A/N: In lieu of an author introduction or a note, here's a joke.
Q. What did the orphan get for Christmas?
A. Nothing.
Merry Christmas!
After we met up with Tearju we drove back to base. Our 'base' was a military run camp set up outside the city in a grassy knoll. This used to be the site of a campground, though I had never visited it. It provided enough security to keep us safe whilst keeping close enough contact with Saipan. I felt myself dozing off as we came back through the three security clearances. As usual, I had to play cool as I was being stared down by overworked and soldiers. While Tearju got our papers and id's ready to enter back into camp I noticed large fire trucks passing through to the city. They were stylised in military colours and boarded with thin metal sheets to protect themselves and the vehicles from the zombies. I gulped, I knew exactly where they were going. But it wasn't their appearance that scared me, it would be my Captain's reaction to this incident.
How can I explain it? Well you know how gruesome the fatalities are in those Mortal Kombat games? Well picture that times a trillion.
The Captain's face was fuming. He was yelling so loud that I could feel the windows vibrate and crack. Even his spit that hit my skin stun. You know those cheesy 80's cop movies, where the chief bursts his lungs at the young renegade cop who doesn't play by the rules, but always gets the job done? Well this was kind of like that, except it was me and Yui, cowering in our seats like the little bitches that we were. And the captain had absolutely every reason to yell at us.
"Two whole blocks, seventeen homes, all burnt down! And how many people did you see die?" he screams at us.
We were silent, refusing to make direct eye contact with him.
"Look for survivors first, kill only if necessary. How hard is that for you two to understand?"
We stayed silent.
"Look at me you little grime-soaked shingle-headed maggots!"
We threw our heads up, the seats rocked with the movement. As a 'disciplined Christian' this man refused to swear, so in hindsight, his colourful range of insults were pretty hilarious.
"You go in, playing Dirty Harry and think you can save the day? Avenge some random kid you didn't even know, who still turned out to be infected. We are the army, we decide who's a threat to public safety and whose not. You are just two volunteer cadets on a simple search and alert 'TO RESCUE'. Not carry out any rescues, not fight anyone or at least kill anyone still living! You committed murder! Murder, kids. If it wasn't for the fact we are so goddamn low on forces, you'd be locked up with the rest of the loonies. Now what do say for yourself?"
We stayed silent for a moment, until I felt my lips moving, almost autonomously, "We understood the house was a threat to the safety of others, as proven by the murder of the young boy. We attempted at a civil engagement with the coordinators of the house. However, they had immediantly opened fire on us, forcing us into a tango." (I hoped that was the correct use of the term 'Tango') "After engaging in an assault, the house emitted a potentially highly dangerous and flammable gas throughout the air. We believed it was toxic as we had seen some hostiles dressed hazard suits and fleeing the area. After several moments of clear exposure to the gas, hostiles began to suffer sudden…death-like symptoms…and as you know, the large explosion was caused by flame sparking the gas. We don't know yet what that gas was, but if we didn't discover it then, it could have either been used against the infected population, potentially severely altercating our grasp on the city. Or this chemical could have posed an even greater threat. They could have targeted us."
After speaking, I felt all the energy drain away from me and I fell deep into my seat.
The captain was shocked, his upper lip twitched, he himself couldn't tell whether he was impressed that a mere '4th Stance Frontline Research Civilian Volunteer" (or as the harsher nickname went, 'Frontline Bait) would deduct and evaluate the situation justly... or was even more pissed off. He reclined in his chair.
"Are you saying…that by engaging with the hostile forces, you two…prevented a biohazardous attack on our defence force? Are you saying you think you stopped a terrorist plot?" he asked
"Though I do not believe I am at liberty to give a proper analysis on the views of other survivors living in the city…its possible for some survivors to have more…negative views on our army."
"Really?" the captain spoke in utter disbelief.
"Um…yes, Captain" I reply, reverting back to my shrunken state.
"Well…hmmm" he mumbled. He took a deep breath and tried to relax. "Although I would say that would be unlikely, it's already all too frequent that our forces are attacked and stock piles are raided. In the few weeks since this whole disaster began, we've seen all sorts of crazy bull-stuffings. I'd say domestic terrorism isn't even the craziest thing I've heard or seen of. But it'd be in my top '10 craziest bullshit pulled on me' list."
I simply nodded, Yui had her tiny fists balled up and shaking in her lap. Her hair still covering her face.
"I'm going to suspend your outsider mission permits for now, but you can still work around the base. Miss Kotegawa as you have undergone basic sniper training, you will work guard tower B tonight. Mr Yuuki. We'll find you something to do, otherwise stay at bay-"
"-BECAUSE WE'RE JUST PEOPLE, WE AREN'T BIG POMPOUS ARMY MEN LIKE YOU. SIR!" Yui belts out. She's clearly oblivious to the conflict already resolved.
The captain and I stare at her.
"…As I was going to say before, you're both dismissed" he says, moustache and upper lip still twitching violently.
"Yes sir! She will perform her duty tonight, sir!"
I took Yui by the hand and walk out of the office briskly. Then we bolted out of the building before the captain changed his mind and could give us an even worse punishment.
The mosquitos were buzzing loudly around the street lights. The crossroad aside us was still busy with people. The fort, mainly consisting of makeshift buildings mad of wood and canvas, would all flutter when a draft rolled by. Yui was mortified, I had to check that she wasn't in shock. Luckily this wasn't the case.
I notice we're still holding hands, my nervousness gets the better of me and I throw away her hand rather than what I should've done and let go of it gently.
"Hey Yui, are you okay?" I ask
She doesn't respond.
"Y…Yui?"
"Huh?" her eyes spark up and look at me, as if she were sleeping and I just woke her up.
"…are you okay?"
"y…yeah. I just…I dunno"
"….uh, okay"
"Rito" Yui grasps my hand. My heart skips a beat or two.
"Yes?" I reply, I feel sweat seeming on my forehead.
"Rito…we…just before. We killed people. I mean, we just murdered a group of... They didn't even do anything…and you're acting like nothing happened…its all too weird to me. It's like I'm in a nightmare. I just…I just don't know how to react to this"
I analyse what she said, and thought of what to say.
"Well. First of all, they did do something. They killed a child, were going to kill another, and then were going to kill us. Yui, they were bad people, you even said it yourself back in that neighbourhood. They murdered children"
"B-b-but they were carriers! T-they needed to die!"
"Do you want to sit somewhere?-"
"-No! I want to talk about this now! Right here!"
She's still holding my hand, but now she's hurting me, though, not enough to emit a reaction out of me.
"Well Yui, carriers or not, they killed one child before they even knew they were infected. That means they didn't want to let them inside their home. They refused to let those kids, young kids, who wouldn't survive in the outside. Especially during the night. That was cowardly, weak, hell I can't even describe how low their actions were. Besides, like what was said in the captain's office, they had some weird smoke coming from the house, it blew up the neighbourhood. It could have been worse, it could have been used on us."
I see Yui does the same analysing study on my reaction.
I stare at her dead in her eyes, "Yui, they deserved to die."
She lets go of my hand.
"Rito…you've changed" her voice starts to break, "You're not who you used to be…The Rito I knew never would hurt anyone. Ever."
I break eye contact and fall silent. I feel a depressing weight bear down on me. Its like the air grew ten pounds. Was this the realisation that I've became a cold blooded nihilist? People deserving to die? People killing kids? Yeah. Like I said before. I was desensitized, but maybe Yui still wasn't. She still had carried the weight of killing what once was living upon her.
"I suppose…" Yui breaks the depressing silence, "I guess…we had bikes and weapons, it would be likely they would have tried to kill us for our resources if they had the chance." She says.
"Yeah…exactly" I reply, my voice has weakened
We stand in the street in silence once more.
"But how can you just get over it so easily Rito? Just…killing another person" she asked
I ponder and finally say, "I guess…I just keep on pushing the thought to the back of my head and fill the rest with whatever worry I have at the present"
"But doesn't it ever come back?"
I place a comforting hand on my friend's shoulder and look at her with tired, red eyes, "Every single night".
She flashes the kind of smile you give off when you want to laugh, even if everything's completely hopeless, "Me too, me too" she says.
I slapped a mosquito away from my hand.
"Then…what can I do to make it stop?" she asked
"I have no idea. Therapy, I guess?"
"Yeah sure, I'll book an appointment-OH WAIT, we're in the middle of a fucking zombie apocalypse!"
I paused, "…I suppose they'll be hard to find then"
Yui stares at me with an eye twitching for a moment, I'm not sure if she's about to attack me or burst out laughing. Luckily, it's the latter.
"I suppose they'll be busy as well!" she laughs
I try to laugh on too, "Money's probably worthless, maybe we'll be using bottle caps"
She laughs harder, "You're lucky I got that reference"
We slowly calm down, passer-by's walk on but not without a quick glance at two idiots laughing at therapy. It looks like we've probably gone mad. Honestly, we probably did.
It seems like we're having a touching moment, until, "Ahh!" I yell and slap my neck
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, just a mosquito" I say and rub my neck, "So what are you going to do now?"
"I've got tower duty tonight, graveyard shift"
"Ooh, fun" I joke
"Yeah, not fun" she retorts, "What about you?"
"I'm going to visit Momo"
That small smile leaves her face.
"Oh" she says
"You can come if you like"
"…I think that's for the best"
We break eye contact again.
"B-Besides, it's better if I come with you, you'll need someone to cry on. You're big on that. Crying." She speaks slyly.
"Me? Crying? You just want to see her to give yourself a reason to have a big sob, otherwise everyone will just remember how much of bubbling wuss you are!" I retort.
We always tended to do this, have some deep meaningful or super depressing conversation and then end it off with a few stupid laughs to kill the tension.
"I'll bring the tissues" she says
"I'll bring tissues, for your FACE!" I yell
"I'll bring the tissues for your face! So you can wipe that little bitch face of yours"
"Oh bringing out the heavy stuff. The big whacks at me. What are you, like 12?"
"Your face is 12!"
"Really?...thank you, I like to take care of myself. I like to look younger"
"…d-damn" she mutters
"Unlike you" I cast a cheeky, monkey-like grin at her.
"You bastard!" she screams and tries to whack my arm.
She yells at me as we laugh and run down the street. We laugh now because seeing Momo is not going to be fun. Definitely not at all…
It was just past 6:30 in the afternoon now, the clinic was still open for visitors. We found Momo in the same place that she had been since the massacre, in her room in the mental care facility. Since the attack, she had been stuck in an emotionally-induced, traumatised state. All she ever did was sleep on her bed or sit in a corner muttering to herself. Muttering pure gibberish. After seeing many friends and her own sisters horrible murdered right before her very eyes, I'd understand why this happened. Either way, no amount of drugs had worked, although she had shown a few signs of opening up to Tearju-sensei. Although all that amounted to was actually looking at her in silence. It makes sense too, Tearju's has always been about as quiet as Momo is now.
We passed Nurse Mikado on our way in. As an alien herself, Mikado new the Devilukian body very well. It was almost identical to a human, with the inclusion of a long black tail. This tail's tip was shaped like the ace of spades and its feel was similar to that of a reptile, yet it had no scales. After talking to the Nurse, she deducted it was some mental illness with a name I couldn't pronounce. Nurse Mikado stated that their psyche worked almost exactly to humans, so it was easier to diagnose her.
Yui and I knocked on the door and entered. Even though she wouldn't answer either way, it seemed right to keep up the formalities.
She was sitting in the corner with her back to us. The clinic had changed her out of her school uniform, she was wearing a loose fitting shirt and long grey pants – something easy and comfortable to wear.
"Hey there Momo" I spoke gently
We crouched down and I softly pat her on the back. She stops talking and remains quiet. Like an animal playing dead.
"How have you been?"
No answer.
"We've been well, slowly working our way back up to your house, we might even make it tomorrow. We'll can make it to Celine and…her babysitter" said Yui
No answer.
"Her babysitter's name is Chihiro" I whisper to Yui.
She nods, "Y-Yeah we can find Celine and Chihiro and we can bring them back to base…do you…do you remember Celine? Y'know little plant girl? Adorable…pudgy face?" Yui adds.
No answer.
"Pudgy face?" I ask.
"Yeah her face is…kinda…pudgy…never mind" says Yui
"It's all good" I reply and flashed a smile. Yui was great for emotional support, after all, coming here with me was a brave enough thing to do.
I find myself wrapping my arms around her, my face buried in her shoulder. Momo was always cheery, a tad manipulative, but always well meaning. This was not her. The Momo I knew was gone…dead almost. She was lifeless. A hollow shell of herself. I couldn't handle it anymore.
Yui's wrapped her arms around me and slowly pulls me away from the girl and into her arms.
"Now, now. We don't want to hurt her." she says
Was I hugging her too hard? I thought as Yui squeezed me tight. I shivered nervously in tears.
"You're not so tough now, aren't ya?" she tries to act playful, but even her voice sound cracked.
We embrace for a little while, I have no idea how long time has passed, but surely it's time to rest.
We get up and leave, but before I do I give Momo a peck on her forehead.
We exit in silence. I then try to break this horrible, depressing silence by wiping my mouth.
"Yuck! Her hair was really oily!" I exclaim in a half-hearted attempt at lighting the mood.
Yui tries to let out a little laugh in sadness. Just to follow along.
We leave the clinic booth and head down the road, away from the lights and into the darkness.
Momo was still sitting in her corner. After we had left, she soon stopped the mumbling. Her brain was trying to reconnect the wires and comprehend what happened. Which was the same thing she had been trying to do every day now. She looked up, the moonlight shined down through her window. Momo recognized the moon. Space. Her home planet laid out millions of light years away. But she did not recognize anything else.
But with a single thought peaking in her mind, she spoke.
"Ri…to…"
I remember the days after the massacre. Yui was a blubbering mess, hell, everyone was. But I never felt the most pain of seeing anyone cry than when Yui did. She was not only a student, she was the president of the ethics committee. Her role made her feel like she had a place in the school. She lost contact with her family, her friends, her technology and she lost the school, and to the mind of a teenage girl, she lost everything.
It was now past midnight. I was resting on my bed (which were barracks shaped like pavilions with basic fold out beds and rows of curtains squared around us and gave us some privacy. The curtains were a luxury I never expected the army to provide). I felt a tap at my foot and I leaned up. It was a shadowy figure looming over the end of my bed.
The soft voice of a kind female spoke to me,
"Oi, Rito you cunt, wake the fuck up!"
"Huh?" I mumbled, half-asleep.
"Come with me, I've got tower guard duty and need someone to fill in for the role for the prick who fuck'n bailed on me" quote the quaint voice.
I stared at her for a sec before picking myself up, "Sup' Yui"
"Lets go" she said
I slipped on my boots and we walked towards a guard tower, "Hey Yui, random question, did you ever spend any time in Australia by any chance?"
"Nah, the fuck are you going on about mate?"
"Oh okay, nevermind"
"And shut yer trap before the other guards see us, I'm still meant to be at the tower. Now walk faster before I show your back side the rough end of a pineapple!"
"Yes Miss Dundee" I jest
She flicks her hair back and quietly screeches at me, "Lay off the nicky-names, maaaaaaaate!"
We climbed up a tall ladder to a balcony where it lead to a small room. The room supplied several chairs, a long desk that crawled along three corners, a mini fridge and a ton of expensive look equipment that would take me years to figure out how they would work. After she locked the door, Yui bent down to a corner part of the floor. She took off her gloves and felt around the wooden planks.
"A-ha" she muttered
She grasped a fingernail over a wooden board and slowly lifted out a loose plank. She started ripping away a part of the floor.
"Oh right" she turned to me, "just keep an eye on outside, we've seen a few of those icky bastards crawling about earlier tonight. They shouldn't get too close too here though."
"Uh, sure" I confirmed. I wasn't sure what she was trying to accomplish by dissembling this guard tower but it must be important…otherwise I'd be clearly questioning her sanity.
Who knows? Maybe ripping apart infrastructure is fun?
She tug her hands deeper to pull out a large metal plate and quietly placed it on top of the wooden boards.
"Oh and help yourself to the fridge" she said, still working her way thumbing through the ground.
I opened the fridge and it was only beer.
"Uh, Yui, there's only booze here?"
"Oh...ok go ahead then"
"Wait! What?" I exclaimed, such a statement from Yui could've meant two things, she wasn't listening and was too preoccupied or she had gone off the deep end.
"Pass me one too, please. What've we got? Asahi? Red Tick Beer? Or do we just have that disgusting Australian beer we have?"
I searched the contents, all the beers were written in English, with my poor grasp of the language I was still able to read the word 'Australian' on the labels.
"Uhh, I think they're all Australian, which is the bad one?"
Yui pulled out a large silver metal box from the ground, "All of it! Bleh!"
She throws the metal plate back in lazily as well as the bottom flooring. She puts more effort into the placing the final pieces of the floor together, making it look like nothing was even there. Whatever was in the metal case, it must be expensive, or at least worth a lot to her. It was presumably a gun, which makes sense. Things, like weapons, medicine and anything useful have had a nasty habit of disappearing in this fort. It's only logical for Yui to hide her things in a place like this.
"I'm surprised you are so passive about drinking all of a sudden, Yui. You know we're both underage, why the change of heart?"
"Isn't it obvious?" she said, "the school's destroyed, so is the ethics committee. So, screw it, my ethics are gone too!"
She brought the metal case over to the desk and rested it upon and small pile of papers. She realised I was staring at her funny.
"Relax, I'm joking. Well, sort of, if you wanna drink that crap that's fine with me. For myself however, I have to keep this tower in check. Besides, its not like I'm suddenly going to join a nudist colony or anything" she laughs. She stares at me again before squinting at me, "you would like that wouldn't you?"
I turn away and try to change the subject (and hiding my blushing cheeks), "W-Well, I'm more surprised how lightly you're taking the whole…situation"
"Situation? You mean losing the committee. Well that not the biggest of problems at hand, I can live without it..." she paused with mournful grin, "But I would be lying if I said I didn't miss it"
She took a beer from the fridge and said "Screw it, I'll have one. I used to drink all the time…" She took a long, deep drink from and continued, her voice breaking just slightly, "At home. With my dad and my brother. When we watched the soccer at home."
She quickly changed topic back to the committee, "As I said, I do miss it, I really do. Hey Rito, do you know why I started that club?"
"Um, I'm not sure"
A small smile grew, less melancholic and more nostalgic, "When I came to the school, the boys ran rampant with harassing the girls. Always trying to flip our skirts and being all ecchi as usual…Of course the girls weren't any better. Caking on make-up and looking like Puerto Rican prostitutes and harassing the guys, both the ones that were into it and the ones that weren't. Of course it was likewise for the boys too."
"The boys wore make up to make them look like prostitutes?" I interrupt
"Exactly" she laughs, "So I found a group of students who wanted to help me put some respect into the school and the teachers and the principal were completely supportive. I knew very well from my first year as the president and the face of the board that I would be hated by the student population, maybe even some of the teachers. But I was fine with that, because I saw what I accomplished and how not just the school viewed itself, but the community saw us no more as a rundown dump, but as something better, we were finally teaching other kids the self-respect they desereve and could use to lead better lives-"
By this point I realised she downed half the fridge's booze supply and was completely out of it.
"-lead better lives…and shit, you know?"
I smiled. I had no recollection of seedy girls and creeper guys, so I continued pretending I had an idea as to whatever the hell she was talking about. So I responded, "You know what they say, 'Manners Maketh Man'".
"Oh come on Rito, we both know you're the most shameless of them all" she laughs
"Really now, how so?"
"You know Rito" she wiggles her eyebrows, "All the girls you always hanged out with. I know guys like you, always shameless and always ecchi."
She keeps saying 'Shameless', is she too afraid to just say 'perverted'? I wondered
"Aw what?" I rip open a beer and skull it, "The fact that I live with three alien princess….chicks?"
"Yeah! No doubt you'd be up to something shameless!"
"Honey, you don't know the freaking half of it" I mutter
"Well anyway, you're cool now", Yui grabs a desk chair and sits back, looking at me with those bright, almost mystifying eyes "I guess".
"You too…I guess" I laugh, grabbing a seat from another side of the room.
The moon was looking especially peaceful, and the silence between us was comforting. For a moment in time I forgot we were living in the midst of end of the earth.
She open the metal case, inside revealed a ton of black padding foam, pulled away from its top layer was a sniper rifle. I still wasn't up to date with all various models but I could recognize the type of gun judging by the long scope and long nozzle. It was painted in white and gold colours in the shapes of spirals.
"Whoa" I exclaimed
"You like it?" she said, "Its an M24. I haven't really found a name for it yet, I've only had it for a few days"
"And they put you up to guard this tower? With your partner gone, a mini fridge full of beer and with a gun you haven't even learned how to use properly. That really sounds like a terrible combina-"
"In Nazi Germany, near the end of the world war II-"
Nazi Germany? This explanation is going to go greeeeeaaat.
"- the nation's capital was in such despair that no longer only the men could go to war. They had to rely on the young, the weak and the old. Although of course I'm not comparing us to the Nazis but what I'm getting at is that desperate times call for desperate measures. The tower we're in now is placed at such an odd position due to hastily built infrastructure that I would only be required to use this firearm if the three guard towers in front of me were to suddenly be destroyed. In these towers in front of us, they would have either, one solider and one civilian in training, or two soldiers. So trust me, the army is doing all they can to get the best used out of its survivors without putting anyone in harm."
That shut me up for a moment, but then again…"Well okay then, but what's with the beer?"
"I stole it"
"Ah."
Yui downed her last beer. She's called herself 'a mild drinker' in the past, perhaps she got this title from an Irishman?
"Well, since as there's nothing to do, how about showing me how to work this thing?" I ask
She smiles and takes out the dissembled pieces. She showed me what each piece did and how it worked together to create the firearm. With Yui's know-how and my still-capable motor skills, we assembled her sniper rifle. She showed me the correct ways of inserting ammo, dislodging malfunctioning bullets and checking the safety switch.
"Okay now to fire" Yui begins, she gets behind me and wraps her arms around me. Well, not me, but she places my hands on the rifle and helps position in, making sure the scopes in balance. I immediately felt nervous as her soft breathing warmed up my neck and her gloved hands wrapped around my hands.
"If you're right handed, place that on the trigger. Now bring your other hand to the bottom at the front and bring the whole thing up to your armpit"
"Uh…ok, like this?"
"Yep" she said, "that's good"
She leapt back up, possible realising how awkward she may have made me feel.
"Yep! So just aim and squeeze the trigger and you're all good. Yep! Yep!" her voice shakes, though she tries to remain perky.
"Th-thanks Yui"
"Anytime!" she laughs nervously
Some time had passed when a series of bright lights and shouting came from outside in front of the gates.
"What's going on?" I say
I could see another soldier going hysterical from outside the gate. He left his jeep behind the final boom gate for entry. It was filled with civilians and injured infantry. Yui took off the scope of the sniper and used it as a telescope.
"Not sure, but judging by their body language, one guy is pleading with the other two guards. Apparently something's up" she confirms, "The crazy guy has blood on him, that's possibly why he's not allowed through the gate, he needs to go to quarantine." She added
"What can you make of the people in the jeep?" I ask
"Well some are silent, but there's some kids in the front passenger row that look really shaken up-…whoa. Okay."
"What's up?"
"The Lieutenant is here! Something must be serious if he'd be coming out at this time of night"
"Jeez, thats real comforting" I mutter
The bloodied man was given a towel to wipe up and a medic in a hazmat suit came over to take a blood sample. The man must've checked out as he and his caravan of survivors came through. However, the man followed the Lieutenant to another location. After this died down, we pretty much sat in silence for the rest of the night, occasionally sparking conversation. Yui was a pretty cool chick, she was funny, especially when drunk. We were pretty tired though, thus, the silence.
It must've been five or six now. We watched the morning of the earth. After watching that commotion a while before, I finally got the courage to finally talk about the topic I've been wanting to talk to her about all night.
"Hey Yui. I want to talk to you about something important" I said
"Whats up?" she replies
I stared at her straight and hard, "We need to go back to our homes. Or at least, I need to go back to mine"
Yui, who was leaning back in her chair with her feet on the desk, sat upright.
"Rito…I'm not sure if…" she trailed off to see me looking at her with my hardened expression. She continued, "Your family is even alive", before I had the chance to reply, she added; "Because I'm not even sure if my family is alive either".
"Then we should go soon, when we get those motorbike rights back. We can go back, just the two of us. Or with Tearuju, she could help us out!" I try to be optimistic, "Even if it's true…that they're gone…I want to get clarity from this. And…if I do find them, and they have been turned. I would prefer to…complete…their lives myself, even bury them if I have enough time, and its safe to do so of course".
Yui rested her arms together in the way she always does when she's undecided. She closes her eyes and a takes a deep breath.
"If we can get some people on board, INCLUDING the director of operations. Then MAYBE we could go" she said.
I smile, "Thank you, Yui"
"It's only because you said you wanted clarity. Well I think I'd like that too. But I'd like to be safe more than have some clarity. So we must plan this out first" she says, still in the same position.
I nodded (even though I knew she couldn't see me doing that).
"Well, that settles it than" I spoke in a strong tone, dictating that our plans had been confirmed, "We're going back home."