“And you turned it into a room?” he asked incredulously.
“Don’t worry,” she said as she shoved the bathroom door open. “There are no blood stains on the floor. I covered them with carpet.”
Tony gripped onto my shirt, pulling me to a stop. “Is she serious?”
“Yeah,” I laughed a little, but only because she had already told me that room was further down the hall. She was fucking with him and I had to applaud that. “I’m pretty sure that she didn’t rip out the floors, so yeah, there’s a pretty damn good possibility that there are blood stains under the carpet.”
I watched his pale Italian skin turn a pasty white. If anyone wondered about his heritage, they sure as fuck wouldn’t guess it right now.
“Relax, man. There’s no such thing as ghosts. Besides, it’s not like you haven’t seen a dead person before. You’ll know what to do if you see one. Just remember, we have a job to do.”
He nodded, but the sick look on his face had yet to subside. When he didn’t stop nodding, I stood directly in front of him and slapped him on the face. “Hey, take a breath, man. You gotta lighten up.”
He nodded again and finally took a breath. “I don’t know that I can do this. I’m serious. Ghosts scare the shit out of me.”
“Then I guess it’s a good thing we won’t find any here.” I led him into the bathroom and smiled. “See? The bathroom is really nice. I highly doubt any ghosts will come haunting you in here.”
The bathroom was shit to say the least. Yeah, it had tile floors, but I was pretty sure they weren’t the original color anymore. It was your basic bathroom, but frankly, I had seen nicer ones in the barracks.
She smirked at me and turned to Tony. “So, what do you think?”
“Uh…do you have anything that wasn’t once used to mutilate people?”
“Well, there’s Storm’s room and then I have one other that also has a bathroom, but I’m pretty sure you’re not going to want that one.”
“What happened-” Tony held up his hand, shaking his head. “I don’t want to know. Don’t say a word.”
“So, what’s the history of my room?”
“Yours is where they housed the puppies and kittens used for rehabilitation.”
“What?” Tony said, his jaw dropping as she walked out of his room. “You give him puppies and kittens and I get chopped up brains?”
“Relax, man. I’m right next to you. I’ll be able to hear if the ghosts come to get you.”
“You’re an asshole,” he muttered as we walked out of the room.
Jessica was waiting for us in the hall with a small smile on her face. “If it makes you feel any better, I’m just down the hall.”
Tony scrubbed a hand down his face. “My room sucks. Don’t you have anything where people just sat muttering to themselves all day? I’ll take that. Or the kitchen. I really doubt anything too heinous happened in there. Or how about just a normal fucking room where someone just slept for the night. You’ve gotta have one of those.”
“Those are all currently uninhabitable,” Jessica said. “I’m sorry that this is the best I have at the moment, but with you guys here to help out, I’m sure we’ll get a few fixed up in no time. Besides,” she said cheerily. “You guys are big, bad warriors. You’ve seen blood and you’ve been around death. I’m sure this is a cakewalk for you.”
She turned to leave and Tony leaned in to whisper to me. “Can I bunk with you?”
Storm Page 6