They found an abandoned farm in early autumn. It had a fairly sturdy fence around and a large house and barn. Jean wanted to go check it out but Marco was apprehensive about entering someone else's farm. After a great deal of convincing he agreed to seeing if there was anyone on the property.
Jean and Marco hopped over the fence and carefully made their way over to the front door to the house. Jean knocked on the door loudly while Marco kept his bow at the ready in case something tried to come at them from behind. There was no response to Jean's knocking so he tried again, louder this time.
The house remained silent. Jean tried the door but as expected, it was locked. Marco wanted to spare the door if possible. They circled the house and found a window that was a little high but had a desk under it for them to climb onto. Marco attempted to climb up himself but it was too high for him to reach.
"Okay, we need to break that window, then I'll give you a boost, you climb in and unlock the front door for me," Jean said. Marco nodded and turned to find something to break the window with. He saw a shovel leaning against the barn and began jogging over to it. He was about halfway to the barn when Jean saw the zombie lumbering towards him from the wilted corn fields.
"Marco, Look out!" Jean yelled to him. He turned to look at Jean who pointed at the quickly approaching zombie. Marco had put down his bow in favor of trying to reach the window ledge earlier, and without his long range weapon he was at a distinct disadvantage.
He looked to where Jean was pointing and froze. Oh no, not him. Marco stared at his old highschool friend, Samuel, only pale, dead and coming to eat him. He couldn't get his body to move, even though he so desperately wanted to run away. Zombie Samuel moved closer and Jean ran towards them. Marco's hand moved to pull his knife free from his belt loop, but he just couldn't raise the weapon against his friend. Zombie Samuel made a grab for Marco's arm but he stumbled back at the last second.
A gunshot rang through the air and Zombie Samuel toppled to the ground. Jean stood a few meters away with his gun still raised. Marco's legs gave out and he collapsed to a sitting position on the ground. Jean ran to his side and kneeled down next to him.
"Marco, are you okay? You didn't get scratched or anything right?" Jean asked as he began frantically checking Marco's arms for any marks. Marco nodded silently as he looked past Jean at the fallen body of his school comrade. Jean noticed where he was looking and put two and two together and pulled Marco into his arms. Marco accepted the hug and buried his face into Jeans shoulder.
They stayed like that for a few minutes while Jean looked around for any zombies that could've been drawn by the gunshot. None came, not over the fence at least, and Marco eventually pulled away from Jean.
"Let's go get that shovel so we can get inside, yeah?" Marco said with a small smile. Jean nodded and got to his feet before helping Marco up. He ran the rest of the way and grabbed the shovel from it's place against the barn and they walked back to the house together. Their plan worked past that point and they both got inside at least semi safe and sound.
"We can bury him," Jean said suddenly. Marco looked up at him quizzically. "If you want to that is," Jean added sheepishly. Marco smiled, "Yeah, I'd like that."
