Day One.

"What's yer name, stranguh?"

The shivering woman before him could barely manage to find the words to answer him with. Tears were cascading down her face, smudging liner that was once neatly drawn above her bloodshot eyes.

"H...Hope."

The girl couldn't be too old. If The Merchant had to guess, she was around thirty, but no younger than twenty-five. Probably about twenty years younger than he was...the poor thing. He had known the ganado were getting more and more vicious by the day, but this was truly a cruel fate for someone so young.

The stranger named Hope was covered in scratches, bruises, and open wounds all over her arms, chest and neck. The way she was rocking back and forth on the dirt floor told The Merchant that she was truly traumatized from her encounter with the Plagas-infected villagers. And who wouldn't be? He wasn't phased by them anymore, because they didn't come after him. He...technically was one of them, after all. But he could conclude that the woman before him, who had a slight Southern drawl, had been terrorized, brutalized, and God knows what else by the sick bastards.

"Th...They killed my friends." Hope suddenly blurted, her eyes wide with shock. She looked up at The Merchant, who gazed back above his purple, knit face covering with an expression conveying empathy and pity. "Are you one of...them?"

The Merchant gave a slight chuckle. "No, stranguh, I'm not going to hurt you." He was smiling just a bit, not that she could see it, but he wanted to make her as comfortable as possible with his demeanor. "But ya need to tell me exactly what happened. Them villagers won't hurt ya while I'm around, but I need to know what we're dealin' with."

He had found her in the village fleeing Don Esteban, one of the townsfolk he'd been acquainted with before shit hit the fan in their small community of Pueblo. He had been chasing her with a pitchfork. They all were after her...Esteban, Jose, Miguel...but once The Merchant had stepped in, they all backed off. Now he and Hope were in the caves, one of the many underground passageways he knew about.

Hope cleared her throat, wiping tears from her cheeks as she tried to stop sobbing. "We were j-just backpacking and got lost...we crossed the bridge...we were just lost...how did this happen...?" She fought the urge to cry, and lost. The Merchant sighed.

"Look, stranguh, why don't ya just try and get some rest now? I can take us to my hideout if ya wanna be extra safe, I have some first aid there, and believe me, a LOT of guns...but I promise you, I will not let anythin' happen to ya, not while I'm around. And then we can continue talking about this tomorrow. Sound good?"

Hope nodded in agreement. After all, The Merchant guessed, she had not much left to lose.

—-

Day Ten.

It had been over a week since Hope had started living with The Merchant. His hideout was by the lake, which took a trip on a small pontoon boat to get there from the village itself. Hope didn't mind living there with him. He was mysterious, yes, but he hadn't hurt or attacked her...at least, not yet. He was sort of a kind soul, actually; one that Hope wasn't quite sure if she trusted yet, but he had given her no reason to be frightened of him.

It had taken her a few days to collect her sanity. After those...creatures had killed her three friends, the ones she had planned so many months to take this trip to Spain with, she was truly in shock and was unsure what to think. She had asked The Merchant what was going on, and initially he wouldn't really give her a concise answer. But he caved, no pun intended, just a few days ago.

He had let her know that these beasts, these former villagers, had been indoctrinated by some man named Osmund Saddler and his cronies. He had injected the villagers with some sort of parasite, which was enough to give Hope the heeby-jeebies, so she didn't ask for many more details. The Merchant wouldn't tell her anything about himself, though. Just that he was "around" at the time of the possession and had witnessed first hand the monstrous transformation everyone had taken.

The Merchant was so elusive, so private, that Hope was a little intimidated. He seemed nice enough...when you didn't take into account that his hideout was filled with arms, ammo, and other weaponry goods. Not that she really minded. She'd rather him pack heat than be defenseless amongst this plague.

His hideout was pretty decently sized. He had set up somewhat of a makeshift shoppe there, for whom he'd sell to, Hope didn't really know. Behind the counter was a bed, a table, and a basket full of fruits and vegetables for The Merchant to sleep and dine on. The bed...was filthy, but The Merchant insisted that Hope sleep there rather than on the moist dirt floor. As gross as it was, Hope truly appreciated his kind gesture. It wasn't completely rude of her anyway; at night, she noticed that The Merchant would sneak out of the cave and by morning, had come back with even more weapons, fruits, vegetables, and bottles of wine from the village. Might as well take it before it spoils, eh?

The Merchant himself was a strange fellow. He was clad in dark, drab colors, save for his purple face mask he wore. He wore a long and tattered cloak, a grey tunic, multiple ammo belts and a tool kit, ragged black pants, and brown knee high boots. He truly looked like a shady individual, and honestly, he was. He acted shifty around Hope a lot, but was otherwise friendly and talkative and had been gracious enough to offer his protection to Hope. She secretly hoped he was a knight in shining armor type, but was slowly coming to terms that he was just a squire in ratty clothing who felt sorry for her.

She didn't even know his name...

It was night time now, and The Merchant had disappeared into the cold night.

Hope lay on the stained mattress, her arms crossed behind her head. She was pondering what was going to happen to her, if she was ever going to make it back home. If she would ever leave this cave again. She closed her eyes and began to drift off to sleep, but not before thinking about The Merchant and what he looked like underneath that mask. She gave a soft smile...maybe one day she would find out. And that gave her the bit of optimism she needed to sleep soundly.

—-

A/N

Hi! This is my first fanfiction I've ever written to actually be submitted before human eyes, haha. I'm a die hard fan of The Merchant and wanted to write a selfship fiction. I hope that's not too weird. The initial chapter is just the introduction; I have quite a bit planned for this story and I'm excited to show others my ideas. Please leave a review if you'd like; just go a little easy on me since this is my first story. Thank you so much, and have a lovely day.