PnF_Soldiers 4

Day 7

With the sun high in the sky, the troop of men finally reached the village.  Exhausted, but alive, most of them didn’t think twice when they simply walked in the small civilization to use the phone and for supplies.  While the rest of them walked into town, some intent on finding a phone, while others intent on finding some food, Eli was the only one to notice how rapidly the shutters closed, or the fact that a single child was ushered out of the street, leaving it empty.

“Let’s see if we can find anything in that store,” Phineas suggested as he led everyone into a general store on the side of the road.  Eli only hung back for a few seconds before he felt a sharp pain on his head and everything became black.

“Excuse me,” Phineas called in as he opened the door to the store.  Everything was still and calm except for the cloud of dust that had raised from the sudden breeze that had entered the small store along with the group of lost soldiers.  Almost no one was there.  Almost.

Standing behind the counter was a clerk.  He looked to be almost forty in age, yet his entire demeanor was cold and stiff.

Phineas decided that the best thing to in this situation would be to be as polite as possible, ask to use the telephone, then leave the man in peace.  With a polite smile, he approached the clerk.

“Excuse me, but can we use your telephone?” Phineas asked, keeping his hands to his side—or on his crutch—and his eyes trained on the clerk.  He knew if he started looking around the store, he would be wondering he could be inventing anything with any of the supplies around.  And even though he was itching to invent, he knew their first priority was to get in touch with someone who could pick up the lost troop.

The clerk stared at Phineas for a long time.  Phineas stared back.  The longer the unspoken match was, the more uneasy Phineas felt.  Something wasn’t right here.  Maybe the clerk hadn’t understood.  But Phineas didn’t know the native language, but Alex did!  Hoping that his team member could help him with what seemed to be a communication error, Phineas turned his head to call for some help.

He didn’t know how much help he needed.