As Kristie spoke, Marcus maintained his stony vigil against the hospital as it loomed in the murkiness; a building that once would have been a symbol of hope and new life, now took on the same characteristics as what likely lay awaiting for them within its cold walls.  Marcus turned towards her …<em>Hesitant! …course he hesitant, he was committing himself to walking into the unknown; and that very act in and of itself should be enough to ‘commit’ him</em>…he smiled softly; there was<em>every</em>chance it would get bad; but, like a Pandora’s box, it sat their awaiting to be opened.  Marcus hid his wavering with a smile as he spoke “I’m good to go.  Don’t worry about me.”<br/><br/>Marcus watched her for a moment as her position shifted, she hid it well, but no matter what training she had undertaken, flesh and blood was always a weakness, for a moment he was wondering whether he should ask he if she was alright …The slowness of her movements, the measured breath she took, its was plain that she was beginning to feel the effects of the pain from within her, he didn’t know if she had any more means of freeing herself from its grip.  He had already mentioned to Jake earlier in the day about their possible need for acquiring morphine and other such drugs from the hospital; Kristie’s need only seemed to hasten that need.<br/><br/>His eyes narrowed a little at her change of heart, was it her sudden surrender to discomfort or something more; “Sleep.” Marcus repeated the word to himself with a tang of disdain to his tone; his eyes narrowing against the rain swept darkness that lay before them.  He turned towards Kristie, his eyes taken with a genuine air of concern “I have tried to avoid sleep as best I can; as bad as being awake is …sometimes; giving myself over to my dreams …is worse.” he smiled, but there was a slight waver to his lips as he glanced across to her.  “Kristie, If you want to grab a couple of hours I can keep lookout.” he glanced behind them, towards the doorway that led back into the store, he wondered whether either of them had been missed yet, he maintained his gaze for a moment before checking back towards Kristie; “We can kick off early, before dawn if you want.”  A part of Marcus wanted to set out before he had chance to reflect on his choices