Chapter 22

Arthur and Mike come out of the house showing that everything was safe inside. All the other soldiers had already finished their inspection and had found nothing inside the houses either.

-It's like he said, everyone left. (Arthur)

-He who? (Soldier)

-It's a long story and I'm afraid you'd better not listen. (Mike)

The captain approaches Arthur.

-Are you okay? (captain)

-Hmmm, why the question? (Arthur)

-It's stamped on your face, you saw something you didn't like and now your head is down. (captain)

-I can't help it. (Arthur)

-Well, try, here is a war, if you stay that way you will die, or worse, will make your comrades die in your place. (captain)

Arthur upon hearing that lowers his head, was disturbed by all those things he was thinking. The captain starts walking away when Arthur asks him a question.

-Do we really have no choice? Is killing each other our only solution? (Arthur)

The captain who had stopped by a bookcase starts walking again, ignoring the question put to him. Some time has passed since they were stopped in that region, the place had already been searched for a long time and it was confirmed that there was no enemy there, but the captain's orders were to remain in that place until further orders.

-What is going on? (Thomas)

-I'm tired of sitting around. (Mike)

-The captain walks a little strange too, he avoids saying any words. (Soldier)

-Besides, he doesn't leave that place, sitting on that trunk looking at the same region all the time. (Soldier)

Arthur observes the same region that his captain was looking at, believing that the answer was there because he was acting that way and when he realized, in the middle of those trees he noticed a person.

-Hey look. (Arthur)

Arthur points there and everyone sees an allied soldier from another division appearing in the woods, when he leaves he goes towards the captain who, upon hearing some words from him, gets up and goes towards his soldiers.

-So, are you going to tell us what's going on? (Thomas)

-Come on, time to rest is over. (captain)

The man who appeared goes first, followed by the captain's side.

-Uaaaahhh... looks like he won't tell us anything. (Thomas)

-We will follow them, I'm sure we will find the reason for this if we obey their orders. (soldier 1)

-Yes, you're right. (soldier 2)

-Whatever. (Thomas)

That's all they can do. (captain)

Looking back he looks at the compliance faces of his soldiers, some appeared to be a little dissatisfied with his leadership, but none dared challenge him, everyone was following him.

In the end that's all they can do, follow my orders, no matter what, none of them can disobey me. That's their freedom, to show dissatisfaction, that's all. (captain)

-Captain, we've arrived. (soldier 1)

-Did not take too long. (captain)

Looking ahead, the soldiers were able to spot another group hiding in the bush. They were being led by an experienced man whose gray hair contrasted with his still smooth skin.

-How is the situation? (captain)

-No movement, but I'm not sure it's empty. (captain 2)

-What exactly are you talking about? (Thomas)

-Who is he? (captain 2)

-One of my experienced soldiers. (captain)

-Nice, my name is Nikolas. (Nikolas)

- Mine is Thomas. (Thomas)

-Easier than saying it would be to show you in person. Here, use this. (Nikolas)

Nikolas hands Thomas a night vision binocular.

-It's very dark at that perimeter, you'll only be able to see it using it. (Nikolas)

Thomas immediately grabs it and points to the region Nikolas has pointed out to him, looking through the object he sees a huge warehouse 200 meters away from them.

-What's inside that? (Thomas)

Thomas looks at his captain worriedly.

-We don't know for sure. However, I didn't want to risk going in there with a measly 8 men, so I called your captain to help us. (Nikolas)

Thomas, on hearing that, looks back at his captain.

-Could they be... (Thomas)

-Hiding more organs? Unlikely, we have vigilantes close to this location, but we have never captured any large-scale movement. The only concern is that that place is not empty. (captain)

-Well, we can't just stay here looking. (Nikolas)

-Right. Thomas gather the others here, we'll pass on the operation data. (captain)

-Yes sir. (Thomas)