Against all odds (Reg Slivko - Thomas Mann Fic)

A ploat

After the longest day of her life, Megan was happy when the night fell on the island and Colonel Packard decided to stop the march until the next morning. Meg was exhausted. They had walked kilometers, not in the best conditions, and she was out of shape. She lay on the wet grass and stretched her legs. Her quadriceps throbbed and her feet ached as if she had spent a whole night dancing in high heels.

The soldiers rushed to mark a perimeter and mount a guard. The Colonel had decided to settle the camp in an open field. Only in the distance were hills visible. It was a good idea to avoid surprise attacks, but with nothing over their heads, the cold of the night and the dew threatened to make their bones ache.

A few meters from Megan, where the terrain was more arid, they had lit a bonfire. Packard had sat in front of it and watched the flames with lost eyes. Meg observed him and realized that the man was fine-tuning his plan.

«If I had the guts,» she thought, «I would make my way alone on this island.» But the memory of the spider was still fresh. Those purple eyes would chase her for a long time. She felt some footsteps around her and her pulse quickened. But it was just Randa. The man passed by and occupied a tree trunk in front of the fire on the opposite side of Packard.

From where she was, Meg could not see Randa's face, but she could hear both men clearly.

"Colonel Packard..." Randa started. "This mission to the crash site is folly. I understand going after your man, but the rest of it... This is beyond us"

Packard took his eyes away from the fire and nailed them in Randa. If they were deadly weapons, everything at several meters around would have died instantly. Packard was furious.

"You don't like the way I'm running things? You know where the door is" the Colonel spoke without raising his voice; but there wasn't doubt, he had made his mind about how to proceed. "You set this in motion when you put this place on the map. And I will not cut and run. I know an enemy when I see it"

A chill ran through Megan's body. It was getting cold, and the Colonel's tone of voice made it worse.

Cole passed by and placed his army jacket over Megan shoulders.

"You should get closer to the fire" told her.

"Thanks" said she and moved her shoulders up and down, weighing the jacket. It was heavy and was made of a stiff moss green fabric. It felt like a shield. Meg ran her arms through the sleeves and a salty scent came to her nose. It made her think of Slivko. She flexed her legs, hugged them, and rested her forehead on her knees. «Please, be safe» she prayed.

When she looked up, the colonel was walking away from the campfire. She stood up and went closer to it. She stretched out her arms and let the heat of the flames warm his palms, it was a pleasant sensation. Then she embraced her body and sat on the tree trunk that Packard had been occupying.

Randa watched her silently. She could feel his eyes on her, but she did not bother to return the courtesy. She did not feel like talking to him; their last talk had made a mess in her head.

"So..." Randa tried to start a conversation. "Is he more than a friend?"

"I won't talk with you about that" she cut him off without removing her eyes from the fire.

"Fair enough" Randa said more to him than to her.

"You can't expect that after all this time I just sit here and talk to you like if you never gone" Megan snapped.

"I know" the man said and gently smiled at her.

She turned her eyes to the fire again.

"I'm really sorry," Randa said for lack of anything better, stood up and turned to leave her alone.