The Red Nights

" Oh? " Jamal declared surprised " I didn't expect that everyone would be already up ", everyone was looking at him awkwardly, maybe because he was n.a.k.e.d, dressed with only one towel hung on his h.i.p.s which was covering his lower part until his knees. The more people were staring at him the more he was feeling embarrassed, Carla tried vainly to get off her sight from his body, her face was all red while Nelson and Volga were staring at him with astonishment. The situation stayed like that until Sania jumped out from her bed walked toward the locker to take two white bathrobes, she put the first one on her shoulder while throwing the second one at Jamal who quickly used it to cover himself. She then walked toward the exit and before getting out she said " I want everyone to get out of here and leave this room empty when I come " she paused " the girls can stay but no men ".

The four of them remaining in the room stared at each others silently for a moment before Jamal declared while running toward his bed to take the news clothes Ilya had gave to all of them the night before " alright, I think I will go somewhere else to prepare myself ", he borrowed them on his arms toward the door and said " OK guys, see you later ".

After thinking for a short time, Nelson stood up to imitate him, he grabbed a towel and the clean clothes and ran away, " I better not stay here " he said before clapping the door behind him.

Volga sighed and turned to Carla " come on. Let's go prepare too, no need to waste time. "

They all met on the the court where the other soldiers started to come little by little. Those who were already there began to load the cars with their part of the goods they'd gotten from the apportionment of the day before with Glenn. Looking at them, Jamal noticed that they were showing a particular enthusiasm [ maybe because it is their last mission ] he supposed.

He glanced at the side and saw Glenn coming toward the crowd with his wife on his side. " I thought having already told you that there was no need to come say goodbye. " Jamal shouted at him.

" I know " he chuckled, " but I insist, I wanted to give my words to all of you before you go ".

Jamal glanced back at comrades and they all shouted in a same loud voice " Noooooooo ! ", then they continued by laughing, " we don't want speeches! ", " we are sick of it! " could be heard, there was someone who said " kiss your wife for us instead! ", " Yeah, kiss her " another said and they all carried on, submerging the entire court with loud noises, " Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! "

Glenn was surprised, he reacted only by showing to them an embarrassed smile while flushing a little. He was too shy to do something so bold in public. Knowing him better than anyone else, Ilya put her hands on his face, turned it gently to face her and then put her lips against his to kiss him passionately. The crowd exploded into an euphoric scream of cheers, they were applauding and whistling all long the kiss lasted.

Nelson stepped forward, turned around to face the crowd and waved his hands in the air to catch their, after a moment they finally calmed down then he clapped and said " Alright guys time to go ". People started to move, each of them walking slowly toward the corresponding vehicle. Little by little the court became empty, leaving behind a beautiful picture of a couple hugging while staring at each other with love and passion.

Jamal leaned on his seat, put his hands behind his neck while landing his two feet on the dashboard, giving him a feeling of relaxation. " What do you think this last mission reserves to us? " Volga interrogated him, her sight fixing the road forward her.

" I'm wondering " he responded while closing gently his eyes, " what I know for sure is that it will be far more difficult than the previous ones ".

•••

Hours later they finally reached Steam-city, there the difference of weather was obvious they neither had been welcomed by gunshots like the two first cities nor they arrived in a calm town like in Palet. Although there wasn't any immediate danger before, as they were rolling through the streets of that quiet city, none of them could sense any feeling of safety. It was like the city itself was exercising a pressure on them.

" Where is our destination? ", among the whole army, besides Jamal, Volga was the only one who was really calm during that. He had glanced at her many times to check any hint of uneasiness from her but nothing, she was totally calm and focus, what meant that Steam-city didn't intimidate her at all, " did you manage to contact them yesterday? ".

" Yeah ", he unfolded a piece of paper in which there was written something and hung it on the dashboard just in front of her, " they told me that their HQ is located in a quiet neighborhood at some kilometers in this direction we are rolling. But... "

She raised her eyebrow interrogatively, " but? " she repeated.

" I didn't want to talk about that because I was afraid that it would affect the mood of the army. But I can't help having a bad presentiment concerning this mission ".

" You're talking about the weird and quite hostile ambiance we can feel in this place? " she continued asking while struggling to read the address written in the paper.

" Not really, this came to, somehow, enhance the doubts I already have ", it seemed like Volga had difficulties to get what he meant, he thought for a short moment then said " maybe I should tell you the conversation I had with the chef of Steam-city's army ". He waited until she nodded to continue, " firstly that person who seemed to be a woman is different from the one we have once contacted with Lina when I was in Stainfall who was a man ".

" How come? " she directly asked.

He shrugged " I don't know, she just briefly told me that something happened and she suddenly took the lead of the army, in fact she was totally brief when she was talking me, I even made her the remark and she responded to me by saying that we will understand once we would come ".

Volga frowned " indeed it's kinda awkward and suspicious " she paused a moment, " what do you think? "

He sighed " at this point I can't be sure of anything, we can't discuss about this with anyone it risks to put panic. So what I can say is that we have to be very cautious. Once we find what is wrong we will know what we will have to do ".

They didn't take long time before reaching the HQ. It was an assembly of identical houses, placed uniformly in sort to form many columns and rows of houses, all of them were surrounded by a long railing what gave a feeling of ordered neighborhood.

In front of a metallic portal, was standing a group of men dressed identically aligned into three rows, their hands crossed behind them, looking straight forward in a perfect formation.

When they went down from their vehicles and approached the group, the eyes of the members of the entire army were captivated by the unique same thing, the very gorgeous woman standing straight ahead from the group of men. From the traits of her face until the shape of her body, all was splendid, as if she was made in a way to please everyone, Jamal noticed that even the woman from his army behind him couldn't remove their eyes from her. Although she was not dressed in a provocative way, wearing a long black coat of leather opening on a white shirt accompanied by a simple black trousers in jean and high black boots.

She gave the impression of being a very strict woman but she was very gentle and sweet when she started talking to them. She directly walked toward Nelson as she felt that he was the chef of the army. She handed him her hand while introducing herself " I'm Konny, the actual leader of Steam-city's army, we have discussed yesterday but it was so quick that I forgot to introduce myself ", she was shaking Nelson's hand with insistance with a very sweet smile what made him incapable to arrange his mind and respond to her correctly.

Sania stepped forward and interrupted them, she saluted her with a smile while shaking her hand but her frustration was too obvious. Their handshake lasted took approximately the same time as with Nelson. Then was the turn of Volga, she introduced herself with the same sweet smile and when it was the of Jamal, he took out his hand from his pocket and presented it to her covered of bandages " I'm sorry, we got a problem during our previous mission ".

" It's okay I understand " she gently said, she turned around toward Nelson " Mr. Jamal Sabani, please follow me inside, we have many things to discuss ".

" I'm... not Jamal " he articulated, Konny looked at him very surprised, " oh really? Then... who? "

Jamal pointed himself " I am ". She looked at one after another and exclaimed " oh? All my apologies, I didn't think that... I thought because he was leading the group ", he smiled while waving his hand " no it's okay, it's not a problem, it's not the first time people confuse as he has a greater stature than I ".

" Anyway let's forget about it and let's get inside ", she clapped and her men, who were still immobile until then, ran toward the cars, " if you don't mind, they will take care to park your vehicles inside while you install ".

Volga gazed at Jamal as to ask him " is it okay? ", he understood what she was referring to and he nodded to her to say " there is no problem ", then he said to Konny " please do so and by the way we have borrowed some provisions from Palet incase yours would not be enough ".

" Formidable, I was even embarrassed to tell you that we were quite short handed in terms of food, definitely you are some real heroes " she said with admiration, then she started to walk toward the houses while inviting them to follow her.

As they were walking, Jamal took the time to admire the surrounding, not only the uniformity and the order of the neighborhood was worth of praise but also its cleanliness, Jamal had the impression of walking in a new built quarter.

At a moment two men ran toward the crowd and Konny stopped immediately, turned around while the two guys came to stand in each of her side, they were holding on their hands small wooden boxes and she cleared her voice said " I have prepared for you some of these houses so you can have some little rest, each house can afford only four people so please start making your groups. My men here will pass by each group to give you the keys on which is written the matric corresponding to the house you have been attributed " she clapped and the two guys brought their boxes and walked toward them.

Before Jamal had realized, behind him, all the groups were already formed and they even started to pick the keys in the boxes, he stepped toward Konny, " excuse me, but didn't you say that we have a lot of things to discuss about? I don't think we have time for that, we better go discuss about the situation here and how we will deal with it " he suggested.

" Yeah I know what I have said " she sighed while waving her hand carelessly. " Relax, no need to rush and as I have told you the situation is quite complicated, so go have some rest first, you must be exhausted after such a long journey. I will call you later to explain everything to you " she replied.

" I know it's complicated that's why I'm saying this and by the way we don't need any rest we are not exhausted at all, what we need is to know how can we finish this war as soon as possible ".

Konny took a softer tone and said " I have heard that you are a quite strong man. That's why I'm asking you to not be so selfish by imposing your rhythm to all those poor men. Look ". She raised her head and shouted to the army " respond to me honestly, are you all tired or not? "

Jamal turned around and at his surprise he heard them all shouting back " we are ! " Konny gazed at him with a sense of defiance and shouted once again " and so, what do you need right now? "

" Some rest ! "

" You see? I do understand that you just want to finish this quickly and so I do, but a good leader must firstly think about the people who are following him " she turned her head to Nelson with kindness in her eyes " I know you are sharing the same thoughts, you seem to be a good chef who cares about his soldiers... that's why I'm wondering why are you not the one who takes these types of decisions ".

Her men came back with the empty boxes, Jamal glanced back to see that the army already split, each group heading toward a house, Konny plunged her hand into one of the boxes and took out a single key which she handed to him " you should take example on them, being wrong is not something you should feel ashamed of, it's just a proof that no one is perfect, go have some rest please you will feel better after meditating ".

Jamal took slowly the key while the four people around him, Volga, Carla, Sania and Nelson were staring at him silently. After a moment of silence Konny sighed and said " Well, as I have told you one house can afford only four people so maybe one of you should come over to my residence " she, then, moved her sight to Nelson but she could open her mouth to propose him, Sania suddenly stepped between them " it will be inconvenient for a lady to invite a man she has just met to stay in her house, don't you think? That's why I propose to be the one to stay with you, if you don't mind ? "

She stayed silent for a short time before she smiled and responded " of course not " she glanced at Jamal who was still staring at the key then at the rest of the crew " okay guys, I'll come for you later, be sure to recover all your strength until then ", then she passed an arm around Sania's waist and whispered to her " shall we go " and before she could react she already separated her from the groupe and was leading her to her house, the four remaining head to their houses, walking at a slow speed.

As they were walking, Volga slowly approached Jamal and gently asked him " are you okay? ", even though she had spoken lowly Nelson and Carla turned their heads to look at him, the latter just shook his head " yes I'm okay, it's just that I'm a little surprised by what just happened, but I think... somewhere she is right. I should rest and meditate... I feel like all things will be clear after that.