I fired my weapon and shot down three Ruffians as they charged towards us. There wasn't time to see what Maeve was doing. The constant sound of her pistol blaring was enough indication that was she still okay. A man with a huge red beard ran over to me and tried to jab me with his spear, but I dodged the attack and collided the butt of the rifle with his jaw. He fell down to his knees, and I kneed him in the face before turning around to dodge a flying spear. A woman was charging towards me with anger in her eyes and the man was getting up to his feet. Backing away from them, I reached into my utility belt and pulled out two throwing knives. There was no time to aim precisely, so I threw each knife towards my two attackers, hoping my quick aim was enough.
A knife lodged in the fiery bearded guy's throat, and he dramatically fell to the ground. The woman although, she was just fine. I pulled out my gun to shoot her, but as soon as I started to aim, I felt a sharp pain in my thigh. Yelling out in pain, I knelt down and nearly lost it. An arrow was embedded into the side of my thigh. I fell down to the ground and I could hear the woman approaching me. Fuck. Grabbing my rifle that I had dropped, I aimed at the woman once again, but before I could let out a shot, a small figure came from behind her and slit her throat. I stared in astonishment as I looked around. All the Ruffians were dead. What the fuck? Maeve killed a majority of them.
"That doesn't look good," she said as she leant down beside me. She touched the arrow and screamed out loud. "Shit, sorry! Uh, should I take it out?"
"Fuck no," I yelled as I laid back on the ground. I put my hands over my face and groaned in pain. "If I take it out, I'll be bleeding more than I already am." Maeve sighed and took off her backpack. I peeked through my fingers as I watched her take out some medical supplies. The group from earlier walked up behind her, none of them were harmed. The little boy was hiding just like before.
"I was a nurse," the mother of the kid said, as leant across from Maeve. She took the medical supplies and Maeve gave her a look of distrust. "Seriously, I can help your friend." Maeve's eyes glanced over at me and I just nodded. If this woman said she could help me then I was all for it. "Take off your shirt, we'll need it to cover the wound as a tourniquet," she instructed me. I sat up a bit, and pulled my shirt over my head. Maeve took it since the woman was drenching her hands in alcohol. This wasn't going to be good.
-
I squinted as the former nurse used both of her hands to yank the arrow out of Venice's thigh. The injured girl screamed so loud that I was sure she was heard for miles. "Fuck! Fuck," she kept yelling repeatedly, as she sat up on her elbows to stare at the woman. Her face was turning all red, and I thought she was going to pass out. The woman ignored Venice's swears and poured alcohol on the wound. Venice began calling the woman every name in the book as she aided her. "It's going to be okay, Venice. She's making it better," I told her as the woman wrapped Venice's leg with her shirt. Speaking of Venice's shirt, can I just say her body was hot? Okay, Maeve, this was not the time.
Venice began calming down through the process as the woman wrapped the wound. "I hope the Tower has somewhere that can stitch you up," the former nurse said once she was done. "That wasn't the proper way to treat a wound like that, but I just wanted to make sure you didn't get infected before you made it back to the Tower." Venice mumbled a thank you as she covered her face.
"My wife aided you," the leader of the group said as he looked at Venice. "I think we earned our spot." I looked over at Venice. The least she could do was let the people stay, even if they weren't able to get a sufficient amount of food. Venice seemed as if she didn't hear the man. Maybe she was in a daze from so much pain.
"Venice, just let them come and stay. They can share one room and get small rations. They helped us," I pleaded. Venice grimaced either at me or her thigh. She slowly forced herself to get up on her two feet. I was surprised at how easy she got up. There was struggle but not that much.
"We don't have space. Now, if you can excuse me, I need to get to my uncle." Venice started walking away. She had a mean limp, and I was stunned she wanted to commit to the journey. I'm sure we could get someone else from the Tower to take her uncle's stuff to him. She held the box firmly in one arm, and I groaned. She thought she was so tough.
I turned to the people who were still staring at her walk away hopelessly. "Go to the Tower and tell them that Venice said you could stay, okay? That'll let you stay," I whispered so Venice couldn't hear me.
"What the hell are you waiting for," Venice yelled. I turned to see her about to turn the corner. After giving the people a reassuring smile, I ran over to Venice. "What did you tell them," Venice asked as she kept walking.
"I told them you were a dick and that you said you'd let them stay at the Tower."
"What?!"
"Okay, I didn't really say you were a dick."
"Maeve!"
"They need somewhere to go Venice! I told them to give the people your name and that they could stay in the Tower." Venice looked as if she wanted to choke me out, but I didn't care. They had a child and a former nurse. The nurse could be extra help in the sickbay, and the child deserved shelter.
"Yeah, and now Rock and my father are going to chew my ass out," Venice grumbled.
We walked for at least twenty minutes. There was no interruptions, but a few feasters. I taught Venice my method to sneak by them, and she seemed somewhat impressed. She was still mad about me inviting the people to stay at the Tower. Not much was said until we reached some old, shack like building, behind a bunch of big, tall buildings. It was like it was hidden. From the streets, you couldn’t even see it. Venice gave the door three soft knocks, and then shuffling was heard. The door swung open and a man pulled Venice and I in. Venice grimaced at the pain of her thigh as the man grabbed her. He looked just like her father, but he seemed a bit rougher around the edges. Nark seemed rested, but this guy seemed like he hadn’t had sleep in forever. “Did you get my stuff,” he asked gruffly as he took the box from Venice’s hand. Venice took a well needed seat as her uncle went through the contents of food, water and other necessities. “Who’s she?”
“A stubborn girl named Maeve,” Venice said as she stretched out her leg. “As fun as it would be to stay, Uncle, I think we should go. We got attacked by a couple of Ruffians and an arrow was lodged in my thigh.” I looked around the man’s little shack. It was cluttered with pictures and papers with tons on information on them. I don’t know what the information contained but it at least looked important. On a shelf, he a two green plants that stood tall. They looked so familiar. Cannabis! This dude grew Cannabis!
“That’s illegal,” I blurted as I stared at the plants.
“Yeah, tell me that when we actually have some form of government controlling us. This, right here, is a free state. Enjoy it while you can, sister,” the man said as I grabbed a granola bar from his box of supplies. “Matter of fact, Venice, roll you one or two to go. Sure will help with the pain. Actually,” the man got up and shuffled around his room. He felt all over his body, and then he reached behind his ear. I hadn’t even noticed the joint he had planted there. Is that why he had so much paper? “Here you go, darling.” He gave the stick to Venice and lit it for her. Venice’s uncle was right about New York not having any authority right now, but still I had the feeling I was going to get arrested. The only bad thing I did was smoke cigarettes, which didn’t even become a habit until all of this went down.
“Already feeling better,” Venice said as she chuckled. The smoke from the joint was blew in my face when she talked.
“Rude.”
“Want a hit?”
“You? Yes.”
Venice rolled her eyes but gave me a small smirk before taking another puff from the rolled substance. She walked over to me slowly and handed me the burning stick. “Take a hit.” I acted like I was going to hit her in her wounded thigh and she jumped out of the way before I could. “Fuck, you’re mean,” she said as she moaned at the pain of moving so quickly.
“I saved your life,” I reminded her, before daring to take a drag from the joint. Maybe I was being a bit dramatic, but one hit from that fucking joint made me feel totally different. “What the-”
“Grade A grass. I’d have to kill you if I told you what I fertilized it with,” her uncle chuckled. What was even his name?
“What’s your name?”
“Forrest.”
Venice rolled her eyes, “It’s Tom, but he calls himself Forrest for some odd reason.” She took the joint from me, and continued to smoke. After a few drags, she gave the joint back to Forrest and/or Tom. I think I liked Forrest a bit better. “We better get going before it gets too crazy out there,” Venice said as she grabbed her gun. “Stay safe, Uncle.”
“Will do,” Forrest responded back.
We were back on the road again. Venice was a bit quiet, so I decided to strike up some sort of conversation. “When did you lose your virginity?” Venice gave me a weird look. I guess that really was an awkward question to ask out of the blue. She kept walking with that scowl on her face, and stared off ahead of us. There was some friendlies walking by and they just waved a hello before going on their way.
“Nineteen, so two years ago,” Venice stated as she stared behind us to make sure the friendlies were actually friendlies and not literally backstabbers. She turned back around and then glanced over at me.
“Was it fun?” Venice laughed out loud at me and I blushed. “What!? You lost your virginity during all of this!”
“I did and it was fun. I enjoyed it,” Venice said with a shrug. “It took a lot of stress off of my mind. I used to be real mean before sex.”
I scoffed at her. “You still are! You haven’t even thanked me for saving your life yet! I slit the woman’s throat for you, and I killed more people then you today yet I haven’t got any praise!”
Venice stopped walking and so did I. She bowed down slightly with a sarcastic look on her face. “Thank you, your Highness,” she replied in a monotone voice. I smacked her injured thigh and she screamed.
“Don’t be a smartass. You’re welcome, by the way. Next time, I’ll just let you die.” Of course, I wouldn’t actually let Venice die. She may be an asshole, but she was nice to stare at. Her looks were the only thing that kept me from not truly hating her.
“If you let me die, then you’ll have no one to talk Rock out of kicking you out of the Tower. She hates your guts for some reason. I think it’s the innocent attitude. You should look a bit meaner, you know? A bit more intimidating. Walk around like people should be scared of you.”
“Like this,” I asked as I tried to upgrade my walk. I think I turned out looking more of a pimp then a tough girl. Venice laughed at me and I tried to mock her strut, but I think I looked just as stupid. “Is this intimidating,” I asked as I walked with my head held high.
“If intimidating is the new adorable, then yes,” Venice replied. Her reply caught us both off guard. Did she just call me adorable? I was pretty sure she didn’t like me that well. Maybe she found me attractive, just like I found her attractive, but at the same time she found me to be a butthole. Venice cleared her throat awkwardly and of course instead of letting the moment of awkwardness past by silently, I embraced it.
“Are you trying to say I’m adorable,” I asked as I batted my eyelashes at her playfully. I twirled my hair with my fingers as I stared at her. She was trying to hold back a smile, but she was doing so horribly. “What’s the most adorable thing about me? Is it my eyes? The way I talk? Is it the way I slit people’s throats for you? Which one is it, Venice!?”
Venice rolled her eyes at me, and decided not to answer me, but I wasn’t going to let her off hook that easily. “Do you think my butt is cute,” I asked as I tried to stare at my rear end. “I don’t have that much of a butt. Maybe I should do some squats, what do you think?” I looked at Venice’s butt and laughed a bit. “You have a cute little booty. It’s way better than mine,” I complimented. To my surprise, Venice actually blushed. I pinched her butt cheek and she yelled a bit in surprise. “It’s really nice. Soft, but kind of firm. You know?”
“Fuck off, Maeve.”
“Venice has a cute butt,” I screamed to the top of my lungs. All of a sudden Venice grabbed me from behind and covered my mouth with hers, which was very unsanitary especially in a time like this. She held me tightly as the back of my body pressed to the front of hers. It was kind of like when we first encountered each other.
“You’re going to get us killed,” she whispered into my ear. Why the hell did that turn me on? She was probably right. Yelling attracted Hearers and bad groups, but it was just too much fun messing with her. Plus, if almost getting us killed got me a chance to cop a feel then I wasn’t too good to risk it. Damn, I sounded like a horndog. “We’re ten minutes from the Tower, do you think you can shut your big mouth for a second?” I nodded my head and Venice slowly let me go. I waited exactly a second.
“Venice has a really cute bum, ladies and gen-” I was interrupted once again by Venice, but this time it wasn’t by her hand clasping my mouth but, it was her lips capturing mine. It was so sudden and weird. She had fucking kissed me. The kiss was quick, but it still happened. When it was over, she began walking again like she never did it. I felt my lips before tucking my bottom lip between my teeth. She probably just did that to get me to be quiet, and I admit, she had won this round because I was speechless.
-
What do you think about the kiss and Venice getting shot?
And what about the group that Maeve told to go to the Tower?