Chapter 3-Oh No
Third Person:
"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, you hit a dude!"
"At least I didn't hit on him," John said.
"And you wonder why we never let you drive on missions," Beni muttered as she quickly grabbed her crutches and go out of the car.
"Stay in the car," he told Carla, before going out and joining Beni, who was already leaning over the man.
"He just came out of nowhere," John said.
"I know, I was just taking a serious situation and putting a little bit of comical relief in it. It's what every story needs. Anyway, he looks fine. He's just unconscious, and he's got a bad bump on the head with a few scrapes here and there."
Beni looked over the man with a careful eye. He was wearing a faded brown hoodie and an old pair of jeans with an equally old baseball cap crammed over his long hair. He also wore combat boots and black, leather gloves. Beni made a split second decision.
"Get him in the car, we're taking him to my place,"
"What? Beni, are you serious? You don't even know the guy. he could be some-"
"-Crazy killer or rapist, or something else really bad. But he could also be a really nice, misunderstood guy who didn't see us coming. I left a colonel, making my rank higher than yours, so get him in the goddamned car so we can take him to my house and patch him up. If he leaves, he leaves. At least I can say that I tried."
John sighed, knowing that there was no arguing with Beni when she got that tone of voice. But then it hit him.
"When did you get promoted to a colonel?"
"After I brought Troy, Derek, and about fifty other men back to camp, safe and sound. Ish. I got a Medal of Honor, too. But that's not important."
John stared with his mouth open for about a split second before picking the fallen man up and putting him in the backseat.
"Get in the front seat, okay sweetie?" He said to Carla. She nodded and climbed up front without getting out, while Beni took Carla's old spot by the window behind John's seat. She set her crutches in the floor and pulled the Mystery Man in a little more so that his feet weren't dangling off the seat. John shut that door, Beni shut her door, and John climbed back into the driver's seat.
"And that, Kid, is why you always look at the road when you're driving."
Carla nodded and buckled up, and Beni looked down at the man's head that was now in her lap. She was able to see more features now that she was in the car.
He had brown hair that smelled and looked like a rat's nest, and it somehow went well with his little stubble across his face. His hoodie was torn in a few places, and there was dirt all over it. His jeans were in the same condition. But what Beni noticed most of all was the little flash of metal every time they passed under a street light. She looked at the two in the front seat, then back at the man. The flash was coming from his arm. She pulled up his sleeve a little bit, only to find that there was no real flesh. Only metal plates. She quickly out the man's sleeve back down, pretending like she never saw anything. Sometimes ignorance really is bliss. She was just going to assume that this was one of those times.
By the time they made it to Beni's new house, Carla was asleep, and honestly, neither Beni or John could blame her. They were just as worn out, despite the hours that Beni had on the plane and in the airport while she was waiting on John. They had already stopped by the land lord to get the keys to the house, and she had a friend move some of her stuff from her storage locker to her porch.
"How far back to your place?" Beni asked John as she climbed out, careful of the Mystery Man's head.
"From out here? Forty-five minutes at the least," he replied. Beni sighed and looked at her watch.
"Well, it's almost nine now. Do you wanna spend the night or something?"
John sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. He looked back to the car where Carla was sleeping. Slowly he started to nod.
"Yeah, if you don't mind."
"You hit a dude with your car just to give me a long ass ride because all of my money is in one of these boxes. It's the least I could do."
"Thanks. I'll bring those two in while you unlock the door and bring some of the boxes in."
Beni nodded and pulled out the key while John went back to the car to get Carla.
Once she got the door open, she hobbled inside and turned the light on, taking in everything about her new home. It smelled a little like cinnamon, but with a hint of a hidden air freshener. The carpet was brown, and there was a green couch and a red arm chair in the living room. Across from there was a flat screen TV that she knew was probably broken considering there would be no way that she would be able to afford one. But she could fix it with no problem. There was a second floor, but there was no way in hell that she was going to try and climb those just yet. A little more looking around and she found that there were two rooms on the bottom floor, along with the kitchen and laundry room.
"Nice place," John whispered as he carried Carla in. "I'm gonna put her upstairs. There is no way in hell I am climbing stairs with a grown ass man in my arms up a flight of stairs this late at night."
Beni breathed a little more air out her nose than usual, indicating that she was amused.
"Fair enough. There are some blankets in..." Beni got down on the ground and pulled a couple of boxes inside. Once she looked through them, along with four more boxes, she finally found a blanket. By that time John was already going back outside to get the guy he hit with his car. Beni huffed and scooted her body so that she was almost half out. Thankfully the boxes and bags had been put close enough to where she can put them in with little effort. And because she was lazy when she wanted to be, she just set them right by the door, but out of the way so John didn't trip over them. By the time she was done, John was waiting patiently for her to move her butt back in the house so he could go through without any threat to his life. Once everything and everyone was in, she closed the door with her foot and locked the door.
One night. It wouldn't be to bad, right?
Right?