Home Is Where The War Is.
Sorry for the delay, guys. I've been extremely busy lately with college registration ):
Show your love (:
The loud sound of creaking metal made Adele jump in surprise. She quickly glanced around to notice darkness. She couldn't deny she allowed her fear to exhale out of the body slightly as the truck jumped to a halt.
"It's okay, we've arrived." She heard the voice of Hugo.
She assumed that he recognized the distress in her exhale and immediately felt reassured by the comforting sound of his voice. She couldn't understand why but she came to the conclusion that it was the sense of protection considering that she wouldn't have to fight alone any longer. She liked the thought of somebody else being there to help her throughout her struggles against the Third Reich. She pulled from her thoughts by the sound of the straining door of the back of the truck to open. The dim light attempted to force its way into the truck. Even though the light was scarce, it helped her to make out the dark figure of Hugo sitting across from her. He sat there, staring out the door intensely before pulling himself out. He dropped to the floor, allowing the gravel to crunch underneath his boots before turning back to Adele. She made her way over to Donny, Hirschberg and Hugo at the end of the truck as they waited for her. Hugo contemplated holding out his hand to support her fall before quickly clenching his fist by his side, fearing rejection. Just as he suspected, she didn't even pass him a glance while jumping onto the road. She looked up at Donny for confirmation on their quest.
"We'll be heading out now as soon as possible. We have to abandon the truck since it would be too suspicious to keep around and too noticeable. Before we do, is there anything you need from it?" He spoke in harsh English followed by Hugo's soothing German accent.
Adele simply kept her vision focused on Donny while Hugo spoke as she felt Hugo's intensity bore into her skin, begging for attention that she would not accept. She just simply nodded her head before moving to the front of the truck. She opened the glove box to pull out the weapon Hugo gave her for protection before grabbing her bag from the passenger's floor. She walked up to them and simply nodded to confirm she was ready.
The three men began to walk together and Adele decided to allow herself to fall behind them, not wanting any unnecessary attention from them. She heard Donny and Hirschberg exchanging quiet words together while Hugo simply reached into his front pocket to pull out a packet of cigarettes. He tapped one off the metal box before sliding it between his lips and igniting it. He inhaled the smoke deeply before exhaling. Adele glared at the man as the smoke deliberately smacked into her face as well as the cold rush of air. She moved out of the line of smoke while keeping her head fixed ahead of the men. She attempted continuously to allow her eyes to adjust to the lack of light but it failed desperately.
She finally found her voice and attempted to make it sound strong and independent.
"Where are we going?"
"To the basecamp. We'll be there in about ten minutes." It was the voice she didn't want to communicate with – Hugo's.
She didn't say anything in response but instead just simply kept her eyes following the barely visible path ahead. She allowed her footing to become misplaced as she stumbled slightly, snapping objects on the floor in the process. Alerted, the three men before quickly swooped around to examine the scene. Donny and Hirschberg simply stared at her in curiosity while Hugo rushed to her with concern.
"I'm fine Hugo." She told him while picking herself up from the ground, pulling the dirt off her hands.
Hugo ignored his harshness as he attempted to pull her off the ground still. She didn't try to unwind his fingers around her forearm as he pulled off the ground. Once she regained her composure, she pulled the coat around her waist and continued to follow the two men ahead while cursing herself for falling. Hugo was now walking next to her with a pace that matched hers. She sighed softly while noticing that he was now exercising extra caution around her presence. She just simply allowed him to walk with her after contemplating speeding up her pace, attempting to irritate him or send a message though. But she quickly discovered that he would just follow her pace continuously until they reached the camp. She couldn't help but allow the thought 'how bad could ten minutes be?' run throughout her head with every step she allowed to sink into the forest floor. She listened to the sound of wind blowing violently past her ears as she attempted to block out the sound of everything else around her. But unfortunately for her, it was unable to draw out the sound of Hugo's voice.
"I went looking for you, you know. What you did was quite courageous but I would have preferred if you didn't have." He told her while blowing out a fog of smoke.
"I would have preferred that you didn't go to war." She attempted to continue before he cut her off.
"I didn't have a choice."
"You didn't allow me to finish. What I was going to say was 'but now I don't care'. And you shouldn't either." She told her before attempting to speed her pace to avoid him but he caught up to her with precision.
"I know you don't feel that way." He said softly.
"You don't know me, anymore." She sliced his words of affection with harshness before continuing her pace beside the other two men.
They exchanged a quizzical look towards each other, recognizing that there was tension in the air from Hugo and Adele but ignored it. They decided that considering it's none of their business, that they shouldn't get intertwined in their drama or personal lifestyle. They didn't know Hugo for that long of a period of time until they discovered that his emotions were extremely sheltered and he had no interest in amusing the other soldiers with them. But when they saw him with Adele, they noticed that he couldn't even attempt to hide his love for her. They could see the emotions of love and lust pooling in his eyes while he gazed upon her but they also noticed the cold, distant look of Adele during the rare moments she focused her attention on Hugo. They knew something was wrong between to the two due to incident that occurred between the two when they first laid eyes on each other. They guessed they were possible lovers but couldn't shake the thought that lovers don't regularly attack each other for any apparent reason. But then again, they weren't sure if they were lovers or if it was a one-sided love. They didn't know the exact details and they didn't particularly want to get involved. They allowed the woman walk besides them without a single word being exchanged between the three with Hugo trailing behind them. For the duration of the travel through trees and the textured ground, not another word was exchanged between the four of them after Adele's harsh comment. They finally pulled through the tension and embarrassment to finally reach an open clearing.
Adele attempted to swallow her fears while approaching the group of soldiers ahead of her in the clearing but she couldn't shake the sense that these people were dangerous. She knew she was walking into a death trap that would set breadcrumbs for her uncle to find her but she couldn't stop herself from walking. Inside, she slowed down her pace slightly, sinking back behind Donny and Hirschberg to remain at Hugo's side. She couldn't care about the fact that her heart was supposed to be feeling fury towards him because at this moment she could only feel one thing – fear. Hugo noticed her sinking into the background as they walked towards the other group but didn't say a word to her. His hand twitched as he contemplated placing it into hers. But he couldn't shake the thought of rejection and hate from her. All he wanted was to comfort her but the blow of rejection discouraged him even more every single time. Hugo was shocked to feel her arm brush against his as he realised that she was subconsciously sinking into him to feel protected in this group of strangers. He couldn't help but feel the slightest of smirks hit his face once he discovered that she needed him even though she denied in reality that she did.
Once they approached the group, they all stopped allowing the eyes of all the soldier's eyes to lay upon them – more specifically, Adele. Hugo heard the sharp inhale she took while attempting to shield her behind Donny from the rest of the world.
"Who is that?" She heard a thick, angry American accent voice over the hushed soldiers.
She couldn't help her fear and anxiety take over any longer, she firmly whipped her hand out to grasp Hugo's hand, squeezing it tightly. He couldn't help but smile vigorously before glancing down at Adele. Her vision faced the floor in fear while she shook from a mixture of fear and coldness. He took the moment to squeeze her freezing cold hand in reassurance and watched as her face softened. She couldn't deny that breaking down her composure in front of the soldiers as well as Hugo was degrading but she couldn't fight it. She begged for the affection of somebody else while she hid from the soldiers.
"My girlfriend." Hugo replied in English as Donny and Hirschberg stepped out of the way, allowing them to gaze upon the woman more thoroughly.
She felt the gaze of everyone even though she hid her face away from them. She squeezed Hugo's hand tighter and he responded in the usual, comforting fashion of comfort.
"And? What is she doing here?" The American accent questioned again.
"We found her. She's been harbouring Jews and bringing them across borders." Donny defended the woman.
"You didn't answer my question; what is she doing here?" He questioned again.
"She wants to help us." Hugo responded.
Adele could tell that they were trying to convince the American soldier to allow her to stay even though she couldn't understand what they were saying completely.
"Does she speak English?" He questioned while in thought.
She gulped. "A little."
They all looked towards her as she voiced his soft words.
"Are you a traitor?" He asked.
She shook her head in response.
"Well, how do we know that?"
She couldn't understand what he said in English and Hugo understood that before taking the lead.
"She's the Colonel's niece. She disappeared from him more than six months ago. She's been hiding from him while transferring Jewish families." Hugo told him.
"Well, isn't she the brave type." He smiled manically.
Adele could tell from his smile that he was impressed by whatever Hugo had said. She understood that he mentioned Jewish families and the Colonel so she could vaguely understand what he told the American.
"I guess she's alright, for now." He turned to his original seating position with the other soldiers around the fire.
Hugo walked forward, pulling her hand to guide her around the fire with the others. He sat down in the circle with others and pulled Adele to his side. They both sat on the cold, dark ground. He placed her hand into his lap, still entwined with hers. She slowly pulled her hand away from him while everyone's attention was focused on a matter the American was speaking of. She could feel Hugo's form sink slightly when she moved her hand away but she continued to ignore it. He looked over at her with hurt eyes while he noticed that her attention was focused on the leader of the soldiers.
"That's Lieutenant Aldo Raine. He is the leading officer in this scenario." He told her, obviously feeling like he was the only person important in the area.
"What do you do here?" She questioned back.
"Simple, we hunt Nazis."
"But you were one." She told him.
"Yes, I was but obviously not anymore."
"Who are you all?"
"We're the Basterds." He flashed a gaze towards her just in time to catch her shiver.
"Cold?" He questioned simply.
"No." She pushed his hopes back but when she continued speaking, his hopes lifted again, "I'm a little tired though."
Even though Hugo knew that Adele was lying, he didn't argue. He knew she was only attempting to leave the awkward situation they were feeling at that moment in time and he wasn't particularly bothered as long as he got to be alone with her.
"Aldo, I'm going to escorting Adele to bed." Hugo told the officer once the conversation between everyone calmed down.
"Alright. You can take your regular tent but just keep it down, kids." He smiled devilishly while the group boomed with laughter.
Once they started laughing Adele knew that Aldo had said something perverse to be able to have the crowd around him surround the atmosphere with laughter but she agreed to ignore it. For the first time, she felt regretful for being unable to understand her surrounding language of English. She even more helpless since she needed Hugo's presence to be able to translate for her.
Hugo stood up and motioned his hand towards Adele, offering her assistance. Although Hugo burned with confidence, it was obvious to Adele that he was terrified of rejection as his eyes knitted together in concern. She sighed softly before taking his hand to be polite in front of the other soldiers. She knew that if she rejected his request than questions and rumours would be flying around the campfire throughout the night and she noticed that the only thing that was winning her over to the Basterds was the fact that they believed she was still Hugo's girlfriend. Once she was pulled from the ground, she was lashed by a cold welcoming of the harsh air before following Hugo towards the clear indication of tents for the soldiers. She let Hugo's hand slip out of hers after walking out of the viewpoint of the Basterds.
"You will be sleeping my tent." He told her while approaching a tent.
She didn't reply as he pulled the tent open and motioning for her entrance. She silently crawled into the tent and noticed there wasn't much to her surroundings except for a duffle bag and a large blanket.
"Would you like something to sleep in?" He offered.
"I'm guessing you don't have much though." She told him.
"Unfortunately, I only have a top." He offered.
"Better than nothing." She admitted.
He crouched into the tent to pull at the duffle bag before pulling out a large white shirt. He silently placed the shirt next to her before exiting the tent. After she gave him confirmation, he crawled back into the tent to find her in his oversized shirt while hiding the rest of her underneath the blanket. He zipped up the tent once he was inside it and alarmed Adele slightly.
"What are you doing?" She questioned.
"Isn't it obvious? I'm going to sleep."
"Here?" She questioned.
"Of course. It's my tent." He reminded her.
She just simply nodded while noticing that he did offer her his resting place out of generosity and she didn't want to seem extremely ungrateful by telling him to sleep outside of the tent.
Her eyes couldn't help themselves from widening while Hugo took off his shirt. She watched as it lifted over his head and she watched his chest becoming slowly revealed. She threw herself back into the covers while attempting to ignore his search for her attention. Without words, he pulled himself underneath the covers, quite close to Adele. She felt herself shiver from the close contact but Hugo took it the wrong way. Without a single word he moved closer to Adele to engulf her within his arms. She gasped in shock as she was wrapped into his chest, facing his pale skin. She could feel the heat radiating off his body as she noticed that he was definitely used to these conditions unlike her. She shivered from the warm contact and allowed herself to sink deeper into Hugo's chest without a single doubt or complaint. Hugo couldn't help but listen to her regular breathing pattern throughout the night that indicated that she was finally as he felt a genuine smile of happiness crept upon his face for the first time since he left Adele.