Throughout Marshall’s confession Luke was silent, thinking to himself. When the other boy looked to him he wasn’t sure what he’d see in Luke’s eyes. If nothing else he was glad Ash was asleep for this, after the way she had reacted to Autumn’s confession of killing his friend he didn’t want her afraid of Marshall too. He didn’t even know what to think about all of this. He was just glad it wasn’t him. He wasn’t sure he would have been able to do it. Thoughts did cross his mind similar to the words of his friend. Why not just beat him up and leave him?

Why was killing him necessary? He knew the answer, he supposed. The look in Marshall’s eyes said it all and although men like him hardly deserved to live it felt like such a waste of human life, especially when so much of it was being lost every day. He understood what Marshall had done. He wasn’t sure he agreed with it, and he was glad it hadn't been him. He probably wouldn’t have been able to do that. However he still understood it and he most certainly didn’t think less of him for it.

People he could trust completely were a rare thing right now but he trusted Marshall and knew that he had done what he thought was right at the time. He looked up at the end of his speech and gave him a small smile and a small nod to let him know they were good. He was about to get ready for bed when Maria, the woman from the camp who had offered to help him declared that she would be their leader and he stopped suddenly and looked around at the other.

“Now hold on,” he said gently, unsure how to approach this given how she had reacted to the soldier disagreeing with her last time. “No offence ma’am, but I think the group has been doing pretty good so far without a leader, we make decisions democratically, with no one person’s opinion meaning more than another. It’s been working for us so far… I don’t think we really need a leader. If it ever comes to a point where we do… then we’ll vote. Until then… well I don’t see much point changing what isn’t broken.” He shrugged slightly and went to sit on the mattress next to Ash, pulling a blanket up over her and he lay beside her and eventually nodded off into an uneasy sleep.