novelraw Chapter 206: Sheep
Chapter 206: Sheep
"What does that mean?"
His eyes narrowed, but Derrick looked away, whistling like he couldn’t feel his burning gaze.
"You’ll be fine without the details of the mission, besides. That isn’t what matters right now."
Kieran looked around him, feeling the heavy blanket of negative emotions around him. The mission was truly no longer the most important thing anymore.
Their survival was far more important.
"What about the commander?"
"I heard he survived but suffered some significant injuries. He is in the tent over there at the center. He hasn’t been seen ever since."
"Some nurses have been seen coming in and out, though."
Derrick filled Kieran in as they walked towards the other edge of the camp, where some tents had been set up to house the soldiers.
Spreading the covers with his hand, he was met with a space not much different from where the injured soldiers were being treated.
The place was filled with the heavy metallic scent of blood and sweat, overwhelming his senses the moment he took a step in.
The situation at the makeshift infirmary was critical, with enough manpower only to attend to the most injured.
The harshest injuries were treated, and the others were ignored, left to be handled with pain meds and the sloppy first aid of the other soldiers.
The limited space forced those not in extremely critical or life-threatening conditions to leave and move on to this part of the camp. Hence, its appearance like that of a second infirmary without the bustling of the nurses.
Instead, there were several soldiers, curled up or laying down in various positions with trembling shoulders, trying to cope with the pain that the light pain meds barely took the edge of.
The more efficient ones were reserved for those in worse conditions than them.
One look at the space, and Kieran understood why there were so many soldiers outside the tents on his way.
There was no way they could remain in a space like this for an extended period of time
Yet none of them complained. They understood the situation of things, and the last thing any of them wished for was the death of another comrade, not after losing so many.
There were only about two thousand soldiers in the camp, about one-third of their total number minus the people from Crescent.
"We probably won’t be getting any new survivors. The rate has been reducing a lot over the last few hours, and it’s been close to two days now."
Derrick added, looking away from the room. He had no plans of fitting himself in a place like that.
Kieran let the covers of the tent slide down from his hands, looking for a place he could sit.
"And Richard?"
"He was part of the first survivors, basically came out without a scratch. Wonder where he was at the time to be able to manage that"
Derrick rubbed his chin with a little wince, getting lost in his thoughts.
"Where is he now?"
"I don’t know. He volunteered to join the rescue guys."
He shrugged his shoulders at the reply he gave. One that made Kieran pause temporarily in surprise.
’A guy like that?’
It was odd to hear that someone like Richard had made such a decision. He didn’t appear like the type.
But one thing he knew was that despite their sour relationship, he barely knew anything about the guy and his mannerisms. He didn’t know anyone who did either.
Derrick didn’t seem that close to him. He was just as closed off and solitary as the two of them.
Kieran’s thoughts flew over the place, sitting down against a rock. It was a rather scanty spot — a force of habit.
"Did you see any scraps or parts being brought in?"
"Yeah, they’ve been working to get a signal and get a message delivered to camp. For some reason, the watches are having some kind of interference."
Derrick pointed out what he was trying to find out, but another thing caught his attention.
"Watches? The soldiers wear them too?"
His voice bore genuine surprise and curiosity, letting Derrick, who was looking at him like he was an idiot but also with surprise, know that he was serious.
"Yeah, they do. You never noticed?"
Kieran stayed silent at the question. He really hadn’t noticed. He had simply assumed that the watches were coming off the moment they ended their training as recruits.
Knowing this only reinforced his intentions to remain in the military as short as he possibly could.
There was no way he knew of to get the watch off. It was basically a leash. One he thought he would be taking off when it was time to say goodbye to this place.
He never thought the caution of the military would reach such a level.
One could even call it paranoia.
Monitoring every single soldier, even when they weren’t on the job. It would then be accurate to call the soldiers nothing more than leashed dogs.
"Oh look, they’re back!"
He tapped his shoulder, pointing to the entrance in the distance where a group of soldiers in the same black mech that had torn the hull of the ship he was trapped in were approaching.
Among them was Richard, but unlike before, there were no stretchers or survivors in sight.
The soldiers all had downcast faces, which conveyed a single message even without saying.
There was no one left.
"They probably left the bodies they found behind"
Derrick whispered beside him as the soldiers passed their front.
Kieran couldn’t help but agree. Bringing back the bodies of the dead soldiers would only pummel the already low morale of the soldiers.
It was very likely that the dead bodies had been burnt on the spot to leave them some sort of dignity.
_ Alas, what dignity did the dead have? _
Kieran asked himself.
"Gather around!"
A loud voice, one he still remembered — the commander’s voice was heard, and they moved towards the tent at the center like a flock of sheep answering to its shepherd’s call. Only this shepherd was also a sheep.
Right in front was the commander at the head of the mission and the rescued chief of the Crescent camp.
’It’s not over then’
Kieran didn’t doubt Derrick, but he had phrased it weirdly, hinting that there was clearly something else he wasn’t saying.
But as long as the commander survived, Kieran believed that the mission survived along with him.
"We managed to survive the storm. A miracle in itself, but we are soldiers, and our mission hasn’t come to an end."
He stated, gazing across all those present.
"And the mission doesn’t end till we get them back to origin. Failing would be a spit in the face of our fallen comrades. "
The last line made the soldiers lower their heads, creasing their brows, as they went through a series of emotions.
"I’ve made contact with base, and we’re to head to the Ash Plains. We will meet up with the main force, and things will be handled"
’The main force?’
Kieran’s mind raced. There was more, too many things happening simultaneously.