Free Trying to Survive (Part 3) by C.J. Crowley

sighed and dropped my shoulders. “I don’t even know where to begin… What do you say to a twelve year old girl who decided to blow an innocent man’s head off at point-blank-range?”
       “It’s just paranoia, right? Because of what happened?” He panned down to me with a hopeful look in his eyes. “She just needs some time, right?”
       I looked over at the car. The headlights made it so I couldn’t see her at all. “Should I go try and talk to her?”
       “I really think you should… Maybe that’s the problem?” He left the wall and turned to me. “All we’ve done is silently mourn their deaths and teach her how to shoot.”
       “She and Jenny spent a lot of time in that bedroom alone at night. I’m sure they had more than few conversations.”
       “Still.”
       “I’ll do my best…” I looked back after a few steps. “Why don’t you go check on Allen and Veronica? Maybe give them some details. They’re probably freakin out.”
       I slowly opened the other passenger door, ignored all the blood and sat down next to Clara. She still didn’t even glance over at me. Her only reaction was to tighten her grip on the rifle, as if she knew we were thinking about taking it away from her… Maybe Jenny already tried…
       I was about to speak but she beat me to it. “I’m sorry, James.” She said in a completely flat and sorrowful tone.
       “I understand why you did it Clara. I was scared of them too.”
       “My finger just squeezed… I’m… I’m not sure I even meant to… I don’t know.”
       “It doesn’t matter. And you don’t have to tell me you’re sorry. I know you are. We all do… You just have to make sure you never do anything like that again.”
       Still not having made eye contact with me, she said “I won’t.”
       “The man and woman sitting in that other car are brother and sister. Allen and Veronica are their names… And I give you my word that they’re nothing like Naya.”
       I reached over and placed my hand on hers. She slightly flinched. “I think you should give me your gun. Just until you’re feeling better.”
       I squeezed Clara’s hand for a moment and then transitioned over to the rifle. When I began to pull it away, she tightened her grip. “Please, don’t.”
       What felt like ten seconds went by before she finally let go. I was right on the brink of having to forcefully take it away. The amount of relief I felt for not having to be aggressive toward her was indescribable.
       “I know it makes you feel safe. I just want to hold onto it for tonight.”
       I knew I was going too easy on her… I just didn’t want to risk going too far...
     

Chapter 8
     
       When the sunlight began to fill the store, it wasn’t long before everyone else opened their eyes. I’d been awake for hours, having been lucky to sleep for twenty minutes here and there. As usual, my thoughts continuously chased away any chance for even a half-night of interrupted sleep.
       To ensure we didn’t draw any attention to ourselves, as soon as Jenny was done tending to Brian we brought everyone else inside and blocked off the gaping hole that used to be the front door with some shelving.
       We helped ourselves to some food, but decided not to scour the store until the sun was up… We’ve already learned the hard way that not seeing any shredders doesn’t mean they won’t just suddenly appear if we start making noise. It was also horrible for the car batteries to leave them sitting with the lights on.
       Brian seemed to be in good spirits, but was clearly in a lot of pain as well. Jenny gave him as much Tylenol as she could without hurting him to help ease his suffering. It probably didn’t do much, though I’m sure he appreciated having something instead of absolutely nothing.
       The store was almost pitch black. We were only able to find a few small patches that were illuminated by the moonlight. Allen and