Into Oblivion

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

 

“Morning Castor, you’re late. I was starting to wonder whether the cleavers had got yo-” Faith stopped in her tracks as she noticed the young girl entering the shop behind her faithful employee. The girl couldn’t be any older then 20. Her long dark hair was tied up messily; her youthful face was full of grime and blood. At first Faith had assumed this was a new girlfriend of Castor’s but from her extreme ragged state Faith knew this girl wasn’t from Oceanus. Even though the city was an eyesore as were many of the ill and homeless on the street, Faith had never seen anyone in as bad of a condition as the girl.

“Who’s your friend Castor?” Faith smiled, as the shop door closed behind both newcomers.

“Faith, this is...” Castor turned to the girl, realising she was a complete stranger to him.

“Hope.” She replied to both of them with a confident nod of her head.

“Hope,” Faith repeated with an enthusiastic smile, “Such a beautiful name.”

 Castor walked between them and laid a cloth bag on the counter, and then he turned to Faith and spoke softly and quietly, leaning on the counter close to her. “I found Hope out in the Wasteland. By the looks of it she had eaten Prairie leaves. I was lucky to get to her in time before the toxins reached to her brain. But she also looks like she’s had a commotion with some Cleavers.” Castor turned around to look at Hope, who was stood with her arms crossed listening to their conversation. “I got most of the bullet and shrapnel out of her,” He said mostly to Hope, giving her a quick glance up and down before turning back to Faith, “But I’m going to need to give her some more painkillers soon, and that leg might need re-bandaging and I think you should take a look at her wrist and the cut on the back of her skull. I tried my best at stitches but you know how I am with needles...” He trailed of and turned back to Hope. “You’ve had a bit of rough and tumble, I’m surprised you’re out of bed.” With that, he headed out in to the back room, taking his bag with him.

Faith beckoned Hope to sit on a chair by the wall and began to examine Hope’s injuries. She had careful, knowledgeable hands that, un-like the doctors Hope knew 4 years ago, were very warm at the touch.

After a few minutes of silence Faith spoke as she began wrapping a fresh bandage around Hope’s upper thigh. “The thing about Castor is he’s a very protective type of guy. Looking at him you’d think he’d be one of the guards because of his build, but he cares about people even if his tone of voice doesn’t show it.” Hope didn’t reply, she didn’t know what to say. She had noticed Castor’s curt tone but hadn’t thought much of it. People tend to get a little short-tempered after an apocalypse. Luckily Faith spoke again so Hope didn’t need to reply. “He’d risk his life if it meant saving everyone in this goddamn city.”

Faith finished with Hope and stood back up, her old bones creaking as she did so. Another creak came in the form of the shop door. The worried Mother was back with her son, who was looking a lot thinner and weaker since the day before. There was a look of horror and anxiety on her face as she reached the counter. Castor came hurtling out of the back room, a pestle and chipped mortar in his hands.

“You’re going to need to feed him a spoon full of this five times a day. It should help his throat, cough and bring back his appetite.” He said quickly as he tipped the paste in to a smaller, metal tin which he collected from under the counter. Relief spread across the women’s face. She let go of her son’s hand and wrapped her arms around Castor’s neck. He stood quite awkwardly, as she held him close, but as the women and her son left the shop a very happy smiled spread across his face. As he turned and made eye contact with Hope a blush spread to his cheeks. Hope smirked and her eyes followed Castor as he made his way in to the back room once again.