Chapter 14 : 1 Day Till Death Arrives

Sweat pours down Lisa’s face, tossing underneath the homemade quilt. A tight grip on her shoulder, causes her to shudder and flail toward the offender. Swinging with her free hand while scooting back, she feels a firm grip upon her own. Opening her eyes she sees Christ, holding her fist in his. Her room illuminated with grim radiance of the fading sun. A grey hue filters her room with the mood of melancholy. Looking around and settling on the intruder “What are you doing in here?”

“I am here to retrieve you. . .What else would I be here for? Look I have been talking with your . .Owners and they have given you to me for the day to try to prove yourself.”

Wiping the sleep from her eyes, “What are—-”

Putting his finger over her soft lips, “I figured you would ask so listen and you will learn. There are a few things that we need to do, to prepare for the escape tomorrow.”

She grabs his hand and snatches it from her mouth, “Prepare?”

Taking off the satchel from his back, setting it on the floor, “Yes, We have three objectives that need to be accomplished. There is a gate that must be opened, a flood system that we have to empty, and patrol we have to take care of.”

Brushing the hair from her face, “I thought you said you would lead us out of here, if I proved myself.”

“I did and if you can accomplish this, then you will have proven that you are capable enough to take. I could get out by myself, but your Ma and Pa ain't going to be able to swim, climb, and crawl their way out of here in their age. Now get dressed and meet me down stairs.”

Christ turns leaving Lisa alone in the room staring down at the satchel. “I just wanted to spend my last days with my family,” Looking out her window, she gazes into the darkened sky. “I guess some people aren’t meant to enjoy happiness. . .” Getting out of bed she opens the pack to find: hardened leather armor with extended neck guard, complete with leather greaves reinforced with steel lining, fingerless archers gloves attached to hide gauntlets, and a black satchel kit sewn to a waist banner.

Lisa lays everything out on her bed, “How do I even put this on?” Scatching her head, she makes several attempts at putting the armour set on. After twenty minutes, someone knocks on her door with three aggresive bangs.

“Lisa what the fuck is taking you so long? Keep this up and I will be as old a Leroy,” Christ’s voice pierces through the door.

Barely able to move around in the stiff armor set, “I think I got it, but its hard to move.”

“Hard to move? It’s nothing but leather armor. . .I bet you don’t have it on right,” the door swings open and Christ gives her a once over. Shaking with a snicker, “That would explain it, for starters you have the straps in all the wrong places, your suppose to have an undershirt on, and lets not forget the fact your chestpiece is on backward.” Closing the door behind him, he walks over starting to undue to the straps.

Lisa spins allowing him to undue to jungle of leather straps, “I am sorry, I have never had to wear armour before.”

Grabbing her waist strap he pulls her backward toward the bed. Christ sits on the bed, undoing the last few straps on her back as she stands in front of him, “Don't worry about it, we all start somewhere. I use to have this friend, who was better than me at literally everything, but couldn't tie his shoes, it was completely beyond him.”

Releasing the last strap, the armour relaxes and a weight feels lifted from her. I feel so free now, turning her head she sees Christ hand up and feels him grab the bottom of the chest piece. “Umm, Christ?” her face turns red looking down at her feet.

“What, and arms up.”

“I didn't wear anything under the armor top,” crossing her arms.

Christ rolls his eyes, “I don't care, I have seen breasts before. Your going to be my apprentice, we are gonna see alot of each other. Plus, back in the day they called me the slayer of women’s undergarments. Ladies of all shapes, sizes, and races, you're nothing different or special, so relax.”

Slowly raising her arms, We will see, please just this once don’t make a joke. Please. Christ lifts the armor and sees the scares, she can feel him pause. Her shoulders tense, waiting for the barrage of jokes and comments, but he walks over to the dresser and starts pummeling through it. Covering the scars on her stomach, the room is ruled by silence only the sound of Christ shuffling through the drawers break the silent order. Lisa’s brow furrow and her eye twitches as he starts throwing her various shirts on the ground, after a quick examination. He settles on a thick cotton long sleeve shirt, throwing it to Lisa.

Sliding the shirt on she feels his hands tucking in the shirt into her pants. A shiver runs down her pants, his knuckles rub against her hipbone, He is using the back of his hand. A quiet understanding between them unfolds as he dons her armor. No jokes are made, no inappropriate gestures or comments.

Fully connecting the metal star latch over her chest piece, “All done, now can we go?”

“Yes. . . umm, Thank you for that,” Leaning to grab her backpack and finding it is extremely easy to move. Her eyes go wide and starstruck, “CHRIST! It’s so easy to move, it’s just like wearing winter clothes!”

“Umm, yeah, armor would be pointless if you couldn’t move. I happen to find this last night when I went for a walk,” pointing at the star latch, “Its actually called Verito armor, its decent protection, with some of the best flexibility of the medium class armors.”

“Where did you find it?” Lisa streches and bends about, This is amazing! I have never seen anything like this before. Ren would love this.

Walking to the door, “Umm, don’t worry about it. All that matters is its yours now.”

***

Walking out the door, Christ walks over to the push cart, pulling out a staff with two thin blades at the ends. “Here this is a Slender Staff think of it as a knife attached to a stick. I don’t have time to teach you effectively use this thing, but as my friend use to say, “The best practice is learning while trying not to die.” Handing Lisa the staff, “Don’t worry about swinging and twirling, just worry about poking people with it.”

Swirling and slowly spinning it, she can feel its balance, but her muscles don’t feel familiar with the slicing motions of the weapon. Changing her grip to a stabbing stance, her muscles and mind sync up. This feels natural, she thinks as her body shifts to a more defendable stance.

“Mmh, have you trained with this before?” Christ raises an eyebrow.

“No. . . it just feels sort of natural,” standing back up normally.

“If you say so, as long as you can poke someone, hopefully in the face, I’m happy.” Christ waves her onward moving toward the central district of the town.

Falling behind him with weapon in hand, out of nowhere infront of her face Nixon pops his head out with a cluck. Stumbling backward, catching her heel on a break in the road, she falls to her butt. “Why are you bringing the clucker?”

“I am going to prove this bird is special, I saw it gazing into the stars last night. That ain’t normal,” wagging a finger in the air.

“Are you sure about that?” Lisa getting off the ground, running to catch back up.