Extra Army Eyes | Red Army OC {discontinued}

Distraction

Pushing open the double doors, the General was met with the cafeteria. There were already a few fifty people there eating breakfast. Half of them were in groups, chatting about the latest gossip or greeting their friends. Katie hesitantly grabbed a tray and received her food, finally taking a seat at one of the empty tables. She picked at her eggs and bacon, quietly observing the soldiers around the unusually large room.

She sat silently, staring mindlessly at her eggs, the yolk pouring out and dripping onto her plate. She kept thinking about her nightmare, it seemed to lurk at the edge of her mind, ready to frighten her again. Despite this being a sign of weakness, she attempted to not let it surface, she must remain strong and contained.

Eating, she began noticed her arm start to burn up and shake. Glaring at her twitching hand, she dropped her fork onto the tray and quickly caressed her arm, trying to squeeze out the flames. She was oddly calm about it, maybe frustrated. This would happen often, and the pain would annoy her at times. Inhaling deeply, she pulled off her hand and picked up her fork with her right hand and continued eating.

Even with all noisy and loud voices that bounced around the cafeteria, she heard her name being called behind her. Turning her shoulder, she was met with a male walking towards her. She managed to instantly recognize him; it was the other General she spoke to the night of the announcement. The brunet plopped on the seat next to her and placed down his tray, glancing over to her.

"Hey K.A." He grinned. Katie quickly noted that Brandon had longer sleeves on his uniform and his name tag was silver unlike before. The color of his tag pointed to the fact that he is now a lower rank, golden name tags are usually given to a General or slightly lower ranks like a Colonel. She also spotted a golden clip that was on his red belt around his waist, meaning he was partnered. Katie had forgot to put her's on before, she hadn't touched it after her last partners death.

"Oh hey. Katie is fine." She replied, her eyes returning back to her plate of bacon and buttered toast. 

"Alright Kate."She grunted silently in her throat, for some strange reason; she never liked being called Kate. Out the corner of her eye, she saw him shove an entire piece of bacon in his mouth using his knife. "We never really caught up did we?" At this point, she could finally tell that he had a thick Australian accent. She felt a little more comfortable knowing that.

"Sorry, I was busy doing some paperwork." She lied, pushing her bacon onto her fork and taking a small bite.

"Its fine mate." The male inhaled another piece of meat as a pause. "Guess what?" Brandon asked, tearing his glaze to the General, chewing down his meal. It caught Katie off guard because he spoke so casually to her, as if she was already considered a friend of his.

"What?" She stared over, locking her eyes onto his blue ones, watching him gobble his buttered toast.

"I gave up my position." He poked out his chest, grabbing onto the silver name tag and pulling it towards the female. She looked at it shine in the light. 

"Why?" Katie questioned, glaring up from the tag. Although she already knew he de-ranked by studying him; she didn't know why he did it. By the type of person he was, she figured he did it because of the responsibilities. 

"It wasn't fun. I wanted to, ya' know, boss people around but I didn't think it involved so much paperwork and chores."He hummed to himself, placing his eggs onto his toast and biting down into it. Glancing away, she put her fork down and fiddle with her knife in her slightly trembling left hand.

"You thinking being a private is better?" Katie replied. The private nodded, strangely able to finish his food in a short period of time.

"There are so many wonderful people in this rank. They seem so alive unlike everyone up top. I mean- I'm not saying your emotionless but-" The fast eater sucked in air between his teeth and paused but ended up not saying anything else.

"Some people take their job too seriously, I guess." Katie shrugged, yawning soundlessly. Brandon raised a concerned brow and glanced over to her.

"Didn't get enough sleep?" He questioned. The General shook her head in response, adjusting her eyes to her left arm. She wasn't able to get much sleep since she was working on a project up until three thirty.

"I got plenty, I'm just exhausted." She untruthfully said, rubbing her eyes to try and force her eyes to focus. 

"Oh, alright." His black sunglasses, that were sitting on top of his head, fell down onto his nose, causing him to pause suddenly. Brandon looked over to Katie's tray and pointed to the untouched toast on her plate. "You gonna eat that?" He asked, staring at the General through his glasses.

"No, you can have it." She offered. The private pushed his sunglasses back up and snatched the cooked slice of bread. Brandon soon noticed that Katie was staring at something other than him.

"What'ca looking at?" The male was strangely able to chug down his toast within a matter of seconds, it seemed like an ability of his. Katie turned her nose to his and hummed to herself. She didn't notice she was blankly staring at the distance.

"Nothing." After some hesitation, she grabbed onto her tray and began to stand up. "Thanks for the catch up but I should be going." She glanced over to him as he twisted his head to looked back at her.

"Alright mate, see you around." He replied, throwing a finger gun at her and a smirk.

"You too." She nodded and left. Returning her tray and plate to the right place, she headed to the exit. Even though she came to the cafeteria to clear her mind, she felt a little bit better with Brandon accompanying her while she ate.

Leaving, she headed back to her dorm.