Irradiated

Chapter 10: Soldiers

"We didn't mean to-"

"It's ok, guys. Things happen. There's nothing anyone could have done to prevent them." I pushed away their apologies and stared straight ahead.

"American, huh?" Angeli smirked at me and continued walking.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"No wonder you're so stubborn. Most of the Americans I knew couldn't take no for an answer." Derrick snickered, joining along with Angeli's teasing.

"Where are you from, Angeline?" I used her full name, just to test it out. She silenced immediately and gave me an angry look.

"I thought secrets were meant to be kept." She narrowed her eyes at me and turned away, looking at an unstable car. "Sorry... I don't like being teased with my origin. Especially with everything I had to go through because of it."

"I guess so..." She muttered. "I'm Russian, without the accent." She answered my previous question.

"I knew there had to be some Russian in you!" Derrick laughed. "It was just something about you, y'know?"

"No, I don't know." She was confused, but I got what he was starting to say. He just didn't want to insult her. Some Russians were easy to anger, in my opinion, and Angeline was perfect proof of that. Some were also red heads.

"Then never mind." He tried hiding his smile, but it just wasn't working.

"Mhm." She was suspicious of what he meant, but didn't ask any further. "But now you know."

"Good to know. I'll find some vodka when I can." I teased.

"Isn't vodka German?"

"I have no idea." I bursted out laughing, and soon Angeli joined in with Derrick and I . With the evil and terrible things happening around us, we still learned to have a good time and enjoy ourselves, even in the toughest of situations.

It took us longer than expected, but we didn't stop laughing like that until minutes later. "We have to settle down now, guys. We're getting closer to the Netherlands and we can't risk getting detected." Derrick, being the serious one, had already stopped laughing way before Angeli and I stopped. It wasn't even that funny. Yet, here we were, still laughing. I could only blame sleep deprivation.

"Fine, fine. We'll stop." Angeli giggled one last time before mastering a straight face. I, on the other hand, still couldn't seem to stop smiling. It was long before us that Derrick had gotten serious, like he always was, and was being the usual quiet and mysterious guy he was known to be.

"I guess you're right." I responded, my smile disappearing. He was right. If we expected to get through without trouble, we would have to keep a low profile and sneak past anyone who got in the way. Otherwise, things would go the same way they did with Germany. Laughing, we weren't going to have very good luck achieving that.

"Hmm." He stopped walking and continued staring at the houses, like if they were suspicious to him.

"Why'd you stop?" Angeli asked while we came up to him. Now that we had the time to be paying attention, I noticed what a strange and eerie feeling these houses gave off. It was almost like they were watching us.

"Get down, quick! Take cover!" Derrick grabbed our arms unexpectedly and dragged us with him, leading us in the direction we just came from. Meanwhile, a sudden explosion sounded from behind us and its heat raced up my back, threatening to hurt me as we ran. Luckily, we barely managed to duck behind a large rock just before it could reach us. Bits and pieces of debris followed the explosion, scattering across the barren land. It wasn't until the dust completely cleared away that one of us finally spoke.