The Hijinks War

50. How the Woods Were Won

Sleep and dreams had a funny way of changing your mindset on something. On waking up, I'd decided that Mark was still breathing and I needed to get on with it. There were things that surely needed to be done, people and supplies that needed my attention. Besides, the Medics and Becca had checked in on him every 20 minutes the day before; he'd be as okay as he could be in the woods without proper medical attention.

There were very few people who approached me as I did a tentative round of the camp surveying everything. I couldn't quite read their avoidance. Did it have to do with my sadness over Mark, or what I'd done? Either way, feeling slightly more emotionally level than I did yesterday, I pushed both from my head. 

"Cole!" Kellen caught up with me as I helped a freshman lowering a sack of rocks from the upper level via pulley. "There you are. You okay? I was worried when I woke up and you were gone."

He said it without a concern for who might hear him. I wanted to be frustrated at him, and the unabashed gaping the freshman was doing; why were people so interested in speculating about our non-status? But after everything that had happened, I could only smile.

"You shouldn't be doing this!" he grumbled at me, as he checked my arm in its sling.

"This stuff needs to get done, Kels."

"I'm not saying it doesn't. Leave it to Jacks or me. You can take over the room checks from Hads."

"And how exactly am I supposed to get up there?" I asked mildly annoyed at him coddling me. I could see Jackson approaching, glad to have found me; he'd likely repeat Kellen's lecture.

Sighing, I repeated my question, letting go of the rope to gesture at the upper level. The rope scorched through the hands of the freshman who'd loosened her hold on it, and she jumped back with a yelp to avoid being hit. Kellen's hand shot out instantaneously to grab the rope, and the bag snapped to a stop above us, swinging wildly. 

"See?" He shot me an annoyed look. "This is why you shouldn't be doing this. I'm not worried about you, Bae—Cole. I'm more worried about the freshies you'll no doubt injure trying to do stupid things like this with one hand."

"Thank Gob!" I scowled. "Here I thought you were going to baby me all day. We don't have time for that anyways, we have shit to get on with."

His face, so different from the impassive one that everyone was used to seeing, battled a number of reactions before he snorted at me. "I will baby you all I want, Cole! I'll carry you up there if I ha―Good God! Will you stop staring at us like we're standing here naked, kid?"

The freshman flushed and quickly went back to work, re-hoisting the sack of rocks instead of unlatching it so they could lower a new one. I watched in amusement.

"Leave the poor freshie alone!" Jackson interjected, startling the freshman. He took the rope from her and brought the bag back down. "You can't blame her, really. You're planning on carrying Bae up there?" He looked at Kellen pointedly, as if in that statement alone, the freshman's interest was more than explained. "Besides that, what are you going to do when she falls back down here from lack of balance?"

Kellen huffed as if he hadn't thought of that, and scrubbed at his jaw petulantly. "Then I'll baby her even more. At least if she falls, she won't be in any place to run around making her injuries worse!"

"Are her injuries stopping her now?" Jackson asked with a laugh, as I shoved Kellen.

"No."

"So then what makes you think any more injuries will stop her from being stubborn and stupid?"

Kellen eyed me as if it were a valid assessment of my character and shrugged. "Ah, I suppose you're right, Jacks. Just don't give us any more heart attacks, Cole."