Animalistic

7

Everyone's eyes were on me and all I could do was glare at Thistle and think What a fucking bitch! She hops off of the log and strides over to me with that same mechanical walk from earlier. As my eyes wander from her I find the faces of many of the girls displayed certain distain for the idea of me "guarding" the flag, but no one dared oppose Thistle and her strong presence. She stops in front of me and I crane my neck upward to continue to glare at her and her cocky posture of her hands on her hips.

"Is it really that smart of an idea to let such a weak girl guard the flag by herself?" A nasally voice of a girl who obviously did not understand the authoritative aura of Thistle and her very final decision sounded out.

Thistle's sharp eyes whip over to the girl "fine, we'll have two stronger girls accompany her."

"And you don't think that will raise any suspicion?" was the retort form the girl, obviously looking for a death sentence.

"Then we'll have everyone break up into groups of three." She said plainly, her voice enunciating the period after the sentence, showing just how final this plan was. Her eyes scanned over the small clearing of trees around us and she said "A few groups will be stationed to seem like we were patrolling here, like we hid it here." Those sharp orbs then whipped back to me and she continued "To further throw off suspicion, we will have higher ranked girls pair up with lower ranked ones, to make our little flag bearer less obvious." Her cold calculated voice emitted such control of the ideas formulated in her head, it seemed as if they were something scripted. "If everyone could find a group of three with at least one higher ranked and one lower ranked girl, then we could assign jobs."

With that last command, everyone shuffled to find a group; Audri and Sav immediately grabbed onto either side of my arm and peered back at Thistle and her arm folded posture and grimacing face. "You" she said, gesturing to Sav "You're Savannah Sterling, rank 7, correct?" Savannah nodded curtly, her own calculated stare analyzing each and every one of Thistles movements. "You should be stationed here, draw attention to the area, many people, especially the males, know of your high ranking, and your presence at this 'base' would further aid in making this place a distraction."

Savannah's eyes dull slightly, as if she was thinking through the logic of Thistle's plan. And then her hand drops from my arm and she straightens her back "That does make the most logical sense." My heart droops slightly at the thought of Sav being held up here while Audri and I got to roam around the forest with some other sorry sap.

To my dismay, Thistle then looks to Audri "And you are her twin Audri no doubt, known for your charismatic command of those around you. Your would be an excellent asset to the team going to find the flag, you would no doubt be able to extract the flag's whereabouts from just about anyone." The subtle tone of flattery caught me off guard, but Audri rolled right into it.

"I am that good, aren't I?" Her hand also leaves my arm to then tap her own chin, then she looks back to me "But I don't see how bringing the flag into the enemy's territory would benefit us." She uses the word enemy as if we were in the middle of World War II and we were the Alliance while the males were the Axis powers.

"It wouldn't, which is why Jasabell would blend in as one of the regular roaming groups on our territory." Thistle explains without missing a beat.

Audri gives me a glance and then looks back to Thistle "Only if she's okay with it." Audri says, jutting her hip out to me and crossing her arms over her chest. She looks torn, like half her mind is saying to stay with me while the other half was looking for something beyond the tree line.

All of their eyes landed on me and what else could I say beside "Yeah, it's fine." Sure, I felt like shit knowing I'd have to spend the next however long off in the woods with two random girls who probably hate me just for my rank, but it would be wrong for me to jeopardize the mission for the sake of my comfort, the Lady Alpha wasn't the only one who wanted to win this game.