Compile:Quest

Chapter 14: The Box

Mess Hall, Rooivalk Military Bunker,

African Continent

"Sergeant Jinx!"

Jinx choked as her throat tightened around a mouthful of stew. She chugged down the mug of water beside her bowl, dislodging the partially dissolved potato. Rising, she saluted.

Major Matthews appeared at her side. "General Standers asked for you." He gave her a disapproving once-over before striding away. "Hustle!"

She abandoned her meal and followed Matthews from the mess hall. She glanced back at the table she'd been sitting at. It was empty now — Pearce had never arrived for dinner.

Matthews marched her through Rooivalk's subterranean military compound. Rooivalk lay buried a hundred meters below ground level. Military bunkers surrounded the central civilian warren like a fort. The official story was it had been recommissioned from an operational military base.

Jinx had called the base her home for the last four years, but the major led her through so many restricted areas that she would be unable to find her way back to the mess hall unaided.

There was zero scenery en-route. Each subsequent corridor was more stark and utilitarian than the last. Some of the earthen walls were bare of plaster. They trekked through stretches of darkness where blown light bulbs hadn't been replaced; the only thing in Rooivalk scarcer than light bulbs was ammunition. Rooivalk had an armoury, but the copper and lead needed for production of quality ammunition was hard to find. Things became trickier still — new soldiers were issued with relics for weapons, all more than three hundred years old. The armourers did the best they could, but most soldiers tended to aim for the broadest part of an enemy— this increased the chance of actually hitting them.

Jinx and Matthews arrived at a set of metal doors. Their approach was met with disinterest by the two guards — privates she didn't recognise. Matthews rapped twice on the door with his knuckle before entering. Inside, six light bulbs burned: four strung from the ceiling, two attached to opposing walls. The room was plastered in pristine white.

The effect was blinding.

Matthews announced her. "Sergeant Jinx, General."

General Standers stood by the far wall, studying a map tacked to the plaster. A naked light bulb lit the colossal map. The rest of the room contained a wide desk, a smaller table with four chairs clustered around it, and a dusty-looking filing cabinet in a far corner. The floor was concrete and the walls plastered earth.

The general turned to watch her enter, beckoning her with a flick of his hand when she hesitated. She stopped a few meters from him and saluted, keeping her shoulders pushed back and her spine straight. The general hated slouchers.

"At ease," Standers said.

Jinx's body slipped into a wide-legged stance, hands gripped behind her back. With her eyes fixed to the map, her peripheral vision caught Standers examining her. Finished with his inspection, he turned to look at the map. Wildebeest, Rooivalk, and Hyena were marked, faint lines tracing scouting routes between the three colonies. Surrounding ridges and crevasses had been mapped, as well as arable soil and the closest bodies of water.

"What's in Wildebeest for you, Sergeant?"

Jinx snapped her eyes away from the map. She'd been staring at Wildebeest. En route, Jinx had been wording responses to this inevitable question. What, if anything, had Vanbuuren told the man? How much truth should she scatter between the lies?