Andrew tore the cabinet door off its hinges and looked inside. There were two jugs within, all white except for their handwritten labels. Ammonia and bleach. He stabbed holes in both of them with his knife, then turned to follow after Sylph. He pulled on the knob to the bedroom, but it was locked. He could hear the chemicals crackling behind him. No matter how much he kicked at the door, it wouldn’t open. Heavy footfalls came closer and closer, and there was less air to breathe. Gas bit at his exposed skin as he raised his knife and charged through the cloud. His entire body erupted in pain and-

“It’s not real! Wake up!” Andrew opened his eyes. Yui was kneeling over him without touching. Andrew turned his head, taking in the room. The burning feeling across his body had disappeared, but the memory lingered. Was that what chloramine felt like? He had read somewhere that you couldn’t feel things in dreams that you hadn’t felt before in real life. That would suggest that his dream was a distorted memory of- No. Can’t think about that, especially not now.

“How long was I out for?” He asked, rubbing his forehead.

“About twenty minutes.” She looked at him with concern.

“Well, so much for sleep being better than staying awake.” He sat up, putting his good hand on Yui’s thigh. She was still wearing the ratty shorts she had when he found her. They didn’t exactly cover much skin.

“Uh huh,” She suddenly became very interested in the ceiling, doing her best to ignore what he was doing. He gave her a playful squeeze then kicked off the covers.

“You’re so soft and squishy!” He said in an exaggerated childish voice.

“Thanks I guess?” He squeezed her again, a bit harder this time. “Can you stop now?” He got out of bed and walked to the desk.

“Well, I can’t take refuge in dreams, drugs, or flesh, so it looks like I have only one option left.”

“What’s that?”

“Attempt to relive memories of my favorite website through saved content.”

“What?” He hunched over the computer and typed in the password. With only one hand he couldn’t do it from muscle memory. After entering all sixty characters, he hit return and was greeted with an error message. Invalid username or password. Fuck. Yui came up behind him and gently put her hand on his good shoulder. “Let me do it.”

“You don’t know my password.”

“I saw you put it in when you turned on the computer. It goes W-E-M-U-S-T-S-E-”

“Okay great!” Andrew said, trying to hide his panic behind enthusiasm. “So uh, just enter that in here so I can look at my files.” He stepped aside. Within a minute she had it unlocked. “Do you have photographic memory or something?”

“Is that when you just look at things and don’t forget them?”

“Yes?”

“I guess I do then. So, what’s that password and why’d you make it so long?”

“You don’t know what it is?”

“I only remember what keys you hit. I don’t know what it sounds like out loud, though I could probably work it out in my head...”

“I wouldn’t worry about it.”

“I can’t just not figure it out now!”

“Hey look a funny video!” Andrew used the Windows search bar to bring up a file he remembered, not wanting Yui to even have a glimpse of the rest of the computer. A short clip of an old man dancing in the street played.

“Is that really your password?” She asked as soon as it ended.

“I mean, you typed it in, you would know.”

“It’s so...”

“It’s just a meme.”

“Just like the pants?”

“Yep. You know, now that I’ve thought about it more, I’m not too keen on using my computer right now.”

“Well what are you going to do?”

“Can you take off your shirt?”

“What!? No!” She backed away from him, blushing bright red.

“I guess I’ll settle for conversation then.” He sat down on the desk and looked down at his hand. It was still hurting, but when he kept it still it wasn’t so bad. “What do you miss the most from the real world?”

“My group of friends.”

“Any person in particular?”

“Not really. They’re all much more pleasant as a group than by themselves.”

“I wonder if they thought the same about you.”

“W-what are you saying?”

“You know what I mean. Would you like to find another friend group here?”

Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

“I’d like that, but I don’t think it’ll happen.”

“Why’s that?”

“Sam’s severely disinterested with me, Dragon and Wiseguy want to… well do what you’re doing, and Sylph...”

“And of course you’re not even considering all the other people because they’re a lower social class than you.”

“What are you talking about?” She started to get flustered.

“They’re the unwashed masses, and you’re the soon to be washed consort of a retainer.”

“Hold up, what’s a consort, and what do you mean by ‘soon to be washed’?”

“It means girlfriend, and you’ve been a while since a shower.”

“So have you. You smell like roadkill. And I’m your girlfriend now? Like, one hundred percent? Zero percent slave?”

“Yep.”

“Then why do you keep antagonizing me whenever we talk? You weren’t like this an hour ago.”

“I’m sorry babe, it’s just my personality. I’ll try to be nicer.”

“You don’t have to keep acting this way with me.”

“You think this is just my hard spiky exterior that I use to protect my actual subtle and sensitive emotions?”

“Yes.”

“Yui, I’m not a good person. I’m honestly kind of an asshole.” She was quiet at this, not saying anything to contradict him. Andrew sighed. “What do you want me to do? Talk about my past? My feelings?”

“That would be good. I don’t really know that much about you.”

“Okay, then, my feelings. Well, you’re mine and that’s finally okay with you. I’m so cruel and fucked up and you’re so kind and beautiful, but you’re still with me. Happiness. Confusion. Doubt. I have to go to the doctor because the boss man said so, but I don’t like docs. Anxiety. I’m an in house mercenary, so I’ll have to kill more people. Maybe I’ll feel like shit afterwards, maybe I won’t. Resignation.”

“Why don’t you like doctors?”

“Take off my clothes and I’ll tell you.”

“N-nevermind. Why do you feel bad about killing the frog guy and not my captors?”

“I donno. With the burglars it was all very reactionary, not much thinking. With Brandon, I went through several thought out plans to kill him. I guess another thing is I talked to him. Maybe I just need to not do that, forget that they’re human and all.”

“Andrew...”

“That’s enough opening up.” He stood up and walked over to her. She had started to inch back, but then stopped once he pulled her into a kiss. She seemed half surprised, but her tension quickly faded away once their lips met. Although she was still clumsy, Yui didn’t seem like she wanted to break away. Andrew pulled back a little, making a smacking sound as they separated. She kept her eyes closed, expecting more. He returned to her, and he could’ve sworn she leaned in to him a little bit. He put his hand on the back of her head, as if to guide her. Moments later, she wrapped her own hands around his back. After a minute she pulled back.

“If you want to keep doing this you’re going to need to do something about your stench.” Andrew nodded, then drew her back in. She was so fresh and tender. It made him giddy to feel her like this. A knocking on the door interrupted him.

Andrew caressed her cheek while gazing into her eyes, then walked away feeling frustrated. He opened the door to see Dan on the other side.

“You got a check up, kid.” Andrew nodded at him and followed him out into the tunnels.

“Come in.” Andrew stood on the other side of the closed door, trying to prepare himself for going inside. Dan walked off, heading back the way he came. “I said come in! Don’t stand there!” After briefly considering going back to his room, Andrew forced a grin on his face and opened the door.

“Hey, what’s up Doc?” He said in his best Bugs Bunny impression as he walked in. There were several beds side by side in this room, with sheets hanging as dividers between them. The doctor was a man of about fifty, covered in wrinkles and sagging with years. Somehow he still had a pristine white lab-coat and stethoscope

“I just put the girl in a sling. She came begging for pain killers and said that you had a bottle of them. You have to deal with that later, but please run the dosages by me first.” He talked with a faint accent but Andrew couldn’t quite place it. Eastern Europe maybe?

“Yeah sure. While we’re on the subject, how much oxy do you recommend for a hundred fifty pound Aryan Ubermensch?”

“None, a true Ubermensch doesn’t need medication to cope with pain.”

“Touche. Alright, so what’re we going to do here?”

“Diagnose and if possible treat injuries accrued in the line of duty.”

“So whatever I had before I became a hired gun is my own problem?”

“Boss wants you healthy to fight. I’m just giving him that.”

“I guess being healthy to fight means being healthy enough to maintain a harem.”

“Whatever floats your boat. Now if you’d please,” He motioned to a bed. Andrew sauntered over to it and sat down. “Thank you, now clothes off.” Andrew took off his jacket, grimacing as it rubbed against his shoulder and hand. He repeated the process with his tee-shirt. It used to be white, but after days of use it was starting to tinge a grayish brown. He held his arms out so his upper body could be inspected. “Pants too if you may. You can keep the underwear on, unless you think something’s wrong down there.”

“My legs are fine thank you. I’ve only received injuries to my hand, head, and shoulder”

“Alright, just take your pants off so I can confirm that. I have to make a medical report for the boss and he’s very passionate about thoroughness.”

“I really don’t want to take my pants off.”

“Why? You like one of those shy girls that won’t show her body to anyone? Are the swastikas your security item?”

“Fuck you man.” Andrew scowled and pulled his pants down to his ankles.

“Oh...” Any semblance of mirth quickly drained out of the doctor’s face as he took in Andrew’s thighs. He pulled his pants back up.

“Acid, two years ago. Lots of damage to sensory nerves, motor nerves completely intact. Any more questions about my legs?”

“What happened?”

“A really fucking negligent bastard spilled God knows what on me. I’ll get back at him though.”

“Are you sure you-”

“Can you just clean my hand and shoulder?” Andrew sat still and ignored the pain as his wounds were cleaned and dressed. The humiliation had brought the memory fresh to his mind. Accounts were still unsettled, but fate had given him another chance. The doctor rewrapped his hand and covered his shoulder with gauze. He had him do a few basic tests then declared him not concussed. Andrew hardly payed attention to any of it. He had stopped and held off at first on account of Yui, but now he knew he couldn’t do that any longer. That man’s life was an affront to his own. He had to kill Ezra.