Chapter 97: No Waiting For Daylight
"I think that girl has a crush on you," Vicente uttered in a low voice in the stillness of the night.
I was staring at the sky and its beautiful host of stars, listening to the music of the crickets and the gentle rustle of the grass, when the random statement came out of nowhere.
I looked at him across the small campfire. His round eyes reflected the flames. He had gained a bit of flesh in his cheeks, likely due to the extra rations Isabela had been giving him ever since she took charge of the kitchen staff in Kasily.
"What girl?" I asked, scratching an itch on my neck and reflexively slapping at it. My palm came up empty. False alarm—but I had already killed maybe twenty mosquitoes, and my hands, face, and neck were riddled with bites.
The mosquitoes were having a feast in Landi, especially with a hundred recruits sprawled out in the open, asleep in the middle of the road. They lay with their backs against the soil and their heads resting on their packs. All their equipment—except for their uniforms, ammunition pouches, rifles, and boots—had been removed and laid neatly beside them.
It was the second week of advanced training, meaning a far more intense regimen and even more drills packed into their already tight schedule. That night, they hadn’t expected to be sleeping out in the open—but I was introducing yet another lesson.
Surrounding the sleeping recruits at a distance were small campfires for the officers I had assigned to stay awake. Vicente and I had taken position to their east; Colonel Abad and Capitan Roque were to the west; Dimalanta and Pedro, to the north. To the south, hidden from sight and knowledge, were Eduardo and his men, along with a couple of swivel guns they had temporarily unmounted from the ship.
"Señorita Alicia... she lights up whenever you’re around, and she won’t stop staring at you," Vicente said, picking up the pan that had slid down from the coconut log he’d been using as a seat.
I exhaled loudly and returned my eyes to the stars and the silver crescent moon. "She’s just grateful, Vicente. Don’t read too much into it. If I had saved you, you’d be beaming at the sight of me too."