"Gentleman, please welcome to the stage Miss Emma Swan!" Jones shouted through the mic. They stood on the small stage with their section and the rest of the camp in front of them. Wolf-whistles and cheers went up for Emma, she laughed and placed her hands on her hips. Her blonde curls were loose, flowing over her shoulders and she wore a plain black vest top and her uniform trousers. "And on the keys please welcome Mr Rob Hood!" Rob waved and smiled before he started playing the opening notes to a very familiar tune. Emma stood laughing as Jones swung the mic by its wire. He caught the mic in his other hand and started to sing.
"Don't go breaking my heart!" He sang, a series of cheers and wolf-whistles echoing as he put the mic in front of her mouth.
"I couldn't if I tried." She sang, rolling her eyes as the audience cheered again.
"Oh honey, if I get restless…" He was milking this so much.
"Baby, you're not that kind." She couldn't help laughing as he danced to the music.
"Don't go breaking my heart."
"You take the weight off of me." She couldn't help the small blush on her cheeks.
"Honey when you knock on my door…" He winked at her sinfully.
"I gave you my key." She sang.
"You're turn boys!" He shouted, the rest of the section stood and sang
"Ooh, Ooh, Nobody knows it, Oh oh oh!" They all sang. She laughed and smiled, clapping and dancing along to the music. She looked up at Jones who was smiling directly at her and singing. She looked away again, catching sight of Neal in the audience who sang to her, doing over the top dance moves to her. She laughed and smiled again.
Okay, maybe it wasn't so bad.
The hot sand tingled under her fingers as she crawled on her hands towards the next obstacle. Her legs were up in the air, held by Graham who was her teammate in the race. The spectators were shouting and cheering for their sections to win.
"Come on Swan! You're about to go on holiday, the least you can do is show some human decency!" Jones shouted at her.
"Human decency? This is war innit!" She shouted back.
"It's good fun, now come on!" He yelled. She stood once they reached the poles and stuck her forehead to the end, moving to spin around and around. Graham was shouting right in her ear. She finished and picked up the egg and spoon, jumping through the tyres and making her way to the hula hoop, pretty much behind everyone else. When she reached the hoops, the lads were struggling to keep their hoops spinning around their hips. She picked up hers and placed it around her neck. She moved her head to get the hoop going and finished her 10 spins within seconds. She flung the hoop away and climbed under the camo net to crawl through to the end. She could see Graham's feet at the other end. Then, her foot got caught in the net and she couldn't free it. Convinced she was going to lose, she almost gave up when someone started moving her foot. She looked up to see Neal trying to free her foot.
"Alright there, Swan? You looking forward to an 11 hour flight with this strapping man?" He asked smugly. He freed her foot and she continued crawling.
"Strapping isn't exactly the word I would use mate!" She shouted back. Graham pulled her up from under the net and flung her over his shoulder to carry her over the finish line. They broke the ribbon at the end and their section came running over. They cheered and smiled and laughed as Emma was hoisted up into the air on the shoulders of Rob and Jefferson.
"Thank-you very much, Swan!" They all shouted.
She walked across the camp, eating her bowl of Coco Pops as she went. Looking around she noticed one of the ASF soldiers watching her. He had always given her the shakes, ever since they got to Afghan. He looked at her with something in his eye like she was the enemy or something. He said something to one of his fellow soldiers in Pashto that she didn't understand. He laughed and they walked away.
"What is your problem face-ache?" She said, more to herself than him. She walked over to one of the logs and sat down to finish her breakfast. Suddenly, a spoon moved over shoulder and into her bowl, picking up a spoonful and taking it back. "Oi!" She shouted, just as Jones sat down next to her laughing with his mouthful. "Oh, sorry Boss, I thought you were Sahau." She said.
"And you wouldn't share your breakfast with Sahau?" He asked.
"No way, he's not sticking his spoon in my Coco Pops." She said, Jones burst out laughing.
"Really hope that's not a euphemism, Swan." Her face fell and she could feel the heat rising in her cheeks.
"God, no." She said, laughing. He took another spoonful of her cereal.
"I haven't had Coco Pops in bloody ages." He said, catching a few strays and shoving them back in his mouth. She watched him with a smile on her face and he turned, catching her staring.
"Captain Jones?" One of the ASF soldiers called to him from the front of the OPS tent. He stood and walked to the front of the tent. "We have not had comms from the mountain CP today." The ASF soldier said to him.
"Humbert! Have they ever not checked in before?" He asked as a very naked Graham made his way over from the shower block with only a towel around his waist. The man shook his head. "We need to get up there." He said to Graham.
"Yes, Sir. 5th section fall in!" Graham shouted. The rest of the section, also very naked, ran over from the showers, towels slung loosely around their waists.
"Kit up and meet at the gate, 5 minutes, let's go!" Graham yelled, she stood from the log and ran with the rest of the section back to the tent.
"Looks like your R&R might be up the shitter, Swanny." Rob said as they ran.
Her whole body felt heavy as they ascended the path to the checkpoint. The ASF went ahead to check it out as 5th section stood against the rocks, as covered as they could be out in the open. Suddenly, shouting echoed through the ravine and the ASF soldiers ran back towards them. Waving and shouting "Medic! Medic!"
"Swan!" Jones shouted from upfront as Emma moved up to stand between him and Graham with the rest of the section trailing behind. They started to move towards the bunker of the checkpoint. Her heart dropped to her stomach when she saw an array of bodies splattered across the ground.
"Examine and confirm death." Said the ASF captain. She saw something glisten in the sunlight, moving towards the bodies she saw the blood splattered, fake Rolex hanging from the wrist of a young man who Emma had met a few times. A tear came to her eye as she remembered how young he was, he may have said he was 18 but he can't have been more than 16.
"He was just a kid." She whispered.
"Examine and confirm death." He repeated, a little more remorseful than the last one. She moved slowly towards the body, the smell was horrific and the flies buzzing around the body were ridiculously annoying. She placed her fingers over his pulse point. Nothing. She turned to the rest of the team and shook her head. Jones' eyes closed and he bowed his head for a minute.
"Bag up the bodies." He said simply. She moved away and walked a few paces, looking out over the landscape to attempt to get the images out of her head. "Swan?" His voice was closer. She turned her head to see him standing next to her, looking at her. "You good?" He asked.
"Yes, Boss." She replied.
"Good, now come on, we're heading back so you can get home."
"What?" She asked.
"Your R&R, you can go." He said.
"Oh. Good." She said. They began walking back to the camp with the images still playing on her mind.