Chapter 3: Welcome to Lonfre (2)

The situation froze for a few moments after the brutal killing carried out by Lieutenant Bulgers. Our eyes met briefly, but he quickly looked away as he began moving toward me, who was still hanging there helplessly on this damn tree.

Stopping in the pool of blood from the lifeless enemy soldiers, Lieutenant Bulgers lifted his head and once again our gazes met.

“Hang in there, I’ll get you down,” he whispered as he observed my situation.

Five meters might not sound like much when you compare it to standing at the door of a transport aircraft flying at 600 meters, but right now, it felt high enough to be a real problem, not something you could just reach with ease.

Lieutenant Bulgers carefully leaned his semi-automatic rifle against the tree trunk responsible for this misfortune. He then reached for the knife that had been sheathed at his waist.

Deciding to climb, he bit down on the blade of the knife while both of his hands searched for parts of the trunk he could use as grips.

From where I was, I watched Lieutenant Bulgers climb swiftly, like a professional rock climber, perhaps if the war had never happened, he would have been suited to compete as a climbing athlete in some multinational sporting event. Without saying a word, I simply observed him in silence.

However, with my limited angle of view, I began to lose sight of him, no matter how hard I tried to shift my body to follow his movements, it was useless in the end. The only thing I could rely on now were the sounds of rustling leaves, cracking branches, and the tree shaking slightly from Lieutenant Bulgers’ movements.

Not long after I lost sight of him, a new kind of tension crept into the ropes binding me, friction humming through the lines as they strained and shifted. I could only guess that Lieutenant Bulgers was now cutting into one of the cords that had turned this entire situation into a nightmare. The vibrations spreading through the tree grew stronger, blending with the subtle tremors of his movements above.

Of course, there wasn’t just a single rope to deal with. Some of them were probably tangled together, tightening their hold like a stubborn knot that refused to be undone. From somewhere behind the thick canopy, I could even hear a faint grunt from Lieutenant Bulgers as he worked.

“This will be the final cut. Brace yourself.”

“Y-Yes, sir!” I responded instinctively, my voice snapping into a formal tone as I called back toward the rustling leaves.

To be honest, I had already started to feel the pressure around my body easing. One by one, the ropes that had been constricting me began to lose their tension, slackening as if they were finally giving up. Ever since Lieutenant Bulgers reached the top of the tree, their grip had been weakening.

Now, it was only a matter of time before they completely let go of me.

“Ack—”

And just like that, my body suddenly dropped. It caught me off guard, but thanks to Lieutenant Bulgers’ warning earlier, I quickly adjusted my posture, rolling my body as I hit the ground to absorb the impact.

In reality, I hadn’t been hanging from that tree for even twenty minutes, but the moment my body finally touched the ground for the first time, it felt like an eternity had passed.

Now I was kneeling on the damp soil of Lonfre, my hands pressed against its surface. Even so, my eyes refused to stop producing tears. When I lowered my gaze, I could see the droplets falling, blending into the already wet earth beneath me.

“Hoek!”

As if crying wasn’t enough, I suddenly vomited, the contents of my stomach spilling onto the ground. The remnants of the meal from Lulana Island were now wasted.

Forgive me, Mrs. Beatrice… I’ve ruined your delicious cooking.

I didn’t even know why anymore. Whether it was the shock of being discovered by the enemy, or the way they were brutally killed right in front of me… I couldn’t tell.

Suddenly, I felt the ground beneath me tremble. Turning slightly, I saw Lieutenant Bulgers land behind me after jumping down from the dense canopy above. He dragged the blade of his knife against the tree trunk for a brief moment before slipping it back into its sheath, then reached over to pick up his rifle back.

I could feel his gaze on me as he started walking closer. Instinctively, I forced my body to stand upright and turned to face him. I nearly lost my balance in the process, but managed to steady myself just in time.

“S-sir!” I snapped into a formal stance, delivering the proper military courtesy. Back in bootcamp, he wasn’t this strict, and things between us were never this stiff, but something about the battlefield seemed to harden everyone.

“This,” in contrast, Lieutenant Bulgers simply held out a clean white handkerchief toward me.

For a moment, I was confused. But seeing that he continued offering it, I reached out and accepted it. My face must have looked like a complete mess for him to do this, so I used the handkerchief to wipe it clean.

Once I was done, I returned it to him. He took it back without a word and slipped it neatly into his pocket.

“Are you alright?” Lieutenant Bulgers asked as he removed the remaining cut ropes from my body. He even went as far as fixing my collar and adjusting the straps of my medical packs.

“I-I’m fine, Lieutenant!” I replied, wiping my eyes with the back of my hand, as if I had already forgotten that I had just used his handkerchief moments ago.

Every now and then, I sniffled softly, my breathing still uneven after the tears that hadn’t fully subsided.

“I’m sorry, Lieutenant! I keep causing you trouble!”

“Don’t apologize.”

Lieutenant Bulgers calmly checked his wristwatch, seemingly aligning it with something.

“Can you walk on your own?”

“I can, Lieutenant!”

I couldn’t keep burdening him like this. If this continued, I would only become a hindrance to my comrades on the battlefield. I was here to help them, not slow them down. I needed to pull myself together starting now.

“Alright, let’s move before another enemy patrol shows up.”

After finishing with his watch, Lieutenant Bulgers gave me a signal to proceed.

As I was about to take a step forward, I noticed my small pistol lying on the ground. I immediately moved to pick it up, but before I could reach it, my eyes caught another hand already gripping it.

“For now, I’ll hold onto this.”

“E-eh? O-okay! L-Lieutenant!”

I stammered, something that seemed to be happening more often lately. But more importantly, Lieutenant Bulgers had taken my pistol and stored it inside his own bag.

Wasn’t that against the rules?

Yet for some reason, I could sense a trace of irritation on his face as he unzipped his bag and slipped my pistol inside.

D-did I do something wrong?