Night

worth it

I know this whole damn city thinks it needs you
But not as much as I do.
-Fall Out Boy, The Last of the Real Ones

Phil

"Well hello there, who might you guys be?"

PJ's tone is friendly and he practically glides over to us, his movements so relaxed and comfortable that he must either be completely oblivious to the unease between us and our captors or an exceptionally good actor. He has a wide, toothy smile, his eyebrows raising in a good-natured way as if he thinks we're just the latest edition to their happy group of friends.

He holds out his hand to Dan first, presumably to shake, but he's met with no response other than Dan giving him a blank look, clenching his fists tightly at his sides. His grin shifts minutely into one of more unease, not expecting such a stiff response.

"What's the matter?" He asks, voice still friendly. "Mark didn't do anything stupid before I've even gotten the chance to see you, did he?"

Mark stiffens but to my surprise doesn't retort, watching PJ warily as he meets my eyes next, gesturing to his friends.

"I knew I should have joined them when we heard all those noises." He tells me. "Instead I stayed back to roast the bird meat. Not the best decision I've ever made."

He's still met with silence, and I'm not sure how to explain to him that we're here against our will, especially with Mark hovering menacingly behind him only a few feet away. He'll hear anything we say and I'm not entirely sure if I want him to react to it. I'm still uncomfortable because he threatened us so harshly back in town, and it scares me knowing that he has complete power over mine and my friends' lives right now.

He could hurt Dan if he wanted to. Really, he could use either of my friends as a tool against me, should he turn out to be that kind of sick person. It's blatantly obvious that he doesn't like us. Or trust us, for that matter. I certainly don't trust him, and no amount of friendliness from his counterparts is going to remove that fact from our lives.

Felix shifts awkwardly next to us and PJ glances over at him, a confused expression fading the smile on his face and replacing it with the ghost of a frown. He looks in turn at each of his friends, as if demanding an explanation.

"All right guys, what's going on here? " He demands, throwing his hands out to the side in exasperation. "who are these people, and what did you do to them? They look like they want nothing more than get away from us. Did you hurt someone?"

"It's not like that, Peej," Felix breaks in, sounding nervous. "We don't wanna hurt them, we found them surrounded by zombies in the backyard of that old farmhouse, saved their sorry asses from the ones that were left and Mark thought there might be trouble, so we opted to bring them here just in case they couldn't be trusted. But they're cool, I swear, Phil and Dan met on the internet the same way Marzia and I did, it's really interesting, like-"

"So basically," PJ interrupts his tone mildly irritated now, " you've taken them prisoner,"

"ah, well... I wouldn't say 'prisoner', per se" Felix stutters.

"Depends on who you ask." Dan murmurs sarcastically, and PJ looks at him, startled.

I like Felix all right, but I'm staying silent with Dan and Cat because despite being good people, he and his girlfriend still helped in forcing us to be here. I don't plan to help him explain this at all.

Mark, who's been silently sulking out of this so far suddenly springs to attention, eyes blazing as he whips around to glare at Dan. PJ lets out a small sound of alarm as he's shoved aside, and Mark storms up to Dan, grabbing the collar of his hoodie and yanking him down so that their faces are level.