Prisoner

Chapter 22

AN: This chapter may be a bit short. It's kind of a transition chapter, I guess. Just prep for the next few.

John Hansson

For the remainder of that day, Adaryn completely shut everyone else out. After calming him down, Clev and I had returned to the tent with our friend and laid him back down on his bedroll. He didn't sleep, though. For almost an hour, he lay stiff as a plank of wood, staring wide-eyed at the top of the tent, which was beginning to leak in sunlight from outside.

After eating a flavorless breakfast of hard bread, someone rapped their knuckles on the wooden post holding our tent up from outside. Clev reached over and pulled the tent flap open. Waiting there was a young soldier holding a pile of cloth.

"What is it?" Clev asked. The soldier extended his arms, handing him the pile.

"Fresh provisions from the Captain. Clev hesitated, then nodded and took the stack from the soldier. 

"Thank you." The soldier saluted, then turned and walked away. Clev let the tent flap fall closed and turned to examine what he had been given.

The stack consisted of three standard-issue uniforms and three small pouches meant to be tied to the waist. The uniforms were not much more than brown trousers and a white shirt that was draped with a red sash. A brown hat was also included, looking like something they wore in the 1940's, along with thin-soled shoes and a leather belt.

Clev handed me a uniform and bag, set Adaryn's aside, and examained his. I held up my uniform, looking it over. The material was lightweight and soft. I looked up at Clev.

"This doesn't look like it would keep us safe if we had to fight. There isn't any sort of protection." I complained. Clev shrugged.

"My thoughts as well. However, there is not anything we can do about it." He replied dryly. 

"What about the uniforms we took from those guards yesterday? They actually had plating and stuff." I suggested.

Clev looked at me and shrugged again. "They were gone when we came back this morning."

I glanced around the tent and saw that he was right. With a sigh, knowing I was defeated, I pulled off my shirt and began to change. It felt great to have clean clothes on, be them uniform or not.

By the time the two of us had finished changing, I had grown curious about the pouches that were also given to us. I picked mine up and, feeling a little weight to it, opened it. Nestled inside were three small strips of dried meat, a sack of what looked like flour, two hard rolls, a small waterskin, and flint and steel tied together by a small string. I smiled, eyeing the food. 

"Don't" Clev warned. My smile disappeared at his caveat.

"We've barely had anything to eat since Strykers house. How long can we seriously last on that gross bread? We're almost out, just to remind you, and it's all we've got left. Adaryn still isn't fully recovered, and that's because he hasn't been getting any sort of necessary nurtition." I told him firmly. Clev shook his head slowly, but didn't argue any further.

Having won, I scooted over to Adaryn and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Adaryn, sit up and eat something." I said. Adaryn didn't move, not even his eyes. I sighed and shook him until his eyes slowly opened. They wandered around, staring at the top of the tent, until he locked eyes with me. The look I saw in his eyes was...disturbing. It wasn't really madness or grief. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but whatever look that was, I didn't like it. He knew what was coming, like he had for Venia, I could tell.