Ascension

Elijah

When I woke up Lorelei was dozing on my head which was still on her shoulder. I brushed her black ringlets of hair from her face. I looked over to Indiana's bed and he was gone. I guess the doctor thought he would be alright on his own for a while.

"Elijah, Lorelei wake up we have a meeting to go to." Doctor Faed tells us.

I gently wake up Lorelei who is deeply sleeping. She looks almost childlike in the light. Her features don't look as sharp and you can still see the child in her.

"What's going on." She yawned.

"Come on Lorelei you can sleep on me during the meeting." I tell her.

Lorelei smiles at this and I pull her up out of the chair. We walked over to the center of our camp where already our entire squadron is gathered waiting for Silas to speak. Lorelei is leaning heavily against me. I can tell she is on the verge of collapsing so I wrap an arm around her to keep her up.

"I'm sure you are all wondering why I have called you here. There have been some rumors around here of a killer bug."

Murmurs break out into the crowd. Everyone is wondering about the reasoning behind Indiana's hospitalization. It's not a secret because almost everyone here is woken up at night by his screams. They quiet sensing that Silas won't talk until everyone is listening to him again.

"I want everyone to know that those rumors are true." Silas sighs.

Louder murmurs break out. Everyone is scared now. They know of the pain Indiana has been in and it's no secret now that Indiana has already called home to let them know he is dying.

"It is dangerous for us to be out here in the swamp. So to help prevent anymore stings we are moving up our attack date to tomorrow."

No one talks. It takes us all by surprise.

"When we take down the enemy camp we will just return back to base and wait for our reinforcements." Silas sighs.

I can tell that he hates this so very much. Silas has been in the army since the very beginning. He has been in all the battles and has seen countless things that would make a man's blood run cold. Yet here he is leading yet another attack for the same cause he's been fighting for. He is the epitome of people's pride.

I catch Indiana's eye as we wait for him to continue talking but he doesn't talk again.

"You are all dismissed." Silas says more quietly.

I walked over to where Indiana is standing. He is quiet.

"Let's go find Lorelei." I tell him.

After everyone walked off she walked towards the tents. Indiana mutely follows after me. He doesn't say anything as we approach her tent.

"Lorelei can I come in. It's just me and Indiana." I tell her knocking on her tent.

She unzips her tent and lets us in. From the redness of her eyes I can tell she has been crying. I wish I could take the tears from her eyes but I cannot.

"What are you guys doing here." She tries to ask nonchalantly.

You can tell she is trying to not let us know she has been crying but you can hear it in the slight quiver of her voice.

"We want to make sure you are okay. I know it was a surprise to you that we have to go and fight again tomorrow." I tell her.

Indiana just nods behind me.

"Oh. You really don't have to check up on me. I'll be fine." She tells us.

I somehow don't believe her.

"Where's your gun Lorelei?" Indiana questions her.

"It's in my bag." She says nodding to the bag buried behind her large military grade backpack.

"Why is it there? You need it tomorrow. We are leaving bright and early." I assure her.

She scoffs a laugh.

"What are you laughing at?" Indiana asks her.

"Bright and early doesn't seem very right now does it?"

"I guess not."

"Speaking of which I'm going to go to bed." Indiana tells us.

We both nod. Indiana walks out of the tent and it's just me and Lorelei now. Lorelei lays down on her bed and closes her eyes. I get up to back to my own tent but her eyes shoot open as soon as I make a noise.

"Can you stay with me tonight?" She asks me.

"Why?" I ask her.

Lorelei flushes red in the darkness.

"I never have nightmares when you are near me." Lorelei mumbles.

"Say no more Lore." I say climbing into her bed.

She buried her face into my chest and I pulled her closer and we fell asleep.

When I woke up in the morning Lorelei is peacefully sleeping right beside me. I gently wake her up and we go grab our uniforms from the clothesline.

I still like her black one better than mine but I'll deal with it. I walk back to my tent to slide it on. I make sure to grab my gun and extra rounds. Today is going to be a rough day of walking. I put on two pairs of socks, so I don't get blisters on my foot from my combat boots.

As I'm sliding on my boots Lorelei walks in. She seems to have an aura of authority around her. It seemed to almost be solid.

"Do you have an Iodine left? Mine ran out last night." She asks me.

I hand her the bottle and she puts a few drops into her water and closes the canteen.

"Don't forget you gun." I remind her.

She walks out of my tent to go get her gun. I grab my own gun which was strapped to the one chair I have in my tent. I always have to keep it close or else I don't feel safe. I meet our squadron outside our tents and line up with Indiana and Lorelei.

Lorelei looks physically sick to be with her gun again. I take it from her and pull out the remaining rounds in it and give it back. She looks less green to be holding it now.