Minds in Mines

Chapter 22: Chills

"What is? Disliking people from the first meeting?" AB asked.

"No. Assessing people. And keeping your distance while you're doing it. That's why you looked detached and aloof. Moony, on the other hand, was so open. He crossed the distance right away, jumping, in fact, without thinking. I was surprised at how unassuming and straightforward he was when we first met."

"He is that unassuming. But it looks like you and I are not that different. You also assessed me when we first met and put a distance." AB returned the observation.

"Habit. Men tend to make be on guard."

"Why? You didn't experience what Farz experienced as a child. What made you feel you need to be on guard around men?"

Ray blinked her eyes, and she seemed to lose her focus. Her voice was low and quiet when she replied to AB's question. "Different abuse, different harassment, not as a child but as an adult. Same bitter experience."

Ray regained focus when she felt warmth enclosing her hand. She realised it was AB's hands then.

"What exactly did those fellow pilots do to you?" AB asked. When Ray looked at him in surprise, he continued. "You've told us that you'd heard terrible things throughout your career from them. What else did they do?"

The house door suddenly opened to make Ray pull her hand away from AB's. Moony and Shotty came back from their call of nature.

"Gah! It felt so good to be out under the sun with fresh air!" Moony said as he crawled to sit next to AB. "Hey, what are you doing with Ray's bag? And her passport?" Moony snatched the passport from the floor and flicked the pages but quickly put it back down.

"Just curious," AB said without giving more information since he could read in Ray's eyes that she did not want what had transpired between them to be known by the other two. He saved the passport back in the inside pocket and zipped up the bag.

"So, what do we do now?" Shotty asked.

"Ray needs to drink." AB took the gourd bottle and helped Ray sit to drink from it.

"If you're not busy playing an attentive lover act, can we think about our next move?" Shotty scoffed.

"We wait. How many times must I tell you that?"

"How long do we wait? Two days? Three days? A week? A month? Or until we die in this hell hole waiting for the rescue that will be too late?"

"Until the time is right to make the next move," AB replied calmly. "We can't be reckless about it."

"Huh! I always know you're too indecisive. Now, I know that you're a coward, too."

AB ignored Shotty and talked to Ray instead. "You're cooling down."

"It's expected during the day, isn't it? Besides, the water helps," Ray said as she gulped some more water. "I don't think the fever has broken. I'm preparing for my temperature to rise again tonight."

Ray was right. Her body started to burn again when the evening came. They were lucky, they got to ask for water whenever the bottle was empty although they did not get any more food for the whole day.

She could not stop shivering from the chills, especially since it rained hard and the house was not as warm as the previous night. She knew better than to wear more clothes to warm herself because they would only increase her body temperature. Therefore, she bore the chills stoically.

AB heated the bottle gourd by putting it near the fire so she could drink warm water.

"How come this gourd is so black? Did they paint it like the walls of this house or what?" Moony asked as he munched the biscuits from their second pack that night.