Crow 14

Memorable Introductions

It had been a few days, they had started their journey to that states months ago, facing more hardship than it seemed possible. At one point they were raided and stranded in the middle of a desert, they hardly remembered any of it, being as delirious as they were it was impossible to maintain cognitive functions. They just kept walking, stumbling after a few hours, only stopping to cool off so they wouldn't die of thirst. Within a day they were on the verge of death by starvation and thirst, luck finally struck, and oasis seemed to appear as if from thin air, giving them both a weary feeling. It could easily be a mirage, a mere illusion, but when Sebastiàn felt the cool touch of water across his skin he knew it was real. Without even hesitating he dove right in and downed as much water as he could. Diego followed suite, diving into the pool of water and gulping down as much as his stomach could handle. We sure got lucky, he thought, sure as hell could've died anywhere here, but dying here would've been better than dying back home when this all started. He shook the thought out of his mind and began to hear a strange noise.

"The sound of a plane engine?" Diego asked, his big brown rounded wirh paranoia, it could easily be someone just trying to kill them. Now a days someone would kill you for just about any reason.

Diego ruffled his brown hair, dirt and sand smudged into his face, the same went for Sebastiàn they were both dirty. Both wore the same tired expression, like their body could give out at any moment. Sebastiàn's  hair was blonde, curling slightly but never looking messy, he has blue eyes, same color as the sky.

The sound seemed merge into a single object from the sky, a hypnotizing bright light began flashing from its wings. Morse code. It had been years since Diego had been forced to use matters of communications, but once you learn a thing like that it seems to stick. As the light seemed to flash in a pattern he began to make sense of it.

Sebastián was still indulging in his oasis water, oblivious to the plane closing in on them. The word "rescue" was seeming to be transmitted from the lights, still a good few miles away, but still clear nonetheless. Sebastián finally looked up, seeming to barely even notice the huge ship approaching them, just staring at it as if it were a mirage. It could have just as easily been a mirage, the loss of water in your body did that to you, to add up the heat could cause you to see things that aren't there, water could be seen, but might not actually be there.

The plane slowly inched closer, starting to slow down as it drew near. It was close enough to land, but the aircraft didn't, probably being it would've been buried by sand. Sebastiàn and Diego both had to shield their eyes as sand was sent flying in all directions, a ladder, dropped from the aircraft, a chain linked ladder. They had a moment to ponder their decision, you could either be saved or killed, but there was hardly any time to think act.

Sebastiàn climbed first, leaving Diego to climb behind him, stopping every time he did. They were both almost unable to make the climb, their grip on the ladder was weak, their hands seeming to threaten to give out. As soon as they made it onboard they were ordered to go to the captain's quarters, an expectance and also a relief.

"What are your names?" The captain asked as soon as they were in attendance.

"Sebastiàn King and Diego Martinez sir," they replied in unison.

"You just happen to wander about into the desert?" The captain asked, seeming relentless with each question.

Neither Sebastiàn nor Diego knew much English, they both looked at the captain in confusion. The captain grew agitated and more nervous at their silence, patrol planes were meant to take down foreigners, not welcome them. He doubted they had a translator, that being the reason for this patrol ship being here, solely to take our targets.

"¿habla usted Inglés?" The captain asked in a forced Spanish, that was most likely the only phrase he knew.

"si pero no mucho," Sebastiàn replied.

The captain nodded his head and told his men to take care of the foreigners. Diego and Sebastiàn were sure they would be treated as a the enemy, but they were welcomed as if they were their own.