"C'mon, we gotta check it out!" Amy whispered quietly.

"Hang on." Tyler dug through the flaming wreckage and retrieved his black metal suitcase that was slightly melted before they ran towards the sound. As they got closer, they could hear the strumming of an acoustic guitar getting louder as well as the voice of someone singing.

They all stopped at the corner of an abandoned house, peeking around it at the dark shadowy figure walking slowly down the streets as if weighed down by something.

"I walk a lonely road,
The only one that I have ever known,
Don't know where it goes,
But it's only me and I walk alone,"

The voice sounded familiar, but no one could really place it. The voice belonged to a man, but he sounded...old, like he had seen the universe and then some, his tone tinged with sorrow.

"I walk this empty street,
On the boulevard of broken dreams,
Where the city sleeps,
And I'm the only one and I walk alone,"

The man continued strumming his acoustic guitar as he pressed onward.

"I walk alone, I walk alone
I walk alone and I walk a,

My shadow's the only one that walks beside me,
My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating,
Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me,
Till then I walk alone,"

His voice grew louder, thick with emotion before he quieted back down as if worried someone would hear him in the deserted city.

"Ah ah ah ah ah,
Ah ah ah ah ah,

I'm walking down the line,
That divides me somewhere in my mind,
On the border line of the edge
And where I walk alone,"

The group used the cover of the line of houses to continue following him, unsure if he was hostile or not.

"Read between the lines,
What's fucked up and every thing's all right,
Check my vital signs, to know I'm still alive and I walk alone,"

He started walking closer to one of the destroyed houses before seeming to change his mind as he turned his back towards it.

"I walk alone, I walk alone
I walk alone and I walk a,

My shadow's the only one that walks beside me,
My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating,
Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me,
Till then I walk alone,"

He left something at the crumbled remains of the house before walking back down the street.

"Ah ah ah ah ah,
Ah ah ah ah ah

I walk alone, I walk a

I walk this empty street,
On the boulevard of broken dreams,
Where the city sleeps,
And I'm the only one, and I walk alone

My shadow's the only one that walks beside me,
My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating,
Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me,
Till then I walk alone."

He finished singing, strumming his guitar one last time. An eerie silence filled the air as the last notes echoed through the city. The group exchanged glances before testing their luck and stepping out of the shadows towards the man.

"Nate!" Jack gasps in recognition as he jogged over to him excitedly.

"Why are the hallucinations getting worse?!?" Nate yelled at no one in particular as he backed away from Jack, pressing a hand to his head as he laid down his guitar.

He looked in awful shape, his raven black hair greasy and matted with dirt and the lenses in his thick black rectangular framed glasses cracked and coated with dust. He was dressed in a pair of ripped jeans stained with blood and mud, as well as a black loose fitting t-shirt, his bony ribs easily visible from underneath the fabric.

"It isn't a hallucination, it's really me!" Jack assured him with a sad smile as tears gathered in his eyes. It hurt to see his friend looking so broken. Nate hesitantly reached out towards Jack and touched his face that was now wet with tears.

"J-Jack!" Nate cried as he hugged Jack tightly, sobbing in relief.

"It's alright, we're here to get you out of here." Jack promised him as Nate retracted from his arms, finally noticing the others uncomfortably watching the display of affection.

"Oh, um, hey." Nate waved awkwardly, pushing his glasses further up the bridge of his nose.

"I'm Tyler." Tyler introduced himself.

"That Ethan, Amy, and Signe." He pointed to each person in turn.

"You mean she's your girlfriend?" Nate gestured to Signe incredulously.

"Damn, Jack wasn't kidding when he said you were pretty." Nate teased with a soft chuckle that sounded more like a wheeze. The wheeze quickly turned into a coughing fit as he fell to his knees on the cracked paved street.

"Nate!" Jack quickly knelt down by him, concern shining in his eyes as he scanned over him for signs of any injuries.

"I'm...fine." Nate panted when the coughing ceased and he had regained his breath, shakily standing back up with the support of Jack.

"Guess I'm in worse shape than I thought." Nate mumbled wearily.

"I'll take you guys to where I'm staying." Nate offered as he scooped up his guitar from where he left it.

While the others followed him down the street, Jack hesitated a moment, going to the ruined house Nate had left something at earlier. It was a picture of him with Morgan at some kind of party, their faces bright with smiles. The edges were bent as if constantly kept in a pocket. Jack bent down and sifted through the remains of the house and found Nate's mic, coated in dust with the duct tape wrapped around it frayed, but otherwise seemingly intact. He realized that the house used to be Nate's. Now it was a pile of rubble and broken memories. Jack stuffed the mic in his black hoodie pocket, planning on giving it to Nate as he stood up and brushed the ash off of his pants before jogging after the others.

"Home sweet home." Nate sighed as they entered an alley way close by. All of the trash was moved, but the smell still remained. In its place was a sleeping bag and a rusty tire rim. Wooden boards were nailed together overhead to act as a roof.

"I know it's not much, but it's been working pretty well." He continued as he sank down on top of the sleeping bag.

"How do you know Jack?" His gaze met Amy's.

"I am-was, Mark's girlfriend." Amy explained.

"Was?" Nate repeated, as if he had never heard the word before.

"All of us were rescued from what was left of Seattle by the U.K, but when we arrived...Mark was really sick and...died." Amy swallowed hard.

To everyone's surprise, Nate started laughing as he shook his head, his tone ice cold.

"It was stupid of me to think he was still alive, that things could go back to the way they were." He growled softly.

"We can still get out of here-"

"How?" Nate snapped, interrupting Ethan.

No one dared to speak.

"I thought I'd be able to be free from this hell but why should I be? I shouldn't even be alive, Morgan-" Nate paused, his gaze cast down at the navy blue sleeping bag he was sitting on.

"She'd be standing here right now, and she would smile, and that would be enough." He whispered almost too quietly for anyone to hear.

"Look at where you are, look at where you started, the fact that you're alive is a miracle, just stay alive, that would be enough." Amy consoled him.

"Look around, look around at how lucky we are to be alive right now." Ethan gestured out in front of them at the ruined shops ahead.

"I don't pretend to know the challenges we're facing. But I'm not afraid, I know who I'm here with. So long as you come home at the end of the day, that would be enough." Jack interjected.

"Really?" Nate looked up at the people staring at him, a glimmer of hope shining in his hazel eyes.

"We survived this hell hole once, we can do it again." Jack smirked.

Suddenly Nate broke into another coughing fit, this one worst than the last as he doubled over in pain, struggling for breath.

"Let me look at him." Tyler knelt down in front of him and pressed two fingers to his forehead.

"He's burning up." He stated worriedly.

"Here." Tyler dug through his suitcase and pulled out a bottle of water and a rag, soaking the rag with the contents of the bottle. Nate's eyes rolled into the back of his head, Jack gently catching his head before lowering him on top of the sleeping bag. Tyler pressed the soaked rag to Nate's forehead, pressing two fingers against Nate's wrist.

"Vitals are weak." He muttered mostly to himself as he dug through his suitcase some more, rolling some of his clothes into a ball as he lifted Nate's head back up, laying the wad of clothes under his head.

"What do we do?" Ethan nervously ran a hand through his hair.

"In the morning we'll start looking around for medicine." Tyler explained, shooting another glance at Nate's prone form before curling up on the concrete. Deep snores were heard from him after a couple of minutes.

"What if..." Jack trailed off. He didn't have to finish his thought, Amy, Ethan, and Signe were also thinking the same thing.

"We'll figure it out." Amy said as she rolled over onto her side, although she didn't sound entirely convinced.

"Goodnight." Signs kissed Jack on the cheek, curling up next to him. Soon everyone was asleep except Jack, whom was looking up at the boarded ceiling, the night sky barely visible from the small hole in the wood.

"Goodnight Mark." He whispered to the sky before he closed his eyes, already knowing that he wouldn't sleep well. At least if he could sleep.