Chaos in existence 6: The past month.

They were all sitting in a group, the old members giving aid to the 3 new members.

“So what’s your name?” Dana asks.

“Helena.” The British woman says.

“I’m Gabriel, this is my son Shay.” The man says in a careless voice.

“So, how’d you survive the past month?”

“None of your damn business.” The man barks towards Carmen, grabbing his son and heading inside one of the rooms that have been cleared as ‘sleeping rules.’

“Not a friendly one huh?” Mark asked.

“Tell me about it…” Helena says.

Shane stood up from her chair and walked to Helena, “its okay, no one has to speak about their experience until later on. Let’s get some rest; we’ll have a talk when we get up.”

Dana heads off to her ‘sleep room’, Mark and Tim go on to do their guarding, while Shane and Carmen enter their room. In the first week of their stay in the mall, Carmen had slept in the room next to Shane’s. But, when Shane had failed to save a man, she heard Shane cry herself to sleep. She saw Shane put this tough exterior in front of the rest of the gang, never showing her true emotions. Carmen heard those silent sobs, and one day, she decided to get up and head towards Shane. She silently opened the door, peeking inside. There she found Shane, tossing and turning, tears streaming down her thin pale face. Carmen went over to the bed Shane was lying in; she gently climbed on it, laying her body next to the lanky girl. Carmen soothingly wipes the hair that’s matted against Shane’s forehead. Shane’s eyes snap open, and Carmen’s body shivers at the fear there is behind those eyes. She gently rocks the skinny woman, who sobs uncontrollably. And from then on Carmen and Shane have shared their nights sleeping together, the nightmares still come, but Carmen always fades them away, and today, is no different.

The following day, Shane and Carmen are woken up by Tim. “Get up girls, we have a problem.”