Displaced

by Drake,Stephen

  When she had freshened up, she walked out and shook as much water off as she could.

  “Can you lead me to a tree and give me a little privacy?” she asked sheepishly.

  Murdock complied with her wishes all the while keeping vigil. When she finished, he took her hand, and she immediately found his belt. They walked back to the cave in silence.

  #

  When Murdock led Rose into the cave, he saw Beron in his usual spot. He walked Rose past the creature and up to the bed he had made for her.

  “Can we talk in here?” she asked after she sat down on the grass.

  “If you want. Hungry?”

  “A little,” she said.

  Murdock went to the fire and stirred it to life. It was starting to get dark outside. “Beron, would you like some fish?” Murdock flashed.

  “Not like your way!” Beron responded.

  “I have a couple of fish that haven’t been cooked. I got them for you.”

  Beron flashed an affirmative to the offer. Murdock tossed two of the fish to him. One he caught in his mouth. The other he caught with his paw. Murdock then got some more cooked fish for Rose and pressed it into her hand. Beron, enjoying his fish, was surprisingly quiet while he ate.

  “What did you want to talk about, Rose?” he asked as he sat next to her on the grass bed. They were both pulling the meat from the bones with their fingers and popped the meat into their mouths.

  “Where did you learn to take care of yourself in the wild?” she asked.

  “My dad taught me . . . until he died. My uncle took over after that. I guess you could say I’ve been doing it all my life.”

  “What about your fighting skills? Was that part of your survival training?”

  “Pretty much. My dad insisted that I take martial arts. I started training at six and was second degree black belt before I was seventeen.” Murdock chuckled. “My dad always thought that people should be armed, even when others are sure you aren’t.”

  “What about your mother?” Rose asked.

  “Never knew her. She died shortly after I was born.” The thought of not knowing his mother had always bothered him.

  “I’m sorry,” Rose said with a deep sadness in her voice.

  “No need to be.”

  “What is your name?” Rose asked trying to lift the mood.

  “I was born Kevin Matthew Murdock.”

  Rose thought for a little while. Murdock had finished off his portion and was watching Beron clean himself. “More fish, Rose?”

  “No, I’ve had enough. I could use some water, though,” Rose responded.

  “What’s your story?” Murdock asked as he handed her the water skin.

  “Not much to tell, really,” she said after taking a long drink. “I was born Rosa Lea Griffen, into a lower-middle class family. I have two brothers and one sister, all younger. Mom and Dad died shortly before the takeover, thank God. I spent most of my life in Omaha.”

  “How did they get you?” Murdock asked.

  “I was nabbed as I left work one day. I worked in a plastics factory, and one day as I was leaving work, they ran us through a checkpoint and grabbed me. Don’t remember much after that.”

  “So, there was a takeover of some kind?” Murdock asked.

  “Well, yeah! It was all over the news! Where were you?”

  “I was out in the woods for a couple of months. It’s a little hard to get the news out there.”

  “Sorry. I thought everyone knew about the takeover. I didn’t know anyone could just go out into the woods for a couple of months.”

  “My dad was rich. Never did know how he made his money. I was homeschooled and didn’t have a lot of contact with other kids my own age growing up. Guess that’s apparent.”

  “It does explain a few things. You were an only child?”

  “Yes, Mom died before they got around to making more. Dad never did recover from Mom’s death. He never remarried.” Murdock had gotten some of the grass he had gathered and now sat by the fire braiding.

  “Mind if I ask you something?” Rose asked after a long pause.

  “You can always ask me anything, but I reserve the right to refuse to answer,” Murdock said half-jokingly.

  “That’s fair enough. Why did you ask me to take your salt deal to Whittier?” she asked.

  “You seemed to be more accepting of me from the day I cooked that snake. You were the only one I was comfortable talking to. So, you were the logical choice. I knew he wouldn’t go for it if I’d brought it to him in front of the rest of the people on the transport and that he might if brought to him privately.”

  “You didn’t suspect he’d try to trap you?” she asked.

  “I knew it was a possibility, but I tried to give him a chance to do something good for the rest of the group. I had no idea he’d retaliate against you.”

  Murdock failed to hide the regret in his voice when he referred to her.

  “What are your expectations of this situation?” she asked after a long pause.

  “What do you mean?”

  “What do you expect from me, should I decide to stay with you?” she asked bluntly.

  “I expect you to help when and where you can,” Murdock said after briefly thinking about it.

  “Nothing else?” Rose asked.

  “I don’t want anything from you that you’re not willing to give freely,” he said after another pause for thought. “Not even displays of gratitude in any form. Does that answer your question?”

  “Yeah, it does. So, I’m free to leave should I decide to?”

  “How can I stop you? Why would I want to? If you really don’t want to be here, you can leave any time you choose. I won’t stop you.”

  That was plain enough, she thought.

  #

  The next morning, Burns and Metzger returned to the place of Rose’s attack. Though they spent a long time trying to locate her or her body, they found nothing. However, when they saw the cut ropes, both men paled at what that meant. As they left the area, Burns picked up Rose’s clothes. Both men walked back to the pod in silence. Both were hoping they wouldn’t run into Murdock.

  As they approached the pod, they saw Whittier talking to the rest of the group.

  “Here are the men I sent to search for poor Rose. Please, tell us what you found,” Whittier said for all to hear.

  “This is all we could find of Rose,” Burns said as he handed her clothes to Whittier. Whittier’s head bowed, theatrically; he looked very sad and visibly slumped as Burns handed him her clothes.

  “Is that all you found?” Whittier asked, his voice cracking a little. He appeared to be moved to tears.

  “We did find a lot of blood,” Metzger stated flatly.

  “Did you see any animal tracks?” Whittier asked with apparent hopefulness.

  “No tracks of any kind,” Metzger responded.

  “Anything else?” Whittier asked.

  “Just some cut ropes,” Burns stated.

  “Did you all hear? Murdock killed Rose! He grabbed her and spirited her off into the night, tied her up and killed her! God only knows what he did with the body! Probably cut it up and fed it to the animals,” Whittier expounded loudly. “The man is a savage!”

  “How do you know he killed her?” a man in the crowd asked.

  Whittier looked to Metzger. “Was there the amount of blood you’d expect from a body?” he asked Metzger.

  “How would I know?” Metzger asked as he shrugged his shoulders. “I can take you to the spot so you can see for yourself.”

  “Where was the blood?” Whittier asked. “Was it on our side of the stream?”

  “No. All the signs we saw were on Murdock’s side of the stream,” Metzger responded.

  “Does anyone want to see for himself?” Whittier asked the group. He waited for someone to respond. No one did. “If that’s all, I think we all need to meditate on Rose, in silence.” To Burns and Metzger, Whittier said, “I want you two to meet with me in th
e pod now.”

  The group broke up somewhat as Burns, Metzger, and Whittier went into the pod. Whittier carried Rose’s clothes.

  “Close the ramp, Burns!” Whittier commanded.

  “What did you really find?” Whittier asked after the ramp was closed.

  “We told you,” Metzger stated.

  All three men turned pale.

  7

  Over the next few days, Murdock and Rose settled into a daily routine. Murdock got firewood, water, and fish, and hauled as much grass as he could to soften the bed he had set up for Rose. At least twice a day, he would lead Rose down the mountain path to the stream. For Rose’s peace of mind, he would talk to her about anything she wanted to talk about as he worked on her grass skirt. He thought it was because she couldn’t see and needed someone to vocalize to know she wasn’t alone.

  Murdock worried the entire time about taking a deer for the hide and the meat. Though he was tired of fish, he was reluctant to leave Rose alone for any length of time.

  They spent some of the time talking and planning for winter survival. Murdock knew he had to get in as much firewood and meat as he possibly could.

  On one of the trips with Rose to the stream, she let go of his belt and followed him. When she broke her grip, Murdock stopped and turned around quickly.

  “You can see?” he asked.

  “Yes, I can see . . . a little. Well enough to walk to the stream without stumbling,” she responded as she passed by him on the path.

  “How long have you been able to see?” he asked as he followed her.

  “Today has been the best, but I think I started to be able to see shapes yesterday.”

  They walked the rest of the way in silence.

  “I think today you can wash off the mud. I need to check your cuts,” he said when they reached the stream. Rose entered the water and started washing off the mud that had been covering her wounds. “Don’t scrub hard. Just let the mud dissolve or rub gently.”

  “I’m glad you let me wash off the mud. It was starting to drive me nuts,” she said as she let the mud dissolve.

  “Come over here and let me see your cuts,” Murdock instructed after the mud was gone. He inspected the cuts closely, looking for any sign that they might reopen. He turned her head to the left to check the cut under her eye then turned her around to inspect her back.

  “What are you looking at back there?” Rose asked.

  “Your bruises seem to be getting better, and the cuts have closed nicely.”

  “I have cuts on my back?” Rose asked in shock. “I knew my back was sore, but I figured it was just from the beating.” Then she looked down at her chest. “What the hell is this?’ she screamed trying to rub off the newly healed cuts on her chest. She quickly turned to Murdock. “You need to give it to me straight. Just what were my injuries?” she asked accusingly.

  “You were beaten and raped,” he stated flatly.

  “Yeah, I know that, and I know I have a couple of teeth missing!”

  “You also have words carved into your skin.” Murdock could see Rose’s lip start to quiver.

  “What words?” she asked, her voice indicating her closeness to hysteria.

  “On your chest is carved spy.” Murdock could see her eyes start to well up with tears.

  “And on my back?”

  “On your back is carved slut.” He saw the tears starting to flow down her cheek.

  “And is my face cut as well?” she asked trying to hold back the tears and failing.

  “Yes, it is. You have a cut that runs from your nose to your ear just under your right eye.”

  Rose just sat on the ground and cried. Murdock thought her spirit was broken. He didn’t know what to do.

  “Anything else?” Rose asked between sobs.

  “You also had a broken nose. I reset it best I could when I first found you.”

  Rose started crying again, harder this time.

  “Why didn’t they just slit my throat?” she asked to no one in particular. She was still sitting on the ground, her head in her hands crying.

  Murdock went over to her and gently put an arm around her shoulders. She accepted his comforting while still crying and sobbing. Periodically, she winced, while sobbing, and tried to hold her ribs. After a while, Murdock knelt down in front of her.

  “It’ll be all right,” he said softly, reassuringly.

  “You think so?” she screamed at him. “All my life I did everything I could to preserve my looks, and now I’m just a mess!”

  “I don’t think so,” Murdock said calmly.

  “Shows how much you know,” she snapped and started crying again.

  Murdock was at a loss. He had no idea what to do or say. All he wanted was to say something that would soothe her and get her to stop crying.

  He stood up and went to the stream with the water skin. He had knelt down to fill it when Rose grabbed it out of his hands, shoving him a little as she did. Murdock caught his balance with his hand in the stream.

  “I’ll do that. It’s about all I’m good for,” she yelled between sobs and tears.

  “You can knock off that kind of talk,” he said sternly as he regained his feet.

  She filled the water skin and turned around to face him.

  “Just look at me, Kevin,” she yelled as she threw the water skin at him.

  Murdock deftly caught the water skin before it hit him in the face and turned around to look her square in the eyes. He stood looking at her face.

  “Yeah, so?” he said after a few seconds.

  “I’m a mess. I’ll have all kinds of scars. It wouldn’t be so bad if I could hide them, but I can’t hide them all!”

  “You look fine to me,” Murdock said without affectation. He could see the fire in her eyes.

  “I’m just an ugly mess,” Rose screamed.

  “Not to me,” he stated softly.

  She glared at him, and he thought there was murder in her eyes. “Who in the god-damned-hell would want an ugly, scarred-up hag?”

  “Is there an ugly, scarred-up hag around here?” he asked innocently and started to look around. “Hmm . . . can’t see one, but maybe your eyes are better than mine.”

  Rose didn’t say anything. She didn’t have to. Her hand snapped up to slap his face. He ducked under the slap and caught her around her waist before she lost her balance and fell. In the blink of an eye he stood behind her tying up both her arms with his own.

  “Knock it off, Rose,” he commanded quietly in her ear.

  She tried to push backwards to knock him off balance. It didn’t work. The two of them struggled like that for a second or two; Rose could not get the upper hand. Finally, she just slumped and started to cry all over again.

  When he released his grip on her, Rose fell to her knees and buried her face in her hands. Murdock let her be until her sobs grew faint.

  “Are you done?” he asked gently. All she could do was nod an affirmative. “Come on,” he said offering her a hand up. “Let’s get back before it gets dark.” With Murdock’s assistance, Rose got to her feet, and the two started back toward the cave. Neither said a word all the way back.

  When they returned to the cave, Murdock dumped the gear he was carrying, and Rose headed for her bed.

  “Wait a minute,” he said, stopping her. “I have something for you.” He went to where he had been working on her grass skirt, picked it up, and gave it to her.

  “What’s this?” she asked quietly.

  “I always thought pretty women liked pretty dresses,” Murdock said, looking at her with shock on his face. “Was I wrong?”

  “No, you weren’t wrong,” she said quietly. She hadn’t lifted her face the whole way back.

  “I know it isn’t much, but the store is just too far away to walk. This is the best I could do on such short notice.”

  “All you need now is a pretty lady to give it to,” she said quietly, trying to hand it back to him while still looking at her feet.

&nbs
p; “I just did. I gave it to the prettiest lady I know.” Rose just stood there. “Give it to me, and we’ll see how it fits,” Murdock said quickly. He took the grass skirt and wrapped it around her waist twice and tied it in the front. The grass hung down to just below her knees. Rose stood like a mannequin. Murdock stepped back and looked at her. “Looks good on you!” he said with enthusiasm.

  “Thanks,” Rose said unenthusiastically. She went to her bed and sat down staring into the fire.

  Murdock followed her and started stirring the fire to get it going.

  “Sorry you didn’t like the dress. I guess my seamstress work needs improvement,” he said after a long pause, his attention on the fire.

  Silence prevailed for a very long time.

  “Kevin?” Rose asked finally. “Did you make this so you wouldn’t have to look at me any longer?”

  “Hell, no! If it were up to me, I’d keep you naked all the time, but what would the neighbors think?” Murdock was trying to be upbeat. Rose chuckled a little.

  “They’d think you live with an ugly woman,” she said, still staring at the fire.

  “Yeah, well, what do they know? And who cares what the neighbors think anyway? Getting hungry?”

  “A little,” she said. Murdock could tell she wasn’t over the shock of her disfigurement.

  The two ate in silence, both sitting and looking into the flames, with Murdock closest to the fire and his back to Rose. After they ate, Rose lay down.

  “Kevin?” Rose asked as Murdock banked the fire for the night.

  “Yes?” he asked without turning around.

  “Would you do me a favor?” she asked quietly.

  “Depends on what it is,” he stated.

  “Would you sleep with me tonight?”

  Murdock was shocked and stood straight up.

  “If you like,” he said as calmly as he could manage.

  “Just lie between me and the fire. I need to be held.”

  Murdock went to the makeshift bed and lay down on his back. Rose lay on her side with her head on his shoulder and her hand on his chest; Murdock put his arm around her shoulder. They lay there quietly for a while.