S.A.S. - Book one: Secrets (Rewriting)

Chapter Ten: Rebuild, Recover, Remember

When Red woke, he was laying on a sandy beach, the water lapping lightly against his paw. What happened? As he sat up rubbing his head, he saw he was in the refugee camp. Fern was walking from the guardian's tent to the Elders' tent, he could see little foxlings playing while their parents talked, and he could even see Silver helping to make the tents and huts more comfortable for the FoxCraft living in them. Good.

Flame - who was sitting on the beach a little ways away - didn't seem to notice that he was awake. Getting up - and almost falling over in the process - he tried to clear his head. He had gotten rid of the village, and now he was here. Did Jack and Flame carry him all the way to the camp? Shaking his head, he started walking along the beach towards Flame.

Sneaking up behind her as so she wouldn't see him, Red dodged rocks and leaves that would make any noise to alert her. When he was directly behind her, he wrapped his arms around Flame in a big hug.

"Oh stars!" she gasped, turning around quickly. "Red!"

Laughing, he rolled away from her paw, dodging the annoyed swipe she gave him.

"Don't ever do that again!" she breathed. Red was curled in a ball, holding his stomach because it hurt from laughing. After a moment she started to laugh too. They laughed for a few minutes before slowly stopping and sitting quietly on the beach side by side.

As they looked out to the ocean, he could see birds flying off into the distance, free of care. Looking around him, he realized that the camp was slowly going quiet. His people were going to bed, resting up for the next day. Red could see Lily and her mother hustling to get inside their tent, could see Fern setting up her sleeping bag next to the bonfire, and he could also see Silver and Jack talking next to the bonfire as well.

"They like it here" Flame said next to him. Red just sighed and nodded.

"It is beautiful." Red turned back to the ocean, feeling the cold water curl in between his paws and the grainy sand beneath him. Flame leaned against his shoulder, sighing as well. Together, they sat through the night, Red watching the camp sleeping peacefully for the first night in a while, if he had to guess.

When morning came, all of the FoxCraft in the camp woke up almost in unison. Red had eventually fallen asleep, but only for a few hours. When he awoke, he saw the camp was very busy. Getting up - but careful not to wake up Flame - he walked over to where Commander Fern was talking to her warriors.

"Alright so we need to start gathering as much resource as we can, mostly wood and stone, though we need to be careful with the - Red! Glad you could join us." She looked from Red to the warriors, but he just shook his head.

"I'll let you handle this. You seem to be doing a good job anyways."

Fern nodded, then continued. "As I was saying, we need to be careful with the stone. We need to get it into a precise shape, so only chisel if you're sure -"

"Actually, about that..." Red interrupted, with an apologetic glance at Fern. "We could probably use fire to melt down the stone, then put it into a mold. It would be more efficient than meticulously carving each stone by hand." The warriors nodded, Fern included.

Leaving them to work on how they would carry the logs and stone, he moved on to where Silver, Jack, and a bleary-eyed Flame were sitting and talking. Silver was in the middle of saying something when Red came within earshot, but quieted before he could hear what about. Flame looked a little nervous.

"Hey guys. What's up?" he asked as he approached, but no one said a word. "Is there something wrong?" Still no answer. "Okay..." Slowly, he turned around and started to walk away.