Snippet #2388950

The Apartment- Lower Manhattan

I look to her as she says this. "That I have..." I say with a slight smile, scavenging a slightly cracked bowl and set of silverware from the kitchen. Everything except for usable weapons such as knives were still here. Sliding the now rice-filled bowl in her direction, I nudge in the air as a notion. "You're clammy, so go ahead and eat first." Standing from the floor, my feet slip up onto the counter as I position both my backpack as a pillow and shotgun to the balcony like before. After she finishes eating a reasonable portion of the rice, my feet do the opposite as before while I scoop her from the floor onto the mattress and cover her in the few sheets that remain. "You need that leg of yours to fix up, so the counter is where my bed is tonight. Try and get some rest tonight, okay?" Finishing the statement awkwardly, I leave for the counter where I will both eat and watch for intruders the whole night.

The Next Morning

Waking up from the very uncomfortable position I slept in, the cracked bowl from my meal last night lay on my side and my shotgun at the floor barely touchable. Standing and stretching, my feet slump to the bathroom while my canteen drips as a light shower to wash my face as routine. Me and Bud never had the glory of a shower, only sometimes a bath at any shelter we could manage to stay in.

Entering the bedroom, the woman was laying silent as she was last night; still in the sun that came in from the windows. Gently tapping her shoulder to check on the progress of her leg and hunger, she sits up with a cracked smile. "How did you sleep? That leg doesn't seem to be bleeding much." I pat on her leg and sit on the side of the mattress, waiting for a response.