State of Decay✔️

Chapter 10: The Morning After

Marcus awoke the next day to the sight of early morning sunshine streaming in through the gazebo. He stared up at the weathered, paint-chipped ceiling and felt surprisingly good. When he'd gone to sleep, Marcus had been utterly convinced that his head would be full of nightmares, his sleep as harrowing as his escape from Mount Tanner. But if he'd had any, he didn't remember them, and there were no lingering negative emotions like when he usually had a particularly bad one. In fact, if he didn't know any better, he'd say he felt...

Good.

Why good? He'd just stumbled into a world that had gone to hell in a handcart, a world overrun by the walking dead. Maybe he was in shock. Or maybe it was the fact that he'd woke up a few times during the night, and all he could remember was the soft luminescence of starlight and the flickering light of a candle, and the calming, benevolent presence of Pastor William. Marcus rolled over in his bed, fully expecting the chair where the man had sat all night to be empty, but it was not. William still sat with his feet propped up on the desk.

"Did you sleep well?" he asked without turning around.

Slightly startled, Marcus sat up. "Uh, yeah, I did. Thanks for watching over us...how's Ed?" he asked, looking over.

"His fever is worse, I'm afraid," Will replied unhappily, closing the bible with a snap and getting to his feet. "I've been giving him water and checking his wound periodically. The bleeding has stopped but...I'm afraid we're going to need some kind of antibiotics."

"Wonderful," Marcus muttered, standing up.

He stretched and popped his neck and shoulders, yawning and rubbing sleep from his eyes. He felt a desperate need to piss. He grabbed the revolver and tucked it into his waistband, then eyed his backpack, which he'd shrugged out of and dropped beside his bed without realizing it last night. He pulled it back on.

"Have the others come by to say anything?" Marcus asked.

"No," Will replied. "Should they have?"

"I'm surprised Alan didn't show up in the middle of the night and carry us out beyond the wall," Marcus said.

"I wouldn't let that happen. This is my church, in as much as it's anyone's, and I won't let you be thrown out," William replied.

"Thank you. Really, you're very kind, William."

"It comes with the territory. Also, I prefer Will."

"Got it. I'm going to go find breakfast and see about finding some more medicine for Ed."

"Good luck."

Marcus left the gazebo and went into the church through the back way. He found Maya, Sam and Lily eating breakfast in the kitchen. All of them were eating from cans and drinking from bottles of water. At that thought, Marcus stopped and shrugged out of his backpack.

"Hey," he said, "I've got some stuff to contribute."

"Whatcha got?" Lily replied.

Marcus set out the bottle of Advil he'd picked up at the camp sites, as well as the five bottles of water. He kept one of them for himself. "Ed's got some, too, in his pack."

"Great! Also, I had an idea last night, about the meds," Lily said, setting aside her breakfast for the moment to sort the supplies.

"That's great, but I need a moment to take a leak or I'm going to piss my pants. Does the bathroom still work?"

"For toilet stuff, yeah. For everything else, no. We can't shower or drink from faucets since the water isn't being filtered anymore. There's some Listerine in there if you want to practice oral hygiene. We found like a crate's worth," Lily said.