natcat

This Means War

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.

This Means War

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.

This Means War

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."

This Means War

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.

This Means War

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.

This Means War

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."

This Means War

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.

This Means War

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.

This Means War

I laughed, ignoring the pain it caused me, and shook my head. "Well we better hurry up or your voice might drop even lower and you'll be stuck sounding like a man forever." I joked, laughing again. I knew the mess hall wasn't too far off from our cabins, but when I was this hungry, it felt like miles. "Do you think there's anyway of just teleporting ourselves to the food hall? I'm already sick of walking."

This Means War

"No, no. I'm coming. I could use some fresh air." I said as I finished pulling on my shoes. Standing up, I smiled at Daisy and put an arm around my ribs, it was becoming almost natural, walking around as if I was holding myself together, simply as an attempt to stop the pain. "Let's go." I led the way to the door way and pushed it open, nodding for Daisy to continue through ahead of me.
"There better be some food left over, or I'm probably going to hurt someone." I said matter-of-factly raising my eyebrows in Daisy's direction as we walked down the street together. "And hopefully there's something slightly decent on the menu tonight."