Underdogs

THIRTEEN

❝Everyone has a way to live with themselves and deal with cruelty. You shouldn't judge a book by its cover.❞ ㅡ Johan

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Chapter thirteen:

PAST

When Galene stepped out of the bathroom, a simple thought crossed her mind upon glancing around the room.

What a mess.

Yet to dry out, blood was smeared all over the ground, and some drops had reached to taint random spots on the walls. Signs of her fight with the Everhart thugs were still fresh, and the smell of cigarettes and sweat pricked the air. Once alive, those men lay now dead on the floor; their features contorted into expressions of pain, shock and disdain.

The bodies would remain like that until time worked its magic on their skin and bones. Then, only the remembrance of the fear carved in their eyes would dwell in her memories ㅡ nothing else.

She held on to that hopeful belief.

Her eyes found Levi leaning against a wall, looking at her from across the room with an expression she was unable to decipher. Normally, Galene would have little trouble reading him; which was quite an achievement, or so Isabel had once said. She could spot his concern in the way his eyebrows pulled together, his displeasure in the slight twitch of his eye whenever someone sneezed next to him, or even the glint of diversion whenever she challenged him.

And there was another expression she had recently caught in his gaze; something that would be haunting her mind had circumstances been different: his darkened pupils would expand ever so slightly, his breathing would hitch...

Desire.

"We can't stay here," she asserted, cutting off her own train of thought and making sure her voice was vacant of any emotion. Averting her eyes from him, she craned her neck and added, "When someone turns up, they will shoot first and ask questions later."

Levi observed her for some seconds, not speaking a word. Even if she had gotten rid of the blood and dirt on her skin, she was still wearing the same clothes; her state would give nightmares to children were she to glance at them.

"These men were here for you."

No answer was given for the following minute, but Galene had flinched. "I know."

Levi only grunted and gave her a look she could only describe as irritated. 

"Did they work for Everhart?" 

She nodded. Clearing her throat, Galene ignored his intense stare and pulled her hair into a messy ponytail. "This changes nothing; we still have to find those bastards." She paused. "There's someone I want you to meet."

Twenty minutes later, they were standing in front of a house that looked a second from crumbling to dust. Its door was firmly closed, but its walls were cracked and no windows could be seen on its grey surface. And it was small; way smaller than any other structure in the surroundings.

If its slovenly exterior wasn't enough to keep people away, the slouching figure of a cloaked person did. 

Galene stepped in front of Levi, who had yet to speak a word and was simply watching her with keen eyes; as though waiting for her to lash out, ready to strike back. Something she wasn't going to do just yet.