Tent City

Chapter 14 - Andy

I left Kelsie's room feeling a lot less stressed and anxious, I had been dreading that very conversation for the last few weeks. What I had told her was true. There was contempt and doubt growing in the soldiers I was leading.

I hoped now that Kelsie was starting her training tomorrow, it would mean they would be happy for a bit of time anyway. I just hoped Kelsie could handle the training and not give up because if she did, I would have no choice but to force her and Ben out of the bunker.

My hand still felt warm from where I had touched Kelsie's hand, I hoped that by resting my hand on hers that she didn't find that odd or embarrassing. My mind started to go over the scenarios in my head, like, maybe she was being polite and that's why she didn't move it when I touched it, or maybe she didn't know what to do and it remained on my leg because she was confused or scared. A lump grew in my throat as I started to worry about what Kelsie thought of me and how I acted tonight. By the time I entered my room, I had myself in a mess. So, I tried to calm myself and took in deep breaths as I stood in the middle of the dark room. It worked, and I returned to normal. I told the computer to turn the lights on and to start running my shower. The monotone computerised voice answered,

"Yes, Sir." The lights flickered on, and the trickling sound of the shower running radiated from the ensuite. I started to strip off, and I threw my clothes all over the place. I was never tidy, even as a child.

Even when Commander Lee was training me, and I lived in a dormitory room with numerous other trainee officers, I was the untidy one. I was punished quite regularly because of my lax attitude to cleanliness. The other trainee soldiers were also punished because of me.  Commander Lee knew that if other people were punished for my actions id improve quick smart, and he was right, I did become tidy, that was until I became second in charge and my room was not inspected as much as the others. Now I was in charge, albeit temporarily, old habits returned.

Leaving a trail of clothes and underwear behind me, I entered the shower.

Once finished, I was exhausted, so I crawled into bed, and in a groggy voice, I told the computer to turn off all lights and to play my sleep sounds. My sleep playlist had a variety of different types of relaxation sounds. I found the soft sound of relaxing songs, the sound of rain pattering against the crisp green leaves of a forest, and the distant drone of a pedestal fan sometimes helped me sleep.

All these sounds and songs were remnants of a past earth, a past life, a time that I had no knowledge of, but nonetheless, those sounds relaxed me... sometimes.

That's if my mind wasn't haunted by the pale, terrified faces of those I killed to protect my soldiers and to protect our life in this bunker. I hoped with all my might that tonight, the ghosts I created would not make an appearance.

The loud piercing sound of the alarm radiated around the room. I moaned in frustration. It only felt like I had just fallen asleep. At least the ghosts did not haunt my mind or invade my dreams, so my sleep was pretty decent for once, a rare occurrence.

I slowly pulled a new uniform out of the wardrobe. It was an exciting day today. It was the first day of
Kelsie's training. I was excited to be able to spend time with Kelsie without interruption from Ben or anyone else. It would mean I will be able to assess Kelsie's potential as a soldier.

I met Kelsie at the gym/training room. We started out slow; I took her through self-defense techniques and methods to disarm the enemy in hand to hand combat.

She fumbled, tripped, and performed moves the wrong way, or in the wrong order...in short, she was hopeless. I was starting to become frustrated, but I had to remind myself that this was her first lesson, and I couldn't expect perfection on the first try. It was hard, I couldn't remember being this bad when I first started my training. My frustration did not affect my feelings for Kelsie. At some points, I found her clumsiness amusing but did not show her. After all, I was her trainer, mentor, and superior officer.

On the completion of our training session, I felt overly guilty and started to wonder if Kelsie picked up on my frustration.

However, two weeks later, I couldn't help but be impressed by how much Kelsie had improved. There was hope.

One day,  while teaching Kelsie, Sandra, one of the communication experts, entered the room and approached me. She seemed rushed but excited.

" I'm sorry to bother you and interrupt your training session, but commander Lee is requesting to speak to you via comms but he wants to speak with you privately. We've set everything up in the board room for you." She said before she left as quickly as she arrived. I told Kelsie to continue training while I took the call.

I arrived at the rarely used board room, and just as Sandra had promised, everything was set up and ready.

I took in a deep breath to try and calm my nerves and anxieties. I hoped the news was good.

I took a seat, paused, and took in another big breath.

"Commander Lee, sir. This is Staff Sergent Andrea Woolex, sir. You wished to speak with me? Privately?"

Commander Lee's husky voice crackled over the speaker.

"Stop with the formal shit Andy." He seemed slightly annoyed. "When we are addressing each other in a casual setting with nobody else around, we don't need to use formalities. Understood?"

" Yes, of course." I answered, trying to control the urge to say, sir, at the end of my sentence.

"Good, now that we have that sorted. I've made it past the worst of the outside world. The transporter has served me well. I have procured enough medical supplies to last the bunker 6 months at least, I'm hoping Dr. Su will be happy with the results of my procurement mission."

"I'm sure she would be happy with even the bare minimum medical supplies. As long as it was more than we currently have. So when should we expect you to arrive?" I asked.

The line cut out and hummed. "Shit! I hope I haven't lost him." Andy said to herself. It took around 5 minutes of anxiously waiting when Commander Lee's voice returned over the crackly speaker.

"I lost you there for a second." He chuckled before continuing, "I should be at the bunker in about a week. That is, if everything goes well. So, how is bunker handling my extended absence? I assume you are doing well as the temporary leader, as I'm talking to you right now."

"Yes, but it hasn't been easy. I've made a few enemies since you've been away, but it seems that at the moment, everyone is content. The sooner you return, the better."

"What has happened to create unrest in the bunker?" He asked, his voice becoming harder to understand over the consistent crackling and humming of the line.

"The line is getting worse. So I'll keep it short, some of my fellow comrades did not agree with the decisions I've made regarding 2 new members of our little army, but I'll go into more detail once you're here."

"Understood, I can't wait to hear the story behind that one..."
The line cut out again, but this time, there was just silence on the other end, no more crackling or humming, then a computerised voice echoed through the line, signal lost, please try again, it repeated itself over and over.

I realised that, at the minimum, I'd have 2 more weeks to get Kelsies training to the next level.

Also, depending if Commander Lee will be willing to act as guide and body guard for Kelsie and Ben to accompany them to Farantown so they could discover if their Aunt survived the bombing and help them return to the bunker if she didn't.

I was saddened by what the future would throw in my face, taking Kelsie and Ben away from me, from my protection.

I returned to the training room and gave Kelsie the choice to remain and train or go home. I couldn't bear being in her presence at the moment. It was too much. Kelsie remained, I left and returned to my room. I had to pull myself together, I had a shift in four hours.