Touchdown

Elias sauntered over to Lemuel’s side. Spying Callie, Lemuel couldn’t hold back his curiosity. ‘Sir, Callie’s really tagging along?’ ‘The girl you’ve got an eye on’s enlisting too, right?’ Elias responded, deflecting the question. Lemuel cast a glance at Wendy by Callie’s side, murmuring, ‘Yeah, she volunteered.’ ‘I didn’t want Callie to come,’ Elias admitted in hushed tones. ‘But that was selfish of me.’ Truth was, Elias had conferred with Craig over the phone before visiting the health centre. The veteran nurse’s opinion was more inclined towards Callie than Angelia. For battlefield roles, courage and a sense of responsibility were non-negotiable. From Craig’s standpoint, Callie seemed a better fit than Angelia. But Elias had placed pressure on Craig to favour Angelia, fearing the peril Callie might face. Now he realised that was the wrong thing to do. ‘Sir, I know how you feel.’ Lemuel patted Elias’s shoulder. ‘Let’s not dwell on that. It’s time for the roll call.’ Lemuel nodded and