World's End

Chapter Twenty Two

"Sorry about punching you." Marissa grimaced as she applied a plaster to the side of Jax's head the next day. He made a noise and waved a hand at her.

"Nah, you're good. You were right to. I was just going to punch someone and it was probably going to be Lincoln. Wouldn't want to ruin his perfect face." Marissa glared at him as she sat back down. They had all slept for the first time, despite feeling like they were being stalked. Marissa had woken up once, sure she had heard the sound of a horse snorting and clipping the ground with its hoof. But no other noise had followed it and her eyes were heavy so she put it down to her imagination and being over tired and went back to sleep. When she woke up the morning and opened the curtain to peer outside, there was no sign of anything having been there. She huffed and walked away from the window and went to find a first aid kit because the cut on the side of Jax's head would at least need a plaster on it. In fact, they would all need plasters because they were all covered in scrapes and bruises. Once everyone had woken up, they each got assigned different missions. Find food, find clothing, find weapons. Get bandaged by Marissa.

She don't know why she had volunteered to do it but it was probably because she felt bad for knocking Jax out.

"You have a strong punch, y'know?" She hummed.

"I got into a lot of fights as a kid. Not having parents made me a target for getting bullied and picked on so, I punched back. And Ellie Rae got picked on a lot for no reason so, I would punch back for her. And then I started to just punch anyone who said a bad word about anyone." Jax smiled.

"What a hero."

"No, just someone who wanted to prove that she had her place among them." Jax nodded and hummed in response. "Did your parents ever used to go out from the bunker when they were alive." Jax nodded.

"Yeah, I think that's why they got so sick. I don't know what they did but they never let me leave. Apparently they used to go out before I was born but I don't know how true that is. Not that it matters. They're dead." Marissa snorted.

"Dead parents club." She offered him her fist and he bumped his fist on hers, shaking his head at her. She opened up another plaster and felt along her cheek and winced when she found the spot and suck it down.

"Man, we are getting our asses whooped out here."

"We didn't even intend to." Marissa added as she put a plaster on a nasty looking cut on her arm. She then moved to her leg and rolled up her pants leg to look at the bandage there, thinking it was probably time to change it. The door opened and Ellie Rae walked in, clothes hung over arm. Marissa sighed in relief and forgot her leg, standing up to move towards the clothes she held.

"You found clean clothes."

"They're a bit musty but they'll do." Ellie Rae offloaded the clothes onto the table in the room and picked up the ones meant for her and took them off to the bathroom and closed it behind her. Marissa watched her go, then turned to look through the clothing. Ellie Rae had organised them in sets, having selected a person's full outfit and paired it together so it wasn't a giant mess. Marissa found the on meant for her and was relieved to see that Ellie Rae had also found clean underwear.

That was the biggest thing she wanted, besides clothes that weren't covered in purple blood mixed with her own and dirt.

"I'm gonna go change, I'll be back." Jax waved her off and she set off out the room and down the hall, entering the closest room. She locked the door behind her and began the process of peeling her filthy clothes off of her. In some places, her shirt was almost stuck to her like a second skin because of the dried blood but she managed to get it off. She would have much preferred it if they had been able to change their clothes days ago but after losing their belongings and almost dying multiple times, freshening up had been the last thing on their minds. And they were lucky that for the first time, they had found a place that had running water.