In another life, in another version of this universe, maybe Ross would have understood what this mean; maybe Ross would have understood what it meant to respect the dead and bury them. Had he been living a life where all was normal and as it was supposed to be, maybe he’d have a little empathy for what he and the others who were burying David were doing.
But he didn’t live in that life, in that version. He lived in this one, and in this one, leaving the dead behind, running for your life, and throwing others in front of you so that they’d be dead before you were were normal. There wasn’t any other way life was supposed to be; this was the only thing that Ross had ever known.
Yet, here he was, burying a body he hardly knew. This was — let no one forget — a body that had decayed to the fungus that turned people into monsters. So, no, Ross did not understand. Ross did not understand why he was doing what he was doing. Ross did not understand why he and the others needed to do this.
No complains came from him, though. At least, not out loud. The whole afternoon of the digging, he’d been carrying himself so heavily and letting everyone know with his body actions that he didn’t want to do this. Now that all was done though, he finally sat himself on a big rock and drank some of the water he brought along.
“Worth it, yeah?” he said out loud to the person in front of him, though he did not think so. His voice was teetering on sarcastic, teetering on condescending. “We didn’t just waste our time doing that, no?”
Maybe he needed someone to tell him something other than what he thought.
The whole David ordeal hit Aiden more than he wanted to admit. While others in the group had mixed reactions that all ranged from anger in the deceased guy to frustration in that they didn't further investigate the symptoms of his cold, Aiden felt a heavy sense of loss. David wasn't the most ideal person to be around. Selfish people were always dangerous during the end of the world. But, to Aiden, he was still a part of this group, and for that reason and that one alone, Aiden considered him family. A distant, estranged brother or something, but family none the less.
It was a shame the accident happened and David's scouting companion wasn't able to protect him. Even more so that no one tried to look for a bite or took an attempt to try and solve the source of David's cold. It was, Aiden supposed, considering they all should have been hyper alert to any possible outcome. To much of Aiden's chagrin, he would brush all of that aside and find it that their loss was more important than their mistakes. Just like that, another life was whisked away.
Ross here was digging David's grave, left to remain unmarked for self protection. Marked graves told other potentially dangerous survivors that there were people around, and they couldn't risk that. Infected were scary, but humans with terribly ill motives were even scarier. A sigh escaped Aiden's mouth when Ross exited the hole he dug, and Aiden took a glance from each side before landing his eyes on his comrade's face. His tone caught Aiden a bit off guard, and he looked solemn for a moment. A frown twisted his mouth, his brows knitted together, and he stayed very quiet. For maybe about twenty seconds or so before he spoke up.
"F'course it is." A simple statement, because yes. Digging a hole was tedious, tiresome and seemingly pointless. But, if Aiden had it his way he would want any of the group who passed on to be properly buried. "Infected or not, it's the least any of us would deserve." Although through the grim and nitty-gritty reality of it, they were all bound to die at some point, and Aiden would hope that they all shared the same belief when it was his time. He'd hoped this attitude didn't reach out to everyone, and that he wouldn't be left to rot out in the sun by the other's wishes.
