During your first month at the base, you’d already gotten used to the dorms. They weren’t exactly luxurious, but at least they were livable.

What you didn’t expect, though— was your first real enemy.

Mosquitoes.

Too damn many of them.

Every night, you were at war under the blankets, slapping and cursing, waking up with new bites all over your arms. Sleep deprivation became a routine, and your body was basically a battlefield full of little red marks from all those late-night fights.

Today was no exception. You dragged yourself to the training field with two massive dark circles under your eyes, yawning like you hadn’t slept in a week.

Your sergeant, Soap—who always looked after you—was already there, grinning as usual. The moment he spotted you, he stepped closer, cheerful as ever.

“Mornin’, lass! How’s yer sle—”

He froze mid-sentence. His blue-gray eyes locked onto your neck.

That one swollen mosquito bite sitting right on your skin— in his head, it instantly registered as a hickey.

Soap went completely still, brain short-circuiting. Thoughts started firing off like gunshots.

The dark circles. The sore back. The yawning lately.

Bloody hell.

Was there some bastard who’d—while he wasn’t around—

Meanwhile, you had no clue about the mental war raging next to you. You just noticed that Soap had gone oddly quiet, his expression twitching between stiff and downright weird.

And all you could think was—

Why the hell isn’t the Soap making any noise today?