Declarations

When Nelson arrived at the HQ, he was surprised to see that the party had already begun for a while. Half of the soldiers were drunk and were dancing in the middle of the court while the other half was standing here and there chatting happily. A large number of dishes were already empty and looking at how various snacks the other plates were containing, Nelson couldn't guess what were they contained several minutes before.

He turned around and ordered his men to take all the things they had borrowed from Finn and Brett's houses and transport them inside, " don't hesitate to ask for help if you find something too heavy and don't take any risk to hurt yourselves ". He advised them.

Sania detached herself from the small crowd and walked furiously toward Nelson. She walked beside him enough close to purposely bump his shoulder before she continued walking as if nothing happened.

" What's your problem? "

She suddenly stopped and slowly turned around to face him, she stepped forward toward him until their both faces were at 30 centimeters from each other. " What's my problem? " she repeated angrily, " are you serious, how dare you ask me that? Do you realize that thanks to you we have come late to the party, several precious hours I could have enjoyed myself just gone like that and now you dare asking me to waste even more of my time transporting those boxes, " she shook her head dramatically, " I refuse, as simple as that ".

She tried to make a move to leave but the moment she took one step forward, Nelson quickly grabbed her arm and stopped her to go further, " hey, don't you think you're a little bit too at ease with me, you better lower your tone ".

She released herself, quite easily as he didn't hold her too tightly, then she tilted her head, crossed her arms below her chest, and glared at him while slowly extending the corners of her lips to reveal a naughty smile, " Oh, didn't you notice that lately I have been promoted to the rank of captain, that makes me your equal and gives me all the rights to speak to you as I do. So you may excuse me, comrade... " she put an accent on this latter word, " but the day is almost over and I have to make good use of each minute to make the handsome Glenn fall for me " and before Nelson could reply she turned around and ran toward inside the house.

" That woman " Nelson sighed while shaking his head, he turned to his men who saw all the scene and they had the same expression of deception as him, " why are you still here ? Hurry up and go finish what I have told you ".

He walked toward the core of the party while looking for Jamal to make his report about their little mission to the houses of the enemies. He walked around the court for quite a while, throwing glances at right and left in the hope that he would catch a glimpse of the shape of one of his fellows at least, but without success. The people around him were too drunk to give him any useful information. But hopefully, after making another round he found Volga.

The woman was sitting alone at a table a bit afar from the crowd while observing them enjoying the celebration. With her right hand, she was holding a cup of juice barely touched and which seemed like she had no intention to drink it, and besides her, there were placed many dishes filled with various and delicious snacks.

She noticed him as he was walking in her direction and so he waved his hand to call him.

Nelson took the seat in front of her and before letting her the time to speak any single word he directly went for the food set on the table and without saying a word he dug in. In only one minute he had already emptied all the plates which were there, then he stared at the cup of juice in Volga's hand like a lion staring at some prey and in a quick move of the hand, he stole it from her and emptied it in one breath before he released a long sigh of satisfaction.

" Are you okay? " Volga dared to ask.

Nelson nodded, " I was really starving ". He made a sign of the head toward the pile of empty plates on the side, " seems like you didn't care much about that so I should be thankful that your stomach was already full ".

She chuckled, " you're welcome. But it's not that I'm full, the thing is that it is actually the third round, every time I finish eating the food they gave me, there is someone who comes to serve me again, I got tired and so I decided to leave it, " she paused, glanced aside and added with a smile, " when we talk about the devil... " before she finished, a young woman pushed a carriage filled with the same delicious snacks. She set them on the table before collecting the pile of empty plates and she left them alone after kindly smiling at them.

" ...you see what I meant? " Volga pointed to the dishes and said, " seems like Glenn put some particular efforts to prove us all his gratitude ".

Nelson shrugged, " it's good for us that he's such a caring man, at least we're treated well ".

She gazed at him trying to figure out what was he thinking about a few seconds before she decided to directly ask him, " looking at your mood, it seems like your little excursion has been a little tough, am I wrong? " she guessed.

" A real hell " he directly confessed with a croaking sound. " That woman, Sania, didn't spare me, she kept torturing my ears with her complaints, for all the time the mission lasted ". He started imitating her voice while adding with some hilarious facial expressions " 'do you realize that it's all your fault if we are stuck in here' 'are you listening? I told you that it's all your fault' 'I can't believe it, because of you I'm sure I have wasted all my chances to conquer Glenn's heart, I hope you will pay for that' 'since it's all because of you if we are in such situation don't dare to ask me to work and don't ignore me when I have the generosity to talk to you' ".

Volga put her hands on her mouth while using all her mental strength to hold herself bursting out laughing. She waited until she caught her breath before asking " how... how can you imitate her so well? It's so funny ".

Nelson waved his hand as to say that it was nothing, " anyway, the point is that, since you have promoted her to the of captain, she put in her head that we are, now, equal and so she has allowed herself to become more insolent and insupportable than before ".

" She has always been a big mouth though, so I think her promotion does not play any role in her current attitude, " Volga replied. " As I know her, don't expect being able to discipline her, it will be impossible for you contrary to me who has always been able to handle her, so if you want I can make in sort she won't bother you anymore ".

He shook his head negatively " no need, I used to deal with teenagers more troublesome than her. She is not such a big problem for me ".

Volga shrugged " if you say so ".

" Oh Yeah, I have something I wanted to ask " Nelson remembered, he looked around before he said, " where are Jamal and Carla. I have been looking for them everywhere but I couldn't find them, are they maybe inside the house? "

" I don't know either, " Volga honestly responded, " once we arrived, I directly left them to go take a shower, and the last time I saw Jamal was when I finished washing myself and decided to pass a call to my lover, Don. Our discussion lasted very long and he wanted to use the phone too, I think he felt bored and left. When I came outside after I finished, he was no more there. When I looked for him, a man told me that he came to take Carla apart and they disappeared from the party. I think he may have brought her to an isolated place where he could give her the punishment you've asked him ".

Nelson chuckled nervously, " I hope he didn't ask her something too hard. He's taking that too seriously. Honestly, twenty push-ups in front of everybody would have been largely enough for a punishment ".

" You may be right, but I still think that he did that to take revenge on me because I monopolized the phone and didn't let him talk to his girlfriend, " Volga replied.

" No, I'm sorry but you're totally wrong " when she heard the voice of Jamal coming from behind her, she quickly turned her head to see him standing there his hands in his pockets and his face still revealing his bright smile. She later noticed Carla, calmly standing at his side, curiously bowing her head.

Noticing her odd attitude, Nelson had a jump of emotion. His imagination ran wild as he was trying to guess what Jamal might have made her do. When he couldn't contain himself anymore, he stood up from his seat and stared at Carla before redirecting his attention toward Jamal.

The latter quickly raised his hands to calm the anger which was growing in him, " I didn't make her do anything painful or which would have hurt her ".

" So why does she look down in such a pitiful manner? " he replied but calmer than before.

Jamal shrugged, " I don't know, maybe before you jump on me you should ask her directly ".

Nelson looked at the young woman " Carla. What did he do to you? "

She suddenly raised her head in incomprehension and started to gaze at right and left as if she was trying to figure out what was going on after she had been taken out from her thoughts. " Excuse me, what? "

" Weren't you listening? I'm asking you what punishment did Jamal give you? " Nelson repeated.

" What kind of punishment, huh? " she repeated too while gazing at him, " he just asked me to tell him about my story ".

" What? Just that? " Nelson asked before she nodded.

" In fact " Jamal carried on, " it's just a basic education. I believe that no one here would dare to show off a total happy aspect of their lives. We have all gone through difficult situations where we were victims or instigators of injustice, so by asking her to tell her story, I would indirectly force her to recall those moments what would make her realizing her fault and would ultimately correct her future actions, " he extended his arms, " recognizing our mutual pain and sorrow can hold us to hurt each other ".

Everybody around the table was staring at him speechlessly, to the point that he felt like he had to ask " Am I wrong? "

" Well ". Volga was the first to break the awkward silence, " it is actually not about whether your methods are good or bad but the point is that our friend, here, still doesn't fully trust you, " she turned around to ask for two more chairs.

Nelson was about to open his mouth to apologize when Jamal landed his hand on his shoulder, " don't worry, it's alright ". He made a sign of the head toward Volga " she is just trying to tease you. So never mind, you don't have to apologize for not being as naive as Volga is ".

" Hey, " she protested " I'm not naive. I'm just really good at seeing through the lies and at discovering the true faces of people ".

Jamal lifted his eyebrow " are you telling me that you know my true face? " he defied her.

" No " she honestly responded, "indeed, I do not know who you really are however I do know who you are not. You're not an evil person neither a hypocrite " she justified herself, which made him smile.

" Is that so? " Jamal smiled before he challenged her, " if that's true that you have such a useful ability how come didn't you find out about Brad as well as the others who had potentially betrayed you sooner? "

The woman shrugged, " I guess that's I didn't pay attention enough to realize all the issues each of my comrades had back there or to consider all the pain they were going. Now I think of it, I realize that I got used to having people avoiding to look at me in the eyes and thus I couldn't the truth lying behind their faces, " she paused, " but don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to find myself excuses for what happened. I'm fully aware that I seriously messed up ".

Jamal was so surprised by such sincere words that he didn't know what to reply. [ She is not looking for excuses as she just said but she was simply and honestly responding to my question so there is no need to find words to comfort her, it will just hurt her pride rather than helping her to feel better ] Jamal thought while staring at her.

During that moment of silence, a man brought two wooden chairs in each of his hands and placed them around the table. Carla and Jamal stepped forward to have a seat.

" So if he didn't give a too hard punishment why are you looking so desperate? " Nelson asked, curious, while also trying to change the subject. He was sitting just beside her and had to turn his chair to face her.

The young woman bowed her head to look down again, she was stroking her fingers nervously as she said " um... the truth is that I want to ask you a favor, and I was wondering how should I express it ".

" Just say it " he replied, with a rushing tone.

She took a deep breath before raising her head to look at his eyes, she had a very serious expression on her face and when she was talking, her voice was clear, " for all the next battles I would want you to let me join Volga's team ".

" Yes, " Volga expressed silently, she tightened her fist and looked like she was holding herself to shout " victory! "

" Before you talk let me please explain myself. With all the respect I have for you I think that for the well going of our journey, it is the best thing to do. I have never said it before as it sounds too much presumptuous but I have always felt like my actual comrades of Montclay's army were holding me back, they are unable to keep up with my rhythm. I'm not trying to be disrespectful but... even you, sometimes, you are too slow ".

Nelson was completely stunned, he glanced at the two captains beside him and was even more shocked that they both had their hands on their mouths and were holding themselves to not laugh. " Are you serious? My subordinate has just told me that I was too weak for her and you... you are mocking me " he reproached them.

Jamal waved his hand " sorry... it's just that the face you made was too hilarious. "

" It's not a joke! " he said.

" Of course not " Volga replied, she coughed, pushed Jamal with her elbow before taking back a more serious posture " I'm sorry, we didn't want to be mean or disrespectful, " she turned to Carla and told her, " please carry on ".

" OK, what I was trying to say was that after I teamed up with Volga and a few of her men today I realized that it was totally different, every people knew what they had to do and they were fast to react ".

" They all were former soldiers or used to work in the public defense, so it's true that they had a little more experience, " Volga explained. " I don't know if this girl used to work on the police or was in the army but it's obvious that she had a natural talent for this kind of job ".

Nelson gazed at Carla " but you have started to hold a gun two years ago, just like everyone in my team " he said.

" That's true, but as she said I have a natural talent for that " she replied, " please accept, let me join her ".

Nelson stroked the back of his head, a little uncomfortable, " I have promised Amir to look after you ".

" And you have done largely enough but I think it's time now for me to grow up. I'm strong enough to protect myself. I will be alright. And who knows, I may become stronger by teaming up with her, " she was literally begging him.

The man closed his eyes and took a few seconds to think about it before he finally nodded.

Carla jumped out from her chair to hug him and thank him, while Volga leaned toward Jamal to whisper at his ear " I'm a little bit lost, who is Amir and why are they looking so close? "

He patted her shoulder and made a sign as to tell her that he would explain to her later.

After that, a man from Nelson's team came to inform him that they had finished transporting all the boxes inside. At that moment, Nelson remembered that he didn't make his report to Jamal yet and so after he thanked the man and told him that they could go enjoy the party, he turned to the three people around him to tell them what they had found.

He firstly started by clarifying that they didn't find any hostages in both houses but on the contrary, they were still some few outlaws remaining. He estimated that they didn't need any prisoners so he decided to just kill them, and Jamal didn't make any remarks since he would have done the same. He also said that besides that they found many dead bodies.

" Were they recent? " Jamal asked him.

" They haven't started yet their decomposition so I think yes ". He responded.

" What does it mean? " Carla wanted to know.

" That means that they were about to attack this basement to look for other toys to play with, " Volga said, " it is hopeful that we came in time before it happened ".

Nelson nodded and carried on. He said that he had collected all their weapons as well as their ammunition. And in the end, he had also collected a large reserve of food as well as packs of pieces of jewelry and other useful goods and he transported all of them.

" You did a good job " Jamal praised him.

" What will we do with all those? " he asked as he knew that he already had a plan.

" First of all we will divide them, " Jamal replied while raising his forefinger to emphasize the first step. " Starting by the weapons and the ammunition, two equal parts and one small part; the first part we will give them to our wounded soldiers and those who want to quit fighting, they will transport them to Stainfall ".

" How many wounded do we have? " Nelson asked Volga, and the latter said, " no more than five in total but their lives are not in danger and looking at the mood of the other soldiers I think no one will choose to quit, so in my team, we're expecting only one car to go back to Stainfall ".

" What is quite optimistic, " Jamal commented before he carried on with his explanations, " the other large part, we will take it with us to the next city while the small part will be given to Palet's citizens. It may be true that we have eliminated all the enemies but... "

" ...you don't want to take any risk, " Volga finished for him as she didn't want to waste this occasion to tease him.

" Yeah that's right " he chuckled. " Concerning the goods and the pieces of jewelry, we will send them all to Stainfall, as for sure there are many people who would need them, if Glenn wants to keep a certain part we will gladly offer them to him ".

Carla raised timidly her hand and after they gave her the talk she said, " I think we should look if there are some medicines or other pharmaceutical products to keep them for when we would go to the next city, they may have people who would need them ".

They all nodded. " It's a good idea, " Nelson replied with a proud smile, " let's do like that, it's true that we have found many pharmaceutical elements which will be very useful ".

" Well, and in last, for the food, I think we should keep it all, both here and Stainfall are completely auto sufficient but we don't know if that's the case for the next city. do you all agree? " Jamal asked them and they all nodded. " Alright, I will personally discuss with Glenn about these decisions later ". He picked a mini cake from a plate and put it in his mouth, " where is Sania? " he later asked Nelson, " weren't you supposed to be together? "

" Well, she must be somewhere trying to seduce Glenn, " Nelson took his face in his hands and sighed.

Carla stood up, to look above the crowd pointed toward the feet of the stairs at the entrance of the house, " she is there with him, " she informed them.

They all stood up to look in the direction indicated. They saw Sania talking to him while holding Glenn's hand and standing so close to him that his embarrassment was detectable at more than 5 meters.

" Who is the woman who is going the stairs so furiously? " Nelson asked while pointing his finger.

" It is Ilya, I think " Volga replied, " one of the Palet's citizens, she was in Jamal's team during the mission ".

Jamal quickly left the table and started walking very fast toward the stairs. " Where are you going? " Volga shouted at him.

" Hurry up and follow me if you want to see something interesting, " he just replied.

The three people glanced at each other, a little bit confused before they suddenly left the table to follow him. When they quickly caught up with him, together the four of them ran across the court to go stop at a reasonable distance from Glenn and Sania, hidden by the numerous people who were celebrating around them, ignorant of what was about to happen.

They could hear her trying to convince him with many other arguments to be with her while sensually fondling his hand.

" What are we doing here? " Volga asked Jamal one more time.

He put a finger on his mouth, without taking his sight off the two people on the stairs, " silence, all of you. Sania may not know but actually, Glenn is already married ".

" What? " they all simultaneously shouted.

" Shut up and look," he told them.

•••

" Why are you so shy with me, am I not enough attractive for you? " Sania said.

" It's not that... " Glenn responded while trying to move away from her as kindly as possible.

" So why don't you just say yes and kiss me here and now? " she insisted.

" Maybe because he just does not want you, " a woman shouted above them.

" Who are you, first of all? " Sania said to this woman who was going down the stairs toward them.

Ilya reached them, she grabbed Glenn's hand and pulled it to release it from Sania, and while holding it tightly, she went to stand between the two people while facing Sania with piercing eyes, " I'm his wife and I'm not letting you bother him anymore ".

Glenn stared at Ilya's face with admiration. The one who has always refused to assume publicly their relationship was now announcing it in front of everybody.

" You are what? " Sania asked as if she didn't hear well.

Glenn stuck his hand inside the pocket of his jacket and took out two rings, he passed one around his finger and the second one around Ilya's finger. " Yes, as she said, this woman here is my wife ".

Down in the court the crowd exploded in euphoria, accompanying it with thunderous applause, Jamal hadn't noticed before but it seemed that the four of them were not the only ones who were watching the scene. People were shouting, were whistling, and were congratulating them.

A little ahead from the crowd, Ilya could see Jamal looking at her with eyes full of pride.

A group of people ran up the stairs and after they reached Glenn and Ilya, they lifted them, held them up, and walked them all around the house, singing their happiness, while on the other hand, Sania ran up the stairs and rushed inside the house, looking more ashamed than upset.

Without saying a word, Nelson ran upstairs to follow her while leaving Jamal, Volga, and Carla without them noticing as their attention was driven away.

" Woah, that was... spectacular, " Volga said to break the silence, she glanced at Jamal who replied, " it was like looking to the end of a romantic drama movie ".