Him

Chapter 3

Luna sat there, back pushing to the wall, her eyes filled with horror and shock from everything that has been going on now.

The man who saved her stood near the body; he looked a little surprised, she noted, as if he didn't believe he's actually killed that man. After a second he calmed down and turned his gaze to her.

She wanted to run away, to hide in the closet, to pick up something she could protect herself with -- maybe everything at once -- but it felt like she was glued to that spot on the floor and all she could do is stare back at him.

"Luna, listen, okay? I don't have anything on me, see?", he lifted his arms and showed to her from both sides, "See? I don't mean no harm to you."

She looked at them in disbelief still, so he continued. "I had a syringe with a mi--", the man paused for a second, ''with a drug, a sedative. It's in that man's neck, see? I have nothing else."

Luna said nothing. The whole situation felt like a weird nightmare - she could only sit and watch, not really do anything. The man sighed.

"Okay. I understand, you're in shock, but that doesn't mean you can't talk to me, right?" He crouched to be on one eye level with her. "My name is Tanner. I wish we could meet in different circumstances, but oh well... You're injured, heavily. We should clean you up and stop the bleeding, otherwise your fight for life was for nothing."

He stood up and walked towards the bathroom, expecting Luna to follow him. She tried to rise to her feet, but sudden intense pain in her leg stopped her from doing so. She fell back; this got Tanner confused.

"I... I can't..."

"What's the matter?"

She pointed to her left leg, at the deep wound there. It didn't really bother her until now, the adrenaline effect wearing off. He let out a little oh  and approached her. After inspecting the wound for some time, he shook his head and picked her up from the floor.

The way he did that - easy and careful - made her think back to when everything was okay-- well, compared to what was happening now, at least.

He carried around that syringe with him, the one that killed a grown man in just one dose! all that, considering he probably didn't know about a goddamn maniac appearing at her doorstep. What he needed that syringe for then? With a dose of some sedative enough to kill a person? And he tried several times to break into her house?? And now he carries her so carefully, like she was some crystal vase--

Panic started rising in Luna's chest; thinking straight wasn't really her thing now, so she decided to let things happen. Not like she could do anything about it right now.

Tanner placed her on toilet seat and went looking for the first aid kit. She watched him go through the cabinets, picking this and that from the shelves.

God, her whole body was aching.

Tanner proceeded to put everything he found in some kind of order, then picked up piece of cloth, soaked it in water and approached her.

"I'm going to clean that blood off you first. It might sting a little, but don't worry - the real pain is yet to come." he said, smiling for the first time since their encounter. "Yeah, thanks for the reassuring..." Luna answered and prepared herself mentally. He giggled queitly and started rubbing the scratch at her shoulder, lightly at first, putting more pressure later, when she adjusted to the light sting.

Her clothes were really convenient - tank top and shorts made it pretty easy to reach to her wounds, without exposing any extra skin. Would she be that shy, to not let him work on wounds in inappropriate places?