"A...rheum-a-tic-what?" Kaye looked at Leith, puzzled, but shook her head to dismiss it. "On second thought, I don't want to know. As long as you're okay, though..."
Jace clenched and unclench his teeth a few times and spared a glance in the ghoul's direction. "I...well, I'm not proud of it, to say the least." He sighed heavily before looking back at Basil, guilt riddled on his expression. "He was provoking me and...I hit him. The bastard pissed me off to the point where I was trying to provoke him into fighting me, and I threw a few punches...but he wouldn't fight back." He looked away from Basil, rubbing his neck nervously. "I hope you don't hate me...for being such a dumb brute. And before I do something dumb again...I am going to go to sleep." After a moment's hesitation, he patted Basil on the shoulder a few times before walking off. In silence, he pulled his homemade sleeping bag out of his backpack and tossed it on the ground beside his log to block some of the frigid wind, then laid his pack down to use as a pillow. Once he was content with his set-up, he sat down on the blanket.
"Since I have a pass that says 'I almost died today so I get the night off and everyone can fuck off,' I'm going to get some well-needed sleep." He then laid down and threw the other side of his sleeping bag over himself, getting comfortable. "If something happens, wake me up. But unless someone is attacking us or dying, no one better not disturb a single 'z' of my sleep. I mean it."
Kaye looked at Jace, about to ask him what he meant by the last statement but decided against it. "I guess I will take second guard shift, Leith." Once she saw that Jace was falling asleep, she walked over to Bessie and Bob and rummaged through her things until she found hers and Leith's sleeping bags. Unlike Jace, she wasn't a masochist to freeze to death on this night, so she took a spot close to the fire, trying to keep room for the other two.
"I guess Jace gave up his spot at the fire to keep the tree warm," she muttered to herself as she threw down her blankets. She spared a glance in Jace's direction to see if he heard, but to her amazement he was already out cold; he really must have been exhausted to fall asleep that quickly, but she didn't blame him. Once she got arranged comfortably herself, she let out an exaggerated yawn. "See you men in the morning. Don't let the ghouls bite...Leith." And with that ending statement, she drifted off into unconsciousness.
The next morning, Jace was startled away by the sound of a pot slamming against a rock. He quickly bolted upright in the bed and instinctively reached for his rifle, but as the grogginess left him and he assessed the situation, he noticed that it had only been the girl messing around the fire. It took him a long time to remember the events that had taken place yesterday, but once everything came back to him he winced at the memories. The entire day had gone by in a haze and had hoped it was all merely an illusion of his subconscious, sickly mind, but the nightmares still held true in reality. The only thing he didn't fully remember was the events that took place during the night; it had all been too fuzzy even as it was happening. It was just best to forget it all, anyways.
He released a soft groan and laid down his gun by his side. "Do you have to be so loud with everything you do?"
Kaye looked over at Jace, seemingly startled that he was actually awake. She seemed to seriously take the question into consideration before shrugging. "Probably so, yes. And a good morning to you, too sleeping beauty."
He let out a huff. "Mornin'," he said in a gruff voice before standing up and stretching. Once he got all the kinks out of his back and shoulders, he bent back down and started rolling up his sleeping bag. "Is everyone ready to go? I want to get this over with so we can part ways as quickly as possible."
"Can you slow a boat, man? We haven't even had breakfast and you really do not want to see Leith without his morning fuel. You thought he was an ass before..." She shook her head as she pulled out supplies for breakfast, though did so slowly because she knew someone was going to come over to stop her and ban her from ever cooking a meal again. Not that she would do anything like that again...most likely.
Member
