Chapter IX Dark. Eyes. Open eyes. Man. Dark man. Big man. Scary. Evil. Momma. Poppa. Evil. Gun. Get gun. Gun? Gun! Where is the gun! GUN! -- Korrge woke to the feeling of hands around his throat. -- Kill man! Kill! He took gun! Kill evil man! "You killed..." -- "...them!" She had to wake up, didn't she? Korrge reached up and... -- He has my arms! Let go, evil man! Let go! "LET GO!" Kick. Scream. Fight. Punch. Must get free! Must kill evil man! -- She was attacking him harder now. It still didn't hurt -- he was defending himself just fine -- but it was _really_ annoying, and he didn't have to put up with it. "Alright, lady. Get the fuck _off_ me!" -- Evil. Evil! He killed! He killed them! He killed... -- Just before he was going to throw her across the room, she suddently collapsed in his arms sobbing. Again. She was sobbing again. She was in sorry shape. Her long brown hair was tangled and stained with dried blood, apparently not her own. Her relatively plain dress was cut in at least five places, and was torn at the bottom -- purposefully? Probably. A different cloth was tied, hard, around her lower leg -- around what looked to be a bullet wound through the fleshy part of her leg; it looked like denim. She was thin, very thin, as if she hadn't eaten for days. Her hands and arms were filthy, her face almost grimy; even beyond it all, though, she still had a certain charm. And she was grasping his arm with all her strength, crying on his shoulder. What now? He wasn't trained to deal with this stuff; he'd spent the last...well, lot of...seasons just working for the cause. He was trained to defend himself and others from professionals -- like the one that had tried to kill him a couple of days back. Korrge knew how to kill, he didn't know how to make a woman stop crying. -- Momma -- dead. Poppa -- dead. Barry -- dead. The man -- evil? -- was trying to talk to her. Why? What did it matter -- they were all dead, weren't they? -- "Lady...lady! Come on, snap out of it! It's alright! I'm not going to kill ya! It's alright! Stop it; it's alright...I promise. My..." -- "...darlin'..." Poppa? -- "..., just stop crying! It's alright! It's alright. That's it..." She was beginning to calm visibly. No longer was she tense and entirely upset, it seemed; her grasp on his arm was not nearly so vice-like, he could feel her trembling on his arm. "That's a girl...calm down, darlin'. Calm down. Calm, calm..." -- Calm. -- The grip on his arm entirely stopped. Korrge had to grab her arm to keep her from hitting the ground. -- Calm. Dark. Sleep. -- Korrge woke that morning to the sound of birds chirping. The girl was still sleeping on the floor of the small house he'd taken up residence in, about half a mile away from where he'd found her in the first place. He moved over to her. Should he wake her up? She needed to wake up, from the looks of her; she needed washed, fed, what have you, even if she did try to kill him. At least she wasn't anywhere near the gun anymore... Wait a second. What the hell was he saying? This lady had shot at him, fought with him, tried to strangle him, and had held a pretty major grip on his arm for a good long time...why should he trust her now? But she couldn't do anything to him! She'd had surprise last night and hadn't managed to kill him... Why had he let her do that in the first place? Here he was, in the middle of the Dark City, and if that girl had been an assassin, like that other guy, he'd be long dead by now. Was he losing his touch? But she's pretty! Get rid of all that dirt, and she'll clean up real nice! Why... He continued the debate inside his mind for at least five minutes. Though he wouldn't really admit it to himself, the girl had gotten under his skin...for what reason, he didn't know. He should be more careful, but he couldn't do anything to hurt her... That's when he noticed that she hadn't moved at all for the entire time he'd been trying to figure out what to do with her. "Lady?" He shook her arm. "Lady? You alright?" She didn't move. He looked at her more carefully. She was...pale. Really pale. He checked her pulse. Oh shit. "Lady! Lady...by the Immortals, wake up!" He looked at her more closely. The shot in her leg...it was worse than he had initially thought. She was still bleeding from it. "Lady! LADY!" He grabbed her legs and arms, and picked her up. She needed water _now_. He ran for the door of the small house. He saw a flash of metal in the corner of his eye as he tried to open it. His gun. That was the one thing he couldn't afford to leave behind. He ran to it, ducked and grabbed it in his right hand, struggled to get it in the holster... Got it! Back to the door. Gotta find water, gotta find it...I've got to save her! She can't die... He got it open by kicking it down. He ran out the door, towards the nearest park and, hopefully, a source of clean water. -- That house was a little bit different, wasn't it? The door was open. Almost as if... Kim ran for the house. He ran into the door, into the main foyer... On the floor near the corner there sat a small hand pistol.