing aid to work better. The pond below the waterfall held plenty of fish, Marcus had dissected once. It grossed his mother out, and earned himself a slap across the face. His sister thought it was hilarious. His father told him not to test limits again. Marcus had been sitting there thinking about this for quite some time, and he wasn't exactly paying attention to his surroundings. He did this often. It was only then that he felt a hand brush away a few strands of his curly light brown hair to tuck behind his ear that he snapped out of it. “Get off of me stranger!” he said and laughed a bit as he pushed Jay’s hand away. “You weren't listening to me. I said your name at least three or four times.” Marcus raised a curious eyebrow. “Really?” Jay nodded. “Huh. Weird.” They spent the next hour looking through his radio guidebook and sending messages together. He and his dad had found the radio set at a run down pawn shop, and the guidebook at an abandoned library. They also managed to soundproof it, linking up a set of headphones to each of the three that were located around the property. One was in his family bunker at home, another was in their basement (a place off-limits to children), and the last was here. “You're awfully lucky that you've got a family you know.” Jay said completely out of the blue after he finished sending a message. “And you don’t?” Marcus asked, confused. Jay’s face contorted as he moved his leg a little when he attempted to drag himself a little closer to him. He collapsed against him, tired from holding himself up so long. “I do, it’s just...They abandoned me when I got attacked, thinking I had been killed.” Marcus looked into his worried and distressed eyes. His mind had gone through so much. He had felt the real pain. “I had a little brother and two older sisters, so it wasn’t like I was just left by my parents or anything.” he said, muffled into Marcus’ shoulder. This felt a bit awkward. Just a bit since he wasn’t used to being cried all over. Jay cried quietly, and for the next few minutes, Marcus froze in place, not moving an inch. He would let him cry because it was a good way to let your deepest feelings out. Jay pulled his arms around his neck. “I’m sorry. It’s just- I get really sensitive sometimes, and when I get sensitive, I need someone to lean on.” he sobbed as he choked on his words. Marcus felt the warm arms squeeze his neck gently, and he decided to make his first attempt to calm him down. He rubbed his back and soothed him with his words. “Shhh. It’s okay. I’m here.” and with that, Jay began to laugh. A confused grin grew onto Marcus’ face as he watched Jay pull himself away. “What’s so funny?” he asked, allowing himself to chuckle a bit too. “Oh, I dunno. You just…” his voice trailed off into nothingness and he couldn't hear him finish his sentence. “Yeah?” Jay looked towards the ceiling. “You can just make me laugh like no other can.” Marcus tilted his head a bit and raised an eyebrow. “Me? No way. I’m not funny at all.” Jay peered over at him and gave him a smiling glance to the side. He turned entirely to face him and reached his hand across to touch his cheek and rub something off. “What?” Marcus asked and tried to move away. “Blood. Just a little. It was smeared on your cheek.” Marcus relaxed as Jay wiped it the rest of the way off. “Reminds me. I’m gonna need to wash my hands off.” he could just leave Jay here, he supposed. Jay could walk, it would just cause very bad limping, and his wound would have a harder time healing. Marcus sighed and crawled over to the trapdoor. “I’ll be right back, okay?” he said and looked at him before pushing the door open. Jay nodded and gave him a goodbye signal. Marcus returned it and climbed out and onto the ground. There was no path of sand that led there because he didn't want his parents, especially his dad figuring out about his little secret bunker. It was secret for a reason. He closed the trapdoor and got to his feet. He could hear the faint sound of rushing water already. His feet were bare and ridden with mud and dirt. When he came to the river, he knelt down and stuck his hands into the cold water. He pulled them out, wiping them on his pair of pants. He took off his jacket quietly and laid it beside him, sticking his hands back into the water to pipe the rest of the blood off. There was a bit under his fingernails, but he just told himself he would deal with that later. He cupped a bit of water in his palms and splashed it into his face. His mind cleared up a bit as he spat out some water and rubbed his eyes. “That’s it.” Marcus whispered to himself, his eyes widening a bit. “What a brilliant idea.” he stood up and smiled as he pulled his jacket on. “I’ll just make him a pair of crutches.” and so he set off to find Jay and tell him about his brilliant idea.

Marcus nearly collapsed against a tree, paralyzed in fear when he saw it. One of those creatures crawling around the base of the old growth tree, his secret hideout hidden just below where the monster crawled around, investigating it for any sort of sound. He cupped both hands over his mouth and breathed slowly and quietly as he stood there, closely watching it scrape it’s long and pointy limbs against the earth and the bark of the tree, almost as if it knew it would find a trapdoor hidden somewhere in that mess of mud, twigs, and fallen leaves. Marcus shook his head. “No, no, no…” he thought and gripped the trunk of the tree with one hand. He peeled off a bit of bark and let it fall to the ground, slowly bending down to pick it up again. He threw it as far as he could in the opposite direction of where the monster was prowling. He squeezed his eyes shut and sank to his knees against the tree, hoping it had retreated. He slowly blinked his eyes open and let out a sigh of relief when he saw that the creature had skittered away to some other part of the forest. His heart rate slowed as he brought himself to his feet and crept cautiously over to the trapdoor. He bent down and cleared away some dirt and leaves. When he found Jay, he was crouched near the very back of the hideout, hugging his knees to his chest, similar to how Marcus had first found him. He had heard it crawling around out there. Marcus climbed inside and gave him the signal that the monster had left. Jay nodded and let his arms fall to his sides as he brought himself out of his fearful position. “For a second there, you had me worried that that beast had gotten you-” Marcus wrapped his arms around his waist and embraced him, laying his head on his shoulder. Jay was bewildered, but eventually he hugged him back in return for their relief for each other’s safety. They soon pulled away, and Marcus began talking about what had come to mind when he had been washing himself at the creek. Jay wondered just how Marcus might put together a pair of crutches for him, but Marcus replied and told him that he could pilfer around his father’s workspace, and maybe if he was lucky, find a long sustainable object that could be put in place as something that would hold him up. “The padding beneath your shoulder may be a bit harder to find though.” Marcus sighed and looked down at his lap. Jay chuckled and patted his back. “Hey. It’s okay. I know you're trying to help. It’s really thoughtful of you, you know.” Marcus glanced up at him. He thought for a moment. Lunch was rolling around soon. He had left his house at around nine, and it had approximately been three hours since he had found Jay, so now it was about twelve. He’d best get back to his place to get some food. He told Jay that he would be right back with some food. “You don’t have any allergies or pickiness, do you?” Jay laughed. “Do I look picky to you?” Marcus shoved him gently, but immediately began to apologize. When he remembered the pain in his leg. Jay nudged him back and smiled. “You’re fine. I think I can take a little shove.” Marcus knew he was still in enough pain to not be able to walk, so he insisted that it was a good idea to take it easy. “Anyways… I guess I'll just go. I’ll be right back.” Jay waved at him, and Marcus was on his way. 

The entire house was quiet when he arrived. That was most definitely a good thing, wasn't it? He stepped through the doorframe to enter the house from the porch, and cautiously avoided all the creaks in the floor on his way down the hall to the kitchen. Most of the cupboards were abandoned and empty. Their stash of food was in a walk-in pantry just a few paces away from where he stood in the middle of the hardwood floor. It was opened just a crack, and the light inside was on. Either someone forgot to turn off the light and shut the door, or someone was in the pantry right now. He tiptoed over and peered inside. His mother was collecting ingredients in a bag. What they were for, Marcus did not know, but he didn't want anyone to find him or ask him any questions about what he had been doing the entire morning. He let out a sigh and thought maybe he would just go outside until she was gone. He turned and immediately took a step back when he saw that his sister Regan had happened to take a trip into the kitchen as well. He waved at her nervously, hoping she hadn't gotten upset or worried about his disappearance. It did turn out that she wasn't pleased. “Where were you?” she asked in signs and frowned at him. “Just in the forest. You?” he answered honestly and laid his arms at his sides, looking down at his feet. She tilted his head up to look directly at her. His eyes lingered around the room, avoiding her shaming gaze. “Listen to me, Marcus. You could have gotten caught out there. At least ask me to go with you.” Marcus let out a sigh and shook his head slowly. “You're not understanding. I just needed some alone time, okay?” Marcus turned away and crossed his arms. His mom closed the pantry door on her way out and stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Marcus standing there. She set her bag down on the counter and walked over to him, placing her hands on his cheeks. She looked at him carefully, a worried look in her eyes. “Are you alright? Where have you been?” Marcus nodded. “Yes mom. I’m alright.” he took her hands and brought them off of his face. “I was just in the forest. Down by the waterfall and the creek.” he sighed. “I’m sorry if I scared you.” she kissed his forehead and smiled at him. “All that matters is that you're safe now. Go get something to eat. You look a bit hungry.” Marcus nodded and took a glance at his sister who smiled at him and grabbed the bag off of the kitchen counter. “We’re having salad and sandwiches for dinner.” she motioned and waved as she and his mother exited through the back door frame and across the clearing to the picnic tables near the barn. Marcus walked over to the open window and pushed open the drapes. The sink below was rusted and mouldy from disuse, and the top half of the glass window was partially shattered. The farmhouse had gone through a lot in the past, and was bound to experience more catastrophes in the near future. For their family, the only good use of the barn was for storage. Plenty of it had already been destroyed by those monsters. They slept in their living room , and it felt like camping out in the wilderness every night. He and his sister had their own twin beds in the corner of the room, and their parents slept in their underground bunker below their house. Marcus and his sister had extra twin beds in the bunker in case they wanted to be in highest security. The cracks and holes in the walls of their house let in cold drafts during the winter, and sometimes the roof would leak in a torrential downpour during the late spring and early fall. Marcus could feel the humidity in the air on his cheeks as a soft breeze blew in through the window. He could smell the earthy scent of damp soil and leaves, knowing that the grey clouds in the sky were a telltale sign of rain on it’s way. Marcus closed the drapes and walked quietly over to the pantry door. He knew he was taking way too long just staying there, and he took note that Jay was probably waiting nervously back at the hideout in hopes that Marcus was okay. There were shelves of canned food in the pantry. Mostly tomatoes, corn. Sometimes pickles. Freshly made loaves of bread. Only a few because his mother did not want them to go mouldy. Jams. Strawberry, blackberry, raspberry. Marcus cut four pieces of bread to make two blackberry jam sandwiches for each of them to eat. The wind was strong and gusty when he stepped out of the house and onto the porch. He looked up and wondered when the rain would hit. Lightning struck, and thunder clapped from miles away, shattering the steady clouds in the sky. It rained. So Marcus ran.

The bunker was located deep enough into the ground that no water could seep into the walls. Marcus had a towel folded up in his book bag of survival supplies. The bag held sort of just camping tools and plastic rain ponchos in case of… Well, anything. By the look on Jay’s face when he unzipped the first pocket in the book bag, you could tell he was thinking about how over-prepared and cautious Marcus was. He grabbed out the towel and handed Jay his partly soggy blackberry jam sandwich. He sat cross-legged next to him and draped the towel over the both of them. Marcus grew cold as the rain dried on his body and drew himself closer to Jay. “I hope blackberry is good.” Marcus took a bite out of his own partly soggy sandwich and leaned against Jay’s side as they both laid bundled up in the towel against the wall. “Oh. I forgot to tell you.” Jay said gravely and turned the sandwich from side to side. “I’m allergic to blackberries.” Marcus looked over at him. “You're joking!” he had gone through all of that just to figure out he was allergic to blackberries. He even asked if he had any allergies. Jay smiled and chuckled as he took a bite out of his sandwich. “I’m just kidding.” Marcus shot him a look of annoyance and flicked his ear. Jay began to laugh a bit harder as he took another bite and swallowed it. He peered over at Marcus. Marcus returned a smiling glance to the side and licked his lips. “Hold on a minute,” Marcus raised an eyebrow and took another bite. “Wait, hold still. You've got jam on the side of your mouth.” Jay held the side of his face with one hand, and used the sleeve of his sweater to wipe away the jam on his upper lip and on the side of his mouth. He was done, but for a few seconds Jay held him there to look into his deep hazel eyes. Marcus licked his lips again and smiled shyly as Jay’s hand slid off. They ate in silence. Thunder boomed and almost shook the roof of the bunker. It made Marcus a bit jumpy, but he tried his very best not to seem startled when thunder erupted in the skies. He could feel Jay’s comforting arm around his waist again as they listened to the sound of the pouring rain. Something inside him made it just feel wrong to pull himself free from his grasp. And in truth, he didn't want to. He sat there and decided to lay his head on his shoulder. 

Marcus woke up a few hours later to bright sunlight pouring through the cracks of the trapdoor. He was leaning cuddled up against Jay’s side under the towel. Four hours had passed. He took in and let out a full breath, slowly beginning to adjust his eyes to the sudden light. Jay was stirring next to him, and he turned, rubbing one of his eyes with the palm of his hand. He took the towel and set it aside, pulling his pant leg up a bit to see the pillowcase wrapped tightly around his calf. It was a bit stained with dark brown dried blood. Marcus furrowed his brow and looked worriedly into Jay’s eyes. He still wasn't sure what to do. There was just so much put onto his shoulders to help the boy out.