renegades [teenage mercenary]

012

Rei had been doing a workout that afternoon after the vaccinations when her left shoulder started having pains. It wasn't like it kept her from completing the workout or anything—she'd need to be shot multiple times and unable to move to keep her from exercising—but it was still annoying nevertheless.

At least she was free from the wrath of the cat, who had now felt comfort in the covers of the bed and had been sleeping for the past hour and a half.

With a sigh, Rei shook out her hands and took a swig of her water bottle, letting it softly crinkle between her fingers as she finished off the last few drops.

She took a seat on one of the chairs of the table, which looked out of place in the room, but she didn't mind. She assumed it had to do with Major Kang putting it there so she could have privacy and be comfortable eating food, for which she was very thankful for a multitude of reasons.

Her hand subconsciously reached for her neck as she rubbed that phantom pain she had felt while getting those injections. She ran the scene over and over in her mind no matter how hard she tried to forget about it.

She cringed, thinking of that breath down the side of her face. She had felt uncomfortable many times back at the camp being a part of the few women out of the very male-dominated Camp. And well, it caused many forced, unpleasant situations—but for whatever reason, this came out on top.

It felt as if she was there in that situation at one point. The problem was that she couldn't remember. It could have been a dream, some sort of random vision, or simply just something her fears had created. What were the possibilities of it being something she experienced? A flashback of sorts?

A movement to her left caused her to jerk out of her thoughts, eyes taking in the animal stretching its back, letting out a yawn that revealed its large canines. Rei cocked an eyebrow, realizing that she needed to clean the cat. Because now she needed to find a way to clean her bedsheets.

She hadn't ever had a bed or a room to take care of before, and she had to admit that it was more frustrating to deal with than she thought. It wasn't like she had many possessions to be aware of, but it didn't change the fact that the room seemed to get dirty so fast; however, it also had more to do with her commonly tracking in mud, blood, and sweat than anything.

Rei stood up, pushing the chair back to find her way to the cat. She stopped at the base of the bed, puckering her lips as she thought of the correct way to go about this. But wasn't there only one? ...Take the cat to the shower. Wash the cat. Dry the cat.

Simple enough.

Using her good arm, she picked up Opium by the scruff (which she kept forgetting she had given that name to the cat), who immediately started retaliating against her grasp, clawing at her arm. She found it much easier and practical to hold the cat by the scruff versus trying to grab it around the stomach.

She left the room and entered the silent hallway since most of the men were in barracks on the floor below. It didn't make sense that she wasn't with them, that she was given her own room, but she assumed it had something to do with Ijin saying most Korean facilities did not do things coed. So it was what it was.

She entered the women's bathrooms, finding the cabinet holding clean towels. She pulled it open, grabbed a towel, then closed the cabinet with her weight as she didn't have any free hands. The cat was starting to fall out of her grip as its fur was slightly slickened with oil and she rushed to the nearest stall.

A problem came to her upon realizing she was in a stall. The stall only had three walls. Fortunately, all three touched the ground—but the fourth wall was nonexistent, only a flimsy covering used for privacy—which meant that the cat could very easily escape since the curtain wasn't exactly a wall.