The Last Few Dollars

Chapter 4

"Hey, hey, relax, I'm-" Harper starts. I cut him off.

"Don't you dare say you're sorry, Harper, because you have no idea, no clue, what I've been through!" I stand up, hitching my bag over my shoulder. "If you know what's good for you, you won't follow me."

As I walk out of the warehouse, people have the sense to get out of my way. Maybe it's the murderous expression on my face, or maybe it's what they just heard me yelling at Harper, but I don't care and just keep walking. I don't pay any attention to where I'm heading once I'm out of the place, either, I just keep walking and I wind up at the building where Harper gave me the bag. My bag.

I move to sit on the rubble there but decide I can be too easily seen there, so I make my way up the rickety stairs and up to the top floor. My legs are burning and my chest heaving when I get there, breathing in shallow gasps, but the pain helps, grounding me.

And as I get my bearings, I realise that I'm not alone.

Three pairs of eyes land on me, and they don't leave me. One in particular sticks out from the rest, a grey that is so dark that it looks almost black, and cold, so cold, and empty of any emotion. I feel goosebumps rise on my skin and the hairs on the back of my neck prickle as the eyes move up and down my body. I shove down the urge to shudder as the owner of the eyes stands and moves towards me.

On instinct, my hand moves to my hip, where my blade is concealed. I know how dangerous it is in my hands, and I know I can take down someone even Thunder's size with it, but I've never tried my hand against more than one attacker.

Looks like that's about to change.

"Now, what's a pretty little thing like you doing here?" The person says. I suck in a deep breath, sterling my nerves, before I speak.

"I had to get away," I say flatly, making sure my voice is devoid of emotion. "From them." I add with a snarl.

"What happened?" The man asks, seemingly more interested now. I debate for a second before deciding to tell him.

"I got blamed for... something, and I was about to rip someone's head off so I left." I say simply.

"Would that something happen to be robbing the greenhouses?" The man asks eagerly.

This perks my interests. Maybe they know a better way of going about it.

"You know how to get in there?" I ask, not bothering with the act anymore. The man smiles at me, although it doesn't look like a smile so much as resembling one, what with a half dozen teeth missing. The ones that are there are a dark yellow. An unpleasant sense of déjà vu washes over me, and again I try not to shudder.

"Indeed I do, young lady, but that information's going to cost you." He says, his eyes moving up and down my body again. This time I don't bother hiding my shiver, but I instead act ignorant. Steeling myself for the upteenth time today, I say the last thing I thought I'd ever have to say.

"What do you want me to do?"

---

I'm able to slip past everyone at the warehouse and into the showers. Thankfully I had the foresight to pack a change of clothes into my bag before I left earlier, so I don't have to try and make it through the warehouse undetected.

I take ages in the shower, rinsing away the dirtiness I feel from that man, the one who agreed to help me if I did one thing for him. But it lingers in my eyes, my throat, my pores, and I scrub until my skin can't take it anymore. Wishing I could clean my mind as well and trying my best to ignore the throbbing stabs of pain that seem to radiate throughout my entire body (he wasn't gentle with me at all) I turn off the hot spray and dress in an outfit that is only slightly different from the one I had on before.