[IC] This Means War

[liah]

"Close your eyes really tight. If you believe in yourself, you might just be able to teleport." I joked, smirking at him. I could hear my stomach start to growl. I was sure the whole camp could hear it. "Hopefully it will only take us about five or so more minutes to get there, 'cause I'm tired of walking too."

[natcat]

I snorted and shook my head again. "Okay, very funny." I rolled my eyes before I heard Daisy's stomach growl and then smirked. "Maybe we should pick up the pace."

No more than five minutes later, just as Daisy had predicted, we arrived at the food hall. The cloudy sky had turned black and the few street lights that were dotted around this camp turned on as I reached out to grab the door handle and pulled the door open, letting Daisy go through first. "Ladies first." I said nodding to the door, one arm still supporting my body as I breathed hard through my aching chest. We had picked up the pace, and despite the throbbing ache it had caused, I was too hungry to really think about anything else.

[liah]

"Thanks." I said with a smile as I walked through the door. I was greeted by an abundance of smells of whatever was cooking. "Goodness, that smells terrific." I looked back at Sam then towards the short line to the food. "I wonder what they're serving?" I let the way to the food line and tried to peek over the counter. I couldn't see what they'd be serving us. "Can you see anything?" I asked, Sam. My stomach growled even louder than before.

[natcat]

Once we reached the line for our dinner, I put one hand down on the counter beside us, leaning onto it in my fatigue. "No, I can't see anything." I said after I'd tried to look ahead at what was being served. "But it does smell great, I wonder what the special occasion is." I half joked, curious because the other time we'd had dinner here, we'd had mush on a plate. So nice smelling food, was generally a good but interesting sign.

[liah]

I glanced behind me at Sam to see him leaning on the counter. He looked tired, but I wouldn't mention it. "Oh look!" I nodded as we neared the front. "Looks like they have some steak." I paused. "I can't tell what else they have though. Probably some fries or something. But it still smells great." I was handed a blue plastic tray and continued down the line. "Steak, shrimp, fries, vegetables..." I trailed of, naming everything I could see.

[natcat]

Taking the tray I was handed, I followed Daisy down the line and stared happily at the food laid out before us. "I'll take ten of everything please." I said setting the tray down in front of me, sliding it along the counter edge as we moved forwards. "You reckon it's the General's birthday?" I asked Daisy, leaning forwards to whisper over her shoulder making sure no one else heard us. "It could be the only reason that actually makes sense. You know, why were being served a gourmet dinner."

[liah]

"It might be?" I replied. "Or maybe their fattening us up to send us back out to the Jaxlors." I whisperd. "I don't know. I guess we'll find out soon, huh?" I looked him in the eyes then turned back to the woman serving up food. I got a steak, shrimp, and vegetables. I wanted fries too, but I didn't want to look greedy. As I stepped out of line, I heard something.
"Do you hear that?" I asked. "It's music. What the hell?" I raised a brow, and looked around the room. "What's going on?"

[natcat]

I smiled in thanks to the woman serving me my food, a little bit of everything, and then turned to follow Daisy to a table. Instead, I saw that she had stopped and was looking about the room. "What? Did you say music?" I asked in confusion, as I listened for whatever she could hear. Not understanding, or just not hearing what she heard, I looked over the room at the faces of people sitting down eating their dinner. They seemed to be alert, hearing something as well, glancing around just as Daisy had been. "I'm confused." I muttered and looked down at my tray, stomach rumbling and ready to eat.

[liah]

"Yeah, me too." I huffed, still cautiously looking around the room. This was weird.I'd never heard of anything like this happening at any of the bases before. "Let's just go eat." I nodded over to a table that only had a few people sitting at it. Most of the other tables were full or only had one seat available. It would be hard to find a place to eat if we didn't sit now. Once we reached our table, I sat down and pulled out a seat for Sam, just to make things a little easier for him. Ignoring the music, I unwrapped the napkin from around my utensils and began to cut my steak. Around us, I could hear the other soldiers questioning what was going on. It seemed to me like no one knew why we were having this gourmet dinner.

[natcat]

I shrugged gently and followed Daisy to a table, smiling shyly in thanks when she pulled out two chairs, one for each of us. Placing my tray on the table, I sat down and picked up my knife and fork, cutting everything up before digging in. I almost groaned, the food tasted so good I tried not to shove it all in my mouth at once, instead taking small bites, savouring what could be the one and only meal like this we'd have here. "What do you reckon that was all about?" I asked Daisy, joining in with the chatter amongst us.

[liah]

"I have no clue." I said between bites, covering my mouth with my hand, hiding any exposed food I was chewing. I cut the tails of the shrimp off and shoved one in my mouth. It was so good I almost didn't want to eat it all. I wanted to save some for later. But I knew I couldn't. Shoving another bite in, I sat back and rested a hand on my stomach. "Maybe they just want to do something nice for us. I mean, we are risking our asses for them." I ate some more.

[natcat]

I raised an eyebrow at her. "If they cared that much about us they'd be doing this for every meal, rather than the slop they serve. And the accommodation would probably be a lot better." I said with a tilt of my head before popping a fry into my mouth, savouring the salty flavour as I leant an elbow on the table.
Glancing around the room again, I noticed everyone had quickly lost interest in the music that continued to surround us and concentrated heavily on their mouth watering meals, most of their plates stacked high with different foods. "If they can do it once, they sure can do it again. Especially the music."

[liah]

"To be honest, I don't care for the occasion of the meal. I'm just happy we're being fed real food. It's the closest thing I've had to a home cooked meal since I got drafted." I took a bite of my steak. I tried so hard not to just scarf all of my food down, but it wasn't easy. Everyone else was doing it, so why couldn't I? For a few minutes, we focused on our food. As I popped a shrimp in my mouth, a voiced came through a loud speaker.

"Excuse me? Is this thing on?" Someone tapped on the mic a few times, fiddling around with the cord, making the speakers screech. Everyone in the room cringed at the sound, most dropping their utensils on their plates to cover their ears. "Hello, I'm Sgt. Don." A man spoke. "I'm here to congratulate you on all of your brave work here." Silence began to fill the room but was quickly interrupted by a dry cough from one of the soldiers. "I hope you're all enjoying your meal. It's from The General and I. " He nodded off to the General who stood at the back of the food hall.

I turned towards Sam, raising a brow, wondering what was going on. "So this is a 'thank you' dinner?." I whispered. Everything seemed too good and I wasn't quite sure what to expect next. I didn't trust it.

[natcat]

I looked up with a wince as the speaker screeched, grabbing everyone's attention to the front of the room where a man stood with a microphone. I frowned as he spoke and turned to gesture at the General.
"Not sure, it doesn't seem like it." I murmured in response to Daisy's whisper.
I sat still, my fork in my right hand lingering over my plate as we all waited for some sort of explanation, one that we'd all been waiting for ever since we had arrived.
Were they shutting the camp down and decided to feed us generously so we wouldn't be too mad? Or were they sending us all out on a suicide mission, one last delicious meal before our deaths. I didn't know, wasn't sure if I wanted too. Either way, I had a bad feeling.

[liah]

The Sgt cleared his throat and continued to speak. "I have a special mission for you all." A nervous smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. "You all will be going to the front lines to fight." Everyone in the room either let out a gasp or groan. Others were completely silent. I dropped my fork on my plate, letting it cling against the tray. I could swear my heart stopped. "You'll have a little less than a week to get ready. This camp is also, hereby on lock down. No one will be leaving until the battle. Anyone who tries to make a run for it will be incarcerated." He finished. A wave of protest and complaints from the soldiers followed his speech as he left the stage.

"They're sending us to be slaughtered!" I said in disbelief. "So this is our last meal?" I huffed. I couldn't believe it. They were sending us to be killed.

[natcat]

I sat still, a look of shock plastered across my face, staring at this man who thought he had the right to send hundreds of soldiers out to die. To fight and die in a war that we didn't know the half of. I tightened my hand on my fork. One week. I looked across at the General who stood solemnly, his hands behind his back as he took the brunt of the shouts and anger from the soldiers.
"They can't be serious." I muttered.
I immediately thought about what Daisy had said to me just a couple of days ago, before we were sent on the rescue mission, when I'd convinced her that it was safer we stay in the camp, that it was easier than sneaking out and making it on our own. If we had made that decision we could have planned and packed and been out of here a long time ago, if only I wasn't so cowardly.

[liah]

"What are we gonna do?" I looked down at my lap then back up at the room full of angry soldiers. "Sam, we can't go out there." I looked him in the eyes. "Especially you. You're hurt." I could feel myself about to start panicking. I ran a hand down the side of my face and took a deep breath. I didn't want my breathing to get out of hand, then I'd end up needing my inhaler. "What happens if we- What about my parents. I- I can't write them. And my sister? I-" I sighed, pushing my tray away from me. I didn't want to eat anymore. I'd completely lost my appetite and so did half of the soldiers in the room.

[natcat]

I looked at Daisy as she began panicking and pushing her tray away from her. "Hey." I said letting my fork drop to my plate, the clang of it barely heard over the noisy room. "Relax, we'll figure something out." Reaching out, I placed my hand on her shoulder and gave it a squeeze, trying to calm her down. I could feel her heavy breaths as I looked her in the eye.
"We'll figure something out, I promise. We won't be on that front line, not if I can help it." I told her gently, trying to reassure her, despite the anxious feelings in my chest.

[liah]

"We don't have a way out of here. If we try to leave, they'll throw us in prison and I don't want to go to prison." Worry laced every word that escaped my mouth. "We're stuck. Completely stuck." I looked up at Sam. I knew he was trying to calm me down. To assure me that everything was going to be ok. But I had a feeling it wouldn't be. "We could try to leave once they send us to fight. They don't control us once we leave. We just have to survive." I spoke quietly, but just loud enough for Sam to hear me.

[natcat]

"We can make a plan later." I said as I nodded at her, squeezing her shoulder again, letting her know that we'd be okay. Not a minute later, a soldier caught my eye from behind Daisy as he jumped up and marched over to the Sargent, a look of murder in his eyes.
"You're sending us to die! You're a murderer!" He yelled as he reached for him, grabbed his shirt and shook him like a rag doll. The Sgt stood in the soldiers grip and stared at him in shock, obviously irritating the man with his silence, the soldier screamed in anger and suddenly attacked him. Punches were thrown and guards I hadn't seen before jumped up to help pull them apart.
"God, he's not even going to make it to the front line." I said about the soldier as I watched the room erupt all over again.