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Chapter 11: A horrible dream
Tom awoke from his slumber, the sun had barely reached the ring but it was possible to see what was happening around him. He stood up brushing his hair out from the bark that had gotten stuck in it. He stretched, looking around now he noticed that no one was there, just the bags.
"Guys where did yall go! This isn't funny!" Tom yelled out. He got no response back, in fact there was no noise at all, no birds singing, no bugs buzzing, no wind blowing the leaves, nothing. Tom picked up his bag and began walking through the forest, it was oddly cold for where they had arrived. It reminded him of Sampi, of home, it hurt to think of those memories. He continued further into the forest, he saw a figure standing in a clearing, bathing in the sun's rays. Tom got closer and closer before the figure turned to him.
"Hey, did you see any other people come by, maybe a bit scratched up, i'm just looking for them and they've gone missing?" Tom asked. He entered the clearing as he got a better look at the figure, so familiar yet so unrecognizable, it hurt the longer he looked at his face.
"Tom, you can't complete this mission, if you do, the consequences and regret you feel will be unstoppable," the figure said as he got closer to Tom.
"W-who are you?" Tom asked.
"You can't even recognize your own brother? Even after all we have been through?" His voice sounded funny almost as it started to float off and distort.
"You can't complete this mission Tom, those scars will only get worse if you do. Don't finish this mission but continue to go further, find me, let us help each other." He said finally as he began to fade out. The surrounding forest burst into flames as a tree toppled, Tom moved out of the way as he began trying to get away from the flames. Then another tree, and another before one fell right atop of him, and he woke up with a jolt. He was back to where he was, the group still asleep, Tom felt his face feeling a cold sweat before he got up and grabbed his bag, then sipped from his canteen. He closed his canteen as he looked at the group, no one seemed to be stirring and the day had just broken. Tom walked back over to the tree he had been laying on, setting his bag there. He then proceeded to walk through the forest. It shouldn't be gone for too long, just enough to clear his head. The birds sang their songs and the wind blew through the leaves. Noise filled his ears, he hadn't ever enjoyed the noise of the forest more, the ground beneath him was soft and felt great between his pads. It had been years since he had actually walked through a forest, to enjoy the fresh air, to listen to the birds, to feel the ground beneath him. He began speeding up, he felt great, not even the events from last night bothered him any more, and he didn't even notice now that he was simply sprinting through the forest. The intake of his lungs burned as he hopped over a downed log, he continued forward before coming to a sliding stop trying to catch his balance as he came to a small cliff edge, as he slid to a stop he tripped over a rock falling straight down and right over the edge of the cliff.
"SHHHHIIIIIITTT!" Tom yelled out as he fell over the cliff edge and straight into a pond. He made a large splash in the water as he scared off fish, he turned for a little while before his head broke the surface of the water, his stomach and chest hurt as he swam to shore. Once he got to shore he sat on the banks edge as he was now soaking wet, he took his hair straining it out the best he could as he got up and shook hard. He looked up the cliff face and looked around his general area, a slope came around the cliffs edge, he began returning to camp. By the time he had got back he managed to remove his soaking shirt as he air dryed, Kokobiel was awake now but had posted himself up next to a tree with his journal.
"Whered you go? Because the cat looks like he landed in his own water bowl" Kokobiel snickered as Tom made his way to him.
"Just went on a little run, and kinda, accidentally went over a cliff edge and into a pond, shit kinda hurt when I belly flopped on the water," Tom said as he rubbed his chest and sat next to Kokobiel.
"What are you doing?" Tom asked.
"Just finishing some writing for documentation purposes." Kokobiel replied.
"Pretty nerdy of you to do, but what would I expect from ya," Tom said as he leaned his head back onto the tree.
"Cut me some slack, i'm still recovering from last night," Kokobiel said as he elbowed Tom's side. Tom made an oof before nodding in agreement with Kokobiel.
"I think I gotta change shorts and underwear, they're still soaking wet and I'd rather not have a water induced rash," Tom said as he got up, going over to his bag.
"Well go do that in the forest, I don't wanna see your ass," Kokobiel said as he shook his head in disapproval.
"Why would I want to show you anyways?" Tom said before chuckling and heading off to somewhere he couldn't be seen. He returned shortly after in new clothes, it was just the standard issue uniform but it wasn't too bad. He sat his bag onto the tree as he walked back over to Kokobiel kneeling down.
"So, how's the wound?" Tom asked.
"Hurts like hell but manageable, you think I'll get a wicked scar?" Kokobiel said.
"It probably will, I could definitely see it happening," Tom said as he began unwrapping the now dirty bandages as he slid over the medkit to rewrap the wound.
"Awe, does someone care for me?" Kokobiel said as he chuckled.
"No, I just wanna stab you with the surgical scissors." Tom joked back. Kokobiel chuckled back before laughing too hard then holding his side. Tom rolled his eyes before starting to rewrap the wound as he disinfected it. Olga stirred behind him as she sat up from the hard ground she was on, she stretched out before looking over at the two.
"Sorry, am I interrupting something?" Olga asked, giving a smirk.
"No, just helping him rewrap these, do you wish for me to wrap some gauze around your maw?" Tom said as he stretched out some gauzes. Kokobiel chuckled again at the comment as well as Olga. She got up and came over to the two.
"So, do we have any idea where we are?" She asked.
"Well, we were actually on the right path, maybe a three hour walk before we make it to the target, but I say food first," Tom said.
"I second that, I would help but uh, kinda got some bleeding and an open wound that's healing," Kokobiel said as he tried to stand using the tree as leverage. He stood as he slowly walked to his own bag as he went through it getting an MRE.
"Seems you're doing perfectly fine." Olga said.
"Yeah, you seem to be doing great now." Tom added on.
"Shut up both of you," Kokobiel said as he sat down to prepare his MRE.
Tom soon joined him as Olga went to Berum, kicking his side softly. He didn't give much of a reaction.
"Wakey, Wakey make your own food you sleepy fuck," Olga kicked again, harder this time, Berum awoke pretty quickly from that.
"Cmon, what's the big deal, I just wanna sleep a little longer," Berum said, annoyed that he was woken up.
"Time for food, then we have to get a move on," Olga said as she flipped him over onto his back.
"You may be family but i'm still going kick your ass like a stranger," Berum said as he got up, joining the rest of the group as Olga followed.
"I'd still win, remember last summer?" Olga asked.
"Don't remind me," Berum said angrily.
"What happened last summer?" Kokobiel asked as he opened up the MRE.
"This dipshit thought it would be a great idea to hide in a bush wearing some creepy ass mask he had, he jumped out at me and I swung hard on him and knocked out two teeth and gave him a bloody nose, he's lucky that masked cracked and fell off before the second swing," Olga said trying to hold in her laughter as she retold the story, Berum grumbled to himself as he made his own MRE flipping off Olga in the process. The group ate their breakfast as they packed their things and took inventory.
"So, we're missing a day's worth of rations, a grenade, 40 credits and some med supplies, mostly pain killers," Berum said as he checked off a list. The previous nights unwanted visitor had taken these items and used the grenade for their escape.
"Well I guess we better get a move on, because now we're just burning daylight by standing here," Kokobiel said as he grabbed his bag and started to head to their main objective. Tom followed behind soon enough as the other two followed shortly behind them. It was only about half a day's worth of walking, with short breaks in between for rest and food.
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