The Call of the Void

Will says a prayer to his aunt

I broke for dinner, and went straight to the pavilion. Only one of us could break for meals at a time, the other two ate in the infirmary. It sucked, but it was only until after the workload lightened, or we at least got more volunteers from other cabins to help out. There was a decent chunk of cabin 11 on board, some from cabins 6 and 20, and even one girl from cabin 4. But none of them could do as much as us three could. 

We were down to three. 

There was Lacie, but she was only eight. She couldn't even fetch bandages without getting lost and winding up in the nursery. Speaking of, I hope Chuck's ok. 

I poked at my rib roast, having already taken a few bites before I got distracted by the sad thoughts, before I felt my own ribs being jabbed by someone's elbow. "Hey, dude! Glad to see you out and about for once, where've you been?" 

"Oh... Hey, Connor." I muttered. "Just, y'know... Working in the infirmary." 

I didn't even look up, but I could feel him sit on the wooden bench next to me. "Bet you're feeling too sick to eat, huh? Having to see all that gore all day, and smell it too. And then like, touch it, and clean it up." He shuddered. "I'd be barfing nonstop if I were you." 

I sighed, staring down at my bowl. "Yeah, I just try and put it out of my mind." 

"I'll say... Are you ok, though? You look like you're about to pass out and drown in your soup." 

Finally, he got a laugh out of me, and I looked over to meet his eyes. "That would be a hell of a way to go, wouldn't it?" 

He laughed too. "I'll say... Surviving two wars back to back, only for your own dinner to be what kills you." His brows knitted together. "Seriously, though. Are you staying up too late again?" 

I nodded reluctantly, taking one last bite of my soup. "I should take a nap, shouldn't I?" 

"Bingo, right on the money." He took my hand and led me to cabin 7, and I nabbed one last thing before I let him take me there; A big ole snickerdoodle. 

Before I knew it, we were at the cabin door. I looked over at him and smiled. "Thanks, Connor. You're a good friend." I held out my cookie, inviting him to take a bite. 

Unfortunately, there was some miscommunication, because he took the whole thing. "Thanks, man!" He chirped, and ran off before I could object. 

I stood there, pouting on the porch, before deciding this wasn't worth it, and going inside to lay down.

- 

When I woke up, it was about an hour later, judging by the clock on the wall. Austin and Kayla were talking to each other on her bunk, though I couldn't tell what they were saying. I could taste their voices in my mouth, two wildly different kinds of tea mingling together. Austin's was cold and syrupy sweet, while Kayla's was hot and herbal and a little bitter. Eventually, my brain woke up a little more, and I could hear them laughing. 

I sat up and stretched, feeling my back pop. Must've slept on it weird. 

"So I was like, 'just because you're from Maryland doesn't mean you have to mix patterns too!' and she got so-... " Kayla looked my way. "... Hey. You missed the campfire." 

I rubbed the rheum out of my eyes. "Chiron let y'all out for the campfire?" I asked. 

"Yeah, he thought it'd be good for us to de-stress." Austin answered. "... Speaking of, how've you been?" 

I sighed. "Alright." I knew they'd understand better than most, but I still felt this need to shield them from the worst of it. To put on a happy face. "Where's Lacie?"