The Third War

Chapter Eighty Three: Zoe

My blood ran cold threatening to freeze up at any moment. Our father was missing, the power was down, and there was no protection anywhere. We had become sitting ducks swimming around in a frozen barrel begging to get attacked.

Plus, Jeremy yelled at me.

Kris eventually noticed my slide into madness wrapping her arm around me in some attempt to help. I clung to her jacket as a physical way to cling to my sanity. Having an attack would only make things worse for everyone. Kris's stress couldn't handle something else.

Jeremy continued trying to convince Kris everything would be fine, "This is different. Your dad is fully capable of taking care of himself. There have been zero signs of struggle so far."

"He's not exactly Buffy," Kris retorted.

"He's not exactly defenseless. Everyone around here carries a gun."

I cringed remembering the few times sitting next to him where shifting slightly caused me to hit his holster. Guns didn't necessarily scare me, but the idea of him ever using one to shoot someone.... It brought a shiver to my spine.

Kris's hold tightened around my shoulder, "I'm not taking any chances."

Phoebe once again rang as the voice of reason. "I think he means we just shouldn't jump to conclusions, whether they are good or bad."

"We're not just going to lie down and wait for things to happen!" She looked at all of them, "At least I'm not anyway."

Jeremy defended himself, "I wasn't saying we should!"

The arguing morphed into voices that didn't belong to any of the other people around me. They all hissed writhing in my head whispering about death, coldness, and horror. Dustin's voice managed to drag me back into reality as he yelled, "Can I say something?"

Everyone turned to look at him. Graywing who had decided to use him as a seat meowed. "There's one vote for Dusty."

Once he said that, all the other cats began meowing. He grinned, "Majority rules. So, I think we should all, including cats and dog, go downstairs to the warehouse. There's heat, protection, and friends!"

"But, that means being in the same building as Chip." Kris had to throw that in.

"She's probably outside, " Phoebe said calmly. "I need to check in with her anyways, and if I'm down there it'll make her less stressed." 

With a groan, Kris reluctantly agreed, "Fine, let's go, but everyone is carrying cats."

Dustin stood up holding all of the kittens in a blanket. Kris handed me Graywing after placing one into her pocket. Gingey walked over to Phoebe looking up at her and meowing.

Phoebe picked him, "Hello there."

Tigey found a home in Jerry's arm with Mini Jerry, while Minty got held by Kris once Annabeth and Spottedleaf were nestled in her pockets. Since she only had one cat, Phoebe held the door open and we all filed through going right back where we came from.

Efficiency wasn't exactly our strong suit.

I waited to go down until Jeremy was beside me.

"I'm sorry I yelled. I was just worried," he spoke softly obviously worried he had pushed me off the edge.

I just whispered back, "I know."

"Are you going to stay mad at me?"

"You really think I could?"

He didn't respond to that, just looked at me with guilty eyes.

Tigey began meowing every time Kris took a step down the stairs. Dustin, tired of being ignored, demanded attention, "SOOO, how's my bro."