Chapter 2: The Deal
Eleven other people had come with Jaha on his "mission." Most of them were older, adult-looking people. There were only two that appeared to be somewhere around Murphy's age. One was a tall guy with sandy blond hair, and the other was much shorter, wore a grey beanie and seemed to be intent on keeping his eyes on his shoes as they walked. Murphy didn't know either of them, although the taller one looked slightly familiar. He didn't think he knew him from the Ark, but likely had seen him around Camp before they'd left. The shorter one he didn't think he'd ever laid eyes on before.
The first day they spent hiking through the woods, with the immediate destination being somewhere Jaha called "the Deadzone." Murphy remarked that it sounded like party, and that he personally could not wait to get there. Truthfully, he wasn't being as sarcastic as he sounded. While anywhere called the Deadzone did not actually sound like a party to him, he was anxious to get out of the forest. Bad things had happened to him in forests.
They stopped as dusk approached, and set up camp for the night. Jaha began pairing people off and giving them orders to hunt for food, or set up the tents. Murphy was paired with the short kid who stared at shoes, who apparently was named "Mouse." Their job was too find kindling for the fire.
The walked through the woods slowly, searching for fallen branches and easily snapped twigs. Murphy couldn't help looking up at every noise, eyes roaming over the surrounding trees in search of approaching grounders. It wasn't safe, to be out in the woods like this all split up. He should have said something, warned the others about the risks. Sure, back at camp they had a shaky alliance with the grounders, but out here he wouldn't trust any of them to honour it.
"Are you alright?"
Murphy jumped slightly, and gritted his teeth, embarrassed. He must look like an idiot. "Yeah, fine," He grunted, not looking towards the other boy.
"Are you sure? You seem kind of jumpy..." Mouse sounded more wary than concerned.
Murphy turned and scowled at him. "I'm just looking out for grounders," He said.
Mouse raised an eyebrow. "I thought they weren't our enemies anymore,"
Murphy couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Right, that'll last..." He muttered. "And what makes you think every single grounder knows that, anyways? You think the Commander sent out a memo? Doubtful,"
A concerned expression grew on Mouse's face. He looked around nervously. "You think they'd attack us?"
"I know they would," Murphy said. He walked off, and heard Mouse coming quickly after him. He smiled slightly. Part of him felt bad, for passing his own paranoia on to someone else. But only part of him.
They walked in silence for a little while longer, and Murphy's agitation began to grow. The longer they stayed out, the more their chances of being skewered seemed to rise. "So what kind of a name is Mouse, anyways?" Murphy asked, trying to take his mind off his worries.
Mouse paused, in the middle of snapping a long, thin branch in half. "It's a nickname," He said shortly, then snapped the branch with a loud crack. Murphy tried not to think about how he'd just announced their location to anyone listening.
"Why?" Murphy asked, turning around and picking some sticks up off the ground. "Eat a lot of cheese?"
The question was rhetorical; cheese hadn't been an easy ration to come by back on the Ark, and somehow Mouse didn't strike him as someone who came from a family that could afford that kind of thing.
Mouse shrugged. "I don't know," He said. He sniffed slightly, and his nose twitched. "Just what people call me."
Murphy looked at him for a moment, and decided he got it; Mouse was short and scrawny, had a red twitchy nose and was just generally undeniably mouse-like. The grey beanie he wore just added to the effect. In fact, the only part of him that didn't remind Murphy of a mouse was his eyes, which were wide and round, instead of dark and beady.
"The Chancellor said your name was... John, right?" Mouse asked. He hesitated strangely over his name, as if it was unpleasant on his tongue.
"Yeah, but call me Murphy," Murphy said. "Everyone does," Mouse nodded slightly, and though it may have been his imagination, Murphy thought he looked slightly relieved. Obviously this kid had some issues of his own. "And you know he's not the Chancellor anymore, right? Not that he'd correct you himself..."
"Oh... yeah, I guess," Mouse walked ahead of him, still looking down at the ground.
"What made you decide to leave camp?" Murphy asked. "You don't have any friends or family back there?" He snorted. "Or are they what you're trying to get away from?"
Mouse shook his head. "It's just me," He said quietly. Murphy waited for him to elaborate, but nothing else followed. Murphy sighed slightly. Conversing with Mouse was not proving to be the engaging distraction he'd hoped for. "We should go back," Mouse said. Murphy raised his eyebrows. "The suns getting low, we have enough sticks... we should head back."
"Alright," He said, reasonably eager to be back with the others. Safety in numbers and whatever.
As they walked back, Mouse continued to stare at his shoes. Murphy watched him for a little, and wondered how the hell he didn't walk into a tree.
"So what you're deal, anyways?"
Mouse looked up, a blank expression on his face. "Huh?"
"Your deal," Murphy repeated. He wasn't sure what he expected Mouse to say, but something about the kid was rubbing him the wrong way. He was too small and twitchy, too quiet. It was unnerving. "Why are you so..." He shrugged. "Weird?"
Mouse's eyes narrowed, apparently insulted. "What's your deal?" He said, injecting more feeling into his voice than Murphy had heard so far.
"I don't have a deal," Murphy said.
Mouse snorted. "Right, sure." He said. Suddenly, a frightened look came over his face, and he looked around. "Wait, did you hear that?" He asked, a quiver in his voice. Murphy looked around, feeling something cool settle in his stomach. "I think it might be grounders...!"
"What?" Murphy asked, feeling his throat dry up. What the hell did he do? He had no weapons with him, no way to defend himself. All he had was a bundle of sticks, and he seriously doubted he be able to do much damage with some twigs.
The look on Mouse's face turned from horror to amusement, and slowly Murphy realized he'd been fucking with him. "So, the deal with you and grounders is...?"
Murphy gritted his teeth. He mulled over the possibility of murdering Mouse, strangling the life out of him or beating him to death with a nearby log. But then showing up back at camp without him would look suspicious, and he doubted Jaha would approve when he saw Mouse's mangled corpse...
Murphy took a deep breath, and strode past Mouse. "If you ever pull something like that again, I will fucking kill you," He said. Mouse snorted slightly. "Let's go,"
At night they sat around the fire, while half of them slept and the others kept watch. Due to the lack of tents, everyone had to share with someone. Much to Murphy's irritation, Jaha told them that they'd be staying with the people he'd already paired them up with, which meant Mouse was his new bunk buddy.
When it was his turn to rest, Murphy had an impossible time falling asleep. Not just because the ground was hard and the air was hot, or because he was still in the woods surrounded by potential grounders. There was all of that, and in addition to it, Mouse turned out to be an extremely restless sleeper.
The tent was small, and the boy sleeping next to him was inches away as he tossed and turned, mumbling to himself and throwing his arms out, as if trying to stop some invisible attacker. Murphy considered suffocating him a few times, but again decided better of it. He was supposed to be turning over a new leaf, after all. One where he didn't suffocate people. Or, at the very least, suffocated less people.
"John—no, stop, John—"
Murphy sat up slightly, discerning his own name amongst Mouse's mumblings.
"John, please—no—"
Murphy furrowed his brow, wondering if Mouse was actually awake, and somehow aware that Murphy was lying there considering his murder. Mouse flipped from his stomach onto his back, brow furrowed and face twisted into his grimace. Apparently he was still asleep, and dreaming about Murphy.
Murphy nudged the guys shoulder. "Hey, cheese-breath, wake up," He whispered. Mouse winced, but continued to sleep. Murphy shook his harder. "I said wake up—"
Suddenly Mouse's eyes sprang open and he bolted upright, fist coming up and smacking Murphy right in his lip. Pain rocketed around Murphy jaw and he cried out, tasting blood. "What the fuck—!"
"Murphy? What—oh, man..." Mouse said, staring at Murphy with wide eyes. "Did I get you?"
"No, I just sometimes bleed spontaneously from my mouth!" Murphy snapped. "Yeah, you friggin' got me,"
"Well... I'm sorry," He said, stiffly, running his hand over his shortly cropped hair. Without his beanie on, Murphy saw that he had big, round ears which stuck out on either side of his head. No wonder he was called Mouse.
Murphy glared at him. "Why were you saying my name?" He asked.
"Huh?"
"My name," Murphy repeated. "You were saying it in your sleep. Why?"
Mouse furrowed his brow. "I was saying Murphy?"
"You were saying John,"
A funny look came over Mouse's face. "Oh," He said, looking away. "That's... it was a different John," He said quietly. "Someone I used to know... back on the Ark."
That made sense. John was a fairly common name back on the Ark. Murphy had known at least six other John's, not including Mbege. It was why he typically went by his last name. "Right," Murphy said. "Sounds like he was a good friend,"
Mouse looked back up sharply. "What else did I say?" He asked, sounding worried. "What did you hear?"
Murphy shrugged. "I don't know, nothing," He said. He touched his lip, which was throbbing, although the bleeding seemed to have stopped. "Hell of a right hook you got,"
Mouse looked at him, jaw clenched. "You're sure you didn't hear anything?" Murphy shrugged again. "Then why'd you say that?"
"I don't know, I guess because you looked like you were trying to fight someone off," Murphy. He lay back down, and closed his eyes. "And you kept mumbling no,"
Mouse took in a deep breath. "And that's all?"
"Yeah," Murphy said. "That's all,"
Mouse lay back down. "Good,"
Murphy stared at him for a moment, and decided that whatever this kids deal was, he didn't want to know.
