Brucie Boy part 36

Zai was half carrying Curiosity now and she was beginning to get heavy. They were nearing the bridge now. The GPD had left to go search the down town area for her. Orderlies were posted at the gate but some looked as if they were going to fall asleep or simply didn't care much.

She sighed and began to drag Curiosity down under the bridge away from the orderlies at the gate.

"Come on Sadie! WALK! You're legs aren't broken!"

"My name's not Sadie… It's Curiosity… I think… Yeah, Curiosity." She muttered sleepily, yawning in midsentence.

"Fine if you're not going to walk…SWIM!" Zai said thrusting Curiosity out in front of her into the river below.

Curiosity went wide eyed as she hit the ice cold water. She stood up after a minute, getting used to the current and temperature, staggering slightly as she did so.

Zai laughed hysterically as Curiosity pulled a brown leaf out of her hair.

"Ha ha! Very FUNNY!"Curiosity said emphasizing the last word as she pulled Zai down with her.

Zai sputtered as she sat up frowning, Curiosity laughed hysterically now, falling backwards as Zai got up and shoved her. They both laughed hysterically for a while. The river was too noisy for their laughter to be heard by anyone above them; still they attempted to quiet themselves.

The wind was cold and they shivered a little.

"That probably wasn't the BEST idea in the world but it WAS pretty funny." Zai said as another wave of cold air whipped at their backs.

Curiosity snickered. "Yeah, it was. We can't do much about it now though."

"I guess we better start walking."

Curiosity nodded, wringing out her hair and uniform.

"We need a new change of clothes anyway." She said making her way down the bank.

"Where are you going?" Zai asked, running to catch up with her.

Curiosity stopped for a moment and gave Zai an odd expression as if she were considering telling her but had decided against it. She then started walking towards the woods.

"A friend's house…"

Zai gave her a confused look but remained silent and followed close behind.

The woods were a nice relief from the wind but they were both chilled to the bone by the time they arrived at a small cul-de-sac on the outer edge of the woods.

"So… which one is it?" Zai asked.

Curiosity looked around until she saw a relatively small house with Christmas decorations lining the widows and roof. A reindeer moved up and down mechanically in the front yard.

"That one." She said treading down the slope towards the house.

Zai followed and stopped at the back door of the house. Curiosity felt around under the doormat until she came up with a key and unlocked the door.

"You're sure your friend doesn't mind us staying here?"

Curiosity looked at her coolly and then laughed, receiving a rather confused look from Zai.

"No," she said walking in and up to a nearby chair and spinning it around, "He doesn't seem to mind anything anymore."

Zai's eyes widened and she felt as if she were going to puke. An older man lay slumped over in the chair, his throat slit open. Dark dried blood covered the chair and floor. He had obviously been there for a while. He was beginning to decompose and she could now smell him from the doorway.

Curiosity seemed unperturbed by either the sight or Zai's discomfort and walked into the nearest bedroom and flipped the light on.

"Well? Are you coming?" she asked stepping back into the doorway of the bedroom.

Zai took one last look at the gruesome sight and then walked into the bedroom with Curiosity.

Curiosity flung open a large walk in closet door and stepped inside.

"You're about my size right?" She asked peering back at Zai.

"Uh… yeah…?" Zai said uncomfortably.

"Ok, here! Catch!" She said throwing a nice white sweater and a pair of dark blue jeans at her.

Zai caught them and looked inside the closet. The entire closet was filled with expensive looking clothes and shoes.

"It's a good thing I went shopping before…this." She said gesturing towards her hair.

Zai shivered at the memory of that night.

"Here are some pajamas! There's a guest room down the hall to the right." She said throwing Zai a pair of dark blue pajamas as she went to crank up the thermostat on the wall "Looks like we're having a slumber party tonight!"

Zai laughed uneasily. "GREAT…! I'm just going to go… um… change."

Curiosity smiled warmly at her. Zai turned and headed down the hall to the last room on the right and flipped the light on. She sighed in relief when she saw there were no dead men in her room.

Zai quickly changed into the blue pajamas and looked at herself in the mirror on the dresser. Her hair was still damp and it seemed to be going in six different directions at once. She sighed and saw that there was a brush on the dresser and began to run it through her hair to fix it.

When she finished she sighed and lay down on the bed for a few minutes, relaxing, if you could call it that.

After about twenty minutes someone knocked on her door. Zai got off the bed and answered the door. Curiosity smiled at her holding a bowl of soup.

"Do you want some?" She asked.

"Uh… sure. Thanks." Zai said, taking the bowl from her.

Curiosity was dressed in a pair of light blue pajamas with sheep printed all over them. This made her look a lot younger than she actually was and almost made her seem sort of innocent. Her hair was pulled back in a short messy green ponytail.

Zai starred at the soup for a moment before taking a spoonful in. Curiosity smiled at her but didn't show her teeth.

"It's chicken and noodle soup." Zai smiled now.

"It's good. So, no hard feelings about…" she pointed to her hair.

Curiosity thought a moment, her smile dropping temporarily.

"Only if there are no hard feelings about my drugging you and dragging you out of Arkham. Thanks for saving me with crane by the way… Crazy son of a bitch, I didn't even do anything to him!"

Zai laughed nervously.

"No problem and no hard feelings… so… truce?"

Curiosity smiled and shook Zai's hand.

"Truce."

"Just one thing…" Zai said carefully.

Curiosity eyed Zai oddly.

"What?"

"Could we get rid of the dead guy over there? He really stinks." She said pointing to the living room and holding her nose.

Curiosity laughed and plopped down on the bed.

"Yeah… he does kind of stink doesn't he?"