"Oh really?" she said, the corners of her lips curving upwards. "I have to say, I'm hurt. I thought that we'd grown pretty close during this whole adventure."
"But, I deleted it when you asked," she pointed out. "A privilege that I'm sure I would not be granted if the situation was reversed."
"I'm a nice person. I wouldn't have taken it in the first place. If I did, I would delete it if you asked."
"Uh huh," she said, unconvinced. "I'm sure you would. Good thing we won't have to put that to the test. I am poised at all times, so there are no opportunities for you to catch me in a situation of embarrassment." She propped her head up with her hand.
They sat in a comfortable silence for a moment before Poppy's watch buzzed. "Incoming call." Poppy sat up and looked curiously at Francis before pressing the 'accept call' button. "Hello?" she asked cautiously. "Poppy? Poppy, is that you?" A male voice came from the watch's speakers, and Poppy's brow raised in surprise. "Evan?" she responded, pulling her legs to her chest. The noise on the other end sounded like a sigh of relief, and a few sniffles. "Oh, thank God. Thank God. We've been trying to get in contact with you for a while, Pops. Jesus. Where are you? Are you alone?"
"Evan Temmer," she whispered back. "Worked in Arts and Design department." She returned to the phone. "I'm in the woods by the remains of the main building. I'm with Francis Craw. Evan, what's going on?" "Ach. Okay, okay. Listen, Poppy, they've created a perimeter, like an actual sphere of energy that covers all of the woods and the old government building. It's to contain any people who made it out of the blast. I managed to get out before they set it up, with a dozen other people, and we're working on something to break through it..." He trailed off as someone talked to him off the phone. "What?" he hissed at them. "We can't ask her to do that. It's not safe." He was quiet for a moment as listened to what the voice had to say, and then returned to the phone. "Pops, you still there?" "Yeah. What's up?" "So, apparently there was this briefcase that should have survived the blast. It contains a lot of information on secret affairs that we had with countries around the world, and we need to get it back. We're going to keep trying to break through the perimeter, but you and this Craw guy need to go and get it from the ruins. Can you do that? It could be really destructive if it fell into the wrong hands."
"That sounds dangerous. That, and you're not exactly in the best shape right now. Is there an exact location of the item?" He leaned in, his expression serious.
Evan heard him, and his voice became a little harder when responding to Francis than it had been. "We've been tracking it for the last couple days," he responded authoritatively. "It looks like it has stayed where the central office was in the west wing. What do you mean by 'you're not exactly in the best shape right now'? Poppy, are you hurt?" Poppy sighed, her brow furrowed. "We've been out here for a while," she said carefully. "Some injuries are bound to happen. I'm fine. How long do you think we have until you guys find a way to break through?" "A couple days at the most," Evan responded, clearly noting the change in topic and not wanting to stray from it. "Listen, how badly are you injured?" "I'm fine, Evan," she insisted, her voice perhaps a little irritated. "Can I call you back? We need to talk about this." "I'm not sure you'll get a connection," he said. "It took us a couple days to get into contact with you in the first place." Poppy turned to look at Francis, her expression conflicted. "What do you think we should do here?" she asked him, her head cocked in thought.
"If it's true, and the information is truly valuable, then we should get it. Considering people know we're out here, we should probably move anyways while they find a way to break in," he said, his voice low.
Poppy nodded, and her gaze strayed away in thought. "You're right," she said finally as she returned to the wristwatch. "Evan, we're going to do it, but you guys have to figure out a way to tell us once you break through, okay?" "That shouldn't be a problem. It's just the perimeter that's causing the interference." "Alright. So, briefcase, central office, west wing. Is that it?" "Yes. And Poppy..." He hesitated on the other end, and Poppy frowned as if she knew what was coming, "What?" "You and I should talk when we meet up with you guys. I..." He cleared his throat awkwardly. "I was really worried about you." Poppy's jaw hardened, and she took a moment before answering. "Uh... Alright. I gotta go now though, okay?" "Yeah, yeah, of course. See you in a couple days." "See you in a couple of days," Poppy replied flatly. The wristwatch flipped off, and Poppy sat for a moment before lying back and staring at the ceiling. "Do you think we're able to go find that briefcase right now? Probably not the safest idea, right?" she asked eventually.
"We should wait. At least until tomorrow." He sat back again. "Now we're know other people are there, at least."
"The artsy guy, more like it," she said, sighing. She glanced at him sideways, blowing a curl out of her face. "Three years with him. Didn't end great."
