The Aftermath

S1E5: Move Forward

The sound of Sasha's scream can still be heard on repeat in Chris's mind as well as her previous words to him. You're a true friend were the words that lingered in his mind. It was all he thought about as he desperately prayed for a heartbeat to be heard. Still nothing, he thought to himself as he calls out Sasha's name.
"Sasha. Sasha come on you have to stay with me!", Chris shouted desperately. Jess runs in and pushes Chris out of the way while Sarah carries the medical supplies over. After further examination, Jess slowly turns her head to Chris with a blank expression. "S-She's dead", Jess said while quickly looking downwards.
Chris didn't answer right away and just stayed silent, slowly processing the information. His friend that he's known since pre school in the bunker has just died. He's never going to be able to see her again. All of those moments they shared together to when he helped her through her tragedies, to when they were hysterically laughing on the ground over the stupidest things. Was I actually a good friend? Chris thought to himself questioningly.
"C-Chris? Are you ok?", Sarah asked hesitantly. A pause. An awkward tension so thick that it could be cut with a knife. Chris breaks the silence and says, "we have to bury her body. Than we move forward. It's what she would've wanted".
Without wasting another moment, Chris looks for lashings, stone and sticks to make a makeshift shovel out of. He remains quiet and just wants to get his group to a safe place before night falls. The rest of the group shares looks with each other as they all question how quickly Chris moved on from all this. Just a moment ago, he was trembling in fear and now he's collecting materials to bury her body to quickly get moving.
Jeannie walks over to Ryan and motions to him so that he can follow her. "Ryan you should say something to Chris. He normally doesn't act this way when something traumatic happens", Jeannie says. "I agree it's off, and I feel bad for him, but he probably wants to keep moving so he can confirm that the rest of us are safe. I say we just help him find materials right now. When he's ready to talk about it to me, I'll let you know", Ryan says. "Alright keep me posted, and make sure he doesn't do anything stupid", Jeannie says. "Alright I'll keep an eye on him", Ryan chuckled before going back to look for the supplies needed to make a shovel.
Several of minutes pass by, and the makeshift shovel is complete. It isn't the sturdiest, but it'll be good for a one time use. The group starts digging together whilst remaining quiet and trying to keep the peace. While most of the group is working on digging the grave, Ricky and Jill are working on carving Sasha's name on the wooden cross.
Jill begins to break the silence, and says, "Do you think we'll find a camp spot for the night". Ricky thinks about it for a moment and what position the sun is at currently. "I think we'll have enough time. Chris is trying his best to keep us safe so if he doesn't do it he'll feel like it's his fault", Ricky says. "Well no matter what we do...at least I'll be with you", Jill says while blushing. She reaches out to grab his hand and rests in his arms.
A few minutes pass by, and the grave for Sasha is complete as everybody gathers around it. "I'm so sorry this happened to you Sasha. You didn't deserve this fate. We will keep moving forward for your sake. We will thrive! Thank you for always being there for me...", Chris says before leaving to find a safe camping spot. "Let's keep on moving before night falls". Chris says this to the group while heading out on the highway to find their temporary base.
During the walk, Paige comes up to Chris to check in on him. "Hey Chris how ya holding up?" Paige asked. Chris doesn't respond as he intends to just keep moving forward. "Look...I know how hard death can be. And I just hope you know, that we're all here for you. Unlike your family, my family couldn't care less about me. I was born into a very rich and successful family. You could say that I had it all! I had the sibling rivalry that could be classified as harmless, I had the money, and I could get anything I asked for. However, in reality, I was hated by my mother and my siblings. My older siblings had done so much for the family name. It was just so much to compete against. Plus, it doesn't help that I'm my father's mistress's daughter...".
Chris was in shock to hear this side of Paige as he opened up to him about his traumatic past. It was almost too unbearable to even imagine. "After my father left, I started to notice that I was uh...different from most people. I went to my mom to tell her that I truly identify as a boy in hopes that by revealing this, it would show that I trust her and respect her enough to get the love that a normal child would get. However, my mom had the opposite reaction. She shunned me even more and called me a mistake. At that point I was broken".
There was a pause as Chris was trying to understand how Paige dealt with all of this past trauma in his life. He felt so bad for his friend. "I guess what I'm trying to say is that you shouldn't be pushing us away at this time. This is when we should be sticking together. Just like how you guys comforted me when I was upset", Paige said with a satisfied smile on his face. He finally let it all out. There was no more secrets or burdens that he had to carry with him.
Chris brings Paige in for a hug. "Thank you Paige. I'm sorry for the way I acted and of what happened to you. I just want to let you know that...I'm here for you too", Chris said while looking down at the ground. "It's fine. But you were being a stubborn piece of trash", Paige said jokingly. "I guess I deserve that", Chris chuckled. They continued the walk when suddenly, they ran into an abandoned camp site with only a little bit of rubble left over.
The group gasped in disbelief as they finally found a possible place to rest for the night or even a temporary base. "This can work", Ryan said while smiling. "All we have to do is clean up the rubble then we have ourselves a camp", Hayden said feeling determined. As the group is cleaning up the camp, the sound of something rubbing up against can be heard.
"Did anyone else hear that?", Sarah said worriedly. Suddenly, another humanoid figure like the one before jumps out towards Chris and Paige. Chris quickly grabs the gun from Paige's holster and shoots the figure in between the eyes. "That'll teach you crawler", Chris says as he spits on the body that had only landed a few inches in front of them.
"Wait, what the hell did you just call that thing", Paige asked jokingly. "A crawler", Chris says reassuringly. "I kinda like it. But still it's kinda pointless, don't you think?", said Jill. "Whatever let's just get to bed it's been a long day", Chris says clearly being annoyed. On their way to the tents, Chris is stopped by Jeannie hugging him.
"I'm sorry what you had to go through today. Get a good nights sleep, and I'll be taking watch tonight", Jeannie says. "Alright I will, but make sure to switch shifts with a few others to make sure you at least get enough sleep. We have a lot to do tomorrow", Chris says to Jeannie. "Got it. I'll see ya tomorrow", Jeannie says before heading off to her tent.
Chris enters his tent with the thought of Sasha, Zach and Rosie in his head. Is it my fault that Sasha's dead? Should we have stayed in the bunker with Rosie and Zach? Chris would think to himself while constantly tossing and turning trying to go to sleep. Suddenly, he lays eyes on the walkie talkie that Zach gave him. He sighs restlessly as he picks up the walkie talkie to contact Rosie and Zach.