CHAPTER ONE: Jack's Journey: Opening Hours

[Seon]

"Scared? What are you scared of? Monsters? The incident that you talked about in the taped interrogation? Or perhaps me?

You know, I feel rather strange... it seems that there are days in my memories that are just..." Jack waved his hand in the air. "Gone. Could you refresh my memories on that?"

[Laraqua]

"Listen, I don't have all that much to refresh you on since I only met you once or twice at the bar and you seemed more interested in Cecilia and me than talking about yourself," said Ash, shrugging her shoulders and stepping aside from the cell doors to cling to the bars beside it, breasts pressed against the bars. "But I, uh, I don't want to be rude but you're pretty banged up and I'm a skilled nurse so why don't you unlock the door so I can help you with that? I mean, give me a first aid kit and I can be your personal paramedic. Now wouldn't that be nice? Then we can go and see Cecilia together and find some way out of this madhouse." She leaned her forehead against the bars and gave him a sly smile. "I can be a great service to you but I'd better patch you up so we can get moving."

[Seon]

Jack returned the smile. "Come on, now, you don't think I actually believed that steaming pile of bullshit about your leg, did you? No need to suck up to me. Now, why did you lie?"

[Laraqua]

"A big, scary man I hardly know comes charging in here bristling with an armory after everything's that happened?" she asked. "You've gotta forgive me for being a little suspicious. What are the odds that some bartender would come out her like a white knight? I thought ... maybe you were involved somehow but now that I think about it, that does seem pretty dumb. You know us city girls ... paranoid about everything."

[Seon]

Jack stared blankly at Ash, trying to seeif she actually had no idea what she was talking about, or if she was just punking him.

[Laraqua]

It was pretty touch and go to tell the difference. She knew a little more than she was saying, and was obviously quite unnerved by him, but she didn't seem to understand much at all. Her confusion and fear were certainly real enough and that might make her unpredictable to be around. Still, she was honest about knowing first aid, though if she were a nurse or not was still up in the air.

[Seon]

"...Fine, I'll let you out," he tossed her a small clip-on radio. "Take that. You'll need it, most likely," he went through his keys to try to open the cell.

"On the way out, we can pick up a flashlight for you or something..." he muttered.

[Laraqua]

"Thank you," she said sweetly, catching the clip on and attaching it to the edge of her sleeve. "A weapon would be nice, too, if there are more of those things." The fifth key turns easily, unlocking the cell door. Ash stepped back a little and gestured to the bunk. "Maybe I should check those wounds of yours before we go any further? They look pretty bad, in all honesty."

[Seon]

"Fine," Jack too off his coat and placed it at the corner of the room. "Don't try anything funny..." he handed her the first aid kit.

[Laraqua]

Ash nodded. "So no stand up comedy?" She gestures to the bed. "Sit. Or better yet, lie down. I have to bandage it properly and check the wounds and it's hard to do that while you're standing up. Also, I'll need you to take off your shirt unless you want me to cut most of it off."

[Seon]

Jack sat on the bed and then began to unbutton his shirt, shooting Ash a suspiscious glare once. Once done, he flung the bloodied shirt away on top of the coat in the corner.

[Laraqua]

Ash gives him an appraising look, then hisses as she notices the stab wound in his belly. "All right, if I'm going to stitch that shut you're going to have to lie down. You're currently compressing all your organs when you slouch like that." She kneels on the floor next to him and starts fiddling around in the first aid kit. "Unless you want me to leave the gaping belly wound and only tend to the arm and head wounds."

[Seon]

Jack almost immediately obeyed.

[Laraqua]

"All right, well, here goes." Ash starts dressing his wounds, stitching shut the tatters and bandaging everything else though her trembling fingers makes her technique a little shaky and there doesn't seem to be a lot she can do for his chest wound. The cool bandages, however, deal with those other wounds and soon the pain is a relatively distant memory - though he still has one hell of a headache. "Oh, and last but not least..." She unscrews a bottle and passes him a pair of pills before returning the bottle into the first aid kit. "Some painkillers." She hands the two white pills to him. "I hope you can dry swallow because, otherwise, when you move it's going to hurt ... a lot."

[Seon]

"I always crunch'em anyways," Jack mumbled. He took the pills and ate them both with a loud crack.

Besides, if he actually did care more about pain, he wouldn't be standing here right now.

Jack rose out of the bed and tried to put his clothes back on.

[Laraqua]

"Wait, you sure you don't want to rest here," she said, stroking his face and running her hands down his chest.

[Seon]

"Oh?" Jack said, turning around. "What are you suggesting?"

He quickly eyed the first aid kit.

[Laraqua]

Ash has popped the first aid kit back into his coat. "I just don't want my shotgun hero walking out there all groggy from a head injury." She sits down on the bed, looking around and leaning back in a way that thrusts her breasts out slightly. "Besides, it'd help if I knew what you've seen... I've told you what happened to me. What happened to you?"

[Seon]

"Oh, I had to fight off about three of those things, almost was eaten by a pack of dogs, got a sledgehammer dropped on my face for answering a question wrong, my car got dented, and it also ran out of battery, so it wouldn't start," Jack said matter of factly.

He looked at her body and felt a sudden jarring migraine race through his head, although it disappeared as soon as it appeared.

[Laraqua]

"Well, that's it? What happened to everybody?" She leans forward, pouting slightly as she speaks.