Heavy breathing filled the air, along with the crisping sound of leaves rustling and twigs cracking beneath the feet of a person. A redcoat, to be more precise.

The soldier could see his breath in the cold air as he ran, he ran, aimless, searching for something, he didn't even know what it was.

He was clever. He managed to escape the redcoats. But he was stupid. He should've discarded of the coat when he had the chance. Now, a stab wound in his shoulder gave him no choice but to keep the coat on, the red fabric sticking to his skin thanks to the blood that still seeped out of the wound.

A log tripped him and he fell. To his luck, he used his bad arm to try and catch the fall. A yelp escaped his lips and for once it sounded oddly feminine.

The redcoat took a moment longer before he managed to shove himself back up. There was a bloodstain in the snow where his shoulder had landed just now.

He took off once more, aimlessly running. Until, in the distance, he could see a fire. Relief filled him and new energy gave him the power to continue running, to continue running faster.

His voice, that yearned to be heard, died in his throat when he suddenly felt a hand yank his arm and slam him into a tree. His breath hitched in his throat and for a moment he saw only white, until his eyes began focusing on the person in front of him.

The male responsible for this stood in front of him, holding a knife to his throat, an angry expression sitting on his face as he glared at the redcoat. Then, the anger in his eyes was replaced by confusion and he asked softly "Alex? What the hell are you doing here, man?"

The redcoat only stared, obviously speechless by the sudden mood change of the male in front of him.

The male had curly hair, pulled into a ponytail. Freckles covered his tan skin. His dark eyes bore into the redcoats blue ones. The redcoat felt his heart stop as realization dawned on him — one wrong word and he's done with.

The freckled male's gaze dropped to the wound in the redcoat's shoulder, now a look of worry slipped into his eyes as he asked "Alex what the fuck did you do? Why are you even looking like one of them? I thought you were sent home to your wife!"

The redcoat gulped, thinking hard and fast. When he found himself capable to form an answer, someone called "Laurens, you alright?"

The freckled man's head shot up and turned towards the camp. "Yeah, everything's fine!"

Then he turned his attention back to the redcoat and took his knife down "Come on, we gotta get that fixed."

All the redcoat could do was nod and follow the freckled man, Laurens, towards the camp.

Thoughts began to run wild in the redcoat's head. This was definitely not what he had intended to happen. Running off and straight into the arms of the Americans. In the end, this hasn't been his day to begin with.

Laurens lead the redcoat into a tent — an infirmary. A nurse immediately came running towards the newcomers and asked what the problem may be.

Laurens glanced over at the other soldier, who then cleared his throat and muttered "Got stabbed in the shoulder by a redcoat."

The nurse nodded and said "Sit down over here Mr Hamilton. I'll try and help you get that coat off and then I'll take care of your wound."

Hamilton? That name sounded familiar to the soldier. As he went to take a seat, he felt watched by Laurens.

The woman helped him out of the coat, it got especially tricky with the wounded shoulder, but they managed. Then the nurse went to unbutton the soldier's shirt — and he did not bother with telling her off.

As soon as the shirt was removed, cold air hit parts of his upper body. His chest was wrapped tightly in bandages. Bruises showed on his rib cage. Otherwise, fine lines of muscles showed on his abdomen, arms and shoulders.

Quickly the nurse got to work. The whole time, Laurens watched the soldier and with every moment longer he felt more uneasy.

"What the hell happened, you're unusually quiet?", Laurens asked, breaking the silence. The soldier thought for a moment, before he said "Lots of shit happened."

A hint of a British accent swung in his voice, but it was weak. And Laurens' frown deepened.

"Care to elaborate?", Laurens asked and the soldier shrugged with his fine shoulder "Nothing much to say about it."

"Everything's good. You should be careful with your shoulder for now. Shall I check the other one, too?", the nurse said and gestured towards the bandages that were tightly wrapped around his chest, but before her hand could inch any closer, he slapped it away and said "Thanks, I'm good."

He grabbed a clean shirt from nearby and carefully pulled it on.

Laurens behind him watched as his friend had his back turned to him. Deep down, something happened.

When Alex turned to Laurens, he asked "Could I get something to eat? Went quite some while without."

Laurens barely noticeably shook his head and flashed a smile "Sure, lets get going. You still gotta tell me what happened with the redcoats."

Alex laughed awkwardly and nodded.

Yeah, like I'm gonna tell you who I really am.