The Commander's Sister // Reg Slivko

Kong

"Where are you even going?" Reg called out, catching up to me.

I rolled my eyes. "To find Jack."

"Okay. Where are we gonna find him?" He slung his gun over his shoulder.

I rolled my eyes again. "I don't know."

"You realize this is the worst plan possible, right?"

I stopped walking and faced him, shoving my hands into my back pockets. He tilted his head as he met my eyes and smiled.

"He's got a wife and a kid. I'm not leaving him for dead."

"I thought you hadn't talked to him in years." Reg shrugged.

"It doesn't matter. I lost him once before, I don't want to again." I argued.

"Yeah, but what if you never see him again after we get home?" Reg kept fighting back.

"I don't care! I don't need another possibly dead brother to add to the list!" I shouted, breathing hard before swallowing.

"Another?" Reg's stance softened.

I ran my hands over my face, pushing away tears and the few clear memories of Stephen I had left.

"He was my twin, and I don't want to talk about it." My voice was weak and unconvincing.

I had never talked to anybody about how Stephen going missing impacted me. It was like James and I had made an unspoken pact to never mention it, no matter what. Of course I wanted to talk about it.

"Okay." Reg smiled softly.

"What?" I scoffed.

He chuckled. "I think if you looked over there, you'd have one less problem to worry about." He pointed over my shoulder.

I turned to follow, seeing Jack sat against a bone, eyes closed and not moving. I shouted his name as I ran to him, tripping over my own feet and almost eating dirt. I caught myself quickly before landing on my knees next to him.

"Jack?" I asked.

There was no reaction and I felt tears forming in my eyes. I was too frantic to check for a pulse or his breathing, so I opted for the next best thing. I slapped him as hard as I could across the face. He flinched, eyes scrunching and hand coming up to his cheek. I laughed joyfully.

"What was that for?" He held his cheek, now slightly red.

"Sorry." I mumbled, laughing again.

"Everyone thinks you're dead." Reg spoke from behind me.

"What happened?" Jack asked, sitting up straighter.

"Are you hurt?" I moved my hands to his shoulders, looking him over but seeing no obvious wounds.

He shook his head, eyebrows furrowed. I practically flung myself into his arms, wrapping mine around his shoulders and squeezing, head against his. He hugged back, sighing.

"Mills found your dog tags and gave them to her. Packard wanted to keep going, but someone refused."

"Good thing, too." Jack dug a finger into my side, eliciting a squeak from me.

Reg laughed. "Are you ticklish?"

I stood up, one hand out to help Jack and the other up in order to deter Reg from trying anything. Jack laughed too, nodding.

"I'd like to remind both of you that now is not the time for this."

Reg grinned before turning to Jack, who was now on his feet. "Can you walk okay?"