Chapter Twenty
I let the filth, sweat and blood of the last three days disappear slowly down the drain until I felt human again. The cut I had gained below my eye wasn't deep but it was angry and red and stung when I touched it. I still had a lingering bruise from where Grey had punched me shadowing the left side of my face.
Apart from that, I looked almost like I had in the city, though I didn't feel the same at all.
When I moved back into the bedroom, I found that someone had left me a fresh set of clothes and removed my filthy ones. I put on the soft vest top and pants and was relieved to find that they fitted me well, although they were a little long.
Refreshed and smelling a damn site better than I had in days, I crept back out onto the landing. The windows in the house were all securely shuttered from the outside and I moved to one at the end of the landing to inspect it.
I peered through the glass at the thick layer of metal and sighed. It looked like I still wouldn't have a room with a view. There was no way for me to tell the time, but it felt late and I didn't want to wake anyone.
My throat itched with thirst so I slipped down the stairs towards the room I had guessed was the kitchen. As I headed past the living area, I heard soft voices talking.
"It wasn't planned, it was like I was pulled to do it by something outside of myself." I recognised Coal's voice.
"Well if something outside of yourself told you to do it, that makes sense then." Alicia replied sarcastically. "I don't get why they went along with you."
"Most people would choose escape over death," he countered.
"Precisely, they were saving their own skins not interested in helping us."
"With what, our cause? Are you sure we're even interested in it? I don't remember getting much choice." There was a pause before Alicia answered.
"Of course we have a choice, you know that. Besides, what else is there?" she said finally.
"Who knows, maybe there's more to life than fighting." Coal sounded exhausted.
Alicia snorted. "You love a good fight."
"I do. But that doesn't mean that's all there is." He laughed.
"You've been talking like that a lot recently. Is this about her? I saw the way you looked at her," Alicia said suddenly.
"Well if you're so observant you will have also noted her boyfriend," Coal said bitterly.
"Not particularly, he wasn't exactly friendly."
Coal laughed at that. "I don't suppose he was."
I peeked around the corner and saw the two of them sitting on a lumpy couch with their backs to me.
"Are you sure about these people? Can we trust them?" Alicia asked, turning her head so that I had to duck back out of sight again quickly.
"As much as we can trust anyone I suppose," he replied.
"Well, seeing as you don't trust anyone, that doesn't mean much." I heard a noise that sounded like she might have thrown a cushion at him.
"I trust you," Coal said seriously.
"I don't count."
"I trust Hunter," he responded.
"Wow. Two people, don't go overboard."
Another long pause before he continued. "You know why that is. And I'm not really a people person, I don't need any more friends."
"Well, I like making friends."
"Girls never like you," he pointed out.
"That's not true. They just don't like that I'm stronger than their boyfriends. These girls are tough like me," Alicia sounded like she was smiling.
"No one is tough like you. Look, let's just trust that they'll want to help us or at least stay out here with us, more than they will want to try their luck back at the city. I don't think that's too much of a stretch of imagination," he said and I could hear him yawning as he finished.
"How have you been sleeping?" Alicia asked him suspiciously.
"Like the dead. Speaking of which, it's late." He sounded annoyed.
"I'm sorry, I'm playing mom again. You know I just worry about you," Alicia said gently.
"And I worry about you too, stop apologising. I'm fine, I promise."
"Okay, are you going to bed?"
"In a minute."
"I'll see you in the morning then." I heard Alicia climbing off of the sofa and ducked into the kitchen as stealthily as I could manage, hoping that she wasn't thirsty too. Thankfully, I heard her moving up the stairs.
I hastily got my glass of water which I downed in one before I filled another and slipped back out into the corridor. I paused for a moment by the door to the living area and saw the back of Coal's head still poking above the sofa.
I crept on by and put a foot on the first step of the wooden staircase.
"What are you up to?" Coal called out.
I paused, hoping that he might just have been talking to Kaloo.
"Maya?" he called out again. I moved back to the doorway grinning sheepishly.
"I was thirsty." I brandished my water as evidence.
"You look... different." His eyes studied my face and I dropped my gaze.
"I think what you mean is, I look clean." He watched me for a few more moments before looking away.
He'd had a shower too, his hair was wet and he'd had a shave. I bit my lip, wondering if I should make an excuse to leave.
"Are you tired?" he asked, reclining back onto the sofa and beckoning me into the room. I felt like I was in trouble and I dragged my bare feet across the soft carpet as I moved around to face him.
"I'm not sure. I'm physically exhausted but I'm so hyped up I'm not convinced I could sleep." I hovered by the arm of the sofa, not sure what to do with myself.
I glanced about the room, there were pieces of heavy wooden furniture lined with books and a stereo. The walls were painted a dark green but the room was big enough to hold the colour. I noted the fact that there was no TV and wondered what they did for entertainment.
"I'm not feeling too tired myself yet, do you want company?" He gave me an encouraging grin. I had no idea what I would say to him and was half tempted to refuse.
"Sure." I sank into the far end of the sofa but glanced back up at the stairs guiltily as I did so.
"If you'd rather be with Taylor-"
I shook my head. "There isn't much point, I just don't like leaving him up there alone, he might wake up and be confused without me there. But he hasn't shown any signs of waking up yet so..."
"I'm sure he'll wake up soon. We'll get him that help in the morning." Coal shifted uncomfortably in his seat, glancing at me and then away again. "Do you want a real drink?" he asked as he retrieved a large glass bottle filled with a dark brown liquid from the floor.
"What is it?" I asked, not recognising it.
"Whiskey," he said, getting up and pulling two round tumblers out of a cupboard on the far wall.
"What's that?"
"Alcohol." He stated.
I looked at him like he was speaking a foreign language and he laughed.
"Don't you have this in the city?" He pressed the small, curved glass into my hand and took my water away. The amber liquid inside winked warmly in the light and I could smell a strong but not unpleasant aroma coming from it.
"Not that I know of," I said as I took a swig from the glass. It burned my throat as I swallowed it in one and I coughed, feeling my eyes prickle.
"What the hell is it?" I gasped.
"I would have told you to have a sip first rather than down a whole glass!" He laughed at me.
I could feel a warmth in my stomach that spread slowly to my limbs.
"Is it drugged?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at him.
"No, it will make you a bit dizzy though and light headed. Here I'll catch you up." He smiled and knocked back the contents of his glass before pouring another and knocking that one back too.
"I think I like it," I said, feeling a grin spread across my face.
"Me too," he agreed and he sat down next to me, his side pressed against mine. He topped up our glasses again. I
lifted my glass to drink and he placed his hand over the top of it to stop me.
"It will make you dizzy and you'll enjoy it, but it'll make you sick if you drink too much and that's no fun." He smiled and released my glass.
"Okay, dizzy but not sick, that's easy enough to remember." I drained my drink and held the glass out again.
"Sure it is. I'm not gunna hold your hair back if you start throwing up," he said as he filled my glass.
"Well I won't hold your hair back either." I giggled and nudged him with my elbow as he took another sip of his drink, knocking some of it over the two of us which made me laugh even louder.
"Shhh you'll wake everyone up." Coal laughed too as he mopped some of the spilled mess off of us.
"Except for Taylor," I said, frowning.
"He'll be okay you know," Coal said, settling back into his seat.
"I know. He won't let a little thing like a bullet skimming his head keep him away from me for long." I smiled.
"He sounds... like he really cares about you and you about him," Coal said quietly, refilling his drink again.
"Of course." I nodded. "Like you and Alicia."
"He isn't your brother though is he?"
"Nope." I shook my head and it made me feel dizzy.
"Have you thought about what you want to do now?" Coal asked as he drank again.
"What do you mean?"
"Well I doubt you can go back to the city, unless you plan on serving really long sentences in SubWar." He smiled wolfishly over his glass at me.
"I hadn't thought about it really," I said, realising how stupid that must sound. "But everything about it out here just feels right to me."
"Everything?"
I nodded, unable to look away from his dark eyes. I was fairly sure I would answer anything he asked whether I wanted to or not.
"Even the swarm of psychotic cougars?"
"That place was like living in a cage, I just didn't realise until I was free." I finished another glass and let him refill it for me.
"You won't miss anyone?"
"Taylor's parents are the nearest thing to family I've had in a long time. I think they'd want me to be out here, living my life instead of stuck in there while it passes me by."
"We don't live an easy life out here." He traced a finger along a nasty scar that ran the length of his forearm as evidence. My hand moved over to touch it too, without me even realising I'd told it to.
"I'm not convinced life should be easy. Don't you think there's more to gain from something if it's hard to achieve?" I looked up into his eyes.
"I do actually." He grinned, drinking again.
I brushed my fingertips along the length of the scar. "What happened here?"
"Well, I was being an idiot."
"Really?" I smirked. I wouldn't have thought Coal would be the sort of person to easily admit when he was wrong.
"Yeah, it was a few years ago. I was learning how to fight with knives and, being an arrogant little moron, I took a stupid risk." He knocked another drink back and topped up our glasses again.
"What happened?" I breathed. My fingers tingled at the point where our skin touched.
"I saw some poachers in the forest near to our town and I thought, seeing as I was so big and tough, I would go and chase them off. After about a minute I realised I'd made a massive mistake. This guy managed to grab my knife and give me this." He indicated the scar. "Luckily, Alicia had seen what I was doing and ran for help. Hunter came and chased them off.
I wasn't his favourite person for quite a while after that. I'm glad I did it though, I needed to be knocked down a peg or two." He turned his head so that we were looking at each other again. My heart thumped unevenly.
"That does sound pretty stupid," I agreed quietly.
"Thanks. I'm sure you've been up to all kinds of crazy stuff up in your palace," he nudged me.
"Well no, obviously not." I sighed and turned to look at my drink. "Have you ever been inside a walled city?"
"No. Do you think I'd suit a life in there?"
I tried to picture Coal slowly pacing the corridors of the city, dressed in a somber grey suit and couldn't. I shook my head and laughed. "You're too... wild for a place like that."
"Wild?" He laughed too. I was suddenly very aware that my fingers were still trailing back and forth along the scar on his arm and I pulled my hand away.
"Like everything else out here. You couldn't be controlled like that, it would break you. Or more likely you'd break them." I smiled.
"Maybe you're right." He shifted his weight and leant his shoulder against mine. He surveyed me over his glass.
"It happens pretty often," I said, tipping back another whiskey. I could feel my head spinning and it made me laugh.
"I bet."
"What will I need to do now that I'm out here? I mean I can't just hang around taking handouts." I shook the glass of whiskey at him.
"That's not really up to me. It's up to you, we'll meet with the Elders tomorrow. Or probably just Baba because most of them are up in Franklin. She'll help you decide what your role out here will be."
"What's your roll?"
"A bit of anything I fancy. Mostly I track down things that people need or want and swap them for the things that I want. I help out on the farms sometimes, or do a bit of labouring from time to time," Coal said.
"It's just such a big world, now that I've seen it I can't wait to see more and more. In the city there is nothing else. I hadn't even seen a tree before. Not a live one anyway, or a bush or even grass. I hadn't seen animals or a lake or flowers or anything."
Coal didn't reply and I noticed that his breathing had become heavy and slow.
"Coal?" He was clearly asleep.
Not wanting to risk waking him, I shifted a little to get more comfortable, finished the last of my drink and let my eyes close too.