A/N: Thanks for bearing with me though the boring explanation part. Hopefully you'll find this chapter a little more interesting. All comments are welcome! Special thanks to all my subscribers and to Erik for being the first to R&R
Chapter 3: Son of a Bitch
"Lies are neither bad nor good. Like a fire they can either keep you warm or burn you to death, depending on how they're used."
-Max Brooks (World War Z)
From the way she holds her gun Rick can tell she's not experienced with it. He doesn't doubt she'll try to use it anyway though. "Easy. Easy now. It's a gunshot. It's not what you think." Rick says putting his hands up in mock surrender.
Killer isn't entirely convinced but so far the stranger hadn't shown any signs of infection so she lowers her weapon. "Why did they shoot you?" she asks as she goes for her flashlight. A deliberate phrasing since she doesn't much care who did it only what he did to deserve it. Grown men could get into an all out shoot out over a pair of socks these days.
He still has his hands up trying to put her at ease as he answers, "It was a car chase that ended in a shoot out. He was a bad guy, I'm a good guy. I was between him and freedom I guess…" Rick gives her the simplest, most honest answer he can think of. If she really is a doctor she just might be willing to help him. His side is pretty sore and obviously still bleeding. Running for your life isn't exactly great for the healing process.
Killer laughs again at him again. He's definitely not like the others. Yet again she's given him her best attitude and it only seems to make him calmer. She says under her breath, "There aren't any good guys left." Not waiting for his response she adds, "Get up on the table and let me get a look. If you're lying you're gonna be in a world of shit cowboy." She begins rummaging around looking for something as he hops up on the gurney.
"Are there others?" he asks still hoping against hope that his family was out there somewhere. He hadn't asked the guys. They seemed much more interested in that fact that he worked for the sheriff's office than why he had come to Atlanta in the first place. Killer on the other hand was unimpressed… by anything.
She finds what she is looking for, a pair of scissors. As she cuts away the bandages wrapped around his torso she asks, "What do you mean?" She thought maybe he meant others besides the guys he met already but decided against it. He was looking for someone specific and that made her suspicious. She throws the bandages in the trash.
Rick winces a little but braces his hands, arms wide, on the edge of the gurney. Whatever she's going to do it's probably going to hurt. "I mean other groups of people, like you guys… you know, ones with families, kids." The metal feels cold against his warm hands.
She looks away from him as soon as he says it. "No." is all she says flatly. She shines the flashlight on his wound and cranes her neck to get a better look. It's definitely not a bite. The edges are too clean. She presses her fingers along his side feeling his ribs. Satisfied he told her truth she puts the back of her hand against his forehead and deadpans, "You don't have a fever but it doesn't look great either. Your ribs are probably bruised, could be broken but I'd need an x-ray to know for sure. Either way not much we can do for it… I can clean up the gunshot for you. Put you on antibiotics. If you try to take it easy and let me keep an eye on it I think you'll live."
He smiles big at that. It's the kindest face she's seen in months. It makes her want to smile back but she resists. Rick catches it though and it makes him smile just a little bid harder. She is definitely not the cold hard Killer she pretends to be. "Whatever you say Doc." He tells her. If anyone is going to be willing to help him find his family, it's her. He can feel it in his bones.
She nods and sets up a table with everything she needs and pulls it over to him along with a chair. "Move for a second?" she asks, scooting him off the table. She folds a sheet in half and lays it on the gurney, smoothing it out carefully. She was always a perfectionist. Just because they were living in chaos didn't mean you just let everything go to hell. Trying to keep order in this world though was like one man trying to fight a whole army, futile.
"Sorry, don't mean to make a mess of your stuff with my…" he says noting his side and the sheet. She moves to the left and he climbs back up, lying down on his back.
She shrugs, "Blood doesn't bother me… I just thought the table might be cold." As soon as it comes out of her mouth she regrets it. Being kind was a sign of weakness in her world. Choosing to ignore it she asks him, "Tell me about how you wound up here? It'll distract you from the pain." With that Killer bites down on a small flashlight with the right side of her mouth and uses her free hands to start cleaning out the wound.
Rick tells her the quick and ugly version of the story. She just keeps working at the wound scraping out anything that shouldn't be there and rinsing it out carefully with a squeeze bottle. It takes longer without the right lighting and he suspects she may have taken a little of the good stuff along with the bad. Still, she's more gentle than he expected or maybe just a better doctor. Rick is a model patient, only fidgeting when he talks about his family.
She opts against stitches knowing despite her advice he'll pop them anyway. Medical supplies were too valuable to waste. Instead she places some gauze on the spot and tapes it to his skin. "Alright, you can sit up slowly." She says pushing her chair back and standing up to discard her gloves. She grabs a roll of gauze and returns to the table, "Arms up." Killer carefully wraps the bandage around his torso. Passing the roll from one hand to the other behind his back almost feels like she's hugging him and it makes them both uncomfortable.
Rick smiles although she can't see it, "Something tells me this is your favorite position." he jokes at the fact he's got his hands up in surrender for the second time in less than an hour. He was trying to make her laugh, too diffuse the tension… and because she smelled good. Not like anything particular, just clean. It made him nervous that he noticed it. He hadn't been nervous around a woman in a very long time but she must have taken it in a decidedly more off color way. It brings her to an abrupt halt, leaning back from him.
With her eyebrow arched at the ready she quips, "Actually, I prefer to be on top…" His eyes go wide at the statement but she continues with her wrapping. It's only when she's finished and carefully tucked and taped the loose end that she sees a faint blush across his face.
She smiles then, for the first time since he's met her. It's bright and sincere and Rick has absolutely no idea what to say for once. The look of satisfaction on her face as she cleans up her things is unmistakable. "So… do I pass?" he finally asks.
"Yup, you're clear. Come back in the morning before breakfast and I'll take a look at it and give you some meds. TRY to take it easy please?" she says as he sets his feet back down on the floor. She said the word please. She never said please. Not anymore. She had slipped again and it scared her more than all the monsters roaming the streets of Atlanta combined.
Rick had thought she would ask to see the rest of him first. Not that he minded leaving his pants on. She was more thorough than that though and they both knew it. He was positive then that Killer was an act. The face she chose to show the others and they both knew that too.
He put his things back on but she still had her back to him. She was carefully rinsing all her tools in the small sink the room had. Her hands were shaking though and she dropped her scalpel twice before placing it in a bowl with the others. She pours what looks like half a bottle of Vodka over them. Sterilization Rick assumes. He wants to say something but he doesn't know what. "Thanks Doc" he says softly. It's all he can think of.
He opens the door to leave her be and just as he is about to walk out Killer says over her shoulder, "Tell anyone I was nice to you and I will kick your ass." He leaves the room with a grin. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. When she opens them her eyes steel and her composure is regained. She realizes then that she let him leave without a complete inspection, "Son of a bitch…" she says out loud shaking her head with a smile.