Chapter 2 Seeking the Path
Kara woke the next morning to the sound of far off bells, her eyes quickly evaluated her tent to see if Zero was still in there. Once she was satisfied that she was alone to her thoughts did she get out of bed and begin to prepare for the day. Her tent to many would reflect another person instead of the seemingly orderly officer, instead of being clean and organized her things seemed to appear as if a tornado came through. Her weapons and armor were the only things that had been spared from the chaos, as they were lined up spotlessly clean and ready for use. Her gaze lingered on her Sai, though difficult to use they had been the first weapon that she had ever mastered and had been a gift from her older half-brother. She remembered his eyes and words that had woke her from her terror from her dream, for a moment she began to wonder if he had stayed in Japan with her nephew or joined one of the many teams that had been sent to decontaminate the states. Before she knew it, she stood in front of the table that held her weapons, as she picked up the weapons and felt their comforting weight in her hands she remembered something that he had once told her during one of her many training sessions with him. "Do not draw your blade on those that are can be saved but strike down those that are irredeemable. Do not kill those that are not evil of their own volition, save all that you can… even if they sometimes do not wish to be saved at that moment. Always stand on the side of life and happiness, in the darkest moments help others see the light." As she stood there letting his words wash over her she felt a tear begin to roll down her cheek, she couldn't believe that she even thought that killing an innocent child would be something that was necessary.
"Kara, we need to begin looking for the girls group and", Alek paused seeing the position that he had found her in. He quickly crossed the room and drew her into his arms, her body shaking as she began to cry even harder. "Are you alright? We can go over everything at another time or have everyone go to Zero if they have any issues." She leaned into his chest as she thought about if it would be a promising idea to sit in her tent and cry all day, an image of Sofie came to mind instead. She couldn't do that to the girl, she said that she would find her family for her and she would it would be what he would want her to do.
"No, we should get started as soon as possible. I am the leader, I can't sit on the side and let Zero handle my duties." Her voice was strong and filled with determination, as she slowly extracted herself from his arms. "Gather the team leaders in the war tent along with our two guests. We will need to evaluate the terrain and determine anywhere that the girls group could have moved to." She looked at him in the eyes as she said the last words, and then turned to a nearby trunk that opened to reveal to be full of clothes.
"Yes, ma'am. Do you plan to bring the K9s as well? They could bring an advantage when it comes to finding the group."
"Not now Alek, this will all be discussed during the meeting. Now can you please get out, so I can get dressed? I can't do my job in my undies." At this point he realized just what she, or rather what she wasn't wearing.
"Nah, I'm quite enjoying the view." He knew this wasn't the right thing to say but it had been so long since he had been able to freely tease her without her blowing up and trying to kill him. This time had been no different, armed with her Sai she slowly began to walk towards him giving him a chance to escape through the tent flap behind him. Turning just as slowly he walked through the tent flap calling over his shoulder, "I didn't know you were a lase girl, I like the color too black sure is your color."
Face burning, she quickly went through her clothes looking for a set that would both work in this heat and allow her to blend in, five minutes later she finally found a set that would work. The outfit consisted of black polymerized leggings, a green camouflage tank top, and her black Kevlar weave trench coat, all this was wrapped up with her worn out black combat boots. Once she was done getting dressed did she don her weapons, first her bow and quiver were strapped to her back in the center along with her katanas in a large X shape, next were her daggers that were placed one in each boot, then her pistols though not used much they were apart of her weapons that she always carried they were placed on her thighs along with several extra magazines of ammunition, the last to go on were her Sai placed in an X formation below the katanas on her lower back. As she left the tent she grabbed the left-over weapons that laid on the table and quickly put them in their chosen spots, except a single knife. The knife was thin and almost as long as one of her own daggers the sheath was well worn leather and had not been used in some time, it was perfect for a beginner to learn on.
With that in mind she quickly left the tent, the brightness from the sun shocked her eyes for only a moment before she continued on her way to her destination. As she passed the different officers they muttered the normal greetings, a couple of them saluted though none seemed to wish to approach her. As she got closer to the tent she saw that Alek was standing by the door, he had likely been waiting for her to show up. Like her he was wearing his battle gear, the black bringing out the green in his eyes as well as the gold in his blond hair. "Oi Kara, you forgot to do your hair again." His voice was full of laughter as he quickly walked over to stand at her side.
"Shit, I knew I forgot something." Glowing bright red she felt like smacking herself, she forgot to do one of the simplest things that made her job so much easier.
"Stand still, I got it." He quickly yet gently began to comb through her hair with his fingers before putting it up in a bun, though messy it was a lot better than leaving it down as there were many ways that having hair in your face could get a person killed. "Shall we, my 'lady?" His voice a playful purr.
Laughing she couldn't help but play along, "Of course, my good sir." All traces of laughter and good humor faded as she entered the war tent, gone was the playful girl in her place stood the commander once more. She quickly scanned the room to make sure that all those that needed to be there were in attendance, only to come up short on one person. "Where is our other guest? As well as Clarice?"
The large man looked curious to learn that there was another guest in the camp other then him, "What ya talken about, sugar tits? Lil ol'Merle is right here." His attitude grated her nerves just as it had when they had first found the man on the side of the road passed out from blood loss.
"I was not talking to nor about you Mr. Dixon, we have another guest." Her voice was calm though it also had a hint of irritation as it always did when it came to the man that was Merle Dixon, though he was a good soldier (even with one arm) his attitude left a lot of room for improvement.
"We're here, sorry we're late Kar I was feeding Sophie before we left." Clarices voice was high and slightly out of breath but overall strong.
"That's fine, let us know next time though-" Sophia cut her off before the could finish with a loud yell.
"Mr. Dixon!" The girls voice was filled with joy, with that she could clearly tell that the two guests had come from the same group. The only issue was of course that if they had and they left Merle behind, what was to stop them from leaving her behind too? Kara kept this to herself though as she watched Sophie talk to the older man with a large smile on, overjoyed to see a familiar face.
"Now that the two of you have been reacquainted, we are going to split into out normal teams of five. Alpha team will be escorting the girl to the highway to see if her group is still there, Beta your job will be tracking with Mr. Dixon to see if there is anywhere else they would go, Gamma I want you on supplies find as much as possible and bring it back if you can't bring it back catalog it and we will go back at another time, and Delta you guys are on guard duty. I will be going on a solo scouting job to see if there is another spot close by that we could move to, you all know the drill watch out for one another and don't get killed. Dismissed." Through out her giving out assignments no one moved until she gave the order, even Merle had to admit this girl knew what she was doing, and it showed through the particular orders she gave. "Sophie come here for a moment," though the girl seemed scared she walked up to the woman wondering what she had needed "I wanted to give you this, this knife was my first training blade and was given to me by my commanding officer, so I am passing it to you." The girl took the blade as if it was glass and admired the way that it fit perfectly in her hand. "Its name is Stormbringer, it never failed me have faith in it and yourself and it won't fail you either. Now get moving, the team won't wait forever."