She's barely aware of the sound her scream makes as it splinters out of her mouth, the rack of the gunshot sending her world into fractals. Drywall dust explodes out from where Soul collides against it, breaking it easily. "NO!" she half-growls, half-yells, making a sloppy grab for the girl's gun. She just bats her away without any effort and Maka slumps down, curled into the floor in a crumpled heap. "No…" she sobs. "Just kill me."
The girl laughs. "So. You're one of us, then?"
Maka frowns and looks up from her hands.
The girl is talking to Soul's body, not Maka. Is she crazy? First, she's talking to herself and now to…
Oh.
Out of the debris and dust of the wall he now stands up, brushes himself off with one arm. The other arm is still a long, slender snake-like blade which appeared to have deflected the bullet.
"Soul!" she yells.
Soul coughs out some of the debris and lowers his scythe arm.
"You're a weapon, too," he regards the newcomer with a sneer. "One hell of a wavelength, you got there."
"Yeah, well, you should see mine!" the girl giggles.
"Oh, for God's sake girl, shut up already! We obviously aren't going to win this. He's a deathscythe, for goodness' sake."
Did that gun just talk?
Maka's mouth is pretty much permanently open at this point. She looks at Soul for some sort of explanation and a mere squeak comes out of her mouth.
"Can somebody tell me what the hell is going on?" she demands. "Did that gun just talk?"
"Yeah, and it has a name!" the gun sassily retorts.
She doesn't remember anything else, the last thing she remembers is Soul suddenly yelling her name before she passes out on the floor.
She's dizzy when she comes to again, her mind unfocused and her heart racing wildly.
"She's waking up," she hears a female voice croon from a chair nearby her. "Patty, grab her some water or something. We probably scared her half to death."
She panics as her vision clears and she sees the girl she came face to face with earlier, and another girl in the room with her. "Soul!" she yells.
"I'm here. Maka, it's fine. Relax." His soothing voice emanates from the couch. A quick glance at his face reveals that he's worried.
She stands up frantically and Soul rushes towards her, holding her shoulders and guiding her back down onto the chair. "Just relax. You're probably concussed."
"C-concussed…?"
"Yeah, you hit your head pretty bad back there!" an unfamiliar, new voice enters the conversation.
"Who are you?"
"I'm Liz… it's nice to meet you."
She feels woozy and looks for confirmation at Soul, who shrugs. "I just met them, too."
She grabs her head, which is throbbing and makes a groan of frustration. "My head is killing me."
"Here, have a painkiller," Liz hands her a few capsules of powdery white and the other girl, the one who had had a gun to her head a few mere minutes ago, passes a glass of water to her. Maka stares at her warily instead of thanking her, taking the glass and looking again at Soul for confirmation.
"It's fine, drink it," he nods towards her, then looks back at Liz. "She seem alright to you?"
"I'm not first-aid trained, but she doesn't have any memory loss and the bleeding stopped, so…"
"So maybe we'll wait around here for a couple days before we move on," he finishes. "You guys can feel free to stick around."
"We'll probably need your help getting to wherever it was you were talking about." Liz flips her long brown hair behind her back and Maka narrows her eyes at her. "I mean, from the way you describe it sounds like it's in the middle of nowhere."
Soul nods. "I'll take you. I'm taking her."
The scary girl giggles and Maka flinches away a few inches. "Stay away from me," she growls.
The girl just laughs. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you before… I'm Patty!" she sticks out her arm as if Maka is going to shake it. Maka stares at it for a few long seconds before looking in the opposite direction.
Liz vaguely smiles at Soul, who looks sternly back. "She's not… one of us. She only found out about all of this a few days ago. Just… give her a break, okay?"
"She your little girlfriend?"
"No, she just… I just picked her up back in Colorado. She's pretty tough, considering she's not from the academy…"
"We're not 'from the academy' either, you entitled prick!" Liz seems angry, suddenly. Maka wonders if they're friends or not, she can't seem to get an idea about it.
"Okay, okay. I know. I just meant that she's not a weapon."
"W-wait," Maka speaks up, trying to understand what's going on. "You mean that these guys are… like you?"
Soul makes a face and sighs. "Yeah. They're both gun types. Remember earlier? The gun that Patty was holding was actually, uh, it was Liz."
"What? Did you know them?" Maka squeaks.
"No! No. They didn't go to the academy."
Maka blinks in confusion, trying to sort this out in her brain. "So… how many of you are there?"
Liz blows air out her mouth, thinking. "Not many. Enough."
"That's not an answer…" Maka begins to tell her, but then she thinks of a more pressing accusation. "Anyway, why the hell did you threaten to shoot me? Why did you shoot Soul? And why are you suddenly all cool with each other?" she demands to know, crossing her arms.
Liz starts to answer but Soul cuts her off, deciding it would be better if he explained this.
"They were after food and weapons, Maka. Supplies are apparently scant around here. After Patty shot me and found out I was a weapon, I gave them some of our food if they stayed to help look after you. Then we got talking, and then you woke up." He raises his eyebrows. "End of story."
"So, what now?" she asks the obvious question.
"Stay here a few days while you rest," he glares at her. "-and then we're gonna keep heading to Nevada. With Liz and Patty," he adds helpfully.
She stays silent and bites her lip. "Fine." She raises her hands up in the air, deciding to trust his judgement. So far, he'd kept the two of them alive successfully. There was no reason not to trust him. And yet…
"Cool. Now, I think it's time to find something to eat…" he declares, his stomach rumbling as if to punctuate his point.
Patty licks her lips and agrees wholeheartedly with Soul.
