Page 77 of Powerless
"No, I don't think so."
"Why not?" He tossed out a handful of grain to the chickens, who came running over to peck at the ground where it landed. "You had a good time at the last one, didn't you?"
"I did, but I have a drawing I want to finish."
"Oh, that's cool. A drawing of what?"
"Just something I saw in the desert while we were on the road."
Jandro nodded without saying any more. I knew other people would press for more information and I appreciated that he didn't. He often annoyed me with how much he pushed me to be social, but I knew he meant well by it. He at least respected what I preferred to keep private.
"Shall we go to the medic's office?" he extended an arm to our home's gate leading out to the street.
"I suppose," I grunted, pulling my shirt back on and loosening my hair from its tie.
"Man, you're gonna get this over with," Jandro said as he led us out, "then afterward, you're gonna wonder why you were so worried in the first place. She's easy to talk to, trust me."
"No one is easy for me to talk to," I muttered. "Except you."
"Because I'm basically your dad, even though we're the same age."
I didn't know how old I truly was. My birth was never documented or recorded. I had barely any sense of time growing up, except from what the others told me before they disappeared. When I was taken to Jandro's prison, I didn't have ID or even a name to give them. I stood silently in the corner during intake, a full foot taller than everyone, so they called me Shadow. The prison dentist looked at my teeth and estimated my age to be between twenty and twenty-three. Jandro was twenty-one when we met, so he said we could share the same age.
Back then, I never would have imagined I’d walk freely in the daylight next to someone I considered a friend—nor eat big, filling meals every day and learn to ride a motorcycle. Sometimes I still wondered if my life in the Steel Demons was a dream, and my nightmares were my real life.
My hands started to shake as we got closer to the clubhouse, where the medic office was. I couldn't tell if it was because I needed a drink or my anxiety about this whole situation. Probably both.
"You good, dude?" Jandro asked.
"No. But you're not going to let me walk away from this."
"Damn straight," he said. "Least of all because it's an order from your president, who will have both of our balls if you don't follow through."
"And most of all?" I grumbled.
"Because it's the right thing to do." He pulled open a door and led me in. "Her office is this way."
My feet dragged over the floor like moving through concrete. I balled my hands into fists in an attempt to stop the shaking. A sign sticking out above the door ahead said MEDIC with a square red cross. And the door was already open, fuck.
"Hey, Mari." Jandro's voice took on a different tone, the one he most often adopted when talking to women, as he leaned against the doorway and smiled into the room.
"Hey, Jandro! What brings you here?" came the cheerful, feminine voice from inside.
"I'm just chaperoning," he smirked, looking at me before jerking his chin toward the inside of the small office.
Shit. I really had to do this now.
My feet dragged forward until I reached the opening of the doorway and turned to face the last person I wanted to see.
She sat on a stool with wheels on it, brown hair piled on her head in a bun with a few wisps falling out. Her face no longer wore the pinched tiredness from the night she was healing everyone. Instead, her eyes were bright and she smiled easily. Even when I blocked her view of Jandro.
"Hi, Shadow," Mariposa greeted me. "What can I do for you today?"
My mouth opened but words refused to work. It felt reminiscent of coming out of my longest isolation period, when I hadn't spoken to anyone for about six months.
"I, um..." I cleared my throat, my gaze darting around the room for something to remind me of what I was supposed to say. "I would like to donate blood."
Fuck. No, that was wrong. But it was the first thing that popped into my head because she mentioned it at church yesterday.
