Clarity || John Murphy

Chapter Eight - What did he do?

Why everyone is so frightened of him.

What happened to Eve to make her so nervous about her past.

He would find these answers, no matter what it took.

*

The next day, Murphy woke up to find a t-shirt, a black leather jacket, and jeans. He quickly changed out of the cargo pants, ignoring the stinging when he pulled on the t-shirt and jacket.

Jay came in the room, Hannah behind him.

"Where's Eve?" Murphy tried not to sound so eager to know when he asked, but he failed miserably.

Jay sighed. "I don't know. Jack said she was still at the training ground a few hours ago."

Murphy nodded, slightly disappointed that Eve didn't come to see him. But, hen again, she might have still been upset about the night before.

He hoped that he would find out who Leader Jackson was, and why everryone was so afraid of him. Especially Eve. He had decided that if this man hurt Eve in any way, there were no way that Murphy was letting him get away with it. Maybe he would ask Hannah and Jay, bu later, when they weren't in such a loud and public place.

Once they exited the room, Murphy realized that the machines and lights were all on. "How is everything still working? Isn't the tech hall burned down?"

Jay nodded. "Yeah, but the hospital has a generator. Some of the houses do too, but only the ones with elderly people in them. Everyone else is in complete darkness during the night."

Hmm... Complete darkness, huh? He thought, smirking slightly. It would be nice if he could use that to his advantage.

*

Murphy made his way down the hallway of Jay's shop. Jay was right, Eve had still been training. She was shooting arrows again, and there was a small pile of arrows beside him with broken shafts.

Jay was practicing with Hannah and helping her with her throwing knives, while glancing back at Eve every few seconds. "Take it easy, will ya?! I only have seven hundred left!" That sentence caused Eve to laugh as she shot yet another arrow.

Murphy walked up behind her, watching closely when she set the arrow up. "You've broken quite a few." He smirked.

Eve nodded. "Yeah... I guess so." She mumbled, shooting it and actually managing to shoot fully off the target.

"Well then..." Murphy mumbled, clearing his throat.

"I can't shoot them right if I'm nervous..." She glanced up at him. "Or if I know that someone's standing behind me. It gets me on edge."

He raised a brow. "Why would you be nervous?"

She sighed softly, lowering the bow. "I have a lot of reasons."

"And...?"

"And, we had a deal." She narrowed her eyes slightly. "No talking about our pasts." She spun on her heel, walking away and putting the bow on the table.

"It's kind of hard when you keep bringing it up!" He called after her. She sighed, fully ignoring his questions.

"Well, anyway, Leader Jackson wants me to look after you for the next few days, just to make sure you're alright." She said, turning around to face the table, her fingers scanning over the many throwing knives that were laid delicately upon it.

When Murphy walked up behind her and spoke in her ear, she visible shuddered. "What did he do?" She stayed silent. "Who is he and what did he do to you?" He asked again, elaborating the question a little more.

"He'll kill me if I tell you..." She whispered, and Murphy was almost sure that she realized her mistake once she said it.

Murphy's eyebrows furrowed in anger. "Fine. I'll find out myself." He began walking away, but Eve ran in front of him.

"Please, whatever you do, don't go see him!" She pleaded, more so begging than pleading. By then, Jay and Hannah had already started to run towards them.

"What's going on?" Jay asked.

"Why shouldn't I?!" Murphy yelled, completely ignoring Jay's questions. Why would she not want him to see the Leader? What was she hiding?

"You don't know what he's capable of!" She yelled.

"I don't care! He hurt you, Eve! I don't know when or how, but I'm not letting him get away with that!"

She froze, staying silent for a while and staring up at him. "Why do you even care?" She whispered.

His face softened when he saw the look in her eyes. She was genuinely frightened. Whether it was for him or for her, he wasn't sure. He frowned a little, then sighed.

"Eve, you've saved my life once."

"And you saved mine! We're even!"

"No, we're not! I still owe you, I owe you for the rest of my life. Don't try to convince me otherwise!" He went around her, continuing to walk. Luckily for him, this time, she didn't follow him. But, unfortunately, Jay did.

"If you ever cared about any of us, then you won't go to Jackson." He pleaded. Murphy sighed, looking at him with a skeptical look on his face. "Please, don't."

Murphy exhaled exasperatedly, crossing his arms and thinking about it for a few minutes. "Fine. But you're telling me who he is, and whatever the hell he did to Eve. Tonight."

_____________________________________________________________________________

See what I mean? :) I think it's cute how he felt like he needed to protect her. I think that once Murphy found out that it was his fault that Eve got hurt, he suddenly realized how much he cared about her. However, I'm not sure if Eve feels the same way... We'll see... >:3

What do you guys think? ;) And how much do you like Hannah and Jay?