Presents

To be honest, I had no idea if Kate had a restless night or not, but when I awoke she was gone. I looked for her, but only saw Kara and Kylie at the fire.

“Where’s Kate? When I woke up, she was gone.”

“Kate is fine. Very fine, even. She had a very healthy, put predictable blush on her face when she saw us.” Kara said, smiling at me.

“Kate feels a bit in your debt after what you gave her last night, she told me.” Kylie said, but pointed a finger upwards to make sure I didn’t interrupt her, while she continued:

“And when Kate feels into your debt, for something like that, she feels a bit embarrassed and ashamed not being able to return the favor. Men and women are quite different in experiencing their orgasms. Hers was way over the top, way over her ability to return. So she is thinking about something to make it up, while she is with her brother at Marie’s.”

“But she doesn’t have to. For all that she has given me, I was glad to do her a favor.”

“I know that, she knows that, we all know that. But as we have said before, just because you’re telling her not to feel something, doesn’t mean she will stop feeling it. Besides, after yesterday evening, she told me that she can’t even look into your eyes without thinking about her earth-shattering orgasm you gave her. When I tried to talk about it, it was like all the blood in her body flowed directly to her head. So, give her some time to recover, and if she wants to talk about it, with you, just listen. If she doesn’t, don’t ask for it.”

“I know.” I said quietly.

With that out of the way, Kylie started to smile, even grin at me:

“Now, have you finished your little birthday present for Ella?”

“Yes?” I frowned at her questioningly why she was grinning so much.

“You’re fond of her...” Kara interrupted.

“Oh no... She is way too young for me. Just eighteen, literally. For me that means she is still seventeen plus a few days. In a few months, I will consider her eighteen.”

“She is very cute...” Kara tried to tease me.

“I haven’t noticed. Stop it, Kara. Ella may be all that, and she is very down-to-earth, too wise even for her girls her age, but she is also incredible ****.” I said resolutely, almost giving her a glare.

She was startled by my outburst and semi-glare. She backed off, looking sideways at Kylie, as if asking for support.

“I am sorry, Kara, I shouldn’t have reacted that way. Here, let me make it up to you.” I neared her and took her in my arms, hugging her.

“It’s okay, Alex, it’s okay. It’s my fault too. After teasing you with Clara and Sophia, I shouldn’t do the same with Ella.”

After a while, Kylie interceded, trying to command us even.

“Alright you two lovebirds, we have work to do, we are understaffed enough at the moment.”

“How so?” I broke off the embrace.

“Tom and Kate are at Marie’s. Didier and Lina are... on a hunting trip and will probably take all day to take the perfect shot. That leaves us three for the entire squad.”

“Didier and Lina... A whole day? And you call us the lovebirds?” I smiled at her.

Kylie sighed. There was no good way to get out of this. Taking command of the squad, as supervisor may have worked out, but ordering Kara and me, was clearly one level to high.

“Fine, you won, I overstepped.”

“It’s cute that you tried.” I smiled teasingly.

She narrowed her eyes.

Uh-oh... If she is developing one trademark, it is that... Careful now, Alex.

Wiping the smile of my face, becoming serious again I asked her:

“Alright, clearly you need our help with the squad, where do you want us?”

“I’ve been thinking...”

Did it hurt? Oh... No, Alex, no time for a joke now, clearly even you can see that!

“Your worrying about the village monster, his current whereabouts, who helped him. He couldn’t have freed himself, yet Tom tells me that no one did mention helping him, or see him tied up in the street. The porn collection was neatly cleaned up and stuffed back into the house.”

“You went back...”

“Yes, I did. You were very right with your treatment of him. A bit too forgiving even. I should have come with you. I saw his dungeon cellar, just like you did. But what you didn’t notice, was an oddly placed mirror. I smashed it and found a dead camera behind it. It was brand new. He either filmed his... exploits or since it was a brand new camera, he included these activities in his “survival war preparations”. Which means, in these times...

“He was planning to share them with someone. You don’t need a camera if you have a live victim. In real person. So that someone... He can’t be living too far, otherwise it wouldn’t be safe. So in the closest village or around. In exactly the same region I have been planning to protect it from the Russians.”

“And who knows... bent on ****.” Kylie finished.

“So the girls can’t recognize him as another predator...” I was thinking loudly. “We need Tom in the village to continue the intel network. Focus on the persons that... Who does he need to be looking for?”

I continued:

“These kind of guys live socially isolated. But not always: sometimes they live with a so-called gay partner, sometimes with a brother, real or not. They are older, organized, learned themselves to adapt to social norms. Being psychopaths in their youths they must have a history towards women or girls... which means, they either have one here, or they haven’t one, so they must have moved in here. Being a small village, means sometimes a tighter social network is present. It would be risky. But in a war, they can hunt more easily. They can take care of themselves. They like to be solitary, but not always. They know the risk of being an outsider. But... Damn... So many variables...”

The women looked at me curiously.

“I haven’t been a gardener all my life. I studied psychopaths in literature, in my ongoing quest to understand the causes of aggression. Well... in one of my ongoing quests...”

“Right, let Tom start with this: a man or two men living together, with a past, living their whole lives here, or without a past, having been moved up here. They would not allow many visitors into their home. Their house is usually set apart from other houses. Built or renovated for some time. The owner has a high living standard. They enjoy the good things of life. They are older, in their late forties, fifties, or even older. Not too old, because then they would need better access to health care facilities. They have been preparing for this war. They may be able to hunt without us having taught him or them. Make Tom pile a list with people fitting even one or more categories, we can start selecting our targets then.”

“The girls?” Kylie asked. “I want them closer. The village monster can reason too, he could have deducted the who and why of the raid.”

“And they should be... Which means, we need... oh... not again...”

“Yes, a new cave. Ready in a day.” Kylie finished my sentence.

“Okay, we can start by expanding the cave of the men. If they still want a small cave for themselves, we can dig an extra one later.”

“I will gather the girls, explain the need to move, and let them starting carrying the supplies.” Kara contributed.

“Good, be careful.” I said as goodbye.

It took us a whole day. With detours to move everything, always watching, keeping our profile low. Then the digging, with two rotating guards every hour. Reinforcing it, filling dirtbags, covering, cloaking, isolating and decorating. And for extra security, since the two caves were in close proximity, a crooked tunnel to connect them both. We were becoming true tunnel rats. Or rather the opposite of them, cave dwellers? We also improved the open fire pit. It was now totally hidden, dug very deep, expanded to fit us all, able to be covered up. The smoke would still betray us, which worried me immensely now.

We didn’t have time for chit-chat. It was efficiency that ruled the day. Hard work came in close second. And vigilance.

I had a hard time ignoring Sophia and Clara, but after a few times avoiding their sad looks, we kept it at businesslike conversations. They would be closer now, for their safety, but it would become even more necessary to repair our connections. But how would I do that? What could I say, if I didn’t even know how to say it to myself? And I wasn’t planning on it to speak “it” out loudly, not even in a hundred years. I wanted it buried and as deep as possible. The only one who had seen me at my weakest low point was Kylie, the same one telling me to reconnect with them.

I would need her. Her advice and her mediation.

But I was exhausted today. Everyone was. Tomorrow would be the day... unless Tom came with an answer. No, it had to be tomorrow, at least a brief moment of mediation, otherwise it could damage our operations inadvertently. I grabbed Kylie away from the rest to tell her in private that tomorrow at its earliest moment I wanted to talk to the both of them, but that she had to be the mediator. Not for a long conversation. Just for a brief moment, to make sure to let them know I still cared for them, and that we needed to continue these moments, not only for ourselves, but for the safety of the rest of the team too.

“Okay.” It was the only thing she said while suddenly hugging me closely for a while.

We were living close now, as neighbors, with all the implications of being neighbors, house to house, with badly isolated walls. The sections would operate separately, but would be merged if needed, with me as unofficial platoon leader, since we weren’t in the army anymore. It felt like I was building my own army. I only hoped that if another section would join, they wouldn’t be so young or so damaged.

One more thing had to be done that night, before we were ready to go to bed. I called Ella to ‘our’ cave. We were sitting in a circle: Kylie, Kara, me and Ella. She was nervous, didn’t know why I called her to, what it looked like, a private meeting.

“Nothing to worry about, Ella.” I tried putting her on ease. “You mentioned earlier it would be your birthday today. Perhaps you thought I would forget, but I didn’t. Perhaps you wanted me to forget it, but I couldn’t. You told me you have dreaded your birthday for years, as it would be the moment you would be kicked out of the house, without any support left. You said you have it better now, knowing how to survive, even on your own, in this new upside down world. I think you need this birthday, more than others. Because today is the day you are now free of all worries about your past life. Even if it feels like it isn’t, I give you this, to remember us, to remember you are free.”

In my palm I held an empty cartridge case. It had held the usual 7.62x51mm NATO bullet, large enough I could scratch a word in it. Plenty of room for four capital letters next to each other, forming the word “FREE”. It had taken me two days to be able to scratch and saw into the durable metal. I wasn’t much of an etcher, but at least the word was clearly readable, and a small rope was attached to it, becoming a necklace.

She looked at the small gift in her hand. She was quiet for a long time. But suddenly in a burst of energy she jumped on me, in a violent embrace, knocking me almost backwards. Without a word she hugged me. She didn’t know what to say when she released me.

“No need to say anything. Your hug was more than enough. Now, take a moment for yourself, and go back to your section.”

Sadly she wouldn’t be totally free. She still would be in the section, but I doubted she wanted to leave anyway. She adored her younger “sister” in the section, and although quiet, she now had life-time friends in the section. And she knew she had us, if she needed extra support.