Guilt (A Zero Spin-Off)

Ten - Kyle

Well, holy fuck. Winston Harris wasn't someone I ever expected to see again. The asshole had been like a brother to me overseas, saving my ass more times than I could hope to keep count of. I knew that Miles called him up back when he called all of us, to get us up to Hudson. Winston didn't make it and honestly, we knew there was a chance he was dead. But there was just as good a chance that he just didn't want to fucking be there.

Which it seems was the case, since he was standing in front of me.

I didn't give two shits that he hadn't spoken to any of us in two, hell, closer to three years. We all handled FUBAR in different ways, I never judged him for distancing himself. That's what he needed to do. And hell, the end of the damn world as we knew it seemed to agree with him. He seemed happy. Winston was a generally happy guy, always the optimistic one, but the last time I'd seen him, he'd been different. Not happy. Not the way he is now.

And it was damn good to see a familiar face in this middle of all of this.

"This is super heartwarming, but we should probably get out of here," Winston's girl deadpanned. She called herself Zero, which was... interesting. I lifted my eyebrow in question and Winston subtly shook his head. Later. I shrugged because she was prickly little thing and I was pretty sure we were already on her shit list. Speaking of shit lists, I was also sure I was back on Ella's. I could feel the daggers she was staring into my back. Something told me she wasn't thrilled with me at the moment.

"We're about a mile out," he explained. "Probably best if we take the roof. Gotta jump a couple gaps, but it'll get us to the end of the street fire escape without running into the creeps." Winston paused in his thought and looked over at Ella. His face twisted as his eyes looked her up and down. I knew what he saw, it was the same thing we all did. Ella's hair had been pulled into a tight pony tail this morning but after the excitement and the running and just the day, the band holding her hair was loose and strands were hanging out around her face. She was tall and thin, and the bag she wore on her back looked awkward and was obviously too large for her. Her shoulders were slumped and she leaned forward to help support the weight of the bag. Her skin was still flush from all the adrenaline and she was chewing on her bottom lip, watching us with angry eyes that did little to cover up how scared she was. I knew there was more to her than that.

"I mean... if she's up for it?"

Shit. I didn't think Ella was up for much of anything, least of all skipping across the roof with people I could tell she didn't even want to try to give a chance to. One of them had pointed a gun at her, I couldn't really blame the bitterness. Maybe she would let it go, forgive and forget. I turned to face where she was standing awkwardly, avoiding eye contact with Zero. She was already exhausted from the long day and the end of an adrenaline rush probably wasn't helping. Looking back at Winston, I ran a hand through my hair.

"If she can't, it's cool. Z can draw some of the creeps away and we can take the road. Hell, she's probably jonesing for a near-death experience by now," he said rolling his eyes, but he was more amused than annoyed or scared. There wasn't a hint of the darkness in his eyes that I'd last seen. Almost three years was a long time, but I don't know, I expected we'd get a call when he was up to it. "It's been what?" he asked louder to catch Zero's attention, "Nine... ten days since you last tried to get yourself killed?"

She narrowed her eyes on him and though she didn't smile, her lips twitched. "What you're thinking of was seven days ago, but I'd hardly call it trying to get myself killed."

He smirked and then looked back at me. "She spotted a group while she on night watch and decided to kill all four by herself in the middle of the night instead of waking something."