Chapter Twenty-two

Alex woke up in the afternoon after the fortification in pain from the cuts. He groaned as he got up reluctantly and walked to the bathroom to shower while rubbing his migraine-ridden head.

The bathroom does not have a standing shower but only a tap that runs water into buckets. He strained to lean down and use the bowl from the water-filled bucket to pour water on his body.

He avoided scrubbing his back and his wrist, which had cuts from the fortification, with the sponge he had brought along from the city, because of what the old man applied to them after the fortification.

"This will fasten the healing process." The old man had said, after he applied a substance that seemed like a mixture of a leaf and other things to the cuts, before they went to bed.

He didn't spend up to three minutes in the bathroom, which was unusual of him because he was in pain.

"2:45!" He exclaimed as he checked the time on his phone after he had dried himself up.

"Maybe the painkiller I used before I