The New Guy

A half dozen strides brought Faith to Julie’s door. Seeing the little taped and bound figure with her two little ones put a quizzical expression on her pretty face.

“We found this guy in there,” Josh said, jerking a thumb back toward the girl’s sister’s room.

A broad grin spilt Faith’s face as she put her hand down for Josh and Julian to climb into while she used the thumb and forefinger of her other hand to pluck the unconscious man from the carpet.

“I can’t believe you found a living one in there,” she said, rising quickly and hustling back toward her room, the sudden motion forcing both Josh and Julian to sprawl out in her hand.

In her room, she closed the door, flicking the lock before jumping onto her bed. Setting the two saboteurs down, she examined the man they had retrieved.

“We couldn’t get the tape off,” Josh said, looking from the man up to the girl.

“Hmm,” she said, trying to find an edge and pick it with her nail. The man groaned.

“We cut a slit for him to breath, but I don’t think we can cut the tape with fear of cutting him badly,” Josh added.

“By the way, you might want to tell your sister she should go to the gyno and get some antibiotics or cream for her pussy because it is straight up nasty,” Julian advised.

Faith snapped her fingers, “I know,” she said, jumping up from the bed, the mattress springing back, buckling the knees of both men.

Rushing over toward her desk, she grabbed a clear bottle of nail polish remover, shaking it as she walked back to the bed. “Nail polish remover. It’ll melt the tape,” she said.

Josh nodded, made sense, if it was acetone, the nail polish remover would breakdown the adhesive.

Climbing back up on the bed, she set the taped figure down on her thigh and unscrewed the plastic white lid with the little brush attached to it. Putting the open bottle on her night stand, she picked up the new guy and started applying the solvent to the tape covering the lower portion of his body.

“Whoa, that’s pretty strong,” Julian commented, wafting the smell of the polish remover into his nostrils. “It almost masks the Julie stank lingering in my nose holes,” he said.

Josh shook his head.

Faith just ignored him, doing her best to try and get the tape to lift. Putting the applicator away before picking at the tape. Bit by bit, she peeled chunks of it away. Where it was against his skin was more problematic and she needed to employ greater care to prevent from ripping gobbets of his flesh away. “So what else did you discover in her room?” Faith asked.

“She’s a slob,” Josh said. “We didn’t get very far into our reconnaissance before Julian found our friend there,” he explained.

 “Hmm,” she replied, working some more of the tape off.

“I would like for us to take advantage of your sister’s absence and get back in there see what mischief we can get up to,” Josh said.

“The, ah, room across the hall from your sister, is that your mom’s room?” Julian inquired casually.

Faith nodded, another piece of tape pulled free. A frown appeared on her face. “I think she might have broken one of his legs,” she said glumly, looking at the angulated limb.

“If it is broken, we can look after him, you won’t have to worry about it,” Josh said, getting a very hollow feeling in the pit of his stomach.

She made a face, hemming and hawing, “Probably just easier to end his pain,” she offered, patting her stomach.

“Jesus Christ Faith c’mon, you can’t compare the pain of a broken leg to being more than being dissolved alive in gastric juices,” Josh countered, “please,” he beseeched.

Letting out a sigh, “We’ll see what kind of shape the rest of him is in before I decide,” she stated.

Emphatically nodding, “Thank you,” Josh said.

“Just so you know, Julie does have this habit of yanking limbs off and cauterizing the wounds,” Faith said.

“You’re better than she is,” Julian stated, little grin on his face as he joined the conversation.

“That’s right,” Josh concurred, not quite sure Julian’s timing, but definitely grateful to have him choosing to contribute.

Pragmatist he was, “But If he’s too fucked up, do what you got to do,” he said.

Faith nodded, picking at little pieces of adhesive gum stuck to the unconscious man’s body before trying to clear more of the tape from his chest.

Turning to Josh, Julian smiled and motioned him closer, “You got a minute?”

“Sure,” he replied. “What’s up?”

Faith paused in her ministrations to look down at the pair.

“Just going to discuss a little strategy for our next run at Julie’s room,” he assured, draping an arm over Josh’s shoulder. “Something else I want you to think about the next time we might come across another person. Each little dude we rescue reduces our value, you know what I’m saying? Right now she isn’t allowed any more little ones and if we keep bringing others to her, maybe she decides she likes one of them just a little more than you and down the hatch you go. So before you go getting all noble again, bear that in mind,” he said, tone hushed.

The thought hadn’t occurred to Josh. Faith had already demonstrated how fickle she could be when she gave Henry to Cadence. Julian had a cogent point.

Smiling, expression bordering a smirk, Julian approached Faith’s leg, “Hey precious, as spectacularly thrilling as it is for me and josh to watch you unwrap your little present there, if we still got a couple of hours why don’t you turn us loose on your sister again?” he suggested.

Tongue poking out the corner of her mouth, “One moment,” she said, pulling a fairly large piece of tape away, “Ooh, he’s a little cutie,” she commented, rolling the little unconscious figure over in the palm of her hand.

Julian glanced at Josh and raised an eyebrow.

“What was that?” she asked, glancing down at the slender man.

“You can do whatever it is you’re going to do with your newest acquisition, but before that how about you put me and Josh back in Julie’s room for half hour or so?” he said.

Looking at her clock, she seemed to weigh the request before nodding.