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Chapter 13: Even the deepest wound
The group walked in silence for an hour before they finally took a rest to have a meal. Tom was preparing a fire as Kokobiel went through his bag for food.
"How much further do we have to go?" Tom asked.
"It's another hour or two walk, when we get there get rid of the freelancer badges." Morgan answered back.
Kokobiel heard this and removed the patch on his shoulder and let it fall to the ground.
"They didn't look too bad at least, bit much though in the design," Kokobiel said as he finally got out an MRE. Morgan looked over to Kokobiel as he pulled out the MRE.
"You guys have MRE's, it's been forever since I've had something with a little bit of taste, bread and boiled meat only gets you so far," Morgan said as he went up to Kokobiel and rummaged through his bag.
"Hey, fuck out my shit!" Kokobiel said as he kicked Morgan out of his bag. Morgan stumbled back as he held where he got kicked.
"S-sorry it's been a while since I've actually had to just ask and not take, especially when my group just go through each other's things, but that won't happen anymore." Morgan said he then sat down next to Kokobiel, Kokobiel sighed as he went through his bag and passed him an MRE.
"Next time ask or I'll make sure I bust something in you." Kokobiel said in a very stern tone.
"That's pretty gay dude," Tom said as he finally got the fire started.
"Yeah, barely know me for a day and you're already trying to get in my pants, am I just that hot?" Morgan said as he played into what Tom said.
"Oh shut the fuck up the both of you, I don't want to hear it right now from either of ya." Kokobiel said as he began to make his MRE, Morgan looked away from him as he began to prep his MRE, Tom soon joined them as he watched the fire.
"It's been so long since we've actually sat down and shared a meal, I think the last thing we had was fried potatoes, I've missed those potatoes." Tom said.
"I think it was something about the way they were fried because they were so damn crispy but like potato cheese in the middle." Morgan replied back.
"Probably, Kokobiel any foods you remember from when you were younger?" Tom asked.
"After a dangerous fight the lady who took care of me would make a soup of some kind, she also had some bread to go along with it, sad I never learned the recipe," Kokobiel replied as he began to eat.
"Remember what was in it?" Morgan asked as he looked towards him, Kokobiel shook his head in return, Morgan shrugged as he began to eat his food now. Tom didn't exactly feel hungry be it either stress or what he witnessed. The image of Olga's and Berum's body continued to haunt his mind, he wished he would have done better so they could all be here at this moment.
The group finished eating and put out the fire before they started following Morgan again.
""Do you think what I did was right?" Kokobiel asked as he looked over to Tom, Tom thought about it for a few moments before responding.
"Morally no, but surviving yes, it was either us or them and sometimes you have to pick yourself, it's the brain's way of protecting itself, self preservation if i'm correct." Tom replied back.
"Do you think they'll be found?" Kokobiel asked.
"More than likely but they deserve that, I don't think we could have given them an honorable burial if we tried, I mean we did kill them," Tom replied back as he patted Kokobiel shoulder.
"You mean I killed them." Kokobiel said as he moved away from Tom's hand.
"Don't be so hard on yourself, I think any way it was put, someone was going to die, and someone was shooting somone." Tom said giving a sheepish smile, he doubted his own words but he wished to comfort Kokobiel.
"Thanks for the talk," Kokobiel said as he sped up a bit to walk in between Morgan and Tom. Tom sighed before he focused on his surroundings and the walk towards the base, or what he thought would be a base, maybe an encampment, or hideout. Tom shrugged as he didn't know where rebels stayed when not attacking something, though he figured he would find out soon enough. The group walked for another hour or so before they reached an outlook, the jungle well behind them now and there was no town, road, house, or farm anywhere nearby. Morgan continued forward for a little while before he turned and just hopped down the outlook.
"Morgan!?" Tom yelled as he chased behind Morgan, Kokobiel joined right behind him. He leaned down to look down to see Morgan standing on a fairly large ledge.
"I should have warned you, that's my fault, but get down here," Morgan said before he walked forward disappearing into the outlook. Tom looked down in confusion before he slid down onto the ledge, before he helped Kokobiel down. The outlook was actually hollow and the ledge connected to an entrance to a cave.
"You sure it still isn't a trap?" Kokobiel said.
"My brother wouldn't kill us, surely." Tom said back as he walked forward.
"Maybe not you at least." Morgan said as he followed Tom.
As they went into the tunnel it was fairly dark until they got further in, lights began appearing. They were tiny flood lights, once the cave finally opened fully several lights were strung up, they were made of two colors, a light green and a neon blue. It took a second to adjust to the lights before Tom was taken by the collar of the shirt as his eyes were met with another chupas eye.
"Yeah he checks out," the chupa said, their eyes were intense and filled with sternness. They proceeded to drop Tom and moved to Kokobiel, he was a bit harder to move but also passed the chupas tests.
"Sorry about him, he does that to everyone, he's looking for his wife's murderer." Morgan said.
"Really?" Tom asked.
"No, he just has to be certain about people, he says something in your eye that proves you are evil." Morgan said.
"That's very interesting, has anyone ever failed?" Tom asked.
"Not that I've seen." Morgan said. Tom shrugged as Kokobiel finally joined them.
"So that's how it feels to be manhandled, feels weird to have it done to you." Kokobiel said.
"Now you know how I feel when you throw me around." Tom said.
"I don't do that, I just put you into new locations." Kokobiel responded back, Tom rolled his eyes before walking off to explore the rebel hideout. The part of the hideout they were in seemed to be more of an entrance as tunnels connected further into the cave, going down these tunnels went too offshoots that went to different rooms, they seemed to have been dug out further for more living space and storage.
"So you guys are the resistance?" Tom asked, he heard Morgan follow behind him.
"Well we are a resistance group but we are not the Resistance, none of those special symbols or tattoos but we work together on rare occasions." Morgan said as he sped up with Tom.
"There's more than one?" Tom asked in return.
"Well there's us and the actual Resistance but there could be more. I've never exactly looked or asked." Morgan replied back.
"I have to ask, where did scarlet actually end up?" Tom asked.
"Safe, informants say the last place she was, was Sampi, she lives in a small town and runs a small soup shop, she's doing well." Morgan told him as he rummaged through his pockets.
"Another question, how long have you been doing this?" Tom shot back with another question before Morgan could finish going through his pockets.
"Like 2 and a half years, kinda by accident honestly but it hasn't been bad," Morgan finished his sentences then took a small piece of paper out of his pocket before handing it to Tom. Tom took the paper before unfolding the paper and finding a picture of the small soup shop and Scarlet outside.
"For once you didn't lie to me, a bit proud, a bit disappointed." Tom said.
"What, why?" Morgan asked.
"Proud because you trust me, disappointed because you have changed from your old self." Tom replied back to his question, handing the photo back over to Morgan. Morgan took the photo as he folded it then put it back in his pocket.
"People change Tom, I mean, you definitely changed, you used to be chubby," Morgan gave a light snicker as he looked over to Tom.
"Oh fuck you," Tom said as he lightly punched his brother in the arm.
They finally reached the end of the tunnel which led into a larger room with a table and chairs around it, several monitors hooked up to the far wall and a fridge next to them. Standing around the table were three chupas all focused on the thing on the table. Morgan joined the three and Tom soon followed, looking at the table there was a map with different types of markings and side notes about the markings.
"Morgan, good to see you back, and you brought a friend, who is he?" The chupa closest to Morgan said, her fur was a soft red color, she wore a bomber jacket and wore an eyepatch on her right eye, a scar ran diagonal across her eye and went pretty far to the right.
"This would be my brother, I've told you about him before, I think so at least, if not this is Tom, Tom this is Dingo, our specialist in field tactics." Morgan said, introducing the two to each other.
"Dingo? Bit of a strange name to have." Tom said.
"It's not like it's your name so I don't know why you're complaining about it." Dingo shot back at Tom.
"I was just asking and I'm not complaining, dingus." Tom said back, giving a sly smile as he said dingus. Dingo gave a stern look back before she huffed at him and gave a light smirk in return.
"I like this one." Dingo said.
"You better like him, you two are both stupid, but you are also very reliable, sometimes." Morgan said, Tom leaned down looking at the map, it seemed very similar to the one at the freelancer base except it was missing several of the markings the map had. It was strange, almost as if the map at the freelancer base showed different groups bases or possibly more freelancer bases.
"This map looks different from the other one, it's missing markings like the one back at that base." Tom pointed out.
"What other map?" Morgan asked.
"You're telling me you didn't see the massive ass map that was on the table I was hiding behind?!" Tom semi-yelled back at him.
"No, I was too busy figuring out who had come into the room!" Morgan responded back. The brothers looked at each other sternly before they were forced to headbutt each other by Kokobiel.
"Do you two always have to argue?" Kokobiel asked sarcastically. The two groaned before going quiet and looking away from each other.
"Jeez, you both act like children..." he sighed before continuing his sentence.
"... yes there was a map at the freelancer base, yes it did have more markings compared to this map. Best guess different rebel base, if not, probably stashes." Kokobiel said.
"You actually remembered that?" Morgan asked.
"It's hard to forget when I- whe-. Fuck, yes I remember it is all." Kokobiel said as his face darkened as he spoke. Tom put a hand on Kokobiels shoulder patting it, he gave a slight smile trying to comfort Kokobiel who wouldn't look at Tom as he did it.
"Sorry," Morgan said, his tone sympathetic but serious.
"We can continue this later, everyone go rest up, I know it's been a long day for everyone." Dingo said as she turned to the tunnel before disappearing into it.
"I'll lead you to the place you guys will be staying." A brown chupa said to Kokobiel and Tom before going into the tunnel, Kokobiel followed behind him, Tom shrugged before joining them. As they walked down the tunnel Tom looked back to see Morgan not following them, he figured that he had a different room and this didn't bother him, it would only make sense.
The brown chupa turned down a corner before entering a room with two bunks, a sink, small foot lockers, a radio, and lamps on a night dresser.
"Your room, sorry most single rooms are full or reserved as medical rooms for patients." The brown chupa said, he then gave a small bow before walking out of the room.
"Well, back to bunks it seems." Kokobiel said as he went to one of the beds before setting his bag down then sat down on the bed.
"I'm sure we'll be fine, plus our backs are already ruined from the bunks from the special forces." Tom said, Kokobiel nodded as he took things out of his pockets and set them down on the dresser. He took out a small journal and pencil before setting his bag down before laying against the head of the bunk. Tom set his bag aside as he laid down in the bed and stared up into the ceiling.
"You're a good friend Tom, I hope you know that." Kokobiel said as he wrote in his journal.
"Thanks dude, you're a great friend as well." Tom said back, Kokobiel stayed quiet as he wrote. Tom felt his consciousness began to sleep before it all went dark and he fell asleep.
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