The enemy of my enemy...

[Darkjak87]

Zrion turned a death glare onto Sendrah. "Oh really? It's cold? Are you fucking serious? I hadn't noticed!" With most of his military discipline forgotten, his temper was running high. He forced himself to ignore the constant chill his hardened titanium armor was sending through his body, and tried to organize his thoughts. Let's see now...I'm trapped in a desolate icy wasteland, with three of my men and an annoying little prick. Surrounded by Metal Heads...Low on ammunition, no food, no radio, and no idea where we are....Well, shit. Well, first things first. Status report.

"Alright, everyone check your ammo and let me know what we're looking at here." Zrion checked his own ammunition reserves. In his weapon, he had 16 rounds of ammunition left. On his belt, he had two magazines. All in all, 76 rounds. Not much, considering their location. Hadley had 90 rounds left, while Braeburn only had 47. Thompson (with much struggling) managed to confirm 59 rounds left. All in all, that was a mere 272 rounds. "Alright" He said "Divide up the rounds. That's 68 rounds each." After a few minutes of counting clips, each soldier had an equal amount of ammo. "That's semi-automatic only, alright? These bullets have enough punch for that to matter anyway."

With an annoyed sigh, Zrion looked around himself. The tall hill behind them was the only obvious way into the area. The night/thermal capability of their armor's goggles was invaluable in low light conditions, but it only allowed them to see for about 50-70 meters or so. They couldn't really assess their position without a better light source. As bluntly as possible? They were up shit creek without a paddle. And the dropping temperature wasn't helping.

"Alright, clear some snow out of the way and try to get some sleep. One man will be awake at all times, to make sure we aren't taken by surprise in event of attack. The watchman will wake as all up every hour or so, to make sure we don't freeze to death. We're doing 3 hour shifts throughout the night. I'll take first watch, and Hadley will take over after me, then Braeburn, then Thompson. Whoever is on watch will periodically switch between night vision and thermal imaging, to make sure we can see what's coming. That's all."

The soldiers began to work silently, clearing snow away to make sure they could lie down without being quite as cold. It was slow, tedious work. However, it was rewarding, as they were now able to sleep in semi-peace. As Thompson, Braeburn, and Hadley got down on their backs to sleep, Zrion merely stood where he had cleared the snow for his makeshift bed, gazing into the night without a further word.

[hrefna]

“You know, your soldiers would be better off buried in the snow. Quite literally.” Sendrah muttered in a still tone, lying in a casual, carefree position behind Zrion with her hands behind her head and snow scattered across some parts of her body. She'd rather keep awake with the watchman, old habit, who'd blame her? She was in the most desolate, lonely hell there was with a man that was supposed to be her arch enemy along with his comrades in arms. Keep your friends close and enemies closer, eh?

“It protects you from the cold wind and blizzard. Not sure if it counts when wearing metal plates you're wearing and snippets of clothes like mine. It's quite comfortable.. The clothes, I mean.” The minutes had lingered into half an hour, or hour or two, Sendrah wasn't sure, really. Looks like the bandages had done their thing to halt the bleeding, but her head was pounding and half of her face was pretty much flesh and bone.. She'd rather not think of it. Thankfully her eye seemed to be undamaged.

“I must look pretty bad, huh? With a bloody bandage wrapped around my head and all..” No reply. She rolled her eyes and looked up to the stars. She had never seen the stars in the capital of light pollution that was Kras city and the sibling town of pollution and filthy that was Haven. They'd look beautiful if it weren't for the fact that everything was a big clusterfuck and they could be devoured by the most disgusting creatures on the face of this planet.

Still no reply. What a spoilsport.

“We both know we're going to die, now, don't we?” Her expression was serious, brows furrowed and gaze focusing so hard on nothingness that the air might as well bust into flames from the sheer effort.

“But, I might as well know the way out of here. Question is, why would I share that information with you? Because I happen to be a very, very selfish person and maybe I've had enough of life and might as well just get eaten by those lovely metal heads.” She was waiting for him to take the bait, just in case they might get back to Haven city and so if he happened to be agitated and desperate enough to do so, she'd have her ticket to pardon and get home by the end of the week or something, depending on when and whether they'd return.

[Darkjak87]

Zrion gave no answer for a while at her last remark, as he thought. He himself didn't have any particular need to live. He wasn't really afraid of death, and he didn't have any family members to fight for. His only inspiration to live was Zephan, and fighting for the city that he loved. That, and killing off as many Metal Heads as he could. However, what held him back was the lives of the other three soldiers. He knew all of their backgrounds. Hadley had a family back in the city. A wife and daughter. Braeburn had no one to fight for either, but he wanted to die fighting for Haven, not in the hostile wilderness outside it. Thompson fought for vengeance. His wife had been in the KG, the standard reds. She had been killed during the most recent Metal Head offensive on the Strip Mine. He probably wouldn't mind dying all that much, but he wanted to live as long as he could. It was a difficult call.

After running all of this through his head, Zrion spoke. "I have no particular wish to die. But my men have families, hopes, and reasons to fight. I do not want to condemn them to certain death in these mountains, but I'm not going to try and force you to help us either. I couldn't exactly blame you for allowing your enemy to die. I wouldn't exactly help an injured Metal Head. And besides, I probably couldn't sway you even if I tried, since I'm sure you have your mind made up anyway. Just remember that if you have any wish to survive at all, then we all need to work together to get out of here. What is that saying? The enemy of my enemy is my friend? I wouldn't say we're friends, not by a long shot, but for the moment? Close enough."

[hrefna]

“I could have sworn you compared me to a metal head..--” ”I don't look that bad, do I?” “But I'll ignore that since you have problems with talking or something.” She said halfheartedly, her mind drifting off to another places by now. The coldness and drifting snow was making her numb and burning at the same time, hood pulled up to cover her face and sleeves pulled up to protect the delicate fingers, three of them were pretty badly burned, by the way.

”We'll never make this one out alive.” She kept on repeating that, again and again and again. If there was any place that made her feel so out of bounds and control, the place had to be the mountains.

“I bet a friend of mine could kill more metal heads with lesser stock of ammo than all of you combined, just so you know.” Sendrah added for extra encouragement. It really was reassuring for both parties. Uh. Not.

Her mind was drifting off again, eyes staring at space and blinking rapidly to keep away the cold and tears. Sendrah really didn't need a breakdown at the moment, she was sure the men around her were fighting back the sorrow and doubts of survival, too, but they were trained to do so. Lucky bastards.

Her out-of-focus eye was now looking for any sight of movement, body heaving itself up, stiff as if to object to the sudden strain. She couldn't really see anything properly from exhaustion and blood loss and her head was light headed and unclear as ever. Her face still hurt, too. Sendrah would without doubt pull her kukri and kill for some painkillers right now.

[Darkjak87]

Zrion, for the first time, turned his head slightly, so to see her from the corner of his eye. "Is that so?" He said. Despite everything, there was a slight tone of mischievous intent in his voice. "I highly doubt that. Regardless of anything, one bullet equals one kill, or perhaps two or three in a good circumstance. Unless this friend happens to be a sniper with particular talent, then he probably couldn't match our kill-to-death ratio. What type of weapon does he use anyway?" Zrion couldn't help his curiosity, because he had a deeply rooted fascination with weapons, and not to mention people that might actually be able to match his combat skill and experience.

He shook his head slightly. He shouldn't allow himself to be so warm (God, did he hate puns right now) towards this girl. She WAS a criminal. A criminal that your hopes of survival rest with. Bah. Stupid, logical voice. She was a criminal, and an annoying one at that. Yet she was also capable of providing a laugh or two. Hell, maybe she had a talent for starting fires or something. Either way, Sendrah, despite everything, might even provide a vital morale boost. Bah, decisions decisions. Sometimes I hate being a squad leader.

[hrefna]

"Weapons? His right thumb and killer stories." She let herself smirk at the satisfaction from gaining a reaction from him and even a joke, even when it wasn't that good. It was probably for the best not to get one's hopes up, though. He was probably just slipping, drowsy and caught off guard. Well, at least it was a bit nice to see he had any emotions other than frustration and general anger.. He was also so uptight, it made Sendrah tense from simply looking at him.

"Yeah, he's okay. Like a male gun nut version of myself, you wouldn't like him. Also has a better fashion sense than you lot." She shifted her shoulders a bit. She wouldn't want to fall asleep by now, she was too tired and she had lost too much blood. Besides, someone was actually relying on her source of information and herself. It was a burden of responsibility that Sendrah hadn't felt in a long time and didn't really desire to feel. Still, now that she was talking to someone that.. Casually, she couldn't help but to feel the loneliness catching up with her. It had been ages since she had met a friend or anyone at all excluding business matters.

"Speaking of senses," She spoke out after a moment of silence. "Do you see anything? I can't really see properly so you're on your own. Go on, turn that head of yours 360° degrees if you're not too tense to do so. It's getting dark."

[Darkjak87]

With another annoyed glance at Sendrah, Zrion stood up and looked slowly all around them, occasionally switching back and forth between thermal and night vision. After doing this twice, he came back with nothing. "Well we seem to be in the clear." He said. "And either way, my shift is over. I'm going to need some sleep. I suggest you get some as well, because Thompson is getting tired of lugging your ass around." Despite himself, he couldn't suppress a small snicker. Poor guy.

"Well," He said "I'll give you the one on fashion sense. While I would say that our armor is better-looking than what the Reds wear, I wouldn't prefer it for a military ball. Come to think of it, neither do the guys who plan them. Either way, I sure as hell am not wearing this the next time I go sledding...Which unfortunately is probably not as far off as I am hoping."

With that said, Zrion walked over to wear Hadley was sleeping, and woke him up. After much grumbling, the soldier stood up and clicked his night vision on. After one more glance around him, Zrion settled into his own 'bed' and clicked his night vision off. Despite the stressful situation, he managed to drift almost instantly into sleep.

[hrefna]

”Sorry, I'd rather stay awake rather than freeze to death in my sleep.” Sendrah thought bitterly to herself, gazing at the approaching soldier with a mischievous smile that faded into a distracted smirk.

“So. Looks like it's your turn, eh? Oh, good, good.. Great.” She drifted off, Harley-- No, Hadley, wasn't paying attention. She should go to sleep. She really should, but she didn't feel like it. She wouldn't rest well in this climate and area in her current condition. The group better get back to Haven in matter of hours, else Zrion would be standing victorious with her dead body at his feet.

The face still hurt like a bitch.

He didn't reply. He seemed determined not to. Did he hold a grudge against her or something?

“All those pockets and spray cans makes it uncomfortable sitting and relaxing, y'know.” Sendrah murmured to herself, shifting her position once again. Spray cans, handcuffs (when did she get those?), a small hairbrush, some more tiny spray cans, matches, hairpins, a vial of chloroform, a handkerchief ..

Why did she keep so much stuff in her pockets, anyway? Maybe she should listen to the people that had commented how she needed a bag or something. Nevertheless, it was much more comfortable running with stuffed pockets than a bag bouncing on her back as she leaped over the fences and nimbly dodged security cameras in the city, she managed fine without a bag.
A voice in her head kept insisting resting just a bit. Just a tiny bit. She leaned her head back, closing her eyes for just a moment before opening them again and closing them, repeating that process for a short amount of time until she finally drifted off for a few minutes.

Her thoughts weren't pleasant at all, she was getting overly paranoid. If only she had this KG discipline training that involves shutting your mouth while bad things happen to you. She simply couldn't do that. She had to complain, at all times.

Her face felt like a mess.--

There, she did it again.
Right, paranoia.
Sendrah was getting paranoid. As the time passed by which felt like hours she appeared to have become more and more agitated as time crawled by. She'd really appreciate those see-in-the-dark goggles right now for a peace of mind since if nothing was out there, which Sendrah doubted, then she could get more comfortable.. In the snow.

That reminder of a fact really turned off her temporarily bright mood.

What was she saying? This wasn't a **** hoverboarding trip in the forest.
Sendrah honestly wished it were, but who didn't wish to be at another place right now?