kindred Magic

Chapter Two

Dimitri stayed at his post in the middle of Yellowstone National Park, freezing in the disgustingly cold forest. Even in the middle of the afternoon, the temperature was no more than a measly twenty degrees, with a good two feet of snow to boot. He hated it here and was ready to go home. Even with his list of mental complaints, at least it was quiet and peaceful. There wouldn't be any animals around to bother him. If they were smart, they'd be hunkered down, sleeping somewhere. Heaven knows he wished he could do the same.

He had only seen a brave blue jay wander around for a short time on their twelve-hour shift. He and his partner had been staking the area for twelve hours because their commander wouldn't tell them... Naturally, from a talk from the other operatives, it has something to do with investigating the town hoarding advanced tech and weaponry. Dimitri checked his coordinates and looked out ahead of him, and nothing. Not a single town, house, or even cabin could be seen. How would it even be possible to hide tech in America anyway? Dimitri scoffed at his thoughts, angered that he must still be in the cold. He was perhaps forcing people like him to die in the cold to report a small measly fact was how they discovered this high-tech stuff. He was getting tired of staring at nothing.

"Where the hell have you been?" Dimitri questioned his partner, who was walking up behind him with difficulty. Dimitri stayed on the ground looking through his binoculars, scanning the area again.

"Back to the truck to grab some stuff." His partner answered with two thermoses in his hands. Dimitri looked at him suspiciously... He didn't remember seeing those in the car.

"What is it?" Dimitri asked.

"Oatmeal with macadamia, water chestnuts, and berries." His partner answered, which made Dimitri gag just thinking about it. He cringed along with his stomach, making a face he couldn't hide in a million years. "Do you want-"

"No, that's fine." Dimitri cut him off with a hand wave trying to calm his mind so his stomach would stop panicking at the thought of that meal going in his stomach. "I'll stick with my granola bars, and protein shakes." Dimitri finished, looking for his bag quickly. His stomach quickly changed its attitude and growled loudly for one of his granola bars and shakes after he had been procrastinating about going in his bag. Opening everything with gloves on was a pain, and there was no way he was taking them off.

"Have you seen anything yet?" His partner asked, sitting down on the spot on the hill they cleared of snow. Their location was already hidden beneath a few tall trees, but with their built-up snow fort, Dimitri imagined seeing them would be hard.

"No, Christian, I haven't." Dimitri snapped, frustrated that they had to deal with two more days of being out here for nothing. He guessed it was time to eat again before he had another hangry fit.

"Excuse me for asking a simple damn question." Christian hollered back.

"Whatever," Dimitri remarked without another word and went into his bag for something to eat and drink. At least his shakes were still cold and wouldn't spoil.

Dimitri spent the next half hour lying on his stomach, looking through a hole in the snow he carved out with his binoculars. Now and then, he would doze off, only waking up when he dropped the binoculars. Christian had finally finished eating and was looking out of a hole carved in the opposite wall. Dimitri was half tempted to make an igloo. There was enough snow around to create one. The only thing keeping them from being wholly frozen were the trees blocking most of the falling snow and their heated gear piled up in one spot.

"Have you taken your medicine yet?" Christina reminded Dimitri, who got annoyed.

"You know you're my work partner, not my actual partner, right?" Dimitri clarified, which got him a sideways glare. However, he was probably due to taking his medicine anyway.

"You wish." Christian joked through narrowed eyes.

"You're not my type or that cute anyway," Dimitri grumbled, sitting on the ground, shifting through his bag, and pulling out a large white bottle that started with two hundred oval orange pills. The liquid horse pills were more significant than a third of his pinky in length. Given the nature of his condition and the cold, he quickly forgot to take his medicine. Following the pill, he finished his shake and slowly began to shiver. He'd rather suffer the possibility of death than feel the cold once again. The bottle sounded like a large maraca when he threw the pills back into his bag.

"Why do you need that many anyway?" Christan asked curiously while Dimitri tried to get as comfortable as he could again.

"Because they are as needed to keep from overheating. They also have to make large batches because the pharmacist said it takes a while to get the ingredients." Dimitri answered, remembering the constant hot flashes and trips to different hospitals to find a cure. It wasn't until H.O.M. found him that he could get treatment somewhat. The condition never bothered him, but his temp hitting a hundred was enough to make his parents fly him to the closest E.R.

"What ingredients are in it?" Christian asked.

"Fuck if I know," Dimitri said with an amused huff.

"How long are we supposed to be here looking at nothing?" Christian asked.

"Until we see something or forty-eight hours after arriving." Dimitri reminded him, making the poor man grumble.

"Who knows how long that will take? They couldn't have waited until spring or fall even?" Christian complained.

"What about summer?" Dimitri asked as he zoomed in with his binoculars at some movement.

"Too hot, and I don't like bugs," Christian answered. Dimitri would have laughed but was too busy trying to find something. It looked like the air was making odd movements in a small area a few yards away, but it was hard to tell.

"I agree..." Dimitri started to talk, but then the air around the spot he was looking at began rippling like a glitch in video games, "I've got movement." Dimitri announced. 

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