Page 42 of Knot All Is Ruined: Part 2

Chapter twenty

After being whisked out of the mess hall, Lucian ran all the way back to the barracks until we reached the room we were supposed to be staying in. Kicking the door in, not caring at all that Sorin and Cris were sleeping, or trying to, Lucian entered the room but refused to set me down.

“Pack everything up. We need to get the fuck out of here,” he ordered.

Toma set aside his computer, looking confused. “What's going on?”

“Look, I get that I’m not allowed to give orders around here, but if we want to get out of this base without blowing the whole mission up, we need to go now,” Lucian explained.

Sorin tossed back the covers and stood wearing only his boxers. Biting my lip, I stared up at the ceiling knowing now was not the time to be getting all hot and bothered.

“You’re gonna need to give me something, Lucian,” Sorin challenged. “Help me understand the problem so I can make sure our next action doesn’t put us in more trouble.”

I could feel Lucian’s uncertainty as he set me down. He then glanced over at Cris, who was sitting up in his bunk watching us. “Can you please tell me your last name?”

“What?” Cris asked, his face scrunching up. “Why do you need to know that?”

“It’s Nems,” Toma answered over top of Cris’ protests. “His last name is Nems.”

“Then it would seem your father is the commanding officer of the battalion of men who are staying in this building with us. Petru recognized him right away, then made sure Dani and I got out of there before being spotted,” Lucian informed them.

“Fucking hell,” Sorin growled as he snatched up his clothes and yanked them on. “Get our shit together and meet me at the far entrance near the end of the training yard. Toma, do you have what you need to make this happen?”

“Yeah, I can get us out quick and silent,” Toma assured, hoping off the top bunk. “Did we get everything we needed supplies wise?”

“We have enough to make due. I was going to grab a few more packs of rations to be safe, but it’s not worth it now,” Sorin shared with a sigh. “Where are the other two?”

“Petru and Victor are still in the mess hall. The reason he even showed up is because of me,” I said, hugging myself feeling it was all my fault.

Sorin had made me promise that when it turned ten o’clock, I’d get Lucian back up to the room to sleep. I hadn’t even considered the fact that other soldiers might cause an issue, but I was used to the respect my unit got back at headquarters. Here people didn’t give a shit what rank you had, they were all going to war and could possibly die the next day.

A hand gripped my chin, and Sorin forced me to meet his gaze. “Dani-girl, you did exactly as I asked. You are not responsible for how other people act, only for yourself. I’m also betting that you weren’t the one to start the fight.”

I blinked at him. “How did you know there was a fight?”

Sorin chuckled. “Do you think Victor would let you step foot out of this room without him being close by? If he saw someone doing anything disrespectful, then a fight was bound to happen no matter what anyone said. That being said, I really should head down there to make sure Victor doesn’t do something he’ll regret one day.”

A quick peck on the lips and Sorin was out of the room, leaving us to manage.

“Okay, everyone grab two packs and follow me,” Toma instructed. “The supplies we got today will be in a locked locker waiting for us. We always used the same combinations, so any one of us can access it for situations like this.”

It appeared that Cris didn’t change out of his uniform so we only had to wait for him to lace up his boots before we left the room. Toma led us over to the supply depot and a row of large metal lockers. He quickly imputed the combination and yanked open the door.

“Pack fast. We’ll sort it all out once we get far enough away from here,” Toma said as he started to shove things into his pack.

Having no clue what I was grabbing from the dark locker, I froze as I stared down at the package wrapped with a label marking it as C-4 explosives. “Ah…”

“It’s fine, Dani,” Cris assured me. “Trust me, after living with Victor for as long as we have, we’ve all gotten used to explosive stuff lying around. That won’t explode without the right detonator, so just keep it all together and there will be nothing to worry about.”

I gulped but trusted he wouldn’t put me in danger, and if Victor brought it into the house, then it couldn’t be that dangerous…right?

Packing things up took longer than I expected, but I don’t think I realized just how much they wanted to bring with us. There were even another two duffle bags that were filled with supplies, mainly food. Just as we finished, I heard footsteps approaching and whirled with my gun at the ready.

“Whoa there, Little Spark,” Victor called out. “It’s just Tru and me. No need to shoot.”

Letting out the breath I’d been holding, I relaxed and lowered the gun. “Where’s Sorin?”

“Keeping the dear lieutenant colonel busy while we get out of here,” Petru answered.