Chapter 7
I'm baaaack! Anyone miss me? No. Fine. Anyway, thanks to those who reviewed. I'm feeling much better. Still can't believe it took 3 weeks to heal from a cold. Serves me right for refusing to see a doctor. Also, projects are almost done. I only have one and it's due at the end of this month. And spaces in the seventh chapter haven't been deleted and I think I know why. For chapters 1-6, I posted them on the app and the seventh chapter was posted on a computer. The app is messed up so that's why there's so many formatting issues. You know, I think I'm making this very complicated by first typing this chapter on my email, copying and pasting it to Microsoft, and then publishing it. Eh, well. You guys are worth the trouble.
Disclaimer: All rights go to Anthony Horowitz.
And for the first time, someone pulled him closer.
Eagle kicked a stone on the ground and complained for the tenth time, "Come on! They've got to be done talking now!"
"Shut up, Eagle!" Snake told him.
"I'm tired," he complained again.
"I thought you said you wanted to know more about Cub," Wolf said.
"Yeah, but it's not like Coyote's gonna tell us," he pointed out.
Wolf stopped walking abruptly and Eagle crashed right into him. Eagle glared at him, but Wolf ignored him and asked, "What do you mean "Coyote isn't going to tell us?"
"I mean... well, if Cub is going to tell Coyote anything, it's because he trusts him, not us. So he's definitely going to tell him to keep it a secret. And if Coyote tells us anything..."
"He'd be betraying Cub's trust," Snake finished.
"Exactly!"
"Wow," Wolf said, smirking at Eagle. "I think that's the first time I heard you say something smart. I'm so proud."
"Humph!" Eagle stalked away. "I'm sure they're done. Let's go! I'm tired." He told the others, looking over his shoulder.
Wolf and Snake quickly followed their teammate.
Back at the cabin, Coyote hugged Alex to him and simply let him cry. And it was a good few minutes before Alex's sobs reduced to sniffles and then silence. And even then, Coyote refused to let go.
Alex wrapped his arms around Coyote and looked up at him. He immediately looked back down in embarrassment.
Coyote chuckled, "You have nothing to be embarrassed about."
"You must think I'm weak," Alex whispered after a long silence.
Coyote's face softened. "No I don't. Crying doesn't make you weak." Then he added. "Being arrogant and never asking for help even when you need it makes you weak."
Alex tightened his grip on Coyote for a moment and then let go. "Thank you."
Coyote wanted to hug him again when he heard the depth of gratitude in those two words. "I'm happy to help, Cub."
Alex tried to stifle a yawn but Coyote caught it anyway. He stood up and extended his hand to Alex, saying,
"Come on. You should get some sleep. Heaven knows you need it." He muttered the last part under his breath.
Alex walked over to his bunk and laid down. Coyote pulled the thin blanket from underneath his legs and tucked him in.
"Goodnight Coyote," Alex said sleepily.
Coyote smiled and sat at the edge of Alex's bed. "Goodnight Cub. Sleep well."
He kept running his hand through Alex's messy blonde hair until the boy finally fell asleep. Coyote removed his hand and looked down at the boy fondly. His face looked relaxed and peaceful. Sudden fury pounded through his veins as he remembered the battlefield of scars that littered Alex's body. Who would do such a horrible thing to a child?
He was broken out of his reverie as the door opened and in trampled Eagle, Wolf, and Snake. He sincerely hoped they wouldn't ask him anything.
Wolf and Snake sat on their bunks but Eagle, ever the hyper one, bounded over to Alex's bed.
He took one look at Alex's peaceful face before his face broke into a grin. "Like I said before, simply adorable."
Coyote looked at Eagle and asked, quite bluntly. "Eagle? Are you gay?"
"No," Eagle said defensively. "Are you?"
"No," Coyote replied, a bit suspicious at the malicious glint in Eagle's eye.
"Really?" Eagle said, grinning triumphantly.
He walked over to Coyote's bed and pulled out a bag from underneath it. Coyote immediately tensed up. Eagle rummaged in the bag for a little bit before pulling out a photograph.
"Then what's this photo of you and..."Eagle squinted. "Mark kissing doing here?" He waved the photograph in front of his face.
Coyote snatched it out of his hand. "That was three years ago! And how the hell did you know I had it?"
"Found it in my weekly search through your belongings," Eagle announced, immediately regretting it after Coyote's disbelieving "What?"
Eagle yelped and made a dash for the door, Coyote hot on his heels.
Wolf picked up the photograph from where Coyote threw it and said, grinning, "Never thought Coyote batted for the other team!
Snake laughed. "Poor guy. I'm starting to see days of endless teasing about this."
A few minutes later, a grinning Coyote and groaning Eagle came in.
"Oh Snake! Help me! I'm wounded." Eagle cried out dramatically.
Snake snorted. "Serves you right for going through someone else's personal belongings." Coyote laughed.
"It was necessary. We're teammates. We're like family. We can't hide secrets from one another. I was just checking out some stuff to see if Coyote has ever lied to us."
"Why would I lie to you?! You guys are my best friends!" Coyote asked, a hurt expression on his face.
"Don't ask me. Ask yourself. I mean... you never told us you were gay, did you?" Eagle said.
"That's personal! Do I have to tell you every little thing about me?"
Wolf joined the conversation. "And that's not really lying. It's just... never bringing it up. There's a difference."
"Exactly! Thank you Wolf." Coyote said, glaring at Eagle who just shrugged.
Snake looked at Eagle suspiciously as a thought occurred to him. "Hey Eagle? Have you ever looked through my stuff? Or Wolf's?"
"I did a couple of times." Wolf and Snake gave him a death glare. Afraid they might kill him, he hastily added. "But I stopped. Coyote had a lot more interesting things."
Coyote rolled his eyes. "And," Eagle added. "One time, I even found chocolate in his bag."
Coyote immediately took his bag and began looking for his chocolate. He picked up a wrapper. "You ate it!" He shouted, crestfallen.
"I didn't eat all of it! There's 5 chocolate bars left!" He replied.
Coyote smacked Eagle on his arm and gave Wolf and Snake a bar each. They thanked him and immediately ripped open the wrapper and ate the sweet chocolate.
"Do I get any?" Eagle asked hopefully.
"I was going to give you all, but you already ate your share. Sorry." Coyote answered in a tone that showed that he wasn't the least bit sorry. He put the bag back under his bed and laid down on his bunk. Eagle opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off.
"Let's get some sleep guys," Wolf said, yawning. Eagle and Snake copied Coyote and Wolf turned off the light.
Cub opened his eyes. Time to get up. He swung his legs off his bed and stretched. He had the best night of his sleep. He had no nightmares and no interruptions and he felt great.
He looked at each of the sleeping soldiers and lastly, his eyes fell upon Coyote. He got dressed and left the room. His thoughts traveled to when he fell apart in Coyote's arms last night. Alex was glad the man hadn't made fun of him for crying but still, he broke down in tears in front of him. Alex didn't think it was possible for someone to feel more embarrassed than he felt at that moment.
But he had to admit, it was better to cry in front of Coyote then someone else, like Wolf. Alex shuddered. Now that would've been embarrassing and horrifying.
Alex didn't really know what to think of Coyote. From what he'd seen of him, Coyote had Eagle's craziness and Snake's calm and gentle personality. He was very kind. Alex felt like he could trust him. Of course, he didn't trust him like he trusted Ben, but he felt like he could trust him with little things. He seemed to really care about Alex. Coyote's an extremely friendly person and is very protective of Alex. And Alex loved that. It was a wonderful feeling that warmed him up and made him happy. It's also a feeling he had only experienced when he was with his uncle Ian.
Alex reached the mess hall and got his breakfast. The mess hall was half full. He ate his breakfast in silence and ignored the sideways glances that some of the soldiers gave him. The mess hall door opened and the Sergeant walked in. The soldiers, including Alex, all rose out of their seats as one and stood to attention.
"At ease soldiers!" The Sergeant shouted loudly.
Alex sat back down and picked up his spoon. Conversations started up all around him. A shadow fell across Alex and he looked up. It was the Sergeant. Out of habit, Alex snapped to attention instantly.
"At ease," he said calmly. The Sergeant sat down in across from him.
Alex sat down slowly, still eyeing the Sergeant and wondering why he was here. He picked up his spoon again and shoved a spoonful of mush into his mouth. Then he got up, dumped his bin on the counter and returned to his seat, clasping his hands together in front of him. The Sergeant stared at him for a little bit. Finally, he spoke up.
"Can I ask you a couple of questions, Cub?"
Alex didn't really want to answer his questions but he wasn't about to say no to the Sergeant.
Alex shrugged, "Sure."
"Will you tell me the truth?" He asked.
Alex narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Depends on what the question is, sir." Alex chose his words carefully.
The Sergeant shifted in his seat and leaned closer. "A year ago, a teenage boy whose name was also Cub came to this very camp. I was wondering if you two might somehow be the same person." The tone he used made him sound like he already knew the truth but needed Alex to confirm it.
Alex didn't know whether to tell him the truth or not, so he asked him a question. "Sir, why did you name me Cub?"
"Because you reminded me of the first Cub. You're both young, handsome, and have blonde hair. When I saw you, Cub was the first name that popped into my mind so that's what I decided to call you."
Alex wondered how long the Sergeant has been thinking this but he didn't ask. He decided to tell him the truth. Besides, the Sergeant was actually nice the last time he was here.
"I am Cub. The same Cub from a year ago." He said, watching the Sergeant's reaction carefully.
The Sergeant didn't show any sign of surprise. "And how old are you?"
First Coyote, now the Sarge. Alex wondered what was going on. "I'm fifteen, sir. I was fourteen the last time I was here."
This time, the Sergeant looked shocked and suddenly his eyes were blazing with anger. "And why is a fifteen year old boy working for a spy agency?" He whispered furiously.
Alex looked down. "Classified." The Sergeant narrowed his eyes. He opened his mouth to say something but Alex beat him to it. "Look, sir. I'm really sorry about this. I have my reasons for doing what I do and I never asked to be here. I don't want to bother the soldiers or anger you," he ended. He thought that the Sergeant was mad at him and that was the last thing he wanted.
So Alex was very surprised when the anger dissipated from his eyes and he said softly, "I'm not mad at you, Cub. I'm mad at Blunt for using a child to do his dirty work."
Alex looked at him with a bemused expression. The Sergeant noticed this and clarified, "You came here standing straight and tall. Your face showed no emotion but the air around you was filled with confidence and professionalism. However, you still looked very young. You wouldn't tell your unit anything about yourself no matter how hard they tried to befriend you. You did your best to avoid the soldiers and that marked you as mysterious. You have nightmares (Alex tensed up) and you lost control once when you were fighting, almost killing your teammate. And now I find out that you are, in fact, fifteen years old. How do you think I feel?"
Alex didn't know but he took a guess, "Uhh... mad?
The Sergeant sighed, "I'm concerned, Cub. You're just a child but you look like you've been through horrible experiences. And I'm mad that someone hurt a child. Our job is to protect children, not hurt them."
Alex had to admit, the way the Sergeant put everything made him stop and think. Teenagers worry about whether they did their homework, not whether they're going to live long enough to see the next day. So the soldiers were being nice to him because they were concerned? The thought almost made him laugh. Sure. He was young. But he was capable of doing all the things that they were doing. He could shoot, swim, run, and complete grueling tasks.
This was ridiculous. They had no reason to be concerned.
But then...if he truly didn't need any help, then why did he cry just last night?
Alex never wanted to become a spy. He still hates it. He didn't want Jack to die. He didn't want to kill anyone. He didn't want to stare down the barrel of a gun. But he did. He was forced to. And Alex hated the way he was treated. He wished he could be free. But he had become accustomed to being treated like a tool instead of a human. He wished someone would free him from Blunt's clutches, but that seemed impossible. And so he thought that there was no way anyone could help. He thought he didn't need help. But he did, it's just no one would be able to help him in a situation like this.
He wished he could trust his unit but he was afraid. And he wasn't just afraid that they might betray him. He was afraid that they might help him. Because people think they can help but they soon find out that they actually can't. And they usually die or get hurt because of it. Like Jack, Tom, and Sabina's family. They all wanted to help him in some way but they couldn't and now they were dead.
Well, Tom was still alive but Alex didn't think he'd see him again. And the thought of that saddened him. Tom was like his brother. They did everything together and they were always there for each other, no matter how hard things got. And now, when they needed each other most, they couldn't be together.
Alex felt tears well up in his eyes. The Sergeant put his hand over Alex's hand. Alex blinked and looked at him.
"You okay?" He asked softly.
"Yeah," Alex slowly nodded. "Don't tell my unit who I am!" He added abruptly, taking the Sergeant by surprise.
"Why not?" He asked.
"Please just don't. I told Coyote but no one else knows and I want to keep it that way. Please." The Sergeant heard the pleading in his voice.
"Why did you only tell Coyote?" He asked.
Alex thought about this. He really didn't know why. He barely knew Coyote and everything just, kind of... spilled out.
"I don't know," Alex said at last. "He already figured it out who I am. I just confirmed it. Then he kept on asking me questions and I don't know, I just... told him."
The Sergeant smiled. "I'm glad you told someone. Coyote cares about you. So do the others. They're trying to help you but you keep pushing them away."
Alex remembered his previous visit to this place. And he remembered the way they treated him. How was he supposed to trust the people who hurt him?
Alex's expression darkened and he said in a cold voice, "I don't care. I don't trust them and I won't tell them anything that doesn't concern them."
The Sergeant knew exactly why Alex didn't want to tell them anything and he didn't bother keeping that thought a secret.
"You're afraid."
Alex's anger vanished. Coyote said the same thing. He must be losing his touch if people could read him so easily. He looked at the Sergeant, waiting for him to explain.
"Coyote wasn't here the first time you came and he didn't treat you the way the others did. Wolf did everything he can to make your stay here awful. Eagle and Snake ignored you. You don't want to tell them about yourself because they treated you horribly. I understand that."
Alex was surprised. He was about to say something but he sensed that the Sergeant wasn't done speaking so he remained silent.
"I understand how you feel. But Cub, they do care about you. They might've treated you poorly before, but they care about you now. They want to help you. Just give them a chance."
Alex shook his head and argued. "They want to help me now because they don't know who I am. If they knew that I'm the Cub they knew before, nothing would change. They would treat me the way they did before."
The Sergeant clasped his hands together and looked at Alex. The boy squirmed in discomfort. The Sergeant's gaze made Alex feel like a bug under a microscope. Finally, he spoke again, but in a calm and gentle tone.
"I know my soldiers, Cub. I know them better than you do. They all feel guilty when they remember how they treated you. Especially Wolf." He stopped for a moment and looked at Alex uncertainly, as if debating whether to tell him something or not.
"What?" Alex prompted.
"We spoke about this. When I told them that an agent was going to come here, we talked about you afterwards." Alex felt anger surge through him. He was supposed to trust the people who talked about him behind his back? He clenched his fists. The Sergeant laid his hand over Alex's and he relaxed slightly.
"Don't assume the wrong things until you hear me out, okay? Like I was saying, we talked about you. And we all had one goal in mind. And that was to help you. We discussed what we knew about you and then Coyote was the one who said that you and the Cub from before are the same person. This was before you confirmed Coyote's suspicions." He hastily added before Alex would think that Coyote betrayed him.
"I still don't want to tell them anything. I'm not a person who trusts easily. And all the people that I've trusted are either dead or hurt. I don't want anything bad happening to them because of me."
The Sergeant didn't know how to respond to that. "Won't you at least give them a chance? They all think that you're the original Cub anyway and they're still trying to help you. Don't make this hard for them."
"Maybe I will tell them. But not now. Not until I know I can trust them. I trust Coyote a little. He's tried harder than the others. He's a friendly guy and he's very kind. I like him. The others...not so much. And the only reason I'm telling you this is because I trust you. Please don't make me regret this."
The Sergeant sighed, "I won't tell anyone if you don't want me to but I still think you should tell them. Or at least give them a chance. They're worried about you."
Alex shook his head. "I know what's good for me and what isn't. I wouldn't try avoiding them if I was sure it would help me. I trusted you so please trust me. Trust my decisions."
"All right. But you can't deny the fact that you need help." The Sergeant sure was persistent.
Alex looked at him. The Sergeant stared back, waiting to see if Alex would deny it.
"You're right," Alex replied, his voice breaking a little. "I need help. But no soldier can help me. If l need to talk to someone, I have friends. I'm fine." Alex didn't bother telling him that he had only two friends.
The Sergeant nodded. He was really worried but the kid was stubborn. He just prayed that the kid would be all right. The Sarge had two kids and he would be mortified if they were spies. His kids meant the world to him.
The Sergeant reached over and hugged Alex, "Please take care of yourself." A bunch of soldiers stopped talking and watched their fearsome Sergeant hug someone. The Sergeant noticed the drop in noise level and turned around, giving a death glare to the soldiers, who turned back around and began talking like nothing happened.
Alex smiled. The Sergeant hugged him. This had to be a miracle. No one would believe him. Well, there really wasn't anyone to tell. But still, it made Alex feel happy. The Sergeant let go of him, gave him a grin, and walked away. Alex was stared after him with a smile on his face, still thinking about what just happened. He was so lost in thought, that he didn't notice someone coming up next to him.
"Hey Cub! Whatcha smiling at?!
Alex turned around and came face to face with the one and only, Eagle. Wolf, Snake, and Coyote were behind him. The grins that they all wore wiped the smile off Alex's face and he immediately became suspicious.
Why were you smiling?" Eagle repeated.
"No reason," Alex said immediately. He would never tell Eagle anything. Not even with something as simple as a hug.
Snake rolled his eyes, "Don't lie Cub. We all saw the Sarge hugging you."
Crap.
Wolf grinned, "Yeah, I never knew you and the Sarge..."
Alex flushed with embarrassment. "Oh God, no!" He spluttered.
The soldiers cracked up at his expression. Eagle stopped and put a hand on Alex's shoulder.
"You know Cub, if you ever need a hug...we're here for you." He actually sounded sincere but Alex knew better. He tried to get away but Snake stopped him.
Coyote wiped away a tear of laughter and added, "Yeah! Wolf here gives the best hugs ever! Don't be shy."
Wolf grinned at him wolfishly and extended his arms. Alex's eyes widened dramatically and the soldiers practically fell on the floor with laughter. Alex walked around them, dodging their half-hearted attempts at stopping him, and ran out the door. He didn't stop until he reached the killing house. He leaned against the wall and slumped down to the ground.
He groaned. That was so embarrassing. Alex didn't think he'd be able to look the soldiers in the eye again. He wanted the annoying, trying-to-find-out-more-about-him soldiers back. Actually no, he just wanted k-unit to leave him alone. Was that really too much to ask for? He brought his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them. With luck, they might not bring up that conversation again. Alex put his head on his arms and drifted off to sleep.
Alex felt like it was only a couple of seconds before he was woken up. He saw four pairs of feet and his head snapped up. K-unit were grinning down at him with their arms crossed. Alex slowly stood up and Snake chuckled.
"Glad you decided to join the land of the living!"
Sorry," Alex muttered.
Wolf ruffled Alex's hair causing the others to chuckle. Alex, however, scowled heavily at him. Which only served to make Wolf grin wider. "Let's go!"
The soldiers and Alex followed Wolf into the killing house.
After going through the killing house, doing 20 laps in the lake, and attending their lectures class, Alex and K-unit ran into Lynx from L-unit.
"Hey Lynx!" Eagle smiled.
Lynx grinned back, "Hey Eagle! Hey guys! The Sergeant wants to speak to you. And he said make sure Cub is with you."
"All right." Wolf thanked him and the soldier left. K-unit smirked at Cub, who was standing three feet behind them. Alex just shrugged and walked toward the Sergeant's office. Once there, Wolf knocked twice on the door.
"Enter!"
The soldiers followed the brusque command and stood to attention. The Sergeant saluted back and they relaxed slightly but not Alex. He tensed up. Something was wrong here. He saw a movement in the corner of his eyes. Someone was hiding in the shadows. Alex didn't dare turn around.
"Cub's tutor has arrived. He has the same schedule as you. And Cub, I was told that you can speak Arabic fluently?" Alex nodded. "Good. Instead of taking a language class, you will be with your tutor. You will stay one hour with him every day. The heads of MI6 said that the tutor will help you catch up on your schoolwork. Any questions?" The Sergeant ended.
The soldiers looked surprised. They knew Cub was young, but seriously, he was still in school? The only ones who weren't fazed by this news were Coyote and the Sergeant and that was because they knew how old Alex really was. But they did give Alex a curious glance when Alex's eyes widened and then narrowed in anger. Alex knew for a fact that Blunt wouldn't help him unless he was planning something else. Alex clenched his fists and his jaw tightened, but he didn't say anything.
Wolf recovered from his shock the first and asked, "Where is his tutor? You said he arrived?"
The Sergeant nodded and looked in the corner that Alex had seen a movement in earlier. A grinning black haired, blue eyed man stepped out of the shadows. Alex felt a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. The soldiers looked shocked but grinned at the agent. Coyote's reaction though, surprised Alex the most. And by the looks the soldiers had on their faces, they were surprised too.
Coyote tackled the agent to the ground and shouted happily, "Ben!"
Ben Daniels laughed, "Hey Aaron! How are you?"
Ben and Coyote stood up and embraced each other tightly.
Coyote was still shocked. "Oh my God! I never... This is amazing! I missed you so much."
Ben hugged him again, "I missed you too. It's been so long."
At this point, everyone, including the Sergeant, was just watching the conversation, completely confused. Ben turned to K-unit and grinned.
"Hey! Anybody miss me?"
Eagle grinned back and said, "No. Not really."
Wolf cuffed Eagle over the head and hugged Ben, "Of course we missed you."
Snake hugged him as well, "So glad to see you again!"
Ben turned to Eagle and held out his arms expectantly. Eagle sighed, "I missed you too."
"Of course you did," Ben said with a smirk. Eagle rolled his eyes.
The soldiers almost forgot about the Sergeant but then he spoke up, his voice filled with curiosity, "So. Coyote, Fox, how do you know each other?"
Both men looked at each other affectionately and Ben smiled and replied. "We were best friends in school. We've known each other since kindergarten."
Eagle crossed his arms. "We've talked about Fox lots of times. How come you never told us you knew him?"
Coyote raised his eyebrow. "How am I supposed to know who you're talking about if you say 'Fox'?"
"Oh. Right. Silly me."
Alex watched all this silently. So that's how Ben and Coyote knew each other. And Coyote's real name was Aaron. Alex filed that information for later. He wondered whether he should say something or not. He was happy to see Ben but the guy didn't even seem to notice him. Alex had to admit, he was a bit hurt by that. Alex shifted a little and Ben caught the movement.
"Oh my God! Alex! How could I forget my own student?" Alex gave him a shy smile.
Ben scooped Alex into his arms. Alex laughed, "Ben!"
This was the first time anyone has heard Alex laugh. He had an adorable, child-like laugh. And his good mood was contagious. Soon everyone was grinning and laughing.
Ben grinned and put Alex down. Alex smiled back and gave him a bone crushing hug.
"Okay Alex. That's enough. Can't. Breathe."
Alex laughed and loosened his grip on the older spy. "We're going to have so much fun together!" Ben told him happily.
Alex smirked, "And I'll see just how much of a lousy teacher you are."
Ben smacked him on the arm playfully. "I'm a great teacher. And I'll make learning fun. We can put on plays, sing, and dance. You'll love it!"
Snake chuckled, "Cub. Singing and dancing. Can we watch?"
"Yes!" Ben said at the same time Alex said, "No!"
The soldiers waited for them to come to an agreement and when it was apparent that they wouldn't, Coyote said, "We're coming."
"No. You're not." Alex told him in the same tone he used.
"Why are you so shy?" Wolf asked.
Alex suddenly became defensive. "I'm not shy."
"Good," Coyote grinned. "Now that we know you're not shy, we're coming."
"Tell them they can't come, Ben!" Alex insisted.
"You guys can come," Ben said. The soldiers cheered and Alex smacked Ben. Then, remembering that Ben didn't know that K-unit didn't know who he really was, he whispered in Ben's ears.
"K-unit doesn't know that I'm the Cub from before. Don't tell them anything about me."
"Hey! No keeping secrets!" Eagle shouted.
Ben ignored him, "Why don't you tell them?"
"Tell who what?" Snake asked.
Alex whispered to Ben again, "They didn't recognize me when I first came here so I decided not to tell them. And they don't know anything about me besides the fact that I'm young spy."
Ben whispered back," Do they know how old you are?"
Alex shook his head. Ben continued, "I won't tell them anything. Your secrets are safe with me." He ended, giving Alex a wink.
The whole time, the only thing the soldiers saw were Alex and Ben going back and forth whispering in each other's ears.
"You guys planning on telling us anything?" Wolf asked.
Alex shook his head and left the Sergeant's cabin. The others followed him, laughing and talking the whole way there. Once they reached there, each soldier collapsed on their bed. Ben, remembering something, went over to Alex's bunk and sat down next to him.
Upon seeing this, Eagle quickly got off his bed and sat on Alex's bed as well. "No way! Uh uh! There will be no more secrets!" He said, giving the others a pointed look. Wolf, Snake, and Coyote grinned and settled themselves on or around Alex's bed. The two spies rolled their eyes.
Ben wasn't sure how to ask Alex his question without the others finding out what he means. Finally, he asked Alex, "Do you feel better now?"
Alex turned to look at him but the spy was staring up at the ceiling. "What do you mean?"
Ben turned and looked at him. "The fire."
Snake immediately sat up straight when he heard the word 'fire.' He saw all the burns on Alex's back. They looked pretty recent. He could put two and two together. But just to be sure, he asked, "What fire?"
The others were curious as well and they were all thinking the same things as Snake. Nobody answered him. Alex simply ignored him and told Ben softly, "I'm better. I wasn't thinking straight before and I did the first thing that came to my mind. I regret it now."
"But what if you didn't make it? What if you actually died?" Ben sounded scared. And worried.
Now, the rest of K-unit were worried as well, even though they weren't sure what the two were talking about. Wolf looked like he wanted to say something but Coyote squeezed his arm, silently telling him to stay quiet and listen to Alex's response.
"I did make it, Ben. And I regret it now."
Ben shook his head and argued, "But what if you didn't?"
Alex was quiet for so long that Ben thought he was going to ignore him. But then he answered, his voice a little sad. "If I did die, I would've been happy. That's what I wanted most before. I didn't like being alone. I wanted to be back with my family."
Coyote knew Alex's family was dead and if Alex wanted to join them, then...
"You're suicidal?" Wolf asked. He sounded shocked and angry.
Alex turned to look at him. He had forgotten they were there. "That's none of your business." Alex stated coldly.
"We're your unit," Wolf bit back. "If you're suicidal, then we're supposed to know. Suicide isn't a funny matter."
"It's not important," Alex shrugged.
The other soldiers had been staring at him with a look of sadness, anger, and concern. But now they snapped out of it.
"That is extremely important. If you're having suicidal thoughts, you're supposed to tell us," Coyote snapped.
Alex opened his mouth to say something but closed it again. Coyote never spoke to him in such a cold tone. Coyote saw the look of hurt on the boy's face and his expression softened. He tried to put his hand on Alex's shoulder, but Alex shuffled closer to Ben, who put a protective arm around him.
"Are you still suicidal?" Eagle asked, worried.
Alex shook his head and Eagle let out a breath in relief. Snake spoke gently, "So you're not having any more suicidal thoughts?"
Alex shook his head again. "No. It was only one time."
"And you chose to burn to death?" Eagle asked, his face showing complete disbelief.
Alex shrugged. "My adoptive family died in the fire. I wanted to...join them."
Coyote hugged Alex tightly. "Oh Alex!" He said softly. The boy inhaled sharply. This was the first time one of the soldiers used his real name. Coyote's voice cracked a bit. He sounded like he was trying to fight back a sob. "Please, don't ever hide something like that from us again!"
Alex hugged him back. "Sorry." He said sincerely. "It was only one time and I didn't think it was important."
Coyote looked him straight in the eye. "If you have even one thought of suicide, you need to tell someone. How'd you think we'd feel if you died and we could've helped you?"
Alex looked at the other soldiers and he got his answer. Eagle and Snake looked sad and concerned. Wolf looked as if he might kill anyone who tried to harm Alex. And a single tear ran down Ben's cheek.
Alex's throat closed up. He wanted to apologize again but he didn't trust himself to speak. Instead, he snuggled closer to Ben and the older spy pressed a kiss into Alex's hair and wrapped his arms around the boy, comforting both himself and Alex. Snake covered them with a blanket. Soon, the two fell asleep.
Alex groggily opened his eyes. He felt warm. Alex turned on his side and was faced with Ben's sleeping face. Alex almost jumped back in shock. He took a deep breath and snuggled closer to Ben, enjoying the small moment of parental affection. Alex felt something on his foot. He looked up in confusion and discovered that Eagle was sleeping over his feet. Alex sat up, bemused. Snake, Wolf, and Coyote were sleeping near Alex's bed. He remembered last night's events and his mouth opened, forming an 'o,' as the events of the previous day rushed back at him. The soldiers must have been too tired to sleep on their own beds.
Alex turned back to Ben. He would get up in a few minutes. He snuggled closer to Ben's side and the older man threw his arm over Alex's body, causing Alex to open his eyes in surprise. Ben smiled at him and Alex smiled shyly back.
Ben caressed Alex's cheek and whispered, "Time to get up. Yeah?"
Alex nodded, pulled his feet from under Eagle's body and swung his legs off his bed, narrowly missing kicking Coyote's head. The cold air immediately washed over Alex's skin. Ben appeared next to him and chuckled. "We should wake them up."
Alex took a step back. They found out too much about him yesterday and he wanted to avoid them. He didn't want them thinking that he would become friends with them just because Ben was here. Ben noticed this and whispered, "You don't have to wake them up. You can wait."
Alex shook his head and got dressed. When he finished, he turned to Ben, "I'll go ahead."
"Okay," Ben replied, kissing Alex's forehead. "We'll see you later."
Alex hugged him and left. Ben sighed and ran his hand through his hair. He would never betray Alex, but he was determined to get Alex to become friends with the soldiers. He just didn't know how he was going to do that yet.
He turned around and began waking up the soldiers.
Alex grabbed a tray of mush and sat down at a table.
He loved Ben. But just because he was here didn't mean Alex was allowed to let his guard down. The soldiers were smart. They'd use Ben to get to Alex.
He was almost done eating when K-unit, plus Ben, came in. Alex shook his head in amusement. Did they have to always come late?
When the soldiers were walking to their table, Ben stopped and frowned at Alex before moving on.
Ben sat between Eagle and Coyote and whispered furiously, pointing at Alex, "Why is he sitting alone?!"
Wolf gave him a confused look then he saw where Ben was pointing. "Who, Cub? He's always sitting alone. Ever since his first day here."
Ben frowned, "Why don't any of you sit next to him?"
The soldiers looked at each other, guilty and ashamed. Coyote spoke up, "Every time we tried to talk to him, he ignores us or pushes us away. He does everything he can to avoid us. When you hugged him yesterday, that was the first time we've seen him laugh."
Ben knew he didn't want to be friends with the soldiers, but this was too much. Ben had to help the poor child. He was broken out of his thoughts when Alex got up, dumped his tray on the counter, and left the mess hall. Ben sighed. This was going to be difficult.
"You know Cub from before. Can you tell us anything about him?" Eagle asked, with a mouthful of food.
"Can't tell you. Sorry." Ben replied.
"Just like Coyote," Wolf muttered.
Ben's head snapped up and he looked at Coyote, "What do you mean 'just like Coyote?" He asked.
"Before yesterday, Coyote and Cub were talking to each other. But whatever was said was between them two only," Snake replied.
Ben gave Coyote a suspicious look and the man shrugged nonchalantly. Why would Alex talk to Coyote? They barely knew each other. Or did they? They could've known each other before.
No, that didn't seem likely. But why did Alex talk to Coyote? And what did he tell him? Ben made a note to himself to check it out later.
Once everyone finished their breakfast, they ran through the torrents of rain toward the shooting range. Ben decided not to speak to Alex too much that day, but to observe him instead. If he was to help Alex, he needed to know just how Alex acted around K-unit.
When they walked in the shooting range, Alex was already there but none of the soldiers spoke to him. The only person who acknowledged him was Coyote, who smiled and waved at Alex. The boy nodded his head in return and picked up a gun. Soon, each soldier was lost in their own world.
The soldiers all compared scores. Eagle took a look at Ben's results and smiled.
"That's pretty good, Foxy boy! Not as good as me though." He ended with a smirk.
Ben rolled his eyes and Coyote nudged him, muttering under his breath, "Foxy boy?"
Ben smacked him playfully and looked at Alex's scores. The young spy was standing a few feet away with blank expression pasted on his face.
Ben's jaw dropped when he saw one perfect hole in the center of every target. Ben came over his shock and said to Alex, impressed, "That's amazing Cub! Where'd you learn to shoot like that?"
Alex shifted a little and shrugged. Ben frowned at him. MI6 training included being good with a gun but this wasn't like anything they taught. He wondered where Alex learned to shoot so well.
Wolf looked between Ben and Alex. He thought they knew each other well, but it looked like there were some things that Cub wasn't going to tell anyone. But Wolf was determined to find out, no matter what it took. Alex was suicidal and that was enough to make Wolf feel extremely protective. Cub was a part of his unit, whether he liked it or not, and Wolf was going to do his best to help him. He would try to talk to Alex later. He just didn't know when.
Hopefully, a chance would come up soon.
Alex stepped out of his lectures class, stretched, and took a deep breath. For once, it wasn't raining. There wasn't a cloud in the beautiful blue sky. And the light breeze caressed Alex's skin. Overall, it was a beautiful day. They had a 30 minute break before they had to attend their last class. For K-unit, that meant they had to attend their language class. For Alex, it meant he was to attend his first class with Ben. And Alex was really looking forward to it.
Now, where should he spend his 30 minutes? Alex decided to just sit in the woods. It was always nice and quiet there.
Alex was soon far away from the cabin and there were only a few soldiers walking around him. Alex suddenly tensed up. A strange feeling began creeping up the back of his neck. He was being watched. He knew it.
Alex discreetly took out a small hand mirror out of his pocket and took a look behind him. There! Someone was peeking at him from behind a tree. Alex squinted but the person was too far away for Alex to see who it was. The smart thing would've been to go back where there were many soldiers but Alex didn't. He went deeper into the woods. Finally, when he reached the lake, he sat down and brought his knees to his chest.
He heard footsteps behind him but he didn't turn around. The footsteps got clot closer and closer until the person was standing directly behind him. Alex tensed up but still, he didn't turn around.
A hand clamped down on Alex's shoulder and he turned around.
And… done! Well, at least I am with this chapter. It's not much but I hope you all like it. The only time I can work on it is during technology class and I can only work on it in the first and last 10 minutes. So yeah, it took a while. And I'm not quite sure where I'm going with this story yet, so the chapters are mainly focusing on K-unit trying to find out more about Alex. But when inspiration hits, I will add much more action. Anyway, please review and I hope you all like this chapter!
