Red Lighter ✧ John Murphy

IX - Never Regret It

Murphy and I both jumped back when a person suddenly leapt from the cart, shouting something in a language I didn't recognize as she pointed a knife at us. At least, I'm pretty sure it was a she, judging by the pitch of her voice.

"We mean you no harm," Jaha tried to reason with her. "Do you speak English?" he asked her.

"What do you want?!" she shouted.

"Nothing," Jaha replied. "It looks like you could use a hand. What are you doing out here alone?"

She seemed to get a little less defensive. She shoved her knife into her belt and removed the cloth that had been covering the lower half of her face.

"My brother and I were on our way to the city of light, and wastelander's attacked. They took our horse, all our water, everything. They killed him. This cart is all that I have left," she gestured to it sadly.

"Give her some water," Jaha said to no one in particular.

Murphy immediately reached into his bag, and I couldn't help but smile. I had seen a change in him. He actually cared about the lives of other's, because he now felt sympathetic towards some people.

Some guy came forwards and grabbed Murphy's arm. Murphy's reaction was somewhere between "how dare you" and "do not touch me, you incompetent imbecile". Something along those lines. He was quite the sassy person.

"No, we barely have enough for ourselves here," the man protested.

Murphy looked down at the man's hand on his arm, then glared down at him. "Touch me again and I'll end you," he said, pulling a canteen out of the bag and walking towards the girl. When he saw the way Jaha was looking at him, he sighed and turned back. "In a non-criminal way."

There it is.

There's the sass.

Murphy walked over to the girl, holding out a canteen filled with water. "It's okay," he reassured her when she eyed it suspiciously.

She took the canteen, eagerly taking a drink from it.

"We're on our way to the city of light as well," Jaha said. "What's your name?"

"Emori," she stated. "Everyone in the dead zone is looking for the city of light. Almost no one finds it. I can get you there," that caught everyone's attention. "If you pull my cart."

"Done," Jaha said, then spoke to a feet others as I went up behind Murphy.

"She was dehydrated. For all we know, that drink of water could have saved her life. How does that feel, Murphy?" I smiled.

His eyes went wide when he realized what he had done, and was still shocked as Emori thanked him for the water. "It-it's no problem."

*

It was later in the day now, and I had offered to be at the back of the group. A guard was in front of me, and Murphy and Emori were in front of him.

Murphy and Emori were both talking, while the guard slowed down to stand beside me.

"Hi," the guard said, smiling at me.

A guard. Smiling. Do you have any idea how odd that is?

"Hello," I replied.

The guard had blond hair that looked like it had been cut nearly to a buzz cut, but was grown out enough so that you could see the colour. He had bright green eyed and pale skin, with dimples on either side of his mouth and freckles covering his face like dots. All in all, he was actually very good looking.

I saw him glance down at my waist, the smile fading. "You know how to shoot that?"

"You don't need to be a guard to know how to shoot a gun," I sighed.

"I know... But the only other people who really know how to shoot them are the delinquents, and even they aren't very good."

"I am one of the delinquents."

"Are you a good shot?"

"The grounder with three bullets in his skull thinks so," I muttered.

His eyes widened. "You're the girl who took Marcus Kane's gun?"

I rolled my eyes. "I didn't take it. I borrowed it for less than ten seconds."

"Still... I'm surprised the other guards didn't kill you on the spot."

"They didn't kill me because they knew I'd rip their heads from their shoulders if they tried."

He stayed quiet, then realized who I was. "You're Venus... Aren't you?"

I nodded.

"I'm Jakob. I've heard a lot about you."

"Well, I'm sorry that I know nothing about you."

He smiled again. "I just became a guard a month ago. I wasn't really well known before then."

We stayed quiet for a few moments, before I spoke. "What about you? Are you a good shot?"

He grinned, nodding. He seemed proud of himself. "Yeah, I think so. At least, that's what the commander said."

I wanted to tell him that the commander was a complete and utter idiot, but I didn't want him to feel bad. "Well, who knows. Your aim might come into use."

He smiled again, and nodded to me. "Maybe."