Intel gathering.

Of course Clara and Sophia couldn’t shut their mouths to the training officers about how they deduced and found the location of their campsite. It was after all one of their first moments of victory against the commander. And being no longer rivals, they now could come up with a plan to effectively seduce Alex, as they called him now. No longer afraid, no longer intimidated by him, their first victory would the first of many. The ambush had boosted all our self-confidence images, but I wasn’t very pleased with the direction Clara and Sophia would be going.

I had a different view of the commander now. His brutal manners was a filter to select only those that made the right effort to get to know him, to make him trust you. He was respectful, polite, humorful, accepting to his own section. Not only to his lovers, but also to Didier. He had played Cupid for Didier, and seeing Lina would accept the offer, had known it would set up two people he was taking care of.

And Didier took care of the commander. Lightening his load of work, by teaching the villagers. They all were deserters, they could have said to the commander to put his orders in a place where the light never shone.

So Marie was right, he was a decent man, a good man, and now she saw he also was a very good leader. What she still didn’t know is why he was so special to attract three girlfriends at the same time. Why they loved him so much with such an intensity. They were vastly different from each other and yet they were bound together in their love for him, his love for them, and their love for each other.

The only good thing about the squad training today, besides really finding a guard and setting up cloaked fire positions, was the intel gathering part, a combined effort of all the squad members, each in their own way, but Clara and Sophia were the most eager ones.

Sophia started the line of questioning:

“Kylie, why and how did you seduce Alex? It’s not like he is so eager to take the initiative himself, is it?”

Kylie didn’t seem to mind the continued curiosity about the commander at all and swiftly responded with a story of her own.

“Alex was only a few days in command of our first section. He was reasonable, careful, polite, as if commanding was new to him too, but the formal command was his responsibility and his alone. You could see he cared for us all, even if...

Even if one of us wasn’t. I won’t say you his name, but there was a guy in the section that was very creepy. In a bad way. He leered at two women, Kate and me, constantly and on the way he made very rude sexually tainted remarks about us. Alex tried to back him off twice, but it didn’t work. The first time I had to take a watch, it was that guy that would take over for me. And he did. And he almost **** me in the woods, forcing me to be his for the entire duration of the war. But Alex had noticed somehow I wasn’t returning after my watch had ended, and before the **** could begin, Alex...

Alex simply killed him on the spot. He then ordered me to go back to the camp, and he stayed. At the camp, the others woke up when I entered the camp, and we discussed what had happened. We made a promise there and then to follow his initiative. Alex would decide if he reported himself or would continue to lead us. The problem for the section was that we didn’t want to see him go. Not after what he had done for me, his first kill ever, defending his section. But when the officer returned, Alex could cover it up by agreeing the **** had probably deserted, never to be seen again. After that, we all respected him a lot more, because we knew he would come to our defense if needed...

Alex, however, didn’t know we all knew and approved of it. He was carrying the guilt all by himself. Mind you he didn’t really had that much problems with the killing, the thing he was feeling most guilty for was killing him in front of me, like he had traumatized me doing so and making me some sort of an accomplice to the cover-up. He had nightmares, slept badly, couldn’t handle the guilt. And I was so grateful for what he had done, but couldn’t take care of him, because he was too angry at himself for traumatizing me.

So that went on for a couple of days, watching him, staying close to him to see if I could find an opening to thank him for what he had done, not knowing he felt the worst for what he had done to me. And then at one morning together in a foxhole, I told him I wanted to thank him. What followed was a bizarre conversation about two completely opposite views, but in the end I managed to convince him of my needs to thank him. So he let me thank him. And that’s how I seduced him, by also giving him a blowjob. Not that he had asked for it, on the contrary, my hints in that direction fell on deaf ears. I know now a lot more why he had let me, but that is another story for another time.”

I was stunned after hearing her story. I couldn’t say a word. I had to think about the implications of how the commander was thinking and why he was acting the way he did. But I didn’t have the chance then.

Clara, as stunned as she was, only said:

“So that’s why he also acted so fast after hearing me tell my story to Kate. When he sees danger, he just... eh... acts to defend, standing up for me.”

Sophia had another line of thinking she wanted confirmed very badly:

“So being his girlfriend, why don’t you mind it at all, on the contrary, you seem even pleased, if you see Kara hugging your boyfriend, or see Kate staring so dreamingly to Alex?”

“Oh... that’s simple, I love Kara and Kate, and Alex loves us all.”

It was that simple to have it confirmed. Just by asking it. It felt like a win for Sophia and Clara, they seemed smug about themselves for deducing correctly. I was pleased about the confirmation, but my mind was working overtime to figure out the man behind the mask of the commander. The man with the name Alex.

I saw Kate smiling at Kylie, also a bit relieved perhaps. Relieved that they no longer had to continue the charade of hiding it. That they now finally could show their love to Alex, in front of us. She would however not escape the continued questioning as Kylie asked her the same like she had asked Kylie.

She flushed immensely. Perhaps recalling the memory of how she exactly seduced Alex.

“Eh... How I... ow... erm... About why... eh... Aheum... Look, Alex saved my brother in our first battle, by pushing him out of the way of an incoming attack helicopter, strafing a lane of bullets. Alex must have seen my brother was in danger... Though at the time he didn’t know it was my brother... And my brother at the time didn’t know it was Alex. We all had painted our faces, and Alex being a sniper had done his utmost best. So he was trying to retreat, and Alex saw him, almost killing himself by pushing him out of the strafing.

No further details could be extracted from her, she blushed so hard, I doubt her mind was capable of listening to another question, let alone to find the correct answer. She too expressed her emotions of the moment on her face, I noticed. But she hadn’t told me the entire answer, though I doubted I would get it at this point. The others were in awe with her answer, suspected perhaps the answer wasn’t complete in the why-part, but the missing how-part would never be answered by Kate, reddened as she was.

But Alex the man was looking very much like a Superman now. Although Superman wouldn’t have blinked at the bullets. But Alex hadn’t done either. Like he didn’t care about himself at all. Sacrificing his life for a stranger. I was grateful too for the fact he had saved Tom. Tom being dead would have been an entirely different outcome for my life now. A dead Tom wouldn’t have made contact with Marie’s daughter. A dead Tom wouldn’t have hunted on the request of Alex, to deliver me food, while I was so desperately in need of meat.

In need of meat... No, that came out wrong in my mind... Why am I even apologizing to myself? Bloody hormones...

Kara didn’t even blink at the same question, she was happy to tell us about Alex.

“Before the war, I had a very bad boyfriend. I fled to the army, enlisting myself because there was no one I could ask for help. Sadly for me I ended up in a fucked up section. A section full of macho men approaching me the wrong way, if you know what I mean. And two wonderful women, Sara and Cindy, lesbian lovers who took me under their wing. I also met a new boyfriend in the same platoon. So, at the first battle, most of the sections were decimated. Of my section only Sara, Cindy and I survived. Of my platoon, my new boyfriend survived too. The sections and platoons were regrouped. I chose to stay in the section of my boyfriend, Sara and Cindy were accepted by a platoon leader to be part of his own section, that had suffered a few losses too. Didier, Sara and Cindy were accepted by him. After looking a bit around in their new platoon, Sara and Cindy found themselves happy. Okay, the section and platoon leader was a bit odd, but a very good commander, respectful, and very highly respected by his men and women. I, on the other hand, was deeply unhappy. My boyfriend said he loved me, and I was stupid to believe him at first, but the second platoon was also filled with macho dirtbags. And my new boyfriend was one of them... Sara visited me during a training operation, saw I was unhappy and told her new platoon leader about it. I had never even seen him, he had never seen me! And yet he ordered Sara to extract me out of there, immediately, without further thinking. He gave me a new name, made a cover story about my presence in the platoon, asked them to vouch for me and never told a soul I was in his section. And I was welcomed into his section. I felt safe and cared for. And I loved the man for it. And I still do now. I love Alex with all my heart. And he gave me the chance to be loved by him too. As an equal.”

Fuck... How romantic...

But my mind was in full overdrive now. So he killed a man for trying to **** Kylie into submission, felt guilty instead for traumatizing Kylie, only let himself be seduced properly by Kylie as a way for her to say thanks... Kate won’t say exactly how and why, but Kate and Tom were children of a mother Alex had promised to care of her children during the war. So perhaps there is some history... I can’t possibly get to know. Kylie and Kate may have a relationship with each other too, and both loving the same man, they were open to give Kara a chance too, falling in love for him after saving her from a very bad platoon and boyfriend. So they are now three girlfriends for one man, named Alex.

Then they deserted as one group, perhaps Alex wanted to, to keep them safe, not wanting to risk the chance even one of them would die in battle. Yes... that makes perfect sense. Deserting brought them here, where he was informed of the dire situation in the villages by Tom. Indirectly saving me from starvation or worse. Then I asked Marie if he could tell the commander of Tom of our little orphan group in which he again acted superfast, adopting us all at once. The man had a superman-complex! Trying to save everyone he met... But...

He isn’t Superman. He is a man. Not invulnerable at all. He couldn’t have done all this without leaning on his section. On his current halved section. They were stretched too thin. So he sets up the plan to train us as a second section... Not only training us to survive in the woods, but also combat training to... help him. Tom had his girlfriend here, Tom probably wouldn’t leave anymore. Kate can’t leave Alex, but can’t leave Tom either. Alex could go after the village was fine in their hunting skills, but he would never **** Kate to leave her brother, as he had promised their mother to take care of them both. So he will stay. As will the rest of his section.

So he needs us too... He can’t do it on his own, that much she had learnt by now. You need a full section to protect at least one village. Well, if the villagers would group a bit more together, they could do it with a full section. But if we don’t comply, or if we fuck it up, he would stay here anyway. To fulfil his previous promises. But...

No man can do this forever... Eventually people will refuse his help, or refuse to pay back the implicit debts, and he even doesn’t care about the debts... He even doesn’t want to be repaid. He only let Kylie to seduce him the way she wanted to just thank him. As if resolving the debt she was feeling was more important... He doesn’t want to be seen in the village as a savior, he wants to stay but not as that. So only people that volunteer to do the same as him, not out of debt, but perhaps out of love, would be able to lift the weight on his shoulders. If not, he will simply burn out.

So... he cares for too many people at the same time, but he only wants help from volunteers, of which he only met one: Marie. Or from people he trusts: Tom and Didier. Or from people he loves too: Kylie, Kate and Kara. To make him trust you, you need to do the effort. Either by asking him who he is, or by finding out yourself. Or by showing him he can lean on you. By taking the initiative yourself in trying to do what he does. And if he can lean on you, he will love you? No... that doesn’t seem correct, after all, Kylie and Alex fell in love after... the blowjob? No... He had let her... Oh, after the bizarre conversation, in which she told him he shouldn’t carry it alone, all that guilt. On the contrary, there was no guilt needed at all. She took away his pain. And by that one conversation, he fell in love himself. Not sure about Kate... Why did he fall in love with her? Caring is love, yes, but there is a difference. To fall in love is something deeper. And he has conditions for it too to let himself fall in love. Lift the weight of his shoulders is not enough... And Kara? One only has to look at her what she does for him: smiling brightly, giving him the warmth of the sun.

Fuck... this man is difficult to understand... But I am getting closer now into really knowing him... Though why? Why do I want to know him? As a challenge for myself, perhaps... The debt I need to repay?

I know all about debts and promises. She had made sure in her past to never have any debt to anyone, but now she was. Though he didn’t care about it. Promises however, he did care about, and so do I.

I care a lot about promises. I have seen and experienced too many people that didn’t care about promises made. The promise they would care for me, they would love me, they would protect me, all broken, so she made herself a promise. A promise made must be a promise kept.