Checking. Out.

Fuck, I feel like a creep. Again.

Hidden on an overwatch position I could see all what they were doing in the night, they should be sleeping and keeping watch.

And they are doing much. Too much.

For the first time they must have felt they had no worries. They could gather their own food now. They wouldn’t starve. They felt protected. After all, two of them saw me knocking out a man, most detested in the village, and by robbing him, feeling proud they prevented much worse to be done by that same man. And now they had food, a lot of it. Even ****, a lot of it.

Couldn’t Kara take that instead of the useless olive oil?

I wouldn’t have called it an outright party, but it sure looked like one. They all sat at the fire, the four oldest. The youngest two were standing, no, they were sitting, watch. Thank god, at a decent distance from the camp, looking outwards, and not into the fire that would make them night-blind. I hoped it wasn’t a punishment or a kind of split between minors and adults.

The so-called adults were having fun. Drinking. Probably relieving stress.

Uh-oh... Hopefully not that kind. Fuck I feel like a creep. Again.

That empty bottle laying there on the ground between those four is an ominous sign. I know that game.

Oh no...

And yes, they were spinning it. It landed on Lina. Lina was eighteen, the youngest of the ‘adults’ black hair up to her shoulders, a giant bosom that got into her way when shouldering the **** rifle, a bit overweight, but losing it fast. She was a smart but bookish type, listened attentively, and practical matters were slowly but steadily apprehended. Once she got it, she would never forget. She was also a great shot. And incredibly shy. She barely even talked to her own squad. But she was drunk now.

She pointed her finger at Emma, the oldest. Emma was twenty. Average weight, not cute, not ugly, just normal. Barely showed her emotions and not so easily scared. Despite being the oldest, she didn’t have an aura of command in her squad. She was reserved. Very polite. Very caring towards the others. She would always try to console the others first or try to help, before she cared for herself. But she couldn’t order people around. She simply couldn’t do it. Sadly she was drunk now too. And being ordered to take off her sweater it seemed.

Oh no... one of those games...

She spinned the bottle and it landed on Clara.

Clara was eighteen-and-a-half, like she insisted in telling Kate. Very brave, the first to test things out, to shoot, to set traps, to skin a rabbit, to run from a hill, determined and knew what she wanted and not wanted. She was brave and determined enough to enter the house of the monster of the village to get food, but brave and smart enough to have said no, even if it cost her the thing she wanted most at the time: food. She was slim, almost skinny at the time I first saw her, but she was rapidly regaining her weight. She smiled brightly when happy, her expressions followed her emotions easily. I had to admit she was cute in a way. Even when I wanted to see her as a girl, she was becoming a woman fast. But not now... She was drunk and clearly very happy with the result of the spin. Immediately she pointed her finger at Sophia.

Sophia was nineteen. Not even an idiot would have called her a kid. Not even a girl, like I did. But I had to admit, but only to myself, she was clearly a woman. Long blond hair, very cute face, athletic, but with d-cup sized breasts. Not only just a woman, but very strong-willed, outspoken, brave, had skills in organization, without hesitation to command. She was also very caring to her friends to the point of sacrificing herself to prevent others being hurt.

Sadly, she too was drunk, although not that much as the others. I could tell because my overwatch position was almost on top of them. And I could hear every word, when it wasn’t whispered. I heard Clara ordering Sophia to take of her pants.

“We really shouldn’t be doing this. What if Alex checks upon us?” Sophia said.

“Oooh... Is it Alex you call him now? Clara teased her. “I thought you called him ‘Sir’ last time you talked to him. “Sir, we are almost ready with collecting... Sir, we are almost ready with transporting the goods...” Clara tried to impersonate Sophia, but failed completely. “Come on, off with the pants.”

Clearly hesitant, she pulled off her pants.

“What do you mean with calling him Alex now, Clara? Sophia shot back. “Last I remember you were so in awe with his fighting skills, before that, you were so thankful he would take action against the creep, and even before that, you were admiring his muscles when he started digging our shelter.”

Ouch... she is not pulling punches.

She spinned the bottle and almost laughed when it returned to her. She smiled wickedly at Clara.

“Take off your panties, Clara.”

“But that’s not fair.” Clara protested.

“Yes it is, you said the rules were to only ask for one item of clothing. Well I ask for your panties.”

Nope... Clearly not pulling punches... Rather punching her into submission after being attacked.

Clara pulled off her pants while standing. Daringly she said: “So what if I find him attractive? So what if I like him? It’s not like you aren’t vying for his attention every time he looks at you.”

“That may be true, but I still want your panties, Clara.”

Clara reached for her panties but froze when she heard a loud commanding voice ring through the night, almost above them:

“Stop!”

Oh... Did I say that?

They were frozen still when I jumped off the entrance of the cave and landed exactly at the fire. They were looking scared, relieved it was me, but then scared again, because it was me. And some very embarrassed, especially because it was me.

“Stand up!”

Despite being drunk before, they didn’t hesitate. Despite some of them being very underdressed they obeyed.

A good shot of adrenaline will scare the **** right out of you.

“Form line!”

Funny enough we hadn’t trained them in marching and such. Useless anyway in a war. But movies made them understand that clearly enough as they rapidly stood next to each other.

Time for a glare.

The glare had its full effect. They looked incredibly ashamed. Most of all Sophia. Probably feeling she had let me down after praising her for her skills in command.

Time for a sermon.

“It seems my lessons have been wasted upon you. The first night you believed you were on your own, you started to act like teenagers again.”

Looking at the bottle, they followed my gaze and realized I had seen them play. Emma swallowed loudly.

“It seems you were not ready to be serious. Just playing teenagers.”

Frowning I stared at Emma, her bra visibly outlined through her shirt. She avoided my gaze, embarrassed.

“It seems you were most interested in seeing each other embarrassed.”

I shifted my staring at Clara, looking up and down, seeing her naked legs, barefooted, then frowning at her tight white cotton panties. Then back to her face, seeing a bright blush creeping up her cheeks, competing with Kate’s well known blushes.

“It seems you were most interested in seeing each other humiliated.”

Sophia was almost brimming with tears when she saw me frowning most deeply at her well-formed naked legs, her lingerie styled panties.

Did she have no other panties? Or were the others all to be washed? Probably that. Stop staring, Alex, come on, back to her face, you leering creep. Yes, good, well done.

Sophia had silent tears rolling on her cheeks.

“Not even one of you has shoes on while in the open!”

Is this the best conclusion you could make, Alex? Come on, concentrate!

“You were drunk. Playing games. Fighting with each other!”

The blush on Clara’s face grew fiercer, as it dawned on her I had listened to their entire conversation.

“In less than one minute I want you here standing back in line, fully dressed in battle gear. Move!”

They were more than happy to obey that order. **** for it, even. They rushed, almost forgot their clothes, into their cave, to come out in two minutes fully dressed, albeit a bit messy. I decided to overlook that as more important things needed to be sorted out.

Sophia had hastily wiped her face, but her eyes were still brimming. The blush on Clara was less fierce, but not entirely gone. Emma was relieved to be fully clothed again, I thought so, but couldn’t really be sure. Lina was standing more attentively than usual.

“Lina, get the two standing watch here.”

Lina ran away as fast as she could. Not five minutes later, the three of them came back. I didn’t need to glare at the two youngest. After all they had executed their orders of their commanding officer.

“You two go to bed. Sleep and make sure you are fully rested for the day to come.”

“Lina, you will now run up to the mountain up to the little lake and fill this bottle completely with the typical mud you will find there. Run slow but steadily. Be aware of your surroundings. Hide when you think something is not alright. But move when you think you were just scared.” I calmly said.

And off she went. At a slow pace in the dark forest.

“First question to Sophia and I expect an honest answer: Why did you choose the youngest two for guard duty?”

“They volunteered. They said they wanted to contribute fully to the section, despite being the youngest.”

“Well done, but make sure you rotate the duty in the future.”

“Next question to Clara: Was it your idea to drink **** and then to play that game?”

“Yes.” She answered dutifully.

“Why?” I asked.

“To blow off some steam. We thought to be alone for once, and after stealing all that stuff, we were in a happy mood, and you making sure he wouldn’t hurt anyone anymore made us feel even safer. But we were still so very stressed. We were still snapping at each other at times. I thought why not clear the air a bit, drink a bit, play a game of truth or dare, but since no one wanted that game because of the truths that... may have come out, I then opted for a dare game.”

“Okay. Now sit down and listen.” I was calming down now and thinking a bit more straight.

Especially with their cloths on...

“It is not a bad option to blow off some steam and getting honest conversations. We had and have our fair share of stress relief in the section. Is that what it is still called? And of honest conversations, too. But we try very hard not to hurt each other in the process. What I heard and saw... _Aheum... _was hurtful to each other, embarrassing and humiliating. Not only what you asked each other, but told each other and **** each other to do.

As it clearly would be embarrassing to tell me exactly why you are at each other’s throats, and frankly I don’t want to know more at this stage, you will have to work it out with each other, without yelling, without hurting, without trying to hurt each other.

The first advice I gave my section was to be respectful and polite to each other. Emma here is very polite and respectful in nature, learn from her, and let her to be the referee if for the first time you talk honestly to each other. I am sure she is capable of doing that.

As for relieving stress, next time without ****, and do it inside the cave. Make sure your guards are not sitting at the entrance and make sure they have full overview of the surroundings while looking outwards, crouched or lying down, covered up so they can’t be seen so easily or evaded as easily as I did.

That is all what I wanted to say. Now the disciplining. It is sad I have to do it, but it is only fair when I already sent Lina on her own to gather some mud. Now, she is in full battle gear, with guns and all, a bit silly of me, so I don’t want you to go in the same direction.“

“Ellen, you will run to the house of Maria, pluck a flower of her garden and get back. Slow and steady, same advice I gave Lina.”

“And you remaining two will go in that direction, can’t have them pass our home, get to the lake, gather some stones, nice ones, please, and get back while I stand watch for the youngest two. After you two come back, you will take the watch for the rest of the night. Maybe in an hour I can finally go back home to Kylie and have some sleep.”

Half an hour Lina came back, gave me the bottle, and I sent her to bed. A quarter of an hour Ella came back, gave me a beautiful rose, and I sent her to bed too. Finally after an hour, Clara and Sophia came back, gave me some beautiful quartz stones and took up their watch silently.

Finally. I can go to bed now. So much to do, so little time.