Chef in the Apocalypse

Jayce gazed upon the big man who had yet to even notice his presence and let out a deep sigh. Colin was even worse than him when it came to bottling up negative emotions and placing the burden upon his own shoulders.

Perhaps this was the reason why he got along so well with him. Or perhaps they were both just big dumb idiots who were too proud to reach out for help when they really needed it.

He looked around only to find Jackie who was not far away, making sure that her man did not overexert himself. She looked a few parts worried and the rest annoyed.

Jayce held back a chuckle as he had seen the same expression on Lianna’s face not even a few minutes ago.

’We really have some good women by our side.’ He mused inwardly.

As if sensing his presence, Jackie turned in his direction. Her face lit up for a moment before she wordlessly pointed at Colin, as if gesturing to take care of the big problem child.

Then, she dusted her hands and walked off confidently. As if what came next was no longer any of her concern.

Jayce just stared at her retreating figure incredulously for a few moments, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. He didn’t know if he should be thankful that she trusted him so much, or be concerned that she couldn’t be bothered to stick around.

To be fair though, Jackie was emotionally intelligent enough to know that there were issues that men could only talk about alone with other men. Her leaving was giving Colin and Jayce the space to talk things over and get to the root of the issue.

Inwardly he was thankful for her tact, but she certainly could have gone about it differently. His gaze moved over to the big dude and began to think of how to approach the situation.

Colin was still working up a sweat, moving the smaller bricks into the wheelbarrows, focusing his attention on manual labor to keep his mind occupied.

"Colin. Come over here for a bit, we need to chat." Jayce said, waving for him to come a little closer.

However, he continued to work. It was as if the big man had not heard him, as he was too engrossed in his menial labor. Yet in the next moment he received a response that caused him to question his ears.

"I’m good." The deep voice was curt, cutting right into Jayce’s pride.

He could only stare blankly as Colin continued his work, acting as if he did not exist. A wave of anger and irritation rushed through him, barely held back by his waning patience.

Jayce managed to calm himself down after a moment, taking a deep breath. He knew that Colin was likely not intending to be rude, so he decided not to take it to heart.

"Colin... The bricks will still be here after our chat."

Yet there was no response.

This time, Jayce’s anger boiled to the surface in light of the blatant disrespect being thrown his way.

"If you don’t get your gigantic baby looking ass over here in the next 5 seconds, I’ll kick your ass and drag you here myself."

The words were filled with a blatant threat, causing those in the surroundings to instantly stop what they were doing and stare in his direction. They had no doubt that this man would do as he said.

Jayce didn’t care though, he was too busy staring at Colin’s figure which had also suddenly stopped what it was doing. He stood up tall and turned to Jayce’s direction and looked directly at him for the first time.

His eyes burned with anger as he stared daggers at Jayce.

"I’d like to see you try." Colin said, standing in place and beckoning him to put his money where his mouth was.

Just like that, they were no longer Leader and Vice-Leader. There were no titles nor hierarchy between the two right now, they were both men who had their own pride and ideals.

This was the first time that the two had faced each other like this. Ever since the beginning of all this, they had been working towards a single goal; Survival.

Colin had happily gone along with the status quo, thriving off Jayce’s poise and leadership in such an unfamiliar landscape. As long as he felt that his leader was doing a good enough job, he was fine to play his role, even relishing in his position.

However, since the attack last night, his reverse scale had been touched. They were meant to be striving for survival, but his leader had let in a bunch of wolves into their den and they paid a terrible price.

Not only that, this man had the gall to sleep soundly in his bed while the city was in shambles and Leah had been captured. No matter how he rationalized it in his mind, it did not add up. His original opinion of Jayce had plummeted, now losing his faith in his leader.

The only thing he could do to stop himself from storming into the man’s room and giving him a piece of his mind was to do manual labor. He was hoping that he would calm down, yet fate seemed to have other ideas.

Now that man who he had misplaced his trust in, dared to confront him in the open, calling him a big baby? Colin seethed with anger and righteous indignation.

Due to him passing out early last night due to injury, he was missing from the meeting within the main building. Perhaps he would have thought differently, or had an easier time accepting the actions of the man in front of him.

After all, Jayce had lowered his head in front of everyone, taking the responsibility like a true man should. Yet this made no difference now.

His pride was on the line, and men have started wars for less.

Jayce saw Colin square up, not backing down an inch at his provocation and clenched his fists tightly, cursing the big stubborn mule in front of him.

"I’ll beat some sense into you." He said before dashing forward with lightning speed.