…

Jola was overseeing the training of some people when a loud bang was heard. He quickly stopped the training, went to the armory and took out a laser rifle. On his way there he encountered some other men and asked them “What’s going on?” with a calm expression.

The men replied “Boss, the roof of a building collapsed, the people around it said they saw something fly into the building through the roof”, Jola thought ‘It sounds like one of those monsters that can fly, this is terrible’ although he didn’t show his worry on his face; too many people looked up to him; he couldn’t afford to show fear.

The flying monsters were very common at the start of the apocalypse but for some reason they had become very scarce as time went by. Jola feared the flying monsters the most as they could see better with the flight advantage and would be harder to escape from or kill if they attacked.

The sanctuary had just begun to settle above ground when the number of aerial monsters had reduced such that they hadn’t seen them for 3 days.

After arming himself, he came out of the armory completely covered in a blue metal suit; the other soldiers wore similar armor.

He ran to a building close to the site of the incident and asked a scout who was watching the building from his binoculars “What’s the situation?” the scout replied “Nothing has happened, it has not left the building”. Jola was relieved at the news ‘It would be terrible if we had to fight in the open’

Jola and his men approached the building; it was an abandoned building so no one had the keys to the door. Jola cut a hole in the shutter door of the warehouse with his laser rifle, after which he backed away and hid under cover.

After waiting for a while and seeing the lack of response from the monster, he signaled to one of his men and the man activated a drone and sent it to scout the inside of the building.

On the screen in Jola’s helmet a video of the inside of the building, from the point of view of the drone, was playing. The buildings lights weren’t on as a power outage had happened on the 8th day of the apocalypse but the light from the sun entered the building through the huge hole in the roof.

After using the drone to check the building for a while, they found nothing but footprints, which lead to a spot and disappeared. Then a part of the floor opened at the spot where the footprints ended and a man, holding only a suitcase, ascended the stairs that were under it.

When the men saw who came from the ground, they were shocked and scared; they all recognized the terrorist that had tormented the country, ‘Jade, the stealer of men’ they all thought in unison.

They didn’t understand a lot about what was happening at that moment; why the terrorist was wearing a weird outfit, how he had survived such a fall unscathed and what was in the suitcase, but they weren’t going to wait for him to explain, they would kill him, they couldn’t take their chances.

While the soldiers were filled with killing intent, Jola was in a completely different state. He removed his suit’s helmet, dropped his gun and ran into the building. His men noticed his actions late and couldn’t stop him. He entered the building, ran toward the Jade with tears in his eyes. Jade’s facial expression; a warm smile, as he extended his hands sideways, and the two men hugged each other.

The men were in shock as they saw their leader crying and hugging the terrorist and the terrorist hugging back, the sight made their minds freeze as they didn’t know what to make of this situation.

The two men stopped hugging and Jade said “Long time no see, I see the apocalypse has been treating you well” with a smile on his face.

“I thought I had it the worst but as you’ve become a caveman because of it, I guess it’s been good to me” Jola replied.

They both laughed after which they looked at Jola’s men, who were watching them in confusion. Jola explained “Jade is my old friend, I know he’s a terrorist and a horrible person in your eyes but he’s still my friend, so please don’t shoot him”

The men still kept their weapons up; everyone knew what the stealer of men had done and what he could do even Jola’s reveal wouldn’t let them keep their guard down. In fact they would have shot Jola as well if he wasn’t the one who saved their lives.

Jade said to Jola “You can’t expect them to suddenly be comfortable around me, even I wouldn’t be comfortable around myself, you’re crazy for comfortable around me, really crazy” Jade turned to the soldiers and said “You should watch out for your boss, he’s certainly nuts, this apocalypse must have done something to him”

Jola hit Jade on the back of his head and said “I’m not crazy, you’re crazy!” he looked at his men and said “You all know what he did, right? He obviously is just a crazy person calling someone that is normal crazy. I assure you even if your friend becomes a terrorist, you’ll still be happy to see him or her survive the apocalypse” after that statement Jade and Jola began an argument about who was crazier than the other… with Jade on the losing side.

The men could only helplessly watch as the two of them argued, until one of the men loudly said “Boss, we still haven’t found out what happened here” which snapped Jola out of his playful mood.

Jola asked Jade “Do you know what happened here, some people said they saw a monster coming inside here through the roof” Jade replied “I was the one, I came in here to take my stuff…” he pointed to the suitcase he was carrying before continuing “… before one of your men found it”

Jola found Jade’s explanation absurd and said “How are you not wounded after falling through the roof then?” Jade answered “it’s a long story, let talk about it somewhere else, in private would be best as the knowledge will most likely become a military secret” Jade’s response made Jola’s eyes widen in surprise and anticipation.

Afterward Jola had Jade wait in a meeting room while, he gathered the important officials for the meeting.

While Jade waited in the room, the sight of his old friend brought back the memories, memories of the past, memories that brought him to where he was today.