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Vin joined her and did the pushups as fast as he could. As soon as they were done, Sully made them join the others running laps. It wasn't until many hours and many exercises later that they were allowed to leave the training area.
Ellen grumbled about a stitch in her side, wondering if it was possible to die right about now.
Vin glanced at her as they walked to supper. "Get stitches often? Are they very bad?"
"Naw, I don't. Just when I've been running for extended periods." She smiled slightly. "Or running on an empty stomach."
"Oh yeah, same." Vin pulled out a cheese-cracker sandwich seemingly out of nowhere and ate it in one bite. Then he took out another and offered it to Ellen. "I know we're just about to have supper, but….army food sucks, so this is kind of like compensation."
"Thanks." Ellen took the sandwich and quickly wolfed it down.
They reached the mess hall–which still had a huge hole in it–and took their usual places at the table. As they did so, one of the girls sitting next to them did a double take. "Hey–didn't I see you two by the building with all those weird mutated animals in it? You know, after lunch?"
(brb, gotta have supper right quick)
(Okay!)
Ellen blinked. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"Well, um…I guess maybe I got the wrong people…." She kept staring at them. No it was definitely you! I saw you for sure! What were you doing over there?" By now some other people nearby were starting to glance over curiously.
"I don't know what you're on girl, but it wasn't us." Ellen said, tucking into the bland meal.
Vin gave the girl a cheery smile. "Actually, I think it must have been us, because otherwise that implies that there's another guy in this camp who's as handsome as me, and I know that can't be true."
She stared at him. "Are you serious?"
"Of course! I mean, look at me." He tossed his golden hair slightly and lifted an eyebrow. "Does this kind of beauty show up every day? I don't think so."
The girl rolled her eyes and turned away. "Okay, never mind. Can I switch seats with someone?"
Vin waited until she was gone, then pretended to gag. "Sorry, I hate doing that. But for some reason it works really well."
"Public displays of self confidence in one's appearance must make dweebs uncomfortable." Ellen muttered, finishing her meal. "We clearly weren't as stealthy as we thought."
"Well….there's only so much sneaking you can do at high noon in a big empty area like that. At least none of the officers saw us….besides Davy of course. Speaking of, can you see him around anywhere?"
Ellen craned her neck."No… suppose he went and snitched on us? He could easily say he say us enter the building."
"It's been hours. If he'd snitched we probably would have been locked up or something by now. Most likely he's just off on a mission, or maybe down at his secret hideout." Vin took his plate and stood up. "Shall we head to our rooms, it's almost curfew."
"Yeah." She stood up and deposited her plate.
They left the hall among a crowd of weary recruits and made their way back to the barracks. Once inside, Vin started going through his things and packing them back up. "We should sleep until one a.m. or so and then leave. That'll hopefully give the camp enough time to settle down. Besides, I could use a nap."
"Yeah. Sounds good." Ellen started packing her things too.
Once he was sure he'd found all the snacks in his room, Vin put his backpack under the bed and laid down. "Welp…..good-night, I guess."
"Yup." Ellen said, doing likewise. She flopped onto her bed.
The first half of the night seemed to pass only too quickly. What felt like ten minutes later, Vin was quietly whispering to Ellen from the doorway. "Ellen? It's time. You ready?"
"Yup." She rolled out of bed and grabbed her bag. "Let's do this."
Vin opened the door and peeked out. "All clear, but we'll have to be quick. Let's go."
"Alright." She slipped out the door.
They darted across the moonlit camp to the special barracks, only having to stop once to avoid being spotted by a sentry. Vin went over and checked the door. "Locked still. I hope you remembered to bring your heavy-duty picks for the cage doors."
"You bet I did." Ellen quickly unlocked the door and opened it.
Vin didn't turn on the light this time, instead waiting until the door was closed and flicking on his penlight. The creatures nearest them stirred and opened their eyes, blinking warily at them.
"Okay, so they're not asleep," Vin whispered. "Maybe Davy was wrong. Maybe we can reason with them."
"Yeah, that sounds good." Ellen whispered.
"Uhhh…." Vin turned to the white-haired snake woman they'd talked to before. "Hey, so…it's us. We're back. If we were to let you out of there and set you free, would you promise not to attack us? Or anyone else?"
She yawned lazily, thinking it over. "Mmmm…maybe. I'm pretty angry, so I might have to kill at least one person. But probably not either of you two." She considered them out of the corner of her eye. "Help me figure out how to change form again, and I can guarantee I'll leave you alone. That's a promise."
"Okay, I think we can find the right chemical for that without too much trouble," Vin said, "One down. About….fifteen more to go."
(I gotta go to bed now :( Seeya tomorrow hopefully!)