Into The Aether

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Flowers Amongst The Decay

My eyelids flickered as my ears picked up muffled voices nearby. I slowly awoke to what quickly evolved into the sound of giggling and sniggering; but as I visibly stirred on the sofa they quickly hushed. I eventually opened my eyes to see Dempsey and Nikolai looking over at me as they stifled another laugh.

"Awww, is very cute, no? Leetil woman has boyfriend", he whispered to Dempsey.

"Can't say I don't wish it was me but he's better than the doc at least... and he is the doc!" Dempsey exclaimed with a belly laugh before Nikolai joined in.

Once my eyes adjusted, I sat up and felt a warm body next to me. I turned to see Primis fast asleep - completely oblivious to all the eyes on him. He looked so relaxed like it had been the first time he had slept so soundly. As he twitched and shifted on the sofa, I felt a smile appearing on my face as I watched him. He looked peaceful for once.

And it was clear this Richtofen was self-aware of his psychopathic tendencies. Acknowledgment is always the first step. And even Dempsey could see the burning conviction behind Primis' desire to "do the right thing" and become a better man. Suddenly, my thoughts dissolved as he opened his eyes and narrowed them at me suspiciously.

"Vhy are jou shtaring at me?" He snapped defensively.

Before I could answer, the sound of giggling returned and his eyes shot across to Dempsey and Nikolai. Both men were now sitting on the edge of their sofas, poised for Primis' response. Meanwhile, Takeo sat alone on the edge of the stage as he turned around to eye the situation. In his usual manner, he rolled his eyes - clearly unamused by the men's childish behaviour.

"I demand to know vhat is sho funny!" Primis commanded as his voice echoed.

Nikolai was the first to speak.

"Well, German. We were just admiring the fact that you volunteered to keep leetil woman warm in cold theatre. Was very kind of you -- I think German likes her, no?" He said as he loudly whispered the latter and nudged Dempsey.

I watched a blush glow on Primis' cheeks as he turned away from us all in a vain attempt to hide it. This sent Dempsey and Nikolai over the edge as they began rolling around with laughter - completely unable to contain it. Primis buried his face deeper in his blanket before I put a hand on his shoulder causing him to look up and focus on me.

"I appreciate you being there for me last night", I said kindly before leaning in to give him a kiss on the cheek.

The men's childish giggling ceased as they sat up in shock. Primis looked taken aback before melting into the sofa - he was absolutely wasted.

An hour later, after the spectacle had died down, Takeo and Nikolai got up to take on watch duty. It was probably better to have a dedicated patrol around the theatre since there might have been more undead ready to tear down the barriers at any moment. Dempsey walked over to the M16 wall chalk outline to buy some more ammo before returning to the sofas with me and Primis.

I felt absolutely exhausted today which it must have been fairly obvious. Primis turned to me and put his hand on mine as I turned to look at him with fatigue weighing on my eyes.

"Jou need to rest today. I know about jour health", he said.

I knew what he meant and took that as my cue to slump back down onto the sofa as I was fairly tired of pretending to look functional by now. I huddled in the blanket as Primis got up before he turned back to look at me.