The Adventurer & The Librarian

Chapter 12: Memories

After helping bury the other group's fallen colleagues, Bonnie made her way over to Beni and sat down with him as he took a drink from his canteen. "Hey, Beni, I gotta talk to you for a minute," she said.

"About what, O'Connell?" he asked before handing her the canteen.

She accepted it graciously and took a drink, realizing it wasn't water but alcohol. "Ha! Why doesn't that surprise me?"

Beni laughed. "You know me. Liquor and money."

The adventurer laughed and shook her head before taking another sip. "Yes, you always were such a greedy drunk. It's gonna get you killed, you know."

"Perhaps, but not for a long time." Bonnie handed him back the canteen and he took a long chug. "What did you want to talk about?"

With a sigh, Bonnie leaned back a little and cracked her neck. "You remember Claude, Hector and...Vincent, right?" she asked, saying the last name with grief.

Beni frowned as he passed her the canteen. "Yes. How they died was unfortunate."

Bonnie took a sip and wiped her mouth. "Yes. Thing is...same thing happened to Hassad."

The Hungarian stared at Bonnie with his mouth agape. "What? Are you serious, O'Connell?"

"Mmhmm. 'Course, he ran into a wall and that killed him. But...it was the same thing, like the others. Screaming in pain."

Beni's face turned ghostly white. "Why are you telling me this?"

With a huff, Bonnie took a long drink from the canteen and gave it back to Beni. "Just giving you a heads up to watch your ass, Gabor."

Beni took a swig and nodded. "It's what I do best, O'Connell." He reached behind him in his bag and pulled out a bottle of bourbon. "Here. You'll be needing this more than I will, I think."

Bonnie thanked the man and stuffed the bottle in her own bag. "Where'd you get this?" she asked.

"Borrowed it from Henderson."

The woman snorted before standing up and patting Beni on the shoulder. "Take care, you miserable bastard."

Beni laughed, reassuring her that he would as she walked off. As much as she hated Beni, he was still a friend...sort of. She rejoined her own little group at their own campsite, and the two men were well into the bottle of Glenlivet. "O'Connell!" Jonathan yelled drunkenly. "Where were you? My little brother here was asking for you every two seconds!"

"I was...was not!" William slurred, taking a swig from Hassad's bottle.

"You were so!" Jonathan giggled.

Bonnie sat with the men with a sad smile before pulling out the bourbon, opening it and drinking. "I was talking to Beni."

"Where'd you get that?" Jonathan asked, reaching for it but Bonnie was quick to snatch it back.

"Now now, you have your own bottle. Beni borrowed it from one of the other men," she giggled as she took another drink.

William continued to drink, but he was completely trashed at that point. "You're not going to share?"

"Nah, I don't think you British can handle bourbon," she teased with a grin.

"I'll fight you for it, woman."

The adventurer paused mid drink, eyeing William curiously. "Oh?" she cooed. "Is that right?"

With a giant, drunken smirk, William leaned over to her, tilting his head to the side as he rested on his elbow. "Absolutely."