Chapter 84: Useless
The room fell silent at her words. Only for a few moments, though, before Brandon broke it with a snort.
"Now sh-"
Ryan, Chloe, and Mia shut him up with a look. Miles, on the other hand, just stared at Sarah.
She looked worse for wear. Her flowing auburn hair had been frazzled and matted into what he could only describe as a really long bird’s nest. The shirt she’d been wearing previously was gone, or perhaps not; it could’ve been beneath the gym jacket she now wore.
The girl curled into herself in her usual sulking spot by the wall, tightening a thermal blanket around her and staring at him with brown, tortured eyes.
Miles glanced at the can of food in his hand, then back to the girl looking at him, before scratching his head, unsure of how exactly to respond to her.
Still, he couldn’t keep her waiting.
"It’s... fine. It wouldn’t have been nice to lose another person out there."
"Says the guy that jumped on a monster with nothing but a knife."
Chloe couldn’t help but chide him, rubbing her forehead in frustration. Miles wisely chose to ignore that, doing the reasonable thing instead: avoiding eye contact.
’She’s not going to let me live this down, is she?’
His eyes wandered back to Sarah, finding the girl nodding shakily as she muttered.
"Thank you. Thank you, Miles. I’m sorr-"
Miles interjected.
"It’s fi-"
But she overrode him, her voice cracking.
"No... it’s not. It’s not fine. After everything.... everything I did. I still managed to cause issues for the group. I still managed to drag you down. I’m so sorry."
Streaks of tears rolled down her face. Miles made no visible reaction to it. Brandon only scowled, Mia narrowed her eyes a bit, while concern grew on Chloe and Ryan’s faces.
Still, no one interrupted her, letting her continue her shaky spiel.
"I don’t want to be a burden to you or grow anymore useless than I already have. I’ll be good. I-I’ll try my hardest next time, so please, please don’t leave me."
Ryan finally spoke, his lips curled in a frown.
"We aren’t going to leave you behind, Sarah."
Brandon cleared his throat, an act that was immediately rewarded with a light smack to the back of his head from Mia. Ignoring the glare the boy was now sending her, Mia added grimly.
"As long as you don’t go pulling those stunts of yours."
Sarah’s face darkened a bit, but she quickly nodded, blinking back her flowing tears.
"O-of course. I wouldn’t dare it. Thank you. Thank you so much."
Mia rolled her eyes slightly at her excessiveness before sighing and pointing to the opened can near her.
"That’s enough from you. Now, you better start eating your food before Brandon eats it for you."
The girl nodded once again, picking up her can, and finally fell silent as she slowly began digging into it.
With Sarah quiet, a heavy silence settled in the room, her interruption having derailed whatever mood they’d been in before.
It wasn’t complete silence, of course; the storm raging outside still lingered in the background, however muffled it had become through the layers of walls surrounding them.
There was also a periodic snore, one he traced back to Grimm. The boy lay splayed on his thermal blanket, using his backpack as a pillow with his gun, as always, close at hand.
Not that Miles minded any of it, though; he was halfway through his can already, and the relative peace finally let him focus.
Ryan didn’t let it last.
"What’s with the dull faces, guys? Come on, we’ve got beans, we’ve got milk, and we’ve got this warmish room. I’d say it’s a pretty stacked sleepover. Let me see some smiles at least."
Mia let out an exasperated sigh, tinged with horror.
"Oh my God. You’re copying Miguel’s humor now. Ryan, you can still stop this before it’s too late."
The boy looked lightly offended.
"What do you mean? Your brother has a wonderful sense of humor."
"It’s a plague, Ryan. You are acting like you weren’t there when he dragged us all to his so-called stand-up comedy audition. Casey couldn’t- Casey-"
Her voice broke mid-sentence, choked by a name heavy enough to completely crack her lighthearted facade.
Ryan noticed the change immediately. His smile shook too at the mention of that name, but he forced it back quickly enough to start a pivot.
"Seriously, though. We should be celebrating, even. I mean we did it, we went outside, we killed those ghouls that seemed so impossible before. We even took down that... that..."
"Bifurcated Ghoul."
Chloe completed the sentence for him, receiving a surprised glance from Miles. She shrugged slightly in response.
"I used [Inspection] on it."
’Right. She has that.’
It kept slipping his mind. Ryan continued.
"Thank you. We did all that, and not a single person died. For the very first time in every outing we’ve done so far, we didn’t lose anyone and yet we accomplished so much. I’d take that as a win."
"We didn’t even reach the front gates."
Miles raised a brow. But the boy just shrugged in response.
"So? We’re alive, right? We can always try again tomorrow as long as we are alive. If anything, I take this as proof that we can reach it."
"Hear that, Miles? So don’t go taking such crazy risks on your own. We don’t have infinite supplies to treat you."
Mia sighed, giving him a final once-over before nodding in satisfaction at her work. She snatched the now-empty can from his hands and stood up, pointing to the ground.
"Alright, back on the floor now. It’ll help with your bruises."
Miles found himself doubting the efficacy of her method, but lay back down with a shrug.
’Doctor knows best, I guess. At least [Cold Resistance] will make sure I don’t freeze to death.’
He had to count the little blessings at least.
---
A/N: Messesd up the Chapter order again , just fixed it, luckily it was caught early this time.