“Okay…. Sure, why not?” Zhao Bing responded.

  “Good, my first lieutenant will escort you while I prepare the location.” Altan Niraj walked briskly out of the tent.

  The second lieutenant and the corporal turned to follow him out after saluting the first lieutenant.

  “Why did you agree? Are you daft, senile or both?”

  “It’s fine” Zhao Bing muttered

  “Alright, your funeral!” The lieutenant removed the bindings around Zhao Bing wrist. “let me take you to where you can have a proper meal before you die.”

  First lieutenant Lanka lead Zhao Bing to another tent nearby, there Zhao Bing had his bathe. He then lead Zhao Bing to a mess hall where he had a meal prepared for him. It was better than he had expected from an army camp.

  “Are you done?” Asked Lieutenant Lanka, he had gone out while Zhao Bing had been eating and was just coming back.

  “Yes, I should rest awhile.” Zhao Bing started, already leaning into his chair. “Right?”

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  “No, no time for that! There is a Humvee ready for you, you can rest on the way.” Lieutenant Lanka Viaan added.

  First lieutenant Lanka lead the way to the car then drove them out of the camp. It surprised Zhao Bing a little but he suppressed the feeling rather quickly. The Humvee had driven out of the part of the outpost inside the ward, the thought occurred to him that he could just leave but he didn’t, he was a little excited by what he planned to do. The Humvee drove for a while outside the barracks before it came to a stop beside another Humvee.

  “We walk from here” said Lieutenant Lanka as he turned off the vehicle and got down. Zhao Bing followed and they began walking in a landscape half caught between a forest and civilization.

  “How much longer?”

  “Not much, about mile to go.” Lieutenant Lanka answered

  “A mile?” Zhao shouted “why the need for all this preparation, is it not just a fight?”

  “Good question, why don’t you ask the captain when we meet him.

  After that exchange they walked in relative silence, Zhao was trying to commit their route to memory but it was not to be, the terrain was mostly cleared of trees with shrubs sprinkled around here and there and a few single trees survived from the purging. They saw captain Altan Niraj’s group way before they reached them and at the same time they were spotted. Captain Altan Niraj spoke out of his first lieutenant's equipment.

  “That is close enough, about a thousand paces from where I am. Is that okay with you?”

  “sure” Zhao Bing answered through the lieutenant.

  “Guns?”

  “Sure”

  “lieutenant Viaan, give us some space.”