Play In Darkness (Eng/END)

46. Crow, Shepherd and Siberian Husky

Delisha's lovely face and sparkling eyes can always please Imdad. Seeing her enthusiastically handling the Khan's project made Imdad believe that the woman prioritized work over romantic matters. After all, this woman was already satisfied with him. Ahahaha, Imdad feels the supreme. But thinking that Devdas was still able to contact and send gifts, he became irritated himself. He wanted to take Delisha away from the city. That gave him the idea of taking Delisha to a refugee camp on India's border with neighboring countries.

The military operations that took place in MYR Country have forced millions of Rhein people to flee their homes due to discriminatory treatment, harassment accompanied by violence, and reluctance to a m******e. The Rheins have physically colored skin, black hair, and black eyes, typical of Mainland Southeast Asians. The place to accommodate them and get medical care and food are in the refugee camp. One of them was formed by Xin Corp along with the World Security Forces and the World Refugee Management Agency.

Geographically, the border area is very beautiful with views of the foothills of the mountains, green grass overgrown with various flowers, rivers, and waterfalls formed naturally. Clean and cool air. Delisha and Imdad wore military-style suits with army stripes, a combination of green, brown, and black. They headed to the border military camp by helicopter. From the air Delisha could see that several tens of kilometers from the camp she was going to, there was also a military camp with a black star logo on the runway. The black star was so large that it was visible from afar. The camp belongs to Star Corp. Meanwhile, Xin Corp's military camp has the X logo on it.

Once they landed, they continued their journey using an all-terrain military car with an open hood, heading for the refugee camp, about 100 km from the military camp. Through the wilderness and the path is surrounded by cliffs. The weather was quite sunny that afternoon. However, the thick leaves of the trees covered the sky, making the atmosphere dim and cold. Along with other military officers, Delisha and Imdad sat in the back of the car, facing each other.

This was the first time Delisha stepped into such a field. Braided hair, hat and short sleeve shirt top lined with a vest with lots of pockets. Delisha didn't say a word during the trip. She held on tightly to the bar so as not to fall over the bobbing car. Occasionally, she took a glance over her shoulder at the trees and the hair on her neck stood up. The other person was not aware, but she saw that in the wilderness there were many invisible beings of various kinds.

Arriving at the refugee camp, Imdad immediately met the leadership of the military forces there. Refugees need to be closely monitored to be aware of unwanted actions and events that usually lead to anarchism. There are several large tents in gray for the officers and their equipment, while dark tents are provided for the refugees. In Delisha's vision, the officers at the place looked like german shepherds.

German Shepherd is often referred to as a dog that was first used as a guard dog by German soldiers during the First World War. They use these dogs to guard military buildings to prevent the enemy from infiltrating. Previously this dog was widely used by breeders to guard livestock. In the military, these dogs are used and trained to help track crime. The German Shepherd is a type of dog that is descended from wolves even from its physical form and nature. The nature of a dog is loyal, courageous, easy to adapt to the environment, and intelligent, easy to understand every lesson and exercise given.

The conditions of the refugees are very poor. Hundreds of people, mostly adult women and children, were dressed shabby and faces exhausted. Their eyes are sad without the spirit of life. The hundreds of pairs of eyes seemed to penetrate Delisha's heart. She didn't dare to see it. An eye that had shed too many tears and had seen too much death. In her vision, most of them were like crows with red eyes.

Crows are known to have a strange behavior towards the deaths of their fellow humans. They gathered and croaked loudly. Crows will remember human faces that looked dangerous to them. They croak and huddled together, forming large groups when they sensed things were threatening.

Delisha rested under a gray tent. She sat on a bench and looked at the refugees. The women sat on a squat watching the children playing in the front yard of their tents, some of them feeding the weaned children. Men with basic utensils made facilities for cooking, clean water, and a place to sleep. Among the refugees, some spirits were wandering with various conditions according to their circumstances when they died. The sight that was sad and carried a lingering gloomy aura.

Seeing Delisha looking restless, Imdad walked over to her. He handed Delisha mineral water, a packet of bread, and a Baretta gun. He has a rifle attached to his back. "The refugees are usually only temporarily living in the camp," Imdad explained in hopes of calming Delisha down. "After that, they wait for a letter from the World Refugee Management Agency to legally enter another country. That is if they are lucky enough not to be discriminated against by other citizens of another country. Most of them are deported to the home country that is ready to kill them, some are desperate to take the dangerous route to seek asylum in another country. Very few survived and fared well."

Delisha did not comment. Disasters and catastrophic deaths that hit one continent could be nature's way of recycling humans, it's just that for those who are still alive the event is very tragic.

Delisha put a Baretta gun on her waist belt, opened a bottle of mineral water, and drank until the remaining half. The cool air in the mountainous region did not make her thirsty, but she still needed fluids to avoid dehydration.

Imdad watched her drink and suddenly felt his throat dry. He took Delisha's drinking bottle and drank the remaining water in it until it ran out. "Imdad, you drained my drinking water, what if I want another drink?" Delisha scolded in surprise.

"Don't worry, miss, just tell me, I will provide it for you," he said with a sly of ignorance and his eyes squinting knowingly. Delisha rolled her eyes the other way. The man seemed to be making up the rules for what to drink and eat.

A man in Delisha's vision was like a Siberian Husky dog approached them. "Miss Marianne, this is Major Diederich, commander of this camp." Imdad introduces the man. Delisha immediately stood up to greet the young man from Germany. "I am Marianne Webster, from Xin Corp Center!" Delisha introduced herself. The blue-eyed man with pale skin and blonde hair shook his hand and spoke in a deep voice. "Nice to meet you, miss, just call me Dieder." Delisha is excited to see him because Dieder reminds her of her household pet, a Siberian Husky, making her hands itch to mess up the dog's coat.

Imdad is surprised to see her. Usually, Delisha avoided making eye contact with other people, but this time she seemed enthusiastic. An officer greets Imdad and reports something, causing him to distract himself from Delisha.

"Come on, miss, I'll take you around the camp," Dieder said, inviting Delisha to go ahead.

Delisha walked over and Dieder followed her. They headed to the refugee tents. She stared fixedly with a smile on the man who was explaining the conditions of the camp to her. This was done solely to dampen anxiety because of the appearance of curious spirits, which were more numerous than the refugees around her. After all, if she had eye contact with one of the spirits, they would realize she could see them and that they might all followed her. Just now, several spirits surrounded her and examined her closely. Delisha could even see their pores. Most of the spirits died from their wounds. Some were shot, beaten, mutilated, hit by explosions, some were attacked by wild animals. What is clear, their appearance is creepy and their smell is unpleasant. Delisha felt that it was better to smile at Dieder than for the refugees to see her with a sour face.

Dieder explained many things, but over time Delisha couldn't concentrate on him anymore. The man had already walked several meters away from her. The number of curious spirits that had approached Delisha was countless.

They are like black ants swarming around sugar, drowning her, tugging at her. Delisha felt pain all over her body. How they died and the pain she felt too. She stood shaking and broke out in a cold sweat. Her eyes widened out of direction because the faces of the curious spirits around her took turns. "Please stop it!" whispered Delisha in a trembling voice. She hugged her own body. The people looked at her in awe.

"Miss, are you all right?" Dieder asked as he hurried over to Delisha, but someone had already approached the woman first.

"Are you all right, Marianne-ji?" Imdad asked, holding Delisha's wrist tightly.

Delisha gasped and looked at Imdad with wide-open eyes, surprised but relieved. All of the curious spirits that had surrounded her, suddenly moved away, like a powerful energy surge pushing them. Not only was Imdad's kiss able to return her to the body, together with this man apparently kept invisible beings away from her. No wonder during her time with Imdad she did not experience interference by spirits. "I-I'm all right," she stammered, then took a deep breath and exhaled slowly to calm herself.

Imdad understands the problem she encounters. "Then, don't get away from me," he said as he put his arm around Delisha's shoulder and took her back to the officer's tent.

Delisha thought she could provide significant assistance to the refugees, but the opposite happened. She seemed weaker and more concerned than them. All-day long she was silent a lot because she was busy cursing herself. If no one else was around she wanted to make a loud voice and shout out her irritation. But after that, she was sure people would scoff at her as a spoiled woman who was hungry for attention. Sad indeed, she deserves the pity.

After a brief dinner at the camp, the boisterous officers chatted. Delisha chose to be alone under a tree, some distance from the officer's tent. She leaned against the tree trunk. The moonlight from the sky was sufficient to illuminate the surrounding scenery. The curious spirits looked at her from a distance. She knew they were wary of approaching her.

The amount of negative energy in the place made Delisha uneasy. She took out a cigarette, slipped the white stick between her lips, and set fire to it. It had been a long time since she had smoked and once the nicotine fumes filled her lungs, she could breathe a sigh of relief. A thin white smoke billowed into the air then disappeared slowly. A second later the white smoke blew again.

"You know about the health of human blood vessels and vital organs, but you are inhaling the poison yourself." Imdad greets her sarcastically. The man gave off a soft light due to the golden glow of his body. An amazing thing that only Delisha's eyes could see. If she got lost in the dark, this man's light could guide her way.

"Oh, are you going to ban me from smoking? Please, right now I really need it!" Delisha said curtly, then took another sip of her cigarette.

Imdad leaned back and hugged her shoulders. "Not that I forbid you," he said ignorantly. Delisha suspects Imdad will prank her. "I smoke cigarettes too," Imdad continued, taking a cigarette from his lover's mouth, making the woman glared at him and frown. "The problem is, I'm jealous of this cigarette." He took a delicious sip and stared at the small flame at the end of the cigarette. Thin smoke rose overhead.

"It's just a cigarette, Imdad, why should you be jealous?"

Imdad chuckled. "Because you're looking for pleasure from this cigarette ...." Oh, this is ridiculous. "... and this thing can be on your lips." Their eyes met. "... I should be the only one who gives you pleasure and is the only one on your lips ...." Oh, was that jealousy?

Imdad smoked the cigarette in his hand again and this time he didn't throw the smoke. He cupped the back of his woman's head and crushed her ripe lips.

Warm menthol smoke spread in Delisha's mouth. At first, she was shocked by Imdad's actions. But the soft kiss that sucked her lips softened her body. With her eyes closed, Imdad led her to the dark side of the tree and fondled her. The remaining half of the white cigarette fell to the ground, still fiery and smoking, but slowly fading. Meanwhile, the two people who took a sip earlier were getting heated up in their own game. Great flames were created in their bodies. Luckily it wasn't smoky.