Before leaving me at my tent, Kade and Camillo tell me to ice the bruise on my cheek where I was hit so that it will be better in the morning.
And as I wake up, it turns out that they were right - but without salve, it still stings painfully. It is easy to pretend that what happened last night wasn't embarrassing for me, but internally I am still pretty shaken up about how helpless I was, all alone.
I will never go out alone in the woods ever again, I promise myself, rubbing the sleep from my eyes.
Although nothing too serious happened, the encounter was very scary for me. More than that, I keep remembering the way it felt to have foreign hands on me. Last night, I wanted to scrub every inch of my body raw just to get rid of the shadow of that feeling, but there is no water around.
I wonder if I should go and find my brother to tell him about what had happened, but I don't want to worry him.
He has enough on his mind today.
He shouldn't worry about me.
Throwing the events of last night out of my head, I rise from my tent sheets hungry and on a mission to get some food in my stomach. From the vague noise coming from outside, I can tell the women are making breakfast.
Dressing in my nursing uniform, I decide that I am ready for the day, relieved that the bruise on my cheek is not too noticeable. I tread out of the sleeping tent area and into the daylight, squinting my eyes at the brightness of the sun.
There is a lot of commotion around - women gossiping by bonfires, generals discussing war plans, and soldiers drinking fresh coffee. I'm not sure where to go first.
But then, I see Beatrice by a bonfire, and she waves me over with a plate in her hands.
Eggs and bacon, just made for breakfast.
I accept the warm dish she hands me, which silences my growling stomach. Then, once everyone finishes eating, women gather supplies and take down tents in preparation to head out.
It only takes half an hour for me to take down my sleeping tent and designated medical supply bag. So finally, after my part is done, I sit myself at the edge of the woods alone on an isolated rock. Some people are still finishing up, so I watch on while the birds sing their morning song.
From the slight overhead view I am given, I notice that Beatrice seems to be the busiest and most energetic person on the camp - everyone greets her warmly while she cooks, cleans, and takes care of anything she sees needs fixing, as if she were the mother of the camp.
"Hey," Says a smooth voice, bringing me out of my thoughts.
With my hands rested on my elbows, my head droops and then snaps back up to look at the person next to me. I hadn't realized that I was dozing off until the voice woke me up. To my surprise, Camillo, the brunette who helped me last night, sits down next to me on the flat rock.
"Hey."
"How are you feeling?"
"Fine, thank you."
How awkward.
My plan was originally to forget about everything that happened to me, but obviously it is not working.
Why is Camillo even here, talking to me?
Trying hard not to feel irritated, I give him a tight lipped smile and look down, fidgeting with something in my hands to avoid his intense stare.
"What're you doing?" He asks, as I continue to ignore his chocolate brown eyes.
"What do you mean?"
"That," he gestures towards my hands.
Looking down, I realize that out of instinct, I have grabbed not the hem of my skirt, but the piece of cloth I made for Andres and I that reads A. Marina across the seams.
Immediately I stop playing with it, tucking the fabric safely away into my pocket.
"It's nothing."
He raises an eyebrow at me, but doesn't respond. I am uncomfortable with him here, can't he tell? Was he expecting me to thank him and his friend for helping me? Because I certainly don't need to be reminded that I can't defend myself.
And besides, isn't there something that he should be doing? I turn away from Camillo and stare out into the busy camp, everyone seemingly having something to do except for the two of us.
"Adeline?" Camillo inquires, glancing sideways at me.
He's a lot taller than me, so I have to angle my head upwards to make eye contact.
"What?"
The question comes out harsher than intended, but I keep a straight face. Let him think that I am standoffish, and maybe then he'll leave me alone.
"I-"
"Good morning!" Camillo is cut off by Kade, the ginger, who grins enthusiastically as he walks up to where we are sitting, and plops down on the other side of me.
Does he have no clue about personal space? I think to myself, as his body presses up against me. Now I'm sandwiched between both boys, and I consider snapping at them to get off the rock, but I bite my tongue. It wouldn't do me any good to make another set of men angry at me, whether I like it or not.
And my snide remarks have only ever gotten me into trouble, anyways.
As if he can sense my annoyance, Kade laughs lightly, nudging me gently on the shoulder with his own.
"Was I interrupting something?" Kade muses playfully, winking at his friend.
My face pales, but then Camillo smacks his companion jokingly on the head, and I gape at the two of them with wide eyes. I wouldn't expect two people who I have met only yesterday to act so friendly in front of me.
"Hey!"
"You deserve it."
Kade rolls his eyes, and then faces to me. "So... what did I miss?"
His tone is childish, and my lips twitch upwards unintentionally. Now that it is morning, I can tell that these two people don't mean me any harm, and I should loosen up a little at their questions.
Actually, when I think about it, it's sort of nice that they cared enough to ask me if I was okay. They didn't have to seek me out, but Camillo did anyways.
If I saw someone in a bad situation in the woods, wouldn't I do the same?
Camillo tells Kade that he was just talking to me about the weather, and I over analyze the tiny white lie.
We weren't talking about the weather, but really, I'm glad he respects my privacy. For some reason I don't want to share the A. Marina namesake I was holding with anyone except my brother, mostly because I am afraid of spilling out my feelings.
Making small talk for a few minutes, all three of us become comfortable with one another while commenting on camp things, such as breakfast and our troop's plan for the day. The entire time, we completely avoid yesterday's incident, and it is almost another half hour later when General Hawk brings everyone in the camp to attention.
Standing in the middle of the now empty camp, he clears his throat. "Everyone get your things! We leave in five minutes on the dot."
Immediately, people all around the army base spring into action and gather up their things.
Personally, I have no major important belongings with me, so I get up slowly from my seat and say goodbye to the two gentlemen who checked up on me. Then, once they leave to join the forming army lines, I walk to the back of the group where the nurses stride.
"Good morning." I greet some of the women standing next to me, who don't deign to reply.
Each of them are carrying baskets of what looks like homemade blankets, yet, since I am newly arrived, all I have on me is a bucket of medical supplies, the dirty clothes I came with, a white, and now ripped, nightgown, and my classic black boots.
Once the five minutes are up, General Hawk blows a whistle, and our large group begins walking north again.
My feet move on their own accord, trailing after the endless sea of people ahead of me. At first it is chilly, but by mid afternoon, the sun's rays beat down directly on top of me, making me sweat. In my head I wonder where Andres is, and if he is doing okay with the heat. Today's the day we're supposed to reach Hallie, and everybody is more anxious than usual.
Some may die in the battle to come, while others may live to see another day. Silently, I pray that my brother is one of the latter, and I pray that if one of us survives this, it is him.
An hour later, Hawk tells us all to stop, and so we do. But it's different this time than before - the two soldiers sent out to scout the area never come back.
Confused, the General addresses two other of his men on the front lines, ordering them to find out what happened to the scouting party. A feeling of dread swirls in my abdomen, my chest.
This seems really bad.
My suspicions are confirmed when two gunshots ring clearly through the air before the next search party can go any further into the woods. And not anticipating it, the forty year old woman beside me lets out a startled scream.
Everyone from Nation becomes deathly still in fear of what the fired bullets mean.
Others are near.
But do they know where we are? And who was killed? The Other soldiers, or Nation's?
The tang of powder, metal and blood moves through the paralyzed crowd briefly. And not a second later, a hundred of strong soldiers dressed in an unfamiliar navy blue leak stealthily into the clearing around us, without even making a sound.
Two Other generals are at the front of the group, carrying twin dead bodies in their arms.
Bodies with Nation camouflage uniforms, smeared with freshly split blood.
Our Nation troop stays rigid and frozen in place.
The woman next to me regurgitates her breakfast.
The fact floods over us quickly and all at once: The Others have caught our troop unexpectedly, ambushed us in a certain death trap.
The Other general on the opposite side of the field yells out a fierce command.
And then the whole world goes to hell.