Alliance

Chapter Forty-Six

Everyone had walked to the front of the cave but Ben and I went to the pool room. The rotten bodies had been removed. What remained was stains of blood from when the bodies were dragged out of the room, to the cave mouth, and thrown outside.

Thunder vibrated the floor was the only indication that the storm was still raging above. Tomorrow we would try to burn the bodies. For the time being, they would be alright to rot in the rain.

I walked slowly to the edge of the pool as Ben left to grab my last set of fresh clothes and bath supplies. The water of the pool, thank god, was clean of any rotten blood.

Slowly, I sat. My entire body seemed to ache but the throbbing of my knee was the worst. Carefully, I slide the pants down my legs and over my injured knee.

The top layer of skin had been removed cleanly off. Leaving a red, bloody mess. The wound wasn't too deep to my surprise, I could not see any white bone as I inspected it closely.

Footsteps echoed in the pool room on Ben's return. "How does your knee feel, apart from the scrap?" Ben asked.

I signed, leaned back and extended my leg before me. It has been aching for the last few weeks but I had ignored it due to pain in other parts of my body. The phantom pain glass cutting into my skin peppered my body. "It aches but no more than usual."

Pulling off my shirt, I stood with Ben's help and waded into the pool with my black underwear still on.

"Your blood?" He pointed to my discarded shirt that had been covered, more like splattered, with blood.

"From one of those things. The one that I killed in the cavern." I rinsed off my body and hair quickly before returning to where Ben sat. He was pulling out disinfectant wipes and bandages.

"When I went after Isla," I said, I placed my leg out in front of Ben as I sat. "One of those things followed us. I didn't have a weapon, it was back at camp."

"What is rule number one?" Ben asked, his eyes flicked up to mine with a small smile.

I rolled my eyes. "'Don't ever forget your weapon.' I took a page out of your book though, I used the torch."

A corner of Ben's mouth raised in a half smile.

I watched Ben work in silence. He gently lifted my knee onto his leg. With a disinfectant wipe, he gently cleaned the dirt out of the wound. I marveled at how gentle he worked. His hands could throw a hard punch but also, he could be gentle.

"Charlotte," I said suddenly, wanting to get my thoughts away from Ben. And his damn fingers that touched my knee. Charlotte had been bitten by one of the things in the neck. "Is she okay?"

"When I was in the cave Olivia was fixing her up. The bite didn't look deep but human bites can be dangerous. No doubt radiation human bite could be worse." Ben did not look up as he spoke. He took his time, his damn time to clean my knee.

I felt exposed sitting. It was something I could not describe. Feelings I couldn't quite place because I hadn't felt them before. Not like this.

He was so close.

I grabbed the closest shirt to me, to at least put one layer of clothes on my body. My fingers touched the bloody shirt. Lifting the fabric, blood dripped from it.

"Ben, have you ever overkilled?"

At last, Ben looked up at me. There was no shock on his face. No judgment. Just studied my face before he spoke. "Yes. After my mentor was murdered." He went back to my knee. He placed a white bandage on the open wound before he wrapped the white cloth around my knee.

"Overkill is something that happens. It doesn't necessarily make you a bad person. It can release emotions that we may not have known we had bottled up. Don't make a habit of it and you will be alright."

Ben looked back at me. His eyes went straight to my cheek where the thing had scratched me.

My first battle scar. First of many probably. Ben had some on his face and he was only twenty-two.

He slid a little closer to me, studying the scrapes. With a disinfectant wipe, he cleaned the two scrapes. Like my knee, the wound stung as the disinfectant cleaned it.

"These should heal up nice," he said softly, he pulled his hand away. He sat so close, I could feel his breath on my cheek.

"That's good. I wouldn't want to ruin my perfect face."

"It was already ruined."

My jaw dropped. "Hey!" I hit Ben's shoulder and laughed. A real laugh. Something I thought I could not do since I was in the hospital. And especially in the light of what just happened. What we all had witnessed; my laugh fell flat.

With my laughter, I did not notice Ben had caught my hand that I used to playfully punch his shoulder. He still held it. My hand was so small compared to his. His hands were fighter hands. Calluses scratched on his palms and little scars etched into the skin.

I looked up to see Ben's eyes studying mine. I could tell he wanted to say something. Perhaps I wanted to declare something. Something I was not ready for. Something that I wanted, but not yet.

"Well," I said a little too loudly when Ben opened his mouth to speak. I took my hand out of his and backed up. "I am going to put fresh clothes on so shoo." I waved Ben away like how I would shoo away a barking dog.

Ben closed his mouth and stood. He helped pull me up before leaving me alone in the pool room.

I physically shook my shoulders. Like as if I could shake that feeling off of me. For weeks, I had been falling for him.

But I couldn't. We couldn't.

I grabbed my clothes and started to change. There had to be a rule somewhere stating mentors couldn't date their protégés. And that didn't include that he was a prince. If I was to start a relationship with him or even marry him would that mean I would be considered royalty?

My laughter filled the pool room. "Princess Melissa Winifred Sparrow Roth." I laughed at the title again. Pulling on the clean clothes, I turned to the pool once more to clean the blood out of the shirt and pants.

I could never be a princess because Ben and I would never be a thing. But if I did become a princess, I would have to change my middle name for sure.