John Pov
      Once I saw Alex hit the floor, I grabbed the back of Charles' shirt and slammed him into the floor giving him no mercy. He didn't fucking deserve mercy. I punched him until Washington dragged me away.

I sat outside and let my hand relax against the house. My knuckles were busted and had Charles' blood smeared on them.

After about ten minutes, Angie came out of the building and said, "John. You can come in just don't fuck up Charles' face anymore. And comfort Alex he's starting to wake up."

I got up and wiped my hands on my pants.

"Here's some bandages for your hands." She said, handing me bandages as I walked in.

"Thanks." I muttered.

I wrapped my hands up and sat on my knees next to Alex, who was lying on the couch.

"Are you okay baby?" I asked.

Laf cleaned up the bloody mess on his face. Once the blood was gone, I saw his busted lip, massive black eye and huge bruise on his lower left jaw.

"I-it was hard defending myself with one arm." He said, laughing dryly.

I moved his hair out of his face.

"I haven't cut my hair since the apocalypse started...I gotta get on that." He said.

"No, it looks good!" I exclaimed.

He smiled and closed his eyes.
"This hurts so fucking much." He whispered.

"I know. Shh.." I whispered back to him, stroking his hair.

That's when it really hit me. He's much stronger than I'll ever be even though I'm older than him.

He was forced to kill his parents, lived in with cannibalism going on around him, had to live with a druggie, faced the wrath of Angie, got tortured by Charles Lee, had his arm cut off and now this.

Holy damn.

He opened his eyes and smiled.
How can he do that?
How does he smile through the pain?

"Alright Alex this is going to sting pretty bad. And did Charles hit your chest at all? Like major blows?" Herc asked, with Laf trailing behind him. Alex moved his hand and put it over his right side.

"He kicked me a few times." He choked out.

"Alright. Just hold still." Herc said, putting rubbing alcohol on Alex's cuts.

He winced and quickly tried to hide his pain. "It's alright." Herc muttered, putting a cloth over a different cut.

Alex's hissed in pain and winced.

"Okay. It's all done. I'm going to apply pressure where you said it hurt on your chest and tell me if it hurts okay?" Her asked.

Alex still looked slightly dazed and in his own world but he nodded anyway.

Herc put his hand on Alex's ribs and pressed lightly.
Very lightly.

Alex shouted out in pain and his whole body flinched. I saw tears form in the corners of his eyes.

I grabbed his hand and held tightly, whispering sweet nothings in his ear.

"It hurts. It hurts. Please god help me." He whispered his eyes closed tightly.

"There no way to tell how many of your ribs are broken but at most there's four that are broken." Herc said.

"Fuck." Alex muttered.

"Can I still run and do shit?" Alex asked.

"Well oui but it would hurt like a bitch." Laf said from behind Herc.

"Would it hurt more than it does now?" Alex asked.

"About ten times more. So just try to relax and we will run to a pharmacy and get you a brace." Herc said.

"God fucking damn it." Alex muttered.

"It'll be okay."
He smiled at me.
"It will be since you're here."