Nation Assassination

Chapter Eight

Nearly stumbling down the stairs with me in his arms, he decides to back up down the stairs and try again a different way, by sitting me in a chair, repositioning himself and picking me up again, this time piggybacking me up the stairs, this time successfully.

Once we made it to the top of the stairs, Jean continued to carry me down the hallway to a room marked 472 and opened the door.

He pushed the door open with his foot and walked inside.

"This is where your going to be staying tonight." He told me and lied me down on top of the covers.

He turned and closed the door before walking to a closet and pulling out a futon bed on wheels, rolling it over to the corner by the door.

"And this is where I will be staying tonight. That is, if you're comfortable me staying in the same room. If not, I could probably-"

Before he could finish his sentence, I threw my arm out and reached for him.

"Stay here..." I wheezed.

"Well, alright. I can't be here all night though... I have to take care of some things and restock on food. You could help me with the food part if you feel up to it." He laughed and spread a worn blanket over the futon.

I nodded and sat up, which was a lot harder than I had anticipated with my cuts, especially because of the big one on my side.

Jean walked over to me with a first aid that he had picked up from beside the bed and took off of the bandage covering my eye and chin. "Jeez Mercy... You really got yourself a problem... I know you like to use a pair of pistols... And let's be honest, you certainly have a talent for it... But with just one eye, you're going to have a hard time shooting anything, let alone precision shooting with two guns." He said and stared into my good eye, then to my bad eye.

I nodded sadly. To be honest, I loved shooting, even though I haven't shot a gun until today. And he was right, I was good at it. Had a talent for it. But now I couldn't do it, because of some stupid raider.

"Jean,why didn't they kill me in the first place, like everyone else? They could have easily cut me into pieces, just like they did to that little girl. Why did they keep me alive?" I asked, my voice cracked and uneven.

"Well, there's no way they could've known about your family. I mean, you certainly don't look like an Anxo so it couldn't be for that. My guess is they kept you because you're a daring, smart, attractive young woman." he said without looking away.

I blushed a bright red,and maybe even smiled a little before he continued on a different subject.

"Anyway, im sure you would be even more attractive if we got you into a shower,brushed your hair and found you some clean clothes." He said after wrapping my eye with new gauze and tape.

I nodded and he got up and walked into another room with a decent sized shower and turned it on. He walked back out and pulled a towel from a rack outside the bathroom, tossing it over the rod holding the shower curtain.
“Alright, everything you need to wash is already in there, and I'll be back with some fresh clothes. Do you know what size you wear?”

“Well, no… In the village we just made clothes that looked like they'd fit, and if not they were given to someone who they did fit.” I told him.

“Hmm… Well, I'll grab a few pairs and see what fits best. I'll be back soon.” He told me and walked over to the door and left.

I climbed out of the shower, my hair smelling like strawberries and the rest of my body free of dirt and dried blood. My cuts had scabbed over so the water didn't sting them too bad and I avoided the water hitting my eye as much as physically possible.