Hi all! A new one. This one's a bit... disturbing, if I may say so myself. There is swearing, violence, nudity, and possibly sexual interactions between characters sometime in the future. You have been warned. Also, this isn't a chapter by chapter sort of story. If anything, it's a series of short stories about this one group of people which can be read in any order.
I'm not very happy with this chapter. Might fix it later
It's easy to be deceived by the appearance of another. It's easy to perceive them as being a kind individual, someone who would be willing to help you in times of need, someone who would give a shit if something were to happen to you. Someone you could one day possibly call a friend.
It would have been easy to mistake my new lieutenant as one of those people. If it hadn't been for my prior experiences with him, I would have likely fallen into his trap, fallen back into the darkness he readily wielded to destroy others. If it hadn't been for what he'd done to me before, I would have approached him for guidance, and would have become his new toy. His new plaything.
Deceptively kind brown eyes peer at me from beneath a strong brow. He grins at me, with barely hidden maliciousness, and I tense, my body already preparing itself for the onslaught of abuse it was sure would follow that disgusting smile. He smirked knowingly, and turned to the captain, "It seems this one's scared of me too."
"Is that so?"
"Oh, yes, sir. She's bloody terrified. And she should be." He grinned once more, and watched me surreptitiously from the corner of his eye. "I often got in trouble with my peers… and my teachers, as a child. I remember this one time where I nearly bashed this chick's head open… Be best if that didn't happen with this one, right captain?"
The captain grunted in agreement, and continued watching me. "Well, we've been limited to using only four rooms as our sleeping quarters. Two in each. Since the others have already gotten settled in… You'll be put with the lieutenant here. He's by himself currently."
I stared at him; sure there must be some mistake. "Sir, are you saying I have to room with a male? And with one whom just a moment ago blatantly threatened me? Are you-"
"Don't talk back to me, corporal. You have your orders. You will be rooming with Jackal whether you like it or not. Your gender does not mean you get special treatment. Is that understood?"
The toes of my boots were suddenly very interesting. "Yes, sir." First day, and he'd already gotten me in trouble with my CO.
"Look, I'll let HQ know you're rooming with a guy. If they feel it's better that you have your own room, then I'll move you. Alright?"
I nodded.
"This way, corporal."
Jackal turned, and made his way through the buildings with me trudging through the dirt behind him. This sucked. Before long, we stopped at a simple wooden door with a lock on the handle. The lieutenant unlocked the door, and held the door open for me as I stepped inside.
The furnishings were as I expected. Plain, and seemingly comfortable. The contents of the room, however, were not what I was expecting. I'd always pictured Jackal's room as messy, with clothes stained with blood hanging all over the place. Knives littered here and there, and possibly a shotgun lying on his bedside table next to a scalpel. Therefore, it stands to reason that I was in quite a shock when I saw what his room was really like.
Everything was neat. There were no blood-stained clothes, no knives stuck in the walls or lying around the room, no shotgun at the ready lying beside a bloodied scalpel. Nothing. Not even a single porn magazine. If it weren't for the few books lying around, you wouldn't have thought there was anyone living here, let alone a guy.
"Something wrong?"
I flinched, and moved away from him. "Nothing wrong. Just…not really what I expected."
He tilted his head to the side, almost as if he was confused. He watched me for a moment, before deciding to disregard my opinion. He nodded at a door near what I assumed would be my new bed. "That's the bathroom. The bed closest is yours. Feel free to use the desk over there as needed." He paused, taking in his surroundings before turning to me. "Keep your things on your side of the room excepting the neutral zones," gesturing to the desk and bathroom as he said this, "and I'll keep my things on mine. The schedule's next to the light switch. Now if you'll excuse me."
He turned and left the room, leaving me to my own devices. I unpacked, feeling uneasy. The place felt… too empty without him in it. I sighed, opened the door, and left to explore my new home.
Maybe this time it'll be alright.
