WALKING DISASTERS | Jack Thompson

19.

THEY MADE CAMP FOR THE NIGHT, and Sera sat with her friends around the fire while they ate, laughing and chatting like old friends. It was comforting, after so long of being an outsider, to feel like she belonged. She did belong with these people, eating beans and leaning on one another for support as they tried not to think about what tomorrow may bring.

"Hey, go easy on the beans, okay?" Dum-Dum laughed.

Jack returned from his perimeter check. "Coast is clear. Li and Ramirez are on the night watch. We should be good to go at first light."

"Which means we stand relieved," Dum-Dum said.

"You see any abominable snowmen like the one in Tibet?" Sera asked, nudging Junior in the ribs teasingly.

Junior looked offended. "I... I never said 'abominable snowman'."

"In fairness, he did specify 'yeti'," Pinky said.

"Sorry, it was a little hard to make out words in between all the sobbing," Dum-Dum said.

"Shut up, it was scary," Junior said.

Jack sat down on Sera's right, but she pretended he wasn't there. "So what is the difference between a yeti and an abominable snowman?"

"One's real and one isn't," Junior replied, sending the 107th into fits of giggles. "What?"

"So I hear they have, uh, mermaids in Japan," Peggy said. "You see any of them when you were out there?"

"Yeah, story time," Junior said.

"I got nothing you guys ain't heard before," Jack replied. "Did a lot of ground work, dug a lot of trenches."

"They don't give out Navy Crosses just for digging trenches," Peggy said.

Jack took a deep breath. "The Navy Cross... Alright. 1945, Tsuken Island, nothing detail. I fall asleep on the night shift. I wake up... six Japanese soldiers walking into my camp, just waltzing in in the dark. One of them bends down over my sleeping CO. One more second, he'd slit his throat. Snapped to. Shoot him in the back. I shoot 'em all, before they even knew I was there. Before my last man was even awake," he chuckled. "Truth be told, I like the kid's yeti story better."

"Yeah, the sobbing really makes the story entertaining," Sera agreed, pinching Junior's cheek teasingly.

He pushed her hand away and held out his bottle to Jack, who took it with a smile. Junior looked over at Sera and said quietly, "You believe me, don't you?"

"Oh yeah, sure I do," she replied, a hint of sarcasm playing in her tone.

Junior looked offended. "You said you believed me when you first heard the story."

"Yes, because everyone was making fun of you for crying and I didn't want you to feel too embarrassed," Sera replied, giggling.

Junior responded to her betrayal by tickling her, his fingers at her sides as she let out a squeal. "Wait, no! Stop!"

Jack watched the interaction and couldn't help but feel a tug in his gut. Sera seemed so happy with these men, who didn't look down their noses at her because she was a woman. They treated her like an equal, a lesson Jack needed to learn after their conversation a few days prior. Watching her laughing as Junior tickled her to the point that she couldn't breathe from laughing so hard was something to behold, and Jack knew he needed to apologise.

When Junior released her, Sera sat up and punched his arm. "That was unfair."

"Hey, you know how it is, Sera," Dum-Dum shrugged. "We know your weaknesses."