Ash and steel

Chapter 5 Cold

Karl returned, he had been gone maybe fifteen minutes, in his hands where two plates of food.

Elizabeth wasn't sure if he got the food because he was hungry, or because he noticed she was, but that didn't matter, as soon as the smell hit her nose she was entranced, her hunger overwhelmed her and she could swear it called her name.

"Here" Heisenberg said, handing her a plate.

"Thank you" Elizabeth said back, taking the plate if food

"What is it?" She asked

"Theres a man here in the village who makes food, this ones called
Tochitura de Pui, its poultry, meat and something else, i cant remember" Heisenberg explained, and began to eat.

Elizabeth didn't much care at this point what she was eating she was so hungry, but she had to admit this was some of the best food she's ever had.

"its amazing" she said as she took another bite

Karl didn't answer, thinking he should just let her eat her food.

After they had both finished their food they set their plates aside and continued working quietly for another hour.

Elizabeth worked with concentration and care, mostly because she feared that if she messed up Heisenberg would scold her and for now things where calm but this was still a strange place and Heisenberg is a dangerous man.

"What is all of this for anyway?" She suddenly asked, having forgotten that she'd asked already before

"Stuff" Heisenberg replied without really paying attention.

"stuff...right.." she thought to herself.

"You don't need to know what these are for, just do what i tell you and we wont have problems" Karl replied and continued his work not paying Elizabeth any mind.

Elizabeth was frustrated with his vagueness mumbling to herself

"problems? We have problems im stuck here in this god-forsaken factory with you" she huffed, and reluctantly continued her work.

The next day it was the same.

And the day after that and the day after that, for another week Elizabeth helped Karl make the headsets.

She had gotten use to the work rhythm and was content with her place, for now anyway.

She was still concerned about Heisenberg's end goal with her and his vagueness about everything wasn't helpful but she didn't have many options.

It was the early afternoon and Karl had aggressively opened the door to Elizabeth's room

"what the hell are you still doing in here?!" He said an tore the covers from her sleeping body, Elizabeth woke up and shivered painfully, the cold felt like knives against her aching skin.

"what..? Oh what time is it?!" She said, hardly realizing Karl standing there.

She looked awful, pale and sickly and her voice was strained.

She got out of bed quickly and went to change her clothes.

Walking back in she tugged on her clothes, as they where sticking to her.

"Its a lot warmer today than usual isn't it?" She said.

"No, the hell is wrong with you?" Karl asked "huh? Nothing im just feeling warm is all i should open the window for a bit" Elizabeth went to open the window, Heisenberg shut it before she could latch it.

"Hey, what the hell" she protested,

Heisenberg took off one of his gloves and placed the back of his hand on her forehead.

He sighed with annoyance.

"you're running a fever, once again you've proven to be more of a liability than your worth, i should just kill you" he spat, with just a tinge of sarcasm in his voice.

Elizabeth slapped his hand away

"its not my fault i have a fever its not like i can control it besides you're the one who's kept me around here and insisted I help you so stick it" she said, her outburst surprised him, he sighed

"go back to bed, i don't want to see your dumbass till you're able to work again got it?!"

He said and left before she could answer.

He didn't really want to kill her, in fact she was decent company, they hardly spoke to one another but just her presence was an upgrade to being surrounded by corpses, and he still needed her, his little project hasn't failed yet, she showed promise, one because she hasn't died yet like the others and two because he's noticed here and there little things that show that his tests where working, but she cant know about it, not yet, not until he knows he can trust her, until she agrees to help him.

Elizabeth did as she was told and went back to bed, now that she thought about it she did feel sick.

Perhaps it was the stress and work, not to mention she wasn't used to this cold and she had the window open often for fresh air. She removed her clothes and huddled back into her now familiar bed, she grew to find a small bit of peace in her room, she wasn't safe here, Heisenberg could come in whenever he wanted but this was her designated space, she could cry here or pace or mutter about her situation and nobody could stop her, and this bed she was in, it was old and noisy but comfortable.

With her back to to door she curled her legs to her body and had some of the blanket between her thighs, she held onto one of the pillows, imagining that it was perhaps someone who would keep her safe while she slept.

Slowly she faded away into sleep once more, upset that she was sick but happy she could sleep a while longer.

Meanwhile Heisenberg sat at his table, working on his contraptions, glancing over where Elizabeth sat half expecting to see her there, reminding himself each time that she was sick, when he noticed she wasn't there, a thought crossed his mind.

Should he check on her? No! Shes an adult she can take care of herself even if she was sick, if she could survive lycans she can survive this without worry.

Heisenberg had no room in his plan to show affection whatever kind that may be, the task at hand was to important.

No margin for error he thought, and buried himself back into his work.

He could work on his other experiments, ones Elizabeth couldn't know about, she'd never agree to help him if she knew what the Soldaten really where..and that he'd mislead her into helping him make them, in a way she was still living a lie..and Heisenberg would hate being in such a situation himself, truth be told in her he found a kindred spirit, their pasts where similar..

He knows how she would react to this lie, and it would put a dent in his schedule.

[ word count 1160]
This was a pretty short chapter ik, it'll be a two parter but i wanted to have some kind of update since i didn't post last week so enjoy.