|
Chapter 10: Night watch
At some point Tom began to nod off, it had only been about two hours, and the watch shifts were two and a half each. He just had thirty more minutes then he could sleep, until he heard rustling, he shot up pointing his rifle to the sound before a bunnylops quickly popped out before spotting him and going back in the bushes. Tom let back his gun, shaking his head and chuckling. He took the hat off his head as he rubbed his face with it, then set it aside. The paranoia of the dark was getting to him. Tom got up going to the other side of the camp as he took his bag along, he sat it back down as he got his canteen drinking from it before sitting back down. He reached up to make sure the hat was still on before stopping halfway remembering he left it on the other side of camp.
He sighed as he got back up going back over to the opposite side of the camp, but once he got there the hat was missing.
"It was just here, all I did was set it down, it's not like it grew legs and walked off!" He quietly yelled to himself before he went back to look through his bag, but once he got to the bag he found it rummaged through, muddy prints all over it.
"FUCK, alright which one of you assholes is messing with me here because you better pray to Omega he saves your ass!" Tom said in anger as he kicked the bag further into the camp. The rest of the group woke up, Berum was the fastest to respond.
"Huh what, why are you yelling, is someone here are we in danger?!" Berum said as he reached for his own rifle as he scrambled to get up.
"No dipshit, where's my shit, which one of y'all took the hat, Kokobiel I swear if you did I'm breaking fingers!" Tom said as he went over to Kokobiel giving him a kick.
Kokobiel made a grunt as he was kicked before he rolled over and sat up.
"What's your deal asshat!?" Kokobiel said as he looked up to Tom.
"Where's my hat you fuckface!" Tom said back.
"All of you shut the fuck up!" Olga yelled as she got out of her tent.
"I'm trying to sleep and you're going off, ask questions before you start waking everyone up with all your damn yelling!" Olga continued to yell as she got closer and closer to Tom before right infront of him, she may have been shorter but she was scary.
"S-sorry, just my stuff is missing and you three are the only ones here" Tom said, now calming down.
"Have you thought that there might be someone else or an animal taking your stuff?" Olga said as she backed down, going to look at his post.
"I guess that's a possibility but why would they take a hat?"
"Bedding, animals love to use cloth things as bedding just like we use them for warmth, or some dumbass either found their hat or just really liked your hat," Olga said as she came back with Tom's bag which had been left untouched while he was yelling at the others.
"I'm guessing you're just missing some rations, most things seem touched but more they were looking for something." Olga said as she tossed Tom's bag to him.
He looked through it, muttering to himself before he stopped.
"There's a grenade missing," he said as he looked up to Olga who was shocked.
"Okay then, that's fine, maybe it just fell out," Olga said as she went to look for it.
"Then both would be missing; they're attached together and it requires to be seperated for use." Tom said as he pulled out the other grenade.
"Wait, so you're telling me there's some numb nut with a grenade and we don't know they're here?" Kokobiel asked as Tom nodded to him. Kokobiel got up grabbing his rifle and switching on the flashlight.
"Looks like no one else is sleeping till we either find the grenade or the person." Kokobiel said in a serious tone, Tom was quite shocked not ever hearing such a serious tone out of him.
"Jeez, what got into you?" Berum asked.
"There's a physco with a grenade and you expect me to just play it off?" Kokobiel said, looking at Berum with an expression of astonishment. Berum gulped as he nodded before switching the flashlight on his rifle. Tom grabbed his own as he switched on the flashlight before he scanned the trees. The forest was quiet now which is abnormal for a forest, the flashlight lit up the trees everything seemed so still as Tom scanned through the trees. Then a small metallic clink to his side before a thump behind him, he turned to see what it was, his flashlight lit up the object. A hand grenade, his hand grenade.
"Grenade!" Tom yelled out as he rushed forward grabbing it then chucking it into the nearby forest as dove to the ground. The rest followed suit before there was a BANG, shrapnel flew into nearby trees and some got close to the group. Tom lifted his head, his ears were ringing, he looked up to see the rest of the group, Berum was holding the side of his head being the closest to the explosion, Olga had already gotten up and was trying to help him.
Kokobiel was still on the floor holding his side, a small stream of blood ran down his side as blood covered his hands. Tom got up stumbling over to him, his ears still ringing as he tried to see the wound, it wasn't anything too bad, small bits of shrapnel had pierced his side, nothing vital was hit. Tom applied pressure as he tried to yell out to Olga, she couldn't hear him as he yelled, Tom picked up a rock throwing it at her as it got her attention, he tried to tell her to get a medic bag but it seemed hard for her to understand. He held up his hands showing the blood, Olga then understood before she ran over to her bag getting out an aid kit as she slid over to help, she nodded her head towards Berum. Tom understood and got up, going over to him, he examined the side of his head, his ears seemed fine, no bleeding, he was simply stunned. Tom got up getting his bag as he got out some smelling salts before he cracked it and put it under Berum's nose. His eyes widened as he sat up looking around, Tom tossed the salts as he snapped at Berum trying to get his attention. Berum looked over to him.
"WHAT" Berum shouted, Tom could barely hear him but he understood what he said. He motioned the Berum that he couldn't hear him, Berum nodded as he slowly got up. Tom stood up as he picked up his rifle detaching the flash light and walking back over to Kokobiel and Olga. Using the flashlight it was clear that the shrapnel was deeper than he originally thought. Tom kneeled down helping Olga with the medkit as they got out pliers removing bits of shrapnel as they tried to slow the blood loss, the bits came out easily and the gauze and cloth seemed to stop the blood loss. Kokobiel seemed to have passed out from either shock or the blood loss. Berum was rummaging through his bag before tossing it down and stomping his foot. Berum yelled again it wasn't words, just a scream. The groups hearing slowly returned, as Tom heard Olga mutter things as she patched up the wound.
"Fucking going to get the fucker that threw that," Olga said as he finished the final bandage.
"Let's focus on keeping him alive before we go seeking revenge," Tom said as he began putting up the medkit, before he signaled Berum to come over. Berum came over as the two stood up.
"Alright we'll have to move him somewhere safer because clearly we can't stay here." Tom said. Olga nodded in agreement as Berum leaned down grabbing Kokobiel legs as Tom grabbed his arms before they both lifted. Kokobiel was heavy but nothing they couldn't handle with the three of them. They moved further down the forest path as they carried Kokobiel, they now listened to every little noise the forest made. They walked for thirty minutes at least or what Tom could guess they had walked, they eventually stopped as they sat Kokobiel down, they all let out a long sigh once they sat him down. Tom sat back on a tree, it was dark and exhaustion finally made it to him, before he even noticed he had already passed out upon the tree, the forest noises flooded his ears as he dreamed.
|
