Meet the Mailman

Mailman Meets Sniper

"Aw, c'mon, y/n! Just sleep indoors!"

Scout had been vainly coaxing you to get in for the past 20 minutes, but you weren't having it. "Thanks, but no thanks."

"The couch is open-!"

You huffed, shifting around things in the back of your broken down mail truck. "I know, Scout, but it's like I told you- I have some standards. I'm not about to sleep in the same household that houses nine men doing shifty illegal work! I don't want to get tied into anything."

Scout rolled his eyes like you were being the unreasonable one. "Like one night here is gonna loop you into somethin'..."

"One night changes a lot of things for people!" You defended your case and leaned back the passenger seat as far as it would go. "Besides, this is a cozy set up, and when the sun goes down it will be nice and cool."

Scout looked like he was about to say more but then a smile crossed his face instead like 'you will be in for something' "Alright...Night then, Mailman..." He said, gave one wave and went inside.

Weirdo. You didn't know what he was thinking, but he knew something you didn't...
But whatever it was, it was not going to sway you.

Before this, you had been talking more with Engie. He looked over your truck, did some tweaks internally, and was planning to get the rest of it done tomorrow. He moved it over to the side of the base so it was out of the way of the driveway...not like anyone else besides maybe Sniper would be coming.

Between the sandwich Heavy made and the fried chicken Scout and you ate, you were fine as far as supper goes. The sun had gone down slowly over the mountains, and as you watched the rocks turn that deep beautiful watermelon red and the sky light up more brilliant than any artwork, you wondered why you didn't watch the sunset more often. There was a very calming element to it that made it....meditative. It gave you the chance to introspect, but not enough to where you let yourself tear yourself apart in your mind like you usually wound up doing.

You got cozy in your seat- well - as cozy as you could get - and let the hospital-quality blankets Medic gave you cover up your shoulders down to your toes. Pyro had even lent you a unicorn plushie and bear to sleep with and Demoman gave you....you weren't sure what it was, but there was a pungent smell of way too many mixed alcohols and something metallic. He added, "This'll knock ye right out." You were not going to drink that, but you also didn't want to be rude or anything so it was sitting in the back of your truck...at least you couldn't smell it from there now that you double boxed it in two empty postal packages.

You weren't too sure what the temperature was, but when they say that the desert temperature drops at nightfall, the temperature really dropped. The high that day was nearly touching 100 degrees Fahrenheit, but now it was damn near in the 50s. That's what it felt like at least.

There were two types of hospital blankets Medic provided: one was thin and did next to nothing about the chilly breeze, the other was much thicker and warm, but shorter than the thin one. You had the thin one wrapped around you, head to toe, and the thicker one about at your chest down to your toes. This was an okay set up...

Until the wind came.

You hadn't slept outside before in New Mexico; even if you were in your vehicle, the door was old and creaky, and didn't shut all the way, and when it died earlier the window slid down just enough. They were two small factors, but the wind coming from the mountains shook your little box with a fury. You knew that the winds that came from the mountain were strong, but it wasn't until you were trying to sleep 'in the elements' that you realized just how strong.