𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐂𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐄 ➳ 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐥 𝐆𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬

Chapter 20 ~ Bind My Wounds

Suddenly, the gate outside squeaked and I bolted upright. Footsteps sounded in the room above us before I heard them on the stairs. Morgan and a person I'd never seen before appeared in the doorway. I tensed up at the stranger's presence and inched closer to Owen.

"Who are you?" I growled at her.

Morgan shot me a glare.

"This is Denise. She's a doctor and she's here to help your boyfriend. I'd be nice if I were you." he said sternly.

I bit back a retort and let the girl come closer to Owen. She held a small white first-aid kit in one of her hands. I looked her over. She seemed harmless enough. Sitting down far away from us on the other side of the room, she began to open the kit and sift through its contents. Morgan left soon after, leaving us with Denise.

Suddenly, we heard a loud crashing sound from outside. The walls and floor shook for a split-second before stopping. What in the world? I thought to myself. I shot a glance towards Owen but he looked just as confused as I was. Denise also seemed bewildered as to what just happened.

But then she just shook her head and went back to going through the first-aid kit. The three of us sat there like that for what seemed like hours before Owen spoke up, breaking the silence.

"I don't think he's coming back. Do you think he's coming back? We can talk, right? You don't have to be afraid. Talk," he pressed the doctor.

She sent him a wary look.

"There's injured people out there. I have patients. I shouldn't be here," she spoke for the first time.

"None of you should," he shot back.

"What about you?" she asked, surprising him.

"What about me?" he repeated.

"After the things you've done, you belong here?" she went on.

"Yes. What do you think I've done?"

"You've killed people,"

Owen shrugged.

"We freed them, and then we were just going to use what was left. You came here without knowing what this was, right? That Morgan had me here?" he continued his barrage of questions.

"He said he wouldn't let you go until he was sure you wouldn't kill again," she said hesitantly, inching towards him with her first-aid kit in hand.

Owen let out a sigh.

"It's just an infection. I was breaking into a car and cut myself on a rusty bumper. Just like that," he told her.

"The car. The car we broke into to get away from those men," I said suddenly, my eyes wide as the memory came back to me in flashes, "You hurt yourself when we got in, didn't you? Why didn't you tell me? That was unfair of you!"

Owen looked at me, flecks of sadness in his brown eyes.

"It's not unfair or unjust. Nothing's unfair anymore," he went on, "It might not kill me, but it might. I've done my part. The world will take care of the rest. It won't change,"

"Show me the wound," Denise interrupted our quarreling.

Slowly, he pulled back his t-shirt revealing the bloody gash in his side. 

"You weren't born this way. You changed. You can change," she told him as she pulled out an IV fluid bag from her kit.

Owen just sat there with that unnerving look of his. I smirked. Ever the bad boy. Even when he was in a dire state, he always had to put up a front so no one thought he was weak. Suddenly, the door to the room opened and in walked another woman I had never seen.

Her hair was short and gray but she looked to be in her early 40's. She wore a white long-sleeve t-shirt and dark khaki pants. She held a pocket knife in her hand and it was pointed at Owen and me.

"Get away from him!" she told the doctor sternly.

"He's tied up, he's not-" Denise started.

-"I said get away from him!" the woman cut her off.

Owen tilted his head at her in a calculated fashion and I saw the wolf side of him starting to come out. Denise hurriedly got up off of the floor and moved out of the way as Morgan walked back in, Bo Staff in hand.

"This could've waited. It should have," he told the woman, "Now it can't."