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“Right, Sarge.” Kawalski grinned.
“He is Alexander,” Autumn said to Liada.
“Alder…” Liada said. “Alexder?”
“Yeah, that’s a hard one. Just call him ‘Sarge.’” She smiled. “Sarge.”
“Sarge?” Liada asked.
“Yes, his name is ‘Sarge.’”
Tin Tin and Liada spoke to each other for a moment, repeating the word “Sarge” several times.
Liada tapped Autumn’s helmet with the back of her fingers and raised her shoulders.
“Oh, this thing?” She unbuckled the chinstrap and pulled off her helmet, letting her long black hair fall. She handed it to Liada. “Helmet.”
“Helmet?” Liada took it and looked it over.
Tin Tin reached to touch Autumn’s hair. She smiled and said something as she ran her fingers through the waist-length black strands.
“Thank you,” Autumn said, “but it must be a mess.”
She took a brush from an inside pocket of her jacket, pulled her hair over her shoulder, and began brushing. Tin Tin Ban Sunia was fascinated with the hairbrush. She said something to Liada.
“Oh, God,” Kawalski said on the comm. “Here we go. First the hair, next they’ll talk about makeup. After that, it’ll be the clothes.”
Liada looked at the helmet, cocking her head to the side and wrinkling her brow.
“I think Liada hears us,” Karina said.
Autumn flipped her hair back over her shoulder and handed her brush to Tin Tin, who smiled and tried to brush her hair, but it was too tangled.
“Here,” Autumn said, “let me show you.” She pulled Tin Tin’s hair over her shoulder and began at the ends. Her hair was almost as long as Autumn’s. “You know what? Some women would kill for naturally curly hair.”
Autumn and Tin Tin continued to talk and use hand signs as Autumn brushed Tin Tin’s hair, but the rest of the platoon could no longer hear them.
“I think you’ve lost control of this one, Sarge,” Kawalski said.
Alexander agreed.
Tin Tin motioned toward the platoon and asked a question. Autumn raised her right arm and pointed toward the southeast. She made a rising and falling motion with her hand, like something far away over the hills. She then gave the brush to Tin Tin to free her hands and asked in signs, “What is this place?”
Tin Tin spoke, but the platoon couldn’t hear what she said. Autumn touched the sleeve of Tin Tin’s tunic, feeling the material. Tin Tin asked something about the zipper on Autumn’s camo jacket.
“What’d I tell you?” Kawalski said. “Here we go with the clothing. Lipstick can’t be far behind.”
“Kawalski,” Karina said, “you don’t even know what’s important in life, do you?”
“Well, apparently it’s hair, clothing, and makeup. The Apache seems to have forgotten about ‘Where are we?’, ‘Who are you people?’, and ‘What’s up with all those elephants?’”
Liada lifted the helmet toward her ear, obviously curious. She glanced at Autumn, raising her eyebrows.
“Sure, put it on.” Autumn made a motion toward Liada’s head.
“Hey, Sarge,” Lojab said. “You see that?”
“This should be interesting,” Alexander said.
“Can she hear us?” Sparks asked.
“Sure, if the Apache has the comm on.”
“Hey, babe,” Lojab said.
When half the platoon began talking at once, Liada uttered an exclamation and yanked off the helmet. She looked inside, then around the outside of the helmet, finally handing it to Tin Tin, saying something to her. Tin Tin looked inside but shook her head.
Autumn leaned close to the mic in the helmet. “If you guys are going to talk to the ladies, do it one at a time. Otherwise, you’re scaring the hell out of ’em.” She motioned for Tin Tin to put on the helmet as she flipped Tin Tin’s hair back over her shoulder.
Tin Tin handed the hairbrush to Liada, then carefully slipped on the helmet as she cocked her head to the side and listened. Her eyes widened.
“Sarge?”
“Sarge?” Liada asked as she began brushing her hair as she’d seen Autumn do for Tin Tin.
Tin Tin tapped the side of the helmet, over her right ear. She said something else to Liada, then both of them looked toward Alexander, who smiled and tapped the side of his helmet. Autumn pointed to the tiny mic embedded in the inside edge of the helmet and made a talking motion with her hand.
Tin Tin spoke into the mic. “Tin Tin Ban Sunia.”
“Sarge,” Alexander said.
Tin Tin smiled. “Liada,” she said and pointed to her friend.
“Liada,” Sarge said.
“Autumn,” Tin Tin said.
“Yes, Autumn Eaglemoon.”
“Yes,” Tin Tin repeated. “Autumn Eagle Mon.” She smiled at Autumn.
“Hey, Sarge,” Lojab said. “I saw her first. Let me talk to her.”
Tin Tin looked around for the source of the new voice. Alexander pointed to Lojab.
“Lojab,” he said into his mic.
“Lojab,” Tin Tin said.
“Hi, Tin Tin.” Lojab waved.
She waved and smiled. “Misplace porch mcdongol.”
Lojab laughed. “Misplaced my Porsche.”
“Misplace my porch.”
“Good,” Lojab said.
“Good.”
Liada said something to Tin Tin, who removed the helmet and handed it to Liada. Liada then gave the brush to Tin Tin and put on the helmet.
“Sarge?”
“Liada,” Alexander said.
Lojab walked toward Tin Tin, taking off his helmet. His blond hair was clipped very short. He was a little over six feet tall, with a hard, muscular body. His sleeves were rolled up, exposing a tattoo of Jesus Christ on a Harley adorning his left biceps. Jesus wore a grin, with his halo blowing back in the wind.
“Lojab misplace my porch,” Tin Tin said and laughed.
“You’re a quick learner, Tin Tin.”
Lojab held out his hand to her. She looked at his hand for a moment, then reached to take it, but she seemed more interested in something else. She ran her hand over the top of his head.
“That’s a buzzcut,” Lojab said.
“Buzzcut.” She touched his two-day growth of beard. “Buzzcut?”
“Yeah.” Lojab motioned toward the trees. “You want to take a walk with me?”
“Low Job,” Autumn said, “you butthead. You met her two minutes ago, and already you’re trying to get her into the bushes.”
“Well, what the hell, Apache? If she’s willing…”
“She has no idea what you want to do with her.”
“Then why is she smiling?”
“I don’t know, Low Job,” Autumn said. “Maybe she’s trying to befriend an idiot?”
“As much as I hate to break up this little party,” Alexander said as he walked up to them, “does anyone know where we are?” He pulled off his helmet.
“Sarge,” Tin Tin said. “Helmet?”
“Sure,” Alexander said. “Knock yourself out.”
“Liada?” Tin Tin said into the mic after she put on the helmet.
“Tin Tin,” Liada said. They backed away from each other, still talking and apparently testing the range of the comm system.
“We are in a place called Gaul—” Autumn began.
“Gaul?” Karina said as she came up to them, removing her helmet. “Is that what they said, ‘Gaul?’”
“Yes,” Autumn said.
“Sarge,” Karina said. “Gaul is the ancient name for France.”
“Really?” Alexander said. “What’s the name of that river?”
“I couldn’t figure out how to ask that,” Autumn said, “but I think they’re planning to cross it. And another thing…”
“What?” Alexander asked.
“They have no concept of years, dates, or even hours of the day.”
Alexander watched Tin Tin and Liada behaving like two children with a new toy. “Strange,” he whispered. “And apparently, they’ve never heard of wireless communications either.”
Chapter Seven
“I wish this damn thing had wheels,” Kawalski said.
“Quit your bitching, Kawalski,” Autumn said, “and pick up your corner.”
“Oh, I got my corner, and I’ll probably have to carry yours, too.”
The rest of the platoon fell in behind the four soldiers carrying the weapons crate.
“Where are we going with this thing, Sarge?” Lojab asked. He was on the left front, opposite Kawalski.
Alexander was on the back left end of the crate, with Autumn across from him. “All the way to the river.”
“I didn’t hire on to be somebody’s slave,” Lojab mumbled under his breath, but everyone heard him.
“We’re all doing the same crap,” Autumn said.
“Yeah, and if we would all complain, our fearless leader would do something about it.”
“Like what, Lojab?” Sarge asked.
“Like get us the hell out of here.”
“You have some idea about how to do that?”
“You’re the sergeant, not me,” Lojab said. “But I can tell you this, if I was in charge, we wouldn’t be following along behind a bunch of cavemen, stepping over elephant shit and carrying this big-ass box.”
“You’re right, I am the sergeant, and until you replace me, I’ll give the orders.”
