Maraia [4]

            The bright signs were now dull and would flicker.  They were also covered in dirt and broken.  Some had fallen and lined the streets.  Everything here was broken too.

He lifted up a nutrition bar from his ration pack and pointed it at her.

            “Hungry?” he asked.

            “Dude, Rothe, seriously.”  His squad member motioned to him as they passed by.

            He stood up and placed the bar down on his seat and left.  He looked back at her as if he was worried.  She was not hungry.  She was not going to force herself.  He did not need to worry.

            “So, what can you tell me?” the woman asked to a man in her squad.  She was inaudible.

            “She doesn’t talk or eat.  She only does basic things, and doesn’t seem to use emotion.  My guess is she had some psychological trauma.”

“Cause?”

The man shrugged his shoulders.  “Good bets on it being recent, though.”

            Another man approached and spoke.

            “I don’t want to be dragging a kid around, ma’am.”

            “We have no choice.  We don’t have any extraction option.  No air support, nor ordinances, nor rendezvous.”  She looked at the girl. “We’re the best, we don’t need it.”

            “We could leave her here,” the second man suggested.

            “No.  After we leave, this group’ll fall.”  She looked at the first man.  “Nod, give her an ARFA.”

            “Ma’am?” they asked.

            “You saw what she did.  She’s good with a gun and she’s coming anyway.”

            “Fine.”  He left.

            The other man stepped closer.  “This won’t do her any good.”

            “Nothing will.” 

The woman patted his shoulder as she walked towards the girl.  The man watched.  She took the bar off of the seat and wrapped it up.  She gave it to the girl, who took it.  They looked blankly at each other.

            “You’ll need it.”  The woman looked down the road they came from.  It was behind the girl.  “Where’d you come from?”

            The girl turned around.  She looked down the same road.  It was dark and destroyed.  Nothing looked clean.  She looked at the woman.  It did not matter anymore.  It was going to rain soon.  She would get wet again.  They did not have their helmets on.

            A man came and held out a rifle.  The girl took it.  She laid it on her lap and looked at it.  It was cold.

            “We’ll be moving soon.”  The woman stood up and walked away.  She did not say any more.

            The girl looked at her rifle.  The rain started, and it was cold.  She watched as the rifle slowly became wet.  Her helmet landed a foot away.  She slowly picked it up and looked in the visor, but could not see her face in it.  The visor was warped.  She then looked at the group.  The woman turned around to talk.  She had to prepare the squad.

Author's Note

I do not plan to write these in order.