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2207 hours 9 rounds spent

Below a starry sky I moved towards my tank, my crew should be there waiting for me. all preparations have been finished, we are to lock our turrets and move back through the monolith, back to Brasil.
Soldiers were loading their APCs with equipment, attaching what they couldn’t load inside to the sides of the vehicle, they carried everything, from rucksacks filled with ammo to Flamethrowers, we even got a flamethrower fuel trailer to reload the canisters, the tanks weren’t so different, we tried to fill the vehicles with everything we might need, from toilet paper to fuel additives making our vehicles look like those travelling buses you see in India and Asia.
Thankfully it was all in a neat homogenous olive green color so we didn’t look like clown cars.
We still haven’t found a replacement for C3’s crew, I hope command already got that taken care of when we reach the field HQ, for now C3's driver and gunner will be the only ones inside that tank.

The tanks were about to leave, we were in column formation well not really a column it was more like a snake thanks to the space in the courtyard, our headlights emitted that characteristic light, some villagers were around to bid us goodbye, the trucks were behind us being loaded with crates and our dead were buried somewhere safe.
I was the leading vehicle in the formation, just a short gesture and a command over the radio and the war-machines would thunder to life, i was about to do just that when Cecilia ran towards the tank and began climbing, she had a cloak over her and the same dress she wore earlier today, she also had a knapsack over her shoulder.

“I’m coming with you” She said, her high pitched voice imposing itself over the low rumble of the engines.
“You may enter the tank then, watch your step, the equipment here is worth half the tank.” I said and made space for her to enter through the hatch, her slim body facilitated it.

The loader hatch suddenly opened, Jacson appeared, tanker helmet and juvenile face.
“Sergeant, are you sure this isn’t gonna bite us in the ass later?” He said with a concerned look
“I’m not paid to care” I said without giving much thought to it.
I gestured a pendulum movement pointing towards the gate with my right hand and said over my headset  “Convoy, Move!”
The Legendario began moving, pushing me back with it’s powerful torque. I felt something warm hugging my legs from below.

I adjusted the helmet on my head and saluted the guard at the gate. The villagers were cheering as we moved out, i moved out of the hatch, putting my legs to the side of the turret, so I could escape the female that now dwelled in the commander’s station, in front of me was the REMAX so i had to put my head a bit to the side to see forward.
We travelled the same dark forests just like earlier in this same day, but now there was a heavy atmosphere surrounding the woods and the odd feeling of being stalked. I kept my hand close to my SMT and had my eyes wide open.
Through the foggy darkness we advanced, our headlights wrestling the shadows away from our path, in no time we reached the clearing where the Monolith was located, it’s eerie purple light inviting us, behind us the sound of the river waters, an interesting dichotomy.
“Bino, go straight ahead” I said on the intercom while I moved inside the tank, closing the hatch above me, Jacson did the same.
I had to share the seat with Cecilia, thankfully it wasn’t that awkward. I held tight to the tank and tried to maintain my eyes open while we passed through.
My vision distorted in an assault of bright rainbownish colors, I heard metallic screeches and laughing, I felt as if my body was floating in cold water, my lungs compressed, I closed my eyes and felt a tight hug.

The sounds stopped, my body felt rigid and warm again… I opened my eyes, Cecilia was hugging me, Jacson was hugging the gun breech, Manuel had both his hands on holding his head.
The tank continued moving, the screeching of the tracks and rumble of the engines felt as a proverbial compass in this disorientating moment.
I pressed a button on my multi-purpose screen and it turned on, it was all dark and hard to see, the headlights weren’t on anymore.

“Bino, Turn on the lights” I said over the intercom, my mind and voice still a bit blurry.
“I-i can’t Sarge, it’s not working”  He retorted, his voice was equally blurry, like he was in a tough hangover.
“Switch to IR lights and put on the googles” I said, while switching my display to FLIR.
“It works!” He said, with a satisfied squeal uncharacteristic for him.
“We’ll check the lights when we get to field HQ ” I said while swiveling the REMAX around to get a good view of the place around us.

Some Wheeled vehicles were moving towards us, they stopped to give us way. Seems it is an entire Recon squadron, 2 6x6 APCs, 2 Cascavels and 4 unarmored jeeps. I moved up my Hatch to greet them, I saw one of the Cascavel Commanders doing the same.

“TURN OFF YOUR HEADLIGHTS!” I yelled to him
“FUCK, YOU CUCK, YOU STARTLED ME” He retorted in a equal volume, with a raspy voice. Inside my tank I could hear giggles.
“JUST TURN OFF YOUR HEADLIGHTS, BEFORE GOING IN” I yelled again.
“OK, THANKS” He Yelled and went back inside, then all the vehicles in the squadron turned their headlights off, making the only lights in the environment be the ones in the highway.
The highway sprawled forth into the night with it’s bright traffic lights contrasting deep with the wild and expansive environment around it, at the distance some hills and mountains could be seen, but the rest of the environment could only be described as a tropical prairie, the 21st regiment’s home habitat.



2308 hours 9 rounds spent

We entered through the city’s yellow stone portals, the soldiers there saluted us as we entered, they had coolers filled with beers and some were playing guitar. Didn’t expect anything else from the infantry.
The rumble of the engines echoed through the deserted looking town, the sound of music, and chatting could be subtly heard if you had a good ear to pick it from the sound of metal tracks and diesel engines.

I opened my hatch and took my helmet off, donning my black beret and keeping the headset close. I lifted myself up towards the night sky above the opened hatch. I was greeted by the gentle wind and the leaves from the trees above the streets.

Most houses were abandoned and not a lot of the street lights survived, the skies above were filled with stars, and from this sky one constellation shone brighter than the rest, the southern cross imposed itself as a king  between the starry skies, the same southern cross that blessed us and accompanied us during all those wars and disasters in old times. I felt at peace.

 

We moved through the same streets that were once infested with rats and barricades, the broken glass and scrapped burnt metal littered our way, dogs fought over the fleshy spoils, sometimes they would slip on the brass from spent casings. 


Cecilia climbed the hatch and joined me at the top of the turret, Jacson did the same, peeking his head off his hatch.
We kept moving through the town's idyllic streets and in no time we reached the plaza, the place was filled with tents, trucks, crates, soldiers and policemen. The National flag was fluttering subtly atop a post.

Enrique, the regiment gunsmith and quartermaster moved out of a big tent and began moving closer to my tank while Bino maneuvered it around finding a place to park it, the other tanks did the same at their own places and pace.
The tank stopped, I disconnected the headset and checked to see if everything I needed was on me.

“My noble, welcome back to Earth.” Enrique said in his usual sly tone. “And that damme, does she speak portuguese?”

“Yes a’do?” Cecilia answered, with a strange accent I only heard in historical novels.

“Anyhow, what’s catchin’ with the tanks?” Enrique said to me

“C3, needs a check on the electrical system in the turret and repairs on the turret sides. Pernambuco needs a check on the cameras and data collection systems in the turret, they might be burned out” I said, climbing down from the tank turret.

“C1,C2,C3, That’s all very lame, you should get the boys to name all of them.” Enrique said, finishing it with a slight laugh in his usual sly manner.

“I’ll think about that” I replied, in a dismissive way.

“Always so serious, you’re gonna end up a bullet magnet with that kind of

‘disptosition’”  Enrique said, sly as ever.

“Disposition” I corrected him

“Yes, yes that’s the word, hahaha” Enrique laughed.

“By the way, I need a new .50 on the loader’s hatch ” I said , straightening myself after touching the ground.

“AH! yes, perfect, you reminded me, we’re planning to install the brownings on top of the cannon barrels, like the jews do, we will connect it to the gunner station with a solenoid trigger and attach a lanyard cable to the bolt handle so you can use it, from the hatch” He said, with a different more enthusiastic tone.

“Don’t tell me you plan to put a 60mm mortar in the turret too.” I said, a smile growing in my face

“If we had any… we would chief, we would.” He said, his fervorous enthusiasm declining with a wave of un-achievable ideas.

“We’re going to Brasilia and I'll need all the firepower I can get. See if you can put two brownings on-top of my cannon, will ya?” I said, straightening my Beret and taking a look around.

“Sounds like a great idea,by the way, how did the Anti-infantry device work for you?” He said, looking at the barrels fixed to the side of the tank turret.

“It saved us, killed some of them when they thought climbing the tank was a good idea.” I said.

“Good to know, you seem tired, me and my boys will do our job, go and take some rest.” Enrique said with an understanding tone.

The rumble of the engines began to mute, my crew began leaving their hatches; the same scene repeated itself on the other tanks and APCs.
I made my way to the police department, two policemen were there at the doors, one was smoking a cigarette holding it in his mouth, his other hand holding a MD-97 FAL by the barrel.

The other had a Pump action shotgun and was holding it as if he was one of those GI-joe action figures. Both were wearing greyish blue uniforms and black kevlar vests.
When I moved closer they both stood at attention and saluted, I moved into the police department.

The place felt good, it had a nice cozy feeling to it, wooden floors and old walls, colonial era architecture never failed to put a smile into my face.
I was looking for the armory, the corridors were illuminated by bright white lights, those contrasted pretty well with the wooden floor and white stony walls. I heard steps coming behind me I turned to see, it was just Cecilia, her cloak and medieval clothes didn’t feel much out of place here compared to the outside.

I kept walking down these cozy corridors as i approached the armory room
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGifd1bd8go

Could be heard, almost like a whisper, Cecilia began humming the song and as we approached it became louder and louder. The vulpine woman playing the role of my shadow began to bob her head to the rhythm.


The wooden door was opened. Inside the room and on the other side of a black metallic counter whose walls were adorned with rifles of all kinds and sizes was a policeman with a white t-shirt, he had his legs up on the counter and a book in his hand ‘As armas de Nelmo Suzano’ was printed on the book’s green cover.
The music was coming from an old CD player on a shelf on one of the white walls.

“Oh welco-” The policeman said as he struck into attention and stood up upon seeing my uniform.

“Boa noite, sergeant, what are you looking for on this fine night?” He said, setting the book on the counter.

“Just taking a look around” I said while I did just that, trying to locate something that was worth my time. Cecilia moved closer to the counter, curiously inspecting everything in her reach with her eyes or hands.

“Can’i have a look at that?” Cecilia said, pointing to something behind the counter I couldn't see.

“Oh, you got some good taste, little lady” The policeman opined

“It’s old but it still works like a charm” The policeman said while setting an old pistol with a nice heat-sink like barrel attachment and wooden pistol grip under the barrel on the counter.

“7,63mm PASAM, the gringos call it broomhandle mauser, as you can see this one was from the original Rio’s stock, we have some of them here along with the ammo for it of course.” He said while going back over the shelfs to take what I assume was a crate filled with ammo and magazines.

Cecilia took the gun and started feeling and touching it, pressing the magazine catch, and meddling with the sights. It was too heavy for her, as soon as she tried to hold it with one hand it went down as if gravity was suddenly activated.
She tried shouldering it, holding the front grip, she was leaning back while aiming the gun at the wall. It was obvious this was the first time she held a gun, at least she knew you had to shoulder it, probably learned it after seeing the funeral ceremony.

“And here’s the ammo and magazines” The policeman said, setting an open wooden crate on the counter.

“Senhorita, please be careful where you point that thing, even if it’s not loaded” He said with a grumpy tone.

“tis heavy, you got anything lighter?” She asked, putting the PASAM on the counter.

I unholstered my PT-92, took the magazine off and cleared the chamber, putting the loose cartridge and the magazine on the counter alongside the PASAM. Then I gave it to her, the polymer in the Beretta should be easier for her.
While she inspected every part of the Beretta and began moving it around with one and two hands in the grip I took the PASAM.

Wood and metal, a wonder from Waffenfabrik Mauser still with it’s original markings and still in great state even after all these years, a metal wire stock with a leather butt is fixed to the back of the pistol grip with a metal screw, the front wooden grip was fixed below a barrel heat-sink like attachment, making the already bulky pistol look like a small SMG with a hefty weight to go.

“I like this very much, can I take it?” I said voicing my approval and enthusiasm with a big smile stamped on my face.

“No problem, Sergeant, you can take it, get some magazines too, it can take 32 round magazines from police SMGs too.” The policeman said, taking a seat.

“Marvelous” I said, putting my hand into the wooden box trying to fish a magazine out.

“I like this one!” Cecilia said with the pistol in hand and a smile on her face.

“Here, for you” I said, taking the PT92  magazine pouches out of my belt and putting them on the counter.

She picked up the pouches and began to inspect them, then began to look around in her dress for a place to fix them.

I felt my holster and noticed it was too small for the hefty size of the PASAM.

“You have the holsters for the PASAM?”  I said, picking some 20 and 10 round magazines out of the crate and setting them on the counter.

“Sure, let me get it for you.” He said, standing up and going back to the shelfs.

I took off my holster and set it on the counter and began trying to unscrew the wire stock off the pistol, the screw didn’t bulge.
I tried to take off the front-grip and succeeded, it came off easily after unscrewing two pins on the lower side of it.
Much of the frontal weight was gone after that, leaving only a neat metallic handguard filled with ventilation holes.

The policeman returned with a bulky piece of wood vaguely shaped like a pistol, it had a circular grip screwdriver fixed to the side with a leather belt, and an open rectangular space below which I assume is so the extended magazines can fit in.

I picked the holster-stock from his hands and immediately took the screwdriver. Its point was oddly shaped and didn’t fit correctly into the screw but it did its job. I feel like this isn’t a screwdriver.

“Doyou have a belt like the one Anon is using?” Cecilia asked the Policeman while I was busy unscrewing the stock.
“Sure, one second” He said, moving back into a different part of the room away from our eyes.

I put a fresh loaded magazine into the PASAM and racked the bolt, the sound of the German steel chambering a round echoed in the small room.

I began loading magazines while the policeman brought back a belt and some ammo pouches for the C96’s magazines.

He left the belt and ammo pouches on the counter and went towards the CD player on top of a shelf
After some fiddling
https://youtu.be/NOD9bgEcfD4 started playing, reverberating along the lonely empty halls and corridors of the department’s building.

I took the ammo pouches, Cecilia took the belt. We looked at each other for a moment, I slid the C96’s safety mechanism to the safe position and snuck into its holster, then proceeded to put the holster into my belt.

“Time to go” I said, snapping my fingers to get her attention.
She nodded with a smile and we moved out, towards the tanks and the rest of the platoon.

I stepped out of the department’s building, i was greeted by the lights of the plaza, the cold night wind and the overbearing sound of equipment and logistics, it took me some time to find the Legendario in between the many tanks, Manuel waved to me and i noticed the two M2HB machine guns installed on-top of the 105mm L7 cannon, it was awe inspiring, something straight from my childhood fantasies, i loved it.

I felt drawn to it like a moon is drawn to a planet and began to walk towards it with my mouth held open and a big smile stamped on it.

“My king! What do you think of it? I still remember when you first joined us, and I saw you reading one of those old weapons enthusiast magazines, it had one of these in the cover and you were eying it up like a child.” He said with a big white toothed smile on his black face.

“We are using old soda bottle crates to hold the ammo, it can hold up a lot but make sure to use the cloth bag inside the crate to make sure no water or sun reaches the ammo, you know the deal.” He interrupted me before I could ask about the crates.

Manuel and Jacson began to climb the tank and entered their hatches
“It’s about time you guys move out, you’re the commander you should know it” Enrique reprimanded me, looking at his watch.

“Of course, you know me, always distracted with something, I'll be going” I said, my expression changing from happiness to worry.

“Yeah, well at least now you’re distracting yourself with a woman” Enrique said while giving his signature laugh. “Good luck on Brasilia” He said, saluting me and the tank, then moved out of the way.

Cecilia entered the tank, i waited for her to give me space and then jumped inside, the tank was a different world from outside, a faint bluish light illuminated it, the sound of equipment and switches being turned on, the cables, displays and signs; it was a different world all together,
It took me a long time to get used to it, especially the size of it, from the distance the tank doesn’t seem too big but it’s true imposing nature gets clearer when you’re closer to it, it never stops being imposing no matter how much time you spent around or in it.

“Where’s Bino?” I asked
“Down there, praying” Jacson responded while trying to set his seat to the right height.

The sound of the MTU engine coming to life reverberated, while I turned the GPS and battle management system up, soon an overhead satellite map and multiple unit demarcations appeared in a display to my side.

I connected a cable to my helmet, and was greeted by a Hail Mary prayer coming from Bino.

I gave the orders to the rest of the platoon and got the news in-between questions about dismissed ‘what i was doing’. C3 has a full crew again, Pernambuco lost it’s meteorological antenna and one of it’s cameras, thankfully we won’t need it that much in Brasilia, i hope.

“We don’t have enough trucks to transport you guys to the train station, you’ll have to drive it there, don’t worry the railway battalion is still operating, they will set everything up there for you” One of the mechanics updated me on the situation via radio.

I gave the order to move and the grinding sound of tracks hitting the asphalt along with the powerful rumble of the engines filled the plaza, soldiers and civilians saluted as the powerful war machines moved out.



0043 hours 9 rounds spent, First day.

The sound of radio chatter, grinding tracks and the ever-present engine is all around me. The inside of the tank became way more uncomfortable now we have an extra passenger.

I got our destination marked on a map display. It also shows the allied units nearby, we are supposed to use it for fire support but it also works as a GPS and battle management system.

Let’s see, our objective… move towards the train station in that small town. I forgot the name, load up on trains with the help of the railway battalion and move to Brasilia, fairly simple, thankfully.

I opened my hatch, the fresh cold air greeted me.
I pulled myself up towards the sky, and took a seat on top of the hatch-well, the column moved through the night, our headlights illuminated our way along the lamp posts in this quiet lonely highway.

The APCs had lots of crates tied on top of them, mostly ammo boxes, but some MRE packages thrown in too. Seems supplies won’t be a problem.

“Anon, let me hop-on top too, the sound here is unbearable” Cecilia’s voice came from down under, i moved to the side and looked towards her
She held on to the tank’s roof and began trying to pull herself up, with some difficulty.
I held her wrist and pulled her up, she thanked me with a nod and took a seat by the hatch.

“Bet the grinding sound is horrible for you with those big ears” I said, looking at her fox ears.

“It’s beyond horrible, not sure how it is for you, but i felt like a stake was being driven into my ears after some seconds of it.” She said while touching her temples.

I felt lucky for having a helmet, during training they “let” you stay without the helmet during operations to teach you why you should use it, without it the rumble and grinding will make your ears scream and your head hurt, without mentioning the brain problems you might have later down your life, even with the helmet.

Cecilia began looking at the stars while I tried to keep myself looking at the horizon, forests, green plains and some hills, barely visible at night.

“The stars here are so beautiful, much better than the ones back home.” Cecilia voiced, her eyes wandering through the skies, while she tapped my shoulder.

“Uh? ah yes, they really are, see if you can find the southern cross” I spoke, fixed on the horizon, using my binoculars to find something of note in the darkness.

“Southern cross?” She asked, her ears poke up when she did.

“Yeah, it’s like a cross made out of stars, you won’t miss it” I replied.

“That one?” She exclaimed while pointing to the Southern cross.

“Yes, that one.” I replied. “Pretty nice, no?”

“Yes, it’s beautiful” She said, with an amazed expression.
“I love you!” She cried while hugging me, why this all of the sudden?
“What are y-” She held a finger to my mouth before I could finish.
“Shhhh, let me stay like this for a while” She grunted, while hugging my arm.

I kept looking at the horizon, my eyes began to burn and I began to feel sleepy. I can’t sleep now. I need to lead my guys.

“Hey what is this?” She said holding out the first sergeant markings I was awarded earlier today, I almost forgot, i’m not a third sergeant anymore, i’m a first.

“Markings you attach to your shirt, so other soldiers can know your rank. I'm supposed to use those but I forgot, also… stop fiddling with my pockets without my permission.” I said, trying to reprehend her and pointing to my third sergeant markings.

“Do you want me to sew them on, i’m quite good at it, my mom taught me how to do it when i was little and she had me make my own clothes and also Cesar’s and people in the village tell me i have a talent for it and I-” I interrupted her in the middle of her over enthusiastic self promotion, i fidgeted with my marking and ripped it off the ripping sound of velcro startled her at first, her expression soon turned one of curiosity and incredulity.

“No need to sew it, i can just attach it” I said while I ripped the other Third sergeant markings left in my shirt and started attaching the first sergeant ones, she stared at me and the markings as i did.

“This is nice. Can you show me how it works, can I make one of those?” she said, in the same tone as before, i gave her the old third sergeant markings and showed her the velcro on it.

“There’s velcro on the marking and on the shirt, they kinda glue themselves together when you attach them, not sure how they are made, but you can find them at any sewing store.” I said

We passed through a convoy of civilian trucks and buses as we went along the highway, didn’t expect them to be so organized, many trucks and buses, the trucks were filled with all kinds of stuff and the buses were overloaded with people, i could see a lot of them standing up inside it, the buses themselves were a combination of travelling interstate ones and urban ones you pick to go to work or school, seems they are going back to our town base.
Their headlights felt like searchlights in the darkness of the night, a big stream or even a chainlink of searchlights on wheels.

Now playing on the Manuel Player 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPp9zkjfj7Q

After some more kilometers we saw the small town and it’s train station. It was quite loud and bright as a sun, a very small sun.
The town was full of people, soldiers and sound. We passed through the entrance and a soldier with a cap noted something down in a notebook.

Another soldier showed us the way to the station by moving his arms around, it seems they know who we are and why we are here, this means radio communication is still up, marvelous.

We reached the station’s loading bay, there was a long train with lots of those flat freight carrying cars attached, along with some normal cargo ones.
We stopped our tanks, the Charruas stopped a bit further, a bunch of guys motioned for us to stop by a loading ramp that was filled with equipment and spare treads, the kind of equipment we had back at the regiment’s.

“Dismount!” I yelled inside the opened hatch and then quickly repeated it over the radio “Take five while we prepare everything for loading”.
I took my helmet off, left it on top of the tank with the cable still attached and jumped off the tank, and one of the railway battalion NCOs came to me.

“Sergeant, where’s the lieutenant?” The soldier asked me, after noticing my rank.
“Up there with the Charruas, I'm in the command of the tank platoon.” I replied while pointing towards the Charruas, which were opening up their ramps and unloading soldiers.

“Good, you guys are right on time, we’ll have to replace the tracks for the railway ones, i assume you’re already familiar with it, so let’s jump straight to it and start, we’ll get the equipment here and start with your tank, get your men to it and i’ll go check on the infantry and get them here to help” He said, pointing towards some other Railway guys that were bringing the necessary equipment to make this easier on our backs, then moved on towards the Charruas.

The dreaded railway transport exercise, rarely made because it’s just so tiresome and time consuming, the Osorio is too big for our railways, so we need to change the tracks to a narrower model much like tiger tanks in WW2. That’s what you get for designing a tank for export and then selling it to your own country.

0940 hours 9 rounds spent, Second day

They didn’t have enough accomodations for us, we’ll have to sleep in the tanks, Bino is lucky, he can sleep as much as he want in his uncomfortable yet private position, we in the turret must rotate, each one sleeping 6 hours then waking up the other, this way we can always have someone manning the guns.

Well at least we got a extra pair of hands here with us, unfortunately we also got a extra body here in this cramped turret, which makes it even more uncomfortable, and i’m the unlucky one she uses as chair, she just sits in my lap and nuzzles up to me, when i was younger this was a dream of mine but now that it’s happening and i’m sweating liters i don’t want it anymore, at least she has a good smell.

I was woken up by Jacson, he shook my head around until I woke up before I could react he went back to his seat.

The sound of the train sliding through the tracks reverberated all around, the sound wasn’t so loud inside the tank, but I could feel it. It felt a bit better than the average trip, maybe for the novelty of it, nah it’s probably because there’s way less bumps.

There was a lazy atmosphere in the air, Manuel was sleeping, holding his cheek while resting his head against one of the computers on the walls.
Jacson was sprawled on his seat, one of his arms over his eyes, the small circular spent case disposal hatch was open. I could feel the sunshine and fresh air coming from it, but it would be much better if there wasn’t a hot body and fluffy tail and hair on top of me.

I woke up Cecilia, by patting her head.
She greeted me with a good morning and went for a kiss, i stopped her midway and moved up towards the hatch. I could see rays of sunshine coming in from the viewing prisms.

I reached for the hatch and opened it, and I was greeted by the early morning lazy sun. Around us was an endless plain of green. We were about to pass by a small stone bridge in the distance, I could also see some highways and forests.

I moved up and took a seat by the side of the turret, using one of the stowage boxes as a leg rest, the tank was secured to the train car via strong cables, the turret was free to move in case we needed to fire at something, i miss those exercises they were some of the most fun i had in my life, but i guess they were too expensive so instead they had us play Steel Beasts and clean the barracks.

Cecilia moved up and tried to climb the hatch, with the expected result, I held her hand and helped her climb.
She thanked me, took a seat and started rubbing her eyes.

“We’re going to the capital, there’s a huge battle going on there, we might not return alive. We can leave you on the train, you can go back and forget about us and return to your family.” I told her frankly, while the train passed over the small bridge.

I turned towards her and was greeted by a loud slap on my cheek. I had my helmet on, and it took up most of the impact for me. She had a hurtful expression and grasped her hand, something told me she was injured by my words and not by my hard carapace.

“What the hell do you think I am? You think I followed you just in the whim of the moment? you think i didn’t see the bodies and don’t know what may happen?” She yelled at me, tears started mounting up in her eyes. Made me feel like shit.

“N-no i didn’t mean li-” I sighed loudly “Sorry, sorry for that, i just” A hurricane of emotions brewed in my head.

I held my head with both hands and tried to digest the situation.

“LOOK, I’M USED TO DEALING WITH COWARDS, I expect women around me to be looking for a single thing, a single emotion and to go away as soon as they get it, i thought you were the same.” I yelled out.

“I’M NOT!” She replied in a yell.

I heard a violent sound below and the loader hatch was thrown open
Jacson emerged from it with a angry expression

“SARGE, please I'm trying to sleep here, you’re gonna wake up the entire train!” he said, trying to contain his indignation.

Her face turned a red tint and i didnt how to react to Jacson, so I kept myself shut.

He moved back inside and closed the hatch, leaving us two alone again with our shame.

“The kiss we had, before you went to battle yesterday, did you think it was just a whim of a moment thing?” She asked me candidly

“I don’t know, I feel like my mind has been going through a hurricane. If I think too much I won't be able to fight, and if I think about the wrong things I'll think too much, this kiss is an example.” I replied, in a similar tone.

“I’ll stay with you until you’re able to think straight then, just don’t be a douche again.” She said, in a more merry tone.

Dealing with women is harder than assaulting enemy bunkers.

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