The thought of fleeing the village left a bitter taste in Connor's mouth. For Connor, it wasn't just about missing out on one more month of fun in Uganda, or being here for the villagers. Connor knew that they were all utterly useless in a gunfight, or any kind of fight really. It was all about not letting the bad guy win. The General had hurt people: men, women, children. He had hurt Kevin. If they fled, he would have won by default.

Having said that, what he did to Kevin was simultaneously the reason why Connor would leave Uganda without a second thought. His ego and self-righteousness be damned. If Kevin had even mentioned leaving, he would have been on the phone with his parents in a heartbeat, and they would be out of Uganda in a day, tops.

Apparently, he was not the only one who was reluctant to leave, despite the danger.

"I'm not leaving Nabu here to deal with He-who-must-not-be-named by herself," Arnold declared, "I'm staying."

Connor have never seen Arnold so resolute and mature, it was a far cry from when he first arrived in Uganda. The other Elders around the table all looked at Arnold with what looked like newfound respect.

"I- I'm staying too," Elder Neely put his hand up, "I really love Maua, I can't leave her."

As noble as the two of them were, being willing to sacrifice their lives for love, Connor couldn't help but worry that they didn't understand the magnitude of the situation.

"Elders," Connor said sombrely, "You do realise that this is dangerous? The General is a violent and cruel murderer. You could get hurt, or worse."

"I know, Elder McKinley," Arnold nodded, sparing a glance at Kevin, "Believe me, I know."

Elder Neely nodded firmly.

"What do you two think?" Connor turned to Elder Church and Elder Michaels.

The two missionaries looked at each other and then back at Connor. Elder Church shrugged, "If Cunningham and Neely are staying, they're going to need help."

"Poptarts?"

Poptarts shook his head, "I need more time. I'm sorry, Connor."

"No, no. It's completely fine," Connor assured, "It is a big decision after all."

"Kevin?"

Kevin avoided everyone's gaze, choosing to stare down at his hands on his lap. Connor regretted the fact that they didn't have a whole lot of time to talk about this before the meeting. Kevin was still reeling from the initial news that The General was returning, and Connor hadn't wanted to overwhelm him.

"Hey," Arnold rubbed circles on Kevin's back, "It's alright, buddy."

Kevin didn't acknowledge Arnold, nor lift his head up.

"I think," Connor tore his eyes away from his distraught boyfriend, "That all of us, including me, need to take some more time to think things though. If anyone needs to Skype their parents, you're welcome to use my computer."

The Elders shuffled out of the room, leaving only Connor and Kevin at the table.

"You know," Connor took one of Kevin's hands from his lap, "If you want, my parents could buy us tickets and we'll be out of here."

"Arnold can't leave Nabulungi behind, and I can't leave Arnold behind," Kevin furrowed his brows, "Where does that leave me?"

Connor knew that this wasn't a decision he could make for Kevin, "Just know that whatever you choose, I'll be there with you, alright?"

Connor got up to clear the remnants of breakfast on the table. He would have to tell the Elders to steer clear of public areas these few days. Maybe if The General didn't see them, he would leave them alone.

"Connor."

"Yeah?"

Kevin said softly to himself, "I can be brave," and then stood up from his chair, "I can be brave. I am not a coward. I'm staying here."

—

"Five thousand shillings?!" Connor pointed to the sack of potatoes, "It was only three thousand when I came by 30 minutes ago!"

The stall owner just shrugged. After spending almost twenty-thousand shillings on fresh meat, Connor wasn't left with much. He wanted to cook a nice dinner for the Elders, everyone had more than earned it. He reluctantly paid the lady, and grabbed the sack of potatoes before she changed her mind again.

With his hands full of produce and bottled water, Connor began his walk back to the mission hut. Maybe he shouldn't have turned down Kevin's offer to accompany him to the market.

"Elder McKinley!"

Connor turned around at the call of his name, almost dropping the bag of eggs on the ground.

"Nabulungi, hey!" Connor smiled, "Where are you headed?"

"The same place you are headed to," Nabulungi relieved Connor of the big bottles of water under his arms.

"Oh. Do you want to stay for dinner? I'm making steak and potatoes today," Connor held up his bag of meat.

"Meat? Is that what steak knives are for?" Nabulungi tilted her head curiously.

"What?" Connor chuckled, "Umm, yeah? But we don't actually have any steak knives at the hut, so we'll just have to cut it up with a normal knife."

"I see," Nabulungi nodded pensively, "So why does it come with the Book of Mormon?"

"I don't think it does?" Connor was baffled, "Why would you think that?"

"That was what Arnold had said. Is it just a figure of speech, like the frogs?"

"Ah Nabulungi," Connor shook his head, "I think he was just making it up. When was this?"

"The day after they arrived at the village."

In retrospect, Connor would have loved to watch Arnold and Kevin's attempt at proselytizing the villagers. It wasn't funny then, Connor had taken their baptism numbers very seriously, but it sure would be funny now that they weren't Mormons anymore.

"I bet Kevin had something to say about that."

"Oh yes, Elder Price was not pleased with Arnold at all," Nabulungi laughed, and then her smile faded, "That was the day General Butt-fucking-naked killed Ojore."

"Oh," It was the day when Kevin had returned to the mission hut covered in blood.

Connor had brushed Kevin off, because he was stressing out over the progress report for the mission president. It all seemed so inconsequential now: the reports, the visits, the statistics.

"I'm sorry, I probably shouldn't have brought that up," Nabulungi said.

"No, no," Connor smiled sadly, "I just- I said some things I'm not proud of that day. They were obviously traumatised, but all I cared about was making the district look nice on paper."

"I am sure that they have forgiven you."

They sure did. Even though Connor didn't think that he had deserved it.

—

The steaks were sizzling loudly in the pan, a sound which made Connor a little homesick.

He set the timer on his watch for flipping the steaks. They didn't have any steak sauce, so salt and pepper would have to do.

Connor gasped when he felt arms circle around his waist.

"Steak! My favourite!"

"I know," Connor smiled, "How was your nap?"

Kevin shrugged glumly, "Could have done without it," and started making himself a cup of coffee.

Connor frowned, "If you drink coffee now, you're not going to be able to sleep at night."

"Wouldn't that be nice?" Kevin said sarcastically.

"Bad dreams?"

"Don't worry about it," Kevin waved dismissively.

Connor put down the spatula, "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Just make sure you don't burn those steaks alright? I'm really looking forward to them," Kevin patted Connor's shoulder and exited the kitchen.

Connor was about to call out to Kevin when his watch started beeping.

"Dang it."

—

During dinner, Kevin drained two more cups of coffee. Connor raised an eyebrow at him when Kevin reached for his third cup. Kevin just stared back at him, daring him to say something. Connor wasn't going to, he wasn't stupid.

"Elder McKinley, this is really good," Elder Neely complimented.

Elder Church nodded in agreement, "Surprisingly not too bad at all. Considering all the tasteless yam mash you've been forcing down our throats ever since we came here. I thought that you were just bad at cooking."

Connor rolled his eyes, "Would it kill you to say something nice without it being loaded with insults?"

"I don't know...maybe?"

"Forget it," Connor muttered under his breath, and turned to Nabulungi, "How do you find it, Nabulungi?"

"I think I like it, Elder McKinley."

Connor beamed, "Thanks, Nabulungi."

"Not that I'm complaining, but what's the occasion?" Elder Michaels asked.

Connor shrugged, "I just thought that everyone has been working really hard for the past few weeks, despite...some setbacks. And to celebrate the fact that everyone is brave enough to decide to stay here, even though-"

Arnold frowned, "Uh oh, I'm getting a Last Supper vibe here."

"No Elder Cunningham, this is not our last meal, or whatever. We're going to be okay. Everything's going to be fine!" Connor insisted through his best attempt to smile.

"Well," Elder Michaels laughed airily, "Safety in numbers and all that, right?"

Elder Church scoffed and rolled his eyes, "Yeah, right. A massacre more like it."

The Elders and Nabulungi fell into solemn silence after that, pondering over their own mortality.

—

Connor sprung up from his bed, gasping like a fish out of water.

Connor wiped the sweat off his brows, "Crap."

Thank Lord it was just a dream.

His nightmare felt all too real. He could still feel the phantom stickiness of dried blood between his fingers.

"Connor?"

"It's fine, Poptarts. Just had a nightmare. I'm fine."

"Mmmm," Poptarts was already halfway back to unconciousness.

Connor's gaze flitted over to the door, and he frowned when he saw the faint light spilling in through the gap under the door.

Did someone leave the lights on? Didn't they know that electricity was expensive?

Connor sighed as he rolled out of bed to take care of the problem. He opened the door and stuck his head out, listening for any sort of movement.

The lights in the kitchen were on.

Connor padded softly across the dark living room into the kitchen, and squinted at the bright fluorescent light.

"Kevin?" Connor moved towards the figure slumped over their dining table.

It seemed like Kevin had been trying to read a book but had fallen asleep halfway through, an almost-empty mug of coffee beside his head.

There was no way Connor was going to be able to go back to sleep knowing that he had left Kevin there in the kitchen. Connor placed a hand on Kevin's shoulder, with the intention of waking him up, but he got a much bigger reaction than what he was expecting.

Kevin yelped and scooted away from Connor, and it was Connor's fast reflexes which stopped Kevin from falling out of the chair.

"Kev, hey. It's just me."

"No, no no no. What are you tryna-," Kevin tried to dislodge his arm from Connor's grip.

Connor held on tight, and eventually Kevin stopped wanting to escape.

"Are you awake now?"

The mist of confusion dissipated from his eyes, and Kevin nodded jerkily, "Yeah, yeah. I'm up. Is it morning already?"

"It's morning, alright. Four-thirty in the morning. Why aren't you in bed?"

"Wasn't tired," Kevin pouted at his mug.

Connor took the mug away from Kevin before he could ingest more caffeine, "Clearly. What are you reading?"

"Borrowed it from Church," Kevin showed Connor the cover, "The History of Uganda."

"No wonder you fell asleep," Connor muttered, and pulled on Kevin's arm, "C'mon, you'll be more comfortable on a bed."

"No no, it's fine. You go ahead," Kevin remained glued to the chair, "I'm just gonna finish this chapter."

Connor knew that it wasn't just going to be that one chapter. Kevin was going to stay up until sunrise and avoid sleeping at all. Connor couldn't blame him, he knew exactly how it felt like to be afraid to fall asleep, to be afraid of being at complete mercy of whatever horrible images his brain decided to conjure up at night.

"I know how you fee-"

"No, you really don't."

"Okay. Fine, whatever. I don't, and I never will because you don't tell me anything anyway."

Kevin flinched at Connor's accusation.

That was not what he had meant to say.

Connor dug the heel of his hand into his eye in frustration, "Look, we're both stressed, we're both tired, and this is obviously not a good time to hold any kind of proper conversation. Let's go back to bed, alright? Just remember, they're only dreams, they can't hurt you, not really."

"That's not true."

"What?" The image of Freddy Krueger appeared in Connor's mind.

Kevin sighed, "Nothing. Are you going to go back to your room or not?"

"Not unless you do too."

Kevin thought about it for a moment, and then pushed himself away from the table, "Fine, let's go."

They stood in front of their respective doors.

"Goodnight Kev."

"Hey uh," Kevin paused at the threshold, "Thanks for waking me up before uh- before it got ugly," he gulped, "Goodnight, Connor."

Connor frowned, "Kev-"

Kevin closed the door behind him before Connor could even ask what he had meant.