TORN FLESH

CHAPTER ELEVEN: POURING SYMPATHY

IT only took the nurse fifteen minutes to pump enough blood so that she was sure she had enough.

As soon as the needle was slipped out from beneath Margo's skin she reached out and tapped Violet's shoulder aware she had wanted to avoid having to look at the blood. The girl slowly turned to look over her shoulder quickly scooting back to where she'd been at Margo's side as she watched the nurse head for the door.

Marcus- seemingly happy that they were almost done- stood up and waved Maureen forward eager for her to wrap up Violets check-up of sorts, leaning forward, she removed a device from her pocket carefully holding it in front of her in hopes of not scaring Violet.

Meeting the girls gaze, she gestured to the device before casting Margo a curt look, "this is a thermometer, I'm going to stick it in your ear to check your temperature, is that alright?" Violet looked up at Margo hesitant to answer for a moment before she returned her gaze to the nurse and gave a small nod.

Maureen slowly brought the thermometer up to the girls ear gently slipping it into the small hole for a few seconds before a beep resonated from the device and she removed it to examine the results, looking up at Violet, she smiled, "ninety-six, seems pretty healthy to me." standing up, she removed the plastic piece from the end of the device and tossed it into the bedside trashbin that had all but a water bottle inside.

"I think that's it for now, we can take her blood tomorrow." the girl's eyes widened and she scooted back into Margo terrified at the very mention of her own blood being drawn, Maureen seemed to sense this and gently shook her head, "it's just for testing, it won't hurt at all." she knew that much was a lie, but it brought her the tiniest bit of comfort to know that she would try to be careful.

Marcus gently reached out and patted her shoulder seeing the distress she was causing the child, "we can discuss this tomorrow." he spoke his voice low but soft as she ushered Maureen towards the door, and out of sight, peeking back around the corner he mustered an apologetic look, "sorry about that, you both get some sleep, I'll be back in a little bit to talk to you about some things." he quickly closed the door behind him ignoring any response they would've offered in the process.

The two blondes exchanged a look unsure of how much time that left them with until he returned, neither of them made any move to get up, instead, Margo scooted down in the bed and off to the side gesturing for Violet to lay beside her.

The child looked back at her almost surprised at the offer before she laid back and snuggled in at the older girl's side, they seemed content with their newfound peace and didn't bother speaking before they both began to quietly drift off to whatever lay in wait for them in their dreams.

When Margo awoke she felt the somewhat lightweight of Violet pressing into her chest, leaning forward slightly to see if she would stir at the movement, when she continued to lie still she laid back into the bed so she didn't wake the girl.

Instead, she stared up at the ceiling, it reminded her of the one she'd woken up to less than a week prior, for the first time since she'd awoken in that dull lifeless hospital, she let her gaze sink to her arms, more specifically; her wrists.

Thick bandages covered both of them till about an inch to her forearm and she questioned what she'd done wrong, how she'd managed to work around death once again.

She was half tempted to pull one of the bandages off and look at the deep groves she knew were waiting for her eyes to stare at, she would have had Marcus not knocked on the door. Leaning forward to peek out through the small window she nodded in his direction letting him know it was alright to come in, taking quick notice of Violets sleeping figure, he crept past the door and cracked it closed before proceeding towards the bed.

He seated himself in the chair Violet had slept in the night prior leaning forward on his elbows to talk to her, "we're ready to move you two out of here once she's up." Margo raised an eyebrow, she wasn't very sure as to what all that entailed, or what it meant for them.

"We decided it would be best to integrate you with the other people of the community, that is, if you plan on staying here with us?" she looked down at Violet's small body taking in the offer, she wanted to find Mitch- needed to find Mitch, and staying there would only prevent her from doing so. But if they stayed, Violet's safe zone wouldn't be able to blindly attack them, they would be safe from the military personnel that seemed to be chasing after them.

She shook her head carefully gesturing to the younger girl, "I have to worry about her, and I know it sounds rude when all you've shown us is hospitality, but, we don't know anything about any of you." Marcus nodded his head an understanding look crossing his features as he did so, she wondered if he had kids.

"That's something I will agree on, looking at it from your point and all. But I promise you, we are a good community of people, we don't have crime here, the last dead attack we had was a few months ago." he paused hoping that it was all he needed to say to win her over, it wasn't.

"We have fences, there's food and water for everyone, hell, we even have a school going." Margo's eyes lowered to Violets sleeping form once again, she knew it was too good of an opportunity to put down, she also knew that by taking it, she was guaranteeing them both safety to some level.

Marcus stood up his eyes never leaving her, "if you end up not liking it here you and the girl are always welcome to leave, we'll send you out with some supplies and a car if you want." she softly nodded her head, maybe a small break from the road was needed, they wouldn't be getting far with Violet's restlessness and Margos burning injuries.

"We can leave at anytime?" the question hung in the thick silence around them as Marcus considered it and how he should go about answering the question, "well, we can't exactly keep you here." he smiled moments later Margo returning the smile with a smaller one of her own.

"Now, if you wanna wake the girl up we can get you both some fresh clothes and show you out of the building to where we'll have you stay." she slowly nodded her head moving beneath Violet to sit up before she attempted to wake her, after the few seconds it took, she rested her hand on the girls shoulder and gently shook her until she saw her eyes begin to crack open.

"Hey." she mumbled meeting the childs gaze as she fully opened her eyes and reached her arm up to rub the sleep away, "hey baby." she smiled scooting over to allow her enough space to sit up in the bed, "mmmm." she groaned extending her arms out to try and stretch out the numb muscles and get the blood pumping once more.

"We gotta get up and start moving, we're going for a little trip." she spoke her voice low as Marcus watched the small exchange, Violet hesitantly nodded her head carefully slipping out of the bed to try and remain balanced. Waiting a few seconds to follow, Margo swept her legs across the bed and let them dangle off the edge, she had no clue as to how hard it would be to walk or if she would need help.

Seeing this, Marcus held out a hand to stop her, "I'll have a nurse get you a wheelchair for now." without waiting for her to respond he retreated out of the room and into the hall before returning moments later with a wheelchair being pushed ahead of him back into the room.

Violet crept off to the side to move out of his way watching as he wheeled the chair closer until it was directly in front of Margo, she wondered who would push it, would she?

Watching on in silence, her eyes never left Margo as she leaned forward- trying to keep her weight off of her wounded leg- and manuevered herself into the chair letting out a sigh of relief when she finally collapsed into the sturdy black seat.

"Alright, let's go get you two changed and showered and then we can get you outside." with no further statement, he grabbed the handles of the wheelchair and whirled Margo around to face in the direction of the door before wheeling her forward with Violet hot on his heels.

Hoping to catch a glimpse of the girl, Margo glanced over her shoulder barely able to see a lock of the girls blonde hair past Marcus, she hoped she stayed close and able to see Margo, she didn't want to lose her in the unfamiliar terrain they were currently stuck in.

Carefully rounding the corner, Marcus continued to push Margo- seated in the wheelchair- down the hall checking every few seconds to make sure Violet was still following the two of them, it wasn't until they had proceeded to an additional two more hallways that they stopped at a door and Marcus released his grip on the wheelchair to knock.

They waited a few moments in silence before the door was pulled open and a woman peered out at them, cocking her head in Marcus' direction she leaned against the door frame as if she was waiting for a statement of some sort.

"I need showers six and seven turned on, I also need the keys to the supply locker." she raised an eyebrow watching as he softly nodded towards Margo and Violet who stood off to the side a few few away, giving a nod in return she retreated into the room before returning with a small set of keys.

Handing the keys to him she raised a finger and pointed down the hall, "they'll be on and ready to be used by the time you get down there, but you better radio back when they're done so I can shut them off." she warned, he curtly nodded before pocketing the keys and leaning forward to begin pushing the wheelchair down the hall.

"The showering rooms are up ahead, once we get there I'll take you to the lockers to find some clothes before you hop in and get cleaned up." neither of the two girls responded both continuing on in the silence.

After a bit further down the hall, Marcus stopped short of the door ahead of them glancing over his shoulder to look at Violet, "would you mind getting the door darlin'?" giving a small shrug of her shoulders she walked around them and towards the door gently pushing it open for the wheelchair to pass.

Once inside they saw that the room was lined with lockers and a rather large bin near the small door that seemed to lead into an office or laundry room of sorts, more than likely the latter. Past that, they could see the beginnings of shower stalls lining the remainder of the room, Marcus gently pushed the wheelchair up to the bin and stopped it just short of a foot from the edge before abandoning it and going to the side of the bin.

When he realized neither of them were doing the same he gestured for Violet to come closer and tugged on the edge of the bin to lower it slightly so Margo didn't have to leave her seat.

"Go ahead and find something comfortable, I'll leave so you two can hop in, I'll be waiting outside." and with that he left the bin in their grasp and disappeared.

TORN FLESH

CHAPTER ELEVEN: POURING SYMPATHY