Children's Draft

Chapter 18 (Part Two)

(Gavin's PoV)

    My legs ached. We had been walking all day.

    "When can we take a break?" Tristan asked.

    "Nightfall," Sgt. Blake replied without even looking back. He had answered that question numerous times today.

    I groaned. "I wish I was in Lt. Jason's group."

    "You guys need to focus," Holly hissed. "Offensive fighting within enemy territory is much more dangerous. You should always be on guard."

    "Oh come on," I sighed. "What guerrillas are gonna want to mess with us? There's like a dozen of us."

    "Maybe one with 13 bullets," Holly remarked.

    As we kept walking my patience was growing even more worn out than my leg muscles. "Where are we even going?"

    "Do you ever stop complaining?" Holly's glare narrowed in on me.

    Tristan scoffed at her. "Oh, don't tell me you're not in pain."

    "Of course I am," she retorted. "I just don't feel the need to advertise it every five minutes."

    "I think we're all just tired since we haven't really done any exercise since Basic Training," Landon tried to explain.

    Tristan paused in thought for a moment. "It's hard to believe that was almost a year and a half ago."

    That statement resonated with me. We were taken away last February and it was already mid July of this year. I felt a drop of rain. "Figures," I muttered. Within the next half hour, it was pouring. It was currently what Justin called "monsoon season" again.

Holly looked down and sighed in annoyance. Her white dress was becoming rather see-through.

Thinking quickly, Landon unzipped his jacket and handed it to her. "You need it more than I do."

"I'll be fine," Holly said somewhat stuttering.

"Take it," Landon offered again. "We don't need Kent going crazier."

After a moment, Holly reluctantly took the jacket and put it on. It was maybe a couple of sizes big for her.

    Landon was probably doing himself a favor too. The humidity was making multiple layers even hotter.

    "We just won't tell Sgt. Blake," Landon whispered to her.

    Tristan elbowed me and made a mocking kissing face. I couldn't help but laugh.

    Holly turned back. "What?" she said through gritted teeth.

    Tristan and I looked away from each other. "Nothing," we said simultaneously.

    Holly finished zipping up the jacket, still glaring at us.

    The rain didn't let up, however that didn't stop Sgt. Blake, so there was just more walking.

(Logan's PoV)

    Everything was much more relaxed without Sgt. Blake around. I mean sure, we were still in a war zone, but with only Lt. Jason to supervise, even Justin couldn't help but feel a little less tense.

    He and I had found a dry spot underneath some trees and he was trying to teach me how to play chess. He drew a checkerboard outline in the dirt and small symbols to represent the pieces, swiping and redrawing whenever we moved. I wasn't very good at the game.

    "So the pawns can move diagonally?" I asked.

    "Only when they're taking a piece," he corrected. "Which you have no opportunity to do at the moment."