Chapter 9: Treehouse Living

All Rosemarie could think about was Mark. His dead eyes. His head exploding. Her stomach kept turning over and over. No one came to save him. No one was going to save them. She couldn’t eat. It would just come back up again.  

She laid in the treehouse looking up at the underside of the half finished top floor. She could hear Georgi and Alex talking, but she wasn’t paying attention until she heard Georgi say, “Bye Randy.”

“Where’s he going?” Rosemarie asked.

“Hunting,” Georgi said.

Chapter 8.4

On her way back, Randy and Neil appeared at the edge of the clearing. They gave her such a fright that she jerked backwards almost tripping over her own feet.

“Sorry,” said Neil. “We didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Just jumpy,” Georgi said. Her face started to burn.

Randy looked up at the treehouse.

“What are they doing?” he asked.

“They are restin’,” Georgi said, trying to edge past him.

He reached out and grabbed her arm. “Resting? They didn’t do anything,” he said.

Chapter 8.3

Randy and Neil dug a grave fifty yards to the east of camp while the the girls stayed huddled in the treehouse.

Once they moved the body, Georgi went down and removed as much of the blood as she could. It was amazing how little of it there was. Maybe it just seemed that way since most of her experience was from TV or movies. She swallowed down her nausea. After heating up some water, she scrubbed her hands and arms till they turned pink.

Breathing in shaky breaths, she sat down for a moment before beginning breakfast. Neither Rosemarie nor Alex came down.

Chapter 8.2

“Momma, momma wake up,” Georgi heard Alex whisper.

She peeled her eyes open. “What is it, sweetie?”

“Somethin’s wrong with Mr. Somerset,” she said. Her voice was shaking.

Georgi could hear Murphy’s low growl as she pushed herself up out of the blankets.

Mark was standing in the middle of the clearing. His head was tilted to the side.

Chapter 8: Life Will Never Be The Same

When Georgi handed Mark the notebook, he looked like he was getting worse. His skin was hot to the touch and he was shaking so badly that he couldn’t hold the pen.

“I’ll write the letter, if you’d like,” she said.

He tried to smile and nodded.

Georgi took down the names and addresses of a few of his family members as he struggled and failed to sit up.

“When we get the chance, we will get the letters to them,” she said.

Chapter 7.4

"Hey," Neil pulled back to look into Rosemarie’s eyes. "It's going to be okay."

Aware that she was probably stressing out the dying man, she wiped her face and nodded.

“I'm sorry,” she looked at Mark. “I didn't mean to lose my cool.”

He smiled a brittle smile as he reached out and touched her foot. “Sorry for the trouble.”

“It's no trouble,” she lied.

He pulled his hand back to rest across his chest. 

Chapter 7.3

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” said Randy gruffly.

Rosemarie winced at the pain as Randy’s fingers clamped on her arm. “Get off,” she jerked away.

His eyes had a wild anger that caused a vein at his temple to poke out. “Are you trying to get us all killed? Are you that much of a fucking bleeding heart?”

The venom in his voice caught her off guard and she struggled to respond.

“I’m not-”