Lost To The Zone

5 - Aleksandra

Aleksandra took a deep breath after she had left Loki's quarters and was far enough away so he wouldn't hear her. She always acted pretty indifferent around him, but she hated catching him in a bad mood. Normally Loki was fine, but if you brought problems to his doorstep when he didn't have the nerve for them, he could get somewhat nasty. And that's what Aleksandra had just done.

Either way, it didn't matter now. She had brought the Loner back to the medic, she had talked to Loki and even though he wasn't very happy about it, he decided to let him stay for now and as long as Aleksandra was going to take responsibility for him. Which was an easy task now while he was still unconscious. She was a little worried about the time after he woke up, however. But no one really knew when that was going to be, so she didn't worry about it yet.

Only after she was done with Loki did she realise just how hungry she had gotten. She hadn't really eaten anything all day, mostly because she had been pretty busy this entire time. She had gone outside soon after waking up and then she was busy taking care of the Loner. And now it was evening and she still hadn't eaten anything. She felt like she was starving.

She put her hat back on and made her way out of the Freedom side of the station. She wanted to sit outside by a nice fire and have some roasted meat. There was usually a fire going every night, because there were always some of the boys that wanted to grill something or that just wanted the warmth. Someone usually played the guitar as well. It was a nice atmosphere.

Once she got out of the station she could already see the fire burning. There were a good few men sitting around it, laughing and eating and playing guitar. Aleksandra smiled and made her way towards the campfire. She had some dried meat on her that she was planning to roast over the fire. It only made it taste marginally better, but at least it was something slightly different.

"Sasha! Come on, come on! Come over here!" she heard Fedya's voice calling for her. Aleksandra chuckled.

"Relax, I'm on my way!" she answered and sped up a little. She could make out some of the faces around the fire now - Lyosha, Fedya, Nikita, Dani. She knew most of them fairly well, but only Nikita knew that she was a woman. The others might have been suspecting it, but no one asked any questions. It was probably better that way, otherwise they might have made things very awkward.

Aleksandra sat down by the fire and crossed her legs, holding out her hands to warm them on the fire. It felt good to have the natural warmth of a fire around her. Lyosha was playing a simple little melody on his guitar. He looked like he was deep in thought and not really paying attention to what was going on around him. Lyosha had always been a bit of a dreamer.

"Well? What did Loki say?" Nikita wanted to know. Aleksandra could see that he was trying to hold back and not sound too eager. She grinned and shrugged, before getting out her knife and sticking the meat on it.

"He didn't say much. He said it was fine if the Loner stays. As long as I'll be responsible for him."

"And? Are you taking responsibility for him?" Nikita asked. All eyes were on her now. Of course they had all heard of the Loner that her and Nikita had brought back to camp and they were all curious as to who he was and what had happened to him. And whether Loki would let him stay.

"Of course I am. I didn't drag him all the way back here just to get him kicked out again." she answered.

"You seem to be pretty convinced that he's a good guy, Sasha." Fedya remarked. He looked thoughtful, but Aleksandra was sure that it was just because he had been smoking way too much.

"Sure I am. Why wouldn't I be?" Aleksandra answered. She knew exactly why she shouldn't be so trusting - they were in the Zone, they didn't know anything about this guy, they didn't know who he belonged to or who was after him. It was risky taking him into a base like Yanov station.