Just a Little Bit of Magick • ONC 2020 • ✓

Continent-Wide Prison Conditions and Friderich

The Captain took me to a cell in a base a few miles away from the radio station. The drive was completely silent; at least on my end.

The German Captain, however, gloated over my team's failure so many times, that eventually I just tuned him out, imagining instead what a future with Alex could've been like.

A large house in the country. A couple of cats. Plenty of coffee and tea houses. The simple life you know.

The truck lurched to a stop and my dreaming ended, replaced by the reality of the situation I had gotten myself into.

My relationship with Friderich was a bit worse than I would admit to William. Last time I saw him, I insulted him and we got into a bit of a fight.

But hopefully he won't remember that.

The cell they threw me in was concrete, and cold despite the summer heat. I curled up in a corner and tried to sleep. I'd need all my wits about me in the coming days.

»--«

I was woken by the sound of other prisoners getting dragged in. I sat up immediately, hands on the bars as I stared out.

Alex and Cap were being shoved into the cell opposite.

HELLS.

This is not how it's supposed to go.

They were supposed to be away and safe.

We just stared at each other until I finally broke the silence.

'So. What happened?'

Alex grimaced, 'There was an agent to be exfiltrated. We met him near that farm we sheltered in and it was all good, but then it turned out he had a tail. We split into pairs and made our own ways to the pickup point. Cap and I were just the unlucky ones who got caught.'

'But enough about us,' Cap broke in, 'How's the wound?'

It was my turn to grimace, 'The German Medic gave me some morphine and a needle and thread. More than I expected really.'

Alex's expression darkened and he folded his arms, glaring at the ceiling.

The cells were silent after that.

»--«

The weeks passed in a blue of boredom and bad food. Alex and Cap were both taken out for questioning several times, but never me. I presumed it was because I seemed to know Friderich.

Eventually we were transferred to Berlin. I slept through the train journey, knowing that I'd be meeting Friderich soon; and that I'd need all my wits about me.

»--«

The cells in Berlin were much the same as the ones in the Netherlands, concrete and cold, with bad food alongside.

We settled back into our old routine of meals and interrogations.

»--«

Friderich came a few days later with his Rolls-Royce and perfectly pressed suit. Compared to my dirty uniform, he looked like a king.

Which I'm sure was the point.

He wandered down the line of cells, ignoring the glares sent his way by various prisoners. Friderich stopped outside Alex and Cap's and stood there for a moment, a slightly puzzled look on his face.