Chapter 10.2

“Why did you surrender yourself?” I asked.

She looked down and away from me. “I wasn’t lying when I said I pretended alongside the soldiers,” she muttered.

“The military dragged my parents away in the middle of the night,” I said. “I wasn’t home.”

“Fathers or mothers?” Lisa asked.

“One of each,” I said. “My father is an excommunicated Tzi. His family disowned him for marrying outside the bloodline. My mother was a normal human being, not gay, not Tzi, just normal. She knew the implications if the government ever found out but she didn’t care. They got taken away.”

“Oh, so you joined because you loved them?”

I nodded and put the medicine down. “That’ll do,” I said. “You made the right choice.”

I stood and offered my hand down to her. “Come, I’ll take you to Vicki, she’ll know what to do.”

Lisa took my hand and smiled weakly. We went off in search of Vicki, only to find her clearing away the dead soldiers. Four in total. She took Lisa and I walked away, wandering a little and getting lost once more before someone directed me back to Nick’s tent. He sat outside with a small stove and water boiling in a pot.

“So, are you going to eat with your father?” he asked ripping open a package.

I looked around and then down. “What are you making?” I asked.

“Um…” he looked at the front of the packet. “According to this, it’s spaghetti with sauce.”

“I thought the camp had food?” I asked.

Nick grabbed a second chair from right inside the tent and set it down. He motioned me to take a seat. I complied. “I don’t like the camp food, so I substitute for this.”

“What’s wrong with camp food?” I asked taking a seat next to him.

“It’s the food the prisoners in the camps are supposed to get,” he said. “There’s kind of a backstab in the train runs. We take their food and clothing to support ourselves, which makes the conditions worse with food shortages. So, I refuse to eat it. I bring these with me whenever I come here.”

“Oh, that makes sense,” I said. “So, I told you about my bionics, how’d you get yours?”

Nick smirked and shook his head. “It’s nothing you should hear,” he said.

“Nick, I fell out of a plane,” I said.

He groaned and rolled his eyes. "Fine. I already told you I was a front lines soldier,” he said. “I had sniper training, so I wasn’t always in the thick of the fight, but I was in as much danger as everyone else. We were fighting to keep the city Terbex with a hide in one of their skyscrapers when we came under aerial bombardment and ground assault by Alliance troops. We fought hard for several hours until I heard the order to retreat. As I packed up and backed out, my building became a target. I was in the doorway looking for cover, after that, everything goes blank. I woke up a week later chained to a bed in an alliance hospital with a bionic arm.”

“The Alliance saved you?”

“Taking me as a war prisoner isn’t exactly what I’d call saving me, but yes,” Nick said. “They blew me up and they gave me an arm.”

“They gave you to the resistance?” I asked.

“Who said that?” he asked. He spun the water around, stirring up noodles.

“Then how?”

Nick stood and entered the tent, leaving me alone with the pot. He returned a moment later with two chipped bowls, a canteen and a pair of plastic cups. He gave me the cups and canteen. I spun the top of the canteen off and cautiously lifted the opening to my nose.

“It’s water,” Nick said.

I filled the two glasses and he handed me a bowl full of noodles and thick red sauce.

“Thanks,” I said.

“Don’t mention it,” he said. “As to how I’m sitting here in front of you, let’s just say that if this war doesn’t kill me, I’m going far enough away to some backwater country where the winning party can’t find me and I can live my life in sort of peace.”

“Oh,” I said.

“What about you? What happens after the war in your mind?” He asked before taking a forkful of spaghetti.

“I don’t know,” I said. “I might move somewhere deep in alliance territory if I can. Somewhere I can live without the fear of the Dead Heads snatching me.”

“They’ll be disbanded at the end of the war,” Nick said. “We’ll make sure of it.”

"Doesn’t mean they won’t become a militant faction,” I said. “A new resistance that won’t be so loved by the public.”

“The dead heads will be dealt with when the war ends,” he said. “You just worry about surviving til then.”

I nodded and began eating. Afterwards, Nick lit a small camp fire and I saw Vicki walking over. “Hey, Vick,” Nick said. “Tawny isn’t much of a conversationist.”

“Don’t expect her to be. It’s hard to tell secrets if you don’t talk at all. I just got done speaking with Kai, we return to the city day after tomorrow with a few objectives. We leave for the hoverport tomorrow afternoon.”

Nick nodded and Vicki turned to look at me. “Treated to Nick’s hospitality, eh?”

“Huh?”

“Vick! Don’t tell her!” Nick cried.

“Did he spin some story about us taking the work camp food?” she asked.

I nodded.

“Well, we do take the work camp food, but we take the soldiers food, not the prisoners,” Vicki said. “He’s still trying to woo you by cooking you a meal.”

“Vicki, how dare you!” Nick said. “I’m hurt that you would reveal my plan.” He pouted and began to sniffle.

“She’s gay, Nick, you aren’t going to get her with a plate of dehydrated pasta and water,” Vicki said.

His lips returned to a straight line and he glared. “Worked on you,” he said.

“I’m bi, it’s slightly different,” she smiled. “Now, you two might want to get some sleep.”