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As soon as she crossed the front door the woman laid Lazar on one of the sofas in the living room. It took her the whole afternoon and a part of the night before she could finish treating him. It wasn't easy, let alone when the night came out.
The lack of light gave her no choice but to finish treating his infection and suturing his wounds with an improvised headlamp. To do it she had borrowed the roll of tape she had found in Lazar's bag and with it she had hung on her forehead a flashlight which she had discovered on a shelf in the basement. Lazar also noticed it yesterday when he went to check the condition of the electrical panel, but he didn't want to use it yet. He didn't want to waste the only 3 compatible batteries he had left to make it work when he didn't absolutely need it right now.
She took off the gloves she had put on to avoid dirtying Lazar's wounds and put down the back of her right hand on Lazar's forehead to see if it was as hot as before, "The necessary has been done, all you have to do is wake up and cicatrize."
She was pleasantly surprised to feel that his fever was falling, "It looks like it won't take you very long."
After so many difficulties, she had the confirmation that Lazar was out of danger, 'I can finally remove this damn headlamp.' She didn't care that the huge amount of tape on her face made her look like a moron, it was the excessive heat given off by the lamp that bothered her, 'I will kill him if he complains of his stitches, doing them while sweat was going into my eyes was anything but easy.'
She frantically tore off the tape on her face and began to wipe the drops of sweat beading on her forehead with her elbow, 'I'm not going to stop there, everything must be ready when he wakes up.' Treat Lazar's injuries wasn't enough for her; she intended to do everything possible to make his recovery as short and as agreeable possible.
So that he had something to warm up when he woke up, she had pushed the sofa in which she had laid him down towards the fireplace which was in the living room, then she lit a fire with wood and matches that she had taken from the basement of the house. Being a little more in the dark was a more attractive alternative than wondering if they were being spied on, so she closed the shutters. She then went to gather things that Lazar would need to have on hand and went to prepare their dinner with the rest of the fresh food that she had found in the refrigerator which was out of order because of the blackout.
As soon as she considered that she had nothing more to do, she sat cross-legged on a chair that she had placed just in front of Lazar, she began to wait patiently for the first signs announcing that he was going to wake up.
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For the past 4 hours, she only moved from her chair to check if Lazar's fever continued to drop at regular intervals.
"I don't want to pressure you, but I'm waiting for you to heat the pizza."
Everything was ready, she had even placed a bucket in front of Lazar so that he had a container in which to vomit, but despite the fact that his fever had fallen nothing suggested that he was going to wake up soon. She made herself a reason, she might have to watch over him all night.
"Sigh..."
'I thought that as an awakenee he would recover very quickly but I may be expecting too much from him already, this injury was something.' Normally it wouldn't have bothered her to wait a few more hours, but her own scent was attacking her nostrils to the point that she began to wonder if it wasn't because of her that Lazar wasn't waking up, 'He is out of danger and I think I have the time to go take a shower.'
Having not showered since the beginning of the Apocalypse and having spent a good part of the last two days fighting, she was hardly surprised to note using the mirror and the flashlight the enormous quantity of dirt that she had accumulated on her body when she stripped herself and in her hair when she undoed her braids.
"Killing goblins is really messy, how did I do to have blood spattered on my back?"
Although a cold shower with a flashlight as the only source of light is far from ideal, it was still a pleasure to get rid of all this dirt. "I know it's only temporary but damn it's good to feel clean and comfortable." After half an hour she went out of the bathroom, to avoid feeling dirty again she had changed and was wearing a gray short-sleeved t-shirt slightly tight with beige cotton jogging pants.
"Beuargh!"
As she was starting to redo her braids while walking down the hall leading to the living room... "Beuargh!" She saw Lazar kneeling on the floor emptying all the contents of his stomach into the bucket she had placed for him.
"I'm coming." Contrary to what her nonchalant tone suggested, she was both ashamed that she hadn't been there to help him and a little relieved to know that he had passed out before hearing him say that he was in good hands. The fact remains that she never makes an empty promise even when the person to whom she made it was an unconscious, seeing Lazar in this state gave her the impression of having partially failed her responsibilities, "Sorry, I wasn't there to help you."
"You don't have...Urgh... Urgh... to be sorry... Beuargh!" Lazar had no reason to complain, nausea was nothing compared to the relief of being alive, on top of that he could feel that the woman had done a great job. He felt much less pain than before and the majority came from his sutures and not from his injuries themselves, it was for him a sign that she had fully treated the infection.
He no longer felt nauseous after a while but still kept his head in the bucket to speak just in case, "We can already consider ourselves lucky that I could grab the bucket before throwing up everywhere."
"I'm glad you can line up a sentence, do you feel like you need something specific?" She intended to be very attentive to Lazar's needs to repair her past fault.
'It should be fine.' When he removed his head from the bucket Lazar saw the woman crouching next to him, thinking about her question indeed there was something that came to his mind, 'Water!' Nothing abnormal, one of the consequences of losing a large amount of blood is dehydration, seeing that a bottle was barely 3 feet away he didn't bother her for so little. He just grabbed the bottle and drank half of it before trying to get up.
"Wait, I'll help you get up."
Lazar signaled her to refrain from doing so, not out of pride but because he hadn't had great difficulty in doing so. He sat down on the sofa and his air became more serious, he decided to ask the woman the question that was running through his head since he had seen her at the entrance of his house, "I would like you to give me the reason of your coming."
Not enough to disturb her, she expected sooner or later to be confronted with this question. She sat down at her turn in front of Lazar and looked him straight in the eyes so that he didn't doubt the sincerity of what she was going to say. She replied without blinking, "We have a mutual friend, he led me to you, and at the sight of the recent events it was for the best, Lazar."
Hearing his real first name pronounced had an effect comparable to an electric shock, if she hadn't saved him he would have already jumped at her throat, "Assuming the term 'friend' is ironic, the only person you made me think of by saying that wants my death, so you should really specify which person you are talking about."
"Contrary to what your house suggests, your life must be much more complicated than what I thought to have enemies like that at such a young age... No wonder it's easier for you to remember people who want your death than those who want you to live. Think about it, I'm sure you will have guessed who I am talking about before I get there with the pizza." She let Lazar cogitate and left her chair to go to the kitchen.
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'A friend who knows my identity. Well... Since I had no friends before the apocalypse, there might be someone corresponding to this description.'
'He understood.' That's what she said to herself when she arrived in the living room with a baking tray in her hands, she was seeing clairvoyance in his eyes. "Now that you know we're on the same side, can I heat the pizza? I'll do it with the fireplace if you don't mind, anyway it's not like there is another way to do it."
"I don't care." How could he think of such futilities while he was chatting with a complete stranger. He knew who had sent her but she remained a mystery to him and it was quite unpleasant to know that she was aware of one of his biggest secrets, "Who are you?"
She put the tray on the embers of the fireplace, "Okay, so for your information I'm not American and if you pay attention to the menu of tonight you will be able to know where I come from."
Lazar leaned toward the fireplace to see the ingredients on the pizza, "Salmon everywhere, you're definitely Norwegian."
She let out a slight laugh, "Ahah, It's a bit reductive but yeah, you are right."
Suddenly, Lazar realized he had forgotten to do something essential, "Excuse me, with all that I almost forgot to thank you. I owe you a lot and know that I'm feeling infinitely grateful to you." He got up from the sofa and stood in front of her then he held out his hand, "And I don't think we really introduced ourselves. Lazar Sogorov, nice to meet you."
Won by excitement, she jumped from her seat. She had forgotten that her hair was loose, a part fell on her face but still she answered him while shaking his hand firmly, "Amandla Lütgard, likewise."