Chapter 1 - Arriving at the Camp

Maybe this is not so bad, Rick O'Connell thought. Could be much worse. Only ten in that room. Would have never dared to hope so. He put his bag down on his bed, the one next to the wall, and looked around. He had been to worse places. Definitely. Maybe the French Foreign Legion was not so bad after all. Maybe better than it had looked to him in the last six months when he had been a recruit.

He sat down on the bed, right next to his bag. It was not very soft, but also not very hard. You could sleep in it, at least. That was, if his roommates let him sleep.

His roommates. That was a different problem. Rick could grow accustomed to hard beds, dirty floors, dusty cupboards, burnt food, only cold water in the bathroom or whatever, but he had a real problem with unwashed, smelling, disgusting people. What if there were nine such guys in this room with him? Oh god, please not! At least not my neighbour! Not like it was until now! Rick sighed. But then, it was all his fault. He could have been still in Paris with his companions if not for that incident with that girl. Why, why had he tried to impress her? Why on earth? If he had known what consequences his stupidness would have... He should have thought about it before. But then, how could he have known what would happen? Joining the Foreign Legion had been his only choice six months ago, and now there was no way back.

The door burst open, and Rick, suddenly torn from his thoughts, jumped and came to his feet rather quickly. In marched a man at about his age, but much stouter and more grim-looking. When he saw the newcomer, he stopped short and stared. "And who are you?" he bellowed in a rather bad French.

"Erm... I'm Richard O'Connell", Rick said, far from delighted about such rudeness. "I'm new. They sent me here, to become an officer maybe."

"And where do you come from?" the stranger wanted to know. He himself seemed to be Italian, at least his accent made Rick guess so.

"I'm American", he answered. "From Chicago."

The other man made a face. "American... I hate those Americans", he muttered and sat down on a bed near the door.

Right then, four others of Rick's new roommates came in. They didn't look much friendlier. Rick had to tell them the same as before, but at least they introduced themselves. They all were Spanish. One had his bed quite close to Rick's, but still his direct neighbour had not arrived.

Rick began to feel worried about this. Was he really to live with such figures? What had they done to join the Foreign Legion? Certainly something worse than he had. Something much worse.

Again the door opened, and again someone entered the room. But he looked different from the others. He was slender and bright-eyed, and he didn't have that ferocious look on his face. He also seemed to be a bit younger, merely a boy. He sauntered straight up to the bed next to Rick's. Only then he noticed his new neighbour and had a look at him with a slight grin. "Hey", he said, and it didn't sound unfriendly.

"Hey", Rick returned while mustering his neighbour in turn. He really looked very young and was quite pale, and he had the thinnest of all moustaches Rick had ever seen, like a line following the kid's upper lip.

"I'm Beni Gabor", he finally said. "From Budapest. And who are you?"

"Richard O'Connell from Chicago."

The kid grinned and held out his hand; Rick took it. "Finally", the kid said, but this time in English. "Someone whose mothertongue I understand. Believe me, it makes you crazy to listen to these Spanish and Italian chattering and only understand half of it."

Rick smiled. His neighbour had a somewhat nasty accent when he spoke English, but this was much better than to speak French (where Rick feared he had a nasty accent). "I agree with you completely", he replied.

"And they don't understand us really", the young Hungarian went on. "Certainly an advantage."

Rick turned carefully and looked at the others in the room. One of the Spanish was whispering with the Italian, looking over to them. Maybe that rude guy didn't like anyone speaking some language he could not understand.

"Exactly what I mean", said the kid from behind him. "I'm completely new, you know, and they've used to bother me the last few days since I arrived here."

Rick looked at him and frowned slightly. Did that mean Help me, they're after me, why don't you be my buddy? or something like that? Would they be after him himself as well? He considered this problem. Well, better to have a companion than to face them all alone. "Okay", he said aloud, "you'd like to be my buddy?"

The kid nodded quickly, smiling with delight. "Thank you, Mr. - what was your name again? O'Connor?"

"O'Connell", Rick corrected. "Richard O'Connell. But you can call me Rick if you want."

Again the kid nodded eagerly, his bright blue eyes glittering. "Of course I want. Call me Beni."

Rick took off his boots and stretched himself out on his bed. "So for how long have you been here, Beni?" he asked his new companion.

"Five days, Rick. They sent me here directly. Too less soldiers, so they said." He shrugged, seeming a bit helpless. "But I'm only a recruit. They keep sending me around, do this, do that... I don't like it. You know when someone stops being a recruit perhaps?"

Rick had to smile. "After you finished your training as a recruit. Six months, that is - or at least was it for me. I'll be promoted now maybe. Just you wait, that's not very long. You'll soon be colonel", he added when he saw Beni's rather disappointed expression.

Beni grinned. "I wish I was. I'd command those guys over there to clean the toilets."

Rick grinned back. "When they make me an officer I'll do so", he promised.

"You'll be a great officer certainly", Beni giggled.

So Rick became friends with Beni the very first day at the new camp already. He quickly found out that Beni was a coward and not very reliable. Nonetheless he didn't regret presenting the kid with his trust. There were some things Beni was very good at, for example sneaking some extra food from the kitchen. And besides, he was the only one of all the soldiers Rick would have trusted. It was good to have someone around.