Time Away From Home

Campout

Mick woke up a moment before there was a knock. He got down from the loft and cracked open the door. From the other side Engie greeted him, "Mornin'. We're meetin' up where we were last night. Come join us when you're ready.", "Alright, thank you." Mick said, then closed the door again. He kicked Scout on his way across the van and Scout bolted up with a, "Hfhjea?", "Wake up, you drongo. We're havin' a meeting." Scout grumbled, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes as Sniper picked out some fresh clothes for the day. Then he started to change, warning, "Hey, I'm changin'. Don't turn around-" and Scout immediately turned around to ask, "What was that?", "I said don't turn around, idiot." Mick restated, half-naked, and Scout flushed, quickly turned back around, "Oh, my bad." Sniper sighed, but finished up quickly as Scout gathered up his things. They both got out and Sniper locked up his van before Scout said, "I'll meet you over there." and Sniper nodded as Scout ran off. Sniper moved over to the shack they had met in the night before and Engie greeted him, "Mornin'.", "Morning." Sniper replied, sitting next to him, "Where's everyone else?", "They should be coming in soon." Sniper nodded and then they were quiet for a moment. After an awkwardly long silence, Engie asked, "How'd you sleep?" Sniper shrugged, "Fine. How bout you?", "Well enough... but these wooden boards kill my damn back." Engie tapped on the dusty floorboards with a boot and Sniper cracked a smile. Engie smiled back, then mused, "I noticed you didn't kill Scout. Thanks for that." Sniper scoffed but Engie just laughed as the rest of their group filtered in. Once they had all gathered around, Engie stood up and started, "Alright, men. Let's get this mission started-" Scout interrupted, "Before we start, what about breakfast?" Engie was thrown off, "Uh, we're gonna do breakfast, but first why don't we-" A few of the other men mumbled about food and Engie sighed, "Why don't we get started on breakfast and then we can talk about it while we eat, how bout that?" The men agreed and they got out their supplies. They had brought field rations, but they also had enough fresh food to last them for the week, so for their first meal Demo was slinging eggs. They all got portions of simple breakfast accutroments, including some eggs, sausage, tomatoes, and coffee, and they all sat down again to finally listen to Engie. He looked between all of them as they ate and asked, "Anything else before we get started?" Soldier raised a hand, "Where are my k-rations?" Engie sighed, "We'll issue them out to you when needed-", "But-", "Anything else?" Sniper raised a hand, "I do actually. If we're all here, who's watchin' out for Grey's bots?" Engie pointed at him, "Great question, I was just about to address that. So, we are all here because our mission is to get to the Australium in those mines north of here, before Grey's bots do. If we don't succeed here, we'll have to pursue those tin bastards until we get it. Letting Grey get his hands on this Australium cache is not an option, do you hear me gentleman?" The men nodded over their morning meal and Engie continued, "As for your question, Sniper, I've actually been workin' on a solution to just that..." Engie moved over to his stuff and pulled out a thin, filament wire, "Now our robot buddies are powered on a compact, mechanized, monetary system-" Spy groaned, "Engineer... Spare us your technical- babble this early in the morning. What did you do and how does it matter to us?" Engie flushed, adjusting his goggles and clearing his throat, "I laid a mesh of copper and zinc-", "Dumb it down, Engineer." Spy coxed and Engie huffed, "I cloaked us from the robots." The men 'ooh'-ed at that, but Engie stammered, "I-it ain't a perfect cloak, though- It's a little more complicated than that! And I've only been able to cover from here to the vehicles, so... uh, the bots can still record us and take pictures, but they can't see us. So if a drone is comin' through, get inside as fast as you can- but we don't gotta worry about them ambushin' us. But as I say that, keep your guard up." Sniper could already tell that the men had stopped listening after 'I cloaked us from the robots', and he felt kinda bad for Engie. He was trying to lead them all, but Engineer wasn't really the charismatic, confident leading type. Sniper didn't think any of the mercenaries fell under that category, but at least Engie was trying... After his speech, Engie got into the plans, "So, the first thing we need to do is get some information about what's happening, so Sniper, Spy, tomorrow you two will go out-" Sniper protested, "Tomorrow?!" and Engie said, "Yes? Is that an issue?" Sniper gestured, "Why don't we start today?" Engie held out a hand, "I get you're eager, but I still have some things I need to see to. Including getting this base up and runnin'." Sniper frowned. He didn't want to be here any longer than he had to, and if they could get this shit done before the week's end, then he could go back that much sooner. Sniper said, "But we just finished a rest, I can start now-" Spy interrupted, "You did not take watch last night. I am not prepared to go scouting quite yet-" Scout, who hadn't been paying attention, tuned back in and asked, "What?" Engie ignored him as he addressed Sniper, "Look, I understand the desire to get this done ASAP, but if we mess this up it's gonna take that much longer to get it done. I wanna go home as much as you do, but just give me a day to think ahead so we can avoid costly mistakes." Sniper huffed, but he didn't object. He was still adjusting to the fact that he was really going to be away for a month. He wasn't going to see Caroline for a whole month... a whole month... It felt wrong to even think about. He felt wrong in his gut... The mercenaries all split off after breakfast to begin setting up their base for the next month, and Sniper picked up his plate, but then he just stood there with it as the realization hit him hard. He must have been standing there for too long, because Engie came up beside him and asked, "You alright-?", "I'm fine." Sniper brushed him off, bringing his plate over to their makeshift canteen. Demo tried to take his plate with a, "Thanks, lad." but Sniper replied, "I got it." and he took over cleaning the dishes for Demo while the man re-cataloged what they had. It was a nice distraction until he was done and he had to find something else to do. Don't think about her, don't think about her- It was only the second day he'd been gone. She would be fine without him... but would he? He helped the other mercs set up in the various wooden shacks, he helped Medic rig up his cooler to the generator, he helped Demo prep lunch, then they ate lunch, then he did busy work around the camp all afternoon to try and keep his nerves at bay. It didn't work. He was iching with anticipation and he just wanted to get this done. As evening fell, Sniper found himself alone outside, watching the tall trees sway in the mountain wind. He closed his eyes and felt the air move across his skin. It was cool to the touch, and like most things that day, it reminded him of Caroline. He could almost feel her finger tips skimming across his face... The way she held him made him feel safe. The way she looked at him made him feel seen like nothing else did. The way they talked made him feel like himself. He hadn't realized he hadn't felt like that in a long time, not even with- "Hey, Sniper." Sniper jumped and turned around to see Engie approaching him. Sniper grumped and turned back to look at the trees, but he tried to keep the snark out of his voice as he greeted, "Hey, Engineer." Engie asked, "Can I join you?" and Sniper shrugged, "Sure." Engineer sat next to him and looked out to where he'd been looking. He said, "It's mighty pretty out here." and Sniper shrugged again, "I guess..." They were quiet for a moment, then they started speaking at the same time. They both stopped, then Engie said, "You go." and Sniper asked, "So, you got your plan all set?" Engie nodded, "For the most part. There's still a couple kinks I gotta work out, but y'all are set to go for tomorrow.", "Thank you." Sniper said, then he gestured for Engie. Engie cleared his throat and resettled himself before saying, "Right. So, uh- Scout told me a bit about what happened... about, girl troubles." Sniper sighed, "What about it?", "Well... What happened?" Sniper shot him a look, "Why do you care?" Engie looked hurt by that, "I care when someone on my team is havin' a hard time, and also- we're pals, ain't we?" Sniper blinked at him, then looked away, "So, everyone knows now?", "No, not yet. But you and I both know that Scout's got a big mouth... At the same time, you know how news goes. The men are gonna get excited because it's something new, then in a couple weeks they'll all forget about it and move on." Sniper nodded and Engie asked again, "So, what happened?", "Engie, look, I haven't let this get in the way of my work, and I ain't about to. Understand that and let's be done with this..." Engie held up his hands, "Fine, fine. You don't wanna talk about it, I get it." He got up and dusted his pants off, "I'll leave you to it. You wanna take the first watch, then?" Sniper nodded, "Sure." and Engie nodded, "Alright. Medic's takin' second watch so when you go get him- you know, announce yourself first.", "Got it." Sniper said, and Engie turned to leave. Before he did, though, he turned back and said, "Hey, Sniper. You got a lot of pals all around here that would be good to talk to when you're ready." and before Sniper could respond, he left. Sniper just sighed. It was clear that Engie was worried about him, but he just hoped that the man would grow disinterested in this pursuit. Hopefully... Eventually... The wind brushed against his face again and he closed his eyes once more. Wherever Caroline was, whatever she was doing, he hoped she was okay... and he hoped he would be okay...