Crazies

North's A-Report

(Edited)

*~* North Taylor's POV *~*

We're so fucking close.

Every instinct I have is telling me to keep moving, that nothing is more important than getting to Sang Baby. But after hearing her voice for the first time in over four months I finally feel my hope spark to existence again.

Just knowing she's alive has given me the will power to fight against my instincts.

Just be patient, I remind myself as my eyes drift away from the mouth of the alleyway and down to the clean white bandages wrapped around both of my wrists. The scarring wounds underneath a physical reminder of what can happen when we get too impatient and charge through without a contingency plan.

I push back the dark memories trying to creep in and roll my shoulders to break up the tension that's built up. Then force myself to focus back on guarding the entrance to the alley as I readjust the black shotgun within my tight grasp.

Taking a deep breath, I lock away my worries and thoughts distracting me from the mission. Only allowing the movement of my right index finger to be the outward display of my impatience as I slide it across the smooth metal surface of the trigger.

Just waiting for some fucker stupid enough to cross my path right now.

My ears perk up when a short whistle from above redirects my attention to the large building to my right. Three stories up, I see a dark silhouette hanging over the roof's edge as he signals the all-clear.

About time.

I give a short wave back, letting him know we were on our way up and flipped the safety on my shotgun before rotating the strap it's connected to. Allowing the weapon to lay across my back instead of being in the way in front of me.

Before moving away, I quickly take another look for threats down the same dark street I've been staring at for the last ten minutes. Thankfully, I only catch the moonlight shining off the tiny water puddles scattering across the asphalt, so I start heading towards the other end of the alley.

"All clear," I say the moment I see Gabe's dark shape leaning up against one of the buildings.

"Fucking finally," he groans, pushing away from the wall as he slides the Glock he was holding inside the gun holster attached to his right thigh. "I was about to lose my fucking mind if I had to wait any longer. This shit needs to be fucking done already."

I grab hold of his arm before he could walk past me, forcing him to stop and look at me.

"You need to keep calm, Gabe." His cold blue eyes glare up at me, and like all the other times, it's like a kick in the gut to see how much he's changed.

My fun-loving brother shut down all those months ago. That day broke him and it kills the rest of us to see this hard man who would much rather put himself in danger than open up about what happened.

"Why?" He barks back as he rips his arm from my grasp. "This is taking too damn long. We could have already been halfway to Trouble." He angrily shoves his hands into his hair, grabbing the short brown strands in a tight grip. I hear him growl in frustration as he quickly pulls his hands away from his hair. Like my wrist, it was just another reminder of what some of us went through at the hands of the Survivors those few weeks of captivity.

"All of us want to be heading to Sang right now, but you know this needs to be done first." I step into his personal space making sure his attention is completely on me and not on his impulsive thoughts. "Charleston is heavily guarded like the other quarantined cities. We'll need someone on the outside to help us get back out."

Some of the ice in his gaze finally thaws as the logic of what I said outweighs his anxiety over not going straight to Sang.

"She's alive Gabe," I say, laying my hand on his stiff shoulder. "We'll be done with this in a few hours then we won't stop until she's by our side again."

"Just a few more hours," he finally agrees as he pats the hand I still have on his shoulder, "all good now."

"Let's go."

I give our surroundings another check before leading the way to the metal ladder bolted to the police department we were about to loot for possible weapons.

We quickly climb up to the roof and find the third member of our tiny team sitting on the half wall surrounding the edges of the roof and I resist the urge to yell at him to be careful as he leans half off the building.

Unfortunately, I found out fairly quickly that the Volkov team member, Nolan Hunter, was like a copy of Luke.

Both doing stupid shit.

"Are things okay?" He inquires, probably having heard Gabe and me talking with how dead silent everything is.

"Fine," I answer as I jerk my head toward the propped open door in the middle of the roof. "Let's get moving."

"Aye aye, Captain." Nolan hops down from his dangerous perch and leads the way inside the building.

We easily navigate our way straight to the basement and head to the room labeled Evidence.

The one place people seem to bypass when looting a police department.

They don't think about the number of guns and other contraband taken into evidence that just sits there, forgotten.

Better yet, is if the department has a S.W.A.T unit, like the ones our divide teams are currently looting. The Special Weapons and Tactics is the hardcore unit that gets sent in to quickly and safely take control of dangerous situations. Which means they end up confiscating more than just the simple handgun.

"We're in," Nolen informs us as he flings open the door, having picked the lock when I was lost in thought. "Let's see what goodies we can find."