Chapter 10

Shilo woke to Graverobber tossing and turning in his sleep. She eyed him worriedly before finally reaching out and shaking him gently by the shoulder. He sat up with a start. After quickly taking stock of where he was and who he was with, he dropped back onto the pillows and stared tiredly at the canopy. "Are you okay Graverobber?" Shilo asked him. There was marked concern in her voice.

He stretched a bit, working out a couple of the kinks that had embedded themselves in his muscles. "I'm fine."

She regarded him closely. "Is there something wrong? Is it too warm in here? I could open a window for you, or if theres something that I could do to make you more comfortable....."

"Ya don't gotta do anythin' kid. I'm fine... really. Just not used to sleepin' in a real bed that's all." Shilo still didn't look convinced. "Come 'ere and lay down with me. I promise you I'll sleep good til the morning this time."

Shilo let out a drowsy giggle. "Technically it is morning. The curtains are just closed."

He gave her a lopsided smile. "You always gotta be a smartass huh? C'mon, its time to rest now." Shilo lay down beside him, twined an arm around his waist, and rested her head on his chest. He drew her body closer to his and petted her hair. "Goodnight kid." Before long they both drifted into a deep and well deserved sleep.

The next time Shilo awoke the clock on her bedside table read 3:37pm. She sat up slowly so as not to wake Graverobber. It didn't work. He drowsily cracked open one eye and, seeing that it was only Shilo, settled back into a dreamless sleep. Shilo waited for his breathing to become deep and even again before she made her way quietly down the stairs the way she used to when she would sneak out to visit her mothers tomb. She found her way into the kitchen and began opening and closing cupboards looking for something that she could make to surprise Graverobber. Unfortunately, the kitchen cupboards yielded nothing helpful and all she found in the refrigerator was a bit of spoiled milk,some cheese, and a few pieces of fruit and vegetables.

Shilo frowned. The man asleep in her room didn't strike her as a fruit person, and although she didn't actually know how to cook she was sure that it couldn't be that hard and she wanted to do it. She wanted to do something, no matter how small, for the man that had helped her so much in such a short amount of time. She frowned at the lack of decent food left in the house and decided that if she were to cook anything at all it meant first going out and buying what she'd need. That brought her to her second dilemma, where would she find credits to go shopping?

She looked over what the kitchen and pantry and took stock of what she had to work with. There was a half a box of pancake mix, some cereal, a few useless baking goods, a bottle of vegetable oil and some dry pasta. She looked at the pancake mix box. All she would need for that is some water so it wouldn't pose a problem; still, she wanted to offer something more substantial than a plate of pancakes that didn't even have syrup.

She crept back upstairs and stood silently in front of her father's room. She swallowed hard and placed her palm on the door. She hesitated before turning the knob and slowly pushing the heavy door open. The room was shrouded in shadows, much like the man that'd lived there. Holograms that glowed as brightly as Zydrate hung on every wall. The curtains were drawn over the lone window denying entry to what little light showed through the eternally gray skies above the city.

She fumbled around on the bedside table and switched on the lamp, faintly illuminating the dreary room. Everything here was dark and depressing. Everything seemed bathed in muted dull tones. Black and gray and deep blood reds mingled in the wallpaper. The bedsheets were dark gray and the curtains that hung from the windows and shrouded the bed were thick black damask. Wandering around in her fathers private room, Shilo couldn't help but notice how like a tomb it was, dark and dreary with an inescapable air of sadness.

She felt like every portrait were staring at her, silently scolding her for invading such a personal space. She shivered in discomfort and set to the task at hand. She slid open the drawer on the nightstand looking for a few loose credits or a credit pass, anything she could use to buy a few supplies. She pushed aside stacks of envelopes and photographs, but there was nothing to be found. She moved to the dresser that stood on one wall. There were a few random credits strewn on the top and, luckily for her, her father's wallet sat there among the framed pictures of her parents wedding and pictures of her as a child. The photos were a small reminder of the broken family that, had circumstances been different, they might once have been.

The feelings of intrusion and discomfort in Shilo grew and bile rose up in her throat. Graverobber's weak attempt at shifting the blame for her fathers death off of her shoulders hadn't worked and it rose up again and overwhelmed her. She grabbed the wallet and they stray credits and fled from the room slamming the door behind her. She clenched her eyes shut and counted backwards from ten to clam her nerves. She sat down at the dining room table and emptied the wallet. Just as she'd hoped, there were a couple credit passes. One bore the GeneCo mark, and Shilo assumed that it would probably have been canceled upon death. All together, she counted about fifteen credits and two credit passes with an unknown balance. Shilo stuffed the credits and passes in her pocket and headed out the door.

Shilo walked uncertainly down the street, not quite sure where she was going. She wrapped her arms around herself and walked, barely taking her eyes off the pavement beneath her feet. She strode on briskly until she reached the edge of the city and paused to scan the area for a grocery store. She found what she'd been looking for and hurried across the street to the market place beyond. She took her time in the store, carefully going over everything that it offered.

She was amazed at the variety of foods laid out before her. There were entire isles of things she had only ever seen on tv. There was an entire section dedicated to foods from other countries, isles full of candy and pastries and snacks that her father would never have allowed her to eat. He'd allowed her all the Caro Brand Cookies she could eat, though she'd usually left the plate nearly untouched, and he'd always made her a cake on her birthday, a carrot cake. And she'd lived on candy bars until Graverobber had found her; but, cotton candy, potato chips, snack food cakes, ice cream, they were all foreign to her.

She looked longingly over the mountains of junk food and soda, and sugared juices and thought about the money in her pocket. She wasn't sure if she had enough money to buy what she needed, and with one last glance, tore herself away from the sweets. She wandered over to the dairy center and picked out a half gallon of milk. She made her way down the isle and found a carton of eggs placed it in her basket as well. She wasn't sure what else Graverobber might want, but she figured that he might like some toast and would almost assuredly want either bacon or sausage at the very least.

She put a small loaf of bread in the basket and a tub of butter and made her way to the meat counter. She looked over the packages of bacon and sausage full of confusion. There was turkey bacon, regular bacon, microwave bacon, and smoked bacon, and the options were no better with the sausage. Unsure of which was best or what Graverobber would prefer, she picked up a package of bacon and a package of breakfast sausage at random and added them to her growing basket of goods.

She made her way down the isle of junk food one last time and eyed a package of cream filled chocolate cookies. She looked at her basket and appraised her purchases. She didn't have much, and she figured that she probably had enough money for one more item. After a quick moment of thought she plucked the bag of cookies off the shelf. She plunked down her items at the register and paid. It was slightly more than she'd expected and she handed them the small handful of credits in her pocket and one of the passes. The cashier scanned it and handed it back to her. Shilo stuffed it back in her pocket and grabbed her bags and left.

********

Graverobber woke up and stretched out. Shilo hadn't laid back down with him and as he looked around he noticed she wasn't still in the room either. He wondered vaguely where she'd gone but didn't dwell on it. She had a lot of coping to do with this place and the sooner she got it over with the better. He got up and stepped into the bathroom, splashed some cold water on his face and took care of business.

His knuckles were bruised an ugly purple-red and blood had dried where the brick had scraped him. He flexed his hand, it ached but he would live. He went back to the room and dropped his borrowed trousers on the floor and dug his pants out of Shilo's bag. He tugged them on and zipped up his boots before going downstairs to look for Shilo.

As he descended the stairs, he noted that she wasn't in foyer. He took the hallway to Nathan's study, nothing, the parlor, no Shilo. He was beginning to get anxious when she wasn't in the dining room or the kitchen. He was in panic mode as he flew up the stairs and began tearing open doors to long empty rooms. There was a light on in one of them. Shilo had been there. He quickly realized that it was the Repo's bedroom. The pictures of Marni cluttering the walls were evidence of that. He hoped that the stress of being back among her father's things had sent Shilo seeking fresh air. He went back to their room, when had it become theirs?, and pulled his coat out of the bag and headed downstairs toward the door.

Shilo was nowhere to be found in the yard. His chest constricted with fear and worry. Where was she? Why did she go off without telling him. He took off down the street determined to find Shilo, promising himself that he wouldn't let anything bad happen to her.

**********

Shilo walked down the street, bags heavy in her arms. She let her mind wander on trivial things as she hurried home. She hadn't been eating right lately. Even though Graverobber had made sure to bring her food, there hadn't been a day recently when she'd eaten much more than a single meal. Even then, food had nearly always consisted of sandwiches with the exception of last night. The bags weighed her down and made her arms hurt. She felt weak and somewhat sick. I probably should have waited for Graverobber, she thought. It was too late for that now though. She would just have to suck it up and get the stuff home. She could rest when she got there.

She wasn't paying attention to where she was going. Her eyes were glued to the sidewalk and she walked right into him. She looked up into the strangers face and stammered an apology and began to walk around him. He grabbed her by the shoulder, stopping her. "Where's a sweet little girl like you going all by yerself huh?" he asked.

"I-I'm just going...." her voice trailed off as he interrupted her.

"You're a pretty little thing, ya know that?" He had a hungry glint in his eyes, one that she'd seen in Graverobbers face on enough occasions to know what it meant. Luckily for her, Graverobber had always controlled the inner hunger. Shilo doubted the man before her now would show her as much respect.

"I really should get home," she tried to sidestep him once more, but he stepped in front of her. Her eyes darted around frantically looking for someone who would help her. There was no one. The streets were empty.

He circled around her, like a shark would a fish. She tried to run, but her grabbed her from behind pinning her arms to her sides and lifting her off the ground. She dropped her bags and tried to scream but he clamped a hand over her mouth and dragged her into an alley. Shilo was frantic. She tried to scream but all that came out were muffled whimpers. The man forced her up against the wall. "Calm down little girl. Don't gotta be afraid a me, I'm gonna make ya smile." He said in her ear as he unbuckled his belt. "I'll be real good ta ya."

He gave her a sickening smile as his fingers started working the buttons on her blouse. He took his hand off of her mouth and his lips crashed over hers. Tears streamed from her eyes and she struggled as hard as she could as as he forced his slimy tongue into her mouth. She managed to bring her knee up and caught him in the groin. He pulled back sharply and sneered at her. His grip tightened and he clasped his hand back over her mouth. Anger flared in his eyes. "That was the wrong move ya little bitch," he hissed through clenched teeth. "I was gonna go easy on you but now I guess I'm gonna have to teach you some respect."

He tore at her blouse, popping the buttons off and ripping it open, exposing the small lace covered breasts beneath. He worked at the zipper of his pants. Shilo pressed herself against the wall behind her as hard as she could wishing she could sink into it. She clenched her eyes shut and waited for it to be over as she felt his hand creep up her thigh, pushing her skirt out of the way. She held her breath and waited. She waited to feel him tear the thin barrier of her panties away, waited to feel him push his way inside her. She waited for him to do his worst and be finished with it so that she could run home and bury herself in Graverobber's arms and cry.