After her pants were successfully back on, though they didn’t fit quite right over the cast and were pulled up above it, she moved to get her shoes on. “A little, but I’ll eat later in the day. Don’t want to take any of your valuable food,” She said, sticking her tongue out of the corner of her mouth on concentration as she tried to stick her shoe on her injured leg. It was quite a task, but eventually she got her other shoe on, abandoning the shoe for her injured leg and leaving it untied on her foot.
Jay laughed softly. "Wasn't gonna. There's a forest nearby that I've gone hunting in before. There's still ample game left." He said, looking to the door. "Plus, no offense, but you really shouldn't be moving around too much yet. Nor should you be hunting or anything like that." He cautioned her, still watching the door carefully.
“I’m fine,” She replied, dismissing him with a simple wave, “Plus, I gotta be on my way soon anyway, so I don’t think that whole not moving much thing is going to work. I’ll have to learn how to hunt with a broken leg one way or the other.” She scowled as she grabbed her crutches and tried to stand up, getting up into a half crouch with her broken leg still straight and trying to hoist herself into a standing position.
Jay walked over to her. "Need help getting up?" He asked. His eyes flashed to her, the gold color catching the sunlight for a moment. He looked back at the door again, frowning. "There's something wrong…" He muttered. He stalked to the door, hand going to his pistol. He stiffened, and came back. "We have to get out of here. It's one of the human gangs, sweeping through here. You don't want to know what they'd do to a lone girl like you. Especially one that can't run."
She nodded, happy to accept his help. She sighed when he walked away without doing anything and stood up herself, cursing internally when she realized her pack was still on the ground. Delia kicked it with her non injured leg and tried to hook one of the straps with her foot to get up to her hands. “I know what they’d to do a girl like me, I’m not going to turn down getting it of here at all. I just might need some help getting my bag onto my back.”
He came back, and helped her, eyes darting to the doorway. He lifted the bag up, putting it on her back. "They'd kill me, and…" He trailed off. "Do worse to you." He glanced at the doorway again. "I know two ways to get rid of them. Both aren't without their dangers."
“What are they?” She asked, knowing they didn’t have much time to talk before they had to get moving. With her on crutches it would take even longer for them to get where they needed to go if they just ran so the sooner they figured out what they were doing the better. Delia made her way to the door on her crutches and peered outside, not liking even thinking about what might happen to her if they were caught.
"One…if they thought we were just two dumb teenagers trying to cop a feel, they might just pass on by. The other option is for me to pretend to be from a rival gang, and have already staked out this territory. Because running is out of the question. I can't carry you and run, and you'd never make it walking." He said.
Delia went silent as she thought, weighing the risks in her mind and his safety overall. It wasn’t nice to accidentally get the person who just helped you killed. They usually weren’t too pleased with that. “I think the safer option is going to be the first one, even if it still is really quite dangerous. I don’t want to have to go save you if you’re bleeding out after getting shot, especially not with a leg like this.” She looked at him and then back out the door, not seeing anyone just yet as determination to survive this made her eyes seem to flash for a moment.
Jay nodded. "Come on. It'll be more believable if we're…er…somewhere more private." He said, holding her bag and striding towards the opposite door, further into the hotel. "Also…if I kiss you, it's so that that's all they see. I don't want this to turn into a fight, because I doubt I could win."
There was shouting outside as they walked.
She hobbled after him on her crutches as he walked, nodding and hoping this would work. The shouting only got louder as they made it to the back room and Delia stopped, waiting for Jay to tell her where she should go or what she should do.
Jay closed the door, setting their backpacks down. He looked around quickly. He seemed almost…nervous. "Come here." He beckoned. "Lean back against the wall, and look up at me. Pretend you're in love." His voice was brisk, and his eyes roved around the room, making it obvious that he was doing this to survive, not because he was trying to play with her or something like that.
“Like this?” She did as he said, bracing her crutches against the wall next to her and holding all her weight on her good leg. She looked up at him and gave the most real impression she could that she was in love with him. It wasn’t difficult, she just used her gratitude for him helping her and hoped it worked. The voices were definitely close now and she felt her heartbeat quicken as she got ready to essentially pull a fast one on the gang.
Jay cast a worried glance at the door, and put his hands on either side of her head, bending close to her. He put his mouth by her ear so he could speak quietly. "They'll look inside, and hopefully all they see is…well. What it looks like. If this fails…" He trailed off. "Well." He shook his head, slowly moving his head down her neck in a way that would look, to anyone watching, like he was simply kissing her. However, his mouth didn't actually come in contact with her skin.
The voices were right outside the door now.
She let her eyes flutter to make it seem just a little more believable, hearing the footsteps walk into the hotel as voices talking. They said something about someone being there and to continue searching the building and she bit her lip as the gang searched the building and footsteps stopped just inside the room where they were.
“Found two kids,” A gruff voice called, “Though they’re a little…preoccupied at the moment with each other, what should I do with them?”
Jay stiffened slightly, and slid one hand over to cup her cheek, though his whole attention was focused on the voices as his mouth drifted across her face, hovering a hairs breadth from her skin. The muscles in his body were tense, and he wished he could keep a hand on his gun.
A second voice responded with, "Eh. Leave 'em. We don't need new recruits."
She gently moved a hand from where they were pressed against the wall to help hold herself up and placed it on his back, trying to make it seem a little bit more believable while silently trying to tell Jay to relax. The person stood in the door for a few more seconds as if they were trying to make sure the two of them weren’t up to anything. Then, as soon as they came, the person left with the others and the building went silent again.
Once they were gone, Jay let go of her, stepping back. "Thank you." He said softly. "You have no idea what…what you saved me from." He looked at the ground for a moment, taking a deep breath. He picked up her crutches, and handed them to her. "Need help?" He asked her.
“No problem,” She replied softly, taking the crutches from him and nodding with a tiny smile, “I wouldn’t say no to some help, especially just getting my bag on my back.” Delia took a step away from the wall and made her way towards the door, her cheeks showing just a hint of pink. They had gotten away from the gang, that was the best part. Now she just had to get out of the town and on her way again with a broken leg. She wouldn’t purposely ask Jay to come with her or for him to leave, he was able to choose for himself and she would figure out how to survive either way.
He nodded, and picked up her backpack, helping her get it on. "Do you want me to come with you? Just for a bit, until your leg heals up." He said, putting his backpack on. He looked at the door again, taking his hat off to run a hand through his hair.
“I won’t force you to come with me, and you can probably move on faster without me. You’ve already helped me more than I can imagine, I’ll figure things out with my leg.” She shrugged as well as she could and looked out the door, checking there was no one from the gangs in the hotel still as she made her way out back into the main lobby. Her eyes scanned the area quickly and she held her gun in one hand while still holding onto the crutch with three fingers. It was difficult, she could say that, but she needed to be ready for anything with the others around.
Jay followed her out. He shrugged. "Safety in numbers, and all that." He replied. He sighed softly. "Besides, I don't need to move all that fast." He added with a small shrug. He had his backpack on his back, and he easily walked beside her. "Also, that looks really difficult to do." He said, meaning the way she was carrying her gun.
She waved her free hand dismissively before moving forward out of the hotel, sneaking around the side as best she could like she did when she first came into the town. “It’s not that bad,” She smoothly said, making it seem less difficult than it was. Her auburn hair fell in her face but she flipped her head back and out of her face. There was a small cracked road leading out of the town a few blocks away and she started towards it, only glancing back to see if Jay was coming a few times.
Jay walked beside her, his gold eyes flickering around as he kept an eye out for anyone else. He was silent as he walked, his knife and pistol both within easy reach. He had put his hat back on, covering up his telltale white hair. His dark grey shirt was spattered with mud, and he knew he would need to find a way to wash both it and himself at some point.
“Well, are you heading anywhere in particular Mr. Helpful?” She asked, knowing she was really just wandering around wherever she wanted until she found someplace that took her breath away. This town was just one of the many places she had traveled too.
