Kyto had been unstrapped from the bed. He hadn’t even tried moving. He knew by looking at his display his injuries were still severe. Every time he had woken from his tonic-imbued slumber, he had been given more. The tonic had helped to numb the pain, but he wished for Salve to put on his worst areas. By all accounts, it would take him a while to get back to pain-free mobility. He slowly shifted on the bed, wincing even before he went to use his stomach muscles. The raider without the tongue had stayed with him in the room the whole time. He watched Kyto's every movement and knew that the man would have reacted if he tried anything apart from just waiting.
The man stood probably a head above his height, and Kyto was not particularly short. He had a slim build but looked solid with that wiriness of muscle honed from years of grafting. He was probably in his 40s, but the thick, scraggly beard and dark-ringed eyes gave him an older appearance. His eyes told their own story, though, and they portrayed a deep sense of experience. Kyto could tell from the man's controlled and methodical movements that he could easily handle himself. Nothing he seemed to do was without purpose, even down to how he kept feeding him tonic. Another raider appeared at the doorway. “Hey Lars, oh, he is awake." He said, looking at Kyto. "I was coming to tell you the boss wants him moving to her wing once he is awake again,” he said. Lars just nodded in understanding, not once removing his eyes from Kyto.
Lars stood from the chair he had been in and walked to the side of the bed, pointing towards Kyto's legs.
"Shit, I am not sure I can even walk yet," Kyto said.
With a gentleness that surprised Kyto, Lars slowly lifted his ankles from the bed, moving them around. As he did this, Kyto's body reacted instinctively, tensing his muscles up, and he groaned deeply as he shifted his body weight, slowly sitting up with his legs and then lowering them over the side of the bed. He could honestly not remember ever being in such a wrong way before. He had been injured occasionally over the years but never to this degree. Even the attack from the Wild One at the house had not left him in anywhere near this much pain.
Lars then turned away from him for the first time since he had woken up and made his way behind where the bed stood in the middle of the room. Kyto turned his head to watch what he was doing, then stopped when his neck complained angrily.
Moments later, Kyto heard the squeak of unoiled wheels, and a wheelchair was brought around. Lars then walked to Kyto and indicated for him to raise his arms. Kyto did as requested, and Lars then took hold of him under his arms and lifted his weight from the bed with ease. Picking Kyto up like a mother picking up a child, he turned him and placed him in the wheelchair seat. 'Fuck he is strong,' Kyto thought, confirming his opinion this man could easily handle himself. His strength contradicts his build.
He then clipped a belt around Kyto's waist, and without another sound bar, the accompanying squeaks of the wheels pushed him out of the room. They made their way down several corridors, the internal workings of the building being a rabbit warren of twists and turns. They passed by several rooms before they reached a set of double doors. Lars pushed Kyto to the door, then reached forward, knocking once.
"Wait." Came the single-word response.
Two minutes later, the door opened, and a man Kyto had not seen before looked down at him where he sat. "Hey, Lars." He said, genuinely smiling, looking up at the tall man. "Crystal wants him in her room." He said, stepping back and holding the door open so that Lars could wheel Kyto through.
Kyto's mind was spinning. These microtransactions between raiders were not what he expected. There was a civility between them, and he would never have thought they could be like this in a million years.
They entered a large room. In the centre of the room stood a large wooden table. Standing by the table were two other men. They glanced at the door and then turned back, looking down at the table, talking between themselves. At the sides of the room were three hospital beds and a couple of smaller tables and chairs. Several lockers had been lined up, and it reminded Kyto of a military-style barracks he had visited while scavenging, the way they were positioned with the lockers separating each bed, providing the resident's privacy.
Everything in the room was kept tidy. Nothing seemed to be left lying around, and even though they lived in the room, it looked like the raiders could be ready to move out at a moment’s notice. A backpack was sitting at the end of each bed, and they looked fully packed. The only room area that showed any sign of untidiness was the washing hung over a piece of rope running across one side of the room. There were even two oil burners positioned nearby, providing drying heat. It looked like the three in the room also slept in there.
This area of the medical centre was brightly lit, and across the ceiling were rope strings of lights providing bright artificial light across the whole space. The room had no windows, and Kyto could only imagine how dark it would be without them.
Lars wheeled Kyto across the room to a door on the far side. He stopped again before the door and knocked on it again.
“Come in,” the woman’s voice called. Kyto immediately recognised it as Crystals.
Lars pushed the door open and then moved back and pushed Kyto in. It was a large office, and everything had been stripped out of it apart from a desk and chair against one wall and some lockers on another; as Lars turned Kyto into the room, his eyes fell on the pile of mattresses covering the bottom half. A curtain had been positioned across half of the room, blocking his view from the far end. His eyes met with the brilliant green of Crystal, who was sitting cross-legged on the edge of the mattresses. "Thanks, Lars." She said, looking up at the tall man. "Go and rest, and I will call for you if I need you."
Kyto could not see Lars's response as he stood behind him, but Crystal laughed. "Don't worry, he is no threat, are you Kyto." She added.
"Kyto." The voice said excitedly.
Crystal turned sideways, smiling behind the curtain, and it was quickly being pulled across. Sat up on a huge pile of cushions was Tabs. Her eyes widened as her gaze fell on Kyto, soon switching to worry as she saw his damaged face.
"Tabs, are you ok." He replied. His emotions were going overboard, and he had to fight back tears.
Tabs had no problem showing her relief as her tears began to fall. "Thank god you are alive. The beating you got..." she said, pausing.
Crystal stood from where she had been sitting. "I will leave you two alone for a while so you can catch up. I need to go and do the rounds." She said, smiling down at her sister with a knowing nod.
With Tabs and Crystal next to each other, their similarity was apparent. They both appeared to have an almost ethereal beauty. Kyto had not seen it before to this degree with Tabs, as he had been so close to her for so long it had become normality seeing her transition from the slave to the strong, determined young woman she had become. She oozed confidence, and even in her bruised state, she looked more beautiful now than Kyto could remember. He wanted to jump from the chair and run to her and hug her, but there was no way his body would let him.
Crystal made her way to the door before turning back, smiling, then quietly left, pulling the door closed behind her.
Tabs started to get up, pulling her face as she did, but it was obvious that her physical abilities were nowhere near as impaired as Kyto's. She slowly walked over to him and bent down, kissing him deeply on his lips. His heart jumped, his body pulsed, and his neck screamed the angle his head was now at as she held him by his face. Kyto could not help but take a sharp intake. Tabs immediately let go, moving back. "I am so sorry; I did not think." She said.
"I can take the pain of being kissed like that," Kyto replied, looking deeply into her eyes.
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"I was so worried." Tabs said. "Crystal wasn't sure if you would recover initially and would not let me see you until now. Those bastards really did give you one hell of a beating."
"You are telling me! I have never felt this bad before in my life." He replied, smiling at her.
"Let's get you sat down." Tabs said. Her face was bruised, and she had stitches above her eye where she had received a cut, but Tabs was tough. The pain she felt now was minor compared to some of the previous torture she had endured. It would take her a few days to regain her full strength, but not long. She was worried for Kyto, though he looked terrible. She moved behind the chair and pushed Kyto to the mattress before helping him out of the chair.
"Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh." He moaned as she helped him down onto the mattress.
Tabs grimaced as she helped him get propped up on some cushions.
"Not sure I will ever get up again." He said jokingly to her.
Tabs sat beside him, squeezing his hand tightly and staring intently at him. "I am so sorry for all this." She said.
"It wasn't your fault. You didn't beat me." He replied.
"It is my fault. If I had not been so desperate to see if it was Crystal, you never would have been captured." She replied with sadness in her eyes.
"And look what happened. You found your sister he replied." Smiling at her.
"Yes, but..."
"Yes, but nothing," Kyto said, cutting her off. "You have your sister back. I would have given anything to have my Nanna or family back." He replied.
Tabs leaned into him, gently hugging him, this time careful not to knock him.
She looked at him and smiled, “I haven’t been this good in a long time.”
“How are you feeling? Honestly,” she asked him.
“Like a herd of Keefir’s has run over me about a million times. I don’t think a part of me doesn’t hurt, and my display is fucked” he said.
She rested her head on his shoulder. "Crystal has told me what happened to her." Tabs said, relaying Crystal's story about what had happened to elevate her to the group leader's position.
"Fuck that's one hell of a story," Kyto said when she finished. "She has been through hell and back."
"Yes, but she is stronger for it. I had honestly forgotten how determined she was." Tabs added.
"So, what happened to you? I cannot remember much from the beating, to be honest." He said.
"I was close to falling unconscious and thought I was about to be raped when Crystal and the chosen came to the hall." She said. "The last thing I remember was seeing that one from the bridge with the beard fall to his knees at my feet bleeding."
"What?" Kyto asked, surprised at the comment.
"When Crystal recognised me, she went straight up to him and slit his throat." Tabs stated.
"Shit," Kyto said.
"She then apparently proclaimed that if anyone came near either of us, they would be killed on the spot." She continued.
"I bet that did not go down well."
"From what I can tell, the group holds her in such high regard and is so terrified not just of her but also of her direct crew that no one dares disobey her orders." Tabs shrugged.
"Yeah, but she is running a raiding group. All the stories say that they are rapists and murderers." Kyto said.
"Well, you heard the rule changes she made, and they seem to be obeyed by all accounts. The one from the bridge had been close to being banished for previous incidents before we arrived, so his death was accepted." She said.
"How the hell does she manage to live the lifestyle, though?" Kyto asked.
Kyto had resentment and pent-up anger towards the raiders. He had promised himself one day he would seek retribution for his scavenger family, and now being hosted by a raiding group made him feel uneasy. "I am not sure we can stay here." He said.
"I cannot leave Crystal after finding her; you need time to heal." Tab’s was torn. She knew about Kyto's past but could not imagine separating from her sister again.
"I know that for now, we have no choice, but long term, I don't think I could stay with a raiding group." He said.
Tabs closed her eyes, resting on his shoulder. "Let's see what happens."
Kyto let his head fall back against the cushions. The comfort from Tabs resting back in his arms provided him with a serene relief. He wondered what on earth they were going to do now. How could they possibly stay mixed in with the Raiders? His detest for their way of life and what many were guilty of was immeasurable in his mind’s eye. Violence had never been in his nature, and he had never hurt anyone. Until the beating, he had never been hit before. Even in all his time as a scavenger and the odd argument he had had with a trading post over prices, none had ever gotten close to violence. He was not a pacifist; the world today didn't allow it; he had just never had the requirement to fight. He was confident that he could fight if he had to. Well, maybe not with skill, but he could defend himself, at least. Tabs, on the other hand, had spent the last nine years living in the violent and vicious cycle of raiders and slavery, so he knew his outlook was very blinkered. He could not fathom what she had been through.
"What if we can free Crystal from her role?" He said.
"How?" Tabs replied in a husky voice. Since she had placed her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes, her voice sounded sleepy.
"I don't know yet, but if there is a way we can get Crystal out of the group, do you think she would leave?" He asked.
Tabs raised her head, turning to look at him. "I don't know, but I would think so. Before we were captured, she had always trained under mother as a healer, so this is the opposite of her calling."
"Anyway, I was enjoying your shoulder, so shhhh." She said, replacing her head and closing her eyes again.
Kyto smiled, glancing down at her, and squeezed her hand gently. He lay there considering their options and started mulling different ways to free Crystal. It was a natural pain relief, keeping his mind occupied, and he was not constantly thinking about the pain his body was in.
Crystal arrived back in the room about an hour later. Tabs had fallen asleep snuggled up against him while he had stayed awake. She looked at Tabs sleeping, grinning at her.
"She hasn't slept properly the last few days, wanting to see you." She said quietly to Kyto.
"Few days?" Kyto said in surprise. "How long have we been here?"
"It's been four days since you arrived," Crystal replied.
"Four days." He repeated. "I thought it was only a day max."
"Tabs was unconscious for about 24 hours, but with your injuries, you had to be kept under the influence of tonic." She said. "The first time you came to, you had been out for only a few hours, and then again after the tonic, it was still just under a day. I was surprised at how soon you came around. The tonic Lars has been giving you is one of my concoctions for serious injuries. It does not have the best healing effects, but it does keep you asleep, which in your condition is and was the best thing for you."
Kyto looked at Crystal for a long moment before replying, "Thank you."
"I don't suppose you have any salves, do you?" He asked.
"We have some; they are not the best, but they can help reduce swelling. I have applied some to you before. Otherwise, you would not be as mobile as you are now." She said, raising her eyebrows at him.
"What?" He said in surprise.
"Who do you think redressed you? I can understand what Tabs sees in you." She said.
Kyto turned beetroot. He could feel his cheeks burning from her comments. "You dressed me?" Kyto suddenly took in the clothes he was wearing. At no point had he even considered what he was dressed in, the pain and the uncertainty always at the forefront of his mind. He was wearing a pair of grey bottoms, which he suddenly realised were not his own. He had no top on either, which he had not even considered. Looking at his stomach properly for the first time, he saw the deeply bruised and dark colour of his abdomen. It looked almost black with bruising and nasty shades of dark purple and red.
"I could not leave you covered in blood once I found out who you were." She replied, winking at him.
Kyto thought his cheeks could light a fire at this moment.
"Don't worry. Lars was there the whole time, so I did not take advantage of you." She added. Crystal knew she had Kyto on his backfoot and was enjoying teasing him. She had not undressed him that had been Lars, but it was fun watching him squirm. She let out a chuckle so as not to disturb Tabs.
Kyto just sat there dumbfounded and could not even come up with a response. Eventually, he spoke after a minute of sitting in silence with his mouth hanging open. "Could I trouble you for the salve then if that's ok?"
"Sure," Crystal replied, standing from where she had sat down and walking to one of the lockers. She came back a few moments later carrying a large jar.
"That is a lot of salve." He stated.
"Make it myself, and we need a lot, the work we do. Quite often, a few fights and other issues need attention." She said.
Kyto could not get to grips with the situation. Tab's sister, the leader of a raiding gang who now profited off the lives of others, was not what he had expected. If he did not know she was a raid leader, he would have thought her the same as any other townsfolk he had met. Maybe an exceedingly attractive one, but still just like many he had spoken to and met over the years. She just seemed normal. 'But she isn't,' he thought to himself. 'She runs a gang, for fucks sake.' Recalling the story that Tabs had told him.
Crystal removed the lid and handed the jar out. Kyto dipped his fingers into it, getting a decent dollop, and then began to massage it across his stomach and on the side of his neck. His actions deliberately slow so as not to move too much, causing himself pain or disturbing the sleeping beauty on his shoulder.
"If I were you, I would try and get some more sleep yourself. We will need to move in a couple of days, and the journey won't be easy, even in vehicles with the recent snowfall. Never mind the state of the roads heading to Scarshot. I will return later with some food, but for now, sleep." She said, standing, putting the lid back on the salve, and placing it on the floor next to the mattresses so Kyto could reach it. "I will be back later." Crystal turned and headed for the door.
Kyto's head was reeling from the conversation, and it was not until he began listening to Tab's heavy breathing that he eventually started to settle himself, his own eyes beginning to feel heavy.