"Guys, we have to move fast." Tyler whispered as he shook everyone awake. Nate was still asleep, but he looked paler than before, sweat beading his forehead as he tossed and turned in his sleep.

"I'll stay here with him." Jack volunteered, all traces of weariness gone as he wrung out the warm rag and soaked it in fresh water before placing it back on Nate's forehead.

No one argued with him as they jogged out into the street. The sun was barely visible over the horizon, providing little light for Signe, Ethan, and Tyler as they began scavenging what buildings they could find that looked safe enough to go into.

"How on Earth are we even gonna find medicine when everything is blown to shit?!?" Ethan yelled angrily as he left yet another completely empty building.

"Guys, Nate's awake but he's dry heaving a lot, I don't know what to do!" Jack ran up to Tyler, pure panic evident on his face.

"Found something!" Signe called out.

"Go back to Nate, we'll come back when we find some medicine." Tyler directed Jack before running towards Signe. She was standing in front of what possibly used to be a Walgreens, the sign overturned and lying a few feet away.

"Good of a place as any to look." Amy shrugged before prying the automatic glass doors apart and stepping inside.

The inside was fairly intact, although there was a huge hole in the ceiling, allowing the sun to shine in like a spotlight. Shelves were knocked over, food and other goods littering the white tiled floor. The doors behind them slid shut with a loud squeal.

"We should grab what we can, then get out of here quickly." Amy suggested, looking up at the gaping hole in the ceiling as a gust of wind blew.

She found a large light gray backpack and began stuffing it with anything she thought could prove useful, including food and extra clothes since her suitcase burned up in the helicopter crash.

"Got it!" Ethan grinned triumphantly, holding up a bottle of medicine, as well as a blue backpack that coincidentally matched his faded blue hair.

"That was fast." Signe remarked as she filled up her own dark green backpack.

"Let's get going then." Tyler walked up to the doors and tried pulling them apart again. They didn't even budge. He then tried pushing them with all of his strength, his face turning a bright red with effort. Still nothing. Everyone else joined in, but nothing changed. They were trapped.

"Door is bullet proof." Tyler cursed, kicking the doors before pacing around, trying to think of a way out.

"The only way out is up." Amy pointed up at the ceiling whee the hole was.

"Everyone drag a shelf over here then, we can make some kind of stair case with them." Ethan started dragging a rusty metal shelf over, the others exchanging glances before following suite.

Soon enough, they had piled all of the shelves up, allowing them to only reach where the lights were.

"It'll have to do." Tyler sighed reluctantly, running up the shelves before jumping and grabbing onto the large light hanging overhead, using that to swing him over to the edge of the hole and lift himself up.

"I can do this, I can do this," Ethan chanted as he adjusted the position of the bulging bag on his shoulders before running up the shelves, grabbing Tyler's outstretched hand as he pulled him up.

"Here goes nothing." Amy muttered as she copied Ethan, first throwing up her bag.

"You can do it!" Amy encouraged Signe, peering down at her through the hole.

"If you say so." Signe eyed the makeshift stairs warily before running to the top and jumping, her hand reaching out to Tyler's.

Her fingertips briefly brushed against his.

She screamed as she scrambled to grab anything in reach to stop her from falling. She managed to hold onto the edge of the light, although it teetered dangerously, the cable connecting it to the ceiling threatening to snap. Her backpack fell off of her shoulders back down to the ground below with a thump that seemed to echo.

"Jump!" Tyler reached out towards her again, his hand just a few feet short from hers.

"I can't!" She cried, daring to look down below, which only made her feel worse.

"Focus on me, okay?" Ethan directed her gaze towards him, flashing her a small reassuring smile.

"On three." Tyler stated.

"One,"

The light creaked as Signe positioned herself to jump.

"Two,"

She rubbed her sweaty palms on her pants, staring intently at Tyler's hand.

"Three!"

Signe leapt just as the cable holding the light snapped, sending it plummeting down to the ground where it shattered into a million pieces. A scream ripped from Signe's throat as Tyler caught her, pulling her up into a hug as she cried into his shoulder, relieved to be alive.

They waited for a moment to catch their breaths before scaling down the front of the building, which wasn't as bad as when they had to descend the two story tall shell of a skyscraper.

As soon as the reached the ground, they took off in a sprint towards Jack and Nate, hoping they went too late.

They were.

Jack was sobbing, holding onto Nate's hand while rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet, his head lowered as tears streamed down his face.

"Shh, it's okay babe." Signe tried to comfort Jack, pulling his hand out of Nate's limp grasp.

"I am not throwing away my shot!" Ethan opened the medicine, taking a couple of pills out of the bottle and parting Nate's lips, slipping the pills into his mouth along with a little water to wash them down. Nothing seemed to change.

Until Nate's eyes fluttered open.

He gasped for air as he quickly sat up and looked around, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"What just happened?" He croaked as he shook his head, wincing in pain at the movement.

"Don't do that!" Jack lightly punched Nate in the arm before hugging him.

"Yes sir." Nate replied sarcastically with a smirk, rolling his eyes. Amy handed him a water bottle, which he drained in a couple of large gulps before tossing it playfully at Jack's head. It bounced off of him and hit Signe as well.

"Hey!" Signe protested, throwing it back at him.

Amy felt a stab of sadness sting in her heart as she remembered the abandoned apartment they had stayed at in Seattle. They had done the exact same thing when Mark was alive.

"You okay?" Ethan nudged her out of her thoughts.

"Yeah." She mustered up what she hoped was a convincing smile. He seemed doubtful, but didn't push the subject.

Now what? It's sometime in the early afternoon." Jack pointed at the sun which was now high in the sky.

"I can help look for supplies." Nate started trying to stand up.

"No!" Everyone yelled in unison, Jack gently shoving him back down.

"I'm fine!" Nate argued, folding his arms over his chest.

"Yeah, that's what you said before you died." Jack huffed in irritation.

"Fair point." Nate laughed as he shrugged, the sound genuine.

"Here's what I got." Amy dumped the contents of her bag out on the ground, spreading it out.

There were several kinds of canned soup, some clothes for her and Signe, hand sanitizer, along with some chocolate and cookies which she handed over to Jack who beamed happily like a kid on Christmas.

There was mainly clothes in Ethan's bag for the four men to wear, but there was also a disposable camera.

"Smile!" Ethan took a picture of Jack sitting next to Nate. Unbeknownst to Jack, Nate was holding up bunny ears behind his head much to the others amusement.

"What?" Jack whirled around to glare at Nate, but he only innocently smiled back, resting his hands behind his head.

"Who wants breakfast?" Tyler held up a can of chicken noodle soup. Everyone nodded eagerly, easily finding scraps of wood to fuel the fire while Tyler opened the can and quickly rubbed two sticks together, smoke rising off of them before they burst into flames.

Nate and the others swapped stories while they ate, talking and laughing until they were interrupted by a cracking sound. Ethan dug through his hoodie pocket and found the radio Jordan had given him.

"Hello?" He said hesitantly.

"Ethan?" Wade's voice came through the crackling radio.

"Where are you guys?" Ethan asked as he jumped to his feet, ready to go find them.

"Bob, Mandy, Molly and I found this old radio in what looks like the remains of a crashed helicopter, but I can't really tell. It's by-"

"Let me guess, a tall building that looks like a skyscraper?" Tyler interjected.

"Yeah, actually. How did you know?" Wade asked.

"I'm here with Nate, Jack, Signe, Tyler, and Amy, I'll tell you when I get to you." Ethan stuffed the radio back into his pocket.

"You sure you're up for this?" Jack asked Nate as he helped him stand.

"I'll be alright." Nate brushed off his concern.

Amy and Ethan both filled their backpacks up again before walking with Signe, Jack, Nate, and Tyler back to the wreckage that they came from, finally feeling something hey hadn't felt since they had arrived. Hope.