California

Chapter 7

We creeped through the streets that were eerily quiet for LA, guns in our hands as we scoped out places that hadn't been cleaned out. Steve wouldn't even so much as look in my direction, so I stayed back with Natasha while him and Bucky took the lead.

"He won't even look at me." I whispered to Tasha.

"That was a lot to take in, Charlie. Especially considering he's been going off a lie for five years."

I sighed and kept walking, not knowing what to say.

"You can't keep blaming yourself, you know. What happened to those kids, it wasn't your fault. Unfortunately where they lived, it was bound to happen eventually, for some other reason."

I swung my head to her, shocked by her harsh comment. But then I realized she was right. Kids died in that country all the time from the effects of war. I turned my head back forward, eyes trained on the sidewalk. We stopped at the first store that didn't look completely picked over. The guys went in first to check for any trouble. Tasha and I kept a lookout before going inside. It was a pharmacy. I recognized it immediately.

"This is Mr. Burnham's place. I come here all the time. And we're just going to steal stuff like the criminals out there?"

Bucky whipped around. "We don't have much choice. It's not like there's many places open for business right now. Once things clear up, we can come back and pay him or help him fix up his store. But for now, we need supplies and this is how we get them. If you can't handle it, you can keep watch."

I stopped in my tracks. "Bucky! What the hell is your problem! You've been at my throat ALL DAY."

"Because you LIED. For five years! I watched my best friend go through HELL thinking things no one should ever have to think because you couldn't tell him the truth."

"Buck, come on man." Steve called out from a few aisles over.

"No, Steve. You've barely said a word since she told you. I get the whole top secret shit and it sounds like it was awful and I hate you had to go through it but you don't think he went through difficult shit too?"

"I'm not saying he didn't. But he does better talking about things than I do. He knows that. He's always known that."

"Guys!" Tasha yelled out, interrupting our spat. "Stop yelling. I hear someone coming. Hide."

We did as she said and dove behind shelves, peering around the sides of them to see if any danger was coming. If this is what it was like out here, I would hate to see how it is inside the Cordon. Two men in hoodies passed by, looking around cautiously, but they didn't stop in the store. Tasha was close enough to the window she could peek outside. Once they were far enough away, she told us it was safe and we went back to the center of the store to see what supplies Steve had gathered.

"Look. I appreciate you looking out for me, Bucky, but this has got to stop. Yes I haven't said anything. I'm still processing. And once I do, I'll talk to Charlie about it. But you two are friends! And at the very least have to be around each other all the time because of BB. Has it just been this bad between you two since I showed up?"

Bucky huffed. "It was a little tense before when Pete showed up, but pretty much, yeah."

"I know you're concerned because Steve is your best friend, but this is between me and him. Yes I hurt him, and I lied and kept secrets from everyone. I'm super sorry about it, truly. But right now, bigger things are going on. We need to work together if we're going to make it through this. And we need to try and help the people inside the Cordon. We can't do that if we're constantly bickering. OR if you're constantly being a negative nancy."

Tasha snickered at my last remark. "She's right Bucky. We've all gotta be one hundred percent in this."

Steve looked between the three of us and nodded. "What do you say, brother? You with us?"

Bucky rolled his eyes and sighed. "Okay fine. Get over here Chuck." He wrapped me in a hug. I knew he wouldn't actually apologize but this was his version and I would take it.

"Can we finish getting supplies so we can get back? Makes me nervous being out for too long."

The others nodded in agreement and we gathered just what we needed from Burnham's and made our way to a couple of other stores on the strip before making our way back to the office.