Crazies

Chapter Ten

~Chapter 10~
(Edited/Add-on)

More static.

Frustrated, I smack the power bottom to the radio and just drive down the empty highway in silence. I've scanned through every radio station, both FM and AM, and heard nothing but static.

I was holding out hope that maybe I would find something over the radio. The optimist in me wanted to believe that if I heard anything that I could imagine our circumstance wasn't as grim as it seemed.

But there's just nothing.

I tighten my fingers around the steering wheel as my anxiety picks away at my self-control, trying to make me crumble, but I can't allow it.

People are relying on me, I remind myself for the hundredth time.

Taking a quick glance around the Jeep's cab, I hunt for something that will help distract my mind from everything going on but don't find anything.

I reach over, being sure to keep my eyes mainly on the road, and pop open the glove compartment to find North's black and white CD case.

Perfect.

Without looking, I take a random disk out of one of the plastic sleeves and push it into the CD player. I press the power button again and bring my hand back up to the steering wheel as I wait for the first song to play.

A familiar soft melody of piano and guitar fills the silence that settled around me. When I hear that iconic deep voice begins to sing, my heart drops.

Wise men say, only fools rush in,
But, I can't help falling in love with you.

Tears spring to my eyes as I listen to Elvis Presley sing one of my Meanie's favorite songs and feel what little control I have just seconds away from shattering into pieces.

With shaky hands, I quickly pull the Jeep over to the shoulder of the road and put it in park.

"You can do this," I repeat out loud as I bury the heels of my hands into my eyes, trying to keep the tears from falling.

With each new word that flows from the speakers, my mind starts to replace Elvis's rich voice for Gabriel's deeper one. I can even hear echoes of Luke's and Sean's off-key singing join in as my mind recalls a time when the four of us sang along with this song not too long ago.

No I, I can't help, falling in love with you.

As the last verse rings out, I'm finally able to take my control back and I press eject before the next song has a chance to start playing. I slide the disk back inside the CD case then flip through it until I find something that wouldn't remind me of the boys.

My Chemical Romance takes over the silence and I pull the Jeep back on the road to continue towards the hospital. Keeping my small chant on repeat in my head.

*~*10 minutes later*~*

I sit inside the Jeep, parked in the farthest spot from the entrance of Roper Hospital as I could find and watch the chaotic scene in front of me.

Six ambulances line the curb right outside the ER doors with two unloading a gurney with a blood coated person strap down to each one.

Every parking space is taken and people are starting to park on the small roads leading to different parts of the hospital, making it hard for others to get in and out of the parking lot. The only positive thing out of this whole mess is that I don't see someone eating another person.