Chapter Two

The walk was slow and painful for all seven men, and the supplies made trekking harder than it initially was. Painfully, they still had a few kilometers to walk before they met the Brazilian military waiting for them.

“This is bullshit.” Kurt groaned. “Why weren't we dropped at the Brazilian camp?”

“You’re to dumb to think so it’s not worth explaining to you.” Tyler replied him, taking a sip from the bottle of water she held.

Kurt ignored her. He reached into his trousers and brought out his hands, empty.

“Shit!” He exclaimed. “Shit, shit, shit!” He ran his hands along his entire body, digging into his numerous pockets.

“What’s the problem?” White asked.

Kurt looked up, his expression was alarming. “I lost our radio.”

The entire group stopped walking, and all turned to face Kurt. Their faces was mixed with fear, anger and surprise. Winston was the first to speak. “What did you say Kurt.”

“You heard me,” Kurt placed his hands on his waist. “We’ve lost communication.”

White stared at Kurt for a moment, resting his shoulder on an oak tree and then he burst into laughter. The sudden outburst caused all six men to look at him, surprised.

“We’re dead, we’re fucking dead.” White walked up to Kurt and placed his hands over Kurt’s shoulders

Stepping out of Whites embrace, Kurt sat on the dirt and ran his fingers on his bald head. “He is damn right.” He slapped his knee.

Sam let his breath out slowly. They were all alone now, and there was nothing any of them could do about it. All hope was now on Cory to take them to the right place.

Sam turned and walked ahead of the rest, expecting them to follow him.

“where are you going Sam?” Tyler asked, running behind him.

“We keep moving.” He didn’t stop or turn when he said it. They walked behind him, obediently.

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The air came, cold and misty, the seven man crew still walked on, pushing their way through thick bushes and trees. The moon hung low over the night sky, bringing with it a somewhat comforting companionship for the men. Sam was still in front, Cory beside him, trying to figure out where to go next.

Sam, in his head, went back to his old days during his college years, he never had the idea of joining the army, but he was always drawn to the peculiar green uniform that pulled him into the army, and now, walking in the a****n, unsure of where they were, only trusting the words of the young lad beside him, Sam was a mixture of regret and comfort. Regret that he’d been sent on this mission, and comfort because he was put incharge of something for the first time.

“How far Cory?” He asked, looking over the shoulder of the teenager, trying to understand what he was doing.

“By my calculations,” Cory replied. “A few kilometers, maybe five.”

“so we’re close then.”

“Depends.” Cory looked up at the moon hanging loosely in the night sky. “We need to rest, sir, the night’s not in our favour.”

Sam looked at the night sky, and then at Cory. He paused and faced the crew behind him.

“We’ll stop here for the night.” He said. “Kurt, do a perimeter search, make sure there’s nothing out there. Report back in fifteen.”

“you’re the boss.” Kurt said and walked into the night.

“Winston,” Sam continued. “you and Leigh fetch some wood for fire, White and Tyler will find spots for our rest. And Cory,” He turned to the boy. “you’ll help us figure out where we are.”

“Okay, Winston, Leigh, Tyler, White report back in five.”

As the four went out to carry their assignment, Sam sat next to Cory to watch the boy plot their location.

“Why did you join the army?” Sam asked.

“Huh?” Cory looked at the older man.

“Why did you join the army?” Sam repeated.

“Oh,” Cory bowed his head. “My dad, he err pushed me in.”

“Must have been tough huh?”

“Yeah, he was military, and so was his father. So it kinda made sense that I was in on the whole thing.” Cory forced a smile.

Sam admired the small boy that sat with him. His petite figure and peculiar innocence made him seem like the perfect son even more perfect than Sam could ever be.

“My mum left us early,” Cory continued. “It was hard for my dad, he put his anger on us, me especially.”

“Us?”

“Yeah I had a sister, she was older by a year,” pause. “left house at fifteen.”

“Wow,” Sam scratched his head, as if trying to analyse the story.

Cory cracked his knuckles and spat into the dirt. He shifted uncomfortably on the log of wood they sat on. Sam noticed.

“There ain’t nothing out there.” Kurt said as he walked in on Sam and Cory. “nothing but trees and bushes.” He stared at the two men for full five seconds. Looking around, he continued. “Where’s the rest?”

“Out looking for wood.” Sam answered.

“Well, they’d better be back early, ain’t nothing but wood out here.”

Sam shook his head, smiling.

Kurt sat on the hard dirt, head buried in his knees.

“Nothing special about this mission ain’t that right Kurt?”

“Yeah Sam, nothing but trees.”

Both men chuckled, looking at the trees surrounding them.

The rest of the crew walked in, Winston carrying broken tree parts.

“We found a spot capt,” White said, helping Winston to arrange the wood ready to make fire.

“Cozy?”

“okay actually.” Tyler answered, shrugging her shoulders.

Kurt looked at her and smiled. “yeah sure.” He stroked his chin.

“Problem, Kurt?” She asked, standing above him, hands on her waist.

“Maybe you wanna help me solve it.” He smirked.

Tyler rolled her eyes, walking away from him and towards Leigh.

“It’s gonna be a long night darling,” Kurt called after her, almost shouting. “We can make use of it.”

She held up her middle finger, still backing him.

“Yeah, you just might.” Kurt lied on the dirt, hand bent below his head.

It wasn’t long before Winston and White ignited the fire, illuminating most of where they were with an orange bloom. Kurt stared at the open sky, which was punctuated by a million stars. How lucky. He thought.

“White,Tyler,” Sam started. “take us to the spot.”

Hours later, all seven men lied on hard dirt fast asleep as the night ran along, cold and heavy.