Crazies

Chapter Twenty-Five

~Chapter 25~
(Edited)

Entering the living room again, I step away from Axel's warmth and silently walk over to stand next to Jay by the wall.

How insensitive can I be? I chastise myself as I fight the need to curl up in a tight ball. To hide from the harsh reality that Kayli and Blake are gone because of me.

This wonderful group of guys didn't even know what happened to their lost family members, and I just went and buried their last moments deep down because I couldn't handle it. If I wasn't such a coward I could have saved them months of worry.

Now, look at me, still asking for their help after everything I've put them through.

Guilt creates a vice grip around my heart, making it thump painfully as I look around the room.

They're going to hate me, I think as I watch the five of them work to complete the device on the coffee table.

Something cold and wet brushed against the fingers of my left hand, pulling me from the depths of my overwhelming guilt. Blinking back fresh tears, I look down to find Max leaning his large body against me, nuzzling his nose in my hand. I bring my right hand over and gently pet his large head as a silent thank you.

Pull it together, Sang. This isn't the time to wallow in guilt. You have people relying on you.

I blink clear the rest of my tears then mentally kick myself out of my head so I can stay focused on what's going on around me.

Axel and Marc have taken over building the device with Corey giving them directions from the couch. RG and Brandon have moved from their spots while I was wallowing and are now bending over a beat-up-looking map of the city.

Needing to do something to stay out of my head, I head over to RG and Brandon with Max glued to my side.

"Anything I can help with?" I ask as I watch both guys study the map with a slight edge of frustration.

"Maybe." Brandon swivels the map to the side so that it fully faces me then uses his long callous finger to circle a large area north of downtown. "Have you been around here recently?" I take a closer look at the map to see that the area he's pointing out is just a few blocks away from Sunnyvale.

"Most of that area is now Devil's Hand territory," I inform them as I use my finger to show them what the gang has claimed. "We haven't been able to get fully inside their area, but this morning Jay and I explored this part." I point towards a strip of road about halfway through the territory.

"What have you found?" RG questions as he leans his large hip against the table, crossing his tatted arms across his wide chest.

"Nothing but the sick." They both release a small sigh before lapsing into silence again. "What were you hoping to find?"

"An old teammate of ours has a house here," Brandon says while indicating a spot closer to the middle of DH's territory, "we were hoping to use it as shelter to get us out of downtown, but it doesn't sound any safer than here."

RG makes this grumbling noise as he pushes off the table and turns to examine the map again. After a few minutes, he starts to point towards an area east of downtown, but Brandon is already shaking his head.

"Too close to the Reapers." They become increasingly more frustrated as one would point something out only for someone else to say the area is crawling with Crazies or that it was just too unknown to be safe.

"Why don't you guys just come back with us?" I finally ask after the fifth potential place was shot down. "We have room for more and with the supplies you have here we wouldn't need to make another run for a few weeks." I watch the guys send each other looks, silently communicating about their new option.