We were pouring through the pile of what was left of the medical supplies trying to find something that might help. "Don't bother..." John said lifelessly.

"We have to try something, it's not over yet." I replied trying to keep my mind on the task at hand.

"Listen Mark, even if somehow you find everything I need... Do any of you know how to stitch me back up?"

The room fell quiet except for the sound of us searching, which slowed down to a halt. "So..." I said trying to find the right words. "You're quitting, just like that?"

John chuckled just faintly. "It's not like I want to die... I just don't see a way..." He took a deep breath. "Can I have a word with Mark?" He waited for everyone to get his meaning, when they didn't he spelled it out. "Alone..."

"Sure." Dennis said and opened the door to the hallway.

"Alright..." Elizabeth stood up from the pile of junk she was looking through. I could barely hear her speak with Dennis when she left the room with Jill right beside her. "I found some gauze, we can at least wrap your eye up while we wait." They closed the door behind them.

"What..." I started. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

"First things first, help me lay down on that table." I helped him get to his feet. He was a lot weaker than he would have liked to show the others. I think a part of the reason he wanted them gone was to spare his pride, but I knew it wasn't just something that simple. He took a seat and rolled onto his back, getting into the most comfortable position he could on the patient's table. "That's fucking better." He barely let out.

"What did you want to talk with me about?" I asked after a few seconds.

"Well it seems I'm gonna die here. There's a couple things I want to get off my chest first." He rubbed his forehead. "Damn it my arm fucking hurts... Well whatever. This isn't the way I thought I'd go."

"And how's that?"

"A massive heart attack on my yacht while banging my smoking hot wife!" I couldn't help but laugh alongside him at his stupid joke. "I can't say I'm too upset about this though, a crooked cop dies, and a little girl lives... I'll take that as a win."

"You didn't really think that thing with the yacht was going to happen, did you?"

"Nah... But I always really hoped." He smiled at me.

"You're not married are you?"

"No..." He looked up at the ceiling. "I was always too busy with work, and I guess I never felt the time was right to go looking... Shit I should have just taken the chances when they came." He paused for a moment. "That's one of the things that I wanted to talk to you about. Mark I don't know how fucked up the world is out there, hell it could be... well... hell out there. This shit could spread to every corner of the world for all we know, so anyway... You need to tell Elizabeth how you feel."

My face turned bright red, as I wasn't exactly comfortable talking with other people about it. "I don't think now is a good time."

"Have you not been listening? There may be no other time. I'm not saying it's ideal... or even good timing, but come on. If you don't make a move then you'll never know.

"Dude she just watched her ex die..."

John smirked for a second. "Yeah, but he was an asshole. I'm just saying one day you're going to wake up and realize that it's the things you didn't do that you regret more than the things you've done. And trust me, I've done a lot of bad things!" He laughed. "Just do it. If she says no, she may say yes later, but if she says yes... Well, you get the idea."

"I guess so... I mean if that's your dying wish."

"Don't go putting it that way..." He turned his head away from me. "But still, do it... There's one more thing that I wanted to bring up."

"What's that?"

"Listen Mark, you're smart, you have a good sense of what's right and wrong. Now I don't know if the world is ever going to get back to the way it was but... Mark, you'd make a good cop."

"You don't really mean that do you?"

"Shit yeah I do... You'd make a better one than I ever did. Don't get me wrong, you could use a lot of training, but you've got more potential than anyone I've met on the force."

"Thanks John... I guess."

"I'm not telling you that you have to become one. It's certainly not an easy job. Just consider it, alright?"

I didn't know what else to do but agree. "Sure, I'll think about it." I waited for him to say something else that obviously wasn't coming. "Is there anything else?"

"No I think that's it for now..." He took a deep breath trying his best to relax. "I'm getting really tired... I think I'll take a nap now... probably the last one I'll ever get."

"Alright, I'll let you be then."

"Keep it down!" He joked as he turned on his side. "I just told you I'm trying to get some sleep."

I began to walk out the door. But stopped when I heard John laughing to himself, it was quiet but I could make it out clearly. "What's funny?" I turned around and asked.

"Oh it's nothing... I just realized that, I am going to die in prison." He chuckled again. "I guess there's justice after all."

I made it clear that John just wanted to rest, so Elizabeth, Jill, and I waited in a small room across the hall from the infirmary while Dennis checked out the prison. He wasn't comfortable being there if he thought there could be a threat lurking just around the corner, and I completely understood his rationale.

It was somewhere around half an hour before Dennis came back. "The prison is practically clear. There doesn't seem to be anyone here other than a few zombies, and I think they came inside through the open door."

"What about John?" Elizabeth asked.

"I just checked on him, he's still breathing but it's labored. I don't think it'll be much longer."

"Is there anything we can do?" I asked still holding on to some glimmer of hope, even though I knew the truth.

"I don't think so. At this point he has lost so much blood, the only way to save him would be if we had a couple bags of his type... And even then we would still have to sew him back together to stop the bleeding..."

"Well then what do we do now?" Elizabeth was holding Jill, who had fallen asleep while waiting.

"We should leave the prison as soon as we're ready. But there's something you should see first." We weren't sure what to make of his request, though it wasn't like we were doing anything else, so we followed him. He led us into a cellblock. "Notice anything strange?"

"Well there's a dead guy in the middle of the room." I said pointing out the guard lying face down on the ground with a shiv sticking out of his back. There were cuts going diagonally across his back forming a big red X with the makeshift blade dug down right in the middle where they met.

"He was murdered, that much is obvious." Dennis continued. "But there's something else. All of the cells are open. There isn't a single prisoner in the entire compound. And there's more..." he pointed his flashlight on the walls. "If you follow the path to the exit you'll see it." He started walking and there it was, a large X drawn in blood, then another, and another. "We didn't notice it on the way in because we couldn't see, but whoever did this had themselves an obsession. The halls leading out of here are covered in them."

"So what? Prisons are known to have some crazy bastards." I added.

"It's not the work of a handful of people... Follow me." As he led us back to the door from which we entered we could see what he meant. The walls were coated with the ominous Xs, hundreds or maybe even thousands of them. "It seems they adopted this as their symbol. When we leave we should be sure to avoid places, or anyone that has an X on it."

"Good thinking..." Elizabeth said under her breath.

"Before we go, we should eat something. Come on, the cafeteria is this way." Dennis said and led us to where we needed to go. The meal was most appreciated, it had been a good while since any of us had eaten, and we were all getting quite hungry. Even if we were more focused on trying to keep ourselves alive.

When we had finished, I brought some of the canned stuff back just in case John was hungry too, but... When I opened the door he was laying there motionless. He wasn't breathing anymore. Dennis grabbed a hold of his neck. "He's dead... We should go."

"Wait! Shouldn't we burry him or something?" Elizabeth chimed in.

"It's not that I don't think the same..." Dennis said coldly. "But we need to be ready to fight should the time come. I don't want us tiring ourselves out digging."

"We could at least say something..." I added trying to get at least some closure on the subject.

Dennis took a deep breath and looked at us with the slightest hint of remorse in his eye. "Fine..." He turned to face the body. "I can't say that John was a good man. I can't even say that I particularly liked him... The only thing I can say is that he gave his life to save my daughter's... and for that I respect him... Is there anything you want to add?" When we didn't answer, he finished quickly. "May he rest in peace." With those parting words, we left the prison.