Hit

I woke up in a soft bed with blue cotton sheets and a blanket pulled up to my waist. My whole body felt numb but a twinge of pain filled my chest as I looked down at my body. I was wrapped up in white cotton with a little blood coming through my left side. I reached up and traced my lower lip, it nipped, but when I lowered my hand to look at it, all the blood was gone. All the blood and dirt was cleaned from my hands and arms which revealed cuts and bruises. I had a head ache and my eyes hurt, but I was happy to be alive...I think. I was about to get up when the door opened.

“Hey.” A man said as he walked in. I recognized him as the taller guy.

“Hi…” I suddenly felt extremely on guard, he saw me at my worst. He will be lucky if I don’t kill him for that…

“I’m sure you’re hungry, there’s a shirt over on top of the dresser. I will be waiting outside for you so I can bring you downstairs and introduce you to everyone. I’m Brian, by the way. The other one that was with you is Zack” He smiled.

“Katie.” I smirked. He left the room so I could get dressed. I carefully got out of bed and started to walk around the room, quickly running my hands over the walls and doors looking for anything suspicious. Satisfied, I walked over to the dresser to find a shirt that said ‘You laugh because I’m different, I laugh because I just farted’. I stifled a giggle as I tried to put the shirt on, but grunted in frustration when I found that I couldn’t lift my arms very well.

“Damnit!” I cursed at myself. I hate help, I hate being dependent, but…with a sigh, I slowly walked to the door and opened it. I poked my head out, searching for Brian.

“Hey Brian? Can you, uh, help me?” I asked as a shade of pink covered my cheeks. He looked over from his spot on the wall.

“With what?” He smiled. I sighed again.

“…the shirt.” He laughed again but entered the room with me.

“I can’t raise my arms very high, it hurts too much.” I frown at him. He once again laughs as he takes the shirt gently out of my hands. “Stop laughing and put the shirt on!” Or I’ll kill you. I try to yell at him without a smile. With the help of team work, we quickly get my shirt on.

“Thank you…now, where’s that food you were talking about?” I ask him as I step out of the room and close the door. A smile was already on his face.

“You know, for us being complete strangers, you don’t seem very scared.” Brian says as he takes my hand and leads me down the long hallway.

“Scared isn’t an emotion I feel.” Either is love, compassion, kindness, terror or sympathy.
Forcing a smile, I follow him down a maple staircase. Halfway down, we hear someone screaming.

“You’re such a fucking cheater!” I looked over at Brian confused, but he laughs and shakes his head. When we got to the bottom of the stairs, I saw Zack and a tall skinny man standing up, obviously being the one that was screaming. They were playing videogames…how mature. A girl with blonde short hair walked into the living room.

“Will you two shut the hell up, Jesus!” She screamed at the boys, her hands in the air. She turned her head and looked at me, her eyes briefly widened.

“Hi, I’m Val.” She said coming to me and giving me a warm hug, but avoiding my wound.

“Katie.” I respond as I lightly return the hug.

“Val, leave the poor girl alone.” Said a husky voice. I looked past her to see a tall, muscular man with black hair. When I look at him, I feel different, safe, I don’t know, it’s a hard feeling to explain. “Matt.” He nodded at me.

“Kate.” I replied. I caught Val looking at Matt, then at me, than back to Matt, she was obviously comparing something. She than shook her head.

“That’s Jimmy, the tall one. Johnny, the short one. And Zack, the medium one.” Matt smiled as he pointed to the boys, we exchanged smiles.

“Hungry?” Val asks with a sweet smile. A smile that looked almost fake.

“Food?” I lightened at the thought. She smiled again and took my hand, leading me into the kitchen. She sat me down on a stool as everyone else joined us.

“What can I get for you?” She asks placing her palms on the counter.

“Whatever is easy.” I say. I catch Zack snatch something off the counter and hide it in his hand. I raise my eyebrows at him…I already know what it is.

“What is that Zack?” I ask him with serious eyes. He shrugs, than offers me his open hand. I take the little piece of metal from his hand and set it up on the counter; the bullet they pulled from my body.

“How did you get that in you?” He asked sitting next to me. Everyone stopped what they were doing to listen.

“Well, he cocked the gun, pointed it at me and pulled the trigger.” I said with a bit of mockery.

“No. How did you get a German bullet in you?” He challenges. I froze.

“How do you know it’s a German bullet?” I ask as we begin to have a staring contest.

“The eagle is inscribed into it.”

“How do you know about that?” I pry again.

“Kate, you are in Italian territory, you’re in an Italian gang house. Now tell us why you got shot. What did you do to piss the Germans off?” He finishes. Enemy, enemy! However, no matter how I looked at my ‘enemies’, I did not feel threatened at all.
I bit my lip and looked around the kitchen. They were all staring me down, awaiting an answer. I sighed.

“I belong to the German mob. I had an assignment yesterday that went…incredibly wrong. Mark was there.”

“Mark Hanz.” Matt states. I just nodded.

“They beat the living shit out of me and left me.”

“Wait. You’re, your Katie Werner, you’re the daughter of the founder of the German mob?” Brian asked pointing his finger at me.

“Yea…that’s me.”

“Holy shit! Do you have any idea how many people want you dead!” Matt nearly screamed, receiving a slap from Val.

“Thank you.” I smile.

“Seriously, you were shot by your own group because so many people were out to get you. Groups started killing Germans to get to you. So they figured, why keep getting killed if we can kill her ourselves. Do you know how much Mark was given for that hit? At least three million!” Matt exclaims. I sigh and put my head in my hands. Look, I’m a tough cookie. But the thought of my own people setting out to destroy me causes me to feel something I haven’t felt in years…fear.

“Well, I guess I can’t go back home.”

“No, you can stay here.” Brian smiles wiggling his eyebrows. I quickly ignore him.

“Does anyone know I’m alive?” I ask through my hands.

“No one knows you’re here.” Zack tries. I paused…what do I do?

“So, how ‘bout that food?” Val asked trying to get me excited.

“Let’s just get a shit load of pizza.” Jimmy offers, we all agreed quickly.
As we waited for the pizza, we continued to stay in the kitchen, the boys telling me about their gang. I already knew they traveled in five. Although, I wanted to learn about everyone, I was really interested in Matt. I feel so comfortable around him, so at home. A couple times I caught him looking at me, but he would turn his head and smile. I quickly learned that Matt was sort of the leader, while Zack was the ‘healer’. He was in medical school for a while before he got into the hit man business.
Finally, the pizza arrived. I took a piece and ventured into the living room to see The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy on the TV, one of my favorites. I stood in front of the television and laughed a few times as I stuffed my face with pizza.

“I hate this show.” Zack said as he stood next to me, shaking his head as I laughed again.

“How can you hate this show? It always makes me feel better when I’m upset.” I said looking into his green eyes.

“Why are you upset, you don’t like it here?” He asked, hurt was visible in his voice.

“No, I do like it, I’m just a little lost. My own people are trying to kill me. I’m twenty-one and I’m stuck in a life where I’m trained and paid to kill people. Not only that, but my chest hurts like hell.” I finished. By the time I finished talking, we were sitting on the couch facing each other.

“Speaking of your chest, you’re bleeding through Bri’s shirt.” He laughed a little. I looked down to see a little red circle to the left of my heart. “Come on, let’s get it cleaned up.” He said standing up and offering me his hand, I took it and followed him up the stairs. He led me to the last room in the hall that looked like a mini-hospital.

“Jeez, how many injuries do you guys get to have this room in your house?” I ask as I got onto the table. He laughed and pulled out a roll of soft cotton and rubbing alcohol.

“Well, we put it together because Johnny “accidently” shot Brian.” He said laughing, obviously seeing that memory in his head. “Shirt off.” He simply said waiting. I bit my lip and blushed. “What?” He asked with a laugh.

“I need help.” I incoherently mumbled. I hate, hate asking for help. If I can’t do it myself, then I don’t need it.

“What?” He asked again, his smile growing. I groaned.

“I need help.” I slightly tugged on the shirt. He nodded his head without a word and softly reached for the hem.

“Ready?” He asked, there was a smile behind his lips, I narrowed my eyes at him but nodded. As best as I could, I lifted my arms and allowed him to gently pull the shirt over my head. He cut the cotton wrap off and I covered myself up. Wow…we just met and I’m already half naked in front of him. He wiped the blood away with a piece of gauze and I saw that my bullet whole was stitched up, but it was the scratches around the stitching that was bleeding.

“You’re gonna be swollen for a while, I actually might get you to start icing it.” He mumbled as he turned his back to me. He turned around, and I saw he was armed with a cotton ball that was drenched in rubbing alcohol. He moved closer to me with the ball filled with substance that burns like hell, I leaned away.

“It burns.” I simply stated.

“Yea…but it cleans very well.” He said with his eyebrows raised. He tried once more to press it to my chest. I backed away again. “Katie…” He warns.

“It burns!” I whined.

“You are a German Hit Woman and you are scared of this?!”

“No…okay.” I gave in and allowed the substance from hell to clean my wound. He finally removed the cotton ball because I kept squirming. He rubbed some Vaseline over the stitching and the scratches and was about to wrap me up in cloth…but I had to annoy him again.

“Do you have any band aids?” I asked slightly rocking back and forth with a smile on my face. He shook his head, but reached into cabinet and pulled out a box of Batman band aids.

“What do you want a lollipop too?”

“You have one?!” I asked with extreme excitement in my voice. He shook his head again but allowed a huge smile to play on his face. He placed the band aid over my wounds then wrapped me up in the soft cotton.

“Wait here, I’ll get you a shirt.” He said with a comforting hand on my shoulder. I mock saluted him and waited patiently. But as I waited, I couldn’t get this incredible feeling out of my stomach. He was being so kind and gentle with me, I’ve never experienced that, ever. My thoughts broke when he returned with a plain white t-shirt. He quickly helped me put the shirt on, than helped me get off the table. He softly took my hand and we ventured downstairs.
Whatever this place is, it is extremely foreign to me. It pulls strange things from me. Like; smiling, laughing, blushing, holding hands and trusting strangers. I’m not sure if I like it, but that strange feeling in my stomach is still lingering. Unfortunately, I have things to tell them that would ruin this incredible feeling in my stomach.