The Ruins Part 2 (Sequel to The Ruins)

Chapter 34

It was Lalon that half-dragged Mal out of the street after the fight. After the influx of adrenaline wore off, Mal found herself feeling woozy from all the blows to the head and nearly being choked out. As she leaned on Lalon and stumbled into the house, Mal was relieved to have a reason to escape the crowded scene on the road. After she'd shot Perry, Jessie and Kirsh had begun crying, clinging to each other brokenly and shaking with the force of their sobs. It was the right call, killing him- Mal knew that, didn't doubt it for a second. And somewhere down the line Jessie would likely be relieved that he was gone. But for now- for now, that was her father, and that was Kirsh and John's father, and no matter how much of a terrible person he may have been, it couldn't be easy to see him gunned down in the street.

Mal didn't feel guilty about killing him, she only regretted that she'd had to do it in front of them.

The kids trailed after them into the house, shutting the door as Lalon dumped Mal onto the couch together. Lugh's eyes flashed around the downstairs in search of something, settling on Johan when he didn't find it. "Get me a first aid kit, will you? Is there one in here?"

Johan shook her head, and Lugh nodded to the door. "Can you run over to the infirmary and get one, then? Or just some bandage strips and antiseptic?" He looked them both over, nudging their faces from side to side to inspect the damage. "It doesn't look like they need any stitches."

Johan ducked out and Lugh got to cleaning up the wounds on their faces while Mal dabbed at the cuts they could see on their arms and knuckles. Tom and Vix eyed her watchfully from Vix place on the arm of the couch, her face unreadable. Tom seemed tense, and it took Mal a second to register why- the gun. The stolen gun that she'd taken and not told him about.

Shit.

Johan returned a minute later, handing over the bandages to Lugh so he could patch them up. He was using a lot, Mal thought- how badly was her face mangled? She finds a mirror on the table; there was a smattering of purple and green bruises from her left eye all the way over the bridge of her nose, and then another red mark on her jaw. There were a handful of shallow cuts on Mal's face and arms, but judging from how much longer it was taking to tend to her, she definitely seemed to have gotten the worst of it. Probably had something to do with her tackling Perry through the window.

Lugh leaned back after a few minutes, observing his handiwork. "Good thing you taught us to know first aid since the doctor turned out to be a fucking prick, huh?" He mused. "Keep those clean. None of them are too deep, you should both be healed up in a few days. Anything else that needs to be looked at?"

Mal prodded at her sore ribs- the pain that flared there was dull, nothing to worry about. "I don't think so. Just bruised up."

Lugh nodded and waved on his way out the door. "No problem."

And then she were alone with Tom and the kid's worried stares.

"Where'd you get the gun, Mal?" Tom prompted. He didn't seem particularly angry, but it was possible he was just keeping a lid on it for the kid's sake.

No point in lying now, and she really didn't like keeping things from his in the first place. "I, ah. I stole it. From the armory." She winced. "Well, technically, Lalon stole it. But I was the one who asked him to."

Tom's eyes flicked between her and the colt he gave her when she was young. "So Lalon's in on this, too. All of them, as well. Does everyone have a gun? Does the kids?"

Mal sighed. "Yeah. Vix, too."

"Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you trust me to say something?"

Tom deserved an explanation from him. "I thought...I was scared you wouldn't back me up." She admitted, meeting Tom's eyes with sincerity and remorse. "You wanted this place so badly, you needed it... I was worried you'd try to talk me out of it. And I needed that gun, Tom. You saw it today, I needed it to deal with Perry."