Survival or Struggle?

After taking the long way back to the complex to avoid a very large horde, they made it safely back. CC handed the supplies to Andy, who had been waiting for them. He looked a bit concerned, but CC just shrugged and went inside. Andy rose a brow at Ashley as CC left. Ashley shrugged himself, telling Andy he would tell him and the others later. He just wanted to sit down for a bit. Andy nodded, not saying anything and handed off the supplies to Jinxx. Jake was apparently inside somewhere, though Ashley never asked where. He made his way in the same direction as CC and went inside the apartment complex. The outside of the place was fine, it was the inside that poised a continuing problem. It looked like a tornado had ran through it multiple times.

Though, Ashley did suspect it was because of all the people and not because no one cared. He found a bathroom and washed off the dirt and blood from his face and body. No wonder Andy looked so concerned. After washing up as best as he could, he looked at himself a little closer. The wounds he had were all healed and all but one still hurt. The stab to the hip still throbbed, but he figured it would take just a little bit longer to heal. Ashley nodded, satisfied and walked out of the bathroom, only to come face to face with Jake. Ashley gave him a hug, which Jake returned. His hands seemed to be healing up nicely, seeing as Jake was gripping Ashley tighter than he should be.

"So, what's been going on while we've been gone?" Ashley asked. Jake sighed, which made Ashley frown.

"What? What is it?" Ashley asked him. Jake said nothing and entered the bathroom, Ashley following. After a few short seconds of silence, Jake spoke.

"Someone's been taking our supplies." Jake said shortly.

"What?!" Ashley asked incredulously. Jake nodded, sloshing some cool water in his face.

"I've been keeping track of everything. Writing everything down. It was little things at first." Jake said.

"We've only been gone for a day! Hell, not even that!" Ashley said.

"It's seemed to have gone on far longer than that. Weeks maybe. Again, it was little things at first. Now bigger things like water, food, gas for the generators; they're all going missing." Jake said, sounding frustrated.

"And Andy...man, when he heard that things were going missing, he upped the security as much as he could. But the person still seems to be slipping past us." Jake said, wiping off his face and facing Ashley.

"What are we going to do?" Ashley asked. Jake shrugged.

"I'm not sure man. We need a plan though. We can't lose any more supplies." Jake said, in an almost pleading tone. The man sounded almost desperate. And Ashley couldn't really blame him.

"I'll find CC and see if he'll be up for doing more patrols." Ashley suggested.

Jake nodded, "Seems like all we keep doing is upping security. Maybe putting down traps would work too?" He asked Ashley.

"Are you kidding? CC practically is a trap. What with everything going on with him lately." Ashley said, causing Jake to chuckle a little.

"Yeah, I suppose you're right." Jake said, finally smiling. They walked out of the bathroom together and stopped before the hallway split.

"I'm going to see if I can find CC. And then talk to the others. They'll be happy to see me." Ashley said. Jake nodded in agreement.

"I'm guarding our stock room. So I'll be there if any of the guys need me. And give Andy this if you're going to be passing his area again." Jake said, handing Ashley a slip of paper.

"It's everything we've lost so far. He won't be happy, but I'm keeping tabs on it." Jake said.

Ashley nodded and gave one last hug to Jake before going to find CC. CC was hard to find, seeing as he could practically be anywhere in this huge place. He asked a few of the other survivors if they have seen him. None had, until he asked one final time and the survivor told him to go up to the roof. The roof was flat and had a door to be able to access it. Apparently CC went up there to be alone and to get some air if something bothered him. Ashley nodded and winced inwardly. The elevators didn't work, so he had to go up all the flights of stairs(he stopped counting after about 12 flights), and finally reached the roof door. He opened it, a bit out of breath. But he saw CC almost instantly. So he figured he wouldn't complain too much.

"You are a hard man to find in this place." Ashley said, walking towards his friend. CC said nothing, just stared out at the sky, wind whipping through his hair.

"Hey man, you okay?" Ashley asked. After a moment, CC shook his head. After yet another moment of silence, CC spoke.

"You nearly died." CC uttered. He had said it so softly that Ashley was surprised he even caught it.

"But I didn't die, you saved me." Ashley said stopping a few feet from CC to give him some space.

"But what if I hadn't gotten there in time. What if he decided to use the gun while I was still healing and couldn't move? What if he decided to use the knife and kill you with that instead?" CC asked, getting frantic with each question.

Ashley knew that he wasn't supposed to answer these questions. It was more of CC venting more than anything. CC continued on his rant.

"What if I took just seconds too long and he pulled the trigger instead? You can't just stand there, saying you're okay when I'm the one who had to almost watch you die. How can you be so calm?" CC snapped at him, spinning around to face him. Ashley took a few steps back, surprised by how snappish CC became.

"I guess it hasn't hit me yet?" Ashley said, it coming out more like a question than anything.

CC just shook his head and turned back around, facing the property. He was obviously done with this conversation. Ashley nodded, suddenly feeling ashamed. He muttered to CC about being okay to do more patrols and to just come down and go to Andy before he left. He walked back down those stairs, angrily stomping down them. Why had CC snapped at him like that? It wasn't like Ashley was bottling everything up. He really seemed to be okay right now. But that might change in a few hours. He went to go find Jinxx and Jinxx hugged him a lot longer than Jake had. Apparently he had scared the man, because he had seen him walking in with all the blood on him.

Ashley must not have seen him in the crowd of people. Jinxx could tell something was bothering Ashley. So Ashley told Jinxx basically everything that happened on the roof with CC. To say Jinxx was disappointed was an understatement.

"He should know shock comes in many different forms and at different times. It's different for each person. Maybe he'll calm down and apologize. But just steer clear of him for now." Jinxx uttered.

That wasn't hard for Ashley to do and for the next few days, that was all he did. CC seemed to be on the same page. It was a routine, a chaotic yet peaceful, routine. That peace was shattered the next day. It was something so simple, yet it paved the way to let everyone know that Ashley wasn't okay. The morning for Ashley started off as it always did. Get up, brush his hair, take a short shower, go find Jake, give an updated list to Andy and make sure to try and get the place cleaned up. He was fixing up the outside of the house, picking up all the bullet casing and the like. One of the survivors was cleaning out a gun. Something so simple, and yet, it set Ashley off. One second it was peaceful and quiet, the next minute, a sound of a gunshot filled the air.

Ashley flinched, his hands going to his ears. Then, just as suddenly, he was back in the fight with Draven. Everything had felt so real, so painful. And the gunshot at the end of it all, he thought he had been shot. He hadn't realized he had been screaming until someone tried shaking him. His hand whipped out and shoved the person away, hands gripping his hair. Eyes clenched shut, his now clenched teeth muffling the noises he made. Suddenly, someone pulled his hand away, it was firm but gentle. His hand was placed on someone's chest. They were breathing weird, but something him to just follow the breathing. After a few short moments of that, Ashley came back to himself. He opened his eyes and looked up to be face-to-face with CC, whom had been avoiding him up until this point(and to be fair, Ashley was avoiding CC as well).

CC looked downright ashamed, but Ashley didn't want pity, shame, or sympathy. He needed to be alone. He wrenched his hand away from CC's chest and stepped back a few paces. CC tried to follow but Ashley kept putting distance between them so he stopped.

"I-I--" Ashley tried to speak but ended up just shaking his head and running away to hide until he was himself again.

"Ashley!" CC called to him, but Ashley obviously pretended not to hear him and slipped into the apartment complex for somewhere to hide.

CC turned to Andy, Jinxx, Jake(who had found his way out of the storeroom when he heard Ashley screaming, and a few others who had concerned looks on their faces. Andy managed to disperse them and walked to CC.

"Just give him time." Jinxx said. "You'll only make things worse." Jinxx added softly.

"If he wants to be found, he'll let you find him." Andy added, nodding.

"Give it a day or two." Jake added gently.

CC was going to heed all of this advice. And then find his best friend, his brother in all but blood, and fix this. He needed to fix this.

Notes