A Fire In The Night

Chapter 4

It was the second morning since Ila arrived in the desert, the second time when she woke up confused of the events of the night before. She was getting frustrated with Mors inexplicable appearances and with the fact that she had no memory of how she always ended up meeting him.

Ila felt her head pounding before she opened her eyes. Her eyelids felt heavy, like her will to live was gone. She blinked slowly, adjusting her sight in the light. The tent was really hot and she moved her arm to her chest in an attempt to remove the blanket off her. She gasped as she felt the pain shut through her forearm. She lifted her head lightly to take a look at the damage. To her surprise her arm was bandaged with a black cloth, tied tightly around her open wound. Ila couldn't help but think that whoever tried to take care of her did a slightly sloppy job. The thread of blood on the cloth showed that the wound had not been stitched together and judging by the dirt all over the area it hadn't been washed either. Her whole body was aching but Ila knew better than to leave a deep cut unattended, especially when it came to her own body. The last thing she needed was to get an infection and have to cut her arm off.

She sighed.

How did everything get so messy? She had been trained to help and treat the weak, the helpless, those who had little or even no hope left. Never had she imagined that she would be the victim. She shook her head trying to send the pity away, but regretted the act immediately because it only made her head spin even worse. She got into a sitting position and was about to undo the knot with which the cloth was tied, when she realised she was in a different tent than the day before. This one was much bigger and not nearly as clean. It was so tall that you could easily stand up inside. On the far left of the mattress she lay on was a pile of black clothes. A leather jacket and some tshirts from what she could make out. Next to the pile was an open backpack and right underneath a brown leather book, as if the owner was trying to hide it. Even from a distance Ila could see that about half of the pages of the book where slightly dirtier than the rest. It was clear that the owner had not read it entirely yet. Without thinking too much about it, Ila stood up and went in it's direction. It was intriguing to her that a soldier would be interested in reading. Since her encounter from the day before, Ila had her mind set on the fact that all Intelligence Recruits were brutes with no other purpose or pleasure in life than to fight and have it their way. As she was about half way to get the book, someone entered the tent. Ila stopped and turned around facing the person. Although fear started to form inside the pit of her stomach she decided she could not show weakness. She tried to keep in mind that whoever brought her in tried to help her.

Before her was standing another man and Ila tried to hide her disappointment upon not seeing a woman. Was she really the only female with this whole unit?
She took a moment to look at him. He, like everybody else here, was much taller than her. His hair was the lightest shade of brown, which in the hot tent looked like it was glowing. Sweat buds were covering his pale forehead and his cheeks had the slightest shade of red. The black tshirt he was wearing was stuck against his chest, showing all the toned muscles underneath. His chest was rising and falling a little faster than the normal rate, which meant that he had just done something that required physical effort.

For a moment none of them said anything. They both stared at each other, taking the other one in. Before she could say something, Ila heard his voice talking to her. It was deep and raspy and Ila felt herself blushing, not really understanding why.

"You have to be more clever than that."

In the same second Ila's flush felt like freezing across her cheeks. The few moments of awe for the boy, were now replaced by anger and frustration. She raised an eyebrow while looking him dead in the eyes.

"What?" He asked defensively and continued without giving her a chance to answer. "You really thought you could stand a chance with this guys? Look, they will stop at nothing to get what they want, especially when it comes to..." he paused a little as if thinking if he should say it, but then shook his head lightly while looking down and carried on:
"...to a pretty woman like you."