"You know better than that!" My ears perked up at the muffled voice belonging to a girl. I keep my eyes shut and listen to the conversation that seemed to be taking place in the kitchen.
My muscles harbored a sore ache deep inside the tissue as I made an effort to stretch out on the stiff mattress I found comfort in. My sore body attempting to release any built up stiffness that settled in my muscles over the course of my sleep.
"It's not a big deal if anything I'm doing the city a favor! One less Viagra popping bitch to worry about!" Harry says to the girl who I hear audibly sigh at his response. I can't partly imagine Harry's smug grin that etched over his face whenever he playfully dismissed serious situations.
"That's not the point and you and I both know it. You know how this city works!" The girl stresses to Harry as I lay with my eyes closed hoping that my acting is sufficient enough to hide the fact I was listening to every word being exchanged.
"I have boundaries-"
"Harry you murdered three people!" The girl raised her voice to get her point across. Before I hear a slap which I can only imagine the girl bringing her arms down by her sides.
"You're right, boundary machine broke." He again jokes trying to make light of the situation that was less than light. I had watched the men sink into their own pools of blood, the street light giving an eery atmosphere that unsettled me.
"Can you be serious for five seconds Harry? I don't want to lose you to this god forsaken place! Do you know how easy it is to kill again?" The girl argues with traces of genuine worry.
"I'm not going to be won over by temptations of a damn city. Trust me!" He tries to convince the still nameless girl that is worried for what I interpreted as his sanity.
There was talk of the city and its temptations but what did that really mean? What happened if the city "won" you over?
"Then why do you have a gun?"
"You know why Ash," Harry says in a more stressed tone as I move a little to ever so slightly peel open my eyes. Enough to see blurry shapes and a cropped view of the kitchen where two figures stood across from each other. I could see electric blue hair cascading down the girl's back known as Ash from what I gathered so far. Her arms a folded over her chest as she listens to Harry.
"It's still that bad?"
"He wants me dead, I don't think it gets anymore bad than that." Death seemed to be a common thread here in the Badlands. Others thrive on knowing they can take a life without any consequence, numbering the days of people around them.
I stir and see the figures of them turn their heads to look at me as I squeezed my eyes shut. I yawn out and hear them conclude the conversation before I feel a sudden dip in the mattress. I peel my eyes completely open to be met with a smirk from Harry who lays on his side with his hand supporting his head.
"Good morning my poisonous little plant, how did this cardboard pillow treat Ya?" He asks me as I rub my eyes of the sleep that crusted over my eyes.
"Slept like a baby!" I said through a raspy morning voice. I blink up to see the girl with blue hair greet me with a warm smile.
"Oh, by the way, this is Ashley, the girl you can blame for waking you up. She can get a little triggered by me sometimes," Harry jokes at Ashley who rolls her eyes playfully and greets me with a kind smile and a wave.
"You know I don't get it when people say they slept like a baby because babies don't sleep," Harry rambles thinking to a couple seconds back to when I answered him about how the hard bed wasn't as bad as I initially thought.
