13
The trek through the forest was long, hot and tiring. Step by step, they followed muddy paths that meandered in between the trees, paths with sections so narrow the whole platoon had to march single file. Melissa hated those bits the most. The tries always tried to scratch her with thin branches that felt like grasping fingers.
They skirted the edge of a small pond filled with brown water and then carefully made their way around a nest of snakes. She had to resist the urge to shudder when she heard them hissing. Bullets and battlecruisers were one thing, but snakes? Snakes were just creepy.
Worst of all, somewhere in the mid-afternoon, a sudden downpour drenched them all from head to toe. When she complained, one of the soldiers gave her a disapproving look and said, “It's called a r
