Dead Ones

Chapter 8: Family

I opened my eyes to a new day. My chest still stung with pain, but the wound had clotted and begun to heal. It slightly felt itchy, which was annoying. There was a knock at the door. I expected Sophie to walk in, but instead doctor Charles walked in. He carried sterile dressings. "You should cover that to prevent infection," he said, gesturing towards my chest holding the dressings. "No, I'm alright. I'm going to let it breathe and heal. Besides, putting dressings on it is great and all, but when you change the dressings it undoes all of the healing that occurred during the day," I said. "Very true," he said. "Just keep it clean," he added. "Will do," I said. He left my room, leaving the door ajar. Sophie walked in shortly after. "Good morning," she said sweetly. "How are you feeling?" she asked. "Terrible," I said bleakly. "Would some coffee cheer you up?" she asked. "Not today, but I could use a cigarette," I said. "Oh. Cyrus doesn't really like people smoking within the walls," she said. "Cyrus is going to have to suck it up and deal with it because now I'm an official member of this damn place and I'm having my damn smoke," I said. I felt bad for using a tone with her. "I'm sorry," I said. "For what?" she asked. "I shouldn't have talked to you like that," I said. "It's okay, don't worry about it. Let me know if you need anything else, okay?" she said. "Yeah, I will, thank you," I said. She smiled and left the room. I still felt bad. She was such a sweet girl, and I was a bit of an ass sometimes. I cleared my head. I got up and walked into the bathroom. I should probably shower, but I was still relatively clean from last night's shower. I skipped the shower for that day and went down for breakfast. Breakfast was toast and oatmeal, and instead of coffee, I requested fresh orange juice. "Today, I'm going to introduce you to our currency here," Cyrus told me. "We use the usual american dollar, but doubled the value, since our supply of it is slim," he said. "So, for example, this one dollar bill," he said, holding it  up, "Is worth two dollars here, and the value of everything has been lowered, so a loaf of bread is a dollar fifty," he finished. He handed me a stack of fifty- one dollar bills. "Every day the scavengers and community workers get paid ten dollars. This covers the expense of food, plus you get to keep some for savings," he said. "I've made an economy better than the one we had when the world was still spinning! How about that?" he said, proud of himself. "With the fifty I've given you, you can go around the community and visit shops. You know, stimulate the economy a bit," he said with a smile and a wink. "Why are you paying me so much?" I asked. "Forty dollars for the job I had you do, ten for your daily wage from yesterday's scouting," he said. I nodded. I knew what I was doing right away. I finished my food and stood from the table. I left the hall and went up to my room. I put on a shirt, which didn't feel too pleasant but wasn't unbearable. I strapped on my gear and weapons. I also grabbed my old skull gator. I wanted to give it to John. A small token of appreciation for not breaking my nose at my introduction ceremony. I dashed down the stairs and out the door, not forgetting to give my daily gesture of appreciation to Cyrus's goons. I'm decently sure you can figure out what that gesture is by now, you know me well enough. Anyway, I was headed to John and David's forge. As I expected, John was hard at work when I arrived. "Whatcha makin'?" I asked. "Don't know yet, right now it's a piece of metal," he said. "What brings you here this early?" he asked. "Eh, I wanted to give you a little something, a small thank you for not breaking my beautiful face," I said sarcastically. "Would you like me to change that?" he said. "No, I'm good. Here," I said, handing him the gator. He smiled. "You're giving me this old thing?" he asked. "I figured you deserved it, since I have a better one now," I said. He took it and slipped it over his head and around his neck. He pulled it up over his mouth and nose. "How do I look?" he asked. "Like me before my balls dropped," I said. We laughed. "I'm gonna need you to be there for the group. They don't favor me right now, and I won't be around forever," I told him. "I'm gonna need you to take care of them if I don't make it," I said. "Don't say that," he said. "No, I'm serious. Especially with these jobs Cyrus has me doing, I want you to be the head of the group if I don't make it," I said seriously. "Alright," he said. "I'll never be you, but I can do my best," he said. "Thank you, for everything John," I said. "Don't mention it. And don't talk like that. You're alive for now, so live like it," he said. He was right. I bid him farewell. I knew where I wanted to go next. The tattoo artist...