Scars And Stitches

It's okay. Don't worry about it, I will take care of it." Katniss stroked Glinda's hair who was now in her embrace. Her eyes flashed with a cold and resolute look as she pointed the gun at Ryver's skull with speed thrice as fast as a regular human, she pulled the trigger at point blank range.

BANG!

Sounds of glass shattering resounded as the vase behind Ryver exploded to pieces. A small cloud of dust rose up and with a dull thud, the bullet slammed into the wall behind the vase, creating a finger-sized hole in it.

The atmosphere in the room immediately got extremely tense and silent as thought time had paused as Ryver, gazed at Katniss with an expressionless look on his face.

Katniss's countenance changed, with her eyes were wide open as though she couldn't believe what had happened. Glinda gasped with expression of shock at Ryver's reaction speed. She had barely seen him move.

In the last moment, Ryver had stretched out his hands, grabbing the muzzle of the gun and pointing it away from his skull just in time for the bullet to bypass him, hitting the expensive vase beside him and then the wall. He had redirected a fatal shot to the head in the blink of an eye.

Katniss couldn't accept this result. She gritted her teeth and pulled the trigger once more, but Ryver's pinky finger had locked into her index finger hooking them together, preventing her from pulling the trigger any further.

Ryver suddenly glanced away from her and then towards the closed door. The place room was soundproof therefore, sounds of gunshot wouldn't be able to escape the room. Ryver ripped the gun away from Katniss's grip and then placed it back in its holster.

"If that's all, I will need the tray of medicine now, my injuries won't tend to themselves." He was so casual about it Katniss's face flushed red in anger, but in that anger, there was a slight bit of fear now creeping up in her expression. This man was simply too much of a monster. She couldn't help but think if this was how he was before the nuclear apocalypse.

But then door suddenly opened and a tired Jacob walked in with an improvised nose mask in his hands. He then paused as he could feel the tense situation within the room. He frowned as he gazed at Katniss and then Glinda who quickly seperated from Katniss's embrace.

"What's going on here?" Jacob was confused with the situation. He walked forwards a bit but then stopped, seeing the tray of medicine before him, he frowned even more. "Why hasn't he been given the medicine yet?" Jacob had no idea what to make of the situation, his eyes darting towards the three people within the room. He could feel something had happened, but couldn't tell what.

"Did you know about it?" Ryver suddenly asked Jacob, making the two ladies incredibly tense. Glinda's hand trembled and Katniss couldn't help but clench her teeth as her facial muscles tensed. If she had been successful, he wouldn't be such a blabber mouth right now. It was unknown what would happen if Jacob knew what they tried to do but perhaps he would be understanding.

Jacob was even more confused at Ryver's words. "Know about what?" he picked up the tray, gave a sidelong glance at both Katniss and Glinda before placing the tray on Ryver's bedside.

Ryver paused, his face expressionless and then he said. "About their relationship?"

Jacob was even more confused. He finished with the gasmask and turned to face Katniss and Glinda. They didn't look the slightest bit alike, so they couldn't be sisters. Cousins maybe? "What relationship?"

"They are both dating each other." Ryver gave a wide grin at the two ladies and turned towards Jacob who blinked his eyes in slight surprise.

He was slightly stunned and didn't know what to say in that moment. "I had no idea they were dating." Jacob then froze as he managed to sense the atmosphere was off.

His expression then turned serious as he turned towards Ryver. "Do you have a problem with that?"

In this time and age, relationship as such has long been accepted and even greatly encourage within the society, but there were still some crazy individuals disgusted by it and would go to extreme measures to prove a point. Jacob knew Ryver could not be thought of as a normal individual and if he was one of those people, the situation will be unpredictable.

Ryver chuckled humourlessly. "They would have even dead by now. Thanks for the mask though." He collected the improvised gas mask and placed the thread bands connected through a slit in the 2 litre transparent plastic over his head securing it tightly against his face, he inhaled deeply.

Finally he was able to breath in more fresh air without the toxic air of the radiation entering into his body, weakening him. But with the air filtration device installed in the gas mask, it was still not enough to filter all the radiation out from the air, he would most likely need to get a better gas mask. The blueprint of the entire city flashed through his mind, and a store emerged but Ryver frowned, he wouldn't be able to go anywhere soon with his injuries.

He glance at the three people still in his room. "This improvised gas mask won't be able to hold on forever, we need to find manufactured ones."

Jacob glanced at Ryver, with a serious expression. His words about killing Katniss and Glinda if he really did have a problem with than struck a nerve, but he was aware Ryver was quite straight forward with his words.

He shook his head in response. "I've thought about it several times but with the recent increase in survivors, we still don't have enough man power to venture outside the company. That 1st Degree infected creature is still out there and its strength probably would have increased by now. Even if we have enough man power to take care of it, who is to say other creatures like that are not roaming about the street. Moreover, we have no idea where to even get those mask within this city and I don't want to put them at risk so soon. We are safe in here, so I say we manage what we have until we hear from the government."

Jacob's words made Ryver frown visibly. To him, those were the words of a coward, but it was logical in a certain sense and since the world had changed, it wouldn't do any good to be reckless.

'Not that easy to manipulate. Seems my time on him has been wasted, or not.' Ryver shrugged. Jacobs rejection didn't discourage him. He was trying to build a pack and the easiest one to build without solid foundation gets picked off one by one until the alpha's left. The harder building the pack is, the more solid the foundation becomes.

Ryver recollected the second rule of the X; When you find yourself in a strange territory, 'Build A Pack.' it doesn't matter if its temporary or permanent, so far as they follow your orders.

Ryver could do without the rules, but with the changes in the world, it might be best to stick with what had been drilled into his bones.

"We will leave you to tend to your injuries then. Come on Glinda, and you too Katniss." Jacob peeled his eyes off the multiple scars that decorated Ryver's body like stars in the night and left with the two ladies.

The door was slammed shut and Ryver was left alone in the room with the first aid box placed at his bedside.

He grabbed the box and headed to the bathroom where there was a large standing mirror by the wall. Opening the box, the first aid kit contained various items without any main item missing within the box. The company sure didn't spare any effort to make it complete.

Ryver washed his body with water and then carefully dabbed a cotton wool with alcohol and cleaned his injuries with it, it wasn't until his twentieth ball of cotton wool did he finish sterilising his wounds.

The balls of wool were all dyed red with his blood but even as the alcohol seeped deep into his torn flesh and tissues, Ryver didn't so much as whimper. It was as though he was treating the wounds of a different person.

After he was done, he grabbed ten tablets of pain relief and antibiotics , and grounded them to powder before spraying them on the gaping claw marks on his body.

He then picked a needle which was in the shape of an arc; Surgical suture. He washed his hands with alcohol and then began stitching himself up with the needle and the thread.

The needle curved as he punctured the first edges of the open wound. At first, his skin resisted thanks to the ten points of vitality his body had, his skin was ten times harder than it had previously been.

With enough force, he then punctured the second edges of the open wound, then back to the first, then the second and then he pulled, tightening the flesh as they came together closing one third of the first claw mark.

With his speed, it was as though he had done this a thousand times and it was true, he had stitched himself up more times than he could count. Probably one of the reason his Ex-wife Yvonne left him.