Petra walked in the darkening fog of the forest. She heaved something heavy as she slowly dragged herself through the dense forest. She inhaled and exhaled loudly as if falling into heavy exhaustion. "You son of a [email protected]#$%. You just 'ad to run into those bastards ey?." She grinned out as she let go of the heavyweight. A sound thud could be heard from behind her.

Upon turning to the sounded view, William dragged his way to a nearby tree, laying on it as he left one of his lag flat straight and the other curved. He took out a small box from his vest as he fumbled about with a small pair of scissors and a couple of thin strips of wires. As he applied surgery on himself, Petra activated her radio to give out attention that they changed positions of their temporary camp, giving new coordinates and a new code of advice. "Hotel One Niner, Do you copy? " She asked her teammate again.

"This is Hotel One Niner, Understood *static* Two Fiver." A voice replied as a sound of shuffling and gun shouts were heard in a small split second.

Petra collected small dried sticks of wood as she tumbled them into a bunch and lighted a flint on it, causing it to burn a small amber red spark, turning afterwards to a phoenix's nest. Her eyes glowed alongside the fire as she does her hair and keeps herself comfortable. She takes a quick glance at William who made small grunge of pain as he finishes his surgery, biting onto a piece of leather that looks like a part of a belt. He probably cut it off as it was an excess extra.

"You done yet, Mr.Rampage?" She pulls her zip of a bag open and takes out a small bag of rations, only to be eaten at the shortest break possible. She breaks the opening and pulls out the food that was ready-made for her to eat, in small little packagings.

William nods slightly as he sighed and inhales deeply, tossing the extra strips of wire to the unknown. "Hahh~ hah, Yeah done..." He spoke in a very rough tone.

Petra heated one of the small bags for a quick second in front of the fire before she tore the plastic open and ate slowly on it with a small set of personal cutlery.

She swallows a spoonful as she points her spoon towards William. "Next time, don't be an idiot and rush head-on, you heard me? I may not be a medic but I also do not access to one of those Guardian Equipments. Your weapon may be for close combat....but it doesn't mean you can handle a group single-handedly." She puts the spoon into her food bag and takes another spoon, reaching it slowly to her mouth.

William sighs. " Yeah, my bad..." He combs his hair slightly. "I will try not to do that unless we're in a group or with another Guardian User, My apologies..."

Petra does not reply and continues her eating, she probably thought he learnt his lesson by getting his leg shot.

William activated his electronic goggles and pulls out a small communication mic. "Rampage to HQ? Are the others alright? If there's time, could you send me coordinates of the others?" He asked as his goggles glowed a slight blue with small white lines acting as maps and applications.

A familiar voice replied. "This is General Ferdunov, Coordinates will be on their way, as seeing from our GPS, you seem to be camping in a new area from the designated location, why is that?" She asked.

"The temporary camp was spotted out, so we left before they could overrun it and the designated escort had to drag me to the new camp as I injured my leg, a small fracture to my kneecap." He replied back.

"I see, take care of yourself and the escort, the coordinates will be sent throughout so we can then make a designated area to extract, is that clear?" General Ferdunov asked.

"Clear Ma'am. Rampage signing off." He said. "Roger." She replied before William turned off his goggles.

Petra finished her food and wrapped them in a small plastic bag. She used her remaining time to clean up her muddy rifle with a small strip of cloth she ripped from her handkerchief. "Sometimes I wonder, what if the Happening didn't happen or the axis for that matter." She asked in a curious manner as she wiped her barrel of the rifle.

"I have no clue, to be honest, but if that were the case there would have been a drastic increase in population due to the species of Guardians and new problems will occur in both between the government and the civilians such as Racism and that kind of jazz. In my theory, Continuum would have still existed but I wouldn't even know about it as I will still be studying in a college or probably uni. Maybe I would know about it as I experience about business, but, I am pretty sure I would be the heir of my father's business. The only reason my mother took over the job is because of a will he made saying if he died unnaturally it's better for her to take care of it so he could keep me and my sister save...but yeah, that's about it." William gave a long talk on theories and what it would have been if the Guardians didn't even exist either.

Petra listened closely and nodded at certain things that made sense to her, giving her own opinion on it too. "Well, I suppose that's true. I am pretty sure if I didn't lose my significant other, I could have gotten married and probably have children here and thereafter retired from service but look where am I now, still doing service " She gave a soft chuckle under her breath as she lost focus on what to ask next.

As quietness came, a small sense of awkwardness could be felt. Soon after, the two just took a short rest, closing their eyes for and listening to the ambience of the burning twigs and the slight singing of the wind as the trees danced amongst each other.

...

Mission completed, the two parted their ways towards their own form of extraction vehicle. William had to be carried on a stretcher due to his fractured leg, as he was pushed into the middle of the truck. A few other soldiers sat beside him on the small attached benches. Sherrinford was one of them. She gave a smirk as she looks at William who was practically under her. "You broke your leg again, I can't believe it. Luckily we have a special Guardian that can wooo~ somehow heal crucial wounds. If not, you would be on a crutch instead or worse, a wheelchair and probably working another job outside of Continuum."

William gives a short scoff. "I am pretty sure, I would be kept as a lab rat which is way worse in my opinion. General did say they brought me here to do checks on me after all and how the heck I survived this disaster and all other males into thin ashes."

"Yeah, right." Sherrinford gave a small smile as she pinched his cheek. "Stupid lucky bastard."

The others gave a short chuckle at him or kept to themselves as they felt embarrassed. Not all of them had an interaction with the opposite sex before so they do not really know what to say or do. After some time, they arrived back in Continuum, as they all left and entered the barracks. William was carried to the infirmary through his stretcher. He met General Maia and a fellow Guardian who worked as a doctor there. They treated his wound which was already sewn and applied some proper medication onto it. After some time, the wound and the fracture quickly healed but he was forced to take rest of the day off, so he had to stay in for the night in the infirmary.

A few of his acquaintances and his buddy, Chau-Min visited him at some times. Demonia came too, to just give him a small talk on what he should do and not do in these odd situations in battle. As kind as she is, he listened to her with a curious smile.

As night reached its full peak, William hid his journal underneath his pillow as he slowly ventured off into a dream, a lovely and warbled one.