DECEPTION • STEVE ROGERS

arms of a stranger

𖣂 CHAPTER TWO 𖣂
"arms of a stranger"

They both sat on opposite sides of the room. The girl, leaning against the couch whilst sat on the floor, clutching her blood covered leg, and Steve, leaning against the wall at the other side.

They were still on edge. Waiting for the other to pounce. Steve couldn't trust her, her hand was still hovering over her gun holster, ready to bring it back out and pull the trigger at any given time. She might still be bluffing and has been sent by the UN or the government. He needed longer to work her out.

"What did you do to your leg?" He asked, gesturing to the blood seeping through her suit.

"I cut it, genius."

"I can see that," He said with an eye roll, "I meant how."

"I tripped. The people in this town treat this forest like a garbage dump, so my leg caught on barbed wire and fucked it up."

"You tripped?"

She glared at him.

"Yeah, asshole. I tripped."

Steve scoffed, shaking his head.

"Alright. Forget I asked. Just thought you might want a hand with it or somethin,' seeing as how messed up it looks."

"I'm fine."

Now that they were both still, and not beating the crap out of each other, Steve got a better look at this mystery girl.

She looked rough, to say the least.

She had a slim, but tall build. She was around 5'8 from what he could tell. Her tactical suit had patches of dirt and several rips down the legs. She sort of looked like she had been to the deep depths of hell and back. Her hair looked like it had been tied back in a bun of sorts behind her head at one point, but now her wavy brown hair had escaped the elastic holding it there, and was falling down her back and over her shoulder.

She had striking brown eyes. He'd noticed that as soon as he'd first made contact with them when he came through the door earlier. It was by far her most prominent feature.

"You're staring at me." She said suddenly, snapping Steve out of his thoughts.

"Just trying to figure you out, that's all."

"There's nothing to figure out." She replied, "We just gotta get through the worst of the winter and then we're out of here, yeah?"

She moved slightly, and Steve heard her hiss with the pain of her leg. He couldn't see the injury underneath her clothing, but the fabric was completely blood stained, so he assumed it was fairly bad.

"You should probably clean that." Steve said.

She glared at him, followed by an eye roll, "Do I look like the kind of person who has a first aid kit in their back pocket?"

"Thought you might've surprised me."

"Unfortunately not."

"Let me help." Steve said, standing up off of the floor.

Sitting in the corner of the room was a bucket of water. He'd found the pail when he'd first found the cabin, and of course there was no running water here, so he went down to the nearby river just down a little from the cabin, cleaned out the dirty bucket and filled it with clean, safe drinking water. And now it would come in handy to help clean the girls injuries.