Wasteland // Kim Seungmin

4 - You Cannot Be Serious

"Want to what?"

He looked at me like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Pair up?"

I looked at the boy like he sprouted another head, and scoffed. "Good one."

"Why not? Better than alone."

Unreal. I spluttered, "Y-you killed my partner! My Felix!" I felt tears in my eyes for the second time today, and this time I let them spill over.

The boy rolled his eyes, "Yeah, and he killed my partner. So you and I should pair up."

I stared at him incredulously. He was really serious about this. I couldn't even muster a response, I just stared at him.

He crossed his arms, now looking at me with a sort of bewildered concern. "Have you never done this before? Was he your original or something?"

Ahhh, right, he doesn't realize that we were in the depot because it was our first time in there. I cleared my thoat, and tried to be aloof, not offer too much info. I am not sure what it would mean if he realized it was my first day. "Yeah, he was."

"Damn." He said. "How long?"

"The whole time." I answered vaguely. But that answer seemed to arise some suspicion. His eyes narrowed ever so slightly.

"When is your return?"

"Why?"

"If we're pairing up, I am going to find out." Before I could respond, he stepped forward and seized my arm, yanking me so I crashed into his chest. He grabbed the bottom of the back of my shirt and pulled it over my head. Without thinking, I pushed against him and stumbled a few steps, with his hand still twisted in my shirt. So now I was away, but my shirt was still dangling in his hand.

Fucking great, now I'm topless.

"Please give that back," I said holding my hand out and feeling the blush rising to my cheeks.

He seemed unphased by my predicament, his wide eyes on mine rather than on my bra. "I can't even read it, it's still fucking bleeding. Did you just get here today?"

I marched up to him and snatched my shirt from his hand, pulling it back over myself. "Yes." I answered defiantly.

The boy laughed again, this time much heartier. "That has to be a new record. For your partner to get killed, I mean. Poor bastard didn't even get out of the fucking depot."

"Thanks to you! What were you even doing in there?" I demanded.

"Getting supplies, obviously. We were in the neighborhood and saw you guys through the window, and they keep the door unlocked until the leader who takes you to your sites gets back, so we thought we'd freshen up on things. Didn't work obviously, we didn't count on running into new releases. I just assumed you were in there doing the same thing as us. And then, when we thought you were alone..."

"You could have just fucking left me alone."

"No way, that's why Meredith attacked you. I bet anything she thought you'd be after me. If your partner had let us know he was there, they'd both be alive."

"Why would I be after you?"

"To pair up."

"Why?"

"Meredith has had to kill more than a few girls who were trying to pair up with me."

I tried to think of a way not to come off rude, and then decided who cared if it was rude. So I asked again, "Why?"

He chuckled. "You haven't even asked me my date. I should have known you're new."