Hawk Heart

5. Relive

 It could have been hours. Minutes. Seconds, or perhaps several moonlit nights.

I wasn't sure for how long Zeph had been gone. My brain unable to the grasp the intangible concept of time. I was aware of soft whispers, vaguely familiar footsteps in the room I was in, leaving me food which I didn't touch and water which I drank. Multiple times I was tempted to ask whoever had come about Zeph's whereabouts, but I bit my tongue. Searing pain shot up my arm anytime that I tried to move but I couldn't get myself to look at the grotesque wolf. Would it leave a scar? A wolf shaped one? Marking me forever? Or atleast for a very very long time?

The thought sent a shiver down my spine. Like I was tainted.

A set of familiar footsteps made me sit up straight, interrupting my aimless wandering as I tore my eyes away from the mundane ceiling and glanced at the door. A few second later, it burst open and Zeph staggered in, limping.

"What the fuck?" I managed to croak out, a lump rising in my throat.

I rose to my feet, remembering about my injury only when a sharp pain shot up through my body so much so that I stumbled forward, catching my balance at the last second.

"Get back on the fucking mattress," he said, dragging himself over to sit on the floor against the wall. He sat down, his long legs spread in front of him as I finally saw how badly hurt he was.

His t-shirt was soaked with blood, dark patches on his chest and his arms. Blood trickling down his nose, part of trouser covering his shin had been ripped off to reveal a patch of skin, a deep gash embedded in it. Dark blood pouring relentlessly.

"What the fuck happened?" my heart wrenched in pain as I sat beside him, my stomach turning at the bloody sight. It wasn't uncommon for Zeph to get into fights, but I had never seen him beaten up so badly.

"Turns out...I forgot one important detail about the wolves," he grunted as he unrolled a strip of bandage, placing it on his leg and bandaging it deftly. "They always move in packs. Filthy fucking dogs." 

"They...did this to you?" Destructive rage bubbled inside me, coupled with a catastrophic helplessness.

"Yeah, but I got my revenge. They wont be hurting you anymore-" he paused for a second, a dark glaze in his eyes as he finished, "-or anyone."

I gulped. Had he done to them what he had done to that guy on that fateful night when I met him?

"I had an easier way to deal with them," he sighed, leaning over to study the wound on his leg. "But...it's not nearly as satisfying to watch them drop dead as it is to beat them to within an inch of their life."

"Did you...what did you do to them, Zeph?" It was hard to wrap my head around the fact that he could kill people so easily. Wicked people, that was true. But still living souls. With friends, families, perhaps. And as much as I tried to deny it, I didn't fully know what other crimes he had committed. I had never managed to look at Zeph in the light that the Peacekeepers had kept him under. Which truly was him?

"Not more than what they deserved," he scoffed. He finished bandaging his leg before he finally looked at me, wiping the blood from his face on a wet cloth. "What about you?" he furrowed his eyebrows, "How do you feel?"

"Zeph...you already have way too many enemies. You'll...you'll get in trouble," I said, panic rising inside my chest. What if someone had seen him? They had roughed him up so badly. What if they had hurt him even more? "You can't act on whims like these. You...everyone here looks up to you."

"Reminds me," he spoke urgently. "Don't mention this to anyone, okay? Least of all to Zia."

"You're just not going to tell her?" I asked, surprised.