Flora

Chapter 36

"Rudy and I used to camp here when we were kids." Alejandro explained as they walked along a nearby trail. "It's not an official campsite, so the space is usually free."

"Oh." Soap wiggled his eyebrows, "Just the two of you then?"

Alejandro promptly elbowed him in the ribs. Soap yelped and quickly ducked behind Ghost.

"Simon, protect me! I'm being bullied! Harassed! Attacked!"

"Oh, and it was totally unprovoked?" Ghost looked at him, eyebrow raised beneath the mask.

"It was only the tiniest bit provoked!" Soap told him.

Flora laughed at them. Soap seemed to be that much more of a menace in the wild. The fresh air felt good in her lungs, and it felt even better to be out in the open after everything. Rudy called her name from farther up the trail, and she jogged to catch up. She found him crouched next to the trails edge.

She crouched down next to him, and he moved some of the tall grass aside for her to look. There was a snail sitting on one of the tall blades. When she lived in Washington, she had seen some very tiny snails, but this one was much cooler.

"Woah." She breathed, leaning forward to examine the pattern on the shell.

"Pretty cool?" He asked.

She nodded still examining. At some point the rest of the group joined them and Soap crouched beside her.

"What are we looking at exactly?"

"Snail." She said simply and saw him make a face from her periphery.

"Mm. Lovely." He didn't sound like he thought it was lovely at all, honestly.

Ghost bent down and very gently lifted the snail with his gloved hands.

"Don't hurt him!" Flora said standing with him.

"I won't." He assured softly, taking extra care to be gentle at Flora's request. He turned toward Soap who stumbled backward and made a little spooked noise.

"What's wrong, Johnny? Scared of a little snail?" He teased, stepping closer.

Soap shook his head, arms crossed over himself protectively, "Imnae scared of a snail, Ghost. I just don't want it near my person."

Gaz moved behind him quietly and grabbed his shoulders suddenly making him jump.

"Jesus Christ, Kyle! I'll kick yer ass!"

Gaz was too busy doubling over onto the ground to care about his threats. Ghost moved on, stifling his own laughter, holding the snail down for Flora.

"You wanna hold him?" He asked and she looked a little indecisive, "You're not gonna hurt him."

At his assurance she held out her hand and he placed it there. She held it up closer to her eyes to get a better look. She giggled when it moved around a little, "Kinda tickles."

She carefully bent down and set him back on his grass, watching him for a moment longer before getting back up.

"Even Flora held the snail, Soap!" Gaz was saying.

"I dinnae want slime on me, Gaz! You know how I feel about that sort of thing!" Soap raved. Price stood by shaking his head, walking ahead to get them to move on, lest they hear about the snail for the rest of the camping trip.

They didn't encounter anymore snails, but they did find some bugs, which Gaz didn't enjoy. Soap gave him plenty of sass back for that. Particularly when they found a scorpion sunning itself on a rock.

"C'mon Gaz, it's not gonna get you!" Flora laughed as he took a couple steps back.

"Yeah, and it'll get me even less standing over here." He commented, practically using Price as a human shield.

Alejandro really stressed him out by approaching and swiftly grabbing it by the stinger, holding it up to look at it.

Rudy glared at him, "Alejandro, por favor. ¡Hemos hablado de que agarras escorpiones! It freaks people out!"

Flora shoved past Rudy to look though.

"Pinchers and a stinger seems excessive." She commented, standing on her toes to get a better look.

Alejandro mumbled his agreement before returning the scorpion to its rock. Gaz gave it a wide berth as they passed it.

After a bit of an uphill section of their walk, Flora found her chest to be feeling a little tight. She ended up at the back of the pack until Price noticed. He slowed down until he was beside her and crouched down.

"Hop on."

"You don't hafta do that." She told him.

"Just cause' I'm older than this lot doesn't mean I can't handle ya." He told her, insisting.

She relented and climbed onto his back. The only really difference was the intense noise he made as he stood up, that could only be described as a "dad sound." But then he held her quite easily for the remained of their walk.

She was reminded of riding on Ghost and Soap's backs that first night they met. She felt far less afraid than she had that night.