." I will obey you of course. Mark, I'm the best shot of the group. Mahi's very good with a pistol, you are excellent, but I'm the expert. And you mig...t need a female as a diversion..."Mark sighed heavily. "You're right of course... All right."Kara gave one brief sob and nodded. A few seconds later, Anuhea and Va'an gave emotional hugs to Mark and Kara, and then the return team departed, sweeping their tracks clean behind them as they walked.Mark looked around at the house. "We need to plan.. She fed him water, fed him grains of rice. She couldn’t lose him. When he finally woke up her tears were tears of happiness. ‘Thomas, Thomas. Can you hear me?’ He nodded his head and grimaced as he did so. ‘Thank god you’re up. Thomas, I remembered something. Your wife, she’s still alive! She survived, Thomas! She recovered in the hospital.’ Thomas felt numb, his mouth hung open. He was sure he looked stupid, but he didn’t care. A smile formed on his lips. His first smile in months. He sat. He admitted to her all the past mistakes he had make, but told her this time apart from her made him realize what he had lost. He begged her to, if nothing else, just start slow and date him again so he could prove to her that he had changed. She told me he actually cried several times during the dinner.“Well honestly Beth.” I started, “I can understand how he feels. I would feel the same if I had lost you.”She blushed slightly and looked down at the floor. She was wringing her hands and acting. But that’s different. You were there with a bunch of others. You were probably used to the scene. I’m assuming it’s not your first time in a group. But you weren’t pushy. You were just there, watching I suppose. Now I know it’s your thing to watch. But I deffo had you tagged as shy. Yet here we are. You came right up and talked to me.”“I’m sorry,” I said. “That was something I shouldn’t have done. I should’ve followed up with an email or something. I know women in your position don’t like to.