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Chapter 54

Quinn picked up her tranquilliser and aimed it at the target she had drawn on her wall. She fired. It was much harder with her right hand, and it didn't stick at all.

She tried again, and it fell to the ground.

Groaning, she tried again, and it finally stuck in the wall. It was nowhere near the target, but she counted it as progress anyway.

Her left arm lay limply by her side. She hadn't been able to move it for weeks, even after the wounds had healed and the scars had begun to fade. It didn't hurt anymore. It just felt numb and cold. She picked it up in her right hand and let it drop to her side again.

Putting her tranquilliser away, she looked into the mirror.

She noticed the scars on her face which weren't usually visible between her freckles, and the patches where her red hair looked slightly thinner, like parts of it had been pulled out. Hand shaking, she tried to pull it back with one arm, but half of it remained lopsided. All it did was reveal more of her cheek which was still badly burned. People had been treating her differently since the accident, and only now was she realising why. With her gaunt face, torn skin, and strained expressions, she'd started to look like one of them.

It had been hard. Everyone seemed to be either desperate to fawn all over her or indiscreetly terrified of her, like she could snap at any minute.

She'd barely talked to her old friends since waking up, and during the coma all she'd been able to see was herself, gun in hand, waiting to kill people. She felt exhausted just thinking about what had happened, but at least she could think about it again. She had to remind herself how lucky she was in that respect.

Looking away from the mirror at long last, she heard the door opening behind her.

"Hey," Adam said, dropping a paper bag on to the table and brushing the rainwater out of his hair. "I let myself in, is that okay?"

"Of course," Quinn replied, pressing her finger and thumb together on her good arm where it was still numb from the anaesthetic. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to see how you were holding up," he replied, tipping the contents of the paper bag out on to the table.

"I'm, uh..." She trailed off, glancing back at the darts that had fallen to the floor. "I think I'm okay now."

Adam nodded, following her gaze over to the wall. "I'm... I'm sorry about your arm," he mumbled.

She shrugged and gestured at the bandage over his wrist. "I'm sorry about yours."

"How is it?"

"Bad." She went over to the table to see what he'd brought. "But that's how it goes. And I'm pretty good with my right arm, so... Even if the feeling never comes back... It could have been worse."

She saw him hesitate, something visibly shifting in his mind, so she hastily changed the subject. She didn't want to put that on his conscience. "What's all this?" She picked up a bag of what looked like pieces of corn, half-expecting it to blow up in her face again.

Adam grinned and started to rummage through the bag, until he found what he was looking for. "Well, you said I'd never find a use for this," he said, holding up the now-battered plastic lunchbox. "I m-managed to make it a little stronger. It goes up to three-hundred and two degrees, Fahrenheit. St-Still no risk of burns to human flesh -"

"Wait, so what are we doing?" Quinn interrupted him.

"We're gonna make popcorn."

A few hours later, the kitchen counter was covered with corn kernels, and a bowl of popcorn lay just beside the fire. Other than the mess, it had worked perfectly, like always.

"W-Well, what do you think?" Adam said eventually.

Quinn picked a piece out of the bowl and inspected it closely. "I think we made one hell of a campfire in here."

"I thought you'd like it. Explosions, you know? I-It's pretty much our trademark."

Quinn smiled faintly. "Yeah. I missed this."

"Me too." Adam started to wipe the kernels into piles with his sleeve. "A-Are you doing okay now? I-I mean, with everything that happened... Are we back to normal?"

Quinn paused, before looking up at him. Then she nodded. "Yeah, we're good." She gestured at the desk. "We should probably clean this up, though."

Adam nodded and continued cleaning up the scraps, while Quinn picked up the lunchbox and closed the lid slowly, watching the fire die out right before the gap disappeared.

She stood up and walked over to the kitchen door. "It's getting late. I'll walk you home if you want. It's Luke's place now, right?"

"Yeah..." Adam looked surprised, but didn't argue. He just picked up his bag and followed her outside.

The street was quiet again, but it seemed different somehow to how it had been last time. The lights were all on in the houses and there was the faint sound of cars in the distance and people talking in the buildings around them.

It felt alive.

Neither of them seemed to want to disrupt it, and there wasn't much left to say anyway. Eventually they came to his house and she patted him on the shoulder affectionately.

"Right," she said. "Here we are."

Adam shifted his weight and looked away. "Yep. Here we are."

Quinn hesitated before eventually saying, "I just realised I never asked if you were okay."

He looked up at her. "Why would you ask that?"

"I don't know. Are you?"

"Yeah, of course. I mean, I'm better, I mean..." He ran his hand through his hair again. "I-It's still not fully sunk in yet that I don't have to lie to you anymore."

She put the lunchbox down on the counter delicately. "That's a big difference, huh?"

He shook his head, smiling slightly. "You have no idea."

She took a hesitant step forward, before hugging him again tightly. She felt a little awkward, but she didn't regret it. "I'm glad it's over now," she said, before pulling away.

Adam nodded again, and smiled. "Thank you."

"No problem." She cleared her throat, still feeling uncomfortable with the turn the conversation had taken. She gestured at the door. "If anything happens, call me. You can sleep on my couch or something."

"I'm good. I-In fact I'm great. He's great." He wasn't even attempting to hide his grin.

"Well, whatever happens, I'm here for you. I always will be."

He smiled faintly. "Yeah, I know."

"Good." She checked her watch. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Absolutely."

Quinn grinned at him before turning to go.

She saw a few cars on the road again and watched them disappear into the distance. It was strange how only one month had made her so aware of the other people around her. It didn't matter if she was on the street, in her house or somewhere else entirely. She was never the only one. There were always other people only a few minutes away. But none of them would hurt her. She knew that now.

It didn't matter what broke. It could always be put back together.

Closing her eyes, she touched her arm where it was numb and continued to walk, focusing only on the sounds of the street.