Chatty Town

Chapter 13 : I Did This

"I'm sorry." Wren's words are immediately met with the squishing sound of Darnell's soaked jeans as he walks up the stairs– shaking his head.

Wren turns to look at me but I don't remove my gaze from the sixteen year old lying lifeless on the concrete floor, in front of me.

The last surface he'd ever feel beneath him. His eyes- well eye- still open, staring at the rusted metal beams for eternity. Or at least until someone shuts his– now– only eyelid for him.

I see Wren in the corner of my eye as she walks around Harris' body and makes her way up the stairs, all the while, shaking her head.

She's disappointed in me. D hates me. And so does Merrick, even if he doesn't say it. I did this. My thoughts get louder and louder, until they completely drown out the chaos happening upstairs.

My cowardliness. My passive approach. My trust in the ways things have always been. My worthless hope for the future. Reese would've never let this happen. He'd never leave a sixteen year old to fend for himself without efficient backup. This is my fault. Harris' blood is on my hands.

I step in his blood and kneel down. Pressing both my palms in the pond of blood. I did this. This blood. Wouldn't be outside of his body if it weren't for my lack of offensive leadership. I smear the cold blood on my grey t-shirt. He deserved better. He deserved to live. He deserved Reese.

I stare into the bloody socket, his eye split and bored as drying blood creates a casket for his left eye. He was just a kid. Sixteen, just starting his life. He hadn't even kissed a girl. Or boy.

The only thing he was doing with his life was fighting for it. He wasn't living, he was just surviving.

Survived just long enough to get shot down in his own home. By demon possessed kids. God, I hope it was quick. I hope his forehead was the first to get shot. I hope he fell to the ground with only his brothers on his mind. Laughter, and happy memories of the world before Gelium. Not thinking of the war, the nights he'd starve in bed, the two and half foot demons running the town. God! He didn't deserve this.

I fall back, the sting of the harsh contact with the concrete rippling thru my thigh from my ass.

I cup my head with my hands and aching grows in my chest.

What could I've done differently? Boarded up the main window? Left Wren here with him? Been stricter with instructions before leaving?! So many things I didn't do. So many reasons why he's here now, dead. So many reasons why I'm not Reese. Why I'm not good for them. I just get us killed. Or shelter us in place till we starve of the life we should've had. There's nothing I do that's good. There's nothing good about me. Nothing that helps them live. Or take back their life.

I'm pushed over with a blow to my shoulder and the sound around me comes back.

"Dem! What the fucking hell?!" Wren grumbles in a harsh whisper as she attempts to yank me from Harris' lake of blood.

I shake my head, standing now. "It's all my fault, Wren."

She hits my chest and arms, keeping her voice low, "No! No, you don't get to fall apart now! Not when D and Kenny need you the most!"

I shake my head, "They don't need me. They need Reese."

Wren shakes her head and cups her forehead before staring me dead in the eyes, "This shit, again?! Dem, Reese is gone. He's been gone for years! You're in charge of us now!"

"Maybe I shouldn't be." I sit down on the couch and stare at Harris' body in front of me.

Wren follows my gaze and then quickly stands in front of me, blocking my view of the boy.

In a second my cheek stings, and I realize she's slapped me.

Wren keeps her voice as quiet as possible, "Don't say that! There's nothing about this that wouldn't have happened if Reese was still here."

"That's not true."

"God dammit... look." She crouches down steadying herself with her arm on my knee. "I didn't mean that. What I said about her. It's not your fault, I was just upset.... Reese would've trusted her too."

"You're lying, he'd never trust her."

"Then, you're not remembering him correctly. You and Reese. The only difference between you two, is that he never questioned himself!" Her words hiss at me as she struggles to stay quiet.

"He didn't have reasons to."

Wren drops her head and soon after swings herself up onto the cushion beside me. "Dempsey. Don't do this. Not now. We need you."

I shake my head, "You need Reese. Or maybe you and Merrick should just lead, you're better at it than me."

She slides her arm across my back and pulls me into her for emphasis, "We work, because we work together. You, me and Merrick. We do this together. You're the glue that keeps us human. Without you, we'd be out there everyday killing Chatties."

"Maybe that's what we should be doing."

Wren sighs, "You don't mean that."

I stand up, "Well, why shouldn't I? Look what they did to Harris! His life was just starting!"

Wren stands up and grabs my arm but I yank it away from her, "And we'll avenge him, but we can't just go after Olsen without a plan."

"Then let's make one."

Wren doesn't move for a few seconds until she does. She nods, "If that's what you want. We'll start tonight, after we get back home."

I nod hanging my head down to see Harris' body beside me.

Wren lightly smacks my arm, "I gotta get our guns. I could use your help." She walks around Harris and picks up a blanket from the floor, making her way to the gun rack in the back.

He deserved better. We'll do better next time... I'll do better, next time.

I follow Wren to the other room and walk around the wall.

I nod at her as she lays the blanket open on the floor, "We're taking everything, we're not leaving any behind."

"It should all fit in here."

I hear D's footsteps above us and I start opening the metal cabinets guarding some of our weapons. "How's he doing?"

Wren shrugs as she starts grabbing guns off the racks and checking their safety before placing them on the blanket. "He's functioning. Knows what needs to be done and he's doing it." I nod and she continues, "But he's going to need some time before he's okay."

I grab a couple shotguns and check their safety, "It'll take him a while, but he's strong."

"He'll have to be." Wren mumbles as I drop the shotguns on the blanket.

...

I grab the last box of ammo from the tools chest and drop it in the pile as Wren holds the corners of the blanket, getting ready to tie it up.

I pat Wren's shoulder, "I'm going to check on D, see if he needs help packing."

D's footsteps pound the metal staircase behind me, "I'm all done actually."

I turn around and see him walking over to the door with one large, stuffed, blanket over his shoulder and a smaller blanket wrapped over his hand beside his leg.

"Is that everything?" Wren grunts as she yanks the corners into a knot.

D sets the blankets down and the small one clanks a bit. "Yeah, I also grabbed both copies of Solace for Zephyr."

I nod and look at Wren as she struggles to pick up the weapons pile. I walk over and take it from her and swing the bag over my shoulder, "All right, let's go home."