Liz lay for a long time after Percy had stubbornly lost consciousness, laughing…she wasn’t sure she would ever stop. Once she did, Liz laid there a little while longer, just enjoying the silence. She closed my eyes and breathed it in, envying Percy’s lack of awareness, lack of connections to this reality.

Finally, she decided she’d better get moving; it’d be morning all too soon. Liz rolled onto her back and flipped onto her feet, picking up the chain and returning it to it’s place on the wall. Just because she was horridly jealous of Percy’s escape, Liz wouldn’t even think of letting her things be out of place. She gazed at her lying there, still slightly bleeding from the beating…so blissfully unaware of everything happening around her; every sense wonderfully dulled by the swelling in her brain…

Liz shook herself back to reality and closed the distance to where Percy lay, her shallow breathing terribly loud. Bending down, she scooped Percy into her arms and carried her back toward the wall adorned with weapons. Passing through a door to the left of the rack, Liz took her into the ‘living room’, where she deposited her on the couch underneath the window. She pulled off Percy’s boots and, placing them at the end of the couch, propped her head up with a ragged pillow and covered her with a ragged blanket; she’d clean her up later. Shaking her head at the look of pure contentment on her face, Liz headed back to clean up the mess they’d made.

Before cleaning, Liz removed a few weapons from the rack to a room in the rear of the house, figuring that it couldn’t hurt to be prepared, and shoved them in a black duffel bag she fished out of a closet, dropping it next to the couch. Making her way to the kitchen, she ran the hot water while she grabbed the bucket and the bottle of bleach they kept under the sink for just these happenings. Even though Liz’d never been to this particular house of Percy’s, she knew exactly where everything was, which was why she found the elbow-length yellow plastic gloves in the third drawer down on the right side of the sink, underneath the plastic bags and screwdrivers.

Filling the bucket three-quarters full, Liz turned off the tap and tromped back past Percy and set it just inside the doorway. Pulling on the gloves, she twisted the cap off the bleach, upending it over the bucket of water, waiting until half the contents had spilled out. Screwing the lid back on, Liz stripped off her shirt and set to work scrubbing the walls and floor, using her shirt as a rag. That done, she grabbed the step-ladder she knew Percy had and cleaned the blood-splattering from the ceiling. After she’d finished that, she put the step-stool away and cleaned off the bat and that chain, taking care that they were spotless.

An hour and a half after she’d started, Liz slumped down in the corner next to the bucket, dropping her shirt into it. Exhausted, she laid her head back against the cool wall and closed her eyes. It’d been a long time since she’d last had to scrub down a room, what with Percy being gone, and the rest of their family spread too thin, but she was satisfied she hadn’t lost her touch. Liz had always had a knack for cleaning…All of the family were organized and tidy, meticulous to the point of obsession, but Liz had always been able to clean anything anyone else had cleaned before and still find filth.

She sighed and pushed herself up, grabbing the bucket and heading back to the kitchen, where she dumped it out and put everything away. Checking the time, Liz figured the few hours she had till dawn would be plenty to finish cleaning. She snagged the lighter fluid and matches, heading into the bedroom, taking a set of clothes from a closet on the way.

Changing from her blood soaked clothes into Percy’s spares after a quick rinse, Liz lumped it all in the center of the concrete floor and doused it with the lighter fluid. Flicking a match into the mess, she reached into a dresser and pulled out a pack of cigarettes and two joints. Slumping down next to the dresser, she lazily lit one of them as she watched the flames hungrily lick at the clothes, slowly devouring them. The smoke from her joint soon mingled with the smoke from the fire, creating a beautiful collage of memories that soon faded away…

Satisfied the fire was out; joints far finished and only five cigarettes left, Liz stood and walked back to Percy, who was still lying exactly as she’d left her: still happily oblivious to the world. Stuffing the cigarettes into her pocket, Liz walked across the apartment and peered out the window above where Percy lay. Through the ragged curtains she scanned the alley for any sign of Rick or his pals…with dawn nearing, though, she doubted Rick would be around.

Correct in her assumptions, Liz slung the duffel bag over my shoulder and scooped Percy off the couch, laying her as gently as she could across her shoulders. Internal bleeding wasn’t really a great thing to subject her cousin to, but it couldn’t be helped right now. Rick may have been stupid, but Liz was sure he’d be able to find the apartment eventually, and she didn’t really relish the idea of being blown up because he was too stupid to realize there were traps on all the entrances of Percy’s hideout.

Quickly mapping out her course in her head, Liz moved once more into the room decorated with weaponry. Holding down the correct two levers, thinking all the while that Percy’s traps were all too predictable, she scanned the alley one last time, and seeing nothing, quickly and carefully lowered Percy to the ground, taking care she was upright. Hopping through herself, Liz lifted Percy once again to my shoulders, and began her trek across town, to what she hoped would be a safe house.

 In most places, a girl in jeans and a sports bra attracts attention, regardless if she’s carrying another girl on her shoulders. If the girl on her shoulders is looking like she’s been recently run over by a truck, the cops are usually called. But in their beautiful little town, few spared Liz a second glance as she crossed through crowded streets, heading East. Ever as a cop passed her as she neared the edge of town and turned her steps slightly South, he didn’t even slow.

Twenty minutes later, Liz propped Percy gently against a tree close to the edge of an orchard, and after making sure she was hidden from view, trekked another five to a trailer parked, illegally of course, close to the center of the same orchard. She bent and scooped up a few walnuts off the ground, preparing to launch them at the roof, when movement behind her stayed her hand.