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him to know how much I longed to kill him.
    “Okay. So you saved my life so you could
kill me. Why am I still alive now?”
    I snorted, then lifted the gun I’d gotten
from one of his attackers; I had set it off to the side in order to tend to him
before. I leaned forward and pulled his own gun out of his pocket. I
transferred it so I held both guns in one hand before leaning over him and
pulling his knife out of his other pocket.
    I held them up for him to see. “Does this
look fair?” I asked.
    “No. It looks like you’re using the
situation to your advantage.”
    “Exactly. Hardly satisfying.” I replaced
his gun and knife where I’d found them. “It won’t be the same to kill you now,
with you so injured you can’t even stand, and with one arm useless for the time
being. I’m going to have to give you time to heal. Especially considering
you’re going to need several more doses of that medicine.”
    “And you’ll be giving them to me?” he
asked.
    I shrugged.
    “Are we playing nurse and patient, then?”
    “Something like that.”
    “You’re going to heal me up, get me back
to my feet, and then kill me?”
    “Pretty much.”
    “Huh. Well, I admire your dedication.”
    I twisted my mouth at the compliment.
“Let’s move to the shelter of the bridge. I don’t think we’ll be walking anywhere
for a while.”
    “Yes, ma’am.” He used his good arm to
push himself into a sitting position, and then I let him place the arm around
my shoulders, helping to support his weight as he hopped along on his uninjured
leg. Once we reached the bridge, I eased him down against the wall.
    “You drank all my water, so I’m going to
go get some more. I trust you’ll stay here?” I looked at him seriously.
    “We both know I’m not going anywhere. Go
ahead. Bring some barbeque chicken back if you happen upon it.”
    I smirked. “I’ll get right on that,” I
replied, then started off at a quick walk. I kept my new gun in hand. After he
was out of sight, I opened the gun’s cartridge and counted the bullets: enough
for me not to worry for a while, that was for sure.
    I thought back on the change of
circumstances. I’d just saved this man’s life, simply so I could kill him when
he’d gotten better. It was a little disturbing, honestly. I thought it was
understandable, considering he killed my parents. I wanted him whole when I
tore him apart. But . . . something about the desire felt off. It clenched a
knot in my stomach, and made my heart skip a beat. Something about it was
different from when I was going to fulfill a simple kill, a simple life for
life exchange, a simple revenge. Something about this new dynamic wasn’t right.
    That wasn’t going to stop me, though.
This man had killed my parents , and I
was going to make him pay for it.
    A cluster of buildings sat at an exit
half a mile away, and I began walking toward the nearest one. I glanced around
as I went, looking for any small pools that might have filled at the last
rainfall. None were visible, which didn’t bode well for what I might find at
the exit.
    As for the request, it was doubtful that
I would find any food at all, much less barbeque chicken. We were traveling on
an interstate freeway, and the stores closest to it would have been the first
to be raided for sustenance.
    I climbed the exit ramp, and then headed
for my target building – one with large flower pots on either side of the door.
If those had no water in them, I’d have to resort to checking outdoor ashtrays,
which was definitely not my preferred source of rainwater.
    Both the flower pots and the ashtrays
were dry. I looked around, trying to come up with a solution. Water wasn’t
generally scarce, especially considering we were in Oregon. However, this was
the one time of the year when it didn’t rain. We really should have been
traveling by a stream, that considered. Maybe the man had been doing that all
along, and knew where one close by was. . .
    If I was waiting to